3 Lessons I Learned From The Blizzard of 2016
Who would have known that I was in for a good life lesson dealing with the cleaning up of this blizzard that hit us over the weekend. The blizzard felt like dropping off 3 feet of snow in my area and plenty of wind to push more snow in inconvenient places. I’m sure plenty of us weren’t happy with what awaited us as we exited our homes with shovels in hand. But besides learning for next time to make sure I’m on the next flight to a tropical beach, there was a lesson I realized in the act of cleaning up so much snow.
1. Ain’t No Use Complaining
There was ample amount of time and news coverage for people to know what was coming this past weekend, and yet people still grumbled about how much work they had to do to clean off their walkways and cars. While standing out there before I began to shovel I thought about something Wayne Dyer once said, “It ain’t no use worrying about things that are out of your control. And it ain’t no use worrying about things that are in your control. So that takes care of everything in your life, there just ain’t no use worrying.” (Paraphrased a little from an audio recording he did a while back).
I thought, complaining will not clean these cars for me so I might as well go about my business without grumbling. It’s a much better experience when you go about your work without making a huge fuss over it.
The complaining is what actually makes the task harder to complete because you are continuously introducing negative energy into the mix. Every second you’re out there feels like forever because your mind is not on the task in front of you. Your mind is where you want to be; in this case, back in the nice, warm house. I knew that if I focused on wanting to be back in the house and whined about it, I wouldn’t get much work done.
Complaining doesn’t get the job done; only doing gets the job done. If you’re going to do it, don’t bring a pile of negative energy with you. Complaining while trying to complete a task makes your efforts ineffective. Do your task with just the focus of getting it done.
2. Focus On The Process
Along with focusing on getting it done, I found it best to just focus on the process. There was a whole lot of snow (3 feet is no joke) and you’re not going to get down to the pavement in one scoop of the shovel. Then to look at how much needs to be done, anyone would be ready to grumble about the enormous task in front of them. But taking from lesson 1, if you’re not going to complain, then just get to work.
I found it more relaxing to just focus on the process of chipping away at the layers one scoop at a time. By doing this, it made it easier to continue on in the process. It didn’t feel like a big deal to take another scoop and move it to the side. Even when the pile began to get as high as me, the focus of just moving a little at a time was sufficient enough to keep me going.
When I began to feel like I’ve been doing a whole lot of work and so much snow is still left, I would ask myself, “Can I scoop another shovel full.” The answer was, “Of course.” So I kept on digging, being focused on just the process made it not that difficult.
This lesson had me reflect on the amount of work it takes for any business or project. Looking at the finish line may be daunting, but staying focused on the process keeps you motivated to press on. The little actions pile up to big results and when looking at those little actions, you find that it’s not that difficult to do. Continue to focus on the little actions and you will find that they are simple. Continue in the process until great things are achieved.
3. Choose The Right Attitude
Already having my head wrapped around the fact that it was going to be a lot of snow to clean up, I was mentally ready for the work. While shoveling, I listened to some Audible and some music. With Audible, I was able to clean the driveways while getting some personal development done. I became absorbed in the messages the book was giving, to the point where the physical work felt like a breeze.
While listening to the music, I just enjoyed myself, dancing along, reciting the lyrics. This also made the amount work feel less intimidating. I had the right attitude to continue on without feeling overwhelmed. Being absorbed into my audio also made time fly.
This was a good takeaway I got from this lesson. The right attitude will make your task in a project feel less daunting. There may be a lot of work that needs to be done, but with the right attitude you’re ready and willing to take on that job. You’re able to last longer because you’ve found the mental space to enjoy yourself while going through the task.
Bringing It All Together
Put these 3 lessons together and you may be able to find that you have a smoother time completing projects in the future. Cutting out the complaining also cuts out the negative energy and the waste of energy it takes to repeatedly express yourself in a nonproductive manner. Instead, focusing on the process keeps you in a highly effective state, bringing the right kind of momentum in your favor. Add that with the right attitude will keep you motivated to continue on with completing your tasks. You may not even want to stop due to the fact that you’re enjoying the momentum and you’re finding pleasure in your acts.
There’s always a lesson that can be learned in any setting, be open to what you could learn, you may be able to use it to better yourself in whatever area you find important.
Discussion: Was there ever a time you caught yourself complaining only to find that it was making your job harder to do?
After you stopped complaining, were you able to be more productive?
Have you ever had a lot of work to do but found that having the right attitude made your job much easier to do?
Originally published at www.begottenlife.com.
