How to create a starting point

I want to talk about procrastination, kind of, but in a different way, how to bounce back from feeling like you've been procrastinating or lazy or that you've wasted any time in your day. Because here's the thing. We have a habit of, as humans say, it's midday, like, oh, well, I haven't studied X, Y and Z, so I'll put it off to tomorrow because I won't have time to finish it today or then before you know it, it's two o'clock.

 

You're like, oh, well, I could have done this other thing, but now I'm going to put it off to the next day and then it's five o'clock. You're like, oh, well, like, I'm not going to do all the other things right. Don't wait till some future moment to start something or do better. You have an opportunity to do better or to start something right now. And I think what we get trapped in with our thinking is that we have to start fresh tomorrow.

 

We can start fresh next week. We can start fresh next month. We're always waiting for that. But delineator, which we've made up arbitrarily in our minds what that is, and just by doing so arbitrarily in our minds, we can choose to start now. I definitely have been the person that, you know, like, oh, wait till, you know, the next set of virtual cycles starts what I'm working with coworking like, oh, well, it doesn't start for like an hour and a half, so I won't start X, Y and Z.

 

There's nothing stopping me from studying X, Y and Z. It's just a form of procrastination or having a start point. Something about us as humans feel the need to have a clean, fresh start point. Now you have the opportunity to wipe the slate clean and begin again. This is easy. If you have a way to mark the transition, you could use mealtimes or other daily rituals to create transitions. For example, you could be like, OK, I'm going to start after breakfast.

 

I'll do this thing after lunch. I'll do that thing after elevenses. I'll do this other thing, whatever it might be. Or you could use physical action as a divider of time. If you need to get a fresh start for your day, get up and go for a walk, do some breathing exercises, meditate. Any of these things can help your brain believe that you were leaving behind a previous state and decisions and then you are starting fresh to make better ones moving forward.

 

There are so many things that you can do in that way. So just think about it doesn't have to be dinnertime or lunchtime or after this meeting, it can really be as simple as. Getting up. Going outside, walking around the block or just walking down the street, coming back and sitting down again, that's your fresh slate. It could be going sitting in a corner for three minutes, centred deep breathing. Meditating a little bit, clearing your mind, stopping coming and starting again, that could be your clean, fresh slate, it could be journaling and a book, getting a book, writing a bunch stuff down, doodling, colouring, stitching, crocheting, doing the laundry, anything it can be used to help your brain reset.

 

And I think it's really important that we learn to do this as humans and not just wait for that arbitrary day in the month or day of the week to start a thing because nothing is worse than not starting something. You don't know what the possibilities are and what could happen once you start this thing. And I am definitely guilty of putting things off. I know from a previous month I was like, I'm not going to do X, Y and Z because I'm waiting for other people to make decisions about A, B and C.

 

Were these decisions linked? Sort of, but not really. It was just an excuse me, procrastinating, maybe me being scared. That's something to think about, is also why you don't want to start this thing that you are putting off, because getting to the root of that might help you also move forward. Well, thank you for listening. This is Janice@thecareerintrovert.com helping you build your brand and get hired. Looking forward to talking to you next week.

 

Have a great rest of your week. If you have any questions that you would like me to answer on the podcast. Email me at Janice@thecareerintrovert.com. Have a great rest of your week.