My Top 5 Wake-up Call
Okay, so when I posted “Give Your Top 5 Favorite Books Away” I couldn’t wait to bound upstairs pick out my five books and sit down to my desk with all five stacked high in accomplishment. Then I’d whip out my post-its and assign each book to the person I believed would most benefit from the book using my favorite blue pen… Ah yes, this was going to be good!
Hello, Wake Up Call
Doesn’t that sound like just about the greatest scenario, ever? Right, but that’s not what actually happened. I did bound upstairs. I did scour my shelves. But what I had neglected to recognize is that out of the approximately 100 books on my bookshelf, I’ve only actually completely read… maybe 15 of them. And of the 15, I did find my favorites, but I didn’t actually want to give them all away. Gah, blog post foiled! But wait…
Welcome, Opportunity
So, while my mission to save the world one book at a time, starting with my top 5, was a valiant one, it brought about another opportunity:
Finish what I start, or get rid of it.
Seriously, if you’ve started something and it actually didn’t capture you enough to complete, are you actually going to go back to it and give it another go? Not likely. Not likely at all.
Give Your Top 5 Books Away has now turned into “give away 5 of my books that I believe can enrich my friends/family/clients/colleagues lives.” Ah yes, that’s better.
This is also a great example of self-coaching. It’s perfectly valid to aim for a solid plan, as I did, and change it after realizing along the way that it’s not exactly what you’d intended. Especially if it’s going to reap a greater result! Why hold yourself to the goal itself? That’s not the point? That’s like equating a Porsche to happiness itself. The two don’t equate and the same is true of goals.
Goal setting is about getting the ball rolling toward what you want and from there, we move in and out of it, working out what works, identifying our willingness to follow through, managing challenges, and experiencing the rewards that come with a complete commitment.
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