I got some advice on how to get shit done a little over four years ago from my therapist. He told me to start small, so small that it’s almost as if you haven’t done anything, but you did do something. I can’t say I scoffed at the advice, I just had my own paradigm. Which was “Imma do big things, all the damn time in huge productive bursts of passion.” Needless to say this did not pan out very well for me.
I started thinking this way when I was a teenager. I was going to write a 200 page book in a few weeks (really, I’m not being honest, I thought I could pull that off in a week, no lie). I could start a weight loss program with no prep and do it perfectly for 12 months to reach my desired goal. I could get all my homework done in a few hours of intense focus and concentration. I tried this tactic to productive living for over two decades. And you’d think I would have learned, but I didn’t. I just kept being unreasonably ambitious and completely over estimating my will power and focus and under estimating just how long it actually takes to complete a project.
Fast forward, the year is 2018 and I’m going to school for massage therapy. “This time I’m going to study in a few hours and get my homework done,” I think to myself. You know the end to that, I was once again very wrong and couldn’t figure out why (it’s been said that I have a thick head, lol). Anywho I’m still with the same therapist and he has yet again offered the advice of starting small after numerous conversations about my motivation and not being able to get anything done.
I relent. Completely. I take the advice and start with a goal of doing something for 15 minutes. I apply this 15 minute rule to exercise, studying, reading, writing, etc. And what do you know? I got shit done with some consistency. Goals actually got met.
Now I didn’t have a deprived childhood. I got taught the right way. I did my homework, school projects, and papers with a ‘little bit here, little bit there” approach. But when I got to college all bets were off. I needed to complete my BA thesis in 14 hours because I would not sit there in my room and work on it for 50 hours or more. I. Would. Not. And so I didn’t. I passed, but that grade was nothing to take back home to your parents, you feel me.
It wasn’t until I had absolutely exhausted all other options for getting work done, that I finally took the advice of my therapist and used the past experience of my childhood to help me in adult hood. Online courses got completed, certifications got done, I graduated massage school, I even lost 10 pounds! All because I did a little at a time and built on that.
I write this and make this very embarrassing public confession because I’m not alone. I know there are lots of us who over estimate and under estimate all the damn time. I write this because I want you to know that a personal revolution is possible. No matter how many times you’ve received the advice, had experiences that should have taught you something but didn’t, all the times you banged your head against the wall, and all the times you practiced straight insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. You can change. Your ‘aha’ moment can and will come. Hold the faith. And also look into the advice you’ve received over the years and see if there’s something you’d like to apply to your life. You could be surprised by the outcome. #selfimprovement #stoppinginsanity #productivity
Santee Blakey is a Life Coach and Licensed Massage Therapist at Soul Growth Wellness. Follow her on Youtube for her series --> Self Acceptance: What It's Really Like (A Journey).
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