30 Minutes
We heard an excellent speech at Toastmasters yesterday. That's not unusual. There are many very good speakers in our club. Yesterday's speech was on a topic so good, that I would like to share it.
The title was 'Closing the Knowing/Doing Gap.' The speaker talked about how we listen to all kinds of tips on how to do things. Things like losing weight,earning more, being more organized and many other things. The problem isn't that these tips don't work. The problem is that the tips aren't tried. This is the Knowing/Doing gap, what the speaker called, "middle age spread for the mind."
She made the point that doing these things involves change. Most people find it easier not to take the steps they made need to take to get what they want. This is true.
We have all kinds of excuses, but the most common one is I don't have the time. We don't have the time to take that class, work out, read those books or reorganize those cupboards. We're just too busy.
A pair of visiting missionaries once showed me a good lesson on time management. They had a jar, some sand and some rocks. The sand is all the things you have to do in a day like eat, sleep, work, cook and clean. The rocks were the things you should do,in their case, it was reading the Scriptures, praying and attending worship service. They poured all the sand into the jar. Then they put the rocks in. There was no room for the rocks because the jar was filled with sand. Then they poured out the sand. They put the rocks in first and then poured the sand in. There was enough room for both.
One of the lessons you can take from this is to decide what is important to you and then do those things. Everything else can be fit around it and the things you need to do will get done.
Let me give you an example. I have a beautiful sounding hammer dulcimer. The problem was that I would never be able to play it unless I practice. I mean every day, not once in a while. Where was I going to get that kind of time? Between my job, taking care of the cats, keeping the house and spending as much time with C as I can, I had no idea where I was going to get the time.
Then it occurred to me. If this is important I can make time for it. I make time for Toastmasters. I make time to do things with my friends. I make time almost every morning to work out.I can make time to practice.
I set a goal. I would practice 20 minutes every day. 20 minutes is not much time. I've spent more than that surfing Wikipedia. I can do 20 minutes.
I practiced for 20 minutes a day and I started to see results. I'm not a concert level dulcimer player, but I can read music a bit easier and will be working on Christmas and other music this summer. Even C has noticed.
I was so encouraged by my dulcimer progress that I bought Margaret, the lap harp. I spend ten minutes a day (after tuning) practicing with her. My goal is to practice ten minutes daily and then increase to 20 minutes with the harp.
It is hard to change things and to make time. You don't have to start large though. Take it a step at a time. One small step first, then another. The next thing you know...you'll be right where you want to be.
The title was 'Closing the Knowing/Doing Gap.' The speaker talked about how we listen to all kinds of tips on how to do things. Things like losing weight,earning more, being more organized and many other things. The problem isn't that these tips don't work. The problem is that the tips aren't tried. This is the Knowing/Doing gap, what the speaker called, "middle age spread for the mind."
She made the point that doing these things involves change. Most people find it easier not to take the steps they made need to take to get what they want. This is true.
We have all kinds of excuses, but the most common one is I don't have the time. We don't have the time to take that class, work out, read those books or reorganize those cupboards. We're just too busy.
A pair of visiting missionaries once showed me a good lesson on time management. They had a jar, some sand and some rocks. The sand is all the things you have to do in a day like eat, sleep, work, cook and clean. The rocks were the things you should do,in their case, it was reading the Scriptures, praying and attending worship service. They poured all the sand into the jar. Then they put the rocks in. There was no room for the rocks because the jar was filled with sand. Then they poured out the sand. They put the rocks in first and then poured the sand in. There was enough room for both.
One of the lessons you can take from this is to decide what is important to you and then do those things. Everything else can be fit around it and the things you need to do will get done.
Let me give you an example. I have a beautiful sounding hammer dulcimer. The problem was that I would never be able to play it unless I practice. I mean every day, not once in a while. Where was I going to get that kind of time? Between my job, taking care of the cats, keeping the house and spending as much time with C as I can, I had no idea where I was going to get the time.
Then it occurred to me. If this is important I can make time for it. I make time for Toastmasters. I make time to do things with my friends. I make time almost every morning to work out.I can make time to practice.
I set a goal. I would practice 20 minutes every day. 20 minutes is not much time. I've spent more than that surfing Wikipedia. I can do 20 minutes.
I practiced for 20 minutes a day and I started to see results. I'm not a concert level dulcimer player, but I can read music a bit easier and will be working on Christmas and other music this summer. Even C has noticed.
I was so encouraged by my dulcimer progress that I bought Margaret, the lap harp. I spend ten minutes a day (after tuning) practicing with her. My goal is to practice ten minutes daily and then increase to 20 minutes with the harp.
It is hard to change things and to make time. You don't have to start large though. Take it a step at a time. One small step first, then another. The next thing you know...you'll be right where you want to be.
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