PhotoCredit: HorseFly.com
I had one of those mornings last week. You know the ones. Where you wake up and realize you can’t be bothered. Like AT ALL.
There are more things to do that you have either the energy or motivation for.
Bottom line, you can’t be arsed. Forget Webster. Urban Dictionary defines "can’t be arsed" as seriously demotivated; disinclined to get off one’s arse; or unwilling to do something.
How about all of the above?
So what do you do when confronted by your inner three-year old? How do you move through an energy block?
I like the advice offered by this Quartz article; “When you don’t know what to do, make tea.” Making a pot of tea always helps me, a nice bit of proactive procrastination. I also put on a playlist. A little Spotify action always helps.
And then, I am ashamed to admit this, I turn to my less important tasks. This runs counter to everything I believe. I know I am supposed to do my high priority tasks first. Get my Steve Covey big rocks crossed off my list. Starting with what Covey would call the sand is the opposite of productive. It’s distractive.
But sometimes we need a distraction. Our wiring gets a bit funky and we need to reset ourselves. The big tasks, the rocks, require too much processing power; more processing power than we have.
So I turn to the sand. The lesser tasks. Doing a few of these generates momentum, gets my brain going. Tea, Spotify, organizing my photos, cleaning up Evernote, ordering some new pens. I always need new pens. Clean up my desktop files, make a hair appointment, take out the recycling, order more coffee beans.
I have been known to gamify it by setting myself 30 minutes to see how much email I can reply to. Setting time targets helps generate a little adrenaline and, consequently, a little energy.
It’s important to know when to follow the rules and when to break them. Anything goes as long as you are intentional about why you are doing it. Plus, my inner three-year old gets really bored if I follow the rules all the time.
Check out my video explaining Steven Covey’s Big Rocks here: Squiggly-Tube. I know, I’m getting all vloggy on you now. Let me know what you think and, now you know the rules, let your inner three-year old play!