recreatingreality.com

Yesterday, the discussion was all about procrastination.  While most of us consider procrastination as putting off an activity, we described it as deciding not to do something.  Many of our goals and dreams have been swallowed up by procrastination.

In fact, our successes or failures can be defined as much by what we omit… what we do not do… as much as by what we do.  To borrow from my Catholic friends, we are victims of the sin of omission.

Here is example of “omission failure.”  I will not name the person, but most of us could fill our name into the appropriate places.  Here is how the story goes, briefly.  We decide to make a change in our realities… set a new goal.  We have a brilliant idea.  We think about it.  We may talk about it.  We analyze it.  We research it.  We make a list.  We decide to get started.  We get started working towards our goal.  We follow our written plan… until…

Until we get to a step that we do not want to do or do not know how to do.  We skip that step and begin to work around it.  We tell ourselves that we will get back to it when we have time or when we have researched it a little more.  So, we continue to limp forward, omitting a key component that could make all the difference in the world.  We think we are on the brink of making the change or reaching our goal only to fail.

How is important omitting a step?  Well, let’s assume you are a doctor (of sorts) performing a gall bladder surgery.  You call in all those people who will assist you.  The patient is put to sleep.  The operating nurse hands you the first scalpel.  You, the doctor make the incision.  Ah ha!  You see the gall bladder.  So far, things are looking pretty good.  But, you don’t know where to cut so you skip that part of the surgery.  You stitch the patient up.  And, you expect success?

Hopefully, none of us are doctors.  But, you get the idea.  You can make the best incision in the world.  You may know a variety of closing stitches… the exact stitch you need for this surgery.  However, the major omission of actually removing the gall bladder has negated all the other wonderful work you have done.

That’s the way life is for many of us.  We learn little details.  We perfect our skills.  But, we get stuck repeating those activities with which we are comfortable, often skipping the part that requires new or additional knowledge.  And, we expect a positive result?  Not hardly.

We get stuck in our comfort zones.  It is easier to use what we already know and to do what we already know how to do than to learn something new.  We need to stretch our minds and our activities.  We need to learn “how to” rather than omitting a key step.

We all kid ourselves sometimes.  But, once again, have the courage to face the truth.

• Doing the same activity over and over again expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.
• Doing what you are comfortable with is not a goal, it is an activity.