Commandments (T-Minus 306 Days)

I have a really annoying habit of putting stuff off until later.

I cannot tell you how many mornings my alarm has gone off at 5:30 and I have rationalized going back to sleep by telling myself I can always go to the gym after work only to realize midway through the day I don’t have time and there was a reason I had planned to go early.

I do the same thing at work, putting off a release or project until right before it’s due.

I pack the morning I leave for trips – for work and play – and therefore always end up overpacking and/or forgetting stuff. I have about seven hairbrushes from various parts of the country because of this.

And … I don’t write a blog entry when I first think about it because I want to write it through in my head first. Or because I think the idea is too inane to turn into a whole rambling piece. Or I don’t think anyone will care. Or maybe because I don’t care enough.

When I last wrote, it was all about rededicating to the original goal of finding my groove in 500 days. Not surprisingly, I have put it off for a large portion of that.

Inspiration was found, however, by reading Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project. She basically decided to spend a year consciously pursuing happiness by concentrating on one specific aspect of life — marriage, work, attitude, etc. — a month. Like me, she believes in lists, and attempted to reach this elevated state of happiness by adhering to resolutions.

Unlike me, Rubin has the essential basics for happiness down – loving husband, family and a home and career she loves. I see her quest as the icing on the cupcake of life. Maybe even the sprinkles too.

I don’t think I can boil down my goals into tasks able to be tackled in a month, but I do think cementing a strategy for tackling them is important. Plus, it’s an excuse to make another list.

And so … The 10 (+1) Commandments of Me, Myself & I: 

1. Do it now. Not later.
2. Get up with the alarm (or within a snooze or two).
3. Think long-term ... but don't overthink.
4. Simplify.
5. Recognize my own shadow.
6. Take 10 seconds.
7. And risks.
8. Home is the finish line.
9. Two wrongs do not make a right.
10. Believe in the sanctity of dreams.
    + 1 TNT. Dy-no-mite.

Explanations forthcoming.