Changing Lives through Dancing by David Woodbury
Arthur Murray Santa Monica
We live and work in Los Angeles County, specifically in Santa Monica. There are a lot of cars everywhere!
Where there are stop signs, no one stops, and pedestrians walk across the streets at night wearing all black from head-to-tow looking down at their phones. It’s crazy.
It may take 5 minutes to drive to a location, or 30 minutes. I remember one day it took me an hour to drive the one mile to my Arthur Murray school. There was a Santa Monica Pier event!
On the dance floor, we learn something called floorcraft. We are trained to dance around the crowded floor, never (hopefully) bumping into another couple.
In social dancing, floorcraft means we are to move in Line-of-Dance (counterclockwise) with no collisions. This is an artform and takes a while to master.
I am, by nature an early bird. It is just a part of who I am. I’d rather show up early to a concert, sit and read the program rather than arrive one minute before curtain in a rush. This drives me to insanity in my life.
I just found out the name of what I prefer to do. Here it is from Wikipedia:
Precrastination is the act of completing tasks as soon as possible even if it costs extra effort. Some people may use this approach in order to avoid the anxiety and stress of last-minute work.
To me, being ahead of the game is everything. I detest hearing any excuses, especially my own. It makes me agitated when I’m not prepared because I am so easily able to be early with minimal effort.
Also, when I am behind, I am surrounded with a million people who are all tardy and we are saddled with a million uncompleted tasks and we have no time.
Listen to this. Getting a task done early is such a wonderful joy. Yes, the first person in the door will find that there is no traffic jam to achieving any of their objectives.
Want to get to the Wishy-Washy and get out in an hour? Just go at 6 or 7 AM. Then watch the anxious faces as you leave in a couple of hours. Everyone looks rushed and unhappy with no machines available.
Go to the market early, the bank, church, a family outing, a business function. Just try getting there early and see what happens to you and see how great you fee. Perhaps you can help some who is running late.
There is no traffic jam being first. Not even that, just getting a head start is a wonderful and fulling accomplishment.
The magic for me is my phone alarm. I pick out great music for my alarm from Spotify. Usually a great aria, Motown song, or Christmas Carol. I set at least 3 alarms close together. After doing this for years, I now find myself strangely waking up 1 minute before that first alarm goes off, and I simply get up.
Also, at 68, it takes me twice as long to get ready, so I prepare the night before, and I take my time in the morning.
I love the peace and quiet of being “on the road alone”, whether it’s from rising early, or arriving at my destination early.
A quick tip. Do you want to avoid the traffic jams of life? Always volunteer immediately when asked to do something. You’ll be amazed how fulfilling it is to offer to work a welcome table, set up tables, hand out flyers, or just be the first to offer to do any task.
Plus, you will be so happy while giving of your time and you can offer a kind greeting to those rushing in with sad, stressed faces.
Second tip. Plan, Plan, Plan ahead and be ready to be the first one on the road of life.
How do I know all this? Why, because I’m a procrastinator and I’m a little bit lazy and I have tendency to put things off. I hate those things about myself, so I try to just be a self-starter. I’m not perfect, but I’m trying.
Drive the in the happy lane of life and prepare early, start early, get on the road to success early. Who knows, you might like it. And if there is traffic on this “leaders” road, you’ll find the others on this road are also amazing self-starters. They will make good companions in life!
Thanks for reading.
David Woodbury