Thoughts from the Shower...

     So I was in the shower this morning, you know, where I get all my greatest ideas, and I wondered if maybe I was concentrating too much on what I'm not doing. Maybe I'm not giving myself enough credit for what I am doing.

    This is the time of year when we make "New Year's Resolutions."  A list of things that we will strive to do in the New Year. This in essence is a good idea, gives us goals for our lives, right? I wonder though if we aren't just setting ourselves up for failure.  If you think about it, what you are really saying is, "I wasn't really good at doing (blank) this year, so I am making a promise to do it in the next year." 

     Some where around 97% of New Year's Resolutions won't be kept...

     I think it's time to talk about "goals" for our shared "fishing expedition."  The reason resolutions often times don't work is that we don't know how to set goals for what we accomplish. One of the most popular resolutions is "I am going to work out everyday."  Nice thought.  The gym is packed in January, but by mid-February to March, if you are someone that goes to the gym a lot, you can see the drop off of resolutions being kept.  Life gets in the way sometimes.  Health, work, kids, etc; we can't always make it to the gym.  We get frustrated and give up, where as, maybe if the resolution was, "I am going to work out one to three times a week," we might make our goal and maybe even exceed it some weeks.

     We need to measure our progress in smaller intervals and not focus on these large, unattainable resolutions.  We need to feel that we can eventually keep moving forward even if we find ourselves stopped dead in our tracks for a few days or weeks.

     So, back to my shower...Much of this blog has been trying to find my way to the purpose for my life, but also much of this blog has focused on maybe what I'm not doing.  While I may realize what I need to do to get back on the path, I'm not focusing on the productive things I have done...

      ...Like actually starting a blog...

     No...I don't have a book...but I do have a blog.  I also do have a book started.  I've been singing more this year in addition to, everyone's favorite resolutions, working out.  My voice and my body are not in the best shape possible, but I am seeing improvement.

     There is a link going around Facebook that I even found emailed to me by my friend Beth.  It's a link to a blog entitled "30 Things To Stop Doing To Yourself."  If you'd like to read it, you can right here: http://www.marcandangel.com/2011/12/11/30-things-to-stop-doing-to-yourself/ .  The blog starts out, "As Maria Robinson once said, 'Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.'" My point today exactly.

     None of us really need New Year's Resolutions to start seeking out and acting on the plan for your lives. What's that Nike shoe slogan?  "Just Do It!"  Remember though that doing it requires a process of tiny attainable goals giving us more success and less frustration on our way to finding the ultimate and most exquisite "Starfish" possible...

    ...New Year's Resolution:  shower more...

    ...Apparently that's where most of my positive thoughts come from...


Happy New Year and Fishing!

--Red     

Focusing on the task at hand...

     I haven't written anything since October. So much for putting one foot in front of the other or discovering my passion.


     It's not that I haven't been thinking about the purpose for my life or taking little steps to accomplish my goal. I have...

     The problem is something entirely different.


     I think the doctors missed an opportunity for diagnosis when telling my parents my brother had hyperactivity. I often times wonder, since coming from the same gene pool if I don't have a dose of that myself. I have an extreme inability to concentrate. Watch out if a butterfly goes by or I see something shiny...I'm gone!

     I'm amazed I got this far in life...truly...  I don't know how I passed college or hold down a job.  Well, okay...I actually do know how I hold down a job.  I take little "brain breaks" as I call them.  If I find myself unable to focus, I look at Facebook for like a minute or two, and then my mind is clear enough to go back to whatever the task is at hand.  On one particularly hard day, I noticed I commented on a friend's status once every hour.  Somehow it works for me.  It's kind of like how I get all my best ideas in the shower.  I'm not thinking about anything.  My brain works way too fast some times for my own good.  Which could lead me tot he next problem with my focus....

     I really want to do a lot of things.  I'm into and good at a lot of things.  It's hard to start on one thing because I want to be doing something else I like just as much.  There just isn't enough time in the day for everything I want to do.  My friend Karah does tons of stuff.  I always tease her because I don't think she sleeps. Deep down I probably sort of envy her energy and lack of sleep.  I can't do that.  I'm a eight to nine hour a night kind of person. 

     So I guess that means I have to choose.  This has probably been the problem all along.  Get rid of the things that I am not as passionate about as others so I have the time to focus on those few things I really should be spending my time on and excelling at.   Then when hyperactivity strikes, I guess there are still my Facebook "brain breaks."  Now the questions is how do I harness the fleeting thoughts and action items that just come to me randomly when I'm in the shower, sitting in church, hanging out with friends, etc, without always toting around a notebook...wait...Facebook...I got it...

....There's an app for that...

Happy Fishing!

--Red

PS - Most of this blog was done using the Blogger app for iphone.