A Moment in My Life – Wednesday, January 6, 2021
Pressing the pause button yesterday was an excellent start to incorporating Mark’s way of life. I could’ve pushed through continuing to write this column until I finished, but doing so meant something else had to give. I tend towards the all-or-none mentality, but life doesn’t stop and wait for you meaning it’s up to me to balance my day.
Revamping our natural lifestyle habits is a huge undertaking that doesn’t happen overnight. It begins with a desire, a game plan, the right mindset, and baby steps. The very first step I added to my daily routine was the piecemeal method. For an all-or-none gal, this first step is a doozy taxing my beliefs at the core. It has to be done if I am going to make this work.
At first sight, the piecemeal method feels unproductive. How will I ever finish the task if I plant myself down to work on it for only a few minutes a day? Then, I remember reading advice on battling writer’s block where they suggested that if we tap away on the keyboard and fill one page a day, we would have a 365-page manuscript in a year. What a revelation that was!
It works. Back in the day, my coworker/friend, Ron, used to blow me away with this method. We had ten minutes between meetings, where I fretted over what to do since that’s not enough time to start anything. Ron proved me otherwise by sitting down at his desk, picking up the phone, and began calling a client making good use of his ten minutes as I squandered mine.
Unlike verbal me, Mark never said anything. He just did. Now, thinking back, Mark was the king of the piecemeal method in our home. He was the example of doing things right away and getting it over with. Like Ron, it didn’t matter how much or how little time he had to work with. Mark sat down and began working until he needed to stop. The next free moment he got, he resumed working, and eventually, he completed the task. The difference between his and my method was that he never had a backlog. On the other hand, I have a mound of backlog waiting for my attention at all times.
Considering that I am revamping my lifestyle as a whole, it would take me months to see the results from each area that I am overhauling if I did it all-or-none. That wouldn’t work because it’s like telling your lungs to hold off working until the heart is ready to perform its duty. Everything needs to function simultaneously to make it work. That also goes for my lifestyle changes where I need to contemplate the bigger picture and choose one small step from each area that I could implement immediately. Approaching the overhaul by the piecemeal method means I see small improvements in every area immediately. It’s incredible how even the teeniest improvement in all areas could perk up your spirit’s morale, and your inner team begins to look forward to the next step eagerly. Just a small change like the mere act of turning in earlier each night and making healthier food choices could improve the way your body and mind feel and function. Your productivity increases and you get more done, and that’s just the beginning. I’m out of time. We’ll get into more about this tomorrow.
