Seems to be the story of my life. My bookshelves sag under the weight of all my “project” books. Projects that I wholly plan on finishing… someday. Languages that I want to learn, CSS skills that I have yet to acquire, PPC knowledge just waiting for me to be wowed by its possibilities… it’s all there, waiting to be gobbled up. I have lists of future “To Do’s”, business ideas, and dreams I’ve put on hold. I have three blog ideas on the back burner. It goes on…
My life is a whole series of good intentions, but I seem to lack the followthrough. I don’t understand this. I work 10 hours a day. That leaves 14 for me. Even allowing myself a generous 8 hours sleep (which I never get), I should have 6 hours left to do with what I want. 6 hours to study German, learn more about SEO, get my ass in gear about CSS, and build a whole goddamn blog network if I chose.
But I don’t. I am lazy and very naughty. Someone should spank me. (Any volunteers?) Heh. Just kidding. (Maybe.) But seriously, I guess it must be that I’m lazy. I come home and I’m wiped and I just don’t feel like working anymore. Shame on me. I did homework for approximately 14 years, completely against my will. Sad to think that the 8-year-old Erin was a harder worker than her 23-year-old counterpart.
And I know it’s not just me. So many of us do this. We all dream dreams, plan plans, and then fail to realize them. We’ve become apathetic, like life is just going to wait for us to get our butts in gear. But it doesn’t. Oh no, life actually passes us by pretty quickly. Opportunities come and go. And that’s a scary thought.
So I’ve been told that if I ask open-ended questions, I just may get more feedback. So here we go, gentle readers. My question to you is the following: why do we do this? Why do we dream big, but act small? Why don’t we squeeze every last drop of potential out of ourselves? [And come on, guys! Don't be lazy like me! Answer, please.]
I don’t have a solution, really. I guess it’s hard to have the solution when you haven’t even pinpointed the problem, exactly. But I try, you know. Baby step-by-baby step, I’m working towards my goals. I just wish I could move a hell of a lot faster.
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p.s. Writing this has depressed me even further about my sloth. Now I’m feeling all fiery and motivated and ready to work. By 5:30 PM though, I’ll be lazy again. Sigh.
p.p.s. I’d just like to mention that it was so cold this morning that I prayed to God to give me balls just so that I could freeze them off.
what is this [...] bs ? have you switched to partial feeds?
yeah my project list is ever growing and very few are actually being accomplished.
No, Danny, I haven’t switched to partial feeds. But I like gringuitica.com to be short & streamlined, so only the first part of the posts show… sorry.
Bah, you just described my way of living, keep adding “I want to do’s” but never get any done. Tho keeping a blog, I’ve been getting better at tackling projects and getting them done.
When we are younger our parents and the life children lead provides a level of structure that adult life doesn’t provide.
Beyond school work our mental energies as children were free to follow whatever paths our minds dreamt up. Now our mental energies get spent on doing what is required to survive in this workaday world. As adults we no longer have that enforced structure nor the support infrastructure it provided.
This has the benefit that we may choose our own paths. But the downside is that we may see more paths that we would like to explore then adult realities allow time for. The day job we maintain to pay for necessities and subsidize our dreams saps both time and energy that we would otherwise utilize chasing those dreams.
Laziness and sloth are not typically the reasons for the unfollowed dreams. It is far more likely that we are extremely creative and have more ideas for things to do then time or energy to do them. The best course is to follow the paths that look most intellectually delicious, take a taste, and follow those to their end.
Enjoy,
ELBunce
Maybe you suffer from procrastination like me -and many other bloggers too!
-.
This is some other piece of advice about procrastination.
Or simply itīs a question of time management.
Maybe….
You are so great, such good energy. Don’t “should” on yourself! You do what you do. We all have tons of stuff we think we want to do, but what you DO is the stuff that is important to you. All the rest of the stuff on the list is just… stuff. Allow yourself to weed.
Here’s a good way to weed: Make a schedule, stick to it.. What you actually get done or spend time doing is what is actually important to you. Let the other ideas ride along and empty them off as they get farther down with no action.
Self discipline is important, certainly. Following a schedule, even for a short time, teaches you much about self-discipline. One of the best tools I’ve found. Some of what needs weeding is what you are actually lazy about (like exercise… we all have that) and what you are really not interested in doing… There are only 24 hours in a day and you can’t work ‘em all.
Make lists - I love lists, got ‘em everywhere. But remember life is what happens while you are busy making other plans, making lists. God is laughing… laugh along.
Eh, don’t beat yourself up, because everyone has done that at least at some point in their life. It’s *a lot* easier to think things out in your head, and plan them, but then when the moment finally arrives, sometimes you find yourself forgetting exactly how it would go, or just simply don’t have the courage. (Depending on the situation, of course.) Anyhow, just continue to do what you are doing, and I’m sure you’ll be speaking German in no time, if you would let me talk in German on Skype the majority of the time.
Dorothy Thompson said:
“The only force that can overcome an idea and a faith is another and better idea and faith, positively and fearlessly upheld”
Tal vez algunas de tus ideas han sido sobrepasadas por otras mejores, como fue la idea de hacer este blog
My big plan for when I got in Costa Rica was to reduce the amount of work I do (for money) so I could increase the amount of work I do for private projects.
Only half of that came true lol. Oh well.
Tsk, what kind of person does things without finishing them? Unbelievable!
*attempts to kick 3GB “Unfinished Projects” directory under a very small file*