Activity versus Accomplishment
“Don’t mistake activity with achievement.” – John Wooden
Have you ever heard the expression “running in mud“?
It implies that the harder you try to run, the more your steps slip away…and end up taking you nowhere.
This is one of the biggest challenges that I’ve come to know. And it is almost entirely self-inflicted.
I think each day of the word accomplishment. I think each day of the word progress. I think each day of the words ritual, routine, drive and transformation.
I think of these concepts because I believe they are foundational to my definition of success. What is that success? Freedom. Freedom to choose, freedom to give, freedom to engage and explore and impact the world around me. And the freedom to enjoy that with those I hold most dear.
Freedom.
The freedom to construct my journey. And most importantly, the freedom of mind to recognize that the journey itself is where contentment lives.
But sometimes, when I’m thinking of these concepts…I can fall into a trap. The trap I can fall into, is that my personality type causes me to start constructing ‘scaffolding’. I start to look at each step in the plan for progress and achievement, and make plans and systems and outcomes…for those steps.
And before I know it…I’ve created more tasks, more obligations and more activity than I can handle.
“The reality is this: we spend our days drowning in mundane tasks – meetings, emails, reports – often self-created complexities that prevent us from getting to the meaningful work that truly matters.” – Unknown
The planning takes over the vision, and the tasks start to get substituted for genuine achievement.
“Through discipline comes freedom.” – Aristotle
I do believe that structure, discipline, organization and routine can catalyze great change. I do believe that these things can lead to more freedom, (albeit counter-intuitive).
But I also believe, because sometimes I feel like I’m living it, that there’s a dark slope to be avoided. The ‘slippery’ slope that can lead to a place where the process takes over the progress. Where the desire takes over the dream. Where the activity can suffocate the accomplishment.
Today my mind is focused on simplicity. It is focused on doing my best to be crystal clear on the things that I need to do that will truly move the needle.
Don’t get me wrong, there are things I need to check off my to do list. There are tasks that must accompany the best laid plans.
But if I don’t prioritize…if I don’t take time to be strategic…if I don’t understand that the gears of ritual and routine can get overwhelmed with mundane obligation…I’ll start running in mud.
And I’ve got places to go.
There is a great power to ritual and routine and habit. There is a great power to getting things done each and every day. It builds, and builds, and builds…
But there is a balance that must be had.
Activity vs. Accomplishment.
It’s like a cyclical wheel-type catch-22-ish type thingy. Right?
Well, I’m workin’ on it. Every day.
Start strong my friends.
