Tag: Focus

5 short lessons learned from 750 words

Over the past month I’ve been pretty busy with work and recovering from an operation. However, I’ve managed to keep a daily journal going for 30 days and I’d like to share a few things I think I’ve learned from it.

1. I have something to say

This might be an odd one but when I started writing I thought I’d never be able to reach 750 words or more without really struggling. As I continued, it didn’t feel like I was straining myself to write a lot. Even if a lot of what I wrote wasn’t great, it was still something that could be improved if I wanted to.

2. Writing daily is relaxing

In addition to daily meditation, just sitting down and writing about whatever I want is relaxing. It gives me the chance to slow down my day and just think about what’s happened throughout the day or work on an idea I have. It isn’t demanding and lets me spend time with myself and my thoughts.

3. It helps create ideas 

Since the 750 words are just a brief platform for me to write about anything, it gives me the chance to write about any ideas that I have written down or thought about. When I was writing essays, I would often just think about any arguments I could use and expand on them. Or I would think about general articles that I want to write. Writing my thoughts out makes them a bit clearer and much more likely to actually write about them in full!

4. We can make boring things interesting 

I’ve written about why slippers are interesting. They aren’t. But I made sure they were for my daily words.

5. I can create a habit

This is probably the most important. I managed to stick to something for 30 days and I feel like continuing. It wasn’t that difficult. I realised that I was probably just fearing a situation that didn’t exist. That being: ‘Writing daily would be really difficult and there’s no way I’d have time to keep it up.’

That wasn’t true in the slightest. When you get started, it doesn’t need to be extremely grand. Start small and you’ll find the process much easier.

I’d recommend starting a daily journal. It can be done on 750words but you can use the traditional pen and paper or just a word document. The word count isn’t the main focus. It’s the act of spending time with yourself and writing.

Plus, it’s pretty fun!

Do you keep a journal?

Stop doing so much

Ambition is good because it means that we want to actively improve ourselves and achieve great things.

There’s nothing wrong with this. However, there is a problem with trying to do too much at once.

Is it possible to be too motivated? 

Some self improvement efforts start from struggles with depression and apathy. Others may start from moments of bliss and happiness.

In the context of self improvement, extreme happiness and motivation leads to far too much enthusiasm for a better future. This actually results in a loss of focus and nothing actually being completed.

This issue tends to get ignored more than complete apathy to improvement because it’s mistakenly viewed as a desirable trait. The person who wants to do everything is better than the person who wants to do nothing. 

Start small 

A symptom of this extreme motivation is often having a laundry list of goals that must be completed because they will make you a better person. For me, it was trying to develop in all sorts of areas like art, fitness, writing and education. Not only did I not complete everything I wanted to but I ended the summer with half finished projects. Many that I never ended up touching. If i remember correctly, I only finished one online course.

I didn’t complete anything worthwhile because I didn’t focus my efforts on a single project.

My biggest strides in self development have come from adopting habits so small I couldn’t say no to them. I would focus my efforts on them for a while. When they became routine, I moved onto something else. This stopped me from becoming overloaded with lifestyle changes and never making any substantial progress.

For example, choosing to make my bed everyday was a small enough for me to begin and continue without any strain. This would later develop to keeping my desk and room more organised without thinking about it.

Meditating everyday for five minutes a day was not difficult to start. It later developed to meditating 10 – 15 minutes daily.

Drinking an extra cup of water everyday was a small addition and quickly led me only drinking water throughout the day.

Small steps are easier than big leaps

You don’t need to read 10 books in a week or paint Starry Night in a day in order to be make valuable progress with reading or art.

Focus on one area of your life and break it down into small sections. You’ll put more energy into the project or habit which will make you more likely to succeed. If it’s something you have in mind for the long term, focus on the beginning until it becomes a ‘non-focus’. That being, you no longer need to put as much energy into remaining consistent (which is a habit!) Then you can focus on the tougher parts of the project or goal. Or a completely different one.

If you sprint at the beginning of a marathon while juggling bricks, you’ll be the exhausted runner with a sore foot after ten minutes.

Start small and you’ll end big.