Formulas to help Work, Rest & Play – Part 2
So carrying on from my previous post – Formulas to help work, rest and play – part 1 here are some more things i do to help myself along and keep on track that i need to remind myself of everyday.
5. Exercise!
i know, i know, everyone knows it, its pretty basic, do i always do it? No!
I have to force myself to do it, but when i do i feel much better, in my mind and body. Its EXTREMELY hard for me to make time to exercise, for me generally it involves taking time with the family for a walk along the beach, kicking the ball around, even just walking the kids to kindy and if i can get time for my 10minute pilates workout i do it! For me its just as much about clearing my mind and being better able to handle stress better during my day, feeling relaxed as i am working. If i can wear my boys out during the process so i have more quiet time later on, even better!
6. Focus & tying up loose ends
This is a hard one for me, often, in both business and creatively one can easily get caught up with minute we doing one thing, hearing about or having an idea for something else – going off and doing that other task without really finishing the first, before I know it there are alots of unfinished tasks with nothing ever completed.
Which I have since discovered is REALLY bad.
How can you feel good about achieving something if nothing is ever achieved ?
Its bad for self confidence, for stress (stressed out about all the things i have to do, for commitment how can you take anything else on if you have lots of stuff still to do?
It’s also bad because in this ever changing world of instant gratification, we tend to want things and we want them NOW. We get frustrated when things arent working the way we want and we lose the ability to work at something long term and we are constantly moving but sometimes not actually moving towards anything just making do being busy.
So for me its about being focused on jobs / goals i am working on. I dont do well on long term projects but instead of being overwhelmed at how long something is taking me to do, i remember the fact that i am working towards a longterm goal remind myself of the goal, and not get caught up in the fact that i cant dedicated a whole bunch of time to get something ticked off the list –
“Do a little bit often”
and celebrate in the fact that i was able to achieve a bit on that project at any given time. My reward is my goal so i am working towards it! Thats my theory anyway.
7. Don’t compromise on my Dream.
In relation to the previous point, its very easy to keep adding things to your list of things to do without really focusing on what your biggest goal is. Knowing what you want to achieve and making sure that ALOT of what you are doing is helping you towards your dream is a big MUST i think for happiness, and if i am happy i am also better at doing all the stuff i need to do.
A question i often ask myself is,
Do i really need to be doing this ?
Will this help me towards my dream ?
Sometimes there are things we just have to do, there is no work around for it, but its often good when your working out your priorities to analyse just what I am spending my time on, if its something that is not related to my dream i can question it and/or put it aside. Even if i do say 20mins on something towards my dream and the rest of my day is spent on other less exciting tasks, i feel better doing them, i feel like i am moving forward. I am much more pleasant to be around, i attack my work better, i am actually more productive. That little reward has a big payoff.
8. Music
Music is something i have recently rediscovered, i listened along as a teenager, but kinda just drifted away in the latter years. Music seems to quieten my mind, i seem to be able to focus more, and being along alot while i am working it helps to also not feel as isolated. Now its a must when working on something creative!
Part three on its way, stay tuned!
Tags: Art Business, Inspiration, life
