[If you received this by email, click on the title to see the rest of the post.]
KILLING LIFE WITH RANDOMNESS
Many people are just killing their lives by continuing to be a "random doer". [I say "killing" their lives from the context that reaping "value" from life is truly living one's life - while there is some value of just being alive and floating along, perhaps, one will only get a small piece of the potential value that life can have. And unfortunately the floater ends up going nowhere in life and ends up with lots of unresolved problems and little harvesting of life's potential value.]
The more I fall prey to this, the more I will suffer the same predictable consequences: I get nowhere and there is simply an empty space in my life where there was no or little value.
THE PROCESS (TRAP) LOOKS LIKE THIS
I "get an idea". I want to "close the gap" (achieve its attainment), which will reduce my anxiety for the moment. I become a mindless anxiety driven drone, going ahead with no real perspective or thinking, just trying to reduce my anxiety. I am strewn hither and thither, randomly spreading my energy without thought, as I chase this idea and then another crosses my path, so I go the other way and chase that.
Then I remember that a person will not do well in life if he tries to chase many rabbits at one time - and that, to succeed in life (catch your rabbit), one must go after one rabbit UNTIL it is captured. (That is based on the Completion principle, which is the "until", and the Continuity principle, which is keeping on going after one rabbit.)
Well, of course, I notice over time at some point that my chasing after random ideas does not work and that I am getting nowhere, with no significant "dones" and the same old unsolved problems.
So, I then stop and ask what I should do...
SO, WHAT DO I DO ABOUT IT?
But then the next question is what do I do about it?
Ah, this is where a pre-decided strategy (rule, procedure) and habit come in.
What I do is simply set a rule of never pursuing anything that takes up more than 2 minutes without writing it down first on my list of todos AND then not doing anything on my list of todos until I've decided what is of the most value to do next. [This procedure causes the engagement of the higher brain, which is what we need to rely on to make our decisions instead of the rather unintelligent, lower, primitive brain (aka "Lennie"). Although it takes a little time to "think", I end up saving hours and hours by NOT DOING a whole bunch of lesser value activities!!!!]
And the list gets "too long" to do all of the things on it, so I end up dropping the "idea" of what I was going to impulsively do simply based on "I happened to think of it at that particular point in time." And I end up being no longer interested in doing a particular idea, even though my impulse at the time was one of perhaps excitement or perhaps reducing the anxiety of not having that done.
There are an endless possibility of ideas to follow up on, endless enticing diversions, but the person who is powerful (meaning "able to produce significant value") is the one who stops, looks at what could be done, and then chooses "that which is of the most value" to do next.
It's pure physics, pure reality, that you must do this "choosing" or you won't cause much of value in life.
Will you adopt this rule and procedure?
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OTHER WAYS I USE THIS CONCEPT
When I process my emails, I do not read and process each one of interest. I either note that I must do something, putting it on my list for the day (referring to where the detail is, but still not processing the email at that point) or I move it to my MustRead list or my MustWatch list. While I used to just follow my impulse when I was "slogging" through my emails for hours of diversion and to just jump into whatever was "of interest" in the email, I now end up looking at the lists and finding much of it is no longer of interest and/or that I have no time (I.e. It is not worth my time) for it - and I just delete it, having wasted no time!!!!!!!
I always, instead of doing an idea right now, make sure I capture the ideas in some place that I will look at it. My default place is to list it in my Master Notebook, which I process every page to completion to make sure I don't miss anything. In the processing of my notes, I delete a lot or I rip out a page and put it into a file for follow up (if worth it).
NOTE THAT IMPULSES DO NOT HAVE TO BE FOLLOWED
When one learns how the mechanics of the body and mind work, one is no longer "fooled" by impulses - one realizes that an impulse is just an impulse mechanically produced possibly from an outdated program/belief or in some other way not functional.
As a child, we live by impulses and are often saved by the adults, as they stop us from doing harm to ourselves or not living life the right way.
And, now, as an adult you get to, in a sense, metaphorically "parent yourself" by noting what impulses not to obey. Basically, mechanically, it is just using the higher brain to intervene and no longer being run by the primitive lower non-thinking brain.
Some of us hold on to cultural beliefs that are unquestioned - and those will make the waters of decision murky. Such unexamined "rules" as "it is good to be spontaneous" are generalized nonsense that can be very misleading - and they are often damaging if followed without engaging the higher brain. Add to that "I must be adventurous because..." or "I want to be free and unfettered..." (by thinking?).
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