Why Does It Hurt?

Oliver: “Dad, my tummy hurts.”

Me: “You should eat some breakfast”.

Oliver: “I don’t want to eat- my tummy hurts!”

Me: “It hurts because you’re hungry.”

Oliver: “No, Dad… you just don’t understand.”

How many of our roadblocks are created by our own ideals?

It perplexes me how the projects that bring me the greatest sense of fulfillment are often the projects I procrastinate the most. Do you know what I mean? It’s like something in my head says, “you don’t really have the energy to launch into this right now“, or “wait until you are inspired- then it will be better“, or “I’m not going to start that right now, because I might not be able to finish it today“.

But what if I had? What if, six months ago, I started a series of micro steps and stuck with them, little by little? What if I sat down each time with the intention of “just writing a bridge for that song fragment” or “just entering in this stack of receipts from last month.“

In my life, I’m finding that the key to productivity is MOMENTUM. The momentum I need is often found just beyond the mountain called COMMITMENT.

Excuse the simplicity of this point, but the more than half the battle to accomplishing a project is starting the project. Remember, the Israelite priests had to put their feet into a flood-staged Jordan River before God allowed them to cross into the Promised Land. (Joshua 3:16). They could have just as easily stayed, yearning for the Promised Land.

So maybe the equation looks like this:

[commitment to bite-sized task] + progress = momentum to accomplishment.

How about you? ck