In the gap analysis of where I am vs. where I could be, lack of knowledge is not the culprit.
I am fit, but I could be stronger and leaner. And I don't need a new program to do it.
I am a good husband, but I could be a lot better. And I don't need to know anything more about marriage to get there.
I am a good father, but I could be a lot better. Ignorance of parenting is not my problem.
I am a good employee, but I could kick ass so much more. And I'm only using about 2% of what I've already learned in business school.
Lack of knowledge is not the culprit. There's no secret answer lurking out there, waiting for me to discover it and unlock my potential in every area of life. Life's already happening, time is already passing, and use it or lose it, it keeps passing. Sometimes a dude just needs to get busy. Just take a little babystep today. And another tomorrow. Continue until... well, until the funeral I guess.
I have no specific end goal, either in fitness, relationships or career. I have no timeframes. Yet if I do nothing to plan my steps, will I end up anywhere worthwhile? Looking back on the past few years... I don't think so.
So maybe my "secret" isn't in knowledge or in planning, but in progress. Doing one thing a day that is useful, selfless, challenging or uncomfortable, and then after a few years I look back and see how far I came.
This log might seem a little different to many of you. I have a good life, and I am a person of contentedness. But I don't want to be the same person in three months. I'm a moving target. Every day I want to post one thing, just one thing, that I've done in this experiment of throwing away the plan and focusing on the minute in my hands right now.
Some days that one thing will be a workout, as years of that will improve my health. Sometimes the one thing will be an act of service, because years of that will sow seeds of kindness in the world. Sometimes the one thing will be that phone call I've been avoiding at work, or the the public speaking gig I've been hiding from, because years of that will remove fear and will build confidence through experience. Sometimes the one thing might be playing piano, writing a blog or studying a new hobby in earnest, because years of that will uncover and unleash my unique voice that might be useful to someone else.
I don't have any freaking idea where this is headed. Don't care. Because if I can look back and see that I avoided complacency by daily doing that one thing, then I must be somewhere good.
p.s. -- Aoife's gonna think I stoled this from her, based on a recent post of here, but I didn't. I thought it first, and she used ESPN to steal it from me before I wrote it.
__________________ Megaloi -- My Blog
"Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers."
- Mignon McLaughlin
__________________
"Time and patience are the 2 elements that most people don't include in their plans."
-Alan Aragon
"The scale simply tells you how much the earth loves you on a particular day."
-Ogedei (Keith)
So maybe my "secret" isn't in knowledge or in planning, but in progress. Doing one thing a day that is useful, selfless, challenging or uncomfortable, and then after a few years I look back and see how far I came.
"To know and to not do is to not know...." (some Chinese proverb by someone) LOL!
I always loved that saying so I should look up who wrote it. Anyway... A new president and a new log by RL! I'm in!
__________________
The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
My one thing today was to start this log, and I did it, obviously. It had been bouncing around in my brain and weighing me down for a couple of weeks, so I'm glad to get started.
Is this a workout log or a philosophical treatise?
Good perspective, Michael. I'm there with ya! Your intro post in your last log is what got me working on my current plan and posting my first log just now.
I think Michael isn't quite sure where he's going. In the 13 years that we've been together, he's only had to really stretch himself a very limited number of times. He's brilliant enough, and in good enough shape, and is a good enough father, that he coasts quite a bit. I think the plan, if I understand it, is to daily stretch in some area of his life and see where it takes him.
Most things in his life right now are "good enough" and we love that, but the question that begs an answer is where could he be if he did just 1% better each day. I can't wait to see where this journey takes him!
Amazing, that. It's like they pick up something after a decade.
It's easy to be good enough when the rest of the world sucks so hard. Otto and I both realized over the weekend that we're really fast at the stuff we do, and therefore (when it comes to me) It doesn't help the procrastination issue. It's hard to "apply yourself" when your crap smells better than most people's roses.
At this moment I have 8 post-its on my desk, full of notes of things I need to do but have put off. Goal for today is to get 'em all done and off the desk.
This is both busy and hard, I think.
And in yesterday's workout I did the rotating planks of death. Forgot to mention that earlier.
__________________ Megaloi -- My Blog
"Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers."
- Mignon McLaughlin
__________________ It all starts with the mind, but the thoughts, the intention aren't enough. Action needs to come next. Dream it, believe it, plan it, execute it, celebrate it. - Wendy
Boring work stuff, mainly client issues that needed to be addressed. And I've followed up on every single one today, although a few aren't resolved yet. It was a good exercise, as I noticed a pattern in these things that I'd been procrastinating on:
1) Some were obvious, like phone calls to plain nasty people I'd rather not waste a minute on.
2) Some were awkward, because I'd put them off so long it'd be hard to speak to that person.
3) Most were just normal work stuff, but because's it's tedious and list-based I just had no interest in it.
I am not a process/list/administrative guy. I hate that stuff. HATE. IT. I'm a builder, a creator. I take broken things and fix them. But once it's built, created or fixed, I"m over it and on to the next thing.
But for the past two years I've been managing the program that I built. And the building is over -- it's all in maintenance mode. And it drains me. So sometimes the only way to fix it is to dig in, admit it will suck, and get my hands dirty while tearing through the list.
At times my problem is that I self-analyze why I'm having trouble getting the list done. "Maybe I could motivate myself differently." No. "Maybe there's a better way to get this done". No. Just do it.
Admitting this type of work sucks for me was a good step. Releases me from the guilt of thinking I was actually supposed to enjoy days like today.
But now it's over and I'm lighter and better-prepped to get some bigger-picture things done tomorrow.
So obviously that's my one thing for today. But I'm gonna work out too, anyway.
__________________ Megaloi -- My Blog
"Every society honors its live conformists and its dead troublemakers."
- Mignon McLaughlin
I like this, pretty congruent with my own thoughts at the moment.
ha, just realised I said something very similar in your old log.
__________________
*****************************
Walk on
With hope in your heart
And You'll Never Walk Alone
*****************************
There's no free lunch, especially when it's served with special sauce (lostdog)
***************************** My Log - PC Plod
(If you say post-its out loud, it could be interpreted as "pose-tits").
Boobies and tits.... These words seem to follow you around. No wonder you have tasks left unfinished and require post-it notes to remind you to do them...
__________________
The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
Red's Power of One -- Babysteps to the Unknown
so there!
No wonder you have tasks left unfinished and require post-it notes to remind you to do them...
Linear Mode
