I’m writing with a pen and paper this morning because my Palm Vx suddenly is FUBAR. It won’t hotsync, even after a soft and hard reset. And now it’s useless, with no info on it at all. I think it’s the cradle or maybe the COM port but AAARRRGGGHHH, it’s pissing me off to spend so much time trying to fix the problem. I wonder if anything good could come of this aggravation? What if I had to go completely paper-based again for my planner, using my old Franklin-Covey stuff? I might have to in the interim. Maybe it would help me in my efforts to get more organized, more disciplined. Coincidence? Maybe.
Related Aggravation #2: I had a lousy week on my getting things done plan. As I think about it now, I seemed to be thinking subconsciously that once I made the plan, announced it here, and said a few prayers of help that it would come eeeeeeasssssy. Wrong. It’s hard, and now it’s humbling to fail, temporarily anyway. I’m glad I’m not trying to do something really hard, like quitting smoking, drinking, or some other drug. I guess I’ll just suck it up this week and take another whack at it.
Aggravation #3: I played shitty in 3 of my 4 racquetball tourney matches over the weekend. I thought I’d be able to control the small amount of anxiety that I know prevents me from playing loose. But I only did that in one match and that was primarily because my opponent was more tight than me. The more he started choking, the more relaxed and confident I became. Same lesson, I guess. It’s not easy for me to learn to play relaxed under pressure, even in something so insignificant as a local racquetball tourney. I keep thinking that a few days of sports psyching exercises right before a tourney will be enough. It might be for some, but not for me.
Aggravation #4: I ruined our date night on Saturday by making a remark to my wife after seeing a movie. She’d seen Chicago earlier in the week with a friend of hers and was absolutely enthralled with it, wanted to see it again, really wanted me to see it, and was sure I’d love it. On the way out of the theater, I teased her with something like “Well, it wasn’t a great movie.” We have a history of conflict over movies — our preferences, how frequent to watch one — so it reopened those old wounds. What to learn? Not sure. She asked me to refrain from any pointed or sarcastic or teasing remarks about movies from now on. Just consider them as a form of entertainment and escape and a way to have something fun to talk about afterwards. Guess we’re due for a walk and a talk about this.
Four aggravations, four lessons.
It’s not quite enough for me to take a Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff approach, as much as I liked that series of books. For me, when I find myself sweating the small stuff, it’s better to take the time to figure out what life’s trying to teach me, that if I’m sweating, I must be entertaining mistaken ideas.
Another “get organized” strategy occurred to me today: no racquetball unless I’m keeping up with my daily targets towards a more disciplined life. Gulp.