I was having some technical difficulties this weekend. My Internet was acting up and I was really trying to access a 
particular site. I spent (wasted) a good amount of time fighting with this site, my computer and the Internet, trying to make it work. It finally dawned on me that what I was trying to access wasn’t an immediate need, and maybe, just maybe – it was a hint to shift my focus to something else. Maybe even to “unplug” for a while.
Has something like this ever happened to you? Fighting with something to make it work, losing sight of alternative ways of getting the same thing done. Maybe stepping away from the issue/problem/source of frustration is just what you need to do. I know that there has been many times that just a few minutes after taking my mind off of a problem that has been bewildering me, a solution pops up that almost seems too simple.
I laughed at myself when I caught what I was doing. I wouldn’t normally describe myself as stubborn (I’m sure that a few who know me will chuckle when they read this), but I had to admit that fighting with my laptop this afternoon proved just how pig-headed I can be. There is a time and place for persistence, and persistence and tunnel vision don’t make for a productive combination.
After shaking my head at my stubbornness, I found a simple solution to my problem and went on to have a productive remainder of the day. There was a time when those ten minutes of frustration would have thrown off the rest of the day. I would have been so frustrated that I couldn’t get things to work that I would have just shut off the computer and taken a nap or sulked with some comfort food. I’m not saying that there aren’t still times when that’s what I feel like doing, but I know that attitude isn’t going to get me where I want to go in any area of my life.
I’m learning that if things aren’t working the way that I’m doing them right now, it’s time to step back and consider alternatives. If the end result isn’t important or worth my time, then I take it as a sign that I should move on to another task. If it is a priority, then it’s time to look at how else I can achieve the goal. Fixating on doing things in a specific way can lead to frustration. I’m all about minimizing frustration in 2015, what about you? ♥