This week’s posts have been shorter than normal. Not what I’d like but a necessity as I’m trying to get the upstairs painted before new carpet goes in. Slow going as all the walls are getting three coats. Looks like this will take several more days. Normal posting resuming in due course.
Not There
Other times meeting that commitment means making it look like you’re there when you haven’t shown up at all.
*This post written yesterday. I didn’t show up today – but still kept my commitment to posting a new post every weekday.
Minimum Effort
At times keeping that commitment means putting in the minimum effort. Just enough to meet the line. Maybe showing up is enough.
Commitment
Blocked Steps
Say you’re waiting on someone to do something before you can take your next step. But they’ve been taking their time. Your way is blocked. Pushing through might be as simple as repeatedly calling to the point of being annoying.
We often don’t make the extra push for fear of upsetting others. It doesn’t matter. Be annoying if you have to. Push through. Make the call. Again if you have to. And again. And again. And…
Taking the next step is important. Don’t allow it to stay blocked.
There’s No Edit Button
Only-Do List
I’m starting an experiment with a different kind of to-do list – the Only Do List. It’s a list of the things I’m restricting myself to doing. A constraint list. I’m telling myself I can do anything I want as long as it’s on the list.
My hope is that it will force me to do things I’ve been avoiding.
There’s a challenge in the list of course. It must be written in such a way to include everything I might reasonably do but also puts restrictions on what I can do. The list must keep procrastination at bay. So it can’t simply be a to-do list with the item(s) I must get done. It must be a list that keeps my interest rather than fuels my disappointment. If working on something is not going well for me the list needs to be able to provide an alternative that also somehow helps me make progress in some way.
I’m only at the list-making stage so have yet to decide what to allow or not allow. No doubt as the experiment evolves some things will be added and some dropped or restricted. I think the Only Do List needs to include things like watching television where under normal conditions there’s no explicit restriction on. Including watching television for x hours per week restricts it and prevents unstructured watching. Including it also allows me to know that I can watch something if I want.
Success and failure are equally likely. Let’s find out which it is.
Wrong Positive
Sometimes even the positive things you do trap you. You could be in a cycle of good but because you’re passing up a bigger opportunity or avoiding the more important task it’s not helping you but harming you.
Learning is good. But learning to speak Spanish before a year in China won’t help you at all.
Reading is good. But reading a book instead of writing stops you from writing your own book.
Don’t catch yourself out by working on the wrong positive. It’s just procrastination.