Here I am again. In the same place that I have found myself so many times before. Frustrated. Mad at myself. Working without a plan. Knowing I could and should be doing more and not doing it. This place has become all too familiar…and I hate it.
A friend of mine once asked me a question. He said, “what has worked so well for you in the past…that you stopped doing it?”
When I think about it. I’ve had spurts of “greatness” in the past. I’ve started workout programs that made me feel and look great. I’ve started time management systems that had me accomplishing everything I set my mind to do. I’ve created lists, goals summaries, life plans, action plans and systems that all worked. Then something happened…and I stopped.
It wasn’t as if an event happened that “made” me stop…it was just “something” that interrupted my routine. It could have been that I had to travel out of town or even attend a meeting or event that interrupted my “flow”. But after that interruption…getting back in the flow would eventually never happen.
I call this the “Wiley E. Coyote Principle”. Remember back in the cartoon days, Wiley E. Coyote would dream up thousands of ways to apprehend the elusive Road Runner? Each time, some random event took place that rendered his attempt unsuccessful. After each failed attempt, we were left watching the face of Wiley E. Coyote either shrink into nothingness as he fell off a cliff or we watched him raise that little umbrella as he accepted the fate of the huge rock about to crash on his head.
In each case, he rarely tried to do the same thing twice. He rarely committed to a plan and regardless of the failed attempts, continued to trust that his system was good and appropriate and regardless of the immediate outcome, was worthy of continuing. He would abandon it and try something else.
I think it’s time to go back and look at my life and identify “what worked”. What attitudes worked, nutrition plans, workout plans, time management systems, what I did that made me feel good and say to myself, “good job Bob”. Those things are worthy of being identified and certainly worthy of my pursuit and incorporation into my life.
I need to just write those things down and be mindful of them. I don’t have to do everything at once, just commit to one and bring it back into my life.
How about you? What has worked so well in the past…that YOU stopped doing it?
Beep, Beep!