Unfinished
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Eating the frogs in my life
November 9, 2011 — Brian Tracy, Eat That Frog!, exercise, Liturgy of the Hours, Mark Twain, The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats
Well, I woke up this morning with that quote from William Butler Yeats with “the centre cannot hold” from his poem “The Second Coming” going through my head.
No, things aren’t that bad. It’s not anarchy yet, but it is getting close here in my life as I realized I haven’t eaten that frog every morning.
Huh?
What am I talking about?
Brian Tracy, self-help author and motivational speaker, wrote a book called Eat That Frog! 21 Great Ways To Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time. The title of the book comes from the quote from Mark Twain:
If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.
Each and every morning, for at least the last month, if not longer, I have stepped over that book as it lays on the floor on the entrance to our bedroom. I did read it, but like everything else in my life, I haven’t implemented it.
About a month ago, I wrote this post “Am I ever gonna change? Yes…”on my former blog, an unfinished person (in this unfinished universe). In it, I talked about how with resigning from my correspondent job and my volunteering at the local center the previous month, I hoped to have more time for myself physically, mentally and spiritually.
Specifically, I mentioned each day going for a walk (what used to be a jog or a run), reading and commenting on other blogs (what used to pass for conversation) and meditating on spiritual readings (what used to be called Morning Prayer and was part of the Liturgy of the Hours I practiced). I then concluded with the statement: “I just want to breathe a little more…isn’t that what we all want?”
Have I done any of those things since that time? No.
What can I do to change that?
First thing, as soon as I’m done with this post, I’m going for a walk. That is the biggest frog right now…
…as I’ve also been procrastinating getting a follow-up blood test because my triglyceride levels were too high when I got blood work done a few months ago.
After that, per Tracy’s recommendation in his book, I’m going to write down my goals. From there, you can follow my continuing journey here…
…or at least that’s the plan if I don’t continue to procrastinate, stagnate and (to mix metaphors slightly) boil myself to death in this hot water called life.
Here’s hoping the centre eventually holds.
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You may be a little depressed. Which is understandable with various life changes. Also, at least for me, this time of year is always hard– lower light levels, etc., and I tend to want to cocoon and do nothing. Maybe that’s also part of the issue? Hoping this comment finds you in a slightly better place post-walk. 
Yes, that’s definitely part of it, but not the whole of it. I don’t know if I’m in a slightly better place post-walk but things are becoming clearer than they were before the walk…even if only slightly.
Take your walk, for heaven’s sake. And try “Red Yeast Rice” for your cholesterol. It brought Alex’s down by a lot of points. You can buy it at any health food store. The thing is, it’s so easy to put stuff off. Just go do it.
Doing it…not the red yeast rice, because it’s not cholestrol, but triglycerides, which is different. However, I’m going for a walk yet again today.
I am sort of in the same place right now. I am not used to have to budget for stuff. It’s not that I was ever rich (coughs and then laughs out loud) but I never had to be careful about my spending. With the family’s business failing due to clients going overseas for their business, I find myself rather blue and listless.
And the whole gluten-free things sucks sometimes. I just had to throw that in there.
However, I will say this… things that I tend to put off because I don’t want to face them, aren’t all that bad when I do. That said, sometimes it’s easier to just do it and stop thinking about it because when you are blue… the thinking drains much needed energy. KWIM?
Also, I see that you took your walk and feel better. That’s good. I’ve been walking with the Otter Pup and she is such a spaz that it takes my mind off of the dreaded walk.
I’m putting music on an iPod Shuffle before I go and it helps to drown out my own thoughts — plus the truck traffic in our town (water trucks for natural gas drilling going in around where I live).
8 notes
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The week the galaxy went and the week that Dr. No will go | Unfinished reblogged this and added:
[...] Eating the frogs in my life [...]
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Eating a smorgasbord of frogs while on vacation | Unfinished reblogged this and added:
[...] week I talked about eating frogs. This coming week I plan to go frog-wild. First, I’m going to make that list of goals, about [...]
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Thankfully reading and eating frogs | Unfinished reblogged this and added:
[...] on the blog and linking on the Jenn’s blog for Thankfully Reading, and along with all this, plan to eat some frogs, as I mentioned earlier in the [...]
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Thankfully Reading Weekend: The third and final day | Unfinished reblogged this and added:
[...] goal for this weekend was to eat some frogs, as I mentioned earlier in the month. On that front, I haven’t done as well and to be [...]
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Eating The Frog 1: Goal-setting | Unfinished reblogged this and added:
[...] I mentioned earlier this month, I discovered Eat That Frog! 21 Great Ways To Stop Procrastinating and Get More …. The title of the book comes from the quote from Mark Twain: If it’s your job to eat a frog, [...]
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Eating The Frog 2: The power of lists | Unfinished reblogged this and added:
[...] I continued a series of posts that started by my reading Eat That Frog! 21 Great Ways To Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy,… earlier this month. I talked about writing down my goals, reviewing them and selecting that one [...]
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Abandoning Words With Friends to eat the frogs in my life | an unfinished person (in this unfinished universe) reblogged this and added:
[...] So as of five minutes ago, I have deleted all of my Facebook games (yes, again) including Words with Friends and later this morning, I will be heading out for that walk (yes again), my first frog of the day. [...]
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So what happened to you and that eating frogs thing? | an unfinished person (in this unfinished universe) reblogged this and added:
[...] in November, I committed myself to eating a frog a day. Then at the start of this month, I committed myself to keep it stupid simple with only three [...]
