Let’s Get Back Out There

 

Summer it sometimes, let’s face it, a time of fun fizzling.

You may have felt that from COVID on but during the Spring, I bet you were feeling revved up a bit, like the world was opening, people were getting vaccinated and things could return to “new” normal. Pump those brakes, right? Right!

We all have bouts of stop start, start, stop. It’s just the nature of life right now. I’m having it myself. At work-work, seems people need additional supports, communicating is lacking a bit, we’re in a state and in write-write-work, seems I write like the wind one day, and other days, I write a sentence and run for the snacks never to see the manuscript for the rest of the week. It happens.

The thing is we’ve been here before. Did you pay attention? Did you take notes? No? It’s okay, I took some for you. One more thing to remember, the heat, if you live in a place that’s like God-awful hot right, that also affects you, the best thing I can tell you do to right NOW it to let go of the guilt behind doing nothing, and feeling like you’re getting nothing done. And here below, are some tips to reset yourself.

1. Ready? Let’s go. THE VERY FIRST THING, IS TO JUST BE POSITIVE.

You know how they say if your car fishtails, LOOK IN THE DIRECTION YOU WANT TO GO! I can’t believe how simple is that. The car (life) seems out of control and going it’s way doing it’s own thing. LOOK OVER THERE. You may need to revisit your plans and thoughts but not too much. Just look forward, SAY Forward-thinking things, talk, affirmation, positive speak AND say it out loud!

I can do this. I’m doing this.
I’ll accomplish these three things today. They are…

I’m feeling in control.

I’m being very productive.

I’ve chosen a single task and I’ll work on it for 25 minutes, an hour, or until its done.

It’s so important to adopt a positive mindset when you decide you’re getting unstuck and moving forward with your projects.

 

     2. DO NOT RELECT ON WHAT ISN’T DONE, NOR THE WHY FOR IT NOT BEING DONE.

I personally dislike all those exercises where you spend so much time on reflection. Do NOT mistake me, I think it’s very important and has a place in say your overall planning time, say if you’re going to set up new goals, or it’s the beginning of the quarter or the beginning of the year. REFLECTION HAS A PLACE, but not when you’re jumpstarting thing and trying to make moves. The only pass I’ll give you is if you know right now, some bad behaviors that are going to impede you and you have the skills to resolve it ad deal with it now.

 

     3. WRITE THE TA DA LIST – If you’ve followed my blog for any length of time, you’ve heard me talk about this before. One a article linked here: talks about how The Happiness Project author says to list the things YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED. I don’t care how old they are, last week or back in January. It does not matter! If it’s something you were proud to do, write it down. Try to write about 10 things but go longer if you want. When you take time to visit with the things you HAVE COMPLETED, you can get some momentum and euphoria over that and you might be able to harness that to launch you into action. We are so quick to gloss over our accomplishments, reducing them to nothing but ordinary days. It took you some time, it was a tiny idea and goal at once, and you did it. Write it down before you’re old and gray and you forget about the awesome things you did in this life

 

      4. SET A REWARD FOR ACTION ( I would say set a consequence for inaction but face it, negative reinforcement doesn’t work, does it?)

Recently, I would not let myself buy some frivolous Erin Condrin planner I didn’t need until I put at least 1K in savings. Yes, it’s a game, but dang it, it works. I don’t need half the planner stuff I buy, but it makes me happy and I use it and that’s that, but knowing I also have a milestone I’m trying to reach, the reward system works. It works for children and what are we at times but big children. Set a goal, big or small, set a reward and work toward that so you can get your reward. By the way, there is nothing wrong with this. Whatever folks think, doesn’t matter if your reward is around money, you didn’t go into debt to get something and you didn’t ask anyone to get it for you. What you want to do is all you. Don’t permit yourself to be judged.

 

      5. CLEAR THE CLUTTER, TAKE TIME TO DEAL WITH THE ISSUES AT HAND. The number one reason for some of my own inaction is simple: A sense of overwhelm. Sometimes there are soooo many projects to work on, competing interest they say. Shiny object syndrome they say. I view this state of needing to conquer/complete tasks like those credit card balances that Suze Orman used to tell us about paying off. Choose the one with the smallest balance first. So, choose a small project first or two small projects. Work hard and systematically to complete them and soon, it will be done. Two great things I use to help me focus besides focus music, which sometimes I find annoying, but a timer (like for sprints for writers) I use Tomato-timer.com, and I’ve recently found a new mind mapping tool, called Miro. I’ve shared a picture of my current layout with Miro how crazy it looks below, but I love it so far, and it makes sense to me. I only just started using Miro, but the sticky note, mind map similarity to Post-it notes is always welcome, plus the pretty colors made planning and organizing so much fun. Google Keep has a similar program you can use Sticky-notes with. Plus you want your work to be fun, to look pretty and not boring and mundane. Find some new tools to do that. The same feeling and motivation can also be had with low tech tools, through purchasing a new notebook, pens or writing software, new electronic toys, etc. There is also Trello. I have used Trello boards for some projects but find myself having a hard time keeping it front and center every day.

The brain dump is just a simple, old school way to clear the cobwebs freeing up your brain cells to focus on one thing at a time, and to get things done. When it’s out of your head, slowly you can start to group tasks, finish an actual errand and grocery list, mark things off, and move on with life.

     

       6. SET NEW, BETTER-DETAILED GOALS and REEVALUATE ONLY WHAT’S MANAGEABLE IN THIS UPCOMING and FINAL LAST QUARTER – here again, try not to get bogged down in what’s not been accomplished. IF you do visit your lists and plan to find there are things on it that you want to tackle, write NEW versions of an old thing, however. Chances are it needs fleshing out anyway and may no longer be relevant at all. How can you update the tense of that particular goal? How can you modify it and maybe, it was too large in the first place. Maybe there are small, first steps that need to occur and complete, prior to the original steps you wrote down, and that just might be the reason why it did not get completed.

Try new things, have fun but lets get going again to our normal productive selves.

Here’s a pic of my Miro Board