Get Organized: Heal the World

A man who was walking along the beach noticed that the high tide had washed hundreds of starfish upon the shore.

He realized that they would soon die being out of their natural habitat. He began to pick up one at a time and throw it back into the ocean.

Two unruly young men came up to him and began to taunt him.

"Why are you doing this?" they asked. "There are hundreds, maybe thousands of them. Do you really think you can make a difference?"

The man picked up a starfish, threw it into the ocean and replied, "Made a difference to that one, didn't I?"

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I saw a short film awhile ago that I couldn't get out of my mind. It was one of the selections on the monthly CD mailed to us by the Spiritual Cinema Circle. It's a very simple story about an elderly man who sits down at his desk to write a letter to someone who, from the message being written, you assume to be an old friend. The movie takes you through the writing and mailing of the letter, and into the following morning when the man comes down to his desk again and begins to set up to write another letter. But this time you see him open a telephone book and address an envelope to the next name under the column of crossed-out names. You realize that he's writing the same letter he wrote the day before, a letter of support and encouragement, to another absolute stranger.

I've read about bloggers doing something similar. They've posted that at times they feel helpless and even hopeless about all the sadness in the world, and decided that they're going to do something about it. They're scattering "love notes" around the cities where they live - anonymous messages for anyone who might need to believe something positive about themselves that day (e.g, "You are beautiful", "You can do it", "It will be OK", "Breathe").

Many of us feel limited in our efforts to make a difference. Lack of time, money, energy and organization can be thought of as reasons not to do more. But what if you could organize yourself to reach out and make just one person's day better? I know that I've addressed this topic before, but I'm now more aware of this growing movement to heal the world in tiny new ways, and I want to spread the word -- especially about getting yourself organized in order to participate.

Here's the fact: Nothing ever gets done unless you make the time to do it. We know this, in theory, but tend to forget what we know when attempting something that requires several steps to complete.

For example, when giving workshops on time management, I sometimes use the exercise of writing "Paint the house" on your To Do List. Obviously, "paint the house" is not a one-step project. So I ask the group, "What is one thing you can do to get closer to having the house completely painted?" At that point, someone usually suggests, "Buy the paint". Instead of asking for more ideas, I'll then ask, "And what do you need to do to buy the paint?

Then I'll start a list on the board of what is needed to accomplish that step.

- to buy the paint you need to pick a color
- to pick a color you need to look at samples
- to look at samples you need to go to the store
- to go to the store you need to get in the car
- to get in the car you need to schedule a time to leave

The point being - if you don't schedule a time to get in the car to go to the store to look at the paint samples to pick a color to paint the house - the house will never get painted.

The bottom line is always the same: the time commitment. And the process is the same for either painting the house or sending a love note out into the world. First, break down the goal into do-able tasks and then schedule each task. At first this might seem overly time-consuming in and of itself, but it's actually one of the best ways I know to beat procrastination. This is because one of the main causes of procrastination is trying to "do" a goal ("paint the house"), as opposed to figuring out the individual tasks that lead to the completion of a goal. When you tackle something overwhelming, it's tempting to put it off if you're not sure where to start and how to proceed.

If writing encouraging words appeals to you, the necessary steps include planning time, creation time, and delivery time. And these steps need to be broken down further until you can see each part of the process clearly. This approach will show you exactly what to do, and in what order. Schedule these tasks, complete them and know that by organizing your own time more effectively, you've made a positive impact on someone else's life today.