You all know the proverb that refers to a cup that is filled to the halfway point with water. There are optimists, who say it is half full. Pessimists argue that it is half empty. (I’ve heard opportunists don’t argue—they just drink the water!)

Well, I’m none of those things. sometimes, when I see a glass that is filled halfway, I don’t really see the water at all. My thoughts are fixated on the void inside the cup, and to me, the cup is empty.

What isn’t There is All I See

If you, like me, suffer because you are a (sometimes) perfectionist, you know exactly what I’m talking about. That feeling that you are so far away from achieving the minimum standard you had set for yourself—it makes you forget any progress you’ve made.

Here’s an example from someone I met years ago:

Middle school math. Pre-algebra. Brynnie (name changed, of course) loved that class. But one day, there was a class battle, using the formulas and math facts her class had just learned. Only one table team would win.

Her whole team had been counting on her, and she felt pretty confident. But then she made an error, right when it seemed her team would win, and it cost them everything. They lost the game.

Brynnie cried. She couldn’t see the fact that she was incredibly good at math (glass half full), or even that she’d only missed some of the questions right (glass half empty). All she could think about was her one mistake—the one that had cost her team the game.

Now, that’s an example from her life. I’ve also been told that I don’t see things in the right perspective sometimes—that I focus too much on the little things, and fail to see the big picture.

“It’s like holding your nose only inches away from a big oak,” they say, “You can see the tree really well, but what you don’t see is that you’re in a very big forest filled with those trees.”

Goal!

Life plans usually consist of two types of goals: long term and short term.

When a perfectionist like me goes to set up long term goals, of course we know the importance of the short term goals! In fact, I spend loads of time planning just my short term goals!

Somewhere along the way, the short term goals become my main focus, and my vision blurs, and I’ve forgotten what it was that I wanted in the first place. I justify it by saying that if I do my short term goals perfectly, my long term goal must come along perfectly as well.

It happens to me all the time! I’ll set out to find a missing object (somewhere is my room), but then I’ll get so caught up with cleaning, sweeping, doing laundry, and polishing and sorting all my stuff—that I’ll forget that I’d been looking for anything at all. And I probably won’t find it (or I’ll find it, but pack it away again because I forgot I’d been looking for it).

Do Not Run Faster than You Have Strength

A quote:

And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order.

Mosiah 4:27, Book of Mormon

What does it mean?

It means that we’re going to have to work hard to achieve our goal, but that we also have to pace ourselves to do it. We have to step outside and see if he pace we chose is reasonable and the best for ourselves.

For example, I’ve been wanting to pick up reading again. Not only because it’s good for my brain, but it’s also fun to read.

Using the advice of the quote, if I want to pick up reading again, I shouldn’t expect to read an entire book a day, every day, without fail.

I should start off small by picking a time that would really be great for reading. Then, when that time comes, I can pick up the book, and read as much or as little as I desire.

And when I miss a day, I should just remember how good it was to have read it before, and just pick up the book the next day as if I’d never skipped a beat. Because those days I read were the point. The glass is half full!

You can apply that to exercise, as well (I know I will be). Work a time into your schedule where you can reasonably work out in a way you enjoy. When the time arises, pick it up, do it, finish whenever you like. And—if you miss a day—don’t sweat the small stuff. Dust yourself off. You got the benefits of exercising in the days you did, and that is WORTH SOMETHING!

Everything you do is worth something. If you miss a day, you can pick it up again without worry. You’ll find a way to get back into it and enjoy it, without letting guilt destroy you and your ambitions.

Picture that Glass is Full

Every effort is one more drop of water in that glass, and missing times doesn’t make any of that water go away! If the glass isn’t full enough for you, just keep on doing what you planned. Every drop counts.