by Sarah Blinco | Feb 3, 2014 | Creative travel experiences
As a follow up to yesterday’s musings on lack of motivation, I decided to take action, and am excited to say I feel back on track. I didn’t this morning however, but following these steps, I’ve been humming along nicely.
1. One piece of advice I mentioned I’d read about on how to get motivated now, was to do something first thing that inspires towards your goal.
With that in mind, I listened to a webinar re-play on “being productive” by the lovely Melanie Duncan. In it she shares her top 10 tools that will make you ten times more productive in less than a week.
Hopefully you can listen to it HERE, but if that link is expired, sign up for her mailing list at melanieduncan.com and I’m sure there’ll be another opportunity for you to learn with her soon.
2. Geared up following an hour on “productivity”, I thought it was important to take heed of one of Melanie’s key messages on ‘focus’, so decided to dedicate twenty minutes to getting my head in order.
This really helped:
3. One of the tools Melanie mentioned in her webinar is Focus @ Will which captured my interest because it blends music with neuroscience studies, and promises to deliver tracks that increase attention span by up to 400%! So important when you have to spend your day writing… and focussed (sometimes really hard!). I’m presently trialling it – so far so good. It’s quite classical, but apparently that’s conducive to concentration and productivity, so I’ll stick with it.
Do you have a comment, suggestion or advice? Please do share in the comments or drop me a line on Facebook or Twitter.
Sarah Blinco
by Sarah Blinco | Feb 2, 2014 | Being a digital nomad and working abroad, Travel blogger destinations
I’ve been finding it difficult to get started lately. It’s unusual for me, but this does happen on occasion. Like many of you, I work for myself, I’m really busy and my to-do list is always extensive.
Each day it includes a merry mix of all the elements I’m meant to include in life – fitness, nutrition, meditation, keeping an eye on my goals, managing clients, calling my mum, caring for the dog, paying my bills and writing. Lots of writing for work! Usually it’s because I have so much to do that I speed through things in an attempt to get everything done, but this past week or so I just can’t seem to find the motivation to conquer it. I skip out on going to Pilates, emails are driving me insane so I often procrastinate on them, and same with many of my social media tasks. I end up stuck on mundane tasks that I don’t have to think much about, but I’m left in the evening with either a lack of excitement about the day that’s just been, or I’ve not ticked off much of my to-do list.
I don’t like either situation, and neither is ‘me’. I am usually very good at time management – if I could just keep from feeling fuzzy headed and lacking enthusiasm! I’m also at a point in my business where I’m working a LOT but I’m working at bringing in new clients and money, working on the business, pitching etc. Consequently I’m working all the time but for little financial return. I don’t mind this, but I think it’s potentially getting me down a bit. Can you relate?
I’ve identified:
1. I reckon I’m lacking in support and contact with others, and therefore am left floundering on my own for most of the day.
2. My list of things to do is too big, and I’m getting overwhelmed, and therefore instead of starting, I’m struggling with where to start.
3. I’m also quite tired so potentially something health-wise I need to rectify.
I bet I’m not alone on this front though. Does anyone understand how I feel? Do you have any advice?
I’ve taken a step toward my goal of building my online business and also digital networking by signing up to a 30 day blogging challenge with the Simple Blogging Network. I hope that by doing this I’ll be pushed along to blog more/regularly but with the bonus of receiving engagement and feedback, and also the opportunity to interact with others.
I’ve also done a bit of Sunday afternoon reading about getting motivated when you’re struggling, and have discovered a couple of interesting articles. One is a couple of years old, but really helpful, 16 Ways to Get Motivated When You’re In a Slump, by Loe Babauta. From this piece I gleaned that I am probably focussing on too many things, although, it’s hard to narrow that down when the items on my list to follow up on each day are about building the business and hopefully bringing in dollars.
And in amongst that, I need to fit in health and fitness time which is an important goal to me at the moment too (but often put on the back burner if I’m ‘behind’ with work). Nevertheless, perhaps narrowing my goals is something I need to address sooner rather than later, so I’m working towards a more defined ‘something’ rather than a whole heap of things.
From these one or two narrowed goals, I liked his suggestion of looking for something each day to inspire towards those goals, for example, if fitness is important, or even a goal of ‘getting motivated’ is critical, then reading something about these things in the morning to get fired up about it is a good idea.
Another feature I enjoyed was this one from The Huffington Post by James Clear, with particular reference to exercise, but I think the tips apply to many situations. He discusses the “pre game routine” that’s “so easy you can’t say no”. It’s kind of like taking baby steps towards getting going, and creating a routine so that the day – or what I’m meant to be getting into each morning – is shuffled into motion without a hitch. So, perhaps my pre-blogging routine is to settle in with a cuppa and just write for 15 minutes…
Anyway, food for thought, and I at least feel a little better about being proactive about solving this issue. Who knows, maybe with Monday morning tomorrow I’ll be back on board. Feedback and comments always welcome though.
Sarah Blinco
