Hello and Happy Wednesday!
I wrote with a Facebook friend the other day and the word “motivation” popped into my head after. He asked me how it is possible to write every single day and how I find time to do so. Well, I just take the time. Obviously, it is not that easy with an almost three year-old toddler but it is manageable. It will also try my best to write daily posts while traveling in August and while studying in September. I cannot promise that it will be daily, but again, I will do my best. Simply because I love it so much. It makes me happy every single day to type along – either here, or while working on my book. I have this attitude with pretty much everything in my life. Whatever I want to do something, I do not waste time and start it.
We have all been at this point in our life when some big project is around the corner and instead of starting it, you delete your “friends” on Facebook, defrost the fridge, clean your closet, write your grandmother a letter, think about going to the gym but the couch is so damn comfy and so much more fun stuff. I remember when I studied for the Bachelor finals and waited until the last night to cram everything into my brain. Not working! I clearly remember this aggressively blinking cursor whenever a paper was due next day. This is life. I learned from my previous mistakes. Not all of them, but many. When I had a lot going on it was really tough. I usually worked 8-4 – 40 hours a week and I went to college full-time on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday for 4 years. How did I do it all? Honestly, I had no friends anymore; sometimes I did not know if it was day or night. But I went through it. I stayed motivated for all those 4! years of college. There were many days when I wanted to quit but I kept going. I rested whenever possible, but I also partied (not much) and I especially took care of myself. For example, whenever I came back home from school on Saturday, I chilled. I took my time walking back home, bought coffee, went to a bookstore, had dinner at a restaurant that looked nice and that I discovered on my way back home – cool NYC- moments, you know. I watched a movie in the evening, read, had my glass or (three) of wine and was up bright and early on Sunday to get all my assignments done and study. I balanced it out nicely.
There were times when I wanted to bury my head in the sand but I stayed motivated because I thought about the result in the end. How I will end up with my degree, the learning experience, the road I traveled to get it all accomplished, professors who were awesome and of course spring break, summer break, school holidays and all the other breaks. What we should not do, however, is keeping our head in the sand and to pretend it is not happening – or being irresponsible of what is going on. If you go through life like this you won’t ever see progression in the work you do or more importantly in yourself.
Here are some tips how I dealt with working full-time and college for four years. These can also be applied to really anything else in life.
Always find some stress free, quiet time to zone out. Music, a glass of wine, walking to school with great music on my iPod back then and find a routine that works well for you. On my break, I went out for lunch, sat in the park and chilled. When I came home from school, I made myself a cup of tea and since le husband came into my life, a hot crepe with cheese was waiting for me and the tea had been replaced by a glass of wine before I worked on one or two more assignments until late at night at times.
Be prepared. I sometimes set my breakfast table in the evening so I have more time in the morning to read something for school or work. It is mostly just a matter of taking actions to make your life easier in a stressful time. By maximizing my time in the morning, when I am most creative, I get things done. Even these days, I work on my blog, book, read, research and get tons done before my son wakes up. Putting off things for later in the day usually never works for me and I even end up not doing X, Y and Z because of X, Y and Z. I got a planner/journal and put everything I needed to take care of, study or prepare in it so I was up to date with all my assignments and papers. A nice journal kept me motivated even more. And a nice pen or pencil. Also pencil sharpener and smelling pencils after I sharpened them. I am weird, I know. [My good friend and colleague at work got me an electric pencil sharpener and I was the happiest ever for months! Thank you KENNY!]
Simply do it. As I told my friend, this is how I do it. I sit down and write. Be motivated and committed. This applies to whatever it is you are doing. Running, writing, drawing, school. cooking, dancing….. do it! That is really all it takes. If you start with 30 minutes of anything you need to do every single day, you will get into the groove and establish a productive habit. I also seek inspiration and am open to new things. Here I am not talking about being on Pinterest for hours or on Instagram. There is inspiration everywhere else. I go to a museum, meet a friend, a new café, a new restaurant, gallery, library or search some cooking websites. Experiencing something fresh and new always does magic for me and I get creative. It breaks my routine (which is fine!) and lifts my spirits.
I had an interesting conversation with another student once. He sat next to me and told me that he cannot wait to graduate so he can finally read whatever he wants to read. I just looked at him and told him that I go to the bookstore to get myself a new book today after class. A book NOT college related. Simply reading for pleasure. He looked at me puzzled, gave me the side-eye and shook his head.
I am human after all, and giving myself time to be exactly that makes me excited and I want to jump right back into this game (or show) we are all playing whenever the time is right.
