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I recently had a chance to interview Jeffrey Tang from the Art of Great Things, and the one thing that seemed to keep playing over and over in my head was that you should focus on what you can do today. We spend alot of time planning for the future, thinking about the future, and thinking about our goals. Sure, these are not bad, but each of those things requires doing what you can do
today.
- Today, I can’t grow a 100 foot tree, but I can plant the seeds and start watering them.
- Today I may not be able to manifest 1 million dollars, but i can visualize and affirm having 1 million dollars. I can even start by opening a savings account and putting in the the first dollar.
- Today, I may not be able to write a novel, but I can write the first sentence, first paragraph or even the first chapter.
- Today, I can’t just grow my blog to 1000 additional subscribers with the snap of my fingers, but I can write posts, guest posts, comment on blogs, and focus on everything that I have complete control over.
- Today I might not find the love of my life and get married, but I could start a conversation with a stranger that might eventually lead me there.
- Today, I can’t surf 15-20 foot waves, but I can put in the time, practice and work on building the courage that might eventually get me there.
- Today I can’t earn $5000.00 for a public speaking gig, but I can find a toastmasters club, volunteer, record my speeches and post them here on my blog.
Today you are planting the seeds of success and accomplishment that result in the fruition of everything you want. What can you work on today?
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{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Excellent reminder, Srinirao. I’m trying to plant my seeds now
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@Moon: Glad to see it. It’s always fascinating to see how seeds you plant today come to fruition several months from now. It’s like you just wake up one morning and you have a plant
I like the surf analogy about building up courage and skill to ride 15 foot waves. One of the great things about surfing is that the ocean is a teacher. She teaches humility and patience right off the bat. In order to be a successful surfer, you have to develop a lot of patience, however, patience can be bittersweet especially when you are in conditions that are not ideal. You have to start somewhere and start small. I remember arriving in Nosara, Costa Rica thinking “I’m not good enough to surf these waves, too big, too scary”. Within a week and a half, I was bombing 8-12 foot waves that could easily mangle my body but were the most memorable experiences of my life. It took a lot of patience to work at paddling harder, predicting where the waves are breaking, increasing the time I can hold my breathe, increasing the punishment my body could take on big sets, but mostly, learning how to put in the necessary time to see results. And the more I dedicated myself, the faster the results even though it took a lot of patience.
@Joseph: I really gotta get down there and surf. Yeah, I would say if anything that surfing has brought into my life, it’s patience. I’ve always been so eager to get everything I want as quickly as possible, but if anything it’s taught me to slow down and embrace the natural flow in which things occur. Sometimes we try to live life weeks and months at a time when it really should be one day at a time.
I like your approach of breaking down great tasks into manageable bites – or seeds. What a soft way to achieve great things!
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I thought it was really interesting how you started each can with what you can’t do. We must turn can’ts into can’s! Great examples Srinirao.
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@Ami: Most of our goals seem so much more daunting when they really are because we are so caught up in the end result. We don’t take it one step at a time.
@Alex: Yeah, it’s really about all the things we can do. I literally just woke up this morning and this was my idea for a post. Last night I was thinking, “Shi#$# , I have absolutely nothing for this week.” But, that proves the point. I was thinking about the whole week, instead of just what I could write in the moment.
Copy cat
Wow this is so true and its like you are talking to me. I think we are always saying I want to have this and do this, and we just say this in a future mentality. Instead we should be saying Okay today I am going to work on step 1 to get closer to that goal and tomorrow, well I will worry about tomorrow tomorrow, silly as that sounds that’s how we should be thinking because seriously we still don’t know what could happen today to even be worrying about tomorrow.
Srinivas I loved this post man!
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I enjoyed the Jeffrey Tang interview.
Does your area have a chapter of Social Media Club? If not, it may be worth investigating. We source experts on related topics and bring them in, sometimes for panels. Those of us on the founding board are naturally the go to for moderators and in a pinch as presenters. It forces us to be in front of the community and gives credibility in this nascent field.
Local connections may not seem as exciting as those high on the blogging ladder, but they do matter. In my online circle of acquaintances, writing a book is blase, everyone and their brother has a deal. When I pull myself out of the web and interact with real life friends, they are as excited as I am. I think what it comes down to, is despite our love of community on the web, we all really want to pull for the home team.
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Ugh, I wandered away from my original point. I brought up SMC as it’s a way to break into public speaking. I promise, I wasn’t milling around in left field for no reason.
@Wilson: Thanks for the comments
. I had fun writing this one. Lately I’m finding that I’m either writing really long posts or really short ones.
@Heather: I’m glad you liked the Jeffrey Tang interview. It was one of my personal favorites so far. I actually have reached out to our Social media club here in LA, but still a great suggestion since I now have much more credibility with the things that have been going with BlogcastFM. Thanks again for your ongoing support. I know you didn’t leave a comment for no reason
Hi Srinirao,
We cannot change what happened in the past and there is nothing we can do to change the future except focusing on the present. Great point!
Cheers,
Vincent
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thanks for the reminder
…I would just that with anything you do…do it totally…bring total awareness to whatever you are doing….in doing something totally you stay in the present…you can’t have an ambitious mind in the present…ambition and goals are always in the future….a constant struggle…a horizontal growth…grow in the present..this will be vertical growth…you will grow in awareness in consciousness…then goals that where never actually yours in the first place will fall off…and what remains will be what you really want to do…ambitions with meaning…..
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@Vincent: Interesting to see you here. You probably don’t know this, but I discovered Blog Mastermind because of you. Absolutely focusing on today is all we can really do.
@Ivan: Well said. Awareness is largely what drives us to be more present and move further with our goals.
Love this post, Srinivas! I agree with what you said that people tend to spend so much time on thinking about their future that it hampers them from moving toward their goal. If I may add, I think it’s important for a person to focus on the positive instead of the negatives. These negative thoughts usually stem from one’s past, or fears of what might happen in the future. As a result, an individual is caught in the worry cycle in which the constant worrying never ends. Consequently, their goals are sidetracked because their fears and worries overwhelm them. It’s important to focus on the now, as well as the person’s values, to be able to move towards his goal.
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This is so simple and powerful and I forget it constantly. My thoughts start working on much bigger stretches of time, but my actions can only ever be today. Thanks for a well-timed reminder Srinivas.
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