Living Butt First

I’ve been missing inaction (not a typo – a confession). I haven’t written here since March – partly because for months I’ve been Living Butt First. A dear friend introduced this concept to me, and it perfectly explains how I got lost and distracted from blogging (and many other things).

I really love writing, and was SO enjoying sharing my thoughts with myself online a couple times each week. I wanted to ‘take my blog to the next level’, and get into the habit of writing every day, categorizing my posts (and creating enough posts to even have categories), finding like minds, etc. I wanted to get my blog to the point where I felt excited about sharing it with my actual friends – people I know.

Butt First, I needed to take the month-long Blogging 101 class, to be sure I was doing these things the very best way possible. It was a tremendously valuable class and I was an excellent student, for several days. Then I began to fall behind. I would begin the day’s assignment, Butt First I needed to read several other blogs in order to get engaged in the community. I was so impressed with the quality of writing and the diversity of writers! I had no idea people were blogging all over the world, about everything in the universe and beyond! So, I fell a few more days behind, then several more.

I had thought it would be a really good idea to have notifications sent to my Inbox each time a classmate posted to our Blogging 101 site. That would remind me to check in with the class and stay focused. I had No Clue I would receive hundreds of notifications Every Ten Minutes. Way Over Whelm. Still, I tried to keep up. Until, I fell apart.

Turns out I was engaged in living Butt First in quite a few other areas of my life, as well. It proved too challenging, and something had to give. My participation in Blogging 101 ended, I quit writing, and I fell off a few other cliffs and wagons and faces of the earth.

Living Butt First has its charm (it sure is familiar), and has its advantages (I sometimes accomplish much in the process of intending to do something else). However, there needs to be a balance. I need a limit on the number of items I’ll allow in the Butt First line. So, what’s the magic number? Obviously it needs to be 3, 7, or 9 – those are the only numbers that are magical. So I have to ask myself – when Butt First comes into my mind – are there 3, 7, or 9 items attached. I can accommodate any of those, but no more.

Those who Live Butt First will immediately see the brilliance here. Before I can do Anything, I need to determine How Many other tasks are going to jump in. In a heartbeat, I’ve dropped to 2, 6, and 8. How Cool is That?!

So, I’ve decided to set limits to the number of things ‘I Have to Do’ before I can ‘Do Something’. I think the number needs to start at 9, works its way to 7 and, after much practice, to 3.

Living Butt First requires some flexibility and some discrimination, for sure.

See y’all,

Marcel LaRose