Monday, March 30, 2015

Be Here Now!



Be Here Now!

There is a lot of college I don’t remember, but the things that have stuck, I use almost on a daily basis. One of these morsels of knowledge was from an “Introduction to College” course, and the only thing I gleaned out of that class was the statement: “Be Here Now!”

The concept behind that statement was to focus your attention on the task at hand. They wanted to make sure that all the former high school seniors who were present college freshmen were able to focus on doing their coursework and graduating; not quitting college.

I was going to night school, and my attention had been focused because I was in the Navy at the time. However, this phrase was something I could take with me.

I will say this concept helps me when I am writing as well. Especially when it is a beautiful spring day, and looking out my window: I have to remember that I am a writer, and my “Here” is what I am working on, and later I can change that location - as soon as I am done with my priorities.

In my “Brick and Mortar” I have to remember to give all my attention to that position as well. This can sometimes be a difficult task. I will say that to keep my sanity - I do write between calls, before work and at lunch: Which makes a 250 word post sometimes stretch out to take eight hours to write; when the phone rings - I stop my writing and I focus on the call. 

That might seem to be mental gymnastics, but really it is easy enough to switch gears. The only issue is when I am in the middle of a thought, and then I come back, sometimes I cannot remember the thought. Oh well we all have crosses, right?

Goals

I guess this is a great time to talk about goals. When I was writing my first novel, I had a daily goal of typing 2000 words. 

I would wake up at 2:00am, write on my book, and then go to work. I knew I needed to finish the book, so I needed to be there at that time. I don’t recall ever thinking, “I just want to go back to bed,” or “Maybe if I could just watch some TV.” I had to be there, at that computer and work on that story.

So today, I am blogging, and I have started a new project. When it is time for me to work on my new project, or when I get an idea for the blog, I have to turn off all the distractions and be there writing. Sometimes this is difficult, but I know it is important. 

What distracts you? Is it television, the sun outside of your window, kids, a dirty kitchen or your dog? Put your distractions behind you, and “Be Here Now!”

9 comments:

  1. Love that saying....Be here now...I forget a lot of the time to enjoy my life in the present and stop worrying about the past and future. I am going to try and do this as well!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for your comment, you are right - when we look back at the past, we don't see what is now, and if we look to far into the future, we cannot enjoy what we have today. Allison, you hit the nail on the head.

      Delete
  2. Love that saying....Be here now...I forget a lot of the time to enjoy my life in the present and stop worrying about the past and future. I am going to try and do this as well!

    ReplyDelete
  3. That's a great saying, and something I should use. I always seem to be worrying about what else needs doing instead of concentrating on the job at hand.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I know that procrastination is difficult, and as a writer it is so easy to procrastinate. I am doing it right now! Focus Thom, Focus!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Procrastination is a difficult thing as a writer, infact I am procrastinating right now! Focus Thom, focus.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Good advice! It sounds to me like you have a lot of sticking-power (I could never get up at 2am to write...) and that work ethic is going to take you places!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Nice article. Thank you for sharing!

    ReplyDelete