How has the first month of this year been for you?

In a previous article we presented action as the antidote to brain-lock --which is what happens when the quest for getting it 'just right' results in too many details that tangles your thinker into knots. Purposeful action unkinks the mess and jump-starts you into moving again.

On the other hand, today is about sharing the methods we use to to keep steady while still aiming for the best possible results...with a little side order of Zen thrown in. Ahem, here goes:


When you work on something that is vital to you, you and the work change each other. Do you recall the Chinese symbol for yin and yang? Imagine that going on in your life: you influence your work, your work influences you, both carry pieces of the other inside them. Finding the balance, the particular rhythm, is key, but sometimes that's hard to do because so many things get in the way.

What are the little things that have tripped you up as you were turning over a new leaf, and attempting to make things better for this year? Have you noticed any commonalities in the way they went off-kilter? What were the things that contributed to the mistakes, now that you think about it? Here are some of mine that I noticed after feeling the crash.

Attention
Specifically, misplaced attentions; I paid attention to the wrong things, or didn't pay enough to what was important for me to do. While I did attend to the priorities of each day, gleefully ticking off my To-Do list, I didn't factor in enough time for me to rest my body and my brain. The result: two bouts of runny nose and light fevers, and mental blockage at work, plus several delays on important personal projects.

Doing Too Much
Pushing myself to keep to an exercise schedule for real this time (on top of everything else I crammed into my days) I'm currently down with the cold. I did everything else but take care of myself. And I don't think I'm the only one prone to doing this. So many times we do things just to do them, and forget the reasons why. So yeah, starting on an exercise program is good, but running yourself into ill health because of it, not good.

Doing More, Not Doing Better
Ever got to the end of the month, look at your list and then wonder where all that time went? You were busy, you got things done, but then you look at what you wanted to happen, and one or two of the ones you really felt were important at the beginning of the month just...fell by the wayside and you sort of forgot, busy with the other stuff.

The devil really is in the details, so deal with the molehills before they become mountains. If that doesn't parse for you, think of it as a daily habit of sweeping pebbles out of the way before they grow to make an avalanche.



"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."   Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

What is left unsaid at this juncture is that you don't ever reach that point without a whole lot of chipping away at a whole lot of something. The other facet to this complex issue is not to add more stuff, but to take away the bad stuff bit by bit so more of the good stuff remains

• Minimize impact of the bad stuff by tackling it and removing it -- clutter carries its  own bad juju, when you look at it you just get tired.
• Dropping it like a rotten potato -- some things just aren't good after their natural lifespan -- a dead end job, moribund relationships, bad habits, dreams way past their prime... What are the things hanging around in your life or on the periphery of it that you know should have been dealt with long ago? Think of it as clearing out your life's pantry of expired items.
  
• Seeing it coming and making sure it doesn't reach you by getting out of its way, or getting it out of yours.

Ways You May Overreact.
You may try being more vigilant, but that carries with it its own toll -- so when plans meet reality and you feel forced to adjust, just let it go and focus on what you have, not what's not there . Go with what you've got. Moving with what  what you already have access to, or have in your hands.
Airplanes never do the straight-line thing, their on-board computers do millions of calculations and thousands of micro-adjustments to stay on course, and this is in essence what you have to do: Adjust and stay on course.

You may pull back too much, retarding your progress unnecessarily. Keep to a rhythm, be aware of the ebb and flow of your energy and attention levels in the day. You don't push-push-push, but you do keep moving, using slow steps, being in the moment and letting distractions fall by the wayside.

You may develop target blindness. Sometimes we get so fixated on finding the perfect circumstances or price point or bargain, we fail to recognize it when it's right in front of us because we already have a picture in our heads, and when reality doesn't match, reality loses out. You lose the real opportunity that's right there, and cling to the picture in your head, or the numbers on your wish list.

What You Can Do
Build in margins for error. Even if you don't make mistakes --and good on you -- you have enough time at the end of each activity to thinks ahead and prepare for the next one.
Schedule in breaks and rest periods. Take care of yourself. Rest when you're tired, eat when you're hungry. Take a walk.
Don't cling to the plan if the terrain changes. When an emergency throws you off track, you'll have to  adapt, right? Don't force yourself to stick to a plan if it's not working.