Be definite. Don't let your resolutions be like fireworks that sparkle for a moment, to leave behind as hard reality a blackened, useless stub that one throws disgustedly away.
– Josemaria Escriva
Ouch.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been guilty of this far, far, far more often than not. Rather than carrying out my resolutions, I tend to set them down and walk away without even remembering where I left them. They’re even better at hiding than my car keys - I remember my car keys at least once a day, while I may forget my good intentions for weeks on end.
I wonder where they go. Do they disappear like a spiritual stray sock?
I’ve wondered at times if something on the order of a hair shirt would help me to keep my good intentions from melting away. By virtue of being ever-presently annoying, perhaps it could help me be better focused on following through. Or there’s the kinder, gentler approach: I ran across something called the MotivAider. Evidently it’s about the size of a pager. You keep it in your pocket after setting it to vibrate as often as you feel you need to be reminded. The intervals can be as short as once a minute. According to their website, here’s how it works:
To use the MotivAider, you first devise a personal message – a word or a short phrase or sentence - that will tune you in to the action you need to take or to a reason that motivates you to take the action. For example, say you've decided that you should stop participating in the incessant whining that's going on at work because it's only making things worse for you and everyone else. From now on, you intend to make sure that your own contribution to conversations is positive and upbeat. Your personal message might simply be, "Upbeat."
After you've decided on a personal message, you decide how often you'd like to receive it. Say you make an educated guess that to follow through on your intention, you'll need to have your attention focused on thinking, "Upbeat," at least once every ten minutes. You simply set the MotivAider for ten minutes and turn it on. The MotivAider is now ready to serve, as one user put it, “as your intention’s full-time guardian angel.”
The MotivAider will count down from the ten minute interval you set, and when it's done counting, the whole device will silently vibrate for a couple of seconds. Then the MotivAider will automatically reset itself to ten minutes, count down again, and vibrate again when it's done counting. It will automatically keep on repeating the cycle of counting down, vibrating, and resetting itself.
You know what’s really scary? I actually thought about buying it… but “$59.50 + shipping & handling” cured me of that.
So I turn to you, my friends. What helps you to follow through with good intentions?
Please share your ideas in the comments section below. I'm looking forward to hearing what you have to say!
Youch - that's dear! I think if it was cheaper - but then I'd probably just intend to buy one and forget all about it...
ReplyDeleteYes Sue, I believe this is a common human complaint. My usual one is to settle into my bed at night full of thoughts of all the wonderful good things I'm going to start doing in the morning... Ha!
That's a pretty good idea. Wish it was cheaper. What sometimes works for me is writing down a list of things I need to accomplish or work on. I'm highly motivated by checking things off the list. I even put simple things on there like "Call Grandma."
ReplyDeleteHi. I’m the inventor of the MotivAider. A clinical psychologist, I’ve made it my life’s work to perfect a way to help people do a better job of following through on their own good intentions.
ReplyDeleteIntentions are treasures that embody our wisdom, experience and hope. But even our best intentions can become casualties of a busy and readily distractible mind and a busy world filled with distractions. Although we genuinely want to follow through, our good intentions often get hopelessly lost in the shuffle.
The MotivAider is a remarkably simple solution that automatically bathes any chosen intention in enough attention to make it a vital force in the user’s life.
A young man who used the MotivAider for spiritual purposes wrote, “Before I owned a MotivAider, I went to church once a week. Now I go several times each waking hour.”
So I pose this question: Is $59.50 really too much to spend to transform good intentions into self-sustaining action? Put differently, how much does it “cost” us each time we fizzle out on an intention that has the potential to enrich our lives?