The Watering Hole Blog

Make a Decision Once

Do it later

Mental Energy Saving Tip #797: Make a Decision ONCE

“Waiting for perfect is never as smart as making progress.”

– Seth Godin

Greetings from my little writing hobbit hole to wherever you happen to be at the moment. Wherever you are, I hope you are happy, safe & healthy.

I am taking a page from one of my favourite bloggers & podcasters, Seth Godin, and keeping today’s blog super short and succinct.

My message – a tip I gleaned from one of Seth Godin’s podcasts (though for the life of me, I couldn’t tell you which one, nor could I find the exact quote on-line) – is this: if you make a decision to say, do a certain task tomorrow (or not do something), you only need to make that decision ONCE.

Then when tomorrow comes and perhaps you find yourself waffling with excuses such as: “I don’t feel like doing that now” or “I don’t think this is the best time” or “I am going to put that off again until tomorrow,” or “the toilet needs cleaning” etc, etc, all you have to do is laugh at yourself (nice try, self!), hunker down and get ‘er done.

Why? Because you ALREADY MADE THE DECISION. You made a promise to yourself. You made a commitment. You do not need to waste a single ounce of mental energy, debating about whether or not to do it. You just do it.

Now, of course, you can back out of it…again (there are no decision-enforcement officers who will come a-knocking). IF that’s how you want to live your life.

But I don’t.

I played the procrastination game for way too long. No more. The cost is WAY too high. Click To Tweet

I have been implementing Seth’s suggestion for 3 months now…it really works. Sure, I still fall off the wagon from time to time and put a priority task off until the next day. But that’s okay. This life business is not an exact science. As this pandemic has reminded us, things change…we can only do our best each and every day.

While I was searching on-line for the quote by Seth Godin about the importance of making a decision once, I came across some of his other insightful quotes that have to do with decision-making and honouring the promises we make to ourselves about moving forward with tasks & projects, dreams & goals that truly matter to us:

 

 

I have also learned from experience (over and over again), it is okay to be kicking and screaming while doing the task we promised ourselves we would. Nobody said it would always be pretty or fun or enjoyable.

But the feeling...the sense of achievement that comes from honoring our commitments to ourselves is one of the best feelings in the world. Click To Tweet

And maybe, just maybe, the first step is the hardest 🙂

Check out Seth Godin’s blog here. 

Here is the link to Seth Godin’s Akimbo Podcast.

 

Maryanne Pope is the author of A Widow’s Awakening, the playwright of Saviour and the screenwriter of God’s Country. Maryanne is CEO of Pink Gazelle Productions and Chair of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund. If you would like to receive her weekly blog, please sign up here.

 

Share this post

4 thoughts on “Make a Decision Once”

  1. Hey there Maryanne….cute photo…and….when did you get so smart????
    You are talking to me today!!! You just hit me over the head with Seth’s advice…my list of ..Oh…I’ll do it tomorrow…is very long….and after reading this I’ll let you know how many check marks can be written off the list…TODAY..
    Thank you. Hope you are staying well in your garden.
    Hugs, Louise

  2. Aha! So glad to hear this blog resonated with you!! I felt very strongly I had to write it…just never know who it will impact. So this blog was for YOU! Hope you got some check-marks ticked off your list 🙂

    Me & my garden are fabulous!! Both growing at an alarming rate…ahahahaha! The garden loves the rain. I love all the baking!
    Take care,
    MA

  3. I LOVE your blog, Lynne! Just read a few more recent ones now and this sentence jumped out at me:

    “I ignored phone calls and others needs for this hour to just focus on what I need to do. That was not easy to do but it made me realize that I need to take time for myself just to think about me and what is important to me. Not to relax, but to dream and plan. I’ve been thinking me time is relaxation time or writing time, but what I have really been missing is quiet thinking time, in a place where I can also immediately record my thoughts so they just don’t go into the netherlands.”

    Yes, yes, yes!! I am thrilled to hear you are doing this…it is absolutely incredibly what an hour alone with one’s thoughts can do. And yes – you have to WRITE those insights down!

    That photo of me is a couple of years old – it was taken by the professional photographer, Roxanne Low. The 2 of us had way too much fun at the photo shoot…in the middle of East Sooke Regional Park. Here are the 2 blogs, if you want a laugh:

    https://www.pinkgazelle.com/2017/07/19/laughing-at-ourselves-boudoir-photo-shoot/

    https://www.pinkgazelle.com/2017/10/11/sassy-in-sooke-boudoir-photo-shoot-follow-up/

    Take care and keep up the blogging…and the daily quiet time,
    ma

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.