Snowflake Challenge #4

[merydian]

Since this is the start of a new year, this challenge will be to set your own goals! Of course we can all make large or ambitious goals, remember that small and/or short goals are also good! 

This is a really good one!

My biggest hurdle right now is motivation and productivity. I am in the adjustment period for some new medication that I think is helping me a bit, but I still need better self discipline about it all. I need to actually do things when I'm going to say I will so I can have free time that isn't underlined by guilt, which makes it ineffective free time and cycles me into burnout.

I also really want to be able to create more this year! Part of my constant procrastination issues is that I don't really treat the time I'm procrastinating in as free time, so I don't make anything. Then I finish my obligations too late in the day to do anything else besides sleep right after. 

So tying those together, I need a better schedule for myself and I need to stick to it, which is hard because I do determine almost my entire schedule! I just don't take that as seriously as I would if someone else were determining it for me. I do everything from home and I do have a lot of legit reasons to get off track. Things can be really chaotic and unpredictable for me for quite a few unchangeable reasons. But even half-assed work while distracted is better than no work at all. And half-assed work means I can do fun things afterward, unlike... no work... which means I just have to do work afterward. 

To sort of visualize this better, I want to obviously stick to school and work assignment deadlines every week! That's my priority within reason. I just also want to get those things done soon enough so that I can make one fanwork per month. Even a little sketch or drabble would be something to keep me creatively afloat. 

There are some other little things I want to get better at too, like more consistently exercising or less time doomscrolling. But it's all held together by the glue of a schedule I currently do not have, so I don't think I'll be able to sprinkle in any of these other ambitions until I get a good foundation for myself.

I would love to hear from others about their productivity/motivation hacks or experiences, especially if you similarly do everything from home or have some of the other obstacles I mentioned. I'm also really curious to hear about other people's goals, too! 

Comments

[spring_gloom]

I struggle with some of these same things, although my situation is a bit different by virtue of having specific working hours for my remote job which adds some structure (and allows me to go: between these hours, I am on the work computer and not the fun computer). still! I've always struggled with this stuff and I'm still figuring some techniques out - maaaybe some of these will be helpful.

for useful habits outside of work (e.g. learning time, creative time, life admin), I had some amount of success trying to create regular 'habits' out of these by setting a really easy goal. for instance, '10mins of learning' (programming stuff in this case) is pretty achievable even when I'm very tired after work and is a lot better than doing nothing. I was originally tracking it using this technique, which is essentially just making a 7x7 grid and crossing a box for that day when you do the thing with the aim of making it a habit. it doesn't have to be a daily habit either, when using this system. it could be something like 'draw for 10 mins' which will at least keep you in practice on your worst days, then you can always do more if you're inspired.

to force myself to commit to a task, I sometimes use focus timers too. like 'okay, I will work on this thing for 30mins exactly then I'm allowed to take a break'. it can also tie in with the thing I mentioned above where you aim to do at least one focus timer's worth of work. just commit to concentrating on one thing for THAT TIME PERIOD and what you achieve will be much better than nothing. if you need to work on something for a while, it's also nice to do a cycle of 25 mins on and then 5 mins off because it seems more exact than 'work indefinitely' and you know you're going to get a break.

and sort of related to concentrating: I'm trying to get into the habit of writing down the random thoughts that pop up while I'm meant to be doing something else so I don't get waylaid and also don't run the risk of forgetting something important. like 'oh shit I need to do xyz!' - I write it on the piece of paper I have nearby for such things and then carry on. later, I can turn what I wrote down into an actionable item (or just do it).

I also have a focus mode set up on my phone so that I don't start automatically scrolling apps when it's turned on too. I just need to get better at enforcing it for myself. -.-

[merydian]

This is all SO helpful, thank you so much!!! I really like the grid idea for having a visual representation of progress, too.