Catching Idle Butterflies

But I wanna play!

Every month I get a newsletter from the Christian Writer’s Guild called “The Word from the Springs.”

Each issue begins with an article written by Jerry B. Jenkins (co-author of the Left Behind series).

This month he discussed the importance of working before you play, but to always take time to play. Everyone needs down time.

One paragraph said, “When I commuted every day to and from Chicago from our home in the north suburbs, I motivated myself to get my work done by thinking of the payoff: playing with my boys, having dinner with the family, and spending time with Dianna. Those were the rewards for doing my research or getting a chapter done.”

That’s one thing I’ve noticed about my own mind set lately. When I’m doing what I want to do (read play), I continuously fret about how I really should be writing or something else that requires my attention. Because I’m fretting, I don’t enjoy that playtime as much as I should. And that’s not fair either to my family or myself.

It takes discipline to, as Jerry worded it, “delay gratification.” Treat play as a reward for a job completed, not the other way around, and that’s something I lack in many aspects of my life, not just writing. How else did I manage to reach a state of expansion as far as my physique and why I needed to join a gym?

In order to reach any goal, it takes discipline. And discipline requires setting priorities, and allocating the appropriate amount of time to those priorities.

I’ve mentally walked through my days, and I am amazed how much time I waste, either in front of the television, playing computer games or surfing the internet – time better spent on more important matters, such as writing and actually doing my Disciple class lessons every day instead of doing all six of them on Saturday or Sunday before we meet.

I have the means to do all that. Dave has to be at work at 5am, and I don’t have to work until 8am. That gives me three whole hours just in the mornings to write, do my disciple lessons, even take an hour to spend getting the bod back into shape at the gym since they open at 5:30am in the weekdays. It’s a good thing I’m a morning person!

But the trick is not to talk about it (or write about it in this case), but to do it.

I have to remember that doing all this in the mornings frees up my evenings to spend quality time with Dave, and not have my mind filled with that ever-present to do list.