Monday Motivation: Keep track of your time

Recently, I started to keep track of my time as well as project how many hours per day and week I would use for blogging, work, school, TV, and more.

I tend to plan ahead. I like making little charts and all of that crap.

I think we should do that. In order to waste less time, we should go into our day and/or week with some sort of plan on how we’ll spend that time. And then stick to it.

Grab your smartphone and download an app or use the generic alarm on the phone. Set the alarm. No matter what, when it’s time to move on, it’s time to move on.

For one thing, working on something for a long time can screw you, mentally. Shucks, your brain can get tired. I find that, when dealing with a problem, if I walk away and do something else, when I come back to it with a fresh mind and perspective, I end up solving it.

My favorite example of this is when I play video games. I’ll spend what seems like an eternity trying to beat the level. What almost drive me crazy is that I’ll put that game away and play/do something else. When I come back to the game…sometimes days…and sometimes weeks later, I beat that so called impossible level in just a few tries. And I’m like “Why couldn’t I do this before?”

So that’s one reason why you should stick to a schedule.

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Monday Motivation: Love the outcasts

Ah, it’s not always easy to love or show love to people. Even the ones closest to us press that one button and you be like “I’m gonna get you, sucka!” or something.

But, there’s one particular group of people I want you to focus on: The outcasts.

You might have noticed them. They might be quiet and never wanting to hang out. Maybe they’ve had a negative past that people know about and so they stay away. Shoot, maybe her breath stinks. And we tend to stay away from this person. This could be for a couple of reasons.

For one, it impacts our social status. If we’re seen hanging out with “him”, we could look just as bad as him. For instance, and I talked about this in my book, I have three nipples. It’s not a secret. What if I became a social outcast because of that? That would suck. People may not want to be seen with a triple nipple freak at the beach.

For another, we may personally stay away from people simply because we don’t want anything to do with them. Ouch.

But here’s the point of why you should give the benefit of the clear doubt: You don’t know their story. You don’t know what they’re going through, or what they’ve been through. You simply don’t know why they lash out to you and others. We may never understand the social pariahs. And we don’t have to.

Just keep showing them love. Show them love and pray for them.

I was watching this disturbing movie that was centered around three teens with different backgrounds who ended up being linked to each other in a special way. They treated each other and other people in what was considered a harsh way. But, as with all movies, you see both sides.

And I think that’s a good way of looking at people…at our enemies. We only see one part of the story. But, we’re missing the behind the scenes stuff. We’re missing the struggle this person has with himself. If we…in a way…imagine this situation like it’s a movie, we may be able to improve how we treat the outcasts of our lives.

Am I saying this because I was an outcast? No. I choose to be anti-social and to sit in the corner by myself. I’m talking for the ones who have tried, but have been shunned for one reason or another.

It can be hard when we’re in our click. When we’re in our circle, it’s not easy to let others in. I’m not saying expand the circle. I am saying make sure you reach out every once in a while just because you care on some level. Not to say not extending a hand makes you a bad person.

But, you never know if this person is on the verge of suicide. You may not know it, but a simple smile or hello could save a freaking life.

Alright, I’ll chill. Motivations aren’t suppose to be long. I might continue this train of thought on another day.

-DALANEL

Monday Motivation: Keep your head up

Don’t quit. Keep pushing. Keep moving through the hell.

It’s been a long week. A long month. A long year. A freaking long life. But aren’t you still here? Aren’t you still standing?

Right.

So, why stop now? Why feel down? You’ve come from far away and you don’t even know how close you are to the finish line.

Keep your head up because your situation will get better. I am running with this in the name of Jesus. I’m claiming it for me. You’d better claim it for you. It’s time to get stubborn. It’s dark out there, like the African night, but you’ll be fine.

Let’s go. Keep your head up until it gets stiff and you’re sore. And then keep it up some more.

-DALANEL

Monday Motivation: Get some sleep

I was afraid this would happen. I’m running out of things to motivate on. I guess I need some ideas.

Today, I want to motivate you and I to get some sleep. and by sleep, enough sleep.

It’s a battle of quantity and quality.

For some, the longer we stay up, the more we could get done. However, it’s been proven that, if we get the proper amount of sleep, the time we spend awake is of better quality.

We could argue that there’s simply not enough time in the day to do what we need to do. We could say that coffee (I never had a cup of it) and energy drinks (only have had a couple of bottles of the stuff) could improve our situation.

Still, it’s of my opinion and backed by a fact that nothing beats sleep. The body is not designed to stay up for a long time.

My challenge to you and me is to set a time to sleep. We need it. No matter what is going on, set a time to get some sleep. I hear 8 hours is good for adults. As for all of the things we need to get done during the day, it’s time to better manage our time and where it goes.

I won’t tell you how to do that. We all have different priorities and situations. Just make it work for those 16 hours.

For me, I am going with quality. I want the time that I am awake to be productive, vs being up for a long time and, because of fatigue, slip on the quality of my work. Some people are quantity oriented.

Maybe it’s to each his own. I still have to fight for sleep’s case/cause.

I get it; some people can’t sleep for that full 8 hours. Some folks simply live a lifestyle or their job requires them to stay up for a long time. But, I’m pretty sure most people are wasting time anyway.

Might as well use that time to sleep.

-DALANEL

Monday Motivation: Be silly

That’s right. Today is a day to do something silly. Be wacky.

It’s time to shock a couple of people, especially if you’re not a silly person at heart. It’s time to have some fun.

But, for the love of jeebus, don’t get fired. Don’t kill anybody. I don’t know. Maybe you can wear a silly hat. Wear a wacky tie. Change your ringtone to something. Speak with another accent (I don’t care how bad it is).

I’m a believer that laughter is the best medicine. So, either you shake things up for yourself, or for others.

Me?

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Yeah, I’m way ahead of you. Now get going.

-DALANEL

 

Wednesday Word, Monday Motivation, and Good News Friday

I’ve been struggling with the recent Good Friday play at my church. As I continue to lick my wounds, I realized that I need to get back on the blogging horse.

For one day only, I present a post containing your Wednesday Word, Monday Motivation, and Good News Friday. These are the flagship posts here at DALANEL.

Even though the site hasn’t seen a new post in a week, the views have been really good, which kinda means that this blog is capable of sustaining itself even with my lack of posting. This blog has timeless content that brings people in no matter what current events are going on. That’s cool.

Anyway, let’s start with a video as we hit Wednesday Word first.

That was me in the video, in case you didn’t pick that up. No comments because commenting on myself is weird right now.

Next, some motivation:

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