There are a lot of mottoes and slogans like “Carpe Diem” and “the early bird gets the worm” but no one puts it as succinctly and bluntly as Nike’s longtime slogan: “Just Do It”.
I think this is going to be my new motto since I tend to struggle with being consistently productive. I’m a great one at making lists and goals and schedules, but it’s a whole other thing to actually stick to them. It’s not a matter of being too busy, it’s just a matter of…just not doing it.
It’s not usually the pressing things; those get done right away since they need to. I prepare for my classes and pay my bills, but the larger, more long term things often get put off.
As an example, I have an elderly relative whom I write letters to from time to time. She is probably the last person I know who doesn’t have Internet access. However, I haven’t written to her for months. I’ve thought about her a lot, but haven’t written. How long does it take to write a letter? 5-10 minutes, at the most. So, why don’t I just do it?
The same is with submitting stories to literary magazines. It’s something I want to do and is part of my (hopefully) future career, but I haven’t been as proactive as I’d like to be. I’ve submitted some, but not nearly as many as I could have by now.
So what’s the answer? I’ve been trying to be very disciplined in how much time I spend on time wasters like games (read Minecraft) and online videos and I’m trying to make small goals each day.
What do you do to make sure you get the things done that you need to?
The Green-Walled Tower 