Me and U

I am really hard on myself.

I’m never doing enough. Being productive enough. I’ve never realized my goals. I’m always in the process of realizing my goals. I’m always in a state of flux.

As I was writing this, I’m reminded of a very valuable section in the book, Switch by brothers Heath, Dan and Chip. I highly recommend you read this book if you have plans of world domination as I do. In it, one of the gems I culled was the concept of the U.

We make elaborate plans and goals. We think of it pragmatically. I’m here, I want to be there. I will draw a straight line from here to there. I will go to there. 🙂

If you know a person, or maybe it’s you, who has a home full of partially finished projects it’s because they are stuck at the bottom of the U.

Here’s my metaphor: You’re going to remodel your 1940s kitchen. You go to the designer with measurements. Together, you decide you’ll take out a partition wall, replace the cabinets, floor, sink and all appliances. The designer gave you a computer generated image of the final result.
Whoot! 6 weeks and that kitchen is yours!

The first day, they pull out all the cabinets. They knock out the partition wall. One of the workers accidentally hits the ladder against the light fixture and brakes it. Just as the dust is settling from the demo, you decide to peek in at the progress.

What you see is rubble. Your kitchen is demolished. It is completely unusable. Your heart falls. What have I done? You think. I have ruined my perfectly functioning kitchen. I completely devalued the house. I purposely did this!

Every project, every goal has a path. It’s shaped like a U. It’s not a linear plane that travels smoothly from beginning to end. If you walk into that kitchen and forget the ultimate goal, the reason for the demolition, you will be overwhelmed by the mess you have created. If you don’t keep a laser sharp focus on the intended final result, you will get side tracked, overwhelmed, frustrated, exhausted, maybe feel defeated.

Hey, it’s ok! You’re just at the bottom of the U. That’s all. There is point in every painting I want to take it and hurl it like a frisbee across the room. I’m at the bottom of the U. I know that if I keep working there will be a point I step back and think, There we go! Now we’re talking!

The only failure, the only failure, you will ever have is the one you declare.

It will not be a failure if you finish the U.

Get to work. 🙂

Namaste, my friends.

Love,
Pamela