Staying Productive and Encouraged when you are Self Employed

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It’s an extraordinary thing to know what you want. Learning to leave room for the how and the when is a process. Maybe the continuing shift between I want it now and it’s worth waiting for is what keeps us on our toes.

My hiccup is drifting into my imagination where I may live for oh 2 to 10 hours, taking zero actions for the day. But over thinkers rejoice, I have a new exercise. And you get to make a list!

I make a shortlist of things I would like to accomplish today, this week and this month.  I have a “things to do to pay the rent” list and “working on my life and dreams “ list.

I alternate tackling an item off each list, sometimes they magically can be both.

Remember to put things that improve your health on that list. Taking a long walk in the park or making yourself a healthy breakfast in the morning isn’t paying your rent but it’s needed to keep you going. You are needed for your dream, you’re kind of the key part. Taking care of you should be on the daily list.

Social media is a rabbit hole for me but its also on both lists. I have to be on it every day BUT I can limit my time and increase the quality of that time. Being supportive of your creative friends is important! Liking images that are reposted and have 10K likes already is not. I stopped following anyone that didn’t fall into one of these 3 categories; people I know, accounts I engage with or that inspire me. My feed is so short now, it’s fantastic. I have time to engage with friends and find amazing new people.

Being self-employed will sometimes be all about the dollars and you lose your life. Being introverted and creative will sometimes be all about the dreaming and you lose your house.  BALANCE

For every action I check off the list, I can drift for an hour or so. Maybe I need to dance around the house for a while, take a nap, organize something that’s not important, surf the internet, watch foreign detective dramas, pretend pretend pretend, or eat….again.

Speckling my day with variety has been crazy beneficial. Because let’s be real, I can easily watch an entire season of something that brings no value to my life, eat 5 meals (two of which will be a sunflower seed butter sandwich) and call it a great day. And that’s okay when you need that but it can easily become habit-forming and detached from life. There is lasting joy in pursuing something meaningful to you.

Be not discouraged, the how and the when is a process uniquely your own.