text: Whether it’s “Eat That Cookie” positivity training; “Eat the Frog” productivity training, or “One Minute Meditation” stress-reduction training, every year seems to bring a new method with its associated book. I’m not sure how much positive benefit we actually see from the exercises, but at least the authors of those books are benefiting.
  Generally, by February (or sooner for the cynical), all that training and the associated good intentions have fallen by the wayside and we’re back to being over-scheduled, cranky, and having to deal with an inbox and ToDo list that seem only to increase, never decrease.
  I’m ever-hopeful that I’ll come across an idea that will really take hold and be something I can use for the long-term and, thanks to the magic of the internet, I’ve recently come across two things that really resonated with me.
  The first was Jenny Crusie’s, Happiness is an Alligator post last Sunday where she passed along some wisdom she had received:
  “You’re in a boat on a lake and you’re surrounded by alligators. There’s a big one on the shore, but your immediate problem is that there’s one trying to get into your boat. That’s your alligator. Deal with that, and then figure out the rest.”
  I really like the idea of visualizing all of the many demands on my time this way so that I can pick out the thing that really is the most important to focus on. I put this into practice soon after I read it. The Alligator-of-the-Day was the Friday Writing Sprint. Not earth shattering, but it’s something I always want to do and frequently don’t get to because of competing demands on my time. Designating it as an alligator meant instead of doing one of the dozens of other things that “I should do”, I sat down at the computer, wrote the story, and got it posted before my original story ideas had completely flown out of my head (as they so often do).
  Success! Who knew that figuring out the task that’s the most important (however you define important) and then focusing on it could be so effective? I have a new alligator now, but I’m still deciding if I really need to deal with him or if I should just feed him to the next alligator in line. I will have to give that some more thought.