“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.” ~Alexander Graham Bell Have you ever caught yourself thinking you haven’t gotten done all you want to and/or the pile seems to grow faster than you can address it? It is easy to feel caught up in an out of control avalanche. But is the avalanche really uncontrollable. Most often the answer is ‘no.’ Easier said than done, maybe, but a little discipline and focus make the efforts well worth the reward! Next time you are feeling inundated stop, take a breath and put the following in to practice… 1) Write down your ‘to do’ list for the day and the week 2) Write down what you are doing throughout the day (calls, visits, tasks, etc.) 3) Compare Is what you are spending your time on related or even supportive of what is on your list? Are you getting as much done during the day as you thought? Identify the ‘time sucks’ during your day. I promise you there are some there. Finally, eliminate any non-emergency items that do not support your goal of decreasing your behemoth of a pile. I’m confident you will find that while the pile may continue to exist, it will be smaller and at times disappear all together.
Present Moment
“Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today.” ~Cherokee Indian Proverb Whether it is thinking about the past or future one thing is sure, either will afford you one opportunity, to miss out on the present moment. Especially during the holidays it seems that single point focus becomes a ‘luxury’ to us. It seems we have it all backwards because single point focus, living in the now, is a necessity. To truly enjoy or participate authentically on any given day requires we be fully present. So often we take this to mean sacrificing ourselves for others or giving, giving, giving until we feel depleted. Not only is this not the intent of being fully present, it is counterproductive towards the goal of being fully present. To be fully present you must embrace where YOU, not others are in the moment. You must be authentic in providing what YOU are thinking and feeling in order to best communicate with others. Others can’t create a road map for your happiness and fulfilment. Only you can. And doing so requires the first step of being fully present in the moment.
Wishing
Do you find yourself wishing things were different or better? Or do you find yourself believing you can make them that way? The difference is the difference in between status quo and success.
Nothing Seems Impossible
Do you feel it is true that nothing seems impossible if you believe? “Believe it can be done. When you believe something can be done, really believe, your mind will find the ways to do it. Believing a solution paves the way to solution,” David Joseph Schwartz I feel many of us, including myself on some days, stumble on our paths, not because we do not have the talent and abilities to shine, but because we do not always believe we have talent and abilities to shine. It is not enough to believe in something. Belief must be in partnership with the emotion of knowing we have what we need to get and go where we want, to believe in ourselves. Then the question becomes…what do we want. “The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want,” – Ben Stein
Excuses
Whether it is work or home life it is so easy to let our paths be blazed by our excuses rather than our efforts. Why is that? Are we afraid of succeeding or failing? Is is that change is uncomfortable and mediocrity is much more comfy. I once had a friend who said she is at least comfortable being unhappy. She said happy is not something you can predict or control. Unhappy is at least stable. Whoa. What is more frightening to you…living a life and never finding out how much happier you could have been. Or is it living and risking and sometimes being disappointed? What is wrong with being disappointed? Does in not give us something to gauge, compare and contrast our experiences with. If every day was pure joy would we still appreciate joy as much?
Fear
Are you nervous or scared of something you need or want to do. Here is my advice… So what! Do it anyway. Just jump! And remember nervous and excited feel the same 🙂
What You Wish For
You know the saying, ‘be careful what you wish for.’ I believe there is an awful lot of wisdom in that saying. Why? Because God, the Universe, or whatever you call it gives us what we are asking for whether we are asking directly or indirectly. For instance, saying “I’m sick all the time,” is validating your illness as well as putting it out there asking for more. Does that sound harsh? Think of it this way… When are you more likely to feel better when you start thinking and talking about feeling better or when you are focused on illness and symptoms. Or when do you feel happier? When you are focused on your problem or when you are focused on a laughing baby? You still have the same problem, but your energy is different. I’m not suggesting we consciously put out a call for sickness or any negative situation. What I am suggesting is the energy you put out, is the energy you will get back. It is your choice.
Happiness vs. Failure
I came across this quote the other day, and just sent it to someone a little while ago: “It is not God’s will merely that we should be happy, but that we should make ourselves happy,” Immanuel Kant. It reminds me of Buddha’s, “There is no path to happiness, happiness is the path.” It sounds so simple doesn’t it? So why is it so hard? Almost everyone claims they want to be happy. So why aren’t we all? Could part of the issue be using our unhappiness as an excuse not to dare to pursue the dreams we want to? Could part of it be a part of ‘happiness’ in our minds depends on ‘success’ and risking success comes with risking failure? Ah failure… why does that one word limit so much of our growth, so much of our potential and so many of our relationships. It is after all just one word. It has no magical power and no ability to do anything but sit on a page and stare at us. I don’t know when the word ‘failure’ got branded with the negative connotation it has, but I believe it is unwarranted. Failure is the key to success. It is a pre-requisite to achievement and to growth. Whomever the idiot that convinced us that within our culture failure is bad was quite the talented orator. Failure after all is nothing but a stepping stone. It should be embraced with warmth and the knowledge that you are proceeding to grow. “There are no failures-just experiences and your reactions to them,” Tom Krause. “We always think of failure as the antithesis of success, but it isn’t. Success often lies just the other side of failure,” Leo F. Buscaglia.
Perspective
“In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary”. ~ Aaron Rose Someone sent me the above quote this morning. It got me thinking about the thousands of people who slogged into work this morning because they ‘had’ to. If you take the word ‘had’ and replace it with the word ‘get’ there is a monumental shift in perspective. Nothing has changed but perspective, but our perspective can in turn impact our thoughts/actions which impact our outcomes. And that is when the shift takes root.