Putting a fancy dress on Procrastination, calling her Inspiration, and sending her out into the world to do some PR work for the night might seem like a gross misrepresentation, but I assure you she’s a quick study and does the job well.
Everyone, I'd like you to meet Inspiration. Inspiration, Everyone.Now that we’re all acquainted I wanted to try purging the two-month backlog of writing I’ve neglected since being back in the States. The good news is I haven’t really been doing a whole lot that might be worth a story. The bad news is that means I’ve been treading water for two months and have been a very boring person (more so than usual, if you can believe that…).
The majority of my time has been spent productively, though, I must say. I’m in the middle of applying to grad schools which involves the tests and applications for both law and business schools. One test down with satisfactory results, but I still have a lot of work to do. Next week, for example, I have an interview, law school applications due (I should be writing the essays now), and the LSAT to take. I have a lot on my plate right now, which is why I’m procrastinating…. I mean….which is why I’m inspired to write.
I wanted to talk, though, about treading water and getting caught up in a place where going forward isn’t really an option, because that’s the place I find myself these days and it’s starting to get me down a little bit. I thought maybe I’ve been trying to focus too much on long term big picture goals at the expense of the short term instant gratification kind and have been forced to play the waiting game while applications are pending and long term scenarios are a long way from happening.For example, it’s great (I think) to work towards getting into a JD-MBA program. And it’s even greater to work towards getting accepted into a JD-MBA program so you could just decline their acceptance and blow off academia knowing you COULD make it IF you wanted to, thus leaving the road free and clear to explore a promising career as a rodeo clown or motorcycle racer. You know; long term goals. And initially I thought I had been focusing too much on being a too-cool-for-law-school motorcycle racer and not really focusing on anything short term from which I could garner any immediate satisfaction. But the more I thought about this, the more I realized that I DO have short term goals, both in the form of important milestones on the road to getting accepted into grad school (LSAT, GMAT, buy a motorcycle) and as stand-alone short term goals (bartending school and job). These short term goals and milestones have required a lot of work and have yielded a significant amount of satisfaction, so why then the discontentment?
What I’ve come to realize is that sometimes it’s simply a matter of being caught in a current where swimming as hard as you can is just enough to keep you in the same place relative to the shore, and that it’s important to distinguish swimming against the current from treading water. When the stream you want to take and the stream you’re forced to take don’t flow in the same direction, the choices are either to tread or swim. If you swim, the current can push some of your upstream goals towards you and eventually you might find yourself able to make some progress as time passes and the current starts to change. Simply tread water and wait it out, though, and who knows where you might end up.Thoughts anyone?
