Don’t Jump Ahead

Dear Conscience,

I have to stop my mind from jumping ahead. Nothing will ever get done if I don’t focus on what’s in front of me. Yes, some planning and vision is needed. But this takes too much of my mindspace, fantasizing about something that’s months or years away (and maybe even not in the cards, if I don’t first solve what’s here and now).

For example, I started focusing on my finances now. A lot of things have to get addressed here. It’s a complex and anxiousness-inducing topic. And yet, this morning I was looking at house selling ads. I’m so very far away from buying a house, it’s something that I might never be able to do even. So why spend time on looking at ads now? My mind’s excuse is that I have to be looking so that I know what’s out there. Why? To se just how out of reach it is? Instead of spending this time getting myself financially safe, so that I can come a step closer to one day being sustainably housed.

For each sphere (right now finance), I only have the capacity to focus on 2 things at a time:

1. Building one new habit (6 billable hours per workday)

2. Finishing one project (setting up a regular transfer to an investment account)

Until either the habit is integrated, or the project is done (or on hold for external reasons), no significant time and effort can go to other steps in the pipeline. Otherwise, I just start ‘looking into’ a million solutions, and leaving everything unfinished – a lot of time for zero progress.

No jumping ahead. No housing ads. Bill hours. Set up an investment transfer.

Sincerely,

B.