On the day of the funeral of a dear friend, colleague, and mentor, I have a few thoughts to share that I would like you to dwell upon in your heart.

If any of these ring true for you, remember that each and every moment, we receive opportunities to make new choices, to go after our dreams, to act upon the love that is at the center of who we really are. Dreams are not just for dreaming. Dreams are for doing.

I wanted to travel to an exotic place, but I was afraid I couldn’t afford it.

I wanted to go to an amazing event, but didn’t want to go alone, so I didn’t.

I wanted to do something wild and crazy just to see what would happen, but I was afraid of what people might think.

I wanted to tell my child how proud I was of her, but I was afraid she’d get a big head.

I wanted to create something inspirational, but it was easier to watch TV after a hard day at work.

I wanted to start my own company, but I was afraid that I might go bankrupt.

I wanted to dance, but I stopped when I thought about how I couldn’t dance as well as other people.

I watched carefree children playing with abandon, and I wished I were like them again.

I wished that I could love unconditionally like my pet, yet I couldn’t shake the need to uphold the illusion of my own self-importance.

I wished that I could be there for people when they needed me, but I’ve just got too much of my own stuff going on to help.

I wish I could accept myself as I am, but I just can’t forgive myself for all of the mistakes I’ve made.

I wanted to give a hug to someone when they needed it, but I was afraid that they might be offended. 

The most precious time is now. The only moment that counts is this one. Let’s do a little better each moment to let go of our fears and choose the way of Love. And when we stumble, let’s have compassion upon ourselves, get up, dust ourselves off, and keep moving in the direction that Love leads us.

My friend was one of the most generous people I have ever known. I am blessed to have known him. I would not be who I am today without his kindness, generosity, and support.

Thanks, Mark, for everything! I’ll see you later!

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In the past, I used to get so overwhelmed by the magnitude of everything I needed to accomplish at any given time. Sound familiar? Well, today I have a lot more to accomplish than I did back then. Many more projects, relationships, requests, businesses, pieces of information, etc.

Here are a few things that you can consider whenever you are overwhelmed.

Breathe!

Close your eyes. Breathe in deeply from your diaphram through your nose and exhale slowly out of your mouth several times.

Trust!

When we are in overwhelm mode we are not trusting God, ourselves, our systems, and other people. We are not trusting that there is plenty of time to accomplish everything that needs to get done. Life is only complicated to the extent that we complicate it. Trust speeds everything up. Trust increases flow and harmony. So, trust as much as you will allow yourself to in this moment and then do your best to trust even more.

Procrastinate!

As you go through everything that needs to be accomplished, eliminate as many to-do’s as possible by letting them go, delegating, or putting them in a someday/maybe file.

Focus on the shorter list of tasks that are important. Do the critical action steps make progress.

Intuit!

When it comes to those important and urgent things, use your intuition to guide what you take on first, second et cetera, what to do, and how to do it.

Act!

Start taking action on today’s list. And allow things to flow. Set up your environment to minimize distractions. Relax and have fun and really enjoy being so productive. Radiate gratitude for everything you have that allows you to be so incredibly productive. You’ll achieve more in less time and have a whole heck of a lot more fun doing it!

Go be fruitful!

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People often tell me how they procrastinate all of the time. My first question when someone wants to have a conversation about procrastination is, “Are you procrastinating on doing things you actually want to do?”

Usually people say, “No, it’s easy doing things I want to do. It’s just the stuff that I have to do that seems too difficult, complicated, or overwhelming.”

Yeah, me too. Honestly, I am all for procrastinating on stuff that we don’t want to do. Eventually we’ll do it with whatever time we have left. By consciously procrastinating on some things, I have saved myself a whole lot of time messing around and tinkering with something to get it just right.

Instead of beating ourselves up over procrastinating, let’s celebrate the fact that we are actually saving ourselves time by waiting until the 11^th hour! Now of course, if you are constantly thinking about doing something and not doing it, that is time that can be much better allocated to other activities until the moment for action arrives.

Now, there are important projects that we need to do, and it is better to do them sooner than later. It could be a challenging conversation, a lengthy report, a grant proposal, a significant purchase, a proposal, a household project, et cetera. By the way I have procrastinated on all of these things. Boy, that list was a little too easy to come up with!

Practices for Handling Procrastination

The first thing that I suggest people do in these kinds of circumstances is release the thoughts and feelings that the project will be as challenging as they believe it will be. Just because we think something is going to be difficult does not make it so. We think all kinds of things that just aren’t true. Thoughts and feelings related to procrastination are no different.

The second suggestion I have is to just pick the first action that makes sense and do that without thinking about any other aspect of the project. Just decide to do one tiny thing, maybe it’s sending an e-mail, making a call, brainstorming some ideas, or making a note. It’s best to choose something that is either fun for you or that you can complete in a matter of a few minutes. Once completed, celebrate! You have taken a step toward the completion of your project!

Often completing that one action leads me to want to complete several other actions as well. And sometimes, the thing I have been putting off is done quickly, easily, effortlessly, and joyfully simply because I made the choice to do one small thing related to it.

Have hope! Your unfinished and unstarted projects will be completed one way or another. I suggest completing them with a much joy, ease, and speed as possible.

Go forth and be fruitful! Woooooo Hoooooo!!!!

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