Business
How To Stop Procrastinating – 7 Tips
Things are changing pretty dramatically for me at the moment -and i’ve been using that as an excuse to put off all the things I’ve been wanting to do. But today I am calling myself on it – and that my friends in internet land – is the first step. The strange thing is – i’m putting off doing all theses things I love and filling the time with endless hours of Netflix and taking up more little hobbies (I’m currently learning how to speak spanish and speed read). Useful and fun hobbies all the same – but leaving things undone and unfinished has left me feeling negatively about myself and henceforth must stop! This week I have taken action and put the old productivity action plan back into place and I’ve already noticed a massive difference. So without any further ado – here are my top tips to stop procrastinating.
- Get a planner and actually use it daily.
I love to use a physical paper planner with a week to a double page so I can see a snapshot of my week all at once (currently using this sexy Moleskine planner) Also I’m a bit of a stationery geek and love me a good ol’ ergonomic fineliner in a colour that makes me feel good about writing with it. - Make a daily to do list.
Put the name of the day on the top line and write down all the things you want to accomplish that day. You’ll feel better about yourself once you start physically ticking things off the list. Make sure you put things on there that you will realistically be able to accomplish on that day – you don’t want to overwhelm yourself. However, if you miss a few things just move them on to the next day and try to remain focused on what you have achieved rather than what you haven’t. - Set a time to get shit done.
Tell yourself “I’ll just do this for 15 minutes” remove all distractions and go hard at your list for that whole time. Most likely you’ll get into a groove and not want to stop at the end of your allotted time. - Don’t work where you sleep/watch TV.
Okay – so sometimes you don’t really have a choice. But if you’re lying on the couch in full Netflix mode trying to finish writing an article. Chances are you’ll be ever so tempted to have a “little break” that will inevitably turn in to you binge-watching your latest TV show of choice or having a rather lengthy nap. If you’re able to – create yourself a work space and leave the distractions away from that space. I have a no phone on the desk policy for myself. It helps me to stop endlessly scroll instagram and actually focus on the task at hand. - Realise that perfection is impossible.
Don’t put things off until next year when the timing is better ; don’t hold your work back from the world because you think you can do better. Nothing is ever absolutely perfect and as I’ve said time and time again – we are our own harshest critics. No matter what you do with yourself you would definitely progressed from what you were doing when you first started. I look back at my first articles and cringe at some of the things I wrote – but it shows progress and development. You’ll never get any better if you don’t keep on keeping on. Get back on the goddamn horse and be proud of your work and it’s imperfections. It means you’re doing something and you’re brave enough to share it with the world. You can always revisit old ideas once you’ve developed your skills further – but the important thing is to just do it. - Make yourself accountable.
Find your motivator, reward yourself for small victories and celebrate the big ones. If you’re still struggling chat to a friend and get them to check up on your progress from time to time. I use this system for longer term projects to help keep me focused. It’s also helpful to have someone to chat it out with when you get stuck or start to loose your inspiration. Good friends make great ass kickers. - Create a vision board.
Collate pictures and poems and post it notes – anything that inspires you and put it somewhere you look at every day. Keep your vision board of a reminder to why you’re working so hard. It will help keep you motivated and inspired and that my dear friends is half the battle.
Hope you’re all bossing your lives and staying true to your paths.
Big love as always, JW x
Tweet me @jessicaswander or see what I’m up to on instagram @jessicaswanderlust
Settling in to London life
As of today I’ve been in England for 45 days.
I’ve been up to York and walked along the walls, seen York Minster, Walked up on the North Yorkshire Moors, been to lots of pubs, been welcomed in to people’s homes to spend Christmas and New Years. I’ve been driven through old towns, slept the night in a dilapidated manor in the name of art, wandered the streets of London, partied till dawn and practiced yoga with one of my idols and made lots of new friends…
Needless to say its been a wicked time.
But now I’m ready to get settled in to living and working in London. The whole reason I decided to move here was because I just wanted to change the focus of my life to what I wanted rather that the life I was leading previously which was wholly focused on what other people wanted. That might sound a little selfish but I know that changing my life focus to be on what makes me happy I will then be in a position to actually help others more.
So now the challenge has been finding something that I want to do and finding someone who will give me the opportunity to do it. My work experience has been mostly in Finance Administration and not much else but I’m hopeful that the right opportunity will come along.
I feel like I am exactly where I need to be right now. I love London. I love my new friends. I love my old friends who have settled here and I love getting to know my cousins. Now is the time to get settled in, put my backpack away and create the life that I think I deserve…
Now back to finding the perfect flat…
Jessica xx
I Don’t want to Party Party
Ugh, I’ve been partying way too hard recently. I’m absolutely exhausted! My rubber arm has gotten the better of me and I’ve been a super busy bumble bee buzzing about and getting stuff done.
Not that it’s a bad thing at all. I just have so much going on at the moment. Mostly for super sneaky exciting reasons that I’m unable to share at the moment but thats a story for another time.
All the drinking, dancing, dinners, photo-shoots, business meetings along with my full time job have just taken their toll. I’ve not had time to do all the things that I want to do and I’ve not been my usual bubbly self for the past two weeks and I don’t like it. But i’ve learnt a valuable lesson and that lesson is BALANCE.
Take last week for example. I had something on every single day after work. I averaged 5 hours sleep a night and was up and ready to go at 6am the next morning. By the time it got to Friday night when I was celebrating the departure of one of my lovely friends from work with a few drinks… two champagnes down i was wasted! This threw me a little bit but then later I realised that I had been so busy that day and durning lunch trying to work on everything else that I had actually forgotten to eat. This inevitably resolved in me being way too sauced to function, some reasonably serious phone conversations that shouldn’t have been had in the state that I was in, and feeling like a space cadet in the morning followed by a slightly awkward breakfast with a lovely human I’ve been spending some time with and his friends who also seem equally lovely….
**face-palm**
I’m still working out the finer details of the balance thing but I know I need to organise myself better and give myself an afternoon off from time to time. Being ‘on’ all the time is really exhausting. Starting today I’m writing myself an action list for the week and I’m sticking to it. I’m not going to try to do everything all at once like I have been doing because to be honest thats just silly and I will probably pass out if I do another week of this. I will also allow myself time to actually do the things that I want to do too.
Today I’ve taken a day off work to rest up, so if you need me I’ll be having a little lie in,
Jess. x
One Night Stand – Keeping Sleep off the streets
Link Posted on Updated on
One Night stand is a profit for purpose sleepwear company. Every time you purchase some super rad sleepwear the profits go straight into projects to help out those who are sleeping rough.
Oh how I wish there were more people in the world like founder of One Night Stand Jamie Green.
I was lucky enough to sit down with him recently for a coffee and a chat about business, life and everything else. What stood out for me was his genuine caring nature and his dedication to making a change in the world.
Everything about One Night Stand is just wonderful. With a huge focus on sustainability and social consciousness every detail seems to be thought of. Everything is made in Australia, they use organic fabrics and even bank with community banks.
Please help support the incredible things they are doing by clicking the link below and voting for One Night Stand in the Bank of Melbourne “the Local project” it only takes a few seconds and you’ll be doing your little bit to help change the world.
Dream sweet,
Jess.
VOTE FOR ONE NIGHT STAND HERE
https://www.facebook.com/BankofMelbourne?sk=app_569581529775133&app_data
VISIT THEIR WEBSITE
http://www.onenightstandsleepwear.com/
Goal Setting
We’ve all heard the phrase “failing to plan is planning to fail” before and we all plan things every day, whether it’s what to do with our weekends, a holiday, a business plan etc…
Too often we don’t have a plan for our lives. This then can result in feeling stuck in monotony and dreaming of more. That is why it’s so important to set ourself goals that we can work towards.
“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things” – Albert Einstein
This is the model I use to set goals and I’ve found it to be really effective.
- Find yourself a goal buddy. This can be anyone! maybe a friend, a family member, a partner, a colleague. Just make sure it’s someone who you’re happy to share your inner most desires with. This is a great thing to do in a group if possible, but most importantly it’s someone to keep you accountable for what you set out to do.
- Make a list of things you love doing, things that are important to you (you’re highest values) and just keep writing. write about what you’re ideal life looks like, the kind of people you want in that life, businesses you want to start, the adventures you’ll go on, causes you’ll support, how you’ll contribute to the world and anything else you want to achieve. Get clear with your vision, have fun with it and let it all flow out! Read over it and imagine what it would feel like to achieve all you’ve written.
- Once you’re familiar with what you’ve written and you’ve connected with the feelings associated with that break them down into smaller achievable goals with attached dates, start with what you want to have achieved in 3 months, move on to 6 months, 1 year, 3 years and then make sure you dream big and set yourself 10 year goals.
- Make sure you write these down somewhere you can see them every day, you can write them on a business card and carry that with you, stick them up on your mirror or next to your bed, I keep a copy of mine on my desktop, on my mirror and on my vision board next to my bed.
- Set a clear reminder in your calendar after 3 months is up and review on what you’ve achieved, call up your goal buddy and share with them how far you’ve come. See how your tracking on your 6 month goals and refresh your other goals. Once we start to see what we can achieve in just three months your dreams get bigger and better, keep adding to them and re-connect with your vision. This is how big things are achieved.
If you don’t achieve your goals in your set time frame don’t worry about it. Some things can take a little more time than expected. By taking steps towards achieving these we get a great feeling of achievement and a new vigour for life.
“Glory lies in the attempt to reach one’s goal and not in reaching it” – Mahatma Gandhi
Good luck with your goals, I wish you all the best. I’d love to hear from you so please comment.
Jessica. xxx
Jessica's Wanderlust 