andrewnicol.net

Impatience that leads to frustration!

I was excited at getting home earlier, relaxing and finally ending a long day of travel. I was “lucky” enough to get moved to a flight that was due to leave Wellington an hour earlier than my original flight. I was homeward bound.

As I waited for my boarding call I noticed the “early” flight was delayed.

Then delayed again. And again.

We board, wait for missing passengers and finally we taxi out, then accelerate down the runway. As we get airborne I glance out the window to see my original flight taxiing out. “So much for earlier” I thought. And being the competitive person I am, checked the relative speed of the two aircraft and determined I would still be in 5 minutes earlier.

Not so. The weather started to turn and our pilots weaved around a lightning storm. My “early” flight finally landed 25 minutes AFTER my original flight, which somehow managed to fly directly to Hamilton.

Talk about frustrating.

I got home frustrated, tired and late. Maybe even a little bit grumpy.

The next morning I was following this truck. “Impatience leads to frustration” it inaudibly shouts. I guess it can be easy to be impatient behind a slow truck. The more impatient we become, the more frustrated we become.

Impatience leads to frustration.

Impatience on delayed flights.

Impatience while waiting our turn.

Impatience with your computer, or kids, or wife, or staff.

Impatience then frustration. And frustration causes us to forget just how lucky we are.

Like my trip from Hamilton to Christchurch to Wellington to Hamilton in a day. It’s incredible I can do all that in a day. And I get frustrated because I arrived home 25 minutes late.

I was impatient, then frustrated, for no good reason.

 

256 | 365 - Donuts #2

Brought the family a completely unhealthy Sunday afternoon lunch. Pies and Cream donuts, which brings back so many NZ childhood memories from a time pre-fastfood chains like McDonalds.

230 |365 Measuring Time

Moses once wrote ‘Teach us to number our days so that we may present to you a heart of wisdom’.
 
It’s almost as if he is saying we need to measure our time. Nowadays we measure almost everything, our bank balance, our speed, our weight, or our kids performance.
 
Yet we don’t measure our time to see if we are using it well. We rarely look back and make sure we are making the most of time.
 
At the moment, indirectly through 365, I am measuring time. It has been around 60% of the year since I began the 365 project. That’s 230 days or close to 20 million seconds.
 
Seeing how fast time is going, seeing pictures from 2 months ago, that feel like yesterday is really scary.

And a good reminder!

183 | 365 Halfway Number 2

You may have heard that it takes 40 days to make a habit, or 28 days or some other iterative. Wrong, wrong and wrong again.
 
Between yesterday and today I am halfway through 365. I missed one day in 183 days, which for me is amazing. The only other things I have done for 183 days straight in my life, is get up, eat and breathe.
 
For me after about 50 days, remembering to take the photo became a habitual, but actually taking the photo requires another step up in discipline again. For example, it was a mission to make it to 100, and today’s photo is because I remembered, not because I had a flash of creativity.
 
I am learning about habits and discipline. Disciplines like going to the gym, running, reading, studying or quiet times. For me it takes about 30 – 50 days for the thought process to become habitual, to become ingrained as a priority in my life.
 
But every time, every single time, I still need to choose to take action, to step out and run, or do my quiet time, or take a photo.
 
If you think I have the habit thing sorted out, I don’t. It’s like today’s shot on my drive to Tauranga. The glare from driving into the sun, the dirty window, makes my view lack clarity. Same for my knowledge of just about everything.

[183 | 365 ‘Halfway #2’ - Down the Kaimai’s driving into the sun, behind a slow truck]

182 | 365 Halfway Number 1

Somewhere between today and tomorrow I am halfway through project 365, which is taking a picture each day for 365 days.
 
Looking back and ahead, I think I would like to take more people shots because they show more of life than objects, or candles, or coffee drops. If I do this, it will take another level of discipline again because I will need to go looking for interesting people shots.
 
Speaking of interesting people, today I was online on Skype waiting for a call that never came, but then my friend Steve gave me a call.
 
The first thing Steve did was encourage me, it just rolls off his tongue honestly and naturally. He has this incredible ability to build people up and I am often reminded by Steve’s actions how important that is.
 
I’m reminded today that life is about people.
 
[182 | 365 – ‘Halfway #1’ – Steve the encourager and a reminder how much I love technology]

The month that was...

Firstly Kevin Carroll author of the Red Runner Ball, did a shoutout about my very out of date block. You can read it here. http://kevincarrollkatalyst.com/index.php/blog/shoutout_thursday/

I was blown away, and humbled that Kevin, wrote about me. The net and social networking perplex me alot.

Some posts I wrote in the last month:

I Think I Do... @ lead2live.com

Mowing the lawns ... oh JOY! @ lead2live.com

sexy @ lead2live.com

The week that was…

A sad week this week. Went to the funeral of my uncle Terry. He was my Mum’s only living immediate family member and an awesome uncle. Craig and I spoke at the funeral.

As I reflected on his life I know that his life challenges me to be a great uncle. One that takes a genuine and unique interest in my nephews and nieces.

Some posts I wrote in the last week:

Made or Born @ lead2live.com

Expectations @lead2live.com

Australia T&L @viewpoint.net.nz

My mood generally is good, but overloaded. Need to work out what I can stop doing...  Problem is I have a huge week ahead.