Things I’m Learning [en]

It’s been a long time without writing, amongst other things because of surgery on my right wrist a few months ago. I’m doing good now. And a few pieces of my life puzzle seem to be falling into place.

Here we go, in no particular order (well, maybe a bit).

  • Doing nothing whilst recovering from surgery or illness is not doing nothing, it is recovering – taking care of myself.
  • If a key component to procrastination is anxiety, then reducing my anxiety will help me procrastinate less.
  • Even though my procrastination rarely gets me into very deep trouble, it generates a lot of stress, and I am now more than fed up with spending whole days feeling awful before I actually manage to snap out of it and act.
  • As with many things, the solution is not “understanding” but “doing differently”.
  • Two things I can do to reduce my anxiety around “doing stuff”: create habits and plan ahead.
  • “Self-discipline” doesn’t have to be something we’re capable or not capable of doing. It can be a decision, a choice. “I am going to do this thing today because I decided to do it, to this end.”
  • Creating daily to-do lists with only the things I can guarantee I will do on that given day, rather than what I want to do or feel I should do avoids setting me up for failure and sets a virtuous circle in motion. Even if there is just one thing on my list.
  • Sleeping is something we do to feel good the next day. So going to bed when tired doesn’t have to be “stealing from today”, but “investing in tomorrow”.
  • Me first, then my cats, then other people (family and close friends first).
  • Even if you leave a big mark on the world, you still die and you’re still gone.
  • Fear of death? The ultimate FOMO.

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Also published on Medium.

2 thoughts on “Things I’m Learning [en]”

  1. That underlying pressure to do enough or be enough is so pernicious, and in fact the energy we waste worrying about it could be better used either enjoying looking out of the window or doing something!

  2. Indeed! I’m quite good at “relaxing” even though I have stuff to do, but it’s never with a clear conscience. And what really annoyed me was going from, OK, I really need to pay my bills this week, to realising I’ve been wanting to do them “this week” for the past three weeks, and feeling like I failed all the time. So now my drive for “being organized” and “planning” is not that it’s what you’re supposed to do, or to get out of trouble, or be more productive. It’s to spare myself feeling like that again. So far the shift in mindset seems to be working, and I’m concentrating on consolidating it!

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