Are you slowing down or speeding up as we approach year end?
Artificial deadlines motivate me.
Despite feeling lost in my creative projects, I’m not stopping.
Keep reading – today I am helping you level up your productivity game and find more balance in your daily hustle.
Today in 5 minutes or less, you’ll learn:
✔️ The essential recharge for yourself
✔️ How to diagnose your productivity and well-being
✔️ Some behind-the-scenes from yours truly
Doable ideas 💭
Disconnect from all devices for one hour daily to recharge.
Best done before bed.
Reconnect with yourself.
Reflections 🪞
What’s the ONE area you’re going to focus on this week?
Mindfulness 🧘🏻♀️
I take pride in the rather-minimalistic lifestyle I have right now – no TV, no streaming service, minimal social media access.
I would go so far as to say I’m a disciplined person.
I always show up and do the work.
But…
Sometimes I still find it hard to sit down for more than an hour and get any important work done.
Maybe you can relate – you physically and mentally clock out after 6pm but there is still work and mundane life admin tasks waiting for you.
Worse, I am not feeling particularly creative in my work recently (in both therapy and creative projects).
It is a constant battle of balancing our Time, Energy and Attention.
Yes, the TEA 🍵 again.
When I was an accountant working 9-6 Monday to Friday, I struggled mostly with time to film handpan videos.
Now as a music therapist with irregular work hours each week, I think I struggle with all three.
Even without modern day distractions, I still feel distracted and unmotivated sometimes.
Then it struck me one day.
My work is 95% creative now. Day in, day out.
Apart from handling my company’s finances and writing NDIS reports, all my tasks require heavy creative input.
Packaging cool ideas into videos.
Rewriting lyrics of a nursery rhyme for kids.
Writing this very newsletter.
But the best inspiration strikes when we’re away from work desk, doing recreational activities.
Walks, talking to friends, being in water.. that’s when my mind is most relaxed and open to new ideas.
I shouldn’t have forced myself to sit at the desk trying to come up with something.
That’s not productivity.
I had an energy problem, not short attention span.
What I needed was rest and recharge, not trying to grind more in front of my laptop.
Your attention and energy should not be spread thin, but purposefully directed where you can experience extreme flow and creativity.
– Benjamin Hardy
I was reminded by this newsletter why I got into productivity and building habits in the first place – I wanted to be healthier, and have more time for creativity and flow states.
source: David, Recovering Overthinker
By having some sort of structure (a.k.a. daily routines), we save up mental power to be spontaneous and creative.
Discipline cuts off distraction.
I used to think getting drunk at 3am is the way to write the best songs.
In fact, the best artists write every single day.
Bad work, okay work, good work, best work.
Ask yourself – are you facing a Time, Energy or Attention problem?
Do you need to delegate tasks, fix your sleep or being more selective what you give a damn about?
P.S. if you need a boost… check out my free quiz here to get your score on how you spend your TEA 😉
Ideas Worth Pondering 🧠
The quality of your life is not determined by the quality of your positive experiences, but the quality of your negative experiences.
– Mark Manson
Video This Week 🎥
I uploaded a rather random and vulnerable video this week on how confused I feel about my YouTube channel.
Honestly, I think I ran out of things to say…
All feedback is welcome. Please let me know how I can serve you better by telling me what you want to see more from my channel 🙂
If you enjoyed that, please share with others 🙂