Productivity Archives - Be F-g Awesome Today! #BeF.A.T. google4228e52aa5dfebc8.html

Category - Productivity

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3 words to stay motivated
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Grow Into Your Potential
3
Be Underestimated
4
What’s Your One Thing Today?
5
Believe In You
6
Is It Laziness?
7
Act As If You Only Have One Life
8
Stop Dreaming. Start Living.
9
Go At It Full Speed
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Things You Can, Should and Must Do

3 words to stay motivated

Motivational quote graphic befat.net

#MotivationMonday

It’s easy to get overwhelmed and confused when beginning any new goal.

If you’re like me your brain starts firing off ideas and the space fills quickly until its clogged. And I know this for a fact:

A confused mind can not make a decision.

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Where does that leave you? Right back where you started.

I’ve found three words that lead me in the right direction with any project, large or small: Simple. Actionable. Measurable.

1. Simple

If weight loss is your thing, then a simple goal might be to lose 2 pounds this month. Starting a new business idea? Write a to-do list for one aspect of the business: perhaps it’s securing a location. What are all the to-dos for that one task? Point is to START. If you overload yourself at the start it’s easy to get defeated before you’re ever out of the gate. You can tackle the details and increase the load as you finish the first task. Don’t go crazy and make a complicated plan.

2. Actionable

Is the thing you need to do to get started actionable? Can it be done by you or someone else? In a reasonable amount of time? The answer must be “yes” in order to continue being motivated. Finish the first simple task and move on.

3. Measurable

If you can’t measure it don’t do it. You need to see visible proof of your progress to stay motivated.

I’ve used these three steps to start blogs and design websites, write 115 page screenplays, even remodel a kitchen. I need a simple plan and workable process where small victories keep me motivated to the finish line.

Three words — Simple. Actionable. Measurable– keep you motivated and get the job done.

BE F-G AWESOME TODAY!

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Original graphic and quote: Stephanie DelTorchio

Grow Into Your Potential

befat.net. Inspirational Quote Graphic

I’ve heard this excuse MANY TIMES lately. I have said this MANY TIMES myself. I’m too old to start this shit…I should have started ten years ago, twenty years ago…It’s too late for me…I’m competing with people half my age. That’s BUNK.

History is full of LATE bloomers and second act achievers.

Every day we let pass by puts our journey a day behind. We miss yet another chance to fulfill our potential. And, by the way, while you’re hanging around feeling like it’s too late for you, you’re another day older.

Your tree isn’t going to grow until you plant the seed.

BE F-G AWESOME TODAY!

Original graphic and quote: Stephanie DelTorchio

What’s Your One Thing Today?

Do One Thing-4.5.2016

If you’ve followed my BeFAT musings for any time, you’re well aware of my talking about doing ONE THING. These two words are enough to get you (well, me) out of a rut and motivated to get ONE THING accomplished today.

Surely we can all do ONE THING. I’m not talking about “being busy.” Shit you can be busy all day and get absolutely nothing finished or even started — hamster on the wheel ring any bells?

Today I must focus on getting one thing done.

Maybe because it’s springtime (although you’d never know it in New England) but my To-Do list is growing. Besides work stuff I am itching to get out in the yard, if the weather ever decides to cooperate.

I’ve got a screenplay to revise and it’s due in a few weeks. Unless I chain myself to my desk there is a possibility the deadline will come and go. I MUST NOT let that happen.

There is a 25 or so page Manifesto for the BE F-G AWESOME TODAY website that I’ve shelved over and over. It’s the project I MUST finish to take this blog to the next step. Which brings me to the next step — what is the next step? Because it could take many roads. A book? Guest articles elsewhere? Helping other people explore their creativity?

Then there’s the two other screenplays in outline form. A novel about Woodstock, which might become a screenplay idea. IDK.

Oh, and the vegetable bins are wanting me to turn them over. Have I mentioned the weather around here? Snowing? In April!

I’m also helping the hubs build his website and writing his marketing materials — this is in my wheelhouse, but it takes time. And there’s only so much time, right?

There are plenty of things-to-do that will grab my attention today and keep me from doing that one thing I know will make me do the happy dance.  Right now it’s finishing the never-will-be final draft of a screenplay due soon. To manage this Herculean task my one thing for today is to review the subplots. It’s a manageable chunk. That’s what we must do otherwise we get confused– cue the hamster wheel — and a confused mind gets nothing done.

Just remember: ONE THING. You’ll find this small step puts you on the right path (you know it) and closer to your personal Nirvana. It’s not the ONLY THING, but you gotta start somewhere.

The garden will wait (thanks, Mother Nature), the hubs will wait (the website is functional and looks cool) and the other writing projects must wait, too.

If anybody is looking for me today I’ll be chained to my desk.

BE F-G AWESOME TODAY!
Original graphic: Stephanie DelTorchio

Believe In You

_ Believe in yourself 3.29.2016

I’m not sure who else needs this message today besides me! The past few days, although very busy, hardly have felt productive, in the sense that nothing I’d planned to do got done. Anybody else out there?

Every once in a while I need to press RESET to remember the goal again, feel the desire again and get back in gear, again.

My recent obstacles, all good, have focused on others and not me. Not a bad thing of course, but I know that I know my “thing” inside me needs attention.

BE F-G AWESOME TODAY!

Original graphic: Stephanie DelTorchio

Is It Laziness?

befat.net/is-it-laziness-procrastination

Why do we do it?

Before I hit the floor I have a plan for the day. I go over it in my head. Deadlines first, then obligations in order of importance, then all the rest. I’m rather ambitious in my plan, often overly ambitious to a fault.

You’d think procrastination runs counter to someone like me with such an organized regiment. And you’d be wrong. This over-reaching often ends in self-wallowing defeat. It’s a case of the mind is willing but the rest of me says: Hahaha, you’re funny.

On a daily basis I play this cat and mouse game with my head. I can dream up any number of delay tactics, i.e. excuses for not getting my ass in gear.

It starts at the same time I finish the mental checklist: The coffee tastes so good I’ll have another cup, while I sit in bed, and watch the same news from an hour ago. I tell myself to get a move on, then reorganize the TO DO list in my head. I wonder if today is “Arms” or “Legs” or “Abs” day. No, I think it’s “skip” day. The overflowing basket of laundry taunts me, and heck, I have no clean jeans to wear. Since I’m not seeing anybody today why not hang out in the jammies?

This round-robin self-inflicted madness serves only one purpose. To stop me from doing my job.

I’m all for chilling and deliberately doing nothing. There’s a time and place for it. Just not today. I know this intellectually, and yet I’m still in bed still sipping coffee. It’s very good.

I Googled “procrastination” and chuckled at the array books and articles out there on the subject. One article lists 7 strategies for curbing procrastination.

#1: Write a list of everything you have to do today.

Okay, I like lists. Even mental lists count. Good. Check.

#2. Write a statement of intentions.

A statement of what? And here I gave up. There’s no reason to write down why or how I intend to tackle my list. What I need is a good swift kick in the fanny and get out of bed. I will do just that. After another cup of coffee. It’s really good.

BE F-G AWESOME TODAY!
Image: Personal (of my handwritten note)

Act As If You Only Have One Life

befat.net

We get this one shot at the brass ring right? I mean I’m cool if I get to come back to this planet, or another, maybe reincarnated as a bird? How does the old joke go?

I’m coming back as a bird to fly around and shit on all the people who shit on me.

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I’ve passed the revengeful phase of my life (waste of time) and moved on to the enjoying and fulfillment phase. You?

So you’ve got all these plans for your life? And, may I be so bold to ask what you are doing about them? No matter you current age, like someone probably already told you, there’s no time like the present to get moving.

Need some inspiration? Consider this list adapted from a Business Insider article that proves you are never too young, or too old, to accomplish great things.

  • At age 1, Christian Friedrich Heinecken, the legendary child prodigy, had read the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible).
  • At 2, speed skater Bonnie Blair began skating. She would go on to win five Olympic gold medals.
  • At 3, Wolfgang Mozart taught himself to play the harpsichord.
  • At 4, Brazilian Formula One race car driver Ayrton Senna da Silva began driving.
  • At 5, Yo-Yo Ma, world-famous cellist, began playing “Suites for Unaccompanied Cello” before bed each evening.
  • At 6, Willie Hoppe, the greatest billiards player in history, began to play pool. He had to stand on a box to reach the table.
  • At 7, English philosopher and economist John Stuart Mill had mastered Greek.
  • At 8, three-time Olympic gold medal runner Wilma Rudolph took her first step after suffering from polio as a child.
  • At 9, Daisy Ashford wrote her bestselling novel, “The Young Visiters.” It sold over 200,000 copies.
  • At 10, Vinay Bhat became the youngest chess master in the world.
  • At 11, pilot Victoria Van Meter became the youngest girl to fly across the United States.
  • At 12, Carl von Clausewitz, general and writer of “On War,” joined the Prussian army.
  • At 13, actress, director and producer Jodie Foster wrote and directed a short movie called The Hands of Time.
  • At 14, Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci became the first athlete in Olympic history to achieve a perfect 10.
  • At 15, Swedish tennis star Bjorn Borg dropped out of school to concentrate on tennis.
  • At 16, American sharpshooter Annie Oakley challenged and defeated the well-known marksman Frank Butler by hitting a dime in midair from 90 feet.
  • At 17, soccer legend Pele won the World Cup for Brazil and then passed out on the field.
  • At 18, Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel proved that it was impossible to solve the general equation of fifth degree by algebraic means.
  • At 19, Abner Doubleday devised the rules for baseball.
  • At 20, Charles Lindbergh learned to fly.
  • At 21, Thomas Edison created his first invention, an electric vote recorder.
  • At 22, Olympic runner Herbert James Elliott, one of the greatest mile runners ever, retired undefeated.
  • At 23, English poet Jane Taylor wrote “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”
  • At 24, Ted Turner took over his father’s billboard advertising business. He later launched cable news network CNN.
  • At 25, Janis Joplin made her first recording, “Cheap Thrills,” which grossed over $1 million within a few months.
  • At 26, Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to travel in space.
  • At 27, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. left his job at General Electric to become a full-time writer.
  • At 28, Jamaican reggae composer/performer Bob Marley recorded “I Shot the Sheriff.”
  • At 29, Scottish-born inventor Alexander Graham Bell transmitted the first complete sentence by telephone.
  • At 30, physicist Armand Fizeau measured the speed of light.
  • At 31, French Egyptologist Jean Francois Champollion deciphered the Rosetta stone.
  • At 32, Alexander the Great had conquered almost the entire known world.
  • At 33, Walter Nilsson rode across the United States on an 8-ft. unicycle.
  • At 34, Francis Scott Key, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry, wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
  • At 35, Sir Frederick William Herschel, an English astronomer, invented the contact lens.
  • At 36, Barthelemy Thimonnier developed the world’s first practical sewing machine.
  • At 37, Jersey Joe Walcott became the oldest man ever to win the world heavyweight boxing title.
  • At 38, Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong became the first person to set foot on the moon.
  • At 39, Sharon Sites Adams became the first woman to sail alone across the Pacific Ocean.
  • At 40, Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run.
  • At 41, Rudyard Kipling became the youngest Nobel Prize Laureate in literature.
  • At 42, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar became the oldest regular NBA player.
  • At 43, baseball player Nolan Ryan pitched the sixth no-hitter of his career.
  • At 44, George Washington crossed the Delaware River and captured Trenton, NJ.
  • At 45, Andre Marie Ampere, a French physicist, discovered the rules relating magnetic fields and electric currents.
  • At 46, Jack Nicklaus became the oldest man ever to win the Masters.
  • At 47, Kent Couch attached 105 helium balloons to a lawn chair and flew 193 miles.
  • At 48, Umberto Eco, a professor of semiotics, wrote his first novel, “The Name of the Rose.”
  • At 49, Julia Child published her book, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.”
  • At 50, P.L. Guinand, a Swiss inventor, patented a new method for making optical glass.
  • At 51, The Marquis de Sade, imprisoned for much of his life, wrote the novel “Justine.”
  • At 52, Sir Francis Chichester sailed around the world alone in a 53-foot boat normally manned by a crew of six.
  • At 53, Walter Hunt, an inventor, patented the safety pin.
  • At 54, Annie Jump Cannon became the first astronomer to classify the stars according to spectral type.
  • At 55, Pablo Picasso completed his masterpiece, “Guernica.”
  • At 56, Mao Zedong founded the People’s Republic of China.
  • At 57, Frank Dobesh competed in his first 100-mile bicycle ride — exactly 10 years after he was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor.
  • At 58, Sony chairman Akio Morita introduced the Sony Walkman, an idea no one seemed to like at the time.
  • At 59, “Satchel” Paige became the oldest Major League baseball player.
  • At 60, playwright and essayist George Bernard Shaw finished writing “Heartbreak House,” regarded by many as his masterpiece.
  • At 61, Charles Cagniard de la Tour, a French doctor, demonstrated that fermentation depends upon yeast cells.
  • At 62, J.R.R. Tolkien published the first volume of his fantasy series, “Lord of the Rings.”
  • At 63, John Dryden undertook the enormous task of translating the entire works of Virgil into English verse.
  • At 64, Thomas Bowdler “bowdlerized” Shakespeare’s works, making them “family friendly.”
  • At 65, jazz musician Miles Davis defiantly performed his final live album, just weeks before he died.
  • At 66, Noah Webster completed his monumental “American Dictionary of the English Language.”
  • At 67, Simeon Poisson discovered the laws of probability after studying the likelihood of death from mule kicks in the French army.
  • At 68, the English experimentalist Sir William Crookes began investigating radioactivity and invented a device for detecting alpha particles.
  • At 69, Canadian Ed Whitlock of Milton, Ontario, Canada, became the oldest person to run a standard marathon in under three hours (2:52:47).
  • At 70, Cornelius Vanderbilt began buying railroads.
  • At 71, Katsusuke Yanagisawa, a retired Japanese schoolteacher, became the oldest person to climb Mt. Everest.
  • At 72, Margaret Ringenberg flew around the world.
  • At 73, Larry King celebrated his 50th year in broadcasting.
  • At 74, Ferdinand Marie de Lesseps began an attempt to construct the Suez Canal.
  • At 75, cancer survivor Barbara Hillary became one of the oldest people, and the first black woman, to reach the North Pole.
  • At 76, Arthur Miller unveiled a bold new play, “The Ride Down Mt. Morgan,” free of the world-weary tone of his previous works.
  • At 77, John Glenn became the oldest person to go into space.
  • At 78, Chevalier de Lamarck proposed a new theory of the evolutionary process, claiming that acquired characteristics can be transmitted to offspring.
  • At 79, Asa Long became the oldest U.S. checkers champion.
  • At 80, Christine Brown of Laguna Hills, CA, flew to China and climbed the Great Wall.
  • At 81, Bill Painter became the oldest person to reach the 14,411-foot summit of Mt. Rainier.
  • At 82, William Ivy Baldwin became the oldest tightrope walker, crossing the South Boulder Canyon in Colorado on a 320-foot wire.
  • At 83, famed baby doctor Benjamin Spock championed for world peace.
  • At 84, W. Somerset Maugham wrote “Points of View.”
  • At 85, Theodor Mommsen became the oldest person to receive a Nobel Prize in Literature.
  • At 86, Katherine Pelton swam the 200-meter butterfly in 3 minutes, 1.14 seconds, beating the men’s world record for that age group by over 20 seconds.
  • At 87, Mary Baker Eddy founded the Christian Science Monitor.
  • At 88, Michelangelo created the architectural plans for the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli.
  • At 89, Arthur Rubinstein performed one of his greatest recitals in Carnegie Hall.
  • At 90, Marc Chagall became the first living artist to be exhibited at the Louvre museum.
  • At 91, Allan Stewart of New South Wales completed a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of New England.
  • At 92, Paul Spangler finished his 14th marathon.
  • At 93, P.G. Wodehouse worked on his 97th novel, was knighted and died.
  • At 94, comedian George Burns performed in Schenectady, NY, 63 years after his first performance there.
  • At 95, Nola Ochs became the oldest person to receive a college diploma.
  • At 96, Harry Bernstein published his first book, “The Invisible Wall,” three years after he started writing to cope with loneliness after his wife of 70 years, Ruby, passed away.
  • At 97, Martin Miller was still working fulltime as a lobbyist on behalf of benefits for seniors.
  • At 98, Beatrice Wood, a ceramist, exhibited her latest work.
  • At 99, Teiichi Igarashi climbed Mt. Fuji.
  • At 100, Frank Schearer seems to be the oldest active water skier in the world.

BE F-G AWESOME TODAY!

Original graphic and quote: Stephanie DelTorchio

Go At It Full Speed

befat.net

(Note: I’m having some computer issues so I hope at least the graphic makes it to your inbox)

Please don’t half-ass your passions, dreams and interests. If something speaks to you, whether in a whisper or a screeching siren,  grab hold of it. Attack it with the same gusto as you would a triple-layered chocolate cake after a long fast. Use two forks!

BE F-G AWESOME TODAY!

Original graphic: Stephanie DelTorchio

Things You Can, Should and Must Do

befat.net

There is a difference between things you CAN do, things you SHOULD do and things you MUST do.

You CAN for instance, chose where you live. What you do for work. People you associate with, date, marry. How well, or not, you treat yourself.

You SHOULD chose to live in a place that brings you comfort and joy. Whether a pitched tent in the woods, a boat, a house in the country, an apartment in the city or a bunk in a commune, the physical environment doesn’t matter so long as it suits your needs. Find a corner of the Universe that is yours to decorate and dwell, and invite over people you love, cook delicious food, tend a garden — rooftop or acres or a single potted tomato plant. (Wait, this is my place.)

You SHOULD chose to do work that feeds your soul and makes you happy. Do work that feels like play, if at all possible. Do work that at the end of the day makes you satisfied and exhausted in such a good way that you will want to repeat it tomorrow and the next day and the next. You’ll spend many hours doing work over your lifetime and if you go there every day grudgingly, hating it, dying inside until Friday, what’s the point? No amount of money is worth your unhappiness and dissatisfaction.

It’s okay to take a job or jobs, in order to support a lifestyle that leaves time to do the work you love. Consider this a means to the end to pursue a hobby or go back to school or focus on Act 2.

You SHOULD associate with people who elevate and complement you (not necessarily COMPLIMENT you and your ego). Understand that not everybody will love you, or like you, or tolerate your very existence. And that’s fine. Different strokes, right? Maybe get a dog, or a cat, or a horse or a gaggle of geese if human interaction is your struggle.

Avoid the negative cads and zealots. They are generally humorless and will over time suck the life blood out of you. Accept, too, that people ebb and flow in your life, like the tide. Invite them in, be willing to let them go. Be as good a friend and support to the people you associate with as they are to you.

Here’s what you MUST DO: You MUST take care of your body, your mind and your inner spirit. If you won’t do this, who will? You’ll need the discipline and strength of all three to carry you through during the times you lose your way, overindulge, trip and falter over the things you CAN and SHOULD do.

BE F-G AWESOME TODAY!

Original graphic and quote: Stephanie DelTorchio

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