Day 87: Planning For Tomorrow Today

You know, I am really enjoying this journey I am on. After a pretty rough couple of months, things around here are finally shifting and starting to fall into place in a really good way. I am still not out of the clear, but at least I feel like I can breathe again. And consequently, the more things are falling into place, the more my living space seems to magically de-clutter itself. One seems to be a direct reflection of the other.

The process of bringing order to chaos has been painstakingly slow, but at least I can say that I am finally getting things under control. I am nowhere near seeing the light at the end of the tunnel yet, but at least it is not so dark anymore. I am reminded of a fridge magnet that I once had “The only way out is through”. And it is true; day by day it IS getting brighter.

So what is it that I am doing differently? I am taking the time to plan…and I follow through on it. I am doing what author Frank Bettger of “How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling” calls self-organization, except that he does it once a week and I do it every night. Every evening before I go to bed I make a new list of priorities of all the things I need to do for the following day, then I go over it like a plan of attack, and visualize getting it done. Apparently whatever you think of before you go to bed retains in your brain better, which would explain how I did so well on tests when I was younger when I only studied the night before. Either way, it seems to be working quite well. And since I am still in “damage control mode” I am only attending to things of immediacy first so that I don’t slip into the downward spiral of anxiety. That also means a lot of other important things don’t get done, but I have learned to be okay with that…there is only so much that I can get done in a day. No need for fretting about it either, as fretting only creates more stress and wastes precious energy that could be spent taking action somewhere else. If something doesn’t get done today, there is always tomorrow. Sometimes you just need to let go and trust that all will be ok in the end. If it is not ok, it is not the end.

So it is time now to work smarter not harder. As Frank Bettger writes, “It is surprising how much I can get done when I take enough time for planning, and it is perfectly amazing how little I get done without it.” Precisely Mr. Bettger, I couldn’t agree more.

Enjoy the following poem found in Mr. Bettger’s book “How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling”.

There may be nothing wrong with you

The way you live, the work you do,

But I can very plainly see

Exactly what is wrong with me.

It isn’t that I’m indolent

Or dodging duty by intent;

I work as hard as anyone,

And yet I get so little done,

The morning goes, the noon is here,

Before I know, the night is near,

And all around me, I regret

Are things I haven’t finished yet.

If I could just get organized!

I oftentimes have realized

Not all that matters is the man;

The man must also have a plan.

With you, there may be nothing wrong,

But here’s my trouble right along;

I do the things that don’t amount

To very much, of no account,

That really seem important though

And let a lot of matters go.

I nibble this, I nibble that,

But never finish what I’m at.

I work as hard as anyone,

And yet, I get so little done,

I’d do so much you’d be surprised,

If I could just get organized!

By Mrs. Douglas Malloch