This is essentially a follow on from my previous post on Task Paralysis — you'll see why that is ironic in a moment. As such, it may seem repetitive, because there is an element of ‘setting up’ that comes with essentially telling you to rest if you need it — with some strategies to help you do that.
With that out of the way, I hope you enjoy it!
Utilising pockets of time
Anybody who knows me (or, frankly, anybody who has read my blogs), all know that I'm a fan of being organised, and making the most of my time. As part of that, it's learning to organise my time with however much ‘empty time’ I do have. Though having said that, being able to fill the time ends up meaning that I'm always doing something and struggle to rest. However, that is not the best note to start on for today's blog post.
You'll be surprised at the pockets of time that you have available once you begin to look for them. Once you streamline your process, and make each and every task as easy as possible to access and complete. Making it easier to complete does not mean something is completed to a lesser standard, it just means that you are better able to access it, so you are better able to complete the task as best as you can.
Setting reminders on your phone
I'd like you to think of this as going from A to B. If you were travelling, you would know where you'd want to go; it would be a matter of working out how you're going to get there. Put into the context of completing a task; it would be realising the scope of the time you do, or don't, have. In my mind, it is best to set several reminders: one that indicates when you need a task or project finished by, and then several others to break down sections of time as to when you are going to continue progressing in completing the task. For example, if you are writing a book and you wanted to put aside twenty minutes to write every day, you might set an alarm for 8 o'clock in the evening, and then set a separate timer for twenty minutes, and just write as much as possible. Twenty minutes is better than nothing, and time soon adds up. Twenty minutes every day for seven days would be seven lots of twenty, equalling one-hundred-and forty minutes. Who knows what you could achieve in that two hours and twenty minutes.
It's worth considering that, if you plan something in advance, then it gives you time to subconsciously mentally prepare for the task at hand. So when you actually come to working towards completing it, your mind already has an idea of the process; exactly how you're going to do it. Initially, this might feel like energy being unnecessarily spent, but it will have a positive effect in the long run. Working out how you are going to use your sections of time then allows you to further plan exactly how you are going to use that time in more detail.
Find even the tiniest bits of joys in the tiniest interactions
This might seem feeble and ridiculous at first, but find any opportunity to find dopamine in what you do. For example, to see on my calendar that I have multiple things booked up and ready to go, fills me with great excitement. The feeling of being prepared boosts me to keep going. (This is not quite the same as feeling exhausted and having too much on my plate; I do find socialising — though enjoyable and necessary — extremely draining).
Consistency will take time
Using writing as an example, someone might want to write 10,000 words in two weeks, and that would then mean that they would need to write just under a thousand words each day. Instead of doing this, they could just sit and write 10,000 words in one day, but there is a problem with that.
Of course you can write the 10,000 words in a day, if you really wanted to, but that may mean that you would need several days of rest and recuperation afterwards — because it is a lot of energy expenditure in a short period of time. However, if you do a small section of just over a thousand words for a period of time — that is more sustainable, and can have a big impact over the long run, Notably, because you're not having to have those implied days of rest — in which you are not necessarily making progress. You can see by aiming for the lower word count and the lower amount in one go, you're building stamina and a pattern of consistency — but you're also making consistent progress. I say this lightly because some people like to make loads of progress in one go, and then have a rest, and then some people like to rumble along and make what progress they can over a period of time. I do appreciate the pressure on yourself to be consistent over a longer period of time can be frustrating — because you know where you want to go — but you're not there yet, and it can be draining. The key here is to not beat yourself up too much about having to take the time in order to complete something to the best of your ability.
Use bullet points
In its simplest fashion, bullet points can truly condense a very complex task. Five bullet points could condense a day’s worth of work. However, I would suggest doing it in several more bullet points to ‘cover a small area of ground’. For example, you might want to do ten bullet points per hour of work you are planning to do. Then you will be able to tick off the bullet points faster — boosting your motivation and perseverance to get the overall task further completed.
Relax
Hopefully now you can see how these strategies can be put in place — and how you would begin to relax into your routine and strategies. And how this can actually give you more energy to tackle the tasks that you have planned. The idea is to show that not everything has to be done in one go. It can be planned so that you get it done in the necessary time, but you're not having to maintain all the information in your head, as well as actually physically and mentally functioning. The stress quickly piles up.
My experience from putting all these strategies together, and honing them to how I work best, is that you will feel an overall sense of achievement and productivity — and you will look towards the future with a sense of hope in everything that you do. You will have a strategy that fits almost every situation to at least some degree, and that in itself will increase the dopamine and happiness that we discussed before.
I also find that planning in this much depth — and with such precision — allows us to realise how much time we do really have. I say this because I like to condense everything down. I think, ‘yes, I can do this in X amount of time’, then I realise that realistically it's going to take longer and I get frustrated with myself. Over time, I have arrived at the place where I can just remind myself that things may or may not take longer than I thought, and that is okay. They will still get done. As I have mentioned before, and in the previous blog post — just because something is not completed, does not mean that it is not being completed. Something being in a state of completion is not a bad thing. What I mean by this is the stereotype of having a five-year plan.
My mind can't comprehend the next five years, because life is very unpredictable, but I like to see what I can do in the next month and so on, and taking it week by week. But at the same time, monitoring what things could look like in the future if I were to continue on this course. Ultimately, though, it is not helpful because it leads me to a state of overwhelm — which then means that I'm not able to continue making progress. Progress is the main thing until you actually complete a task or project.
The irony and confusion of the last few weeks
With all that said, I feel it is important to note the irony of having written this post. I wrote this post over several days — if not several weeks — and during the course of that time I have been feeling overwhelmed with everything that I have on my plate. Wondering if everything is really worth it. It leads me to feeling so overwhelmed that I don't make any progress. At the same time, it is very frustrating that everything in my mind feels governed by the need to be making progress. It is a matter of not putting myself under too much pressure — especially if it is self-imposed. As part of this pressure, it has become very confusing in terms of the direction I want to go in, what I want to achieve — especially with my writing. Questioning whether it's all worth it, or a waste of time or energy. I love writing, and don't think I'll ever stop, despite the highs and lows.
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