Life! It Life’s and We Gotta Flow (Grow) with It
I’m cold. Sitting with my blanket wrapped around me exposing only my head and hands (to write) is not helping. I want to go back to sleep.
At six o’clock this morning at alarm alert, I immediately got out of bed and on my knees to give God praise and thanks for the new day. I asked Him to let me live it for His glory. Afterwards I headed to the bathroom, did my usual routine, then came to my kitchen table, pumped and ready to go.
The first thing I do every morning when I sit here is read my Bible. Into the fourth chapter of today’s selection, the Sandman got on my back and I couldn’t shake him. I wanted to aim for 5-6 chapters but got four.
I should have stood up and moved about a bit at this point but didn’t. Instead I decided to move on to the next activity, copywork.
When I got to the table this morning, before reading my Bible, I turned on my laptop and signed in. It moves so slow and I wanted it to be ready and available by the time Bible reading was over.
I spend 20-30 minutes copying selections from Seth Godin’s website. I read a number of articles that recommend copywork to improve writing. Well whatta ya know, for reasons unbeknownst my laptop wouldn’t connect to the internet. (I’m still struggling to stay awake btw, and the black coffee I’m drinking ain’t helping…I want to keep going though).
It makes no sense I couldn’t connect because the internet was up and working for everything else. My internet provider’s app showed that the router was fine, there were no outages in my area, and the connection signal was strong to all my devices. I restarted the laptop even though I didn’t want to but alas, it wasn’t doing me any good.
In the meantime I did the copywork from my phone which wasn’t ideal. It only added to my sleep misery and I gave up at the last three minutes of the time I set.
I might take a short nap before attempting any more focused work on my schedule. In any event it could be worse. Despite the struggles to give my best today I don’t feel as bad as I would have in the past. I’d have thrown in the towel already, especially with writing which I’m not good at yet. In fact after the copywork fail, I probably wouldn’t even have attempted to write at all.
I wanted to get more done for sure and definitely to do it better than I have thus far. However, these days I’m choosing consistency over volume and even quality. I believe the more I show up the better I’ll get at overcoming obstacles when they arise and eventually output quantity and quality will improve. I don’t want to make a habit of accepting mediocre output from myself but with where I coming from and all the improvements I need to make to realize the success I want, I believe that consistency ought to be my priority right now.
In the vein of consistency over perfection I’m publishing this today with only minor edits. In the past I would be mortified to do this. Now I’m over giving in to self-doubt, fear of failure, and criticism. A life of quiet desperation is no longer for me. The cost is far to high.
Life is what it is and it won’t always go my way but that is no reason to give up. I choose to face it each day with determination, to show up and make the best of it. Having written goals, plans, and creating systems and process for bringing them life is a huge help in staying consistent. When life rears its ugly head to throw me off my game, having an established focus and strategies beforehand is helping me so much. Now the risk of being permanently stuck in chaos or at least for longer than I need to be is greatly reduced.
I thank God for helping me keep my head up in spite of struggles and not giving up as easy as I’ve done in the past.
Keep going people, don’t you dare give up. Life brings obstacles for sure but you can overcome them. I’m doing it by making God the priority in my life, setting goals and plans, then creating systems and processes that not only makes it easier to stay on track but makes the journey more enjoyable.
What are your strategies for sticking to your plans? I want to know. Please share. Thanks for reading.
