MyklK

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I have been thinking about the idea of daily disciplines for some time. And I’ve even thought up a little handy todo list you can always take with you.  Take the fingers on your hand.  You always have them around as a reminder.  So I thought about using my fingers as a way of reminding myself of things that I really wanted to accomplish each day.  And you can use them as a guide to accomplishing these little tasks that need to be done to push you from the rut you find yourself in, to the path you want to be on.

Maybe an example would be helpful. I’ll take myself. For my unforgettable five I start with my little finger and move across to my thumb. Your “pinky” finger and your “ring” finger. The two furthest from your thumb form the foundation of your hand. They are the two weakest fingers, but they are stabilizers. These are my foundational things I want to accomplish daily. For me, a spiritual foundation is key. So these represent prayer time and time studying the Bible. These are mine, they might not be something you would want to do. Feel free to apply the idea and not get all freaked out because the guy reads his Bible. Call me old fashioned. Do I seem defensive, or overly sensitive? I’m just so used to putting out disclaimer in our politically correct world because we have become such a tolerant people. Ok, I’m getting off the topic.

Next is my middle finger. It’s the longest finger. So I think about longevity. I’m not getting any younger, and I hate to tell you neither are you. Birthdays are a sure fire antidote to mortality. The more you have, the longer you live. It’s a proven fact. So I want to not only live longer, I also want to reduce the ‘aching’ and the ‘paining’ as much as I can. This means I need to do something active every day.

Ok, two more to go. The next finger, which I would call my “index” finger, is the one used in my country to point with. In sports arenas it is often used to indicate primacy. You know, as in “We’re number one!” So this is the number one activity that I do that isn’t necessary today, but will give me leverage. If you are a Steven Covey fan, this could be considered the “first things first” activity. For me right now, almost everything I want to achieve in my life includes some element of writing. But I suffer from writer’s block, the inability to put a thought down in an orderly way (I ramble. Now how’s that work with writer’s block? Frankly I don’t know.), and nearly fatal procrastination. So with this reminding finger I remind myself to write something down somewhere each day. Whether it’s an e-mail, a blog… something.

And finally I come to the thumb. This is the strongest finger and this is the one that makes the whole thing work. This represents to me the one task I need to get done today. Most days have something on the agenda that I need to accomplish before the day’s over. What is that one thing? It may be simple, or it may be accomplishing a piece of a larger project. Unlike all the others that remain constant, this item commonly changes from day to day.

There you have it. That is my unforgettable five that I carry with me every day. And completing these daily tasks, I believe, will change the balance of my life in incredible ways. I’ll expand more on that another time. But for now, I just wanted to share that and see if it’s helpful to anybody else. Would having that little list with you throughout the day be helpful? Or would it just be a constant nag on your brain? Speak up about it.