Strengthening/Weakening Decisions

I had a terrible weekend. Saturday night I was so depressed and lonely I encouraged the dog to sleep in my bed.

The cat too.

I hate cats normally.

Sunday wasn't as bad, more of a fall out from the night before. But I didn't get anything done.

One of the staples of simple.ology is the Power Praxes. This is a system of evaluating what makes you stronger and what makes you weaker. I'll talk more about the simple.ology part later, but about how I can relate that to my mental state now.

The basic idea is that you look at a decision and think: "Will this make me stronger or weaker?" It's simple. If it's something that makes you weaker, you don't do it. If it makes you stronger, you do.

Simple.

I realized this morning I can apply that to my emotional state as well. I can't say specifically what started my downturn Saturday night. But I know that I was feeling lonely. I have to start paying close attention to my emotions and whenever they start slipping, I have to ask myself, "What is making me feel this way, specifically?"

And then stop whatever it is.

I know it's not a perfect solution. It's like a weed. You know that unless you get the roots it's going to grow back. But I don't yet know how to get at the roots. They're encased in lead or something. So until I figure that out, I have to keep chopping at what I can get at.

The more I do practice this train of thought, the easier it will be the next time and the next time and the next time. Until eventually, I won't think twice about doing the things that make me stronger and cutting out the things that make me weaker.

It definitely isn't perfect, but they're steps that will lead me to perfection, however small they may be.

Baby steps!

Planning Makes Perfect: Productivity (3 of 5)

Fact: I'm lazy.

I've never had to work hard for what I want, so I don't really have much work ethic. Especially when it's something I'm not being directly paid for. I like seeing the fruits of my labor up front.

None of this patience baloney.

But that's something I have to change.

Now.

I need to learn use my efforts and hard work as payment while keeping the goal for the long run in focus.

To do this, I've started a program called Simple.ology. It's a forty day program designed to keep you on target for your goals. It's used by athletes, CEOs, anyone tyring to be more productive. The author, Mark Joyner, seems to know what he's doing too, with a number of #1 best sellers.

It's principles are based on building something brick by brick. Staying focused for an extended period of time, avoiding distractions, limiting your focus, and always progressing.

It's got daily video lessons, only about two to three minutes a piece. Most of them include an experiment to help prove the point (the most recent was stabbing a box with a knife and spoon to demonstrate the power of focused energy). After the lessons, you take a short quiz, and fill out a very brief questionnaire about what you learned. You're also encouraged to read the lesson (out loud if possible) and then listen to the lesson finally as an mp3. There is a very big emphasis on repetition, virtually taking each lesson 3 times a day. Which, due to the short length, isn't as bad as it may sound.

It also uses several programs to keep you on task: a desktop manager, it has a checklist, "dreamcatcher", "lockbox", and a "daily praxis" box; I'm not sure what the latter three are specifically used for yet, as I'm not that far in the daily lessons (designed to be done in about 15 minutes a day.) Also used is a task bar program, which I can neither use or uninstall for some reason, and a web page blocker to keep you on task while browsing, which is only available for internet explorer, so I don't use it either.

After being on the program for only a week, I'm already loving the results. I'm finally focusing on the things I want to accomplish, I'm setting goals, I'm planning for the future in ways that make me want to achieve my goals.

Having a checklist is awesome. It's always on my desktop and if I haven't completed something those empty check boxes just glare at me until I've done them. Checking stuff off is super rewarding in and of itself, it's like crack.

I can't wait to start the daily praxes, even though I'm not sure exactly what they are yet. According to some of the testimonials, it's the best part of the program.

The only complaint I've had so far is the peddling of follow up products in various emails. There are two other Simple.ology courses (this one is 101) that are not free, but are more specific. 102 is for businesses and making them profitable and 103 is for increasing and maintaining your energy. I may try them at some point in the future, but I'm loving the free one for now.

Again, I'm only a week in, so I haven't gotten to the real meat and potatoes of the course, but if it's anything like the first week I know it'll be great.

I know that if I continue to build productive habits and maintain the ones I build, I'll be well on my way to success.