Scheidydude's Blog

Self Motivation – or The Art of Being Stupid.  (re-post from 2011)

Now, take a moment and ponder what I could possible mean by that title.

Good.  Now forget it.  Because that is not what I meant.  So let me now lead you into the whirlwind mess that is inside my head.

Have you ever had a project so overwhelming, so daunting, that the sheer idea of starting it sends you into conniptions?  I have.  I am standing on the precipice of just such a project.  And this isn’t the first time I’ve faced this particular project.  Every year at this time it pops up.  Some years are easier than others.  Some, not so much.  This year is to be the worst, although in the end it will make each subsequent year easier.  But in any case, it’s not a project I want to undertake.  The mere fact that I know the size of the project makes undertaking the smaller tasks difficult.  If I were “ignorant” of the overall scope I might be able to focus.

So what do you do about it?  well, I have a theory.  sometimes it even works.  Have you ever heard someone say “you can’t see the forest for the trees”?  Simply put, you don’t know how large the project is because your focused on the current task in front of you. Well, I intend to use that “focus” to my advantage.  See, I know how large the project is.  So to complete the project, I am not going to focus on it.  But rather, I am going to motivate myself to focus on each task individually, and let each completed task motivate me on to the next.  In that way, I can enjoy the trees without fearing the forest.

Now, if I could just find my calamine lotion.