The Desert of Arizona
Even Hotter Than Hot 91 Degrees – 7:21 a.m.
Back in first grade, I was tasked with writing a short essay using as many plural nouns as possible.
I did it. And I did it quickly. My essay was littered with the same phrase over and over again. I don’t remember the word construction exactly, but it was something like: “I picked up the boxes and bottles and rats and shoes and …. and then after I had picked up the boxes and bottles and rats and shoes…”
It just went on and on. My apologies to anyone who had to read it; what a painful experience that must have been!
I don’t recall if the essay made any sense at all. I just took a shortcut to get done.
Getting done is the point right?
It’s better DONE than perfect, right?
Not really. In fact, I think this obsession with done leads away from excellence and mastery and satisfaction instead of closer to it.
Why is it hard to stand out in today’s world? It isn’t because people aren’t getting enough done, it’s because people aren’t taking the time to do things worthy of “standing out.”
If you can get it done quickly, it’s probably not worth doing in the long run.
But I’ll even go further than that because the “done” obsession leads to a new kind of rat race. Gotta make that todo list!
What are you feeding when you get obsessed with done? Is that entity really something you want to perpetuate?
I think trying to get done all the time keeps you from actually realizing your potential for greatness.
By definition, anything great just can’t be accomplished in a day, a week or even a year. If that was possible, more people would do it. And we know that’s not happening.
So now we get to something really crazy:
There is no rush. Literally ALL we have is time. There’s plenty of it. And once you SLOW DOWN to dig into each moment fully instead of trying to get DONE with it, you’ll have a whole new world open up in front of you.
From my experience, time (if it even exists!) actually slows down.
This is why the media platform is so attractive to me. It is a rhythm you develop that picks up momentum over time.
You KNOW you are never done so you stop trying to get there.
And then you can breathe.