Monday, January 2, 2017

Self Imposed Deadline

A goal without a plan is just a wish.
~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery
I've been wanting to start a podcast for months.  So many months, that we may actually be talking about a year. But obviously, a podcast is not something a boss is demanding of me.  No one's going to fire me if I don't do it.  And there isn't going to be a protest in the streets if I never get around to it.

Yet, I'm sort of driving myself crazy with the wanting to do it, without the follow thru.

So boss or no boss, I set a deadline for myself, to take what seems like the first step. One little step. My simple task, which really doesn't sound so overwhelming is this:  
Make an outline for the first 10 episodes of my podcast.
 

When I set that deadline, I thought I was being overly generous with the amount of time I was giving myself.  I was giving myself 3 weeks. I figured with the holidays, I'd be busy, or lazy, or whatever.  So I went easy on myself and just gave it a good solid 3 weeks.  I figured sitting down to do the outline might take an hour or two at most.  And then I'd marinate on it and make some tweaks here and there and then by 3 weeks... it would be masterful.

That was the plan.  But you know what they say about plans...


Now, I've got one week remaining until that self-imposed deadline.  And I have given my outline no time at all so far.  

But fortunately, I saw that looming deadline on my calendar this morning, as I looked at January for the first time.  And it reminded me, I better get crackin'.  Because although there is no boss that's going to fire me over this, I will be disappointed in myself for letting this procrastination continue. Putting stuff off, or having the "I-want-to-do" list remain stagnant never feels good.

Even if the outline I make is a disaster, and I realize I don't have enough ideas for my podcast, that will tell me something valuable.  That will be a step forward.




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