Goals and my Subconscious Mind

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My excuse for being late. Gotta love Mickey, but what time is it?!

The funniest thing just happened. Last summer I wrote a bunch of blog entries as practice and with the thought in mind that if I actually went through with the blog idea, I would have some in reserve. Today I was going through the entries, trying to put them in some order and add categories, and I came upon an entry where I was doing the same thing–that is I was reviewing past entries.

On that day I saw a prior post where I mentioned that when I write down a goal, I almost always achieve it, though not necessarily on time. In that same post,  I had set a goal of making goals in 5 areas of my life within three weeks. (Yes, I actually made a goal to set goals!). The three weeks was past, but I decided to hurriedly write down 5 goals (thinking that again I would have achieved the goal, just late, as I chronically tend to be). I promptly forgot about the entry and the goals.

Now, today, I am reviewing the goals I set and find I have achieved or taken noticeable steps in all 5 areas! Amazing. Just by writing it down, I head in that direction, even though I have no conscious recall of even writing down the goal. (We will address my memory, or lack thereof another day!) At least my Subconscious Mind works!

PS It does not work to write down goals for other people. Each year, my husband gives me the goal of being on time. No progress at all. I blame the watch!

Affirmations and When We Get Rich

knock-off lego Titanicitty bitty iceberg
Knock-off LEGO Titanic
itty bitty iceberg

My six year old has lots of grand ideas. He is a builder and a planner. He is forever drawing elaborate plans of things that he wants to build with his dad. Our living area is always covered with train tracks, block or lego or duplo cities, trains, planes, rockets, boats and very often, the Titanic. He has spent countless hours thinking of ways he would have saved the Titanic. My favorite is to throw the anchor over to another iceberg and pull on the rope to turn the ship!

Anyway, when he proposes an idea, he is often told that it would be too expensive. So he has made a decision. We are going to be rich. He has not worked out the details yet, but that doesn’t seem to bother him. For the last several days, many of his conversations begin, “When we get rich, we are going to . . .” Every time I hear him, it makes me happy. I don’t know why. I probably should try and break the habit before he heads back to school from Christmas break, but I enjoy it so much I’m not sure I will. (This is why one should not have children when one is old enough to be a grandma!)

He is so positive, so sure. He is untroubled by the details, just knows it will happen. When we get rich. Is this an affirmation? Will he subconsciously start to take the steps to attain this goal? Will it work?

I choose to believe!

p.s. For all you people who think I am so material, well I am a little. Not a lot, just a little. I know I am rich in the ways that really count–family and friends, health and happiness. But, momma would love a new pair of shoes!

Perfect is the Enemy of the Good

I believe the headline quote is attributed to Voltaire. I am not sure who Voltaire is, nor what he (she?) is, but the observation is true and timeless. I have managed to lose countless hours in search of perfection or the “right” answer. (And trust me when I say clients are not interested in paying you for those countless hours!) Unless you are teaching simple addition, there is no right answer. We live in a world that is Fifty Shades of Grey (interesting, titillating and scary book by the way), every color of the rainbow, and all shades between the colors. To accomplish anything, one must quit muddling about looking for the one right answer and choose a “good enough” answer.

So what is an insecure person, looking for the absolute “right” answer, or the perfect execution of an action to do? How does the perfectionist know when they have a good enough answer?

I am not yet sure. However I am living proof of the adage that doing the same thing leads to the same results. My search for the one right answer though has cost me much. Not only money (one can only charge a client for so much research), but in confidence, satisfaction, relationships, just about everything.

This year I am resolved to do something different.

I will research, practice, plan less and do more. It is tempting to steal the Nike slogan: Just do it!, but I think when you have been so far on one side of the continuum, it might help to aim for the other side of the continuum in order land in the desired middle. So with that thought, my resolution for the first half 2013 is:

Average but Fast

I have not come up with my resolution for the remainder of 2013, but in the interest of being “Fast”, I am stopping here!

Happy New Year!

Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway

This goes against my favorite saying: “Go With Your Guts”, and really should be taken as a corollary. If what you want to do is most likely going to lead to something positive or fun (and not too negative), then go for it. But if you are fearful because its a bad idea or you risk bodily harm, listen to your guts. Ah, how to tell?

What I mean has more to do with the following quote and my resolve to get over my perfectionism and get things done:

“At its root, perfectionism isn’t really about a deep love of being meticulous. It’s about fear. Fear of making a mistake. Fear of disappointing others. Fear of failure. Fear of success.”
― Michael Law

This is my truth. I fear failure, no doubt. But I have failed enough times and lived enough years that I have learned to laugh (or at least poke fun) at my failures and I have realized that most people love you more when they know that you too have failed. I have realized that whether you want it to or not, failure will not kill you (I suppose this might not be true if you decided to fly without an airplane around you, but you know what I mean). Failure scares me, but I can handle that fear.

My biggest fear is success. Or at least Big Success. Because I would love to make lots of money, be respected and known, to be a leader. But I fear the consequences. I have never enjoyed the company of the “country club” folks; I love draft beer poured from a plastic pitcher with the sand volleyball folks. I want cute clothes from TJMaxx–not from expensive designer stores. I want to go to an all inclusive vacation at a resort that includes Jack Daniels, with my husband and my best friends–not own a beach house big enough for a village. I fear that wealth would change me. Change the people around me. Change what I appreciate. Change my children. I don’t want that.

So that’s the fear I wish to face this year. The fear of success!

Guess I am feeling optimistic today. ?

Giveaway iPhone 7 Plus

Happy New Year 2013

Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!

So we are off to an excellent start! We had a fun family night last night and it was not until 2:00 in the morning when I lay down with my daughter to help her fall asleep. I am not sure how soon she fell asleep, as I failed to even take off my glasses. At any rate my first sensation of New Year’s Day was waking to a warm feeling–pleasant until I realized that she had wet the bed! I got up and changed.

Then the dog let me know he needed out. It had snowed, and the snow was deeper than his clearance from the ground (about 4 inches). So rather than run out into the yard to do his business he stopped right there on the deck. I ran out, barefoot in my pj’s, and chased him off the deck. So now I was again wet, but this time very cold! And awake. Wide awake.

Gotta love it. It’s sure to be an adventurous year!

On the theory that different efforts produce different results and with the desire to improve my life, my motto for the year is:

“Different!”