Today's Challenge:
Today, let's take a step away from rational thought and dare to be bold. What's one thing you've always wanted to accomplish but have been afraid to pursue? Write it down. Also write down the obstacles in your way of reaching your goal. Finally, write down a tangible plan to overcome each obstacle.
The only thing left is to, you know, actually go make it happen. What are you waiting for?
Today's entry:
I was just about to get frustrated that this challenge sounded a bit too much like the other ones, and then I hit the last sentence. It sounds a bit odd, but "What are you waiting for?" has become a sort of mantra for me over the past couple of years.
I admit, it's not inspiring, and it's not going to be in a Nike commercial.
When I try to ply myself with inspirational mantras, it just feels like so much BS. The irony is that I'm a huge fan of positivism – I think cynicism has almost become a disease in our culture. We think it's smart to be cynical, but it's usually just lazy, in my experience, an excuse to beat down other people instead of facing why we're down on ourselves.
I react badly to positive mantras because I hear them in my own voice, and I guess I just don't believe myself. I found I needed something a bit tougher, and "What are you waiting for?" somehow struck the balance between being real without being cruel. I've spent a lot of time waiting and playing the If-Only game ("If only I had more money, more time, a more flexible schedule, a shorter commute, a turkey sandwich on rye..."), and it's never gotten me anywhere.
That was just my commentary on the question. You can imagine how long the answer is going to be. You might want to run while you still can.
I've made a commitment over the last year not to chase after new projects and new goals just to avoid facing the old ones. It's been tough, but I've turned around and looked back at the things I keep saying, over and over, that I want to do, but keep falling short on – the things that sit unfinished in the back of my mind. The weight of the unfinished can be a terrible burden, I've found.
So, I set out to check things off, even the little things like reading the books I meant to read or drinking the expensive tea I keep buying and never getting around to. It's going well – I've finished 23 books since January 1st, cleared out my tea collection, gotten back to exercising regularly, finished a lot of work projects, and taken on some new projects that were a bit of a stretch. I also launched this blog last fall.
There are a couple of big things still on the list, of course, but there's one that's been nagging at me this year. I'm doing great with my strength-training (did 200 push-ups in 11:40 last week, shooting for 10:00), but my running has been hit or miss. I've been shooting to get my 5K time back to my PR range (about 27:00), and I'm still struggling around 29:00.
Not making the number is one thing, but I know it's not a matter of doing my best and falling short. I'm not putting the work in, and I'm still making excuses.
There's no great mystery to what I need to do to make this happen. I need to just get back to the gym 3 days/week, instead of shooting for 3 and landing on 1-2. My day 4-2 commitment should help – I'm going to do my morning routine before checking email and getting sucked into the work day. Now that it's nice out, I need to get outside and run a bit – the treadmill gets old fast. I also need to sign up for a race, even if it's in the fall. Knowing I've got an upcoming race to run is always a big motivator, and I've been putting it off.
