Day one of thirty.
I always have enjoyed starting things. A new book. A new diet program. A new website. A new “just about anything.”
Starting for me is pretty straight forward. I decide that I’m going to do something and then set out to do it.
However I have one major flaw in my “doing of things.” I don’t usually finish too well. Sure, if someone is waiting for their website to be completed I’ll get it done. Or if there is a class to be taught and a set time for that class to happen… I will be prepared.
The problem arrises when I am the singular one who is both responsible for the “doing of the thing” and the “one for whom the thing is being done.” When this phenomena occurs I find myself motivated by the shear joy of creating for the first half of the project or so…
And then reality sinks in. I start to think, “why am I doing this?” Or the other big one, “who really cares whether I do this or not?” Or another third one, “is this going to bring value to anyone?”
So as I set out on this journey of writing each day for 30 days straight (weekdays only), I find myself enjoying the flow. I’m sitting on my bed, the words are coming and its a joyful thing to simply write.
However I know what will happen at some point in the coming days, I’ll wake up late, or I’ll burn my breakfast, or something else will come up and I won’t really have time to write. It is in that moment that I decide whether or not I will actually complete the thing that I set out to do or not.
There are a couple things that I’ve attempted to put into place to make sure that I have a bit more motivation to follow through on this project.
- I’ve said publicly that I’ll do this. The power that comes with proclaiming to some group of peers (even if its only the 5 people who read your blog) that you’ll do something… well, its pretty powerful.
Actually, as I think about it now, that is the main “thing” that I’ve put in place to help keep myself motivated.
What kinds of “public proclamations” would be beneficial to you? Or what are some things that you know you want to work on but also know you’ll have a hard time pushing through the “hard work in the middle?”
Anything Worth Doing is Worth Doing
There is a saying that I’ve heard that goes something like this, “anything worth doing is worth doing well.” I don’t know who said it, or what their context was… but I do think that there is a lot of truth to the statement.
Yesterday I was supposed to teach the intermediate Sunday School and as a part of preparation for the lesson I ran across the story of “treasure and peril” on Oak Island. What a fascinating story.
In a nutshell, there is supposedly a treasure hidden on this island and since the late 1700’s and early 1800’s there have been numerous excursions to try to find it. Most of these searches centered around a deep hole that supposedly had a huge stash at the bottom of it.
After hundreds of years. A bunch of attempts to recover the treasure. And untold amounts of money spent on these recovery attempts… no one has found the treasure.
That’s a lot of digging and searching and doing.
So, the question for me is this. What am I spending all my time, energy and resources on? Am I digging holes looking for treasure? Am I actually doing work that matters?
Those are deep questions. Ones I won’t attempt to answer here, but lets just say that life is interesting and there is always an opportunity for each of us to dig into the things we are doing more fully and either learn to do them better or learn to do them with more presence and purpose.
After all, anything worth doing is worth doing well.
That is all for today. Happy Monday friends!