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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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?