Take a Walk on the Wild Side

Good evening!

I had a wonderful weekend.

Well, I confess, I did let anger get the best of me last night.

I like writing in the morning. I like going to bed early.

I was so mad that I didn't get the writing done in the morning. I had committed to it the night before. I want to get back on the early morning schedule. I miss it!

I got myself stuck in a mental loop of self harassment that eventually erupted into the loudest I've ever yelled in my life. Boy did that feel good.

Sometimes you just have to let it out, you know?

I was back to the regularly scheduled programming after that.

With all this in mind, let's take a minute to talk about picking what you want to do for the challenge (if you want to play along).

You see, picking what to do isn't easy.

There are a few things you should do before comitting to something to help you uncover your best options.

If you have an idea, great. I would encourage you to do a couple quick checks though.

These are 4 things I would do before picking:

1. First, a value clarification exercise.
2. Second, think about the 6 Universal Human Needs.
3. Next, think about the 8 forms of capital.
4. FInally, identify your roles and goals.

If you are unfamiliar with these concepts, I will be sharing more to those that are interested tomorrow.

I have done all these. There are three things that have jumped out at me as the thing I should make my tomato for the challenge.

Let's start with the obvious.

My kids are up there waiting for me to tell them a story before bed. Instead, I'm writing.

Every day, they wait on me to play and read and paint.

They wait and wait and wait.

I want to play with them more.

Saying that they get at least one pomodoro of uninterrupted time each day is a good choice.

But hold on a minute...

My finances are a mess right now.

I have put up strong opposition to accepting money from you wonderful people for anything we've done through the farm so far.

It has been with reluctance that I have accepted any at all.

My reluctance has stemmed from a desire to be absolutely sure that I would be able to deliver value.

Not just in the food, on the whole mission.

I came to the farm with a plan of dumping every last cent and second I had into building the foundation of something big and cool, with the hope that by year 3 we'd have something to talk about.

Well, here we are. And not a moment to soon.

We've got an exciting plan, a clear roadmap to follow for February, and we need to start creating value (read: making money).

With this in mind, I can make a strong case for making my focus doing the work of getting the businesses all set up.

We are on the goal line. Let's see it through.

28 days of focused effort in this area would ensure success.

The security that this offers is of direct benefit to my family, mind you.

This is a strong case for "buckle down and work."

And yet, I'm not sure that either of these is right.

I feel a little cheated.

There is some part of me screaming for attention.

This is a part of me that is demanding to be let out of the cage.

What are you doing? Why make yourself suffer so?

You see, I have filled my time with things I desperately want to do and people I desperately want to please.

I keep telling myself that I just need to get ahead of it all, and then I'll have more time for myself.

That time never comes.

The time I want is simple.

I want a walk.

I love going on walks.

I love walking in the woods.

I love walking in the fields.

I love walking in the sun.

I love walking in the rain.

I love reading John Muir's journals about taking walks in crazy weather in crazy places.

Yes, I think this is my tomato.

I am going to commit to going on a walk every day.

I am not discarding my new writing habit. I am just adding the next thing.

I'm going to take a walk on the wild side. Rain, snow, sleet, or hail, I'm heading out for a walk.

I'm going to bring the family as often as they will come.

In fact, I think the motto for everything I do should just be "come take a walk on the wild side".

All in favor say "aye".

Aye!

The aye's have it.

We're taking a walk on the wild side.

In fact, I'm going to start organizing regular hikes and walks that any one can join.

Here's the thing. Going on walks in nature is my favorite thing in the whole world to do.

Going on walks gives me energy.

I've been contemplating this a lot lately.

I was wrong, attention isn't everything.

You need your attention before you can do anything, but attention isn't enough. You need to summon good energy to flow towards the object of your attention.

If you don't take care of yourself by doing the things that give you energy, you are destined to be ineffective.

This includes physical, mental, and spirtual nourishment.

So I'm going to take a walk every day.

I'm going to aim to do a bunch of other things too.

I plan to incentivize the other things as well.

Here's something I've learned though. If you want to do a bunch of things, you have to focus on one thing at a time if you want to follow through.

Over time you can follow through on all of it. You can do a better job on all of it right now.

I am going to aim to do at least a pomodoro on the walking, playing with the kids, and the businesses each day. I am going to start a giant sheet and play don't break the chain with all of them.

But I am going to elevate one thing to be my current focus.

This is important because eventually you will have a day go sideways.

If your commitment is to do all of it everyday, it will all come crashing down because you won't be able to.

If you commit to trying harder but don't make yourself do it every day, it is way too easy to back slide to not doing it at all.

You need to do it everyday, but it needs to be one thing at a time that is your focus.

That's what works for me at least.

I think it works because by deciding that there is one thing that you will do no matter what, you give yourself a thread to hang on to on those sideways days.

You batten down the hatches, do the thing you committed to doing, add an "x" to your chain of days in a row, and live to fight another day.

The chain is an important part of it. Once you have built a big chain, you don't want to let it break.

This is the essence of Don't Break the Chain for those of you that don't know.

You pick one thing. You do it every day. Every day you do, you get to add to your chain.

If you skip a day, your entire chain is destroyed. You start over.

Talk about motivation!

We have played games like this with the kids. It is a fantastic way to develop good habits in kids.

You pick one thing you need to work on. You pick an amount of time to do it that is enough to develop a habit. You say that if you get the chain to a certain length, you get a prize.

We like building physical paper chains from the ceiling to the floor, the planning a fun adventure for the family when we succeed.

Anyway...

I'm excited for all this.

We are going to play a great big game of Don't Break The Chain.

Each day is going to make everyone who plays feel better and better, assuming you follow the instructions for picking what to do.

This is a no brainer.

I am going to put together some materials about the warm-up exercises you should be doing if you want to play along.

Thanks for following. Make me deliver!

Let's take a walk on the wild side together.

Life is good!