Put First Things First

Thoughts on 117 days of quarantine. 

Daniel is attending several meetings each day that overlaps one with another leaving no room to eat or get a break. Today his day began at 8:a.m. and finished with meetings up until 10:45 p.m. A friend posted this message on her blog that could not have come at the most perfect moment. 

"I try to take one day at a time, but lately several days have attacked me at once. (Cute) Taking one thing at a time feels impossible most days.  Life doesn’t throw things at you one at a time with a nice little time delay in between each item…oh, no…it comes at you like an automatic tennis ball serving machine on crack!  Those balls are rapid firing out in every direction as if the machine is possessed by some evil spirit that can’t wait to make your life as miserable as possible!  And there you are running all over the tennis court taking swings as fast as you can all the while being pelted by these balls coming at you from every direction.  Sure you successfully hit a few balls back over the net, but mostly you just feel all bruised up in black and blue welts from being pelted so many times!

So how do you stop the possessed rapid fire serving machine from spitting out so many balls at once in every direction?  Let’s look at a few ways we can do that:

Start by removing any of the balls from ever entering the machine in the first place.  Take out the balls that really weren’t that important to have in there to being with.  Identify them, pull them out of the basket and throw them off the court where they never have to hit you again.

Next look at each of the remaining balls and figure out which you could possibly give to another person to add to their serving basket to handle for you.  Are some of the balls less important for you personally to handle?  Could someone else just as easily take care of it for you? Maybe they won’t handle exactly the way that you would handle it, but could their handling it still be good enough to get the outcome needed?  If so then get it out of your basket and give it to someone else!

Now look at the remaining balls and ask yourself “Are these the balls I can’t live without in my basket” If they are then keep them.  if they aren’t then reevaluate what it would take to change them for new balls and start figuring out how to swap them out for the balls that matter most to you to have in your basket.

Once you have done all of that turn the machine on with a smile and say “BRING IT!”  Then run like crazy, bounce all over that court, and do the best you can to hit those balls back over that net!” 

I remember years ago listening to Steven Covey’s seven habits.  Habit three was about putting first things first! He suggested to organize my day and execute around priorities or those things that matter most. Easier said than done, to that I add my favorite line, take one day at a time. 

Con amor,

Vero