Getting It Done

Do you ever feel as if you just aren’t getting anything done? “The hurrieder I go, the behinder I get.” Here are three simple steps I try to use to guide my work.

1. Just DO it.

Sometimes we just have to decide to go for it.

A “road warrior” stopped at a small town motel in the American Midwest. "How's business?" he asked the owner.

"Not very good," the tired looking man answered.

The customer nodded sympathetically. "Well, what's your next step? Do you think you’ll look for ways to get your name out there to build up business? Or are you thinking you may have to close?"

"Well," said the owner dryly, "I've never made enough in this motel to stick with it, but I've never lost enough to get out of it. I'm hoping to do one or the other this year."

All he has needed these years was to make a decision – one way or the other. Sometimes we just have to decide to do it.

2. Do it NOW.

One farmer decided to raise a few sheep. He bought a fine ewe which soon gave birth to two lambs. However, had no pen in which to keep his sheep and a wolf ate one of the lambs. The farmer remarked, "Well, I guess I'd rather have one fat lamb than two skinny ones" and decided to accept his fate and not build a fence this year.

A few days later the wolf killed and ate the second lamb. This time the farmer reflected, "I supposed it's all for the best. Now the ewe won't be bothered with them.” With no lambs left, he again chose to wait on building the fence.

A couple weeks later the ewe was eaten up and the farmer became more pensive. "I know it's all for the best, but I'll be darned if I can figure out how.”

I find peace in learning to accept what cannot be changed. But there is also wisdom in doing what needs to be done WHEN it needs to be done.

3. But do it RIGHT.

One poet put it like this:

"If a task is once begun, never leave until it's done.
Be the labor great or small, do it well or not at all."

I think a case can be made that not everything has to be done well all of the time. But more often I have to ask myself, “If I don't have time to do it right, when I will find time to do it over?”

I have a friend who likes to say, “Slow is fast.” What she means is that if I will slow down and do the thing right, I won’t have to redo it later. Slow is fast.

For me, it helps to just do it, do it now and try to do it right. And then maybe celebrate when it’s done.

--  Steve Goodier

Making Choices

Joseph Henry was an American scientist who served as the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. He used to tell a rather strange story about his childhood.

His grandmother, who raised him, once paid a cobbler to make him a pair of shoes. The man measured his feet and told Joseph that he could choose between two styles: a rounded toe or a square toe. Little Joseph couldn't decide. It seemed to be such a huge decision; after all, they would become his only pair of shoes for a long time. The cobbler allowed him to take a couple of days to make up his mind.

Day after day, Joseph went into the shop, sometimes three or four times a day! Each time he looked over the cobbler's shoes and tried to decide. The round-toed shoes were more practical, but the square toes looked more fashionable. He continued to procrastinate. He wanted to make up his mind, but he just couldn't decide!

Finally, one day he went into the shop and the cobbler handed him a parcel wrapped in brown paper. His new shoes! He raced home. He tore off the wrapping and found a beautiful pair of leather shoes - one with a rounded toe and the other with a square toe.

I can learn a lesson here...a lesson about decisions: if I don't make decisions myself, others will probably make them for me.

And if I choose poorly from time to time, that's okay, too. At least I won't have to wear shoes that don't match. Besides, I'll probably do better the next time.

-- Steve Goodier

Image: freeimages.com/abcdz2000