One of my biggest personal challenges is staying focused on what I can do right now instead of mentally disappearing into what-if’s of whatever big thing is going on.  I did a little better than usual this week but still gave way too much attention to a contract interview that left me having nightmares that they would offer me the job (they didn’t, thankfully!) The lesson there is that I did in fact waste time on something that left me no further ahead at the end of the week.

I did get a subscription list created and installed on the home page with the auto-email created that will send out a free gift (try it!).  While not a huge deal it’s critical to moving forward on e-books and other publishing goals. I also checked out a few possible retail venues which turned out not be good candidates, but that was balanced by getting positive responses from a couple of museum shops.

I do think this will be a busy year full of positive changes…

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It’s probably true – a lot of exciting, important things simply take a long time.  When we use this as an excuse though what we’re really saying is that we either don’t have enough time to achieve it or to enjoy it if we do.  Think back to when you were five or six and couldn’t imagine being as old as twenty. While the goal is important you need to find a way to enjoy the process as well – think about the difference between saying ‘I want to be a doctor’ and ‘I want to become a doctor’ – the latter may not make medical school go faster but I’ll bet it makes it more enjoyable. After all living takes a long time too!

Rather than simply give platitudes like ‘it’s all in your attitude’ I’d rather steer your attention to some creative thinking about how to make the process worthwhile.  For the person contemplating college in midlife who always hated school I’m guessing they never tried school on a computer and in their pj’s with a cup of cocoa.  It could make all the difference.  Or the person who wants to start a business but worries about how long it will take to be self-supporting. Are there ways to have a foot in some other income streams until the new one stabilizes? Not only will that make the process more fun but probably more successful too.

It is true though that if you keep putting it off it won’t come any faster…

Next week:  ‘I must not be good enough’

Technorati Tags: common excuses, wasting time

This excuse is almost like having a fear of losing momentum. While not everything relates to profit, the underlying excuse is ‘it won’t be worth it’ so why start?  There are two distinct categories to this, perhaps for you as well:

1) It’s really my brain saying you ‘should’ do this, want to do this, will be better for doing this when in fact my heart doesn’t want to do it at all.  In which case it isn’t so much an excuse as a message saying ‘stop! Don’t go there!’  which needs to be listened to.

2) I’m unclear what the outcome will look like and so it feels like stepping off a cliff without seeing what lies beneath.  I’m not sure what ‘it’ is so how can I possibly judge the value of the effort involved?  I’m trying to change my habit of thinking and rely more on the process and less on the goal.  Sometimes it doesn’t matter if a project gets finished or if a new skill ever gets applied.  Sometimes, the benefit is in the learning phase or even just investigating.  Have you ever researched on the web and found some fascinating site that is completely unrelated but which you never would have found otherwise?  Was it worth it?

Distinguishing between the two categories is difficult but generally speaking a quick intuition check will give a clear answer.  And as far as I know there’s no prize at the end for living life as efficiently as possible.

Next week: ‘I’m not strong enough’

Technorati Tags: common excuses, wasting time