mixedupworld

I found that it is incredibly easy to get stuck into ruts in everyday life, especially if you get into the “passenger of life” mentality. Having to keep one eye on expectations / long term goals and another on short term goals is extremely tiring, so a feeling of helplessness can be understood.

To a point.

A lesson in life that I have never fully learnt is that if you repeatedly do the same thing you get the same results which bred a high level of frustration within me. Because my mindset was focused on two things:

Expectations / Long term goals: Get the business to where I want it to be, live a more balanced life and work out where I want to go.

Short term goals: Get that email out, plan this, do that, write this down etc etc etc

So the short term goals were a flurry of things to do, things that had to be done in order for the long term goals to be achieved. The short term goals weren’t being done at the rate that I wanted them to be done at. So you can probably guess what happens next.

The overwhelmed / swamped feeling takes over. You look at yourself in the mirror and think “if I was more efficient then I wouldn’t have these problems” and it spirals down from there. Worse yet it does nothing to get you in the right direction, actually you go nowhere like a hamster in a wheel.

In life getting complacent is easy but noticing it is difficult. It is extremely easy to think that “hey I am doing as much as I can and I just can’t do it” and be done. And I did, for the hours that I worked I felt like I was stuck (think of that hamster again).

The frustrating part is that I didn’t do much to try and change it. No attempts were made to really shake up my daily routine, I know that I should sleep more, get out of work more and live a little.

So I did a couple of things differently last week to try and shake things up:

I Stopped watching TV: This included DVDs and recordings and for the most part it was quite successful, as I managed to read more and had more time to relax. I have started watching TV again but I found myself watching the programs I really want to watch and stopping rather than channel surfing. All in all this was a success and saves me a few hours a night.

I changed my working hours: So I changed from my regular 9-5 work hours to new 6-3 work hours. Waking up is tough (at 5:15 in the morning) and I am slower at getting ready but the rest of it has been good. The drive to work is quiet and there are hardly any cars on the road. Productivity is up because I don’t have phone calls to disturb me and I found that I worked better in the mornings (I get into a lull and lose concentration after lunch). I now have afternoons free to pursue personal goals and I can get stuck into some side-projects for work that I never thought I had the time to do.

Final Thoughts
I’m not sure what this will do in the long term but things are pretty good right now. Yes there are many more things I need to do but for now the feeling of progress is enough.

Loading mentions Retweet

I don't think of myself as a very competitive person but I have found recently that I can really get into the spirit of competition rather easily.

Whether it be over things that matter like work or things that don't matter as much like people I have found that I am a lot less conservative and willing to push things a bit to see the outcome.

Maybe it is the gamblers adrenalin.

Loading mentions Retweet

Soft purple Paul Smith wallety goodness.

Loading mentions Retweet

I find it fascinating when I have unexpected reactions to things, even more so when the aftermath emotionally paralysed me for a few hours (I slept on it and woke up fine).

Though I haven't known this person for long (relatively speaking) the fact that I can't quite work out what I really think of her makes her a fascinating subject into my personal psyche. She makes no sense to me at all on any level.

While having dinner with my friend Kirsty I speculated that life would be much easier if I decided to just "think like a jerk".

To formalise it a bit more, I do wonder if I can come up with a formalised process of dealing with emotional distractions.

Like an Emotional Detachment Process.

1) Provocation
2) Acknowledgement of negative emotions
3) Rationalise / Process the situation
4) Detach and move on

Loading mentions Retweet

It is funny how the universe works sometimes, yesterday I wasn't sure what I really wanted out of everything. Slightly floaty, slightly lost but nothing major to worry about (hey it happens).

Today there was a possibility that there was at least one thing I wanted personally. But I am losing it.

My buying ways have taken a back seat too. Bought one whole thing so far. I would love to say that I had a major eureka moment but really I have just lost it. Either temporarily or permanently, who knows?

Loading mentions Retweet