I’ve been working on my ability to speak extemporaneously. 

Of course, anyone who knows me would say that I have absolutely no problem speaking extemporaneously. But what I mean is, I'm working on my ability to speak clearly and succinctly. My ability to make a clear point without planning out every word that I'm going to say ahead of time. I'm sure the people who know me well would agree that this is, in fact, something that is a challenge for me (and often, for them). 

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What do you do when it’s too hard to keep going?

Maybe something has come up that requires your focus. Maybe you want to change direction. Maybe you just plain need a break.

So much is made of “staying consistent.” The implication is that if you are visibly inconsistent in your activities, then you are not fully committed.

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When my niece was about four, she grew frustrated in the middle of trying to write something.

“This is the [most] tewwible W I’ve evew seen!” she said angrily, shoving her paper across the table.

I felt bad for thinking about how cute she was. Of course I knew just how she felt. I’ve had my own version of “This is the tewwible W I’ve evew seen.”

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In all of the years I wanted to write or practice music consistently but didn’t, I don’t think it was a lack of self-discipline.

After all, I wanted to do these things. And I did many other difficult things that I hadn’t wanted to do.

So what was the problem?

Prioritization. I spent all my time doing those other things.

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I cleaned the kitchen yesterday. Good for me!

Unfortunately, I only cleaned it after breakfast. I neglected to clean it after dinner, so I have a bunch of dishes, pots, and pans waiting for me this morning.

As much as I’d like to think of cleaning the kitchen as a project that I can just do once and get out of the way, it’s more of a practice — a project that must be done every day, or even more than once a day.

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