Scout's latest canoe trip on Grout Pond, VT in July 2018.
I left work on Thursday, and during the 20 minute commute home, I started planning for the evening. I was getting ready for a weekend of outdoor fun with a college buddy I hadn’t seen in years.
I need to create a shopping list and go to the grocery store.
I need to find my camping gear and life jackets for me and Scout.
I need to wash the dishes and take out the trash and do the laundry.
My mind began to start to list each and every possible thing that I needed to do in order to get ready for the weekend. I wasn’t looking forward to any of it. I need to make dinner and play with Scout. The list continued to mount. For what? To have fun. To enjoy myself this weekend. It's Thursday! Was I preparing to sacrifice my evening, so I could enjoy Saturday and Sunday? What about Friday? Was that also a throw away?
Following my advice from last week, I became aware of the yarn I started to spin. I stopped and thought, what would happen if I didn’t need to do anything, but instead wanted to do it?
Huh.
I revisited each of the actions I outlined:
I want to create a shopping list and go to the grocery store because it will make me feel better prepared for when I pack on Friday.
I want to find my camping gear and life jackets for me and Scout so I can do any additional shopping on Friday.
I want to wash the dishes and take out the trash and do the laundry because I love coming home to a clean house.
As I changed the needs to wants, I felt compelled to think of the bigger picture. A great weight lifted off of my shoulders and left through the sunroof. Even the car felt lighter on the road without all the drudgery ahead.
A simple decision to change which verb I used to describe the next steps of my day opened my ability to view the situation differently. I was creating a plan not just for a great canoe camping trip, but also preparing for the type of environment I wanted to return to on Sunday and the type of evening I was going to have when I got home Thursday. Turning my needs into wants made the tasks ahead desirable because they were leading to a state of mind, a value, and a sense of satisfaction. They were leading to what I wanted!
Next time you catch yourself rattling off everything you need to do, stop and ask yourself, What do I want?