Your GET TO Guarantee: 9 Good-News Examples

I am incredibly behind in a number of things right now.

You know all those productivity articles I have written in the past? Well, you can quote them back to me unmercifully and laugh gleefully right now, at the thought of me falling off that proverbial work-hack wagon and scrambling behind it to get on my feet again… go on, I’ll wait for your laughter to subside. I deserve it. In fact, if you listen closely you’ll be able to tell I’m laughing right along with you, what the heck.

I can laugh with you, because of what I still get to do. I think of it as my Ka lā hiki ola Guarantee.

Here is the good news:

• My “incredibly behind” does not look anything like inactivity, apathy or complacency. I have lots to do, and lots I want to do. My situation is one of simple To-Do quantity versus personal bandwith right now (and both of those things are variable, not fixed).

• I am not bored. Can’t remember being bored since I was about 9 years old. Seriously.

• The person I am disappointing most right now is probably me. Goes to show you what great people my life is surrounded with and enriched by. Believe me, there are others I know I am disappointing (and I’m not thrilled about that), but they understand and have cut me some slack (and boy, am I ever happy about that.)

• That disappointment I have is more of the “oh dear, (sigh)” variety, and hardly any of the “my work habits really, truly suck” variety. A little secret: My habits are a bit sucky right now. A bigger, better secret: I have learned that getting down on myself is akin to biting the hand (and spirit) that feeds.

• I am producing stuff, and actually a lot of it. (Re-pitch: Have you been able to listen to our first VoiceThread yet? Steve, Joanna, Tim, Phil and Karen are there now too!)

• I am totally enchanted with my new hobby: Digital photography and engaging with the Flickr community. Hobbies are great: They make us feel more well-rounded, and like we are engaged with all of life and not just parts of it. You can still suffer from workaholic-like behavior even when your work is your personal Ho‘ohana like mine is. Hobbies help you be more normal versus obsessive or possessed.

• Business could be a lot better... same refrain you are probably hearing from a lot of coaches, trainers and consultants who go into automatic luxury status in their clients minds whenever the economy gets wobbly (ethically, I coach mine that we probably should be on hold as they take care of their basics - like employee paychecks). The good news with this one? All of a sudden, I can make time to do things I had on a wish list for 2012.

• Those productivity articles I wrote before? They are there in the archives waiting patiently for me to remember them, and when I do, they will be shiny and new all over again.

• When all I feel like doing is talking story with you here at the blog, I can, and I do. There is a lot that I HAVE to do, but there is even more that I GET to do.

GET to do is guaranteed in a way. Do you remember the very first thing I wanted you to know about Ka lā hiki ola?

You can CHOOSE to have the “dawning of a new day”
whenever you WANT to,
whenever you NEED to, and (this is important),
whenever you DECIDE to.

You GET to do that!

Whatever time it is right now, get a picture of the rising sun in your mind too. Your picture might take the form of Good News bullets like these I just wrote for myself, or they might be a real picture like this one… you gotta love yellow.

Photo Library: Ho‘ohana Publishing ©.
See my Flickr page for other CC-licensed photos.

Or it may be that you just look down at your own To Do List and realize that you’ve already done a lot of it, and just didn’t cross things out yet (that would be cool, huh!)

Another idea is to write a Stop Doing List (put that on your To Do List:)

Okay, better pull out those old productivity articles now. Guess I could get more done with them if I took this yoyo string off my hand now, you think?

Comments

[Joanna Young]

I have to confess Rosa that you enchant me totally when you're in talking story mood, which you seem to have been for the last few months, with twitter and flickr giving us the opportunity to see 'the full Rosa', including an irrepresible sense of humour, and a creative spirit that is a wonder to watch and share.

We spend far too much time beating ourselves up about things not done. I know I do, and it's totally unproductive. When I switch my brain to optimism I feel better and get through more things too!

Thanks for starting my Friday with a smile

Joanna

PS I've written something that I hope will make you smile when your Friday starts too

[Rosa Say]

What a nice thing to say Joanna, thank you! You have started my Friday with a smile too, one big enough to carry through to my entire weekend and beyond :)

I'm clicking over to your place now to see what you have written, for doing so is always another one of my "get to" guarantees of goodness!

[Ulla]

Rosa,
thanks for this wonderful article - I just needed it because a lot of the things you describe are true for me, too. "to-do-list versus personal bandwith" - that's perfect! You made up the rest of my saturday!

Ulla

[Rosa Say]

Good to hear Ulla! Aren't Saturdays the ultimate saving grace at times? Mine certainly are!