I was introduced to the coffee stain concept by a friend who attended a management course. This is therefore not something I dreamt up but something that I have been thinking about a lot lately. If someone can find me resources on this theory, please let me know, as this wisdom was shared with me during a lunch meeting and not a scientific article.
This is not a coffee stain on your furniture or your desk or in your planner but a proverbial coffee stain in your life. That thing that you know you struggle with but is something that you have to do. The above-mentioned friend is an academic, a Professor, a researcher… and her coffee stain is email. She indicated that she just never wins her email. And yes, it was something that I never knew about her but also something that made me realise, that I too have these hurdles in my life.
Off the top of my head…
I tend to procrastinate. Not with everything but with the things that I struggle with, to the point of flat panic towards deadlines and sleepless nights. Basically, if I don’t know how to tackle something, I ignore it… yet, it never goes away. Of course, a lot of daily things can be subheaded under this umbrella. Getting a stain out, documenting procedures, finding solutions for a problem that you do not even understand.
I also very easily get sidetracked. I can get sucked into researching things that were never the original topic. The internet makes it so easy. I can get myself entirely off topic within minutes of starting something. When I was writing up my dissertation I had a note with my topic at the bottom of my screen, in an attempt to keep me at least on the same highway and off the segways.
Online shopping is another of my favourite past-times. I can convince myself that something is needed, which may not be the original thing I was looking for at all. A lot of this browsing also happens without buying a thing. Just loading a whole lot of items in a basket and ending with me saying, enough.
So I can go on and on with this list, but the point of my coffee stain ramble is that these are things we know about ourselves. Limitations. Hurdles. Hindrances. Excuses. Time wasters. Things that keep us from fulfilling our true potential, from being dependable or on time. Excuses that keep us overweight, unfit or addicted.
It is that one thing that you know that is there and that sometimes you just cannot get around, over or under it. It is something that you have identified a long time ago and something that hinders progress or just plain stresses you out.
As with anything, for one to be able to address it you need to know what it is. The culprit needs to be identified and displayed. If it is something that we are not doing, like my friend’s email, schedule a time to tackle it. If it is something that you are doing that you want to quit, like smoking, keep track of how many cigarettes you smoke a day, and tackle it from there. If it is something new, just start. Just make a start, and do (or don’t) a little bit, every day. My own list is long, but maybe everything needn’t be addressed all at once (look at me procrastinating again!). And it is something that will need attention every single day.
More often than not things are easier than we think. And if they are not, we can ask for help.
So, in theory, this all sounds perfectly logical and approachable. I will need to circle back here, maybe in a month’s time and see how my coffee stain is growing (or not). Truth is, sometimes you want to do something and it is just not for you. But maybe just, bear with me, and let us see how we go. It may be that some of these stains will be here to stay, and we may just need to get used to them.
What is the coffee stain in your life?