The End in Sight

It’s 7:45 p.m. and I’m pooped, sitting on the couch under my favorite puffy throw watching Chronicle. They’re doing a fantastic show about lots of local restaurants and I want to go to each and every one. But, still, I’m on the couch, under the blanket. In the distance, out of the corner of my eye, I see a familiar site, although at this hour, it’s a bit fuzzy. It’s my neighbor Mattie. As dusk ends the day, she is making one more haul of leaves and winter debris, dragging a full tarp into the woods behind our homes that we share. Man, I think to myself, that woman has energy and not only that she has a vision, a goal and she goes about completing that goal every winter and spring. It’s remarkable to watch her. I say this because I get such inspiration to observe her daily action, of cleaning one small section of her one acre yard at a time. She doesn’t take on the whole yard at once. But, she is committed to completion. She commits to this task each year and spends about an hour at a time resolutely making progress. I love it, I’m impressed.

This same strategy is one we can all utilize to get things done. Identify your goal, connect with your vision, and take small, planned action steps on a regular basis to follow through to completion. I also like to imagine the feeling I will have when I follow through.

Instead, of this systematic approach, we can become ambushed by our overzealous approach and then become disenchanted with all the roadblocks that come up because we have too much on our plate. Has this happened to you? Then splat, we fall flat on our face. We recognize that familiar feeling of another failed venture, project, exercise program or personal commitment. Overwhelm and distraction runs more rampant through our lives than they ever did before and to me, that calls for an even stronger connection to a plan. A plan gives your brain space to breathe. It holds a place in your calendar that you can rely on. What do you want to get moving on in your life? Think of Mattie. Identify the BIG GOAL then take those reasonable small steps toward completion. WooHoo, it feels soooo good!