Work on stuff
For most of my teenage and adult life, I’ve been told what to do. In school, my parents decided what extra curricular actives I should partake in, what subjects I studied, and who I hung out with after school.
Although they didn’t say it, my parents expected me to be working on ‘productive’ activities all of the time, leaving me no room to do the stuff that I wanted to do. Example: if they randomly came to check on me in my room at 9pm and I was listening to music, I’d secretly get judged that I wasn’t revising maths or something.
I don’t live with my parents anymore, but that feeling of judgement still lingers, and I find that I beat myself up if I’m doing anything other than being ‘productive’ (whatever that means). It also doesn’t help that anytime I did work on a project that I was interested in, they would be extremely disappointed when I would quit (like when I made a decision to quit swimming after 10 years - I hated it!).
This left me in a state of not wanting to try anything because I felt like it was a ‘waste of time’, and even if I started a project and didn’t like it and quit, I’d consider it to be a ‘failure’ and ‘extremely disappointing’. But this isn’t a healthy way to live.
So what I’ve decided to instead is to dive headfirst into a new project before the voice in the back of my head prevents me from taking action. And that’s exactly what I’ve been doing for the past 2 months!
The biggest benefit I found with continually working on stuff is the momentum I build up – it basically crushes my procrastination. The one thing that I procrastinate most on is writing cover letters. Writing a 500-word cover letter is tedious and scary, so I usually have to force myself to stay in the seat to write it.
But in my experience, forcing myself to do a something that I really don’t feel like doing doesn’t achieve anything. I usually put it off by either staring out the window or by watching YouTube videos.
So what I do nowadays is instead of forcing myself to do work that I don’t feel like doing, I just work on stuff that I actually feel like working on. I’ll go off and spend a bit of time redesigning my website, or edit a bit of a podcast episode.
The momentum I would have lost by watching YouTube videos has now been transferred to working on stuff. And that momentum usually gives me the energy I need to overcome the friction of starting to write the cover letter. My hypothesis for this is: Procrastination is a fear of starting. Momentum bypasses that fear because you’re already moving. Refer to Newton’s first law.
I also find that ideas come to me easier too. I think the momentum keeps my subconscious active and looks at things in a different perspective. To catch all of these ideas, I keep a folder in my notes app that houses all of my active projects (I’ll write a detailed blog about my organisation system in a future post) and add notes to the respective folder as they come to mind.
Hopefully I’ve inspired you enough to start working on your own projects. Below is a list of the things I’m working on now (you can check out my website for updated content). But remember, the most important thing is to start before your brain starts overthinking.
Job Applications
My main goal for this year is to get a job in London, so naturally, most of my time is spent on that; applying to jobs, tweaking my CV, writing cover letters, and cold emailing hiring managers. I do this every weekday for a couple of hours without fail.
Podcast
My friend Jonny and I record a weekly podcast called the Habit Hackers. We talk about our journey and learnings from life. We share our learnings in the form of ‘hacks’: Actionable advice that listeners can implement easily and quickly into their life.
Blog Website Redesign
I’ve been learning how to use Figma and Wordpress to design a new look for the blog. I’ve never been too happy with the layouts on Squarespace and Wix.
YouTube Video
I’m making a video about the London Underground and the fact that it’s way too loud for human ears.
Kickstarter Project
I’m working with a friend to get funding for a product I designed in university to help people sleep better.
Blog
And of course, this blog.
There’s a quote that summaries my thoughts on procrastinating and overthinking that comes from Ryan Holiday:
“Let the news come when it does. Be too busy working to care.”
Agreed. How will you have the time to overthink when you’re busy making stuff?