Category Archives: #shipping

Mid-afternoon Popcorn Thoughts

#Apple, #foundtime, #organization, #popcorn, #shipping
image from quitguide.com

My brain is like popcorn kernels in an air popper today. Every few seconds another kernel explodes into a fluffy piece of popcorn. Suddenly, I’m aware that my daily post is unwritten, even unformed. There are only minutes before I must leave again to do another thing.

Just like every other area of my life, my blogging works best when I work a bit ahead, have a plan, and execute the plan.

I would really like to seek out my desk chair and focus on my writing this afternoon but I cannot.

However, I still have made progress today. I’ve read about and acted on being motivated. I made my bed (recent habit developed thanks to my grade standards). An hour was spent at the primary school volunteering. The lIbrary books were returned. The care package was prepared and mailed.

It’s a beautiful spring-like day. I’m missing the Apple keynote, but being kept apprised of the important bits by my Apple employee daughter.

Some days there’s more trying, than doing, no matter what Yoda says. But if you really look for accomplishments, they are there. Some seem small, but to the actor, each one accumulates into success.

And guess what? While typing this, my next appointment cancelled, so my writing dream can become a reality. Found time is pretty sweet, wouldn’t you agree?

The Quietness of a Quiet Day

#dayofrest, #lakesuperior, #peace, #quiet, #shipping, #solitude

My social media landscape over the past 24 hours has had fewer ringing bells and slide whistles going off. And I am bereft.

I have actually still interacted with many. There just haven’t been new emails and Facebook notifications coming in as fast as I would like. Which could possibly mean that I like them a little too much.

So, I’m just going to enjoy the quiet for now. It’s a good day for rest and relaxation anyway. And some offline reflection about some issues that need attention.

Quiet is actually a lovely state of being. One of my favorite times in nature was a solo experience I had along the shore of Lake Superior where I was on my own for two days, fasting, nothing but a journal, pen, sleeping bag, and flashlight with me. That peaceful time still feeds my soul.

Brings to mind lyrics from a Michael Card song:

In stillness and simplicity
In the silence of the heart I see
The mystery of eternity
Who lives inside of me

Doing the Job Perfectly, er, Perfectly Imperfect

#adrianplass, #danfogelberg, #everybodyisI, #perfectionism, #shipping
Siouxsie

So, I knew a man once who often said, “Good enough for who it’s for.” I used to bristle at that, because I was really good at judging people and felt superior to most people most of the time, and thought he meant that the job could be cruddy because the recipient of the job wasn’t all that valuable. He was kidding (sort of). Of course, there is a sense in which there is some truth to the idea that sometimes something is good enough though it is not perfect. Indeed, perfection isn’t even possible a lot of the time.

I once knew another man whose actions seemed to say, “It can never be good enough unless it is perfect.” And he did damn fine work. Took forever and a day, but the precision was unmatched.

When I am with someone who places that high of a value on precision, I can turn into the purple minion, because I slip back into that place of judgment, thinking that I know something about how much time any particular person should spend on any particular job. But, I so do not.

Yesterday, while I worked on my kitchen, I was the perfect example of the saying, “Work expands to fill the available time.” Had I an appointment on my calendar for 11:30, or 12:30, I would have had to finish the job, or at least get to a stopping place. Instead, I just kept emptying out more cabinets, and making bigger piles of stuff to deal with. There are still a few little pieces to finish up today.

My friend who is SO good at the work he does often allows the work to expand the fill the available time, and sometimes puts off other important things to continue on the work.

How does this relate to shipping and creating?

1. Having a deadline and/or parameters help me get the work done, even if it is not perfect. I have been blogging every day now for 50 days today, and that is because I have the parameter of writing a post every single day. Without that intention, my blog would be more like it was in 2009-2014 where I blogged sporadically and terribly inconsistently.

2. Focusing on perfection can easily become a reason not to ship or create. After all, when I sew something, I ALWAYS do something wrong in the process. Sometimes the wrong thing can be fixed. Sometimes it cannot without starting completely again from the beginning. My blog posts are certainly not perfect, and too much emphasis on perfection for me is going to preclude consistent shipping.

3. As my favorite author, Adrian Plass, says: Everybody is I. What works for me and meets my needs to get me shipping isn’t necessarily applicable to everyone. Others who focus on creating things of the highest quality have a place in the world. Probably my favorite Dan Fogelberg song speaks to this idea. There is room in the world for all of us. (Note: one of the reasons I am not perfect at things is because I often have a little person talking to me, “Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom.” So, friends, I couldn’t find a video of the song that would play here on my blog, but you can watch this on YouTube.)

4. Should I ever get to the place where I actually sit down to write a book, that will definitely be a slower process than blogging is. There will be much revising, editing, rewriting. I still don’t think my book will ever be perfect, but perhaps it will be perfectly imperfect. For me, perfectly imperfect is quite perfect enough.

Where can you embrace perfect imperfection today?

Blogging from A to Z Challenge 2015

#april, #challenge, #shipping, bloggingAtoZ

A couple years ago, I participated in my very first blog challenge: Blogging from A to Z. Held every April, the challenge is quite a lot of fun. I met some wonderful people throughout the world during my first experience and I am still in contact with some of them, either via blog or in some cases, Facebook.

The idea is that each blogger blogs 26 days in April, taking off Sundays, and connects each day to a letter of the alphabet. April 1 is for A, April 2 is for B, etc. You can choose a theme, or just blog in a random manner, as long as your subject coordinates to the letter for that day.

I’ve signed up again this year. I’m already blogging on a daily basis currently, and I look forward to the encouragement and fun that this next blog challenge will bring.

I have also signed up to be one of the minions who each visit a small group of blogs every day to make sure that everyone’s blog gets traffic during the challenge. I’m part of the Holton’s Heroes group of blog assistants.

This year’s schedule is as follows:

If you already have a blog, I would like to cordially invite you to join into this blog challenge. If you have been thinking about blogging, now is a great time to jump in!

You can find out how to register, and much more, right here!

We Interrupt This Program to Bring You This Fearful Interlude

#failure, #fear, #shipping, #trust, authenticity

Well, dag diggity dog. Thrice I started a post and thrice I have now lost it.

While writing the lost post for the third time, a question burrowed its way into my brain.

Is my blog just self-indulgence?

I looked around. Who’s asking that question and why?

Self indulgence :excessive or unrestrained gratification of one’s own appetites, desires, or whims

Perhaps this is the resistance of which Steven Pressfield speaks in “The War of Art.” Perhaps this is an old thought pattern which arises when “someone” thinks I’m trying to be a tall poppy.

Thing is, I do blog for my own enjoyment, in addition to creating content that I hope will inspire, amuse, resonate with my readers. Doesn’t every writer write at least in part for him- or herself?

And if I can’t be unrestrained here on my own damn blog, then perhaps blogging is more of a performance and less of a creation.

Am I performing? My heart says no. I am sharing myself through this blog. Most people aren’t going to be interested, but that’s ok. Continuing to persevere, refine, practice, ship, is making a difference in my life.

I think what might be going on is that so far this has all been really, really easy. And the time might be coming when Life will ask me to actually do something uncomfortable either by blogging even more authentically, or stepping into another form of sharing and expression. Maybe Life will ask me to do something that could potentially impact individuals, one at a time. All I can think about is the two spectacular failures I have had when I tried to step into personal training and life coaching.

Dang it.

I’m reading “What to Do When It’s Your Turn” right now, so I pulled it out while writing this. I’m trusting:

“Not everything has to be okay. 

Perhaps it might be better for everything to be moving. 

Moving forward, with generosity. 

Moving forward, with a willingness to live with the tension. 

Moving forward, learning as you go.

The person who fails the most, wins.” 

(What to Do When It’s Your Turn, Seth Godin, p 23)

image from geneenroth.com

Just saw this and had to add it.