The Plan Creates Excitement

Here's the text from one of my recent ten minute writing sessions (see recent articles if this is the first one of these you've read). We've had some illness in the house, sleep hasn't been great and getting going in the morning felt like a struggle, which is where a good Ten Magic Minutes? routine really shows its value.

The whole point of a good plan is that it plots a path to where you are going and makes it feel like getting there is all-but-guaranteed. It may take a while, there may be some roadworks, the odd traffic delay and possibly the need for more loo-breaks than you’d like (I know that’s not just me), but eventually we’ll get there! If the destination is somewhere you really want to get to, just planning the route and setting off generates excitement. Notice how much longer and how much less enthusiasm there is for the journey home from holiday compared with the outbound trip!

How does this relate to our TMM?

The better we get at it, the more we begin the day with energy and enthusiasm – dare we call it excitement – because of what we will be spending our time on over the ensuing hours until we down tools at the end of the work day, and until we finally end our day and head off to bed.

Does this mean that every task on our plan will be inherently exciting?

We all know that’s unlikely to be the case, but getting it done and the cumulative impact of all the other ways in which we’ve deliberately and consciously decided to invest our time on this particular day on planet earth, should seem (at least mildly) exciting to us.

It may be that we’ve moved some heavy loads and the weight on our minds will be lightened.

It may be that we opened some doors that will open other doors and lead to exciting new opportunities.

Or it might just be the satisfaction that we got on the with actual stuff that needed doing rather than getting waylaid, sidetracked or stuck in an eternal cycle of procrastination.

Whatever’s on the plan for each day, for some reason or other, it should excite. If it doesn’t, revisit the plan and ask yourself if it really is a worthy investment of your day.