Day 8…
I find that my goals fall into a few different categories. Spiritual, anything that improves my relationship with Jehovah. Emotional, anything that improves my relationships with those around me. Mental, anything that strengthens my mind or increases my understanding of the world. And Physical, anything that strengthens my physicality.
So spiritual goals would include reading the bible daily, check-in prayers and bible study each week. Emotional goals include being patient, entering each conversation with a focus on building the other up and…yes…being kind to animals – No kicking the dog! Mental goals have me make my bed each morning, engage in one creative task per day and read. Physical? Move each day (Zumba anyone?) cold showers and intermittent fasting.
Although I do find these categories often bleed into each other so the labels are more for organization than an absolute designation of each goal. For instance, what I eat (physical) affects my mood (mental), which affects my relationships (emotional). So you could label my goal of moving each day a physical goal, but it has benefits for mental and emotional health as well.
Another, more specific, example of this is ‘take a cold shower each morning.’ I’ve listed this as a mental goal, I do this for a few different reasons. I hate cold showers. Let me rephrase that “I…HATE…cold showers.” I never look forward to doing this, never once have I said “Can’t wait to jump into that freezing cold shower!!” But I do it anyways because it is a crystal clear reminder that in order to achieve what I want each day, it isn’t always going to be comfortable. It will be difficult, but once I decide to do something (in this case, take a cold shower) …I just need to do it. I had a sales manager back in my previous life that used to speak about “paralysis by analysis.” Basically, if you spend too much time thinking about something you’ll never get it done. Yes, it’s important to think things out, but once you’ve decided on a course you have to start walking in that direction. Don’t use thinking as a way to avoid action.
Nothing will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must first be overcome.
Samuel Johnson
And so, I take a one minute cold shower each morning. Doesn’t sound very long, but trust me…it’s long. But something interesting happens after I get out…I feel great! It’s energizing…mentally AND physically. The payoff is immediate. One minute of being uncomfortable leads to a day of productivity. One minute of my day to strengthen willpower, elevate my mood and provide mental clarity. And I haven’t even touched on the physical benefits of cold showers – increased circulation, weight loss, joint health, stress relief, thick…luscious…shiny hair – OK, I may have over reached with the thick part, but it definitely helps the look of what I have left! Which is exactly my point, I have this listed as a mental goal, but it influences my entire life. It benefits me mentally, emotionally and physically and contributes to completing other, more important, activities.
Take home point: Is procrastination stealing your time? Start taking cold showers.
But as much as one goal can positively influence other areas of your life, the opposite is true as well. One needs to be careful with this, because the domino’s can start falling if you let them. For instance, I missed practicing Spanish yesterday, might as well get a box of donuts and settle in for afternoon of binge watching Hoarders (doesn’t that show make you feel so much better about your own organizational skills?) This has been called ‘All or Nothing Thinking’ and can be detrimental to ones self esteem, but more on that in a future post.
So it’s good to know what triggers a failure in one area or another. I find most things can be traced back to a lack of sufficient sleep. If you are going to focus on any one goal that will influence everything you do or at least how well you do it. Sleep is a great place to start. Jeff Bezos gets eight hours a night, Einstein got ten per night! Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison were both big “nap” enthusiasts. Each taking time out for power naps – 20 minutes – to recharge.
Take home point: Do you want to be a genius? Take a nap.
Spiritual / Emotional / Mental / Physical. These are my categories. I call it my SEMP life…I do love abbreviated coded renditions of names yielding meaning as they help to express thoughts just a little more succinctly. For instance, how much easier is it just to say “I do love acronyms” and move on. See my point?
Now, the order of SEMP is just as important as the content of it because each category lends itself to the next – plus, can you imagine a PMES life? Ridiculous right? I mean, that doesn’t even make sense. No, it must be SEMP. It places what’s most important in life clearly in the front.
Fair warning here, perfect SEMP cannot be attained. But it’s certainly worth the effort. It gives a person something to strive for. Of course, as with all things, balance is needed. This is just how I’ve decided to organize and prioritize my day. It’s an imperfection solution, but one that has done me well. I’m curious to hear how you prioritize your life or some of your daily goals? Feel free to share in the comment section below. We’ve covered a lot here, no need to push on. In the immortal words of Thomas Edison, “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is…to take regular naps.”
OK, I changed that around a bit.
I would adjust it…but it’s nap time.
The 100 