I took a year off of projects last year, reluctantly. This time last year I was still trying to push myself to "make up" for the lost time. When I finally let go and said I can't do it, it was s relief. I hadn't realized that I wasn't having any fun with the projects anymore. that every single time I thought about doing them would send me into a panic. This year has been crazy, but I am loving the projects again.
I may not be doing them how I thought that I would, but I am doing them in a more conductive way, that make life easier, and makes the projects more fun.
The big project that I am working on this year, I felt bad because I put it down for a few months. I didn't mean to, but time just got away from me. When you stop working on something you sometimes start to think that you can't pick it back up, or that it will never be as good as you originally thought that it was going to be. That You ruined all chances of success by not working on it as much as you had been. Then I did two things, looked at my list of Motivation advice, and watched The Pursuit of Happyness.
Chris Gardner's life is slowly turning to shambles. He invested all of his savings in a bad deal, that he is trying to make work. The money that he thought that he was going to make back quickly was dragging in. This slow income puts hot coals under Chris and his wife's relationship. They are trying their best, but nothing is working how they want it to. After seeing the work the stock brokers to, he tells his wife he is going to try his hand and becoming one. He is great and numbers and with people and figures that once he knows the ropes he will be able to make this new venture work. The problem is is that in order to get the job he has to work as an unpaid intern.
His wife is having none of it and decides to leave him. She leaves him with no money, and penniless job, and their five year old son. The only income that Chris has for the next six weeks is to try and sell off the last of his bad deal while working an unpaying job. Every time he thinks that he can't get any worse, everything goes more down his. He gets robbed, he winds up homeless, the government takes his money for taxes, and he is dealing with no other choice but to bring his son with him on this ride.
Yet, though everything is falling apart, Chris is determined to put everything back together. Everyday he picks himself up, and chooses to keep going. The weeks and weeks worth of work are relentless but they all pay off for him in the end.
One of the things that Chris does though the whole movie is make a list. It's not written down, and repeated or anything like that. However, he keeps checked things off of this mental list, and keeps checking his progress.
When I started this big project at the start of the year, I didn't think I was going to be anywhere near where I am now. I didn't think I would even make it as far as I have. Yet, I am so much further ahead that I ever dreamed possible that I realized that I could keep going.
You have to sop every once in a while to see where you are at. You have to walk away and come back sometimes, and sometimes you walk away for longer than you think you will. Also, check to see how far you have come. The only way you will fail is if you totally stop.
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