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| One simple rule. |
I have had several rules over the years that have served me very well. One rule is that if I have a goal, I should never stop pursuing it. This rule has a kissing cousin that follows the same determination just replace “goal” with “habit.” It is my belief that once you turn away from a goal however briefly or take a break from the habit, then you have opened wide the probability that you will cease the pursuit or will falter in maintaining the habit. To not continue means I came up with a plausible excuse, and I will come up with more.
So a few weeks ago my computer hard drive flat lined (the black screen of doom). I sought immediate assistance from my local computer guru. She sent me to Best Buy Geeks when her skills at resuscitation failed to bring it back or recover my files.
The Geeks saved my files, and I purchased a new hard drive. I then located another operating system and tracked down the various programs I had loaded. All well and good.
But it took more than three weeks to pull this all together. Excuse number one: I can’t write a post and upload it if I don’t have my computer.
Medical issues of the family sort came up in three different versions. Excuse number two: I am so stressed waiting for results and imagining how bad this and that could get.
School took on another level of demand. Excuse number three: I have to get this grading done, plan for next week and coach my students for competition. I haven’t any time.
Lack of communication between siblings wreaked havoc on my decision-making apparatus (known as the brain to common folk). Excuse number four: My extended family is twisting me in knots.
And the list got longer as did the time since I last posted to my blog or I last wrote something for my new book.
My rule has been for the most part rarely tested. Never longer than a day ….. until now. I kept coming up with excuses and buying every last one of them.
The computer is fixed; medical issues are under treatment and improving by the day; communication is still lax, but I am not letting that stop me from dealing with what must be dealt with; and here I am writing a post about not writing posts because I let one excuse turn into many.
So new rule: No Excuses.
How do you keep yourself on track?