Those things stuck at the bottom of your to-do list
#12 - I hate the cold
Hi there.
December’s here! Nature has announced its arrival in grand style with fanfare of misery. We all, here in the UK, started the week trudging through snow and I ended the week with further meetings with the cold. On Saturday, I played a hockey game for SCHC 7s up at Lichfield. It seemed freezingly cold, purely because of the gusts of wind that kept at it throughout the match, leaving my right ungloved hand curled up like a touch-me-not leaf. To ‘add salt to the wounds', the loss of 5-1 against a table-topping team made matters worse. Now, I’ve just walked in after putting the Christmas lights up outside and the cold continues to bite at my fingers. Oh well, at least the joyful Christmas is nearly here.
The highlight of the week: not sure to be honest. It’s been a relatively uneventful week. Maybe the fact that I’m now done with Grade 5 Piano work which I’ve been doing for the longest time.
This week, I’d like to talk about one of my favourite subjects: planning and organisation.
Sir David Attenborough is one of the most loved members of British television. His countless documentaries have formed a part of nearly all Britons’ childhoods with his age not being a barrier to his avidity and fascination with nature. Of late, his role has turned into one of a respected well-heard voice, banging for action on the greatest threat to his beloved planet, climate change. I even wrote a letter to him, on behalf of the school, and got a reply from the man itself!
Anyways, I mustn’t “waffle”. In January, the BBC released ‘A Perfect Planet’, a 5-part documentary exploring the forces that make our breathtaking planet uniquely perfect. I was instantly hooked by the extraordinary quality of the 4K shot images and videos and the absorbing tales and processes Attenborough was narrating. I do highly recommend you give it a watch. I noticed that I had it available to watch (on iPlayer) until the end of the year and thought to myself, “I’ve got time to watch it slowly.”
And here I am, with mere weeks to go for the end of 2021, still stuck on Episode 2. As I sat down to finish Episode 1 on Friday, I couldn’t help but laugh at myself at how busy I’d become that I couldn’t even watch the documentary. Or rather how I’d forgotten that I’d needed to watch the series.
But it reminded me of an idea I’d heard in the past - later never comes. Sounds simple but can be turned into a powerful concept.
We all have thousands of things that need our attention, time and effort. So, we often find ourselves in a bid to prioritise, put things to do ‘later’. But the issue with ‘later’ is that it isn’t specific. It isn’t time-bound. When is ‘later’? This evening? The weekend? When I have a day off/extended holiday? Next month? Next year?
I’ve found this so many times in my, thus far, short lifetime. Even this week, I had a meeting about a competition. I meant to email the organisers after the previous meeting…which took place at the start of October! But I just never got round to doing it.
Conversely, I had to fill in a form to register myself onto the England Hockey system. If I didn’t, I might not be able to play in the future. When that popped into my head, I ‘quick capture’d it and wrote it down to do at the weekend. And it did happen, yesterday, when I found some spare time. I could’ve been even more precise with when, on which day.
The concluding sentence is when you have something that needs doing but not immediately, take an extra few seconds to a minute to decide “Well, when does it need to be done by?”. Once that’s been determined, write it down, set up a reminder, do something that will make sure it is done at the said time. It will save you from rueing and regretting your past self for missing a deadline or being too late for something. And remember, don’t say later because later never comes.
Book of the week 📖
I have finally finished my crawl through Think Like A Monk. It’s a very self-helpy type book with lots of good exercises and mental models that can be used in nearly all parts of life.
I’ve now started the autobiography of the delightful late Captain Sir Tom Moore, “Tomorrow Will Be A Good Day”.
Podcast of the week🎙️
The Lazy Genius Podcast: How to Get Stuff Done When You Don’t Feel Like It
Linking to the Ray of Sunlight from this week, Kendra Adachi sets out a useful system.
Article of the week📰
The gap between ‘have to’ and ‘get to’
This one came to my head (a lot of things do) when a friend and reader of the blog, Viraj, was grumbling about having to clean up after Keyboard Ensemble every week. I’ve found this concept a helpful reminder when I am conscious enough to realise my error in perception.
Quote of the week💬
Fear is not your enemy. It is a compass pointing you to the areas where you need to grow. - Steve Pavlina
Go out there and conquer your fears. And if you want to do it later…when!?
Adi
P.S. I’ll report back next time with my mock results