Should = Do It

May 14, 2013 by Ben

I don’t know if you have an inner monologue like I do, but I am constantly talking to myself.  I am always processing the world around me and talk to myself while I do it.  I make jokes, lists of things to do, mental notes about what I see and experience.  One thing I’ve been trying to do more, is listen to that inner monologue.

Specifically I try to listen when I say the word should.  I say should a lot.

I should do this, or do that.  I should go here, or go there.  I should help that person.  I should, I should, I should.  I say it a lot, but don’t always do what it is that I said I should do.

So recently I’ve set a trigger for myself for when I catch myself saying should, I pause and do that thing that that I just said I should do.  A lot of the time its a spur of the moment type of though that requires immediate action.

“I should stop and help that person broken down the side of the road”

“I should fix that squeaking thing that’s driving me nuts”

“I should stop at the store on the way home to make dinner”

“I should go running”

I used to let all these should’s come in and pass through my head leaving a long “someday” to do list of things I should do, or worse a long list of things I should have done.

Now with that trigger set, I find myself turning around a lot more and going back to do those things.  If I hear should, I turn that into a must and do it right then if the should calls for it.

Do you find yourself saying “I should…” a lot?  Do you find yourself regretting not doing those things?

Your Truly Simple Action this week is to listen to yourself.  See if you find yourself saying should and start to listen and recognize the pattern.  Then start pausing when you hear yourself saying it and taking immediate action on that should.

Ben…

Truly Simple Actions The goal of the TSA project is to improve your life and help make this world a better place, one simple action at a time.  Take time this week to do this one simple thing. Previous TSA’s:

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This is Water

May 9, 2013 by Ben

This is just simply awesome.  Enjoy

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If you can’t get out of it, get into it

May 7, 2013 by Ben

I am not going through hell right now, but I am nearing the finishing of a huge project that I am eager and ready to be finished.  I’ve been working on a major remodel of our rental house for the past 2 months on nights and weekends and I am ready for it to be done.

I love the work of remodeling and fixing, but its taking all my time away from my family and friends and other things I’d like to be doing so I am ready for it to be done, but its not done yet.  I can see the finish line.  Its almost there.  Just a little bit more, but I am tired.  Tired of running to Home Depot several times a day.  Tired of being away both day and night.  I am just ready for it to be done.  So what do you do when you are in a a situation that you can’t get out of?  You get into it.

Dive in head first.  Get behind the project and make it move forward.  Every day, just a little further until its done.  I am near the finish line and I will finish strong.

I am almost there.  I will keep going and finish strong.

Your Truly Simple Action this week is to finish strong on that project that you are stuck in that you may not want to be in anymore.  Finish it.  Get it done so you can stand back and look at the great work you’ve done.  Get it finished so you can move on to all those new things you want to start.

Ben…

Truly Simple Actions The goal of the TSA project is to improve your life and help make this world a better place, one simple action at a time.  Take time this week to do this one simple thing. Previous TSA’s:

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Be Nice

Apr 29, 2013 by Ben

Do something nice for someone this week without telling them about it.  Don’t expect anything in return.  Just do something nice and make someones world a little better.

This could be as simple as putting things away around the house, or fixing that broken item that’s been broken for a while.

Just quietly do something nice for someone around you when they are not looking.

Don’t say a word.

Just wait for them to notice and smile and feel good when they do.

Ben…

Truly Simple Actions The goal of the TSA project is to improve your life and help make this world a better place, one simple action at a time.  Take time this week to do this one simple thing. Previous TSA’s:

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Keep in Contact

Apr 22, 2013 by Ben

This one’s an awesome two-parter.

I was chatting with my friend Rhett the other day and he mentioned that he liked my post on 5 Ways to Simplify Your Email and he also mentioned he just upgraded his phone and despite the people transferring over all his info, he still lost half his contacts.

Keeping up with friends and family these days has never been easier.  We have Facebook, and Twitter and all sorts of ways to text, call or reach out to our loved ones.  I created a Facebook group for my dads side of the family ,as it is very large and spread out, so we could all keep in touch.  I love all the ways technology makes it easy for us to keep up with those we care about.

That said, it can be a total nightmare when you lose your phone if that is the only place all your contacts are kept.  So this post is first about keeping your contacts in a safe place so they are not at risk to be lost forever if you lose your or upgrade your phone.  The best way I have found to do this is to keep all of my contacts in my email (gmail) account and then sync those to my phone.  That way when I get a new phone I can just sync all of my contacts at once and I can never lose them.  They are always online and I can access them anywhere I have internet.

So the first part of this Truly Simple Action for this week is to get all of your contacts out of your phone and into an online service where they can be kept safe.  I recommend Gmail, but other email clients may work as well.

You can do this one by one, but that does not sound like a fun way to spend an afternoon, so lets let the computer do the work.  If you have an IOS device, here is a simple guide to getting your contacts to sync between your phone/tablet and gmail.  If you have an Android phone or tablet, since those are already running a Google OS, it should work by default, but here is some info to help if you need it.

Once your contacts are in sync you can create one on the phone and it should sync over to gmail to keep it safe in the cloud.  Isn’t that nice?  Be careful, because the sync works both ways.  If you delete a contact on your phone, it will delete on gmail too.  Once they are all on gmail, you can get on your computer and do a little contact cleanup as it is much easier to do with a keyboard and mouse vs trying to do it all on a little touch screen phone.

Now that all your contacts are safe, part two of this Truly Simple Action this week is to use them.  Go through your contact list and reach out to a few old friends this week.  Out of the blue, just send them a note or give them a quick call and tell them how awesome they are.  Such a simple idea, but sometimes we don’t do it enough.  The awesome feeling both you and they will get from this will amaze you.

So keep your contacts safe, and use them.

Ben…

Truly Simple Actions The goal of the TSA project is to improve your life and help make this world a better place, one simple action at a time.  Take time this week to do this one simple thing. Previous TSA’s:

 

 

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