Happy Sunday Everyone:
I was listening to a podcast while running Monday. It was Tim Ferriss interviewing David Allen, author of “Getting Things Done”. I’ve read the book before, the principals in the book are simple and incredibly helpful if you follow the plan. There are multiple concepts but I’d say the biggest simple reminder is that your brain is made for processing, not memory….so if you can get things out of your head, and on to paper, or some other format, you’re freeing up important space for new data/thoughts to come in. If you don’t, you continuously get side tracked with thoughts that come in to your head as reminders on things you should have done but didn’t i.e. book a plane ticket, buy toothpaste, call 4 diff people back, send 3 important emails, plan for a talk I’m doing, pay bills, get sonos fixed, clean closet etc….if I let those things roll through my head 10 times before doing any of them it can drive me crazy, it’s also at the root of procrastination. I’m cloudy on all of it, so none of it gets done, and I just keep loading other things in there to slow myself down further So as you might imagine, I just started reading the book again, reviewing his lessons/tactics, putting them into place, and already feeling a sense of relief and being more on top of my stuff.
Separate topic but all relatable, I had 3 situations this week that I took note of where people around me said, “might”, “try”, “maybe”. One of my team members said she “might try work out on Wednesday”, which is something incredibly important to her. One of my coaching students said they’re going to try to complete an assignment, something that would have been great for their business, and Jack, my son, said to me yesterday, “I might go to the gym”, something he needs to do to start getting his knee back in shape after surgery. Fast forward to this morning, the team member didn’t work out on Wednesday, the student didn’t do the assignment due Friday, and Jack didn’t go to the gym yesterday. I know this is not a new concept but it’s amazing how much we can set ourselves up for success or failure by the words we choose to use and the level of commitment behind them. Jack wasn’t in the mood to hear about it but my message to him yesterday was simply commit or don’t commit. It’s okay to say you’re not going to the gym, but make the decision and move on. When we use “might, try, maybe, should, could, hopefully, we will see, perhaps”….those words set you up to fail. I’m as guilty of it as anyone. “I should call that guy back”…NOPE, “I might wake up early” NOPE…..”I might try to make 50 calls today”…NOPE. Those words start the loop for procrastination and lack of commitment. When we say “I will”, or “I won’t”, it’s simple. It’s going to happen or it’s not. We honor “I will”, a lot more than “I might”.
Probably not the most exciting Sunday Thoughts but useful for me. We owe it to ourselves to set us up for success. We it to ourselves to not allow for self-induced sabotage tactics to get in the way of our success. Our confidence in ourselves continues to grow when we continuously show ourselves that we can execute on the commitments that we choose to make to ourselves. The opposite is also true when we treat our “word” to ourselves like it’s nothing.
Not sure if this is all making sense but I can tell you, my closet is now clean, I’ve gone through and thrown away 50% of my wardrobe (including a suit I’ve never worn), thoughts and projects are written down, brain is freeing up and I can literally feel the calm, and also the confidence. Throw in “will” and “won’t”, and minimize the negative filler words, and I know I’m on the right track to personal commitment to myself. My family/team/students are probably going to want to kill me over the next 30 days but I’m not letting anyone close to me get away with “try, “maybe”, or “should” moving forward.
Have a great rest of your Sunday.