Be Careful to Take Risks

This past week I was focusing on the latest suggestion from Bruce Mau's "Incomplete Manifesto for Growth" namely "Be careful to take risks. Time is genetic. Today is the child of yesterday and the parent of tomorrow. The work you produce today will create your future." I think this applies to nearly every aspect of my life, not just the creative side.

I recently read that most people use the incorrect definition of a goal, something that will be or will be achieved in the future. It went on to say that that isn't a goal as so much a result. The future state is the result of the goals and work we do today. Today is built on what was accomplished yesterday. Tomorrow with start off where we left off today. Therefore, day in and day out, we work little by little and over time we begin to see results. The goals are actually those smaller targets that we can accomplish today. For example, I have a goal that I will paint for at least 2 hours today, and again tomorrow and the day after that. If I hit my daily goals, I will have the results of producing the number of paintings of quality I want by the end of the month.

I also noticed two things that when I focus more on what I am doing today and not on what I want 3 months from now. First, it is harder to procrastinate. I have 5 tasks to do today. I either do them or I don't. If I don't, they are on the list tomorrow. They don't go away and they are still needed to be done if the results are going to be realized. The second thing I noticed is those grand results I want for myself are not so big and overwhelming when I break them down into smaller attainable daily tasks. With not being so overwhelming, the risks associated with the daily tasks are also not as scary. They even seem trivial at times. So simply by breaking things down and focus on today, I am able to no procrastinate and push things forward while also taking a few risks along the way. Remember, no risk, no reward.

My conclusion is that I should look everyday in my tasks for something that is a bit risky and do it. Doing so day after day will yield much larger results and give an intense sense of accomplishment. Most of all, I'll get what I want.

This week I am looking at the 21st recommendation from the "Incomplete Manifesto for Growth" which states "Repeat yourself. If you like it, do it again. If you don’t like it, do it again."