The obstacles in our path
Obstacles - what’s been getting in the way?
There are many obstacles that prevent one from creating and I think you can broadly sort them into two categories — practical or emotional. But what happens when they’re both? A simple “no” can be a practical step to take to avoid overcommitting but it comes at an emotional cost. For people pleasers, it doesn’t come easy. Setting boundaries and being clear on our reasons why we say no is so important. While my calendar has been looking and feeling a lot healthier this week in terms of how I’d ideally like it to be, there have nevertheless been quite a few ‘time-sensitive’ events that have crept on to it. My fear is - I say I want to create - but am I living my life with integrity to actually make it happen?
Solutions - what’s been helpful?
Time-blocking - practical
Time-blocking is a concept I first heard about from Cal Newport, but I have also seen it referenced by many other creators since. This has been extremely helpful for me this week as if I see a space on my calendar I usually assume I’m free, but then I wonder why I haven’t had the time to do the things I’ve wanted to. I’ve blocked out recurring time-blocks for my creativity each week. This way I’ve made a commitment to myself to at least set-aside time for creating. Even though I already have something on my calendar, if another thing comes up, I can ideally move the block to another day. The time-block is just my default choice, it doesn’t always have to be what I end up doing.
Colour-coded calendar - practical
In addition to time-blocking I’ve been experimenting with colour-coding my calendar. I learned about this from Noah Kagan. This week I set up the events in my calendar to fit into one of 4 categories. They are: life - admin, appointments, recurring tasks; create - YouTube, writing; grow - exercise, language learning, play - seeing friends, TV shows, phone calls, events out. While this might seems like overkill for some, it’s made it very easy for me to scan through my calendar and ask myself, have a got a good amount of balance? If I see too much of one colour I know something might need to be course-corrected.
Being kind to myself - emotional
Lastly, and probably the hardest for me, has been being firm in saying “no, I’m not free that evening,” or “no, I’m not free until X date.” In Yung Pueblo’s newsletter this week his words on people pleasing called me out!
Are you saying yes to the point where it causes you to feel exhausted and out of balance? People pleasing does not bring security, it actually feeds your anxiety and hurts your long-term priorities. Loving yourself is saying no often and making sure you are properly nourished.
I have realised I stand myself up in favour others far too often which is not conducive to having a healthy relationship with myself!
Output - what have I created?
So I didn’t post anything publicly this week, but I did record, and then re-recorded the same video twice! However, when it came to the editing I just wasn’t happy with the content of the video, something didn’t seem right about its structure so I listened to my gut and decided to not proceed with it. All is not lost though as I think the intro and the theme can be combined with another video idea to make it even stronger. The creative process is nothing but easy and quick!
Reflection - a question for you
A reflection for you - What get’s in your way? And does it tend to be more practical or emotional?