Ever have one of those weeks? Not a bad one, mind you, but not what you’d anticipated. I’m not one for planning; instead, I prioritize & reprioritize. Amidst goals that must be set, life comes along its merry way. I don’t want to miss anything life may throw my way & I’m determined to heed opportunities as they arise. Thus, I go about my days steadily working toward my goals but with the caveat that I’m not going to achieve them any faster by letting the rest of my life slip by unappreciated.
Accomplishment for its own sake will prove empty & incomplete without an infusion of life’s nuances. To ensure you’re not so preoccupied by the goal you miss out on the journey, rethink your current to-do list. Be ready to set it aside to keep your life improving not just progressing. Someone may need to talk, your cat may need to play, you may need to play or you might not be working as efficiently as you could. Allow yourself to be interrupted as it not only keeps your brain active but helps maintain a fresh perspective. In turn, allow yourself to say no – no to a tweet, phone call or chat that can wait – no to things unless they’re timely or productive in themselves.
Deadlines remain the priority; a more fluid approach to productivity simply allows us to meet them differently. We find what works for each of us through trial & error. If we’re not failing, we’re not trying new things. The tried & true may get the job done but there’s little room for learning, much less exploring, in the process. It’s about learning to work smarter rather than harder because working efficiently doesn’t have to mean working doggedly. Reevaluate how you’re working. Stress, in particular, is proof current methods aren’t working well. Although not stressful per se, my return to being online full-time was proving difficult. Due to not being able to prioritize online endeavors for so long, they’d become fragmented. With so much to catch up on & much more to accomplish, I’ve been dutifully plugging away since my return last month.
Duty doesn’t mean a damn without honor. For all my efforts, I knew full well I wasn’t going to make real progress til I started honoring how I needed to function not merely that I needed to function. Thus, despite my commitment to post here at least twice a week, I finally found myself reorganizing my digital life instead. Simply put, by setting aside my priorities this week, I’ve had the time to streamline how I go about them & won’t be struggling to maintain them hereafter. Don’t stop at knowing what to do & how to do it, keep changing things up til you discover how best to do it. If you find yourself frustrated or a task seems harder than it should, take a break from it to see what’s going on behind the scenes. Never be afraid to look behind the curtain; if you’re not already the wizard, it’s time to take over.
(|_|*cheers*|_|)
“Common sense is the knack of seeing things as they are, and doing things as they ought to be done.”
~ Josh Billings ~
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Ha – loved the green “Rethink” notebook. I could have filled many of those over the years as I’ve adjusted and tweaked my understanding of why things occur as they do.
Technical question: how on earth do you get your pictures, such as that of the “wizard,” to integrate into your text? My computer (“Connie”) insists on leaving white space by any picture that I insert. Consarn it, Connie!
I couldn’t agree more about having to constantly redefine/reapproach the way you tackle priorities to achieve your goals.
Having been driven by deadlines for more than 15 yrs, the stress becomes so much a part of life I forget how to say no sometimes. The reminders to ourselves that “it’s OK” to be human and “it’s OK to say no”, are necessary and too few and far between. We have to take time or force ourselves to MAKE time for what’s so important in our lives – the little things that one day make up the big things.
I’m glad you’ve been able to get your digital life streamlined. It must feel great to be organized again.
Thank you once again for an inspiring cup of motivation.
Sage advice — sometimes the interruptions are what bring amazing new things to our lives. I’ve got to see what ShadowSillyButt is up to…
Shifting gears can be difficult, especially when heading back into the online den. There are so many opportunities for distraction. For me, progress is only made when I have a written plan. Without that, I wander from gallery to gallery staring at all the pretty pictures and chatting with the other patrons.
So, how did you get to be so smart?
It takes smart to know smart, my dear woman.. If there is a ‘secret’ to my wisdom tho’, to quote my friend Brett Legree, it’s fail early & often. As you’ll recall, I’ve chosen to fail time & again.
|_|) “A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent in doing nothing.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
PS: Thank you.
[in reply to our exchange above]
Thanks for this, Dorian. HTML code, here I come. Connie Computer, brace yourself!
I don’t believe that there’s anything wrong with your renewed approach to life that could not be remedied by drinking more coffee.
Hi Dori, this is a test.
I ran into Tanya about two weeks ago on Facebook. We’ve been sending messages back and forth since then. I had no idea about this side of you. I’ve read quite a few of your posts already.
I guess my interest in looking up old friends was spurred by my 20th class reunion last year. Even though I did not attend. It got me interested in what everyone was up to all these years later. How’s your family? I guess your little brother is around 22 now? Well take care..
Hello, there could be nothing more appropriate for a Found Fridays post than to be found by someone who knew me over 2 decades ago! As I mentioned @ MYspace, not many people have surfaced that knew me then; of course, chances are they think I’m dead or aren’t admitting to knowing me. Thanx again for looking me up & following up w/some post reading to boot!! The poetry & opining of days past has indeed turn into proding prose.
It seems my dislike of Facebook may be keeping me from being more findable but not making it to any reunions hasn’t helped either. My 25th in 2011 is a good goal — sounds like a plan. Excellent guesstimation on my youngest bro tho’, as you perused, you likely already discovered he’s 24 (crazy, eh?). My family’s quite well & spread thru CA into Oregon so we really only ’see’ each other online. Do invite Tanya to visit me here too!?
Dorian |_|) “The most beautiful discovery friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart.” ~ Elisabeth Foley
Well obviously I’ve thought of you often over the last 20 years. I always tend to think that people are busy with their lives. Which prevents me from reaching out to contact them. There are people that matter and those that do not.
24 holy cow, last time I was him I believe you were getting ready to change his diaper.
Are you still in contact with your father? Musician I tend to believe he was. It seems that your relationship with your mother has changed over the years. For the better I might add.
Facebook, Twitter, MySpace I really couldn’t tell the difference from one or the other.
I guess I need to put up more pics on MySpace. would like you to see the little family that I have now.
Be well.