Overwhelmed With Unfinished Stuff?
Kapil Kulshreshtha-Pursuit of My Personal Excellence
Founder CEO | Helping people live freely, live better and fall back in love with their careers
We were 6 of us and it is a VERY busy place.
They told us at the entrance that we need to order Entrees and Mains together as they have unprecedented busy day!
ODD! And RUDE!
This young kid comes to take our order and we order a million thing among 6 of us across Entrees and Mains.
And she does not bother to write it down!
VERY ODD!
‘They will mess it up! But No other option’
“Let it go”, my mind says! And I comply!
AND wow!
Everything comes as planned.?
She gets each of our stuff CORRECT, even when there is a 20 min gap between Entrees and Mains!??
We finished, pay the bills to her and leave
“How did she…”, I wanted to ask but it was odd!
We are out on the road now!
But I can’t shake it off. So I head back in find the girl and I asked her.
“Hey, may I ask you, how did you remember our order?”
She looks at my blankly!
“Hey, I was just here on this table, 5 min back and I am the one who paid the bills”
She doesn’t remember me (and more disappointingly my handsome tip!)
I am surprised as hell!
So I asked her “how did you remember the order and got it right even when you didn’t write it down?”
She explained and it is an amazing insight on how our brain works.
She remembered because it was something pending and her entire focus till it got done was on that.
After it got done - she moved on - IMMEDIATELY!
And that made her the star employee multiple times!
So time for reflection
Learning: 1 simple thing
Selective memory!
1- We all have our RAM - like the computers!
2- Unfinished tasks are given a disproportionate time in our brain than finished tasks
Boom!
Explains a lot about why we notice things that are aligned with what our focus is on at the moment.
It is like, you see red cars everywhere, the moment you buy one!
Or more simply, the unique t-shirt that you bought from the boutique shop in a unknown street suddenly starts appearing everywhere!
So - can we all agree that we have selective memories?
Yes?!
Now what do we DO with this?
Recognise that Unfinished tasks will be given disproportionate amount of importance than finished ones.
Few takeaways for me personally:
1- Yes there is a lot to do- but I am physiologically programmed to think more about things that are missing right now.
So don’t take yourself too seriously!
2- my brain will NOT automatically focus on how far I have come.?So I need to remind it- JOURNALING is my solution to this.
3- I know it is easy for me to judge other people on what they are not doing currently- fight it out within myself.. be aware that they too have come a long way.
And just like me, they too are work in progress.
4- One mechanism I have also developed to cope with times when I get overwhelmed- I focus on this
And just like that- I start! Action action action!
What is your takeaway?
[Credit: The book, Willpower]
[Disclaimer: The above story is not my own but adopted from the book. I know it reads like my own- and I have added masala for easier read!
The lessons however make it EVERYTHING worth it!!]
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Book I Read/Listened To This Last Week:
1- Will: An amazing book from Will Smith (the actor)
Amazing story teller. He tells a story for 20 min and then drop a huge golden nugget.
About 15 hours on Audible - I finished in about 9 hours - had to rewind multiple times to listen to specific stuff.
Biggest Takeaway - from about 100 points I noticed - hard to pick one - but if I have to choose one - it is "For winning in life, you have to let go of what you has held you back"
2- Your own kind of girl by Claire Bowditch
it was free on Audible - so I started listening - after about 10 min I wanted to stop but the "guilt" kept me going. Plus, I was pressure-washing my driveway and needed something light to listen.
And I am glad. Her story of working through mental illness and how she built her diligence was just amzingly inspirational.
Biggest Takeaway: No Brick Wall Ever (aligns with my forever belief!)
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Something I am working on for this Newsletter:
Next Week, I am going to be interviewing someone who travelled from India to Norway in his car - what made him do that, his takeaways and stuff!
Might take a few weeks to get that all done but I know you will love that stuff!
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What Is Happening In My World?
Super excited to be working to put in final touches to my 7 days Personal Branding Program - Keeping it FREE for now.
You can find more at https://playitfull.com/7dayPB and if it appeals - register for it.
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Think you want to engage further with me?
Have a look at my profile, my recommendation sections and if it seems like your life can go through similar transformation - set aside time to talk with me at https://playitfull.com/forwardmovementcall
Founder of Power to Empower ?????
3 年Thank you for sharing. We need to Declutter our lives- the small stuff can overwhelm and stagnate us.??????????????
Consistency and keeping at it Kapil is the problem Kapil. And too many unfinished tasks will also mean your processing power is already stolen from you by these so the task in hand also starts slipping or might have a below expectation finish.
Founder CEO | Helping people live freely, live better and fall back in love with their careers
3 年“There are two fatal errors that keep great projects from coming to life: 1) Not finishing 2) Not starting” ―?Buddha Gautama
Founder CEO | Helping people live freely, live better and fall back in love with their careers
3 年“Starting is not most people’s problem, staying, continuing and finishing is.” ―?Darren Hardy
Founder CEO | Helping people live freely, live better and fall back in love with their careers
3 年When you run a part of the relay and pass on the baton, there is no sense of unfinished business in your mind. There is just the sense of having done your part to the best of your ability. That is it. The hope is to pass on the baton to somebody who will run faster and run a better marathon. N. R. Narayana Murthy