Planting a tree
In amongst the scheduling of consultations, facilitating tutorials and workshops I have been pondering my own life goals and aspirations. I have been trying to consider what I would like to achieve in the future and how can I go about achieving it.
One way to approach this is rather than looking at the big picture, think about how you can spend each day doing some little action that works towards your goal. There are plenty of habits, or small actions, that are irrelevant by themselves, but create magic over time. Deliberately exercising my ACL operated knee only needs 10 minutes a day, but when you do it every single day for a whole year, you look back and think ‘I can finally play football again’. Score!
This concept sounds simple enough but the thing is we desire everything that we do not have so we are often caught in this cycle of looking at the future and never working on the now. Yes it would have been great if you had mastered the Physics content by now for your exam, which is only a few months away. However all is not lost, after all:
"The best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago. The second best time is now."
What if you don’t know what to plant (metaphorically speaking)?
Ok so you don’t know whether you should work on Geography, Macbeth or your Public speaking skills, well the remedy to that is simple really. Do something, anything really (as discussed in this previous article).
I have since come across another tool which we can use to attack our problems and goals. Asking bigger and better questions?
Lets say you are having difficulty understanding Genetic Mutations - you could approach it by asking yourself the question what are Genetic Mutations? Why does the education system want me to learn about Genetic Mutations? How does Genetic Mutations affect me/humans?
Chances are one of these questions is going to lead you to the right understanding. If it doesn’t you simply ask a bigger and better question. You can apply this to your daily routine to help you focus on the right tasks.
As always, your comments and thoughts are welcome on the topic.
Like what you see, sign up to the email newsletter here, to get early and full access to these newsletters. [This email was originally sent out in the mailing list and is one of a selection from our newsletters.]
