Have you ever found yourself just going through the motions?
Life is a nonstop parade of minutes, hours and days — a steady string of magical moments that we can choose to use as we see fit. And the manner in which we use or abuse these irreplaceable moments shapes the lives we get to enjoy.
— Unknown
If you’re a regular reader of this blog then you know that in my 2009 year-end post, Objects in the Rearview Mirror, I greeted the New Year with this declaration of independence:
I’m hoping that, like a Hoberman Sphere, I can expand my heart to embrace the adventure that lies before me… I’m puttin’ on my dancing shoes – so, 2010, cha cha cha!
And shortly thereafter, in an effort to supplement my not-so-daily walks, I joined a twice-a-week Zumba® exercise class. (Golly gee, do ya’ think there was some subconscious doings going on in there??) For those of you who haven’t been to a Zumba class, it’s dance-aerobics done to pulsating latin music. It’s fun, challenging and invigorating. Usually.
But the other day I was simply going through the motions in class, with little or no energy and certainly no joy. My action and energy reflected a lackluster attitude of mental and psychic fatigue; I was tired. I was distracted and discouraged. I was unwittingly succumbing to overwhelm. You’ve been there – to overwhelm – haven’t you? It’s when your life circumstances demand: More, more, more! And your brain (and body and soul) cry: Enough already!
Then I had a flash of great genius (Smirk): Continue reading » Make It Count
As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable it.
— Antoine de Saint-Exupery
The US was a place where anything was possible, where we decided that we would send a man to the moon, and we did. And yet, these days we have lost our belief in the future. We look into the future and we just see more of the same. It’s not that on a personal basis, more of the same is bad, it’s on a societal basis that we get depressed. We assume that we can’t solve the problems that we face today. We extrapolate into the future and decide that there is no hope.
The mistake we make is assuming that tomorrow will be like today when most of the data around us argues for exactly the opposite conclusion. If we just look at the electronics that we use today vs. what we used 10 years ago, we can see the huge leaps forward that have been made: pagers to cell phones to PDAs.
One of my favorite books is Freakonomics and the follow-on Super Freakonomics. The reason that I like both of these books is the Continue reading » Creating the Future
Have you ever had a problem with procrastination? Do you have any helpful suggestions for curing the problem?
In my last two posts I touched on a couple of ways that we postpone doing things: procrastinating pleasure and agreeing to do something at a future date. In this post I’m going to explore why we procrastinate (and offer a seemingly simple solution) and in my next post I’ll examine how I personally am wrestling with my procrastination quandary.
Sing along with Annie and me. (She can carry a tune. I can’t.)
Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I’ll do it Tomorrow!
Ok, Ok, depending upon how well you enunciate “I’ll”, I may have paraphrased one vowel too many, but help me out here:
What’s the problem with my I’ll do-it-tomorrow plan?
Well… much as we “love ya Tomorrow,” we apparently mind-blip past the fact that Tomorrow is: “Always a day away!” In fact – it’s not just ALWAYS, it’s also ONLY a day away. How is it we think that what we don’t want to do today, what we can’t bring ourselves to do today, will somehow automagically get done tomorrow? Do we really think that the rotation of the earth from dusk to dawn will miraculously change our inclinations to tackle the dreaded task – whatever that task might be???
Why Not Just “Git-R-Done”??
In many ways, procrastinating just prolongs our misery – the things-not-done weigh heavy on our minds and drag down our energy. So why do we procrastinate??? And how do we stop procrastinating?
Continue reading » Procrastinating – Just Git-R-Done
Have you ever agreed to do something out in the future and when the time came, regretted it?
Warning: Dates in Calendar are closer than they appear.
— Unknown
I’m looking at this week’s calendar and wondering — What was I thinking when I put THAT on my calendar??? It seemed like a good idea at the time. But today I realize that my week is full-up and my earlier “Yes” has morphed into “Damn! Why’d I do that???” And of course, now it’s too late, yet somehow I must make good on my promise to do whatever it is I said I’d do. Sound familiar? Do you do that too?
Why is it easier to agree to do something at a future date?
Well, Gal Zauberman of the Wharton School researched that question and he concluded Continue reading » The “Yes… Damn!” Effect: What Was I Thinking???
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