Y’all know I only post original content on here unless I feel like it’s important to share. Take it in ✨
Just saying “I’m/they’re lazy” ends the conversation and does not seek out a solution. Lean in to those negative emotions with gentle curiosity. Breathe. Address your emotions like you’re helping a sad friend. It’s going to be okay.
something is better than nothing. 5 minutes of work are better than zero. Just because you missed something on your schedule doesn’t mean you can’t still work on it, even for 5 minutes. Grow and build on this.
second drafts / reviews can be done after.
Don’t think you are going to do your very best work on the first try. Take the weight of perfectionism off your shoulders.
don’t think about doing it. justdo it as fast as you can.
build on your productivity, not your failures.
If you come from a past of procrastinating and now feel motivated to change and discipline yourself, do NOT try to do everything at once.
if you have a set of different goals to accomplish, begin with the most important one. Wait until the rotine of working for that one settles in (you feel productive and comfortable-ish), and then begin with the next. Repeat.
this way you’ll be building your way up and not juggling everything at the same time, hoping everything works out.
be patient with yourself, you’ll get there!
set smaller deadlines for your goals
have monthly and weekly-ish deadlines
e.g. if you are doing a project, due 22nd Feb, set personal deadlines, like have Introduction written by 2nd Feb, have Methods written by 10th Feb, have project complete by 18th Feb.
take them as seriously as you possibly can, don’t miss out on yourself.
write realistic daily tasks and don’t stop until you finish them. after them you can do whatever you want
on writing realistic daily tasks, the secret is knowing you can only do so much in one day, but trusting you can accomplish everything in the course of any period of time (a week, or 2 weeks or a month, etc.) because you will combine the work from all these different days.
it’s very tempting to write down all the tasks you need to accomplish in one day to just get over with it, but the real deal is you won’t accomplish half of them. You’ll feel very unproductive then, wich leads to demotivation.
spread daily tasks in the time necessary.
have a consistent sleep schedule.
if your mind isn’t ready everything will fall apart.
have one rest day per week where you plan nothing, do whatever you want except studying. this can be harder than you expect!
(don’t forget these are effective only if you actually put them into practice! good luck babes!!)
Everyone has moments when they can’t do anything for their goals but they don’t want to take a break either so let’s see what you could do.
Read about your area of interest. - regardless of what interests you, can find some kind of book, article, blog etc. You can learn new things by reading.
Watch movies. - this is quite relaxing because a movie is usually around an idea/plot so it doesn’t feel overwhelming and you don’t have to focus 100%.
Watch some tutorial on YouTube. - You can always learn something new from others and you just need to watch a video.
Listen to a podcast. - just listen to some tips or stories and do something else, quite passive
Get a piece of paper or agenda and write about your goal. - personally I prefer to do this usually because it motivates me to write why I have certain goals and how I can improve my ideas
Do something different but similar. - For example, if you learn languages but you feel sick and tired of studying, you can go and research how to memorize better. If you draw digitally, you can learn how to animate. Etc. Doing something new can be refreshing.
Make a motivational board, digitally or irl. - save quotes, drawings, images etc. Anything that triggers you to be motivated.
Give yourself feedback for what you did already. - taking a step back and looking at your progress is also productive because you can think how to improve.
Talk to someone you trust. - sometimes, just talking to someone else about your goals can motivate you and also give you new ideas and new goals; that’s why it’s important to have someone you can talk to about your goals and you know they will support you
Think of your past achievements. - this is called the “cookie jar” because you use your emotions to get energy again and just thinking of what you managed to do is enough to feel refreshed.
i think a big thing that disconcerts adults about learning new skills is that learning as an adult means you are very aware of how bad you are at the beginning in a way children aren’t.
i picked up the saxophone when i was 11 and played until i was about 17. by the end of it i was first chair in our highest ensemble, a district honor band player, etc. but at the beginning – and this is important – i was bad. for the first year or so, i had no rhythm, i couldn’t make my tongue line up with my fingers, i was consistently sharp, etc. etc. other kids actually made fun of me for my lack of skill.
but 11 year old me didn’t care. 11 year old me practiced, but she also thought that being able to play the pink panther made her incredible (i shudder in retrospect). i mean, i was aware i wasn’t a master, but my skill level didn’t deter me from wailing out those notes in a way that i’m sure had my band director questioning his career decisions.
right now, i’m trying to pick up the guitar. it’s a very different instrument from the saxophone, and i struggle a lot with things like strumming patterns and barre chords. and sometimes i don’t want to play, because i know i’m bad at guitar. and sometimes i beat myself up when stumbling through a poor acoustic rendition of Everybody Wants to Rule the World because it’s not how i want it to sound. and it’s made even more frustrating because i can navigate the saxophone so smoothly.
but then i remember that i have to think like a kid. i might not be the best at guitar by any stretch of the imagination, but every little bit of progress is still progress.humility is a big part of learning, but if you treat a practice session like your own private concert, it becomes so much more fun, even if you’re bad like i am. when you’re first picking up a skill, whether it be an instrument, or a language, or a fine art, no one is expecting you to be the yo yo ma of that thing. forget about how little you know about the skill and think instead about how much you have to learn – that’s fun! do your best!!
