#procrastiantion

[failure-friendly]

How to master ‘the how’

Creative work that's created in stress is never as good as work that's created in ease. We’re not as likely to champion the ‘stress work’, the way we promote the piece with the feel-good-creation-story. So, for creative people who need to self promote to survive (all of us), mastering ‘the how’ is an important lesson to learn. But how? 

When you're on the verge of an anxiety attack thinking about an important project with a looming deadline, advice like 'just relax into it' is pretty futile. Not very practical. How does one relax as if everything is sweet when it ain't? When you're triggered and heightened? Don't say 'focus on breathing'. Conscious breath is a great start but it's not a reality altering cure.

If you're trying to tackle too many things at once and getting overwhelmed in the process, it's been said to do one thing at a time, small steps, laser focus. Monotasking sounds very logical but I find that when I'm truly off balance I need to do two things at a time. I need to work and listen to music. I need to work and dance.  I need to work and eat. I need to work and talk on the phone. I need to work with Married at First Sight on in the background. 

I need a distraction, something that feels low presh, to trick me into approaching the work with the same relaxed energy. Then the thing happens that always happens, I'll accidentally get immersed in the work and without thinking I'll turn down the music, I'll put down the snacks, so I can give the work my full attention. Flow state baby.

Even while I'm writing this I'm doing something else, I'm flicking through some film photos I've recently had developed. At first I was disappointed by how blurry they seemed. Then I realised I was expecting the same crisp focus of the HD camera phone. The grainy 'film look' is the whole reason I used film in the first place - duh! I'm quickly falling in love with the nostalgic look of the photos, and wondered why on earth we need such perfection  in our digital photos anyway? 

Soft focus is magical, whimsical, it lets our brain imagine the details which is fun. It's the same with getting stuff done. Laser focus on one task sounds great but it uses more energy and creates more pressure than a soft focus approach. With soft focus we don't ignore the task at hand, and we don't obsess about it either, we just start from a safe distance, easing in slowly.

It's flirting with the work if you will. Rather than making a b-line for the project, coming immediately into it's personal space with intense unblinking eye contact - be coi, be playful, give it some attention and make it want more. This sounds ridiculous but our brains are weird dopamine craving, challenge loving machines. Play it's game and it will play back. It's a fun one.

Hang loose.

Buzzy 

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[hounds-of-the-fall]

I'm freaking out about everything I have to get done because I dug myself into a very deep hole with procrastination, one that I'm not sure I'll actually be able to get myself out of, and I don't wanna fail; but, it's not something that can be solved by an all-nighter and I can't do a shoddy job with it, and I'm pretty sure I've already disappointed the person I really admire by my lack of progress yet I'm still here eating dinner because people need food and sleep to function even though I'd rather cut both out right now (particularly the latter) and ahhh!!!!

If I get home by 6 pm, then that gives me at least 12 hrs to work before I crash, and I'm gonna try to drink coffee for the second time in my life, and hopefully I can keep up the pace...

[withinthewinds]

Things I'd like

-to learn embroidery -to enjoy exercising -cooking more, and more healthfully -for my mom to be healthy -to write more songs despite how cheesy they are -to finally start a YouTube channel despite hating filming myself. I know it'd be worth it -for you, the one reading this, to be truly happy -to practice gratitude in every moment -to learn the entire Shrek soundtrack on the banjo because what could possibly be worse -a cockatoo. Not now but one day.

[misselizabethp]

When there's a new cute af filter on snapchat 😍🙈🙌🏻😌#snapchat #onfleek #gamestrong #icanteven #whateven #life #procrastiantion #creative #why #idontknow #justbecause #love #wow #adorable #fun #woof #pup #pupper #dog #doggo #howl #puppy #kanine #yass #cuddleme

[bio-brainiac]

Procrastination Cures

1.Get all of your snacks and drinks and things together right at the start so you have no excuses to get up. 2. Think of what you have to do and chose the thing that you want to do the most. Maybe this is gonna be the easiest thing, maybe it’s the thing from your favorite class. This will get your brain in a focused state. (A lot of my procrastination is just that I’m not in the mood, which is the worst) 3. Set up a study music playlist beforehand. (I’ve written about this before, but basically just chose songs without words in your native language) 4. Don’t take breaks unless you’re studying or reading from a textbook. A lot of homework isn’t going to be as mentally draining so you don’t need the breaks to refresh your brain. Don’t reward yourself until you’ve done what you need to for the day! 5. Keep your room clean! This may seem like it has nothing to do with homework, but I’m sure we’ve all had that moment where we’re like “Well I’m cleaning my room and that’s work, so I shouldn’t feel bad about not doing homework”. 6. No matter the quality of your work, feel good about having done it! You can always go back and fix things if you really want, but getting it done is the hardest part. It’s better to turn in something sub-par instead of nothing at all. (It’s like the ACT, answer every question even if you don’t know the answer for sure.) Plus, you can’t ask for help if you don’t know what you don’t understand.

[thatphysicsguy]

I procrastinated way too long this week and now I have so much to do. Why did I wait until now to start algebra???

[duckythedarkone]

Is there such a thing where you procrastinate but with words? Like you have a lot of really important things you want to say but you can’t figure out which one you want to say first so you just say something random or generic that has nothing to do with what you wanted to say and you never say the important things. So like you are sitting there with nothing to say yet everything to say, because this is what I do.

[procrastablr-blog]

For some idiot reason, I though if I drove 200kms to where my parents live, then maybe I would, you know, not #procrastinate......... But then I got here and was like OOO MY PIANO, and OOO MY SISTER!! And OOO NEW SNAPCHAT FILTERS and then I realised that perhaps the whole trip was just a #procrastiantion ploy........