DISTRACTION LEADS TO PROCRASTINATION
II have come into the awareness that I am easily distracted. In the past, I could see and understand why. I had legitimate excuses to do anything I could to keep my mind occupied, and that included avoiding a job I hated, keeping busy so that my surroundings felt less harsh and having health issues rendering me disabled. But now, and after a lot of hard work, sweat, time, money and lessonslearned, I am finally at the point in my life where I am exactly where I want to be. I have my own business. Writing is my passion and love and I am able to freelance
and I am getting a book together.
My son is nearly grown and is very independent so the challenge of having to entertain him is no longer there. I have been married over a decade and we are at the stage where work is no longer needing to be done all the time on the relationship. But, even though I have worked hard to get here and I LOVE what I do, one word comes to mind that I must work on:
PROCRASTINATION
Now, I am of the firm believe that you cannot rush inspiration. I know that if I donot feel creative at a moment, I do not need to attempt to write, draw or design anything because I know the job will not be done to the best of my ability. BUT My to-do lists are filled daily with things I absolutely WANT to do, there are still days, hours, weeks that I stare into space and fill my time doing other things (yesstill creative work, just not what I need at that moment.) AND I have learned inspiration has to find you with the faucet running to give you water.
REALIZATION
I know there are other people out there who suffer from this. Important to notehowever, is just because you love something, does not mean there are days when you just are not going to feel like doing anything. Take a step back, take abreak and return to it when you are able. This also goes back to the fact that often, I find myself thinking, “I SHOULD do this”, “This HAS to be done,” and
other voices. The basic principle here is that we impose these ideals on ourselves.
For me, the dates of when things need to be turned in and prepared is what I go by and other than that, I do not put that undo pressure on myself to write every day and make everything I write a masterpiece. It does not work
that way.
ADMISSION
I realized as I looked around, all I could see for my hard work and time-consuming days was all of this gathering I had done.Inspirations, pictures, books, new websites to eventually read and the collections of scrap pieces of paper for the “next big thing”. Then, Spirit visited me and reminded me of a quote that really put me in my place and created an excitement in me and I had what I call a “light bulb moment!
INSPIRATION
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and starting on the first one.” (Mark Twain)
RESOLUTION
I came up with a mini-ritual to assist on those days when it seems I am not producing as much as I believe I could be. I hope this can help anyone who can relate to this issue. All you need is some incense or a sage bundle for smudging. Or even a candle where you just use the smoke or even a candle where you just use the smoke or the flame.
Thoughts Worth Catching