Every day, we’re bombarded by unwanted pressures influencing our decisions. To improve time management, clear mental clutter and find Peace of Mind, it is important to remember Who Is Driving This Car, Anyway? You are. You own your decisions.
It’s hot outside, but a client just purchased flannel sheets… patterned with snowflakes. Why? Because he keeps a running list of household items he needs, and then peruses emails from his favorite retailers, waiting for a good sale and free shipping. He found some high quality sheets on clearance, got a great deal plus free shipping. This client is driving the car. He’s in charge, and uses retailer offers to his best advantage.
Speaking of sheets, another client asked “Why should I buy sheets in January?” Major retailers typically offer White Sales and special deals on bedding, towels, etc. in January, but she resents pressure from outside forces to buy bedding only in January. If we need new bedding now, why wait? And if we don’t need bedding or towels, we may succumb to advertising pressure and begin to think maybe we really DO need them, since the advertisements say we do. This client is in charge, and will buy bedding based on needs, not on advertising pressures.
What should guide your actions:
- Your beliefs, faith, personal goals and objectives
- The needs and wants (within reason) of your loved ones / the people you are responsible for
- Your own needs and wants, in that order
- Your work responsibilities, your own agenda, personally and professionally, and the tasks attached
What should NOT guide your actions:
- Indecision. Fear. Procrastination. Inertia. Busy work.
- Pop-culture pressures. Anything you see on TV or in a catalog, article or newspaper, unless it fits in with the list above of “Should Guide Your Actions”
- The unsolicited suggestions or opinions of strangers, or other people’s drama / goals / objectives
I mentioned in a paper management class last week that we should unsubscribe from every Catalog. We live very happily without an item until we see it in the shiny pages of a catalog. And then we are reeled in with the artfully crafted ad and MUST HAVE that piece! A class participant shared an insight she gained from that statement:
She has been struggling to stay inside her weekly food budget. She dutifully reviews the grocery store ads for the best deals on her food items, and uses coupons, too. However, she lets the ads dictate her grocery list, instead of looking first at what she already has on hand in her kitchen. The stores were driving the car, not her own needs. She will now shop for what she needs, and not just what is on sale.
I read an article last week about how double spacing between sentences is now outdated, and everyone should single space after a period. The writer reasoned that the age of computers has eliminated the need for double spacing as fonts are more readable now than on a typewriter. Reading this reasonable (single spaced) article could influence me to edit the last 20 years of my articles, just to conform to this writers’ assertion.
But… it turns out, I don’t care.
I don’t care if my sentences are single or double spaced. Perhaps I should, and perhaps I will try to start that new habit, but probably not. I could spend hours and days adhering to some stranger’s suggestion. But I won’t. Because 1. both ways are technically correct, 2. I have other things to do with my time, and 3. I’m driving THIS car.
Get clear on your own beliefs, values, needs and wants. Make sure you are the one Driving This Car. You will make better decisions, and be less likely to cave under external pressures.