One hot evening last week, I took Max to the river for a cool swim. There are often other people there doing the same thing and among the crowd of dogs that night was one in a life vest. Which made no sense to me until I realized he had three legs instead of the usual four. He was having a grand time! With just a little extra buoyancy, nothing was stopping him from joining in all the fun.

Like that dog, I figure we are all short a leg one way or another – though perhaps not physically.

We all have weaknesses that make it tricky to do the things we love – like swimming after tennis balls on a sunny day with our human and canine buddies (metaphorically speaking, of course).

Thing is, are you going to give up what you love (and need) to do because of some seeming limitation? Or are you going to find yourself a life vest and get on with it?

What obstacles do you need to remove, what tools or guidelines do you need to put in place, to make it easy to do the things you want to do?

Maybe you need a timer.
Or some sticky notes.
Or a binder.
Or a basket.
Or a song.

From the notepad on the fridge to jot down needed groceries, to our his and hers pillboxes (they make us feel old, but they work), to “the mail only goes here” shelf – our house if full of little tools and systems that keep our brains from sinking.

Goodness knows I would drown trying to run my business without my daily sheets.

And I’d never stop thrashing about without my new rituals for taking back my weekends.

Maybe you’re not so good with numbers, time-lines, focus or finishing. Or so you think. But what if all it took was a simple flotation device to keep your head above water and your eye on the ball?

What sort of life vest would make you feel safe?
What sort of kick-board would speed things along?
What sort of inner-tube would support time to just float?
What sort of water wings would help you jump into the deep end?
What sort of beach ball would make it all more fun?

It really doesn’t matter that you have three legs. It just doesn’t.
What matters is not letting it stop you.

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Creating personal flotation devices is something we practice in both The True Discipline of Time Management and The Organic Business Manual. Dive in with me this fall and start having fun again. (Note: early bird for OBM ends tomorrow!)

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Related posts:

1. Just Try It
2. More on Practice
3. Seven Lesson Round-Up
4. Everything I Need to Know About Self-Care, I've Learned From My Dog
5. Use Your Tools