What if the pressure of the whole day is what keeps us from doing the next thing well?
Some days are overflowing.
Commitments stack up, sacrifice happens, and it’s easy to become frustrated, overwhelmed, and not fun to be around.
When we stop looking at everything we can’t do and focus on one task at a time, we can stop complaining, start doing, and persevere.

What if creating distance is the thing that gives us our choice back?
Everything feels close and immediate.
The flush of emotion drives us to react, defend, bark out orders, or rush into action.
When we take a breath, create space, and choose our response, we stop wasting time fixing mistakes we never needed to make.

What if the best thing to do when we’re stuck is move on?
We get down on ourselves and beat ourselves up for not doing enough. Not being enough.
Progress is slower than we’d like, learning takes longer than we’d like, and we feel like we let ourselves and others down.
Storms come and go. We need to wait them out, dress of the weather, or keep moving.

What if tension is carrying more of our attention than we realize?
We hold tension in our hearts, minds, and bodies.
Most of the day, we are distracted and don’t notice this tension riding with us like an uninvited passenger.
When we can hone in, find the tension, and work on relieving it, we can carry less and put our attention where it matters.

What if control is costing more than we realize?
In life, we may have a tendency to try to control everything.
When we control too much, we become overextended, strain relationships, and leave little room for what matters.
If we can discern what needs our control and what we can let go of, we can have more time, energy, and trust.

What if the event is not good or bad until we make it so?
Nature is nature. What is, is.
We shape events as good or bad, but it is our thinking that makes it so.
We do not need to make things harder, more difficult, or more painful than they are. We can simply see things for what they are.

What if focus is the way back to what matters?
Busy seasons in life come and go. Mostly, they come.
We can feel overwhelmed and seemingly accomplish nothing because our focus is distracted and our attention scattered across too many domains.
If we can make shorter lists, let go of what does not matter, and focus in on what matters, we can be where we are, when we are, and who we’re with.

What if the struggle is not the problem?
Life seldom goes as planned. Things get in the way no matter what we’re doing.
What should be easy turns out to be a struggle, and we can fill our days with anger, anxiety, and frustration because the world does not bend to our will.
Each struggle presents opportunity if we can slow down, take a better look, and stop being mad at the universe for not cooperating.

What if the way to catch up is to focus on one scoop at a time?
Things stack up. Pressure builds. Life becomes busier than we can handle.
When we try to do too much at once, our ability to execute suffers, and the people around us suffer too.
We can chunk things down, focus on what’s in front of us, and execute one thing well before moving on.

What if progress was never supposed to move in a straight line?
We want things to be simple. Easy. Straightforward.
Life gets in the way. Setbacks happen.
Almost nothing happens in a straight line, but the twists and turns may be the places where we develop resilience, character, skills, and relationships.

We are humans. Biological organisms. Subject to sickness, injury, and error.
We don’t always feel our best, physically, mentally, or spiritually.
When we are injured, we can either force our way through and set back recovery, or we can adapt, heal, and strengthen what is still available.

What if judging is taking more from us than we realize?
We judge people, self, and circumstances all day.
We set conditions that don’t allow us to fully enjoy where we are and who we’re with.
If we can catch the judges before they take over, we can accept what is and point our attention back into where we are and what we’re doing.

What if the solution is not more complicated?
We get caught up doing complicated things. Stacking habits. Running complicated systems. We forget the fundamentals.
When things don’t work, communication breaks down, or we struggle to execute, sometimes we need to look all the way back.
To the beginning.
To 1st principles.

What happens when we don’t break it up?
We get caught moving from one thing to the next. Mindlessly. On autopilot.
We forget to pause, set our intentions, and choose our adventure.
When we break up autopilot into a series of intentional choices, we can pour our energy, attention, and focus into what matters.