What Do You Get To Do Today?

Have To or Get To?

Somewhere between jumping into the shower, grabbing a cup of coffee, and running out the door, it happens. Your mind scans the next 24 hours: What do I have to do today? While it’s perfectly fine to plan the day with this question, I offer you an alternate to use. It’s one I pull out of my pocket whenever I notice I’m starting the day with my feet dragging or spirits lagging. I simply change one word: What do I get to do today?

How You Frame It

Genuinely consider the question: What do I get to do today? What are you still young enough to do or finally old enough to do? What are you free to do? Asking in this manner elevates even the most ordinary activities. It sets you up to be more appreciative and reminds you of the deeper reason behind some of your choices.

Even if you are dreading the idea of handling something at work today, you might find yourself answering the “get to” question with: I get to collaborate with Steve on an interesting project. I get to help Robin solve a problem. Granted, if your answers consistently fall short of a weighty-enough why, it may be time you did something about it, but that’s a different article, so stay with me on how this technique can help you frame this day.

To give you another example, if your day includes some amount of running around to various appointments, think about what the “get to” is. I get to pick up fresh clothes from the dry cleaners. I get to take care of myself by going to the dentist. I get to spend time with my daughter. I get to help out a friend.

The “what do I get to do today” question reminds me of an article I wrote years ago about Christopher Reeve who, once paralyzed, learned to begin each day by asking, “What’s the plan today?” Instead of worrying about what the future held, the question he used kept him focused on a more manageable portion — the present day.

It’s all how you frame it, and switching up that verb will produce different answers:

What do I…
have to
want to
hope to
plan to
get to
do today?

Transform Your Experience

In the Current of Life library, I categorized today’s issue under Gratitude; however, I could have placed it just as easily under Motivation. It’s important to realize that connection, that gratitude can fuel motivation.

Speaking of gratitude, as those of us in the U.S. prepare for Thanksgiving next week, there is that list of “have to do’s”: brave the crowds at the supermarket, get up early to bathe the turkey, etc., but when we remember it’s all in the greater context of “get to,” it changes everything.

Today, I get to write something for you, in the hope that it will make a difference in how you see things. I am grateful for that opportunity. What do you get to do today?

Change your frame. Transform your experience.

Here's to you,