Score
Ahh, the “to do” list. Whether its on a napkin in your wallet or formulating in your mind as you commute to work, it’s constantly nagging at you like the second mother you never needed. There are always a few things that keep getting repeated on every list you write, the bigger picture things like going to graduate school, saving money for that big trip to Europe that involves quitting your comfortable job, or anything else that requires a little risk, a little faith in yourself. I call those long term goals, the place you see yourself in a year, or maybe 10 years, but these goals require you to take steps now. So start. What are you waiting for? Write that personal statement for your grad school applications. Tell your boss you’re quitting in a month. It’s so simple, right? But you can’t. For some reason, you can’t take one tiny step forward. You feel a wall in front you, keeping you in that same very place you’ve been in for months, or maybe years.
There are a few “go-getters” that have no problem with motivation, but for the rest of us there is another way. I look at my life as a series of phases. Every small achievement is another obstacle that I have overcome. They can be anything, literally. Organize your living room. Join a belly dancing class. Start and finish a crossword puzzle. Read that book you borrowed from your friend last spring. These tasks can be broken down one more level, I call these short term goals. Before attacking a large task like rearranging your apartment, start by putting up that shelf that has been collecting dust in your living room. If you join a series of dance classes, look at each completed class as a mini hurdle you’ve leaped over. That 900 page book will seem a little shorter when you set a goal of reading 1 or 2 chapters a day. Think about all the time you’ve spent just thinking about getting these things done. Give yourself the time you deserve to actually do them.
I choose yoga. I spend 90 minutes in a 104 degree room to purge all the negative energy that has accumulated over the week. I start with just getting to class. No matter what is going on that Saturday afternoon, I remember I made a promise to myself. Excuses running through my mind, I make my way to the studio. As soon as I walk in, I set up my mat in front of a floor to ceiling mirror. For an hour an a half I get to focus purely on myself, isolated from my cell phone, friends, family and anything else that occupies my daily life. My eyes are open so I stay present in the room and acknowledge myself in that large scale mirror. You don’t realize how hard it is to just look at yourself, in to your own eyes, until you are forced to. As class progresses, my heart pumps so hard, I swear everyone else in the room can hear it. Sweat drips off my arms and legs like icicles slowly melting in the bright sun. My body is relaxing, the stress frozen in my stiff limbs is thawing. I will feel, more than once, like I want to give up. Before I know it, it’s over. For a moment, my head is clear. My own short term goal has been achieved, and I feel like I can conquer the world. One micro monkey has jumped off my back, and I can stand a little taller. I choose something physical because the next morning, my sore muscles remind me of what I have accomplished. Score! That’s one more for me, and I’m ready for the next goal.
All these short term goals help you remember that this life, is yours. You command it, it does not command you. That person that you want to be and the things you talk about doing are not BS. All those things are significant, and you can choose to achieve them. As puma said before, become a “do-er.” You may be doing something right now that you can classify as a short term goal. Finish it.
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