Getting It Together… - An Avenue to Acquiring Dreams

Getting It Together ...
An Avenue to Acquiring Dreams

I have begun articles and lectures with this honest statement, “I want to get all my cards on the table….” This essay is such an example; here are my cards. I have two major problems in life, which are many times linked together. My first issue is that I am right brained; that’s me in the blue profile.

How we think

I am more than capable of being logical when writing or teaching. In reality, logic is one of my strengths, but I need to stay focused on the topic. If I don’t, I’ll drift off to something else even though I am logical.

The other issue, which overlaps being right brained, is that I have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). My ADHD isn’t detectable related to always physically moving; nevertheless, my brain is always moving.

Now, I don’t wish to change being right brained or having ADHD; I benefit from both of them. The benefit from being right brained and ADHD is that I can cover a vast scope of issues and do so creatively. Nonetheless, I need to mechanically control my thinking process or else my creativity in writing or teaching goes out the window and lost in cyberspace.

Therefore, this is the mechanical procedure that I employ as a right brained person with ADHD. I first make a list of overarching things that I wish to achieve over the next 12-months and why. For example, I want to return to Burma/Myanmar to interview Aung San Suu Kyi and see Moh Moh and her family in Burma. I want to continue my teaching at two levels: formally at the collegiate and informally at the elementary school level. I also want to continue to raise issues related to Donald the Dumb so that soon, he will resign and make America safe again without him. Finally, I want to further explore my dancing with death.

It is critically important that I write my goals down so that I will see them every day. However, it is also important to write down next to each goal the reason why it is so vital that I achieve that goal. For example, the reason for interviewing the Lady is twofold. I teach various humanity classes and interviewing her about questions that I have would benefit me in teaching. In addition, I would like to discuss ideas that I have that might help Aung San Suu Kyi’s efforts to bring democracy to Burma.

The reason for including the rationale behind the goal is to remind me how much I wish to achieve that goal. Everything that drives me provides me with personal and/or professional rewards. For example, of all the things that I wish to achieve in my life, none would surpass sitting down and interviewing the Lady.

The Lady

The next step is to plan the attack. If I want to achieve a goal, I must do various things before obtaining that goal. Additionally, I write down dates next to the items, which forces me to adhere to reaching the smaller tasks so that the overarching goal can be achieved.

Finally, I use this chart for organizing each day. Many of the hourly activities don’t relate to any of the goals that I wish to achieve. Nevertheless, addressing the mundane things in life will allow me time to focus on what is essential.

If I don’t do that hourly scheduling, I will lose ikigai, which is Japanese for “the reason you get up every day.” To be honest with you, I don’t always employ the strategies outlined in this essay. However, when I am not organized, it is less than a week before I pay for my laxed organizational style. That emotional pain is a benefit; it drives me to get reorganized again. In that way, I don’t experience the emotional pain.