NEW MOTIVATION
Friday Oct. 1, 2010
today’s Musing written and published from Cranston in south- east Calgary, near the Bow River valley
Morning walk: 5C/41F, clear, snappy wind from the SE is strange – stripping so many leaves from trees along our route . . . like taking drapes off windows to reveal dirty windows; Gusta decided women pushing strollers should become new friends but they thought otherwise (not everyone loves a golden retriever) … and we carried on enjoying the chill and brilliant sunshine.
I can do it.
You can do it.
We all can..
For what reason, why, for whom, by whom, by what …. am I inspired sufficiently to make fundamental change to my daily process?
This day can be efficient – I know it can.
How hard can it be?
To change, tweak, massage – or reinvent my approach to scheduling, planning, action – or is it simply too hard? I can do short bursts of energy, but that’s not change, it’s just a big push. I know this because how I work, plan, manage . . . my time and tasks doesn’t look that much different than it did years ago; only now, I get 300% as much done as I did before (thank you – I think – to the technology) . . . but I seem to do that, just to stay even. And I know, I’m not staying even at all . . . simply managing, albeit poorly, how far it is that I am behind . . .
I know how I work when I have a vacation to leave for or a big deadline I’m bumping up against – however most of the time I move at high speed in the morning, catch up on calls in the afternoon . . . doing less serious things at the shank of the day when I’m less fresh, less nimble of brain and body.
What do we save? What do we lose?
When we make changes to daily routine, weekly chores or monthly processes – what happens to the 5 minutes saved here, 10 minutes saved on something else?
I should think – after many years of trying to make decisions that made sense in terms of improving the value/use/efficiency of my time, that I would have something dramatic to show for it – like a cookie jar full of 5 minute bites and half-hour meals. In fact, by now I should have entire months stored up . . .
But I don’t.
Five minutes saved produces an opportunity to do one more thing from the to-do pile, a half-hour not wasted on the couch or watching TV gets used on drafting something, or sleeping, or some other non-savable time bite.
I’m working on a time saving plan. It’s not perfected yet - so I’m reluctant to give up the details until I’ve proven it will work. A key element is motivation.
Slowly now . . . what would we have had to do all week in order to be ‘away from it all’ today?
And if we had that free time, would it be better spent in leisure or on attacking that pile of things that need doing?
Today is a plate-clearing day, wind-up day, finish many ‘started things’ that need to be fixed, finished or trashed. The weekend is here. Am I ready to go to market? Am I organized to make this new month worth remembering – a solid time of accomplishment both personally and professionally?
Well, am I?
Being ‘up to it’ and being ‘up for it’ are similar but vastly different concepts. Putting a toe in the water is different than jumping, with both feet, into the deep end of the pool. First, do I check for water in the pool? Or, do I sign up for swim lessons?
You see, the little changes produce 5 minute savings that get snapped up so quickly we don’t notice. To make major changes, we need to create large blocks of time so we can invest that time in making dreams come true.
Yes, a dream could come true in 5 minutes. But that’s a stretch.
A dream could come true . . . in a heartbeat, in a lifetime, or never.
Are you ready? Do have time for it? Are you up for it?
~~~
DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY
One of the most difficult
things we do
no way to negotiate around it
no alternative to it
for most of us
telling truth
not just parts of it but
whole truth
difficult with a stranger
more difficult with a friend
or a lover but
most difficult
when it matters most
with those we care about most
love the most
and want the most
but that’s the way it is
most of the time
for most of us.
~~~
Since starting March 21, 2010, I’ve been writing a poem a day for inclusion with this column - sometimes they are connected to the theme du jour, just as often not. Inspiration comes riding in the window on the breeze .... check out the YEAR OF POETRY: archived poetry
~~~
Mark Kolke
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