There will always be "one more thing" you need to do. Your "to do" list is never ending, and it will probably always be never ending. Instead of staying up late to work on "one more thing," here's a suggestion: go to sleep. Whatever it is you are considering doing will still be there tomorrow, and you'll feel so much better in the morning if you go to bed now.
Try it for yourself.
Here is a question to ponder: is it better to write notes down on paper so you can refer back to them, or is it better to rely on your memory? Is memory a muscle that improves with practice (i.e. no notes) or something else?
This week was challenging in terms of self-coaching because I let the whirlwind (i.e. the activities of daily life) go unchecked. For example, on Wednesday, I wrote out "Today's Top Three" on a cute Post-It note specifically made for this purpose. Nope, nada, I didn't even start any of the top 3. I will try again next week.
Be kind to yourself. Each day is a new day to try again.
I first heard this quote by Laura Liswood in Adam Grant's audiobook "Power Moves":
"You can't be what you can't see."
When I heard this quote, I really liked it. Seeing people like you doing things you've never thought you could do opens your ideas of possibilities.
Leadership is learning to be comfortable with feeling uncomfortable. That's easier said than done. When you're uncomfortable, where do you feel it? For me, uncomfortable is when I'm about to do something new and/or big, and I get nervous. I feel my heart race and my stomach hurts. Then I have to remind myself that I've prepared (if that's true), and I need to stop thinking (usually in circles) and just do it. Ha. That's just like yesterday's post about just doing the next step! Funny how these ideas circle around.
I have come to the conclusion that achieving your goals is not so easy. That might sound strange coming from someone who is re-tooling to be a youth life coach.
What I mean is you have to be super intentional about your goals. Otherwise, the interruptions of daily life become the rhythm of your weeks, months and then your entire year.
One thing I like to do (often at the beginning of the new year) is write a letter to myself dated one year in the future. If I were to write this letter today, I'd date the letter September 2, 2023. In the letter, I'm writing as if it were September 2, 2023 and I reflect upon all the things that happened over the last year, which of course, haven't happened yet. I've noticed that when I set intentions about what I'd like to say I've done, a lot of those things actually became a reality.
I'm curious about why that is, especially as the letter is put away and not a daily reminder. My theory is once I've identified what I want to achieve, I'm using those goals as a lens that helps me choose how I spend my time. That's what I mean about being intentional.
Try it for yourself. See if it's useful. Might help, can't hurt.
I realize that I read (i.e. listen to audio) books more when I drive more. I was "reading" a lot earlier this year, and then when I wasn't driving as much, my reading levels went kaput. On the bright side, the first step in making a change is recognizing there's a problem.
So next I'm going to "read" Why We Are Restless: On the Modern Quest for Contentment by Benjamin Storey and Jenna Silber Storey because I liked their recent opinion article in the New York Times, "The Art of Choosing What to do with Your Life." I'm very interested in this idea of what it means to live a good life so I am interested to read their book. I think the answer is different for each of us, and it's also different in each phase of our lives.
P.S. It's a nice coincidence that my last blog entry before the break was on Longevity, which is closely related to today's post.
