quote:Originally spoken by Robert Breault: “The great enemy of achievement is a schedule already full.”
I have been thinking about the above statement repeatedly, and I can never quite decide whether to agree. I feel it is true in so many ways… but false in others.
So I would love to hear your thoughts. Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
Usually for me, the great enemy of personal achievement is one of the following three things:
1. ::whimpery voice:: I don't wanna!!!
2. Sheer laziness.
3. The paralyzing fear of doing something wrong, which results in nothing getting done at all. Better to not do something and think you can rather than fail in the attempt and prove you can't.
Posted by Darth_Mauve (Member # 4709) on :
Hatrack.
Posted by PanaceaSanans (Member # 13395) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: Better to not do something and think you can rather than fail in the attempt and prove you can't.
It sure does feel much better, doesn't it. And it's far less demanding. Sometimes I wonder why I cannot just accept that. I'm the bird that needs its wings broken before it stops attempting to fly.
[ August 30, 2016, 07:48 PM: Message edited by: PanaceaSanans ]
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
quote:Originally posted by PanaceaSanans:
quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: Better to not do something and think you can rather than fail in the attempt and prove you can't.
It sure does feel much better, doesn't it. And it's far less demanding. Sometimes I wonder why I cannot just accept that. I'm the bird that needs it's wings broken before it stops attempting to fly.
It's something I've struggled with a lot in the last 5 or so years. I'm not really sure what it is.
It's why I never finished my masters thesis, or why it takes me forever to work up the energy to continue work on my novel, or even last week at work. I had to complete a logistics study and I wasn't 100% sure how to do it. So rather than do it wrong...I just didn't do it. That's an incredibly, incredibly stupid response to the situation I was in, especially when I had so many resources at hand to help me and I would suffer zero ill effects from admitting I didn't know how. Instead I got a slap on the wrist for it being late, and it turned out I actually did know how to do it all along.
Especially with my novel though, it takes forever to make progress. I'm always afraid every sentence I write is going to prove I'm actually a terrible writer, or that every change I make will actually just make it worse. It's somewhat crippling at times. But it's very difficult to just get over.
Posted by PanaceaSanans (Member # 13395) on :
quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: ... Especially with my novel though, it takes forever to make progress. I'm always afraid every sentence I write is going to prove I'm actually a terrible writer, or that every change I make will actually just make it worse. It's somewhat crippling at times. But it's very difficult to just get over.
There are days when I feel it's a great achievement to get out of bed in the morning. Life is incredibly demanding, and it's fascinating how well most beings cope. You do work, Lyr, and you even write! To keep pushing oneself when nobody else seems to care is the hardest thing ever.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
Netflix.
Posted by Darth_Mauve (Member # 4709) on :
The secret to being happy is, at the end of the day never look at all you have left undone, but to look back and remember all you did. The enormity of all that is left to do can swamp you. Even if you exhausted yourself doing everything possible, the enormity of all that you have done, while tiny in comparison of the infinite that is undone, can only be appreciated for its impressive size, when viewed from the perspective that does not include the infinite that is what is not done.
Posted by PanaceaSanans (Member # 13395) on :
Very true, Darth.
What also helps for me personally is to take a walk among trees, or below the stars. They never fail to remind me how insignificant I am, and how none of what I do matters at all, and it is unbelievably liberating to know that. Along the lines of "Ask yourself: Will this truly matter a year from now?", but on a slightly grander scale, I guess.
Posted by kmbboots (Member # 8576) on :
Inertia.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
Trust me, it's Netflix.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Easy entertainment.
Posted by Elcheeko75 (Member # 13292) on :
This might not address exactly the issue in the opening quote, but it immediately made me think of this story that Harry Chapin told about his grandfather. Sorry it's a bit of a long read.
"Below is a transcript from a speech which appears in The Gold Medal Collection, a loving tribute to the memory of Harry Chapin.
My grandfather was a painter. He died at age 88. He illustrated Robert Frost’s first two books of poetry. And he was looking at me and he said, “Harry, there’s two kinds of tired. There’s good tired and there’s bad tired.”
He said, “Ironically enough bad tired can be a day that you… won. But you won other people’s battles; you lived other people’s days, other people’s agendas, other people’s dreams. And when it was all over, there was very little you in there; and when you hit the hay at night, somehow you toss and turn, you don’t settle easy.”
He said, “Good tired, ironically enough can be a day that you lost. But you don’t even have to tell yourself, cause you knew you fought your battles, you chased your dreams. You lived your days. And when you hit the hay at night, you settle easy; you sleep the sleep of the just and you can say, ‘Take me away’”.
He said, “Harry, all my life I’ve wanted to be a painter… and I painted. God, I would have loved to have been more successful. But I painted and I painted and I am good tired. And they can take me away.”
Now, if there is a process in your and my lives, in the insecurity that we have about a prior life or an afterlife, god, I hope there is a god; if he is, if he does exist, he has a rather weird sense of humor.
If there’s a process that will allow us to live our days, that will allow us that degree of equanimity towards the end, looking at that black implacable wall of death, to allow us that degree of peace, that degree of non fear, I want in."
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
I <3 Harry Chapin so much. I think about that quote often.
Posted by Elcheeko75 (Member # 13292) on :
Me too. I also love his "iIf only the world were as truly wonderful as I am" riff.
Posted by theamazeeaz (Member # 6970) on :
quote:Originally posted by PanaceaSanans:
quote:Originally spoken by Robert Breault: “The great enemy of achievement is a schedule already full.”
I have been thinking about the above statement repeatedly, and I can never quite decide whether to agree. I feel it is true in so many ways… but false in others.
So I would love to hear your thoughts.
My mom always says if you want something done, ask a busy person.
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
The great enemy of achievement is defining achievement as getting big things done. Just another thing to add to a list instead of paying attention to what needs to get done, and doing it. We do best by seeing the work before us, and just doing it, and not worrying about whether or not it is "an achievement."
Posted by PanaceaSanans (Member # 13395) on :
quote:Originally posted by Bob_Scopatz: The great enemy of achievement is defining achievement as getting big things done. Just another thing to add to a list instead of paying attention to what needs to get done, and doing it. We do best by seeing the work before us, and just doing it, and not worrying about whether or not it is "an achievement."
After thinking about it for a few days I believe this is very true, and very wise of you to say.
Similarly, there is greatness not only in leading, but in serving, too.
Posted by Stone_Wolf_ (Member # 8299) on :
I like to pretend that I achieve stuff...I just close my eyes and imagine that I wasn't 1/7,400,000,000 people, and in a hundred years my life will have significance. Relevancy is a pleasant fiction.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)