Stick To What You Say You Will Do

Hello everyone! We are back for Motivation Monday ♥

Today, we'll be tackling sticking to whatever you plan to do. This is a problem that I have myself. This problem is also one very closely related to consistency.

The solution is quite simple: JUST GET STARTED.

Now, you may be thinking, "But it's too hard," or, "I have no time." Fine then; let's dismember those excuses, since they are the most common.

The level of difficulty something has just requires you to modify the way that you tackle the problem or task at hand. For example, something along the lines of a project will require you to break the major task down into several smaller parts. In the case of a task being to clean your room, you could break that down into sections of the room or mini tasks like "put away clothing" or "place shoes back in boxes" or "file mail". This will make your major tasks much less daunting and much more satisfying as you check off each individual task. A smaller task that would require you to break it down further would be something like "go to the gym" or "check email".

Having or not having time is a matter of organizing your day in a way that lets you have a time for everything that needs to get done. The key words there are organizing and needs. This calls on our skill of prioritizing. I've said it before in some posts, but it only helps to be repetitive: taking up a time management method is the most efficient way to organize your time according to priorities. I have a preference for the Spiraldex method but there are tons of others out there (Tumblr has helped me see that) and they are all just a google search away. You could also develop one that works best for you.

However, these two excuses have the same starting point. JUST GET STARTED. That may mean siting at your desk or at the place where you study. Maybe it means picking up your pen and just beginning to write that article or novel you've been meaning to get to. Perhaps it means opening your textbook and beginning to read. Or, in the case of the room in need of cleaning or tidying up, it may mean that you start by picking up the pair of shoes that have been lying around your bedroom floor. 

I like to write down the tasks I have to do as they come or at the end of the day, when I can write a note to do with each task, if need be. The perfect system for me then is the Bullet Journal.

Here is what my current week looks like:

Finding the tools to make sure you keep track of your progress is probably the most arduous part. However, you don't need a Bullet Journal to get your tasks started. A Bullet Journal can come up later, once you've gotten your practice moving through your tasks at hand. A Bullet Journal is just something to look forward to.

For now, JUST GET STARTED ♥

Don't Let Yourself Mentally Block Yourself

I know some of you will probably read the title and ask, "What the heck?"

To those of us who know exactly what that means, we know it also happens more often than we care to admit; starting with me.

That's why I had to share an amazing experience I had just yesterday, Monday. Which will lead into a big announcement... but first thing's first.

I’m taking a class called Logic & Philosophy and it’s proving to be a major challenge for me especially since it has nothing to do with my career path. Abnormal Psychology has also been a challenge, but I've been able to justify losing nights of sleep over that class because it's within my field of study. However, that is not the case with Logic & Philosophy. 

I have felt myself mentally blocking myself when it comes to this class. I was unable to attend our only two hour session last week (the other hour of the class is composed of online assignments which I have been ACTIVELY and PURPOSEFULLY neglecting). I’m admitting that because it forces me to take any responsibility for any consequence that can come thereafter. So, I walked in to class a little early, I began to settle down... I also began to freak out and panic. I was well aware I was rapidly falling behind and I knew that, to some extent, I was going to be lost. I just felt it.

Truth be told, lost didn’t even begin to encompass the depth of the complete disorientation I was feeling in the first hour of the class. It felt as if the professor was just blabbing a string of words that had absolutely no meaning to me, whatsoever. It was almost as if he was speaking a different language. I could feel the walls closing in on me. I could feel myself willing the walls to block incoming information.

He's speaking too fast. You're recording the class, you may as well check out now and figure it out later. You can't understand him, might as well stop trying to because you're not going to get it now. Don't bother approaching him about your struggles, you're gonna make yourself look like an idiot.

That is the kind of string of thought that was going through my mind throughout the first third of the class. The mind can be your biggest bully as well as your saving grace. I was compelled to follow the rationale of my bully of a mind and just not even try. However, I saw that I had NOTHING TO LOSE in trying. That's important. You can only gain understanding if you feel yourself stuck at zero for whatever reason. You, literally, have nothing to lose. 

Therefore...

I FOUGHT FOR THOSE WALLS TO STAY THE HECK OPEN!

I was not about to check out, especially since the professor kept repeating that the truth tables we were working through were going to be essential to everything else we will be doing in the course.

I willed myself to not block all the negativity out and, instead, try to understand the material; and what-d-ya-know, I got it in the end. The second hour, I could grasp a hell-of-a-lot better what he was saying in the first half of the class. I was even giving him answers. I felt so proud of myself.

This goes to show that you can do it, too, if you really set your mind to success mode and fight back when your mind wants to check out. 

DON’T CHECK OUT BECAUSE THE SATISFACTION YOU FEEL IS LIKE NONE OTHER.

And now on to the huge announcement...

The first Monday of every month, like yesterday, I will be posting a blog post intended to motivate you to get done what you thought you could not. Sometimes, they'll include personal tie-ins and sometimes they won't. Either way, they are assured to give you the extra umph you may have been looking forward to.

So, join me every first Monday of the month to see what's in store :)