Lesson of the day! (for me)

Yet again I discoverd today that doing the tough stuff is in fact not so tough.

I, for one, am guilty of making mountains out of molehills, overanalysing possibilities and over preparing plans to deal with the endless possible consequences. The result - "paralysis by analysis" and procrastination.

Perhaps I am particularly hard to teach but I constantly have to relearn the lesson of

1. Pick the issue that needs to be dealt with.


2. Decide on a plan of action.


3. Schedule the issue into my day.


4. Address the issue and get it resolved.

Scheduling has generally made me much more effecient - vastly more so than preparing a general todo list. With my todo list, it was always overfull (impossible to get done in one day anyway) and of course you tend to focus on the tasks you like and enjoy leaving the others at the bottom of the list to carry over into the next day - the result (for me) nagging guilt and dis-satisfaction.

Scheduling and addressing the less pleasant tasks and doing them:

• Leaves you feeling fulfilled having completed the task.


• You frequently find that the task was not as hard or time consuming as you first thought.


• You often discover that the task was not that unpleasant anyway.


• Most importantly you learn how to deal with the particular issue and from learning comes growth and an ability to deal with the issue better the next time.