#BlogElul Day 2: Act

Shakespeare was good enough for my cover letter, and good enough to top this post!

It's interesting that I write about "action" on a day that I have purposely chosen to remain "lazy," if you consider bringing my inbox down to "Inbox Manageable" and catching up on scheduling/organization "lazy." In short, after a week or so of straight work, I made a promise to myself not to leave my property--and also to take care of business.

Above, the picture talks about acting many parts and I find that to be true in almost everyone's life, certainly in mine. I am a daughter, a sister, an Ellie-owner, a Jewish professional, a friend, a foil, an advocate, an opponent, a strategic thinker, a dissonant organizer, an artist, a traveler, a mentor, a mentee...[insert role here] and I may have played it (or dreamed of playing it). In some cases, some people believe that "acting" a part may help you eventually get there in the future:

I will NEVER be able to fake such impressive eyeliner skills

I believe that if you understand the motivation behind things, the "whys" (as I talked about in yesterday's preparation blog), the actions come naturally. You DO things because you understand the reason that they all need to get done. You prioritize. You prepare. You choose. But inevitably you need to take the first step to getting things accomplished. For me, it's about feeling organized. I use a written planner (passionplanner.com) which I take everywhere. As an Assistant Director, I find myself using two calendars ('sup Outlook), AND if I don't write it down in my written planner, things just don't get done. I NEED TO WRITE IT DOWN. That's my first step. Writing it somewhere and then making a plan to get things done--sometimes in stages, in steps, in half an hour Friends shows if you will, but either way I find myself getting things accomplished. I choose to act, and somehow life becomes more manageable because I've taken control.

I often feel stuck by "analysis paralysis," that things need to be done in a perfect way before I can submit them. If it's not right, I avoid it like the plague. AND SO IT IS WITH EMAILS. I get approximately 100 emails in a 24 hour basis (often more and 90% of which isn't automatically deletable). Today in my "lazy day" which included laundry, remaking the guest room bed, getting trash out, I, as I mentioned above, decided to take the 300+ emails in my inbox and aim not for "Inbox Zero" (this is a dream), but for "Inbox Manageable." In doing so, I emailed tons of Jewish student leaders, organized data, got the word out, made plans, got advice, checked in with friends, and got "organized" or prepared to act for the week ahead. Things weren't perfect with the plans before I sent emails, but the emails still needed to be sent; by taking one step at a time, by choosing to act in increments, the action was so much more worthwhile both on a personal and professional level.

TL, DR of the paragraph above!

Even this blog is a conscious decision to act. Each word, sentence, image, and joke are "carefully" crafted in an attempt to express and focus myself towards more intention. You see, "fake it til you make it" still has an underlying intention--the idea is that you'll get there...eventually. But with my approach of acting step by TV show by second if need be...I can see the finish line as it gets closer, it's not so intangible.

Day 2: Intentional Action and Blog Written? CHECK.