When I think of sheer will and determination I often tip my hat to the up & coming artists, designers, entrepreneurs, and athletes. No one knows perseverance like those on the verge of great success.
We all want to be successful and stand in the foreground to be heard because well, we deserve to. But why? The story you will tell is the most inspiring and is the one that needs to be told the most.
Keep reading for some ideas on how to re-motivate yourself and beat the procrastination.
Procrastination is something I’ve been personally struggling with for the last few months (as you can tell by my last post dated in April), I’ve let the whole summer go by without understanding the root cause of this un-motivation that has taken over me and caused me to slow the effort put into my blog, and design work.
Should I blame it on being a new graduate, looking for a career, and feeling over worked and just wanting to take a break? No. I managed to continue writing during the winter while being a full-time intern in IT.
Should I blame it on my lack of blog topics? No. The summer season is full of adventure, life, and inspiration that I can harness at any given moment.
Should I blame it on lack of readership? No. Writing is for the soul and this personal reflection of my ideas and relevant advice topics allow me to have catharsis, even if only 1 person reads it.
The fact of the matter is that the lack of effort put towards my craft and portfolio is a reflection on the lack of effort I put towards myself. Eric Thomas said it best “when you want to succeed as badly as you want to breathe, then you will be successful”. During my time away from writing the hours that slipped by compounded into days, and the days compounded into weeks until 3 full months have gone by without a single post. To Thomas’s point, it’s like I stopped breathing and got comfortable with that living numbness, but now I’m gasping and it’s time to breathe, succeed, and thrive. Everyone has periods of procrastination but how long are you going to allow it to win.
The 3 best things to get you to your goal
#1 The first thing you can do is acknowledge why you have given up. As you just read, I felt like I had given up on myself for sometime but I acknowledged it and decided to use it as fuel for my first step back to taking control.
#2 Organize. A common reason for procrastination is feeling overwhelmed with the volume of work to do so you just don’t know where to begin. Start by dividing up what it is that’s going on in your life and compartmentalize the load into smaller, more manageable tasks. See Below
Blog-Write and edit 1 new post every 1-3 weeks-Engage with other users on wordpress and generate traffic |
Blog Social-Post 3-5 new posts on Instagram to promote the blog-Stockpile content to post as to not waste time designing each one at a time-Create online ad for google, kijiji, facebook about freelance design |
Portfolio-Upload design samples, price lists, and continue to make updates to website-Outreach to other small businesses that may need design work-Generate work of mouth business by speaking confidently about your craft |
#3 Follow Through. Breaking down the load into smaller, more manageable tasks can allow the entire project to be a bit more attainable. You can further flush out these tasks by organizing them into SMART Objectives that include measures of success and timelines. To learn more about smart objectives read, New Years Goal Setting.
Since I’m still coming down from the rush of the Blue Jays game yesterday I will use a baseball analogy: Acknowledging the cause of the laziness is like off-season when day after day you are trying to perfect the swing. You workshop why the ball keeps going foul, how to stand to get that perfect base hit or even just work to ignoring those booing fans in the stands.
Organizing is stepping up to the plate, looking your opponent dead in the eye and visualizing exactly where you want the ball to go. Once you feel confident enough to stand in the ready position and wait for that perfect pitch to come over home base,
You follow through. Control the bat to hit the ball in the sweet spot every time and ignore those screaming fans. Focus on the task at hand and swing with the intent to follow through. No matter the outcome just don’t give up. The repetition and rehearsal will allow you to shine when it really counts. This will be the story you eventually tell on the great day success is standing at your door.
Final thoughts
Every day you put something off is one day fewer without success. Time is valuable and has this crazy ability to pass by slowly while also feeling likes it’s slipping away so quickly. That is why I wrote this post today. That is why it takes bravery, will and determination to move even one step towards success. And it’s also why I will continue to write and push myself to continue working on my craft.
Thanks for reading this urban guide. Enjoy the ride.
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Urban Guide To The Galaxy 
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