Thursday, May 22, 2008

About Commitment and Effort

Today's mantra is:

Think carefully before you commit, and if you commit, give it your best!


There's two messages rolled into one here.
Think carefully before committing...
Often times we find ourselves "stuck" doing things we would rather not do. There are things that need to be done, and are very boring. The mantra does not apply to such things :) You gotta do what you gotta do. Where the mantra does apply is when you really do have a choice whether you want to do something or not. Someone asks you for a favor, wants you to do something for them, or help them with something. This is something you are not very comfortable doing, but this is a very good friend of yours asking you. Will you agree to help? Most of you will say yes. This is where you need to apply the mantra. Be honest with yourself, and with your friend. Be frank and tell them you don't feel you are the right person for the job, and will not be able to do full justice to it. It is very important to set the boundaries where you want them to be. Otherwise you will find yourself getting deeper and deeper into this mess of "obligations you'd rather not have".
Easier said than done, right? So, lets say you agreed, you were not able to refuse. Now what?

Now comes the second part.
Give it your best shot.

If you do it, do it well. Do it so that you would be proud of the end result. But you're thinking, if I do it well, that person will come back and ask for more (which is exactly why you should refuse in the first place!) And what I am thinking, if you do a shoddy job, it speaks badly about YOU! That you are a shoddy person, that YOU are not reliable, that YOU don't know your job! Anyone who looks at the work you have done will only look at the work, not why it was done the way it was done. Apart from what others will perceive, you yourself will feel a sense of satisfaction about a job well done. Makes sense?

So, to summarize, pick you tasks carefully, and pour your heart and soul into it! Have fun with everything you do!

And here's the list of blessings for today...

Today I am grateful...
  • For places like the goodwill store...I can get rid of my junk easily, and someone else can benefit from it.
  • That I get to drive on well maintained roads, not ones filled with potholes! (This one is courtesy of Vrij..)
  • For my husband (haven't mentioned him lately, have I? :) He makes me feel good.
  • For the good sense that I have finally developed of not getting involved in other peoples' mess unless asked to! (Well, I did, but he was glad I did, so that one instance does not count ;)
  • For the joy I get out of cooking a good meal. I used to hate it. But have started applying today's mantra to it lately, and well, I like it more than I used to!
  • For being able to get up early! I actually am up by 7:30 and do stuff! I exercise, I water the plants, I do this and that, I actually get a lot done before the hubby wakes up! And I love watching the critters in my yard in the morning!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

You know what... THIS IS WHAT I REALLY WANT...smeone telling me.. this! exactly! ALl my life... I have done a shoddy job... now i need to giv my best to the things i have taken up!

i should...and should learn where to draw a line

thank u :))

and well good work on getting up early... :D

i m trying to get up at 5 :))... i get up at 6 :((

Pri said...

i am constantly reminded by mom to clean up my room...now thats a neverending task which ive taken up a long long time back!! :-/
now you tell me! how do i have fun in cleaning up sucha big mess?? :(

aneri_masi said...

@veena, 5 baje uthke kya karegi? surya devta ko chaai pilayegi kya? same here, i always did everything like a big grudge, mere se hi kyu karvate hain types. now i am learning, accha lagta hai when something i do turns out nice :)

@pri, my dear dear pri, yehi to meri bhi kahani hai. after 11 years in this country, I still think a maid will magically appear and pick up my junk from the floor and put it away. sigh..the maid still hasn't appeared :) lately, though, I look at the nicely done up bedrooms in the JC Penney catalogue, I imagine my room like that, and that dream itself is good enuff to get me cleaning! Try it, visualize how nice a clutter free, clean room with fresh flowers on the bedside will look.

RiĆ  said...

Yes this is very important and most of the times ppl commit and forget. I always remember one thing tht makin a commitment is easy but whts difficult is to keep upto it! :)

Pri said...

@ aneri
thankgod! we are blessed with the power to dream ;)

Solitaire said...

I really don't know how you wake up early to do stuff! What time do you go to bed?

If I have to reach work at 8 and its a 15 minute drive, I will make sure I wake up not a minute earlier than 7:15!

aneri_masi said...

@ria, haan yaar, its the "remembering" that gets hard for me too. Sometimes its not that the job is tough or I don't want to do it, I just forget!

@sol, I sleep pretty late, after 1:00. I plan on doing things that I enjoy first thing in the morning, so thats my motivation to get up.

I used to be like that too...always rushing to get out the door, now that I am into this new routine, I like the leisurely pace at which my day starts. Its hard for me in the winter though, I need the sun up and about before me :)

aneri_masi said...

@pri, hahaha :) now that just reminds me of "mungerilal ke haseen sapne" :)