Well, I am bummed. I missed my second post yesterday. I will be making up for that by doing two posts today. I feel that what I learned from yesterday’s experience is much too powerful to keep to myself.
Yesterday, we had a newspaper photographer coming to the office to take a picture for an upcoming article. Because we had very late notice of when they were coming, I was not able to prepare the day before. So, I decided to get to the office early to tidy up before leaving for my day's appointments. I knew I had a hectic day and wanted things to be pretty. I did go through part of my morning ritual before going to the office. What I forgot was to think about my blog topic, to put it on my task list, AND to set time aside for it. You know the old adage: out of sight, out of mind.
I woke up on the sofa last night at 11pm. At that point I realized that I had not posted to my daily blog. At that time of the night (I am not a night owl), I was much too foggy to write anything coherent. I scribbled an idea on paper and resolved to write my learning this morning.
So you ask yourself, what could she have learned?
Oodles! I have learned the importance of rituals. Setting aside a time and place to do something is very powerful. I am amazed how my body seems to go on autopilot in the morning when I get to my desk. Even those days that I say I will do it later, I have been going through my morning ritual.
I also realized that, if something is important, you need to put the proper systems into place to help yourself remember. It is my belief that we frequently assume – if it is important, we will remember. It isn’t that we don’t want to remember. We are just busy, have a lot going on, and need a little reminder every now and again.