Reflection to Simplify and Improve Your Life
All too often we get caught up in everything we need to do, how much there is to do, and when it needs to be completed by. To make matters worse, the more things that pile up, the more constrained our time to finish it all becomes. Sometimes it can seem like a continuously increasing pressure that is slowly building up and weighing down on you.
I recently read a few things that stuck with me and have tumbled around in my head for awhile now. I’ve started to take them to heart and use them throughout my day to keep everything in perspective. I have to say that it’s made a difference. It has allowed me to shift my focus to what I can get done now instead of worrying about what might not get done in the future. The fact is, by focusing on what we can do now, you tend to waste less time spinning your wheels about what you think you can’t do by some arbitrary deadline in the future.
One Day at a Time
If you haven’t taken time to check it out, Chad Fowler’s, The Passionate Programmer, is a great read that will leave you with many points to ponder in looking forward in both your life and career. One simple question that Chad refers back to (Better Than Yesterday) in pursuit of his goals is simply:
“Was today better than yesterday?”
By focusing on making today better than yesterday you free yourself to focus on bite size pieces of the projects and tasks at hand. No matter what you do and no matter how small the increment is, you’ve at least made progress. By being able to say you are farther along today than you were yesterday provides a feeling of success rather than failure. A continuous string of successes over time can build a large amount of momentum without feeling like you are taking on something insurmountable in the beginning.
As Dr. Leo Marvin says in What about Bob?:
“Baby Steps”
One Week at a Time
About the same time I was reading The Passionate Programmer, I came across Productive! Magazine and read an article by Alex Shalman titled Seven Questions That Will Change Your Life. The message delivered was basically to ask yourself a series of questions at the end of each week.
The 7 questions you should ask yourself on a weekly basis are:
1. What will I try to improve on next week?
2. What was I most proud of this week?
3. What was my biggest accomplishment this week?
4. What have I done to get closer to my life goals this week?
5. What was hard for me this week, and why?
6. What was my biggest waste of time this week?
7. What did I do this week that made me ashamed?
These 7 questions posed by Alex focuses you to reflect on whatever past time period you are considering and helps you understand how to move forward better in the future. A simple personal continuous learning cycle.
Enjoy the Present
I tend to take a lot of pride in the things I do. Too often I strive “to change the world” when I take on a project or task. It is a great thing to complete something and know you did your best to produce a product that is better than most out there but, it can tend to work against oneself. So for me at least, I have to take time to balance everything and back off where practical. It’s not always easy to do but, it is effective when facing many pending tasks and deadlines. Simply appreciating where you are in the present versus worrying about what may not get done in the future sets you up for success on a daily basis. This my friend leads to less stress, less worry, and more productivity.