Make a plan they say…
Make a plan they say, it’ll prevent you from failing, right? (Failing to plan is planning to fail?)
Well, no not exactly. This was more like “I made a plan and (Insert your belief here, be it God, Universe, Spirit, higher self) just laughed.
Here was my “plan” for the day:
5:30a- Alarm goes off, get up and run 4-5 miles
8:00a –Meeting with new potential client
10:00a- head to friend’s home to help with fitness plan
11a- home to work
Afternoon – errands
But instead, my day was this.
Missed my morning alarm,
Didn’t work out (no time in order to make my morning meeting)
Went to meeting only to find out that I had the appointment time wrong. I was an hour early. (this after I have already purchased my coffee, and had other commitments behind this one that I couldn’t just “wait”.)
All this by 8a! ☹
On any other day, and days that were not even that long ago, the events of the morning would have had me spinning out of control in a downward spiral of self-affliction and self-battering of how dumb I am, and I should be better prepared, and what a waste of time and inefficient I am, and that would lead to stupid, unworthy etc. My day would be shot, and I would be left feeling so low and would basically “give up” the idea of being productive and perhaps sit and watch TV or sit mindless scrolling socials with the intention of “escaping” the feeling of shame. (escaping or creating more shame really?)
Does this ring any “OMG, me too!” bells?
Instead of wasting the day away, I was able to shift my mind to shut off that train and shift gears into:
how else I can be productive with my day?
This is now an opportunity for me to do things differently.
I now make sure when I change my alarm that I hit the “save” button.
I reconfirm ALL appointments at least a day in advance.
I now view spending money as an ebb & flow. I am thoughtful about where I spend my money and know that by spending “old money” I am now available to receive more “new” money. (more on that another time).
I did get some much needed rest (when you sleep for 9 hours straight, you needed the rest),
I was jazzed up with the liquid motivation of some espresso
Ended up rescheduling the meeting for later that week, which means I got to support a local small business 2 times that week
Heard 2 of my favorite songs on the radio in the car on my way home
I was home with a little extra time to accomplish things that I did not do yesterday.
The benefits just kept adding up!
While this may seem easy, and for some people it is, it wasn’t always easy for me, and admittedly sometimes it’s still not always easy to this day. It has taken a lot of what they call “doing the work”, becoming aware of my thoughts and reprogramming my mind. Learning about “states of mind” and how to shift them, even when they are bad and shift on you like an indoor cat trying to escape out the back door! (can you see it? Full speed ahead, and then right before the cat reaches the door, “BOOM” closed.)
I did and YOU CAN learn to shut the door, essentially change the direction of the cat/train (whichever metaphor resonates louder to you) in moments.