Life is not always a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well.
– Jack London
The problem with planning to Get Things Done is that life often gets in the way.
I already told you that I didn’t accomplish everything I planned to do over my Christmas vacation. Fortunately, today is the first day of a four-day weekend.
Don’t blame me, I didn’t write the rules.
I love having fresh planners and calendars and, even if it’s artificial, a blank slate at the beginning of a new year.
I carry my Best-Self Journal, my Moleskine, and I keep tabs on my Google Calendar.
Or I can clean up the mess, regroup, and keep moving forward.
I know what I’m doing.
Look, I didn’t plan to be in this shape by the time I was approaching sixty.
I didn’t plan to be carrying this many extra pounds.
I didn’t plan to be carrying this much debt.
I was supposed to be rich and thin by now.
Instead I have to settle for being devastatingly handsome. It’s a cross I’m willing to bear.
I digress.
It’s Friday. We’re ending our second week of 2018. There are only 50 more weeks to go.
I have plans for mine. I know where I plan to be when I’m writing 2019 on the calendar.
I’m also a realist. That comes with the wisdom of being almost sixty.
Life is going to get in the way. Sometimes, it will suck.
Tomorrow, the sun will rise.
Anyone who starts singing that annoying song from Annie will be shot at dawn…tomorrow…when the sun comes up.
I digress.
We all have goals and dreams. And, we should all be planning and working toward those. We can rest assured that we certainly won’t get there if we’re not doing that.
But life is going to happen. Things are going to come up that try to throw us off course, to discourage us, to take us out of the game.
Two words: Get. Up.
That’s right. Get up and get going again.
Play the cards you’re dealt.
Turn disappointment into opportunity.
Turn despair into hope.
When everything seems darkest, get off your ass and turn on a light.
When God closes a door, open another one. That’s what doors are for.
And remember, even though you’re taking care of yourself, that everyone around you is struggling just like you.
Their problems may be different. Their bank account may have a different balance…or a balance.
Their kids may be perfect, but disease may be destroying them from the inside.
We live in a broken world. There will always be struggles.
But, we’ll get through this.
Ante up.
Jack London also said: “You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”
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