A Creative’s Journey : Week 3
Mired in the Minutiae
This week I’ve been furiously trying to get through tedious work. Non-paying work. I’ve been purging backlogged stuff that’s been sitting on my desktop, post-it reminders I’ve had up for 6+ months, papers that are stacked on my desk. As a creative, its great to get all these awesome ideas in my head and make plans to put to action BUT at some point it’s too much. It’s crippling. I mean, look at this picture. Seriously. The clutter is distracting me from getting my real work done. It’s paralyzing me. There are so many ideas, so much to do, that I look at my desk and don’t know where to start. Do any of you feel this way?
So I’m spending a few days reviewing my notes and deciding if they’re actionable and worth looking into. Do they fit into the goals I have set this year? If not, I’m either purging them or jotting the ideas down on my Trello To-Do list for a future look down the road.
Along these same lines, I’m purging a lot of stuff from my Desktop. Look at this. It’s embarrassing! How can I get anything done? And guess how many browser windows I have open? Any guesses? I have 13 open. About half are personal things – parenting articles, vacation references and ticket outlets. The other half are work pages – tutorials, reference articles, SEO, retail, my blog, this blog, and not one but TWO online courses. It’s too much. So anything that isn’t related to my to-do list for the week or the near future or not related to my 2017 goals, I am closing or bookmarking for later.
This goes for everything on my Desktop, too, including emails. I have 329 unread emails, bookmarked to read later. I’m stuck in the minutiae. Too much distracting me from getting my work done. I have vowed not to buy another online course until I’ve gotten through the three I bought last year.
So join me in clearing out your work space! Set yourself free so you can get your paying work done and stick to a schedule that will propel you forward, not paralyze you! I’d love to hear your de-cluttering story so feel free to tag #acreativesjourney.
Now for this weeks’ scoreboard:
- How was I brave this week: I set up a meeting with a podcaster who wants to collaborate with me. ME?! I automatically think, what the hell do I have to contribute or say? But then I stopped those voices because I knew it was mostly fear talking, and I set up the appointment.
- How was I kind this week: We are helping take care of a friend’s daughter who’s Uncle passed away. The struggle is real when having to skip out of down to meet with family and attend a funeral when your spouse works long hours or is traveling. Believe me, I’ve been there.
- How did I fail this week: How did I fail? Hmmm, I don’t think I was brave enough or honestly worked enough this week to fail. The kids had no school Wednesday so we went skiing, then Isaac was sick Thursday and today. So I guess my fail was not setting aside enough hours to actually work. This week was a crapshoot for me.
What about you?
Kim Hildebrand
Photographer & Online Educator since 2007
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