This is Episode 94 of the “After Gambling” podcast. In this episode, we’re going to talk about getting back on schedule. [Music]
Hey there, and welcome to another episode of the “After Gambling” podcast. My name is Jamie, and I am the host of this podcast. At this point, I think you probably know why I do this podcast. I don’t need to go over that anymore. We’ll maybe switch up the intro here as we go forward.
But today, as I record this, it is Ohio State-Michigan day for any sports fans out there. It is Saturday morning, which means that my commitment to get these things out on Friday… I failed, right? I said a few weeks back when I started doing the podcast again, my goal was to get them out every Friday. That was my design goal. My commitment to you was to try to get these things up and out every Friday so you had a new episode going into the weekend. Well, it’s Saturday, so I missed, right? And it was a holiday weekend here in the United States, or holiday week. We had Thanksgiving. It was a wonderful time spent with family. Some people were sick, so we had a smaller group, and some people were traveling, so it was a smaller group than normal. But nonetheless, it was a great time and just a nice relaxing time for me. It was a huge relaxing time. I was able to kind of disconnect and just hang out, and it was very nice.
But the one thing that I didn’t do is, I didn’t record the podcast on my schedule this week, and so it didn’t get done. And so many times, we can beat ourselves up, but it was as simple as that. I didn’t carve out time on my schedule to create space to create an episode and to get it published. And so, unfortunately, it’s coming out late. I missed on my commitment, I missed on my vision or goal or what I wanted to do for that week. And I think this is a good example. And the reason I’m doing this episode, it’s Saturday morning, right? It’s Saturday morning, like 7:47 in the morning, and I’m just doing this now to get it done. Get back on schedule. Will it come out every Friday? No, of course not, we missed that.
But this is the important thing in life: we’re gonna miss things, we’re going to mess things up, we’re gonna fall short of our goals and expectations. But the one thing that I’ve found, and I see in my own life and in other people’s lives as I look at it, is it’s not so much whether we fail—because we’re going to—but it’s how fast do we get back on the horse? That’s kind of the expression. Or “on the wagon.” There’s a lot from AAA. I think a lot of people say, “get back on the wagon.” So that’s an expression; we know what that means. But ultimately, get back on schedule, get back on task. And the less time that we spend in the space where we’re off schedule or off task, the better off we’re going to be.
And I know I talk a lot about momentum. I think I’ve talked a lot on the podcast. I know I do a lot of that in the coaching sessions, talking about momentum and how important momentum is in my life. And I see that, especially from coaching. I’m once removed from the situation, so I can see. And I can see when things start to build up, and you don’t necessarily see it, or the person I’m working with doesn’t necessarily see it. I’m seeing this momentum build, and then all of a sudden, I can tell. I’m like, “Man, they’re like a week or two away from just really exploding, really getting it.”
And this is something I think makes a lot of sense, coming from a sporting background. Similar experiences with golf. There are times where I’d be just kind of going through it, and I’m like, “Man, I feel like I’m really close, but I’m not getting the scores that I expect.” But I kept showing up to the golf course, showing up, practicing my putting, practicing my chipping, practicing all aspects of the game. And then, all of a sudden, it was like a couple of weeks later, because I kept that momentum building, that’s where we have the exponential growth. And all of a sudden, the scores just, all of a sudden, I was like shot out of a rocket, and they just started appearing.
But it’s that momentum, and it’s the importance of showing up. And if you missed a day, get back at it as soon as possible. Because I think if we look at kind of waves—I’m looking at the waves on the when you do a podcast, you see the audio waves—the more gap that you have between these waves, the harder it is to get that momentum started again. And so when we miss, the key is just to shrink that time down as small as possible.
And I think one thing that might help you, because I think it’s something that really trips me up, is so many times I measure things in the day. And this probably comes, I mean, GA we talk about “a day at a time,” or any type of 12-step, you talk about everything “a day at a time.” But really, we should just shrink that down to just the moment. So if you mess up in a moment, really, you have instantly a chance to redeem yourself, a chance to get back on track. So if it’s something you missed, a workout, the soonest once you realize it, carve out time. Even if it’s just five minutes, a three-minute workout, a five-minute workout. Or if it’s some kind of work project, getting back on task as soon as possible. Or if you, I don’t know, if you’re doing a podcast and you normally post on Friday but you miss it, publish it on Saturday morning. First chance you have to get back on track, do that. And I think if we apply that through all aspects of our lives, we’ll start to see all that growth and all that potential to really kind of take off.
Now, it’s Saturday morning, so it’s a family day. This is gonna be a quick episode. And ultimately, hey, this is a good thing for you. Whatever you had planned to do with the next 10 minutes, I just gave you back 10 minutes. Go do whatever it is on your list that you’re like, “Hey, I need to do this to get momentum going.” If it’s a workout, do that. If it’s just some planning and scheduling so it makes your next week go easier, do that. And obviously, the biggest one for this podcast: the not gambling. If you just gambled in the last day, a week, month, whatever it is, focus on this next little bit. Whatever this moment is now, just get back on track. Get back in a meeting, make sure you’re doing all those things that you need to do to help you stay on track and stay on schedule, so that you won’t miss. You won’t have these moments where you feel a little bit embarrassed. But that’s the other thing. I think the embarrassment builds, and the anticipation, the anxiety, the stress, all of those things. The longer that we have between those waves, the longer that we let things sit and simmer, and we know that we need to do something about it but we’re just not doing it. It just builds and builds and builds, and that creates even more resistance to just go do it.
So, I encourage you, whatever it is in your life, when you come across these things, I’m going to try to do the same. Shrink down that time where you’re kind of in the way or not doing the things you want to do, and just get back on track as soon as possible. So hopefully, this helps send you into the rest of your Saturday, into your weekend, and into next week with some good thoughts. And yeah, appreciate you all being here. As always, this is just for informational purposes. I don’t have any letters before or after my name, just a guy, so please get professional help.
And finally, music for the show is “Something Elated” by Broke For Free and is licensed under the Creative Commons license. Have a great week. Go Ohio State, beat Michigan!
