Sometimes we get excited as we’re about to take on a project—the writing of a book, house renovations, learning a foreign language, or just about anything we believe will create happiness or satisfaction when it is accomplished. Our excitement is related to how we think things will be once we’ve accomplished our goal. Unfortunately, this excitement

We can’t do everything that we would like to do or that needs to be done. So each moment we choose what to do, we’re not doing everything else. This is the art of procrastinating. Procrastinating isn’t something you need to stop doing – it’s something you need to get better at.

On the other hand, we have much more control over our behavior. We can will ourselves to remain silent during a presentation, pick up the phone and make a call, answer an email, or drive to the store. Another difference between the worlds of thought and action involves effort.

So Maurer made a commitment to write for one minute a day. One minute! He found that often, after one minute was up, he kept on writing – for five more minutes. Or ten. Or forty. That’s how he wrote a book. He used Newton’s First Law of Physics. He created momentum – and he finished his book.

(Have you ever wondered, with all our time-saving paraphernalia, what happens to the time we save?)

Paying attention to the world around you is a priceless skill – a skill that is elegantly connected to taking action. If you use it and develop it you will notice more and more. And the more you notice, the more you will be clear about what needs doing. So the problem you will face, or may already be facing, is how to know what needs to be done NOW

The tree does its best with what it gets.

So perhaps we can take a lesson from our friends, the trees, and simply do our best with whatever situation we encounter.

Waiting Here’s a quiz. Which is longer—15 minutes of waiting for someone who is late, or 15 minutes of keeping others waiting? Objectively, it’s the same period of time, but when you have managed to successfully negotiate life on your end and have arrived for your appointment on time (leaving countless other things undone in the process), you can b