On goals, the road to them, and life in between.
Thanks to everyone who entered for the chance to win this book. I’m pretty happy to be able to share the wealth with others. I hope that some of you decide to pick up a copy because it’s quite helpful as I’ve spent all week saying.
I calculated all the entries and through random.org picked one. Who won?
Congrats, Sam! You’ll receive your copy in the coming week.
One of the many things I found helpful in The Now Habit was The Unschedule. Fiore developed this over about 10 years on clients until he felt it was perfected and used it in his book. It’s a concept that will surprise many because you start by filling in your schedule with your non-work activities. Why? There are a few reasons: 1) to show you how busy you actually are with other things so that when you think “oh, I can do that later” the reality is is that there probably isn’t a later because you’re busy with other life activities; 2) often procrastinators isolate themselves from other people because they aren’t getting their work done. They live in a cycle of procrastination and unintended social punishment, which generally makes life miserable. Here’s the complete guide to how to make your own Unschedule (without all the background information which is actually very helpful):
In the spirit of us sharing a story of when we procrastinated and it was baaaaad I thought I’d share too. One time I was connecting with a donor to my organization. They were a sweet couple that I knew from Church. They had invited me to dinner. For whatever reason that I cannot remember, I had to call to reschedule. I was pretty nervous about rescheduling because it’s usually pretty tacky. So I put it off, which anyone knows is a really bad idea when it comes to giving people warning that you’re not going to be able to make the engagement. Then, like most scenarios with procrastination, I forgot about it. I get a call one evening and the kind lady asks if everything was OK in arriving to their place for dinner.
I had never canceled. I was busy at my other (apparently) more important arrangement.
I was beyond mortified. I saw her at church the following Sunday and I’m confidence her perspective of me had completely shattered. I asked to reschedule and she brushed it off, obviously no longer interested. It was bad. Really, really bad.
That, my friends, is only one example of ways I’ve let myself and others down because I just haven’t faced the facts that I was a procrastinator. I’m still a recovering procrastinator.
Now it’s your turn. Share your story in the comments and you’ll be entered to win a copy of The Now Habit! Too scared to share yours? Trust me, take a look at what some other people have written and you’ll feel less singled-out.
Here’s an excerpt from The Now Habit that I found enlightening.
“In his book Peak Performance, Charles Garfield tells us that the trajectory of the Apollo moon rocket was off course 90 percent of the time. By acknowledging the deviations from the expected path, the scientists were able to repeatedly make the necessary corrections and achieve an imperfect, but adequate, trajectory to the moon. They achieved a major breakthrough by sticking to the mission in spite of numerous setbacks.”
A year and a half ago I decided to face my problem with procrastination. As with a lot of things in my life, the first step is to read a book. I picked up a book on my Kobo called The Now Habit by Neil Fiore. It came well recommended by reviewers online so I gave it a shot. I was surprised at how insightful and helpful it was. It was like the author was in my head telling me things about myself that I didn’t even know about me. The book is pretty dense with information and I didn’t get very far before I put it down and started mulling over what he was saying and seeing if I could identify those things in my life too and make some changes.
I picked the book up again the other day and continued reading. Guys, this book is GOLD. This book is to procrastinators as Dr. Henry Cloud’s book Boundaries is for people pleasers: it’s transformational.
The author addresses things like fear, our negative self talk, taking adult responsibility for our choices and our lives. It’s fascinating and challenging.
I want you to benefit from it. I’m going to post a bit about the book this week as well as doing another giveaway.
The second post in my guest post series is by Beth Fisher. Beth and I used to be coworkers, though only really in organization name and never practically (unfortunately). Once we were roommates at a work conference and I was too scared to even say hi to her. You’ll see why soon, basically she’s just really cool. We only really became friends since we stopped working together and that has been entirely online. One day, I hold on to hope that we can be friends In Real Life. Beth blogs at Not With Ink. You can connect with her on twitter as @bethaf. Want to submit a post of your own? Click here for details.Early in 2010, I left my job (career) for the unknown. One of the factors in this decision was my acknowledgment that the arts are deeply meaningful to me, and that creating is more than just a hobby. I had no clue what to do with it, but I was finally ready to admit: I am an artist. Fast-forward six months, and I am working as a nanny to two lively boys. It takes a different type of energy than my last job, and there is plenty of brain space for thinking and dreaming…
1. Have an idea. Listen to it.
I’m not sure where it came from, but one day there was an idea in my mind. Poetography. Photography + Poetry. An art show of things I have written and captured. Instead of telling myself that this was crazy-talk, I let it sit in my heart and spin around in my thoughts. Instead of saying, “I can’t do that!” I asked, “What would make this possible?” Which led me to…
2. Research & plan.
Find out the facts. It’s easy to make decisions based on assumptions rather than fact. At least it is for me. But research showed that I actually had nearly 40 poems I was willing to show to others. And at least the same number of photographs. My costs would be around $400, and the perfect time for it would be my upcoming birthday (hint: if you want to run some sort of event and need a space larger than your living room, independent cafes are a great option to look into). Voila, I had my budget and the framework of a plan.
3. Involve your community.
As my plans came together, and I started telling people what I was hoping to do, something crazy happened; they got really excited and wanted to help out. I enlisted friends to read through & edit my poetry. I asked others for input on the photos. I had a couple friends willing to provide tasty treats…Everyone shared their enthusiasm for the idea. It’s easy to believe that you are living life alone, and at the end of the day, my choices are ultimately up to me, but I don’t do life in a vacuum.
Once your plan is in motion, if you’re anything like me, the rest will go like this:
4. Freak out. Some of these poems are about people who will be IN THE ROOM.
5. Do it anyway. It’s too late to back out now. 75 people have RSVP’d.
6. Have a great time, but make an embarrassing speech. “Thanks for coming tonight to see parts of myself that I don’t usually put on display…”
7. Go to karaoke. Karaoke makes everything better.
8. Be open to the next opportunity. You did the art show. You can do this, too.
9. Remember that change is gradual. I’m not a full-time artist. This didn’t change my exterior life that drastically. But it was one of the most courageous things I’ve done, and I am proud of myself for it. I’m learning to say YES more often than I say I CAN’T. And that is taking me places I can’t wait to go.
