COMPLETE WHAT IS NECESSARY OF YOU TODAY

Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.

When I look at the tasks that lay before me, it is quite easy to see them as one big, insurmountable obstacle, but that is usually not the case. Many times the tasks can be broken down into smaller subsets of the whole. And when we are able to see these tasks in such a way, it becomes much simpler to approach them in a very manageable way. Perhaps we do what is necessary first, as that is the most crucial. Then work on the rest as time and ability permits. Within very little time, what seemed like an impossibility has now become a conquered task, a successful endeavor. Life is a lot easier when we are able to complete a few tasks at a time, when we are content with doing a number of small things quite well, that help us to get that much closer to accomplishing the bigger picture. Take weight loss for example--no one can lose 52 pounds in a single day. But any one of us could lose 52 pounds by losing 1 pound a week for a year. When we task ourselves with the impossible, or burden ourselves with too much, we cause a lot of misery and stress and set ourselves up for failure. On the other hand, by doing the small things that we can do over time, we set ourselves up for success, and the things that previously appeared impossible, will soon just be objects in your rear view mirror. Today's Challenge: Complete what is necessary of you today.

What are your priorities today? What is required of you today? What happens to us when we get hurried and overwhelmed with a task? Is it better to do a few small things well, or one large task not as well?

For further thought:

Do each day all that can be done that day. You don't need to overwork--or to rush blindly into your work, trying to do the greatest possible number of things in the shortest possible amount of time. Don't try to do tomorrow's--or next week's--work today. It's not so much the number of the things you do but the quality, the efficiency of each separate action that counts... you need only to succeed in the small tasks of each day. This makes a successful day. With enough of these, you have a successful week, month, year--and lifetime. Earl Nightingale