One of my favorite “thinkers” out there is Seth Godin. He’s written 18 or 19 books by now. And I’m going to share (in its entirety) one of his recent blogs (he blogs a lot, way more than me. Probably daily. But his blogs are usually pretty short. Heh.).
Seth says:
“The short-term stuff is pretty easy to do well. Respond to incoming. Check it off your list. Next!
The long-term stuff, on the other hand, is so easy to postpone, because tomorrow always sounds promising. And so we might hesitate to define the next project, or look for a new job, or visualize something that breaks what we’re already used to.
Two thoughts:
a. Keep them separate. The best way to avoid long-term work is to be exposed to juicy short-term urgencies.
b. Hesitate before spending your most alert and dedicated work time on the short-term tasks.
Day trading might be fun, but we can do better.”
It’s been my assertion for a very long time that we – you and I – tend to focus on the urgent at the expense of the important. We seem to thrive on juicy, short-term urgencies – the “day trading” Seth talks about. These short-term urgencies fill up our days, light up our lives, and put a particularly familiar glint of crazy in our eyes.
“Something to DOOOOOO,” we cry with wild abandon when an urgent thing appears. “I shall attack this urgent thing head on because I feel some measure of surety that I can get it done. It doesn’t feel too risky and when it’s over I can crow about how busy and pressure-filled my day. That’s how I earn my trophy, right?”
Hmmmm…how does it feel to think about your days, weeks, and months of living like that? Just moving from noisy urgent thing, to noisy urgent thing, ignoring the big, quiet important stuff?
Short-term = urgent, less risky, “out of your control,” have to do it now, externally driven, decided for you
Long-term = goal-oriented, you set milestones and deadlines, high risk, “you control it,” internally driven, you choose
What if, instead, you could spend your most alert and focused time on one long-term project? Something that could revolutionize your life, your business, or even your mind?
How would that feel? Honestly, take a minute and feel into it.
How would it feel?
Would you be willing to focus on one long(ish)-term project?
Here’s how I can help:
- Join my small group of 10 people
- Pick one project, a new focus, or break in your boring routine
- Engage in real conversation with me and other participants via live video conferencing
- Participate in twice monthly check-ins
- Dive into group accountability and brainstorming
- Engage with tools and suggestions for staying organized and on track
- Receive personal coaching during a private 30-minute session with me
- Commit to a minimum 3-month time frame(September – November)
I’m making this small group program SUPER affordable at $100/month.
Join me – let’s get some stuff DONE! We begin September 8th at Noon EST.
Make some room,
Angie Mattson Stegall