Category Archives: Adaptation

“Procrastination is the art…”

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“Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.”

—Don Marquis, American humorist, journalist, and author

Image from connectedhotel.com

Image from connectedhotel.com

My father Marvin is a great teacher relative to today’s quote. One of the characteristics he demonstrates quite often, given his age and occasional forgetfulness, is what I call reverse procrastination. He has developed a “do it immediately” approach to many things.

The new habit can be surprising, because he often stops in the middle of one activity and starts another that has just come to mind. If he doesn’t do it when it comes to mind, he is likely to forget to do it at all. The up side of it is that he does remember to go back and finish the first activity!

EXERCISE:

Where do you fit on the procrastination continuum of “do it now,” or “it can wait for whenever”?

What adjustments are needed to make sure you are not simply keeping up with yesterday?

“A wise man adapts…”

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“A wise man adapts himself to circumstances, as water shapes itself to the vessel that contains it.”

-Chinese Proverb

Photo from Amazon.com

Photo from Amazon.com

In my first career as a science teacher, the work of Charles Darwin and his book, “The Origin of Species,” was always part of the curriculum. The bottom line is that a species will survive only as long as it is able to adapt to its physical environment, including climate, food sources, and predators.

EXERCISE:

How well do you adapt to circumstances so that you survive in your professional and personal ecosystems? What adjustments, if any, are required to optimize your ability to thrive?

“Beware of all enterprises that require a new set of clothes.”

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“Beware of all enterprises that require a new set of clothes.”

– Henry David Thoreau, American author, philosopher and transcendentalist

573Image from Flickr by Tambako the Jaguar.

Chameleons are remarkable animals that have the capacity to change their “clothing” to suit their surroundings. Although many people believe they change coloring to blend in, some studies suggest that other factors such as light, temperature, mood, and even the desire to communicate with other chameleons can cause them to change their outfits.

People sometimes refer to friends and colleagues as “chameleons” who change, often inauthentically, their presentation to the world to adapt to their circumstances.

Exercise:

Examine your own orientation toward changing who you present yourself to be, in order to adapt and fit in with what is expected.

What authentic set of “clothes” makes you feel most at home in your own skin, just like a pair of your most comfortable jeans?

clocks stop

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“There are people whose clocks stop at a certain point in their lives.”

– Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, French literary critic

463Image from Flickr by oatsy40.

As I sit in my favorite chair writing this, it’s Sunday February 2nd. That’s right, it’s Groundhog Day.

But I’m not referring to that little furry creature, Punxsutawney Phil, or whether he saw his shadow. Instead, I want to describe the movie Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray, which is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me.

If you’ve not seen the (ahem) “masterpiece,” the moral of the story is that until Phil Connors (Bill Murray) changes his ways, he will be destined to live a life that is making him a bit insane by being the same person he’s always been before – i.e. his clock has stopped.

Exercise:

How can you put a fresh battery in your life clock to make the very most of the time remaining to live life to its fullest?