Overcoming Procrastination

Today, I have come to realize how much of a procrastinator I have become. I thought I would take a minute to understand why I am procrastinating at everything so that I can improve my work ethic. Everything I have started was something I was really excited about at one time, and now it has lost its path. This is not the first time I have tried something then slowly stopped doing it after a while. However, everything I am working on I want to see through and keep working on it. Here is a list of what I am working on, why I’ve been procrastinating, and how I’ll change. Hopefully this will help you out too.

Blog

Yes, I am still blogging, but it’s not as often as when I began. I already knew I had unrealistic expectations when I was writing every day, but at that point I had a lot of ideas to write about. I was also very consistent… I started writing at 10:00am every day, then I started writing 3-5 times per week at the same time. Then I lost track of days and times so I started writing when I remembered at whatever time during the week, and this is where I started to really procrastinate.

When I started blogging, I wanted to share my self-improvement experience since it’s something I’ve always been interested in. It’s satisfying to potentially help someone else who is struggling with something, and create a supportive environment. However, I’ve always thought in the back of my mind how cool it would be to make some side cash from a hobby I am passionate about.

Of course, after doing research about how to monetize a blog, it started to feel a bit daunting. A huge factor in becoming a successful blogger is having a niche to be able to easily find sponsors, but I didn’t feel like I had a specific niche. There are people who write about recipes, nutrition, fitness, gardening, starting an online business – all very specific categories. Some people even begin selling consultations or online courses for their expertise. The more I looked into it, the more fearful I became about my blog not being successful.

I forgot why I started blogging in the first place. It slows down my thoughts to make sense of them, it allows me to be creative, and I can give my ideas to the world as well as read other blogs to learn something new. I have realized I fear that I am doing it wrong. I am learning along the way, but not knowing if I’m doing it correctly in order to monetize it sooner rather than later is driving me crazy. I never knew how much there still is to learn about the internet. It’s not as simple as I thought it was.

The reason I am procrastinating at writing blogs is because I am fearing failure and the reward seems very far away if it will be rewarded at all. I will have to change my mindset about it to stop procrastinating. Here are a few solutions: I will aim to learn something new about blogging every time I write; I will make a new goal to only write 3-4 times per week; and I will make sure I read and follow other blogs that will inspire me.

YouTube

One day, I asked my boyfriend to do a beer review with me and make a video. I’ve always wanted to learn how to make videos, and it was a different way to be creative. After I began, I needed to make it my own channel rather than rely on my boyfriend for help. I figured I couldn’t just make my channel about reviewing beer by myself, so I channeled my inner actress and wanted to make people laugh by doing skits.

I came up with a long list of video ideas, and I was creating a video once a week. It would be finished a few days before it went public on YouTube, so it was a stress-free hobby. Now, I am procrastinating and creating the video the same day that it needs to be posted, which isn’t a very relaxing feeling. I somehow have still posted every Tuesday at 5pm, but I can tell my creative juices are lacking.

I think there are a few factors here that are causing me to procrastinate. I have posted several videos of my comedy skits, but now the opinions of others are starting to flow. Not only the number of views and likes, but just what other people find funny or not. Some people will tell me their favourite videos, or favourite part of a video, so then I find myself over-analyzing everything. I have truly come to appreciate big YouTubers who have managed to work towards a huge following and come out with videos every single week.

Of course, the thought of this hobby also being monetized has crossed my mind, because who wouldn’t want to be paid for doing what they love? At least YouTube gives you a goal to reach in order to be able to monetize (1000 subscribers and 4000 watched hours), so I just need to keep improving my videos and learning about how to make them entertaining the entire time (people have short attention spans these days). I am even starting to second-guess my genre of videos (skits) so that causes procrastination as well. Maybe I should be making videos on ice coffee? Or hair? Or horoscopes??? I am just trying to stick to what my authentic self enjoys doing, and leave it at that.

To change my mindset for this, I first need to take other people’s opinions and number of views lightly. Art will always be subjective, and it can be surprising sometimes what does well and what doesn’t. I am also learning more about the power of social media, as I have been ignoring it for so long. I never enjoyed being super involved in social media, but it turns out it’s a huge factor in being successful at doing work online.

Rather than second guessing my video ideas, I’m just going to film and edit it without waiting an entire week of doubting myself.

Podcast

I started my podcast in order to have a platform to speak with other people and learn from them. I enjoy learning from other people and talking things through. Unfortunately, the pandemic has made it a bit difficult to get it started since I have to record podcasts through low quality sound through zoom. Also, I have found out a lot of people are scared to be recorded and to talk about themselves.

This is another area where I am unsure of the niche I want to have. I wanted to talk about the journey of breaking free from societal norms because it’s something I struggle with, but it’s hard to find people who feel the same why I do. This hobby might not be as consistent, but it’s something I am still interested in pursuing eventually.

Further Solutions to Overcome Procrastination

It’s important to recognize the reason why you enjoy whatever it is that you are procrastinating on, and to stop yourself from overthinking everything. Sticking to a routine is definitely a huge part of being productive, so planning out your days will help overcome procrastination. Also, remembering that all of these hobbies are more productive than other hobbies such as playing video games or watching TV.

I think it’s important for all of us to stop and find the reasons why we are procrastinating at something, because I truly think it frees us to be more creative and more productive. It’s never a good feeling to feel like something is weighing you down, so by finding solutions to motivate us again, it will lift the weight right off of our shoulders.

Why I Love Journalling

I have 4 different journals that are laying around my house, each of them holds some sort of purpose to organize my thoughts. I will explain each one and why I find it useful, and hopefully it will give you some ideas if you are looking to start journalling, or to find a reason why you should.

1. My “Goals” Journal

This is the journal I would say I go back to the most. It holds my financial goals, health goals, travel goals and overall life goals. It’s important for me to revisit so that I can stay on track, or re-evaluate my previous goals if needed.

I like to throw in some motivational quotes, or just phrases to help me when I’m feeling incredibly unmotivated. It’s also nice to look back at what I accomplished for when I am feeling like I haven’t accomplished anything. Some things that I thought I would never do, I end up doing and some things that I thought would be easy might roll on to the next page of goals so I can make a second attempt.

I also like going over my finances here so I can simplify what’s going on in my bank account and to find ways to minimize costs. It’s easy to just ignore what’s happening with your money online, but sometimes I need a wake up call. For some reason I find it fascinating to have a plan on how to spend my money and when, so I never feel guilty about making big purchases if needed.

I think my health goals are most fun to go through, because I most definitely need a wake up call for that sometimes. Whether it’s healthy eating or physical fitness, I need to go back to remember why I want to continue working towards these.

I also like to write down places I’d like to visit and jot down things I’ve learned about how to travel to each place and how to prepare. This includes thing I would want to buy in order to make it happen, or writing packing lists. This even includes things for camping, or road trips in general.

I like imagining a bright future and sometimes I get overly involved in that to the smallest detail, but I often find it fun rather than stressful. I think it can be quite beneficial to work towards accomplishing goals, whatever they may be.

2. My “Feelings” Journal

This sounds incredibly cheesy, but for someone who overthinks everything and has all sorts of chaotic thoughts floating around, this is a good place to understand what I’m feeling and why. My imagination has a habit of going wild which can be good for creative or optimistic endeavours, but when it starts going full tilt into more negative thoughts, I need to slow the heck down.

This is where this journal comes in handy. Sometimes my brain doesn’t have time to make sense of why the emotions that are coming up have arrived, such as sadness, anxiety, anger, or anything else that is a bit more uncomfortable than usual. As I’m writing, it slows down my thoughts and makes them into things that are just on a page – all of a sudden, they don’t seem so bad!

There have been numerous times where I am SO frustrated and I go grab this journal and begin writing so fast my pen wishes it stayed at home. By the end, happy thoughts arise and I feel much better. Not to mention, if you are someone who accidentally takes it out on a loved one, this is a great way to stop that from happening! I learned that the hard way. My poor boyfriend…

3. My “Creative” Journal

This is where I jot down ideas for YouTube videos, recipes for my cookbook I would like to create one day, and sometimes I just sit and doodle a bit. This journal is a bit sporatic, since I technically have more than one place for these ideas. When I’m out and about I will jot down a note in my phone, when I’m on the computer I’ll write ideas on Google Docs, but it usually will all circle back to my physical journal I keep in my house.

It’s quite often that my boyfriend will throw together a dinner with whatever we have, and it ends up being good – despite my constant nagging that “you shouldn’t mix those together it’s weird and will taste gross.” I honestly don’t know how he does it.

Overall, it’s fun to have a place to look back at your own creations and ideas.

4. My “Travel” Journal

This is something I bring with me when I travel, usually somewhere that is out of the country (which unfortunately, isn’t that often). This is something that my parents used to do whenever we went somewhere and it kind of stuck with me. Sometimes I forget a few days while I’m on vacation, but I try to at least write about stories that happened rather than what our schedule was like that day.

Of course, as a Lord of the Rings fan, this journal had to be a leather, old school journal (the one pictured above) so I feel like a true traveller. However, I’m a little too impatient to write the whole thing in calligraphy as Bilbo Baggins did.

This journal is nice to read when I’m feeling a travel bug coming on, but am unable to go anywhere. It’s funny to find things that I couldn’t remember in a million years, but as soon as I read my own memories I instantly am living in the moment. It’s easy to remember moments looking through my pictures, but in my journal there are often details that get overlooked and it’s cool to look back on.

Yes, I know journalling isn’t for everyone, and I might be a little hardcore with all of the journals I have, but I find that it’s a great way to reminisce about memories and achievements, be creative, work through hard times, and have goals to accomplish for the future.

Take Advantage of Quarantine

If you are laid off like me, or at least have reduced hours due to COVID-19, take advantage of this time you have to yourself. Yes, it’s easy to get stuck in the rut of fearing what the future might look like, but it’s likely to get back to normal, or at least a “new” normal. I have been surprised to hear from quite a few friends that they secretly are loving this time. I think right now everyone is feeling obligated to be stressed out and hoping things will get back to normal, but it’s totally okay to actually enjoy the “break” from your normally fast-paced life. If anything, I think what we learn from being in quarantine will actually help us in the long run. Let me tell you why.

1. Spending less money

For us, we are saving a ton of money just by cooking at home. We usually go to a restaurant to eat at least once a week, especially when our sports leagues are up and running. Yes, it’s still possible to order in right now, but our problem was we went just to get a different environment, be around people, and to get out of the house. Now that we can’t do that, we are forced to cook at home. This is something that will teach us that it is easier than we thought to make things homemade and prepare meals ahead of time.

We are also not driving as much since we can’t go and visit friends and family and thus saving money on gas. Obviously we miss being able to do this but the upside is saving the money. Again, on road trips we would usually stop and get food along the way as well.

We are unable to go to the movies, go bowling, or any recreational center so we need to depend on other things for entertainment. I think this will really benefit us in the future for when we are bored and need something else for entertainment. We have tried a bit harder for watching movies at home, making “nests” and homemade snacks instead of going to the theatre. We have also been filming YouTube videos as a source of entertainment which we are having a lot of fun with, and it’s something that we would have never done before. I think in the future we will try harder to work with what we have and think twice about spending our money on food and entertainment.

2. Planning ahead

This mostly has to do with getting groceries. Normally, we would have to go a few times a week because we would be craving something, or forgot things for the meals we want to make, or ran out of something that we didn’t expect to. Now that we are trying to only get groceries once or twice a month, it takes a bit more planning ahead. It turns out that it’s not that time consuming and it’s pretty easy. We look at everything that we have already, and think of meals around that.

We are getting much better at using what we have instead of loading up our pantry and forgetting about half of what is already in there. We are also more cognizant about how long fresh food can last and how we can make the most out of it. I hate to admit it, but an example I have is with spinach, we would use it a lot at first, forget about it for a few days, then it would get all wilted and we would throw it out. Now, if it’s starting to get a bit old, we have just been freezing it so we can use it later for spaghetti sauce or casseroles. I’m sure this sounds like a no-brainer to most people, but we honestly just didn’t pay enough attention to what was in our fridge.

There are also a few things we have figured out how to make last longer, such as growing store-bought green onions in water, or storing asparagus or celery in water will make them last longer too. We have learned how to make your own kombucha and sauerkraut, and have pre-made snacks that can be stored in the freezer.

3. Relaxing

Sometimes without trying, I’m sure that everyone ends up with a busy schedule. With work, recreational activities, meeting up with friends, baby shower invites, birthdays, meetings, phone calls, along with household tasks and trying to squeeze in your own hobbies – it’s easy to forget to slow down.

At first it was a bit shocking to go from 100 to 0 in a matter of a few days, but now that I’m settling in, I have found ways to take “me” time that I never gave myself before. Whether it’s cooking or baking something I never have before, colouring or painting, looking back at my old travel pictures, or doing yoga, I am realizing that I have been neglecting both my mind and body from what it needs. Of course, this is from the perspective of someone with no kids and no pets to worry about – that would be a different story.

Usually on my days off while I’m working, I am constantly thinking of what I should be doing to be productive. I am used to completely exhausting my mind by the end of the day to the point that all it can handle is watching TV. My boyfriend would quite often say, “you’ve done a lot, you don’t need to do everything in one day, just relax for the rest of the day.” This is something that I just couldn’t listen to. You could argue that it’s good to be busy to get ahead in life… but this also leads to spreading yourself too thin to the point of burnout.

I have found enough to keep me busy that I feel productive, but I have also allowed myself the time to breath especially now that I have so much more free time in my day. It actually feels wonderful giving that time to myself, and I feel like a better, happier version of myself instead of a stressed out stress ball that’s anxious all the time. I will definitely be more mindful of how I’m treating myself in the future.

4. Time to reflect on life

This sounds deep, I know. I think it’s important to notice what you take for granted every day, what isn’t working in your life, and what you’d like to work on for the future. Like I said before, I have learned that it is much more fun to not stress about everything and to dive into self-care. I also wrote a blog on being a creator and not a consumer, which I have been taking very seriously now. I didn’t realize how much I was consuming – on my phone particularly – outside of work. In the first couple days of quarantine I didn’t really know what to do with myself so I would just go between watching videos and scrolling through memes. I made the decision to delete some apps and took up some hobbies that I could do instead. I think this made a world of difference on keeping my mind busy in a more positive way.

I hope that despite the circumstances, you are able to take this time for yourself and make minor improvements for your day to day life. Now is the time to reflect on your values, make some positive changes, and exercise your creativity in the process.

Let Your Ideas Flow

A good friend once told me that the best way to write something was to just write without going back to re-read what you put down. She said that once you stop to go back, you will disrupt your flow and not be able to get back into it. I always need to remind myself to trust the process instead of constantly doubting what I’m doing. I believe this concept applies to more than just writing.

Self-doubt is a killer when it comes to creativity in my opinion. The more your process or flow gets interrupted the less likely your brain can fully finish a concept. That is something that I have been working on for a few years now with any form of creativity. It’s so easy for me to go back and change something immediately or to stop altogether and never go back. This is the main reason that I don’t paint or draw as often as I would like to – which is funny because the more often you paint or draw, the better you will get. I think I depend too much on instructions and doing things the right way sometimes and I don’t leave room for my own thoughts and opinions. I think what stopped me in the past is when my friends in school would comment that my art is “weird and doesn’t make sense,” or that it’s “too abstract.”

This may sound easy to get over, but it’s so nice when people can appreciate the creativity you put into your art work. This is a prime example of why you shouldn’t take things personally, because there are billions of different styles of art work in the world and it’s one thing that absolutely does not have a right or wrong answer. Yes, there are courses on writing, drawing and all sorts of genres of art… but as soon as you finish your own piece of work it doesn’t matter what all the rules are of certain colours that go together, or certain ideas that flow in an article.

There must be a reason why using art therapy is so popular. It’s something that provides an open space for non-judgement, and allows you to understand yourself in a new way in whatever form that may be. I think it would be especially useful for people who don’t think they are creative. You don’t have to be able to paint a self-portrait to be a good artist. It can come in all forms – some people are good at taking pictures, whereas some are good at motivational speaking. The only thing that gets in the way is self-doubt.

So whatever way you want to let your creativity out, I encourage to start and don’t look back and criticize. It’s not so much the end result that you should be focusing on, try to enjoy what you are experiencing in the moment and perhaps every once in a while you’ll have created something you are really truly proud of.

Source: https://www.ronitbaras.com/family-matters/parenting-family/handy-family-tips-5-kids-artwork/

Be a Creator, Not a Consumer

Every day, we consume information in all sorts of forms. We wake up, look at our phones to check messages, emails, social media and everything in between. We hear what other people have to say, we have decisions that need to be made and not to mention, our jobs take up 8 hours of our day! For some people these 8 hours are spent doing boring, mundane tasks given to them by their manager or supervisor. Consuming can be beneficial for learning or for fun, but over-consumption doesn’t leave room for our own thoughts and ideas.

What happens after work?

I’m speaking from personal experience here – what do I do after work on most days? I come home feeling tired, lazy and just want to numb out any thoughts. I either cook dinner or order in, but immediately want to watch a show on Netflix while I’m eating, after I’m eating and can’t think of anything else to do except browse my phone, play video games or watch MORE Netflix!!! It’s like my brain cells have been completely used up by work and I no longer want to think. If you don’t have room to think, how can you create?

We spend most of our days at work, and especially for younger people who are trying to grind in order to make a resume look pretty. Can you imagine what we could think of or come up with if we had nothing but time? Well I’m finding a lot of free time during quarantine and I am happier than ever – I don’t feel stressed, anxious or depressed. I feel positive, inspired and optimistic. This seems strange during a pandemic, but I didn’t realize how much of my energy was going into the daily work I was doing that was for someone else. There’s truly something special about creating something by yourself that is very liberating.

Why is it important to create?

When something feels like a task it usually no longer feels enjoyable. I could type out an essay about how to be a creator and not a consumer at a desk job as a project, however, I would probably have to follow guidelines, it might not have been my idea and I would have the time pressures of getting it done. Right now as I sip on coffee and am in my super comfy housecoat, I am loving typing this out because I’m excited to share my idea with the world to help inspire others.

Everyone on this planet has their own experiences, their own brain and there are infinite possibilities with what can be created. Imagine if you sat down to paint a flower instead of look at memes on your phone for hours. Why would this be beneficial? Well first of all, you would be learning a skill. You would be mindful in what you are doing. And you would end up with something that YOU created! Before sitting down to paint that flower, you didn’t know what would end up being on that page. But now it’s there. ISN’T THAT AMAZING?! Would you feel the same after looking at hundreds of memes on your phone? I don’t think so.

Implement creativity every day

I think a huge factor that could help save our brain power has a lot to do with using our phones, as most of us cannot change what we need to do at work. I’ve researched many ways on how to treat our “phone addiction” because I find it fascinating how much I use my phone without realizing. It’s also quite worrisome as to how much I say to myself “only one YouTube video before bed,” or “I’ll only browse through Reddit for a few minutes this morning,” or, “I don’t need to see all this stuff on social media” only to find that I’ve spent hours doing all of these things.

One thing that I’ve found to be useful is to delete apps that aren’t useful to you for your own personal growth. Especially if you want to work towards something and are procrastinating, getting rid of all distractions is essential. In addition to deleting useless apps, try not to use your phone for an hour after you wake up, and to put your phone away an hour before bed. I’ve heard of people who have baskets in their house for everyone to put their phones in so they can interact with each other and connect on a human level. So far, I’ve found that I have enough self-control to just leave my phone and block out times throughout the day to check anything new that has come in. I have found that my conversations with my boyfriend are wholesome and it’s much nicer knowing we are both listening to each other rather than kind of paying attention while still being on our phones.

So how can you implement creativity every day? Perhaps write a list of things you enjoy doing and why you enjoy doing them. Or anything that you’ve wanted to do for a long time but haven’t gotten around to doing. I’m sure all of us can think of at least one thing that requires creativity, but we haven’t been able to do it because our brains are already full of other things. Once your main distractions are gone, really dive deep on what interests you and just do it! Just start. There is nothing to lose when you are creating something and leaving a mark in this world, but there is valuable, unique talent wasted when you are consumed by everything around you.