Purpose as stolen moments
Might living with purpose be more about stolen moments that line up in the same direction than a singularly-focused project implementation retreat?
Many of us have potential purpose projects that we’d love to explore if we had the time. And money. And social support. And self-confidence. And the proper work space. And certainty that our investments would not be in vain or humiliate us. Many of us assume that we too could flourish with purpose if we just had all that.
I’m here to say, “Forget about it” (quoting Johnny Depp as Donnie Brasco in the 1997 film by the same name). If we wait for the 5 minutes in our lives in which all or most of those things align, we will be denied the creative satisfaction of engaging in endeavors that we think are worthwhile and the world will be deprived of what we have to offer.
Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, inspires another way. Harriet and her husband, a seminary professor, had 7 children and traversed financial and other problems over their long marriage. The Stowes were critics of slavery and housed several fugitive slaves as part of the Underground Railroad. Harriet wrote what would become Uncle Tom’s Cabin at her dining room table in between things in her busy life as a series of installments over 41 issues of an abolitionist newspaper. This work was catalyzed by the death of her child to cholera, which inspired great empathy for enslaved women whose children were taken from them.
Harriet’s life circumstances most certainly did not afford her a project-implementation retreat during which she could write her world-changing book. Beyond her education (which was rare in her day) and a supportive husband, all Harriet had was an inspiration and stolen moments. Might that be enough for us to get started too? That’s what I’m trying, anyhow.
This website, this blog tugged at me for at least 3 years and I’ve used every excuse for not working on it. This is how I am now trying to intentionally claim stolen moments using a different approach. I established two-month goals and blocked 1-3 hours on my calendar for some Saturday mornings and days off from work. Blocking time assures that I can devote my best thinking time to this project rather than solely relying on the leftovers from other time investments. Then I organized the 2-month project into small sequential steps. Each week, I select one step for the next work slot so that I know just what to do when the available day/hours arrive. Sometimes the “appointment” doesn’t work out but often it does. I’m calling that enough for a while and celebrating the small steps as Yes Ands rather than expecting All or Nothing. So far so good – I’ll keep you posted!
How about you? What helps you use stolen moments to move your purpose projects forward?
Onward!