If you get all caught up on…
the tv show
the news
emails
the grocery shopping
your budget
marvel movies
the dishes
christmas shopping
reacting to comments on social media
…what do you get in return?
Some things are worth catching up on and some aren’t.
If the prize for getting all caught up isn’t something you actually want, it probably isn’t worth prioritizing all that effort towards it to begin with.
We confuse ready with expectations.
We use the phrase, ‘I’m not ready’ when the next thing that comes our way seems too far out of the realm of expectation…what we really mean is, ’This is not what I expected’.
Part of the actual definition of ready is ‘fully prepared’. But in a practical sense I would argue that you only need the minimum amount of preparedness while being fully willing to engage with the next thing.
The outcome will be a little different than you originally thought.
But it will be real and not imagined.
A successful outcome takes compromise.
But imagined outcomes are fun because you’re the sole writer and it doesn’t have to be real.
Whatever the outcome, if it allows you to keep going, that’s a successful outcome.
It’s easy to make a decent pumpkin pie.
So after you’ve mastered the decent pumpkin pie, what’s next?
There’s two options…
Keep making decent pumpkin pie.
Do something different or new to the pie, which will remove it from ‘decent’ and into a new category…and in all likelihood make some of the family very happy and others upset.
It’s easy to forget…if you have a screen to read this blog, you probably have a little extra. A little more than you need. A little extra to give. A little extra to share.
Too often we dwell on having a little less than we want…and miss out on the gift of having more than we need.
What will we do with the extra?
I have two giant trees in my small front yard. Which means that while only about fifty percent of the leaves have fallen so far, my yard is covered and it’s only getting more covered.
So the question is…do I bag them up now and then bag up the rest once they’ve fallen in a week…or do I just do them all at the same time next week?
Well this isn’t my first rodeo.
I’ve found that whether there’s a lot of leaves or a LOT of leaves, it takes about the same time to get the lawn cleared in both cases.
So while it might seem like I’m getting ahead of the game by starting now and thereby making less work for myself later…in the grand scheme it’s better to hold off and do them all at the same time.
The metaphor holds true for a lot of the busy work we rush out to do just to make ourselves feel productive.