You know when you’re using the GPS on your phone and you scroll the map to look at some other point, there is always a button that says “Re-Center”? Just the push of that one little button and you are right back on course and tracking with the map.
Don’t you wish life had that?
Lately, my life seems to exist of a continuous string of unfinished things. I’m so far behind on so many things already this year. It’s only February, friends. How is it possible to be so far behind when the year just started?
I’m sure that some of you can relate. You had great plans to start the year out on the right foot and then that foot got tripped up and here you are having fallen face first into a puddle of “man I should have seen that coming.”
So how do we get back on track? How do we hit the life “re-center” button?
Stop
First things first (and I know this sounds completely irrational given how far behind we already feel) we need to come to a complete stop. Continued movement in the direction we’re going will only lead us further off course. We quite literally need to stop and take a minute to check our bearings.
What is it that we wanted to do? Where did we want to go? How did things get off course to begin with? Taking some time to reevaluate what it is that you should and shouldn’t be doing is helpful here.
I know that life doesn’t stop just because you need to, so take whatever time you can get here. Maybe it’s just a couple hours one afternoon. A whole weekend would be great. Personally, I’ve been sick more days than not this past week so in between coughs and sneezes and whatnot (thank you, allergies) I’ve been attempting to stop and process this stuff myself. Suffice it to say the more time you can give yourself the better.
Make a New Plan
Now that you’ve come to a complete stop and determined where things got off course, you can now make a plan to get back on course. What is it going to take to accomplish the things you set out to do? Are there things that you need to no longer be doing? Finish them well and move on. Do you need to say “no” to something? Gracefully decline whatever it is.
For me, it looks like putting some daily, weekly, and monthly disciplines in place to help me get back (and stay) on track.
Making sure that I have a consistent daily quiet time is on top of that list. It’s hard to re-center your life if you aren’t attached to your center, right?
Making time to exercise every day and being conscious of what I’m eating are next. A time to work, a time to write, a time to read … these are all things I need to fit into my daily routine.
I could (and knowing myself, would) get completely overwhelmed if I tried to add all of these into my life at once. But like any habit, if I can do one consistently over time, then I can add in another, and then another.
Take Action
It’s time to start taking action on the plan that you just created. Take one step. Do one thing. Start priming the pump on the actions that will get you headed in the right direction. Before you know it, that pump won’t be so hard to keep moving and you’ll be back on course, headed where you always needed or wanted to be going.
We didn’t get off course overnight, and we certainly aren’t going to be able to get back on course overnight either. But we can start to fix things and hit that life “re-center” button by stopping, making a plan, and taking action.