Keep pushing on

So continuing my new-found drive to go just that little bit further, this morning I attended a work family sports day. Now, to provide a bit of context, the idea of 'giving up' a Saturday morning just to indulge in some random non-Olympic games with individuals I felt I'd had quite enough of Monday to Friday, thank you very much, had overwhelmed me with apathy for the last few weeks. I could be doing something so much better like staying in bed a bit longer, watching the chart rundown on MTV or just spend my time staring out of my living room window. And I don't have family to take to this thing anyway.

But last night I had a "try it, you might like it" epiphany and before I knew it I was at the pick up point at 9.15 am sharp to meet up with a group of people whose names I still can't remember. Over the next four hours or so we bonded, sweated, won, lost, laughed, ate and sweated some more. And I'm not embarrassed to say I actually enjoyed it, not least putting a human face to some of the robots in the Finance department. So I guess I've got to keep pushing on with this new approach.

The extra 5%

It's been a while since I've managed to find time to hit this blog. Or rather, I've managed to discover a whole host of genuine reasons and two-bit excuses that have halted my march towards finding and providing enlightenment.

I was just about to give the blog the old, "Well, I'm sure I'll find a bit of time at the weekend", when I remembered the 5% rule. Actually, it came to me earlier today while waiting for the lift as I escaped grey suit heaven to head home. But it's only now that I've realised it's actually quite easy to apply. In a nutshell, the principle is all about creating great things very slowly. It's all about seeing the value in small changes rather than an all-guns-blazing tussle with a gigantic life-changing challenge here and now - the likes of which quite frankly tend to send me running for the hills. Or at the very least, force my feet back onto the table and remote control back into my hand for a little while longer.

So this approach is about the slow and steady march in the right direction. Rome wasn't built in a day and all that. So what's that got to do with the blog? Well, today the approach was all about finding just 5% more effort (or 5% less TV time) to enable me to get writing again - which is a good thing. And, of course, the 5% approach gave me something to write about.

Making sure your 'but' looks good for all occasions

I woke up this morning and realised that I'd been pretty quiet on the blog front for a while. I've been fairly busy doing a bit of this, that and the other. Some of the stuff was quite tangible. Some of the stuff was just noise and fluff - distractions, really. So although I know I'm going to take another short soujourn away from the writing when I go on holiday in shortly, I thought I'd get back into the rhythm. Because that's what maintaining focus is partly about - getting in the rhythm. Plus, I like writing so I really should be finding fewer reasons for not to be doing it.

Anyway, I fell upon this comment earlier which is quite an interesting way of looking at the world of excuses:

"If you want to do something in life, there's no doubt that you'll find a way, no BUTs about it! If, on the other hand, you don't want to do something, you'll always find a reason not to. Instead of looking to avoid things, start looking for excuses to live life fully! All it really takes is a shift in attitude. Change your excuses."