With a million things to do, where do we find the time? Sometimes it can be so easy to just procrastinate, not do your work and keep pushing it back till it's too late. Let's not do that anymore.
5-minute rule - start small. If you've been putting something off for a long time, trying to commit 1 hour to it can be challenging. You can't do a marathon without a warm-up first! Could you set a timer for 5 minutes to do that task? After 5 minutes if you want to continue, go for it; if you don't, that's okay, because at least you've done 5 minutes today, which is better than 0. Tomorrow or later in the day, try to challenge yourself to do 7 minutes this time, then 10, then 15, and you will get into that rhythm.
Eliminate distractions - it's all because of that damn phone đ but seriously, tech and social media can have such a tight grip over our productivity and our attention. If you cannot control your usage, set app timers that lock the app after you use it for a certain amount of time or delete the app. I've been using a minimalist phone launcher called 'OLauncher' that removes all my icons and makes me manually have to type and search for the app. In the time it takes me to search for the app, I get to ask myself, "What am I looking for? Do I need to use it for something specific or do I just want to scroll?"
Schedule properly - note down all your commitments and non-negotiables in an app like Google Calendar and make sure all your big events are displayed there. Some people can fall into the habit of planning every second of their day, but I instead delegate a few tasks to each day and give myself any time within the day to complete them, the important thing being not when I do them, but that I do them in the end.
Write to-do lists - now this doesn't just mean in-app lists, which are very useful. Physically write them out. I use a scrap piece of paper and I write: "Today I WILL..." and then list all the things I want to get done. Having it written down helps me commit to it more and the feeling of ticking it is so satisfying.
Know your WHY - Why are you doing this? Why do you want to be more productive? Why do you want to study more? Always look at the bigger picture. Where do you want to be and how will your productivity help you get there?
Celebrate your wins - whether you completed all the things on your to-do list or just one, be proud of it. Some days, you will feel super motivated and fly through all your tasks, and other days you just want to stay in bed and do nothing. Making an effort is the first step to your success.
No matter whether your goal is to complete a project, get good grades, get into the school of your dreams, or just get your work out of the way so you can focus on other things, tackle it little by little. Just 20 minutes every day for a week is better than trying to do 140 minutes worth of work on the last day.
this post is all about how to process emotions that we are uncomfortable with, safely and positively. Today, Iâd like it if youâd try to implement at least one technique today!
Remember that when you feel an emotion, it is your body communicating itself to you. Listen to your emotion, and understand.
All emotions are temporary, and will pass. But some can leave a more long term effect on us.
Having the skill of sitting through uncomfortable emotions calmly, and not let it impact our lives greatly will serve you well.
STOP TECHNIQUE
S- Stop what youâre doing, pause all activities and shut off your brain.
T- Take a few deep breathes, continue until your focus is only on breathing deeply.
O- Observe your thoughts, your body language, any physical sensations and acknowledge them within you.
P- Proceed with any activity that may help you process this emotion. Meditation, journaling, stretching, talking to someone, etc.
ALL TECHNIQUE
A- Acknowledge, accept and alllow what you feel. Identify what emotion you feel, if you canât, try to associate it with something. Sit in this feeling for awhile and truly accept it within you.
L- Link it to a circumstance or situation that may explain why youâre feeling this way. E.g âI feel so irritated lately, it may be because Iâve been eating sugary foods moreâ
L- Learn what this emotion may be telling you. Thereâs not much detail on this because only you know what your body needs/wants.
SELF EXPRESSION
Draw, write, compose music on what this feeling looks like, sounds like, maybe even their taste. This really helps go deep in your emotions, analyse it and then hopefully process it.
Procrastination happens when we delay doing things, and it's often connected to our emotions. Feelings like being afraid to fail, feeling worried or stressed, getting bored, or lacking motivation can all contribute to procrastination. To stop procrastinating and get more things done, it's important to learn how to handle our emotions better.
Boredom:
Break the task into smaller, more engaging sub-tasks.
Find ways to make the task more interesting or challenging.
Set a timer and work on the task for a specific amount of time, followed by a short break doing something enjoyable.
Feeling Overwhelmed:
Prioritize tasks and focus on one thing at a time.
Break the task into smaller, more manageable steps.
Delegate some parts of the task if possible or seek help from others.
Use tools like to-do lists or task management apps to stay organized.
Anxiety:
Practice deep breathing or mindfulness techniques to calm yourself.
Challenge negative thoughts and replace them with more positive and realistic ones.
Start with the easier or less intimidating aspects of the task to build momentum.
Set realistic expectations and remind yourself that it's okay to make mistakes.
Self-Doubt:
Focus on past accomplishments and successes to boost your confidence.
Seek support or feedback from others to gain reassurance.
Remind yourself of your skills and capabilities to tackle the task.
Use positive affirmations to counteract negative self-talk.
Perfectionism:
Embrace the concept of "good enough" rather than seeking perfection.
Set realistic and achievable goals for each task.
Recognize that mistakes and imperfections are part of the learning process and growth.
Indecisiveness:
Break decisions into smaller steps and make one small decision at a time.
Set a time limit for making decisions to avoid overthinking.
Trust your instincts and make the best decision you can with the information available.
Apathy or Lack of Interest:
Find aspects of the task that align with your values or long-term goals.
Break the task into smaller, more manageable parts and focus on completing one at a time.
Reward yourself for completing the task to make it more appealing.
Stress or Burnout:
Practice stress-reduction techniques such as meditation, exercise, or spending time in nature.
Break tasks into smaller steps to reduce the feeling of overwhelm.
Prioritize self-care and take breaks to avoid burnout.
Feeling Uninspired or Creatively Blocked:
Engage in activities that stimulate creativity, such as brainstorming, mind mapping, or seeking inspiration from others' work.
Start with a simple and basic version of the task to get the creative juices flowing.
Collaborate with others or seek feedback to gain new perspectives.
Fear of Success:
Identify and challenge the negative beliefs or fears that may be holding you back.
Visualize the positive outcomes of completing the task successfully.
Focus on the benefits and personal growth that come with success.
Impatience:
Break long-term goals into smaller milestones to track progress.
Practice mindfulness to stay present and patient throughout the process.
Remind yourself that progress takes time and effort.
Lack of Confidence:
Celebrate your past accomplishments to boost your confidence.
Seek support and encouragement from friends, family, or mentors.
Focus on building specific skills related to the task to increase confidence.
Avoiding Discomfort:
Acknowledge that discomfort is a natural part of growth and improvement.
Break tasks into smaller steps and tackle the more challenging aspects gradually.
Remind yourself of the long-term benefits of facing discomfort.
Overestimating Future Motivation:
Practice discipline and commit to starting tasks even when motivation is low.
Set specific deadlines for tasks to create a sense of urgency.
Establish a routine that includes regular work on the task to build consistency.
unhealthy self development mindset: believing you have to change and become âbetterâ due to low self worth and believing you arenât good enough; creating goals to meet external ideas of âsuccessâ in the hopes others will accept and admire you to give you the self worth youâre missing đ„
healthy self development mindset: taking the steps to improve your mindset, skills, and lifestyle in a way that supports your biggest dreams from a place of self worth because you truly believe you deserve your dream life; developing the image of your dream life based on genuine introspection and desire to live a life of purpose and fulfilment đč
ACKNOWLEDGE THE PAIN AND DAMAGE. Others will try frequently to avoid these feelings and the thought that theyâre hurt or hurting. However, it is a massive roadblock to starting your journey.Â
You have to truly confront yourself. Journal, vent to someone, draw or however you feel is best to truly express how you feel, you do.Â
EXTRACT TRIGGERS. Donât let your physical environment encourage triggers that resurface your hurt self or continue to hurt you. E.g. friends, social media, family, bad habits etc.Â
DAILY REFLECTION. You have to start to confront your feelings and experiences, but I know, itâs scary and we donât want to revisit bad times. Please try to do some self-reflection daily about personal feelings and experiences, as it gets easier when itâs so frequent.Â
ESTABLISH ORDER & ROUTINES. Start putting in good habits in your life and slowly improve your mental and physical well-being. Healing is going to be all over the place and messy. So when we have a routine to fall back on when needed, it just makes us feel better.Â
ACTUAL SELF-CARE. Everything showers and face masks are nice and all, but they are not the only aspects of self-care. Self-care is doing the things that are good for you, disregarding how you currently feel. E.g. cooking and eating a healthy breakfast instead of eating takeout.Â
BE PATIENT AND PERSISTENT. Healing is going to be hard regardless of what hurt you. There will be days when you feel like giving up. However, I encourage you to fight those feelings of hopelessness and continue.Â
REMOVE SHAME FROM YOUR MIND. Another roadblock, it limits you from all the help and lessons you get in life. It isolates you, from everybody else who does care about you and wants to help. Asking for anything is not embarrassing.Â
RECONNECT WITH YOURSELF. Start doing hobbies that you love, learning about things youâve been curious about, and reading books on your favourite topics. Reconnection is so important because it brings emotional and mental prosperity.Â
welcome to a brief guide on prepping for the next year in ur life to be fruitful <333
REFLECT - take the time to look at where u are right now, look at the habits that you've picked up and engrained into ur life, then depending on where u wanna be, decide which habits to keep and which habits to get rid of. make a list if u want a visual representation
start HABIT STACKING. habit stacking is a technique that was mentioned in the book "atomic habits" which i highly highly recommend. so basically the concept behind it is starting a habit that'll trigger a domino effect of positive habits. "a technique where u form new habits by pairing a new desired behavioral change with an already existing behavior you routinely do"
EXAMPLE : in the morning the first thing i do is i brush my teeth, my brain knows that as soon as i've finished brushing my teeth, i'll reach for my head-band and cleanser and begin to wash my face. the action of brushing my teeth created a domino effect because ik that after brushing my teeth -> i wash my face
GOAL SETTING - think about ur dream life, how it feels, looks etc u already know how to manifest, if ur on my blog or around this side of tumblr chances are u probably know about law of assumption and how it works. take some time to learn and apply it so that u can manifest ur dream life. and who you wanna be (build that SELF CONCEPT)
DAY-TO-DAY - make sure that ur prioritizing ur health above all and knowing what will you be doing on the day-to-day basis? what do u want it to be like, what is ur ideal quality of life? think about habits that'd align with it. for example if something u wanna experience in ur day-to-day life is energy in surplus then you'd look at ur habits and think "am i sleeping enough" or "whats my diet look like"
YOUR CIRCLE - take a look at the people that u surround urself with, their characters, their aspirations and habits and if that aligns with the life that u want for urself. for example if ur constantly surrounding urself with someone who is lazy or toxic, you'll subconsciously be influenced by their laziness and toxicity. the saying "you are who u surround urself with" is so true! surround urself with like-minded people or people that you'd want to be with in ur dream life.
some things to practice to improve urself :
self discipline (its like a muscle, the more u exercise it the stronger it becomes)
hydration (drink some water <333)
gratitude
thinking consciously (thinking from the wish fulfilled = ur manifestation coming into fruition)
reading (or listening to audio-books if reading isn't ur cup of tea)
Played handball in p.e (25 mins)
Thursday is my rest day:33
breakfast: yogurt bowl with chia seeds, blueberries, kiwi and coconut
snack: apple, â of a sandwich
lunch: a lottt of fish with broccoli, peas and carrots + œ protein cookie, 2 chocolate brownies
dinner: baked pumpkin, a lot of whipped cream, vanilla protein pudding, greek yogurt, almonds
2 hours of maths tutoring
did some homework
revised for physics test (tomorrow)
read 40 pages!!!!
NOT in the mood kinda skipped important skincare steps
Stress and anger, I have so much to do 24/7 and the work just keeps piling up and I also got into multiple arguments today
Totally NOT happy with myself
Actually allow myself to have chocolate and not eat it while feeling guilty
I hope I do well on the physics test
september is giving main character. i will stand on business this month when it comes to me. i wonât play about me this month because i KNOW iâm HER! i have a magnetic presence even when Iâm not seen. i donât even have to be in the room for my aura to be sensed. people canât help but to luv me. i am everyoneâs dream girl. of a presidential caliber. i set the standard. exclusive, luxurious, high commodity DOLL.
be in the present and notice those little things you never saw before, but that have always been there
experience new exciting things that bring you joy
love people, listen to them and create meaningful connections
make art and donât label it as âgoodâ or âbad,â just let your soul be free
stop scrolling on social media and start turning pages of an interesting book
do mindfulness meditation and feel your body and mind calming down
move your body, no matter how as long as youâre enjoying
listen to music that matches the moment youâre in
eat nourishing food, feel your stomach full without discomfort
get a good night of sleep and feel yourself ready for another day
You are going to STOP scrolling endlessly for self-help and advice content and you are going to STOP and apply the knowledge you have endlessly gained. Obtaining help and advice knowledge is useless if it goes through one ear and comes straight out the other. STOP becoming addicted to the idea of scrolling and scrolling for your problems yet you already have the resources to fix them. A fool is a person who cannot decide to take action despite having access to the information needed to do so.
BREAKING FREE FROM THE SCROLLING CYCLE
Learning and Applying is one thing, but Learning and Staying Stationary is literally brain rot. You're addicted to the idea of change and the end result, but you never take the steps towards discipline with a personal structure to get that result. You keep looking for quick fixes and easy hacks, but life is not a quick fix and no hack can elevate your life from 0% to 100% without visiting the rest of the numbers first.
TAKE A BREAK FROM SCROLLING
Take time away from your usual scrolling and learn to be on your own. Learn your own ways of self-care, learn what works for you and understand what you need, because nobody is the same. Following a millionaire's morning routine will not make you a millionaire. This routine has worked for someone to feel and be productive in the morning and was probably curated over the years to suit their current lifestyle. So, seeing other people's successes and comparing their working ways to your life is unrealistic if you are not in a position to implement them. Going straight from 0% (Being unproductive and procrastinating) to 100% (Being incredibly Productive and in tune with self) will not be sustainable for someone who has not built the discipline and the inner foundations required for it. STOP seeing information online and taking it without ALTERING anything to your personal situation.
STOP ASKING HOW TO AND JUST DO
"How to lose weight, How to become more social, How to do this and that"
Most of these things you ALREADY know the answer to. Everybody knows that to lose weight, you need to burn more than you consume. There is literally no other way, no magic and no secret hack, just that simple fact. I guarantee you know that to become more social you just have to be social. Learn to be comfortable in social situations which will require inner work, but it's not a difficult concept. Most of us know what we need to do, yet we still try to find quick fixes or another way that same message is presented to us differently. We act as if we are improving and developing on our "improvement" journey yet we are just finding coping ways to feel like we are moving, yet we are still in the exact same place as before. I know you know what to do, I know you have researched what you should do and ways you can do it. So why are you not doing it? Why are you still not where you want to be? If you are not where you want to be, then what you're currently doing needs to change. You cannot do the exact same thing you've been doing for years and expect a different outcome. You need to curate a routine suited to your needs that is realistic and achievable to adopt.
LEARNING TO MOVE ON YOUR OWN, STOP DEPENDING ON OTHERS TO FUEL YOUR SUCCESS JOURNEY LISTEN TO: NOBODY IS COMING TO SAVE YOU BY JULIENHIMSELF Make yourself your safe space, your foundation. When you see yourself in the mirror you should be able to tell yourself "I love you", you should be so sure in what you do that nobody else can contradict what you believe in yourself, this is the end goal of self-improvement. Many of us have put aside our goals because we "are not ready", "people may judge us" or "I need to be/achieve ___ to.." Now don't get me wrong, I'm on this journey with you. I write on this blog to teach my brain how to think in the higher mindset that I'm creating for myself. I too have thoughts like this which is why in 2024 we are going to break out of our old selves to make room for our new selves together. We have to lose ourselves to find ourselves. If you're mood and self-worth are controlled by other people's opinions, then you will never advance further with yourself and will remain stationary. You have to stop allowing other people to determine whether you are allowed to pursue your desires or if you shouldn't because of fear of rejection. Don't take life too seriously, we are only here for so much time. So what if people make fun of you? In a few years will you look back and be proud and fulfilled of your past or feel regret and disappointment? LISTEN TO: WHY YOU CARE SO MUCH BY JULIANHIMSELF + LISTEN TO: HOW TO DETACH BY VICKITA TRIVEDI
The only way to get to 0%-100% is by doing.
Embody your potential