TEN has been a motivating force for me as long as I can remember HAVING TO DO things. When (as a child) my mother used to give me the clean-up ultimatum - You can't go out to play until your bed is made and your room is tidied! - (after the initial disappointment of realizing that I will probably never see my friends again, as it will take me 100 years to clean up my room!) I used to motivate myself by telling myself: Okay, just do 10 things! Put away 10 things.
Counting them down gave me a sense of accomplishment - and often made a difference in the way my room looked. Sometimes, TEN things made such a difference that my mother let me go! At other times, I got so caught up in my little game of TEN that I just kept working...
As a student, having to read a less-than-interesting text, I'd say: Just read 10 pages...
As a teacher faced with a pile of assignments to mark, I'd tell myself: Just do TEN now and TEN after supper and TEN in the morning...!
And I must confess that at times I still play that game with myself... When tidying off my desk looks like a daunting task, I sometimes tell myself: Just put away 10 things today, and 10 tomorrow.
I know TEN will make a difference... and will eventually get it all done. So today, as I look around me at the many jobs around the house I could do, I think I'll aim to do just TEN!
No comments:
Post a Comment