Devious, or How I Accomplish Goals

As you could probably tell from my unfinished projects and less than stellar attention span, I like to take on projects. I might have mentioned before that starting things has more appeal to me than doing, and for that matter, finishing the thing.

So I learn to trick myself. It seems to work for a while but my brain eventually catches on. Often, before I can get any decent work done.

I try harder and yesterday I tried my very hardest.

I have been wanting to bike to the Old Port for many summers now. It's about 15 to 20 kilometers from my house. I, obviously, never got around to it. But then I got a new bike. It's grey-blue and beautiful and just my size. I longed to take my bike out on a really long ride.

I decided to bike to my office. While it's not the Old Port it's still about 15 kilometers away and there's a hill. And so that morning, clad in work-out clothes with an extra outfit tucked neatly into my backpack (along with a small towel, deodorant and a brush - I do plan ahead) I set out.

I discovered a few things. The first being that I am crazy. I hadn't biked any further than the library all summer and here I was taking on 15K. The second, and probably more important thing, I can accomplish anything if I have absolutely no way of getting out of it.

If I got tired at 9 or 12 K what was I supposed to do? Abandon my bike and walk? Go back? Clearly I gave myself no option but to press on. And I did, by stopping to drink frequently and overcoming the burning in my thighs I arrived at my office only 15 minutes past my usual time and I was triumphant! Albeit sweaty.

I considered not going back the same way, but I knew my quest would not be complete until I had gone there and back again. That's how quests work.

So back I went with the wind blowing full in my face and my legs discovering a whole new level of burn.

I now know what it takes for me to reach any goal: I have to tap into my inner evil genius and give myself no way out. Now if only I could apply this principle successfully to my studies ... just think of what I could achieve.