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Dare to Change: April 26, 2006

Many of us feel as though we are victims to our perceived procrastination (or failure to do) so today’s Dare to Change challenge is intended to encourage you to confront that which you fear or devalue so much that it leads to you avoiding getting it done.
 

The first question you should ask yourself when confronted with a situation or situations that result in chronic procrastination is “Of what value is this task to my calling (aka life goals)”.  If you cannot find a good reason, you need to think about why you are where you are, before trying any challenge or time-management technique.  There is no technique that can totally override your judgment, and if you judge something useless, you are going to have motivation of the same quality.
 

That being said, here is the challenge:
 

 Once you have done your self-care routine (remember, first things first!) on a given day, do the task that you have been avoiding first.  In this case doing the task means dedicating to it the first fifteen minutes of your day.  It doesn’t matter whether you finish or not within the allotted time.  Just get started, and see what happens. At the end of the fifteen minutes, stop. 
 

Don’t judge how much you have gotten done, or the fact that you might not be finished when you stop. Also, don’t try to force yourself to do anymore.  Move on to something else, for which you do not have the same issues.  Then later on, come back to the task and do another fifteen minutes; recognizing that completion is not the goal, starting is.
 

If you are a procrastinator, then odds are you are not being held accountable much, so don’t worry about exactly when something does or does not get done.  If you are not being called on what isn’t getting done at a given time, then use that flexibility to deconstruct your avoided tasks to the point where they are easy to accomplish. 
 

Even if you procrastinate so much that you are on probation or in jeopardy of losing your job, worrying will not resolve your problem, so stop wasting your time and energy on something that isn’t useful. Last I heard, no one has ever worried their way to success .  If you find that you cannot stop worrying, and that your procrastination is so chronic that it is wrecking havoc in your life, you may want to seek consultation with a therapist just to be sure that it isn’t something other than just procrastination. 
 

However, odds are you are a garden variety procrastinator, and that your worry is nothing more than stress that is tiring you out, and making you that much less likely to get things done. Stop worrying. If you don’t like a situation change it. If you cannot change the situation, change yourself.  If the task is really something that you wish to do, it will get done; even if it takes longer than you think it should.
 

The lesson this challenge can teach you are many:
1) Doing a task is almost never as bad, hard, challenging, fearsome, etc. as we imagine it to be.
2) Learn to stop worrying so much about what is not done, and just be where you are.
3) Stop trying to be a perfectionist; you do not have to finish everything in one setting.  The perfect time to start doing is now.
4) If you can learn to start (and you can), you can learn to finish. Finishing does not have to be something that is done in one attempt or setting.  Completing a task can be made up of a series of starts.
 

I hope that you will take on this challenge, not just for today, but for a lifetime.  There is no task so large that it cannot be done if you have the time and the will.  Today’s challenge is intended to force you to see that almost any task can be subdivided to the point that it loses all power over us, and also that the most basic unit of getting things done is starting.
 
However, I must emphasize again, that this challenge assumes that you actually attach some value to that which you have been avoiding.  If you cannot imagine any good or value coming from the completion of any task, it will always be easier to avoid than to do. If you find yourself confronted with a situation such as that, you need to ask yourself, are you really where you need to be, or do you need to change your job, situation, yourself, or your circumstance, so that you can feel the inspiration and motivation that comes from doing that which is your calling.
 

Think about the challenge for a moment, and then do it. Do not give yourself any time to create excuses.  The path to change requires commitment.  What are you waiting for? As you do the challenge, please comment on your results. 
 

Namaste

8 comments April 26th, 2006

First Things First

How you start your day is often the greatest determiner of how your day will be; even more than the things that actually happen during it.  When you wake up, are you grateful for another day of life, or do you wake up thinking “Oh no, it’s Monday”, “Thank god it’s Friday”, or “I hate my job”.  Does your snooze bar get more of a workout than you do in the morning? If so, you should consider making a change to how you wake up.
 

When you awaken, you are at your closest to your source and your inner divinity, because you have not yet been assailed by the distractions of the world.  Your first thoughts should be of gratitude for living to see another day.  Each day, many do not wake up, so do not take the gift of life for granted. A great way to way to wake up is as follows:
 

How To Wake Up
1)       When your alarm goes off, wake up grateful to be alive- Be thankful that your heart is still beating.  Breathe in several breaths and feel them fill you with energy.  Then sit up, and place your feet on the floor. Sit for a moment, and then slowly rise.
2)       Turn on some lights or go outside (if it is light out) - That helps your body adjust to your waking state. Then think or say your intentions for the day, and mean each thought or word, because life meets us at our level of expectation. Ex.  “Today is going to be a great day.  No matter what happens, I will be at peace.”
3)       Exercise- Action wakes up your emotions as well as your body.  Love your body, and give it the exercise it needs.  If you do not take care of yourself today, you may not be here tomorrow to help others you care about. 
4)       Take a luxurious shower or bath- Really enjoy it and be kind to yourself.  This is not a mad dash to get ready for work.  This is to be a pleasurable reward for having such a great workout.
5)       Do something you love- It could be doing art, writing, singing, reading, juggling, etc. What you pick does not matter nearly as much as the joy it brings you.
6)       Eat a healthy breakfast-  You need to give your body good fuel to help you feel good throughout your day,
7)       Go to work at a leisurely pace- Where is the fire? You already exercised, and got yourself into a relaxed state.  Don’t give it up now to stressful rushing.  Enjoy your trip to work.   
 

If you did not notice, none of the action tasks has a time frame identified.  That is intentional in that I do not want you to have any excuses for not getting this self-care routine done.  If you want, you can get the whole routine done in a little more than an hour, but I would recommend giving yourself two hours.
 

I know some eyebrows went up, but really think about it. If you take care of yourself, you will be better able to help others, as well as yourself.  Too many people plan to work out after work, but find that at the end of the day, they do not have the energy to get their self care done.
 

 When you put off your self-care for the end of the day after all other things, you are acting as though caring for yourself is your lowest priority. Part of living a life of distinction is doing first things first, and the most important thing we all do is self-care, as self-care gives us the energy, passion, and resources to be a blessing to the world. 
 

If you are still convinced (aka “The Great Lie”) that you cannot make time for the How To Wake Up routine, at least do the following: 1) Stop hitting the snooze bar- If you need to sleep longer, set the clock to go off at a later time.  Playing with the snooze bar is stressful, and the sleep you gain isn’t of that great quality anyway.  2) Stop drinking coffee- Caffeine is false energy.  Like every other type of addiction, the good feeling you feel is a lie. The only reason you need it, is that you are waking up with the expectation that waking up is hard.  If you wake up with gratitude, you will not need coffee.  3) Slow down as you go to work- Do not drive or walk in a hurry.  Walk leisurely or drive within the speed limit.  Work will be there; it isn’t going anywhere. 
 

If you start each day with self-care, then you will have created loving feelings and a sense of well-being that you can carry throughout your day.  Please give the How to Wake Up routine a try, and if you have time (and you better) tell me how it works out for you.
 

Namaste
 

1 comment April 25th, 2006