11 Feb 2018 Will I Make The Time And Ask For Help?

Will I Make The Time And Ask For Help?

I don’t have the time.  I will start tomorrow. Or usually in November I push it off to a New Year resolution because you know it the holiday time of the year. How often I used these excuses to limit myself. Let’s look at time. For an overall view point, I have a chart on the wall with 52 weeks across the top and my birth year for the next row, and 79 more. Each week I fill a block.

This is a visual way that shows me that if I live to 80 years old, this is how many weeks I left.  I have to say that there is a lot of black in that chart.

Well let’s look at the micro of just one day. If I wrote down every activity I did and for how long, even if it is just one day I will find I have a lot of time to do what I want.  Now I know my case is different than someone else’s. If you have young children or are a single parent, I understand that the demands of your time are a lot greater.  Also, the energy you expend to be a parent is much bigger. You may only be able to find ten or fifteen minutes a day just for you. You need that time no matter how short to expend on you.

I had a personal trainer who said he didn’t care if I only improve 2mm in two years on some exercise like pull-ups. The point is for progress however small the progress is.

In feudal japan that learning archery spent the first two years just pulling the bow back without an arrow.  It was to instruct discipline and take a long view on progress.

Next limiting factor was when I would say I will start something tomorrow. I can look back many times when I did this. I mustn’t really wanted it if I put it off until tomorrow.  Tomorrow came and I still said “well I am busy today but tomorrow.” You can guess what happened next.

I talk a lot to myself.  I say I am going to do this and I am going to do that. I found that just saying things to myself was not enough. I have to at least write down what I am going to do. Then I need to tell some people who will hold me accountable. Each day I use to strive to have the self-discipline or will power to deal with things on my own. I didn’t want help. I didn’t think I needed help. Asking for help, even if the help was just accountability was looked at as a weakness. I am “successful.”  Why do I need help? This way of thinking was a cancer in me.  I was so concerned about being judged that if I failed to meet to a goal.

Finally, after many years I realized that the futility of doing the same thing over and over with the same results. I know I have the time to achieve anything. I know that small actions today are better than bigger actions tomorrow. I know that doing something by myself is a recipe for failure. I know finding that group of people that help inspire, push, motivate and believe in me it critical. I have that group.

The more I open up the more I will succeed. I look at that chart on the wall and I smile. It doesn’t show what I didn’t do but what I will do.