I’m reading the Richest Man in Babylon out loud to my youngest son in the evenings.
There was a passage I read that keeps ringing in my head again and again:
" 'Will Power!' retorted Arkad. 'What nonsense. Do you think will power gives a man the strength to lift a burden that a camel cannot carry, or to draw a load that an oxen cannot budge? Will power is but the unwvering intention to carry a task you set for yourself to completion. If I set for myself a task, be it ever so trivial, I will see it through. How else can I have confidence in myself todo important things? If I said to muself, 'For a hundred days, as I walk across the bridge into the city, I will pick up a stone from the road and throw it into the stream,' I would do it. If on the seventh day I passed by without remembering, I wouldn't say to myself, 'Tomorrow I'll throw two stones which will do just as well.' Instead I would retrace my steps and throw in the stone. Nor on the twentieth day would I say to myself, 'Arkad, this is useless. What does it help you to throw a stone every day? Just throw in a handful of stones and be done with it.' No, I would not say or do that. When I set a task for myself, I complete it. Therefore I'm careful not to start difficult and impractical tasks, because I love leisure."
From The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason
I’ve read so many things and put so many things into practice from what I’ve read, but eventually I stop doing a lot of them, first one day, then another, until something else takes its place. There are other practices that have taken root and stayed in my life as formed habits, but still so many good intentions have fallen by the wayside. One thing I want to do is create a daily to-do list and cross things off and double check it at the end of the day. That would mean not falling into bed, exhausted, until my review is performed. It’s funny, I’m afraid to commit for fear of failure, but if I do commit and fail, that would be better than just being afraid. If I do commit and succeed, then I will have succeeded in creating a new life for myself.
The problem is not only do I want to do a list everyday, but I also have another long list of everyday or weekly habits I wish to cultivate:
Gardening at least two hours a week.
Yoga 3 x per week.
Meditation for at least 10 min everyday.
Write for an hour everyday.
Read all my affirmations 2 x daily. (I was doing really well with this for about a month, then went on vacation and didn’t do it. Now I’ve started again.)
Blog every single day at least once.
Write a weekly menu and shopping list. ( my youngest son helps with this but it needs to be a habit)
Have a chore list that rotates between everyone who lives with me. (This would be awesome. No more things not getting done because one person says I won’t clean because other people don’t clean. My sons keep chore score and if they think they are doing more than someone else they stop helping out.)
Spend an hour on lead generation for my speaking business and my appliance sales job every day.
I have the wild out-of-control feeling that if I could do these things on a daily basis, my life will change dramatically. I realized last night that I’ve gotten into the habit of whining and expecting people to feel sorry for me. I don’t want any one to feel sorry for me at all, ever. I am going to get going and get doing! No more sitting around wishing. That’s not getting me anywhere.