Everyone has the power to decide what
they are going to do or behave in a particular situation. In
almost any situation, taking the right actions will lead to better
outcomes:
Having a plan and working on the
plan
Deciding how to manage one's time
based on priorities
Balance between work and recreation
Establishing margins (buffers) so
that you have time to celebrate between work accomplished
Willingness to "Do whatever it takes"
to
getting things done
Mental visualization of the
finished product
Affirmation - a mantra of success
expectations repeated frequently
Thinking as you go about "step
after next" (using the results of a previous step to lead to
the next)
Action can be a powerful mood
enhancement. Just by acting as "if you" had a
particular mood can bring the onset of that mood. If your are
feeling melancholy, take some actions that you might if you were
upbeat and gay. It will quickly lift your spirits.
Everything Happens for a Reason For event there is a cause...there is
both a season and a reason. We may not know the reasons behind an
event, but we should know that nothing happens without proper cause.
As much as we might infer that events are conspired by others,
mysterious forces beyond our control , or random happenstance, we
should realize that everything happens for a reason. Things happen,
because all the conditions necessary for them to happen were present.
How can I be so sure...because if the conditions were not present,
then the event would not have happened.
We are partially responsible if for no other reason that we were at
the right place at the right time doing the right things to become a
part of the event. Even if we did nor intend to create the event and
just ended up a caught-unaware-participant, we are still responsible
for our actions once the event began. We are responsible for what we
did and didn't do as events unfolded. We are even more responsible for
what we do after the event has ended.
So, even though "stuff happens", we cannot avoid taking
responsibility for our actions during the event, and we are even more
responsible for what we do after the event. During life, we are either
passive riding the tide that sweeps us along or actively engaged in
steering our course. Flowing with the river, you will end up
somewhere, but is it where you wanted to end up on purpose?
Only Actions Get Results
Not doing something can become habit
forming. Most people have a bad habit of saying
they are going to do something but never getting around to doing it.
No...this is not the same as procrastination, when someone
deliberately find excuses for not doing something. I'm referring
to when someone really wants to do something but for one reason or another,
find other things that are more important that need to be done
first. People have an extraordinarily long "to do" list.
Often, the items on the "to do" list keep getting long and
longer and the only way to get them off is to abandon
them. Everyone has so many goals, but so little time.
Hence, the need for choices based on compelling reasons of
need.
When I have more things that need to be done than I
can possibly do, I get the choice of moving some projects higher and
some lower on my "to do" list. Like everyone
else, the actions on the top of my list get done, and those on the
bottom of my list get deferred.
I tend to place the items at the top of my "to do" list
that are urgent, important, and within my capability to do them. The
items that go to the bottom of my list are discretionary, less
important, and not within my capability to do them. This
prioritization system tells me something about myself. When I
continually push actions towards the bottom of the list, it must
mean that they aren't ready for prime time. Unfortunately,
if I keep putting actions towards the bottom of the list long
enough, they never get done. I have in effect, made a habit of
putting things that I am not ready to act on towards the bottom of
my list.
If I do this often enough, I need to take heed of the message I am
sending myself. I am saying that I am dreaming if I think I am going
to commit myself to these items that are forever at the bottom of my
priority list. Rather than continuing to fool myself, I need to take
them off and put them on another list called "Someday
I'll". I may add them to my current "to do" if
circumstance changes, but they are deferred until someday out in the
future. Once removed, I no longer need to feel guilty and
worthless for not acting on them. Once moved to a "Someday
I'll' list, I have consciously
chosen
to delay them until a better time. Not only do I feel better about
myself, but I don't have to make a conscious effort to fit them into
my busy schedule.
It is better to be brutally
honest than to continue to fool oneself into thinking that they are
going to pursue the goals that are not a good fit for them at the
present time. Elimination is the basis for living a simpler
and less stressful life. Most of us have enough of that already.
