Often in a supermarket I think “this would be easier if there was only one product to chose from.”  But so often it is choices, choices, choices.
When I sat down to write yesterday, I had the following quote in mind from James Clear.  But I ended up writing about another one.
Today it is this one. “"Your habits are often a byproduct of convenience. [We] seek the path of least resistance, which means the most convenient option is often the one that wins. Make good choices more convenient and bad choices less so."
This taking the path of least resistance is a lived experience for me.  All too often I heed the voice that says, “rest today.”  That is not mistaking the voice I heed when I genuinely need a rest.  It is too easy to push myself un-necessarily.  It is easy to think I am doing the right thing in that circumstance, but I have found nothing leads to burn out like over doing even a good thing.
No I am talking about a voice that encourages slackness and the lack of achievement.  To me there is a time and a place for everything.  A time to work hard and a time to give it away for a while.
Often for me the time of working hard is not the time of the most convenient.  I have found that achieving anything worthwhile is not taking the most convenient option.  It generally means going above and beyond what I think I am capable of.  I only find out what I am capable of when I attempt something I think I am incapable of.
It is certainly inconvenient.  It is often a lonely place.  Too often it is the place I am in where someone unwilling to be stretched is ready to rejoice in my fall with a quip like “I told you so.”
But for me that does not matter much.  The place I want to be is a place beyond my current horizon.  A place I reach for knowing that I may not be able to reach it yet - but I will.  What is inconvenient today leads to a more desirable place of convenience.
Good but inconvenient choices may be hard, but following and doing them crowds out the bad choices and I am way more likely to reach my goal.

It is a few days after I got the email but what is said in the James Clear email is applicable now as always. “"Use what you already know. People are so busy searching for a shortcut — or hoping an easier path will reveal itself — they let numerous moments slip by when they could get results simply by doing what is right in front of them."
I guess that sort of thing is what I hold to.  So often it seems to me that solutions, or solutions in the making, are right in front of me and not something future that I am hoping will appear.
I reckon the best thing I can do is act from peace rather than desperation.  I know I need to look around to see what I already have.  It is when I use and make the most of that, that good and useful ideas become clearer to me.
There is an ad on tv at the moment talking about dads and a son says his dad used to say something like, “I have ideas I have not even thought of yet.”  I admit I like that because it shows acting from confidence.  Something may not be clear right now, but that does not mean it will never be.  So often the best I can do is see what is at hand and use that to its maximum potential.
It may become obvious that something else is needed over and above my current resources but that is ok.  My actions are born of hope and as is often said, “the more I practice the luckier I seem to be.”  When actions are born of despair, I am inclined to want to throw the towel in and decare it is all too hard, and I can so easily miss grasping the very thing that I need.
Actions born of hope do not bury their head in the sand or declare what is not as something that is based solely on unrealistic optimism.  To some what I hold to may seem to be a bridge too far, but to me it is a bridge I will get to and cross with what I need, when I need it.   
In the meantime, I will do what I know to do and use what I have.  The more I use what I have, the more I have, and the better I get at using it.  When the time is right, I will be able to cross that bridge.

Yesterday turned out very different to what I imagined.  It reminds me of a movie I saw decades ago where a guy imagined something and then it showed what really happened.
I had imagined working in the yard early and then going with Merril as she banked and we bought something we are after for the cabin.
It did not take long for plans to be altered.  I was ready to head into the yard and it rained.  Not just light showers that are more an inconvenience rather than a show-stopper, but heavy downpours that I definitely do not like to be in.
So that plan went by the board.  Merril had prepared the banking and we were all set to go out.  We were shutting up the place in preparation when I got a text message to say someone I was meeting the next day was running late.
That made me think there is something going on here.  Turned out he was confused as to what day it was.  He thought it was a day later and was going to be at out meeting point.  I mentioned it to Merril and she graciously suggested I could meet him and she do what we had planned to do together.
That is what happened.  I texted him to say I was two minutes away.  Merril dropped me off and I saw him while she went off and did other stuff.
I really enjoyed our time together.  I have rarely met someone who had more similar interests.  He loves C.S. Lewis and plays music and has written songs to name a few things we had in common.
Merril came back right at the end of our get together.  The banking happened but the shop did not have what we were after for the cabin.  We went home.  I followed my tradition and had a rest after lunch.
After the rest I worked in the yard.  I was only stopped once by a heavy downpour.  Oh and by a spider.  I was sitting on the couch out the back where Merril and I often sit, and a spider emerged near where Merril normally is.  I really did not like the look of him and did not want him emerging while Merril was there and potentially biting her.
So I dealt with him.  I could say he was like two meters wide but I would be lying.  All I will say is he was smaller than that.  I showed Merril the hole into his web.  He had to go.  I found him and delt with him and moved on.  I lived to tell the story.  I’m pretty tough in fights where the opponent is smaller than me.
After that I did some stuff in the yard again.  Progress is not as fast as we imagine but it is happening.  I wanted to trim and clear under a tree we love.  It happened.  More is planned for this morning.  The day looks alright to me.