Embracing the One-Off's

It can be liberating to realize that you'll never get it all done.  Why not remove the burden and begin operating from opportunity instead of overwhelm?  At any moment, you can click the refresh button.  No matter how unprepared, uncertain, exhausted, or scattered you may feel, you can give yourself the gift of making meaningful progress on something meaningful, right here, right now.  And then, you can do it again.

A one-off episode from an uncertain creator who occasionally gets around to sharing his thoughts on his inconsistent podcast.

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Current Inspiration: Oliver Burkeman and his book "Meditations for Mortals"

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Good old fashioned recording. Commute talk. Um a Monday Monday morning recording. On the way back into work. Um bit of a crazy morning and really kind of a crazy 24 hours. It was very up down. Um but yeah, really um really dialed into Oliver Berkman right now. His meditations for mortals books, his principles, um, listening to him on a couple podcasts, uh, Dan Harris and Rich Roll. Uh kind of halfway through each of those. And just really can't get enough of that. I feel like that's the That's just what I need. You know, and I go through these phases. I think the self-awareness continues to build that each time I feel like I have found the silver bullet to managing life or my my overwhelm or just my life obligations, my you know, anxiety, whatever I might be going through. Um whenever I feel like I've found the silver bullet, you know, or the the key to getting through it all, or once I implement the system or do this thing or or whatever, then I, you know, then I'll have it figured out. Whenever I feel like that, it comes and goes. You know, I'll be convinced when I find something that uh I'm often convinced that's it, you know, like I found it. Like I'm good. I'm good. This is what I've been looking for. This is working, this is working great right now. You know, it might be two, three days into a new perspective or a new lifestyle approach, uh, what have you, but a couple weeks later, maybe a month later, I'll just kind of be back to my default, um back to whatever habits or default ways uh that I had. It doesn't mean that I'm not carrying some things with me and I haven't you know improved my my life approach or my existence a little bit. Like, sure, you know, I'm always at least subtly, slowly, um upgrading my outlook on life overall. Up ups and downs, but when we talk about baseline, you know, the stock overall over time, it's it's rising, and I gotta trust that even on the down days. The down days like yesterday afternoon, yesterday, uh, and even this morning when I had a rough night of sleep. Um, and you know, had a lot of negative thoughts this morning. And I've had enough experience with this kind of phasic, I'm very phasic with in that way. You know, I jump from author to author, book to book, I'll really be all in on something, can't get enough for two to four weeks, roughly. Uh two to six weeks, maybe, anywhere in there. And it's just a phase, and then I'm on to the next thing. And maybe the answer to that is that like that's okay. Maybe the issue is that over time I've felt like that's not okay. Like that I am too, I don't stick with something long enough. You know, or I'm too um, I don't know, distractable. Like I'm too uh unstable because I just keep jumping from thing to thing, you know? And maybe that's okay. Maybe just embrace embracing that that's my nature, embracing that there are things that are very human about that. You know, when we're going through some things and going through a reality that we want to be different in some way, isn't it only human or natural to continue searching for the solution to that? Like, that's human, and I need to like embrace that. Even in times where I quote unquote know better, or I know that well, the answer's not going to be in this approach, but I'll I'll I'll do it anyway because it feels better right now. Like, that's human as well. Doing things that we know are wrong or are not the answer, that's human. And as long as we can do our best to center and reel ourselves back in and collect ourselves and hit refresh every so often when we need to, that like that's fine. You know, I need to I need to accept that going into like a new passion or a new interest or even a new like creative project. That look, this might this might be just a brief blip of inspiration, or I might only be into this for a moment, you know? Uh, and that's okay. That's okay. Like, that's fine. Like, just living with that, living with the idea that there is something entirely different that'll be doing it for me a few weeks from now, when I'm in a different moment in life. You know, while on a big scale, life might be largely the same, on a on a minor scale, you know, that's life could be completely different in three weeks. And there may be something else that is better suited to serve me at that time. Like, looking at these moments, like, for example, for me, reading a book, getting a third of the way through maybe, and then switching to another book because I'm excited about it, or because I heard about it, or I listened to a podcast and it got me excited to check it out. I used to guilt myself for that. Like, man, you don't finish anything. Same thing with like my music and the amount of unfinished songs and demos I have over the years. Even though, yeah, I would like to, you know, work on the ability to finish the things that I start and stick more focused on one thing at a time, accepting that and embracing that like the hopping around sometimes might just be what I need to cope. And the thing that I find might be something that I actually I actually do need more than the thing that I started before. Just accepting that, like letting life happen in that way, and being open to like what's next, and being open to the the possibility of not seeing something through, not letting all those unfinished things in life collect, not letting those open loops dominate my life. I mean, as some of you some of you may know, you know, based on the um the podcast I released in back in January uh when I interviewed one of my favorite authors, David Allen, um, who you know created the Getting Things Done methodology that I've been implementing in my life for at least eight years now. Um there are a lot of different apps and ways to sort of implement that methodology, and I've hopped around that stuff non-stop for eight years, you know. I mean, not non-stop, but like, you know, over time I've tried a lot of different things. And I'm always like when I hop onto the next thing, I'm like, oh, this is the way, you know, this is the way. And then I I have this like underlying hope that it's the answer and that it's the one. And like, and like once I've found the one, then I'm good. Then I'm on cruise control, I've found the answer to to you know managing all this. But again, like several weeks later, it's like not working, and I need to shift it back to what I was doing or try something new. And just like being okay with that, being okay with the way that I'm living life right now might not be the precise way that I'm living life a month from now. And that I should be open to that. Like being being open to change, you know, and and letting go of all the the burden or the weight of like responsibilities or tasks or ideas that have just piled up into what has felt like a to-do list that really has never needed to be a to-do list. It's it's a menu. All the ideas we have, the things we write down that we we need to do, that a lot of times are just things we want to do. We don't, it's not a true need a lot of the time. It's a menu, you know, and you can always have a menu of things you need to do, but just like embracing that, I can just start from square one at any moment. And I can, you know, buy that's one of the big ideas with the Oliver Berkman stuff that I'm reading right now, is that it's liberating. It's liberating to recognize that you'll never you'll never be on top of things. You'll never get it all done. Like it that day is not coming. So and that's hard. That's hard for, especially like um, you know, a predominantly type A productivity-minded, efficiency-minded person. There's been a lot of transformation happening for me in regards to like letting go and making room and making space in my life for for you know what matters more. Like letting go of like physical things and even even like psychological things and mental just tasks and responsibilities, letting go of a lot of that in a minimalist way, to sort of parallel that down, to strip it down to the essentials of the things that are most important to me, and I've had a lot of success with that. I mean, that was that was the big phase for me. It still is, I mean, it's something that that is part of how I'm living right now, but really was a strong phase for me for about a month and a half recently to where I've made a lot of extra space and time for things that matter most, but I've realized that that doesn't mean that then life becomes all good. You know what I mean? So, switch over here, almost missed my exit. I gotten to the rhythm. Look at that. Last minute, thank you, Lord. How about that? Uh, and not, you know, just realizing that, like, man, even though I did all that work and that part of me was like feeling like, oh, life's gonna be like grand once I've got all this space, life's gonna be great. There's some tough things going on in my life, personally, to where all this all this stuff has done is just really given me more space to deal with the crappy stuff. And it's in some ways it's made a lot of the crappy stuff more apparent. Like now that's like, oh, this is the stuff that's been really on my mind, like, really on my mind and on my heart. Like, this is the stuff that's really had my attention all this time. It's just been I've been sort of uh subconsciously distracting myself with extra things, extra uh obligations or or pursuits that's like really, you know, actually, this is kind of some of the stuff that you just need to address for for your own sake, your personal goals, your well-being, and all that stuff. And it's like, well, dang, that's yeah, that's not that's not how I would want all my extra space to be used. That we would want all our extra space to be used, just living, you know, in a purely fun uh hang out with friends, do creative things, do go to all the events, travel, you know what I mean? Like that it's all fine and dandy like that, and sometimes that's just not life, and it's and like that's okay as well. Like embracing that there will always be problems. There's never always gonna be a point where problem solved, you know, you beat the game. Now it's cruise control for life from from here on out. It's that's not coming. You know, that that's not it. That's not that's not what life's about. It's like life recognizing that we are finite beings, that we are mere mortals with a with a you know a limited time on this earth is is just all the more reason to accept now, right now, that you aren't ever gonna you aren't ever gonna do all the things that you want to do. Especially if you're an ambitious person, because you know, that's that's the thing. Once you do something, you accomplish, you achieve a goal. I mean, you achievers out there know as soon as you achieve a goal, it's like what's next? You know, and you keep going, and like that's what it's about. Nothing wrong with that, like, but that's what it's about. You know? Um it's not about just beating the game and chilling. Not a not a full quality life anyway, like a a life of especially if you're seeking a life of impact and stuff like that, you know? So anyway. On a day where I feel tired and not looking forward to work and yada yada, and I have a bunch of things to do or that I could do, but I don't have the amount of energy that I would want, and won't get to it all. How about I just accept that out the gate? Start at zero, start with a clean slate and be like, you know what? I can pick something to do, even if it's not the best choice, not the not necessarily, oh, this is exactly how I should be spending my time. How about I just pick something and I and I get it done and I write it on a list just so I can check it off a list, and I give myself a win of like I applied myself in some way today that was meaningful or mattered or made a difference in some way. You know, I I helped somebody else. I served, you know, I served the kingdom in some way or another. You know, I talked to God for two minutes. That's just as good of a task completed as any, you know. So, as I wrap up here, um, I started talking, not really having the idea that it might be posted or anything like that, but you know, that's another thing. Starting from an imperf imperfect place. That's another thing that I could probably riff on for a whole uh episode is like not waiting till things are perfect or waiting until conditions are perfect to like take action on something. This return to podcasting or or whatever. Like, if this is, you know, if I'm wanting to return to podcasting, it doesn't need to be some big built-up thing. It doesn't have to even be a return. It can just be like, uh, I wanted to record I had some some stuff on my mind and on my heart, and I wanted to record it, I wanted to share it, I wanted to help people with it, I wanted to make a difference with it. Did I feel my best? No. Was I in my best mood going into it? No. Do I need to optimize every single thing in my life before I do it? I used to think so. But no. Because this right here, this little you know, snippet or nugget that hopefully makes a difference for you in one way or another, it wouldn't happen at all if I overthought. So accepting that some of the best things in life are meant to happen from a place of uncertainty and that that's just how it goes. That's just life. Conditions are never gonna be perfect. Conditions might be really good sometimes. And that's a nice reason. Nothing wrong with like taking advantage of good conditions, right? Like you draw a good hand. Alright, let's run with it. Let's see what we can do, you know. It's like getting out of it when you can't you know, I've got a passion right now for for all this stuff. Inspiration in my vein. I just run with it. I get something onto onto a recorder. So that maybe I can make a difference for someone else. Maybe I can serve somebody else. It's not really about me. You know, this isn't about me. Um it's just sharing, inventing, hopefully serving and impacting. So anyway. Um if you got something out of this, let me know. I mean, that's the kind of fuel that really keeps me going a lot of times with this, is when I can know that I'm making a difference. Um I'm not trying, I'm not trying to make this a career. I'm not trying to make money. If any of that stuff ever happens with my creative ambitions, cool. But that's not the the only measure of my success. If that's what my success or happiness is dependent upon, and it all goes all my eggs are in that basket. I'm setting myself up to be unfulfilled and unsatisfied when it doesn't work out. How about I deserve these ideas and allow the quick winds to happen the way they want to happen? Whenever the drama is the embrace.