Dear Self,
A couple observations about this week (and really most weeks):
- Monday-Wednesday tend to be more productive than Thursday-Sunday. Knowing this information, it would be wise to plan accordingly. When setting weekly goals, plan to conquer the bulk of the work earlier in the week.
- Choose your referent group. The people you surround yourself with are the ones who are ultimately going to inspire you (or uninspired you), distract you, encourage you, challenge you, annoy you, whatever it is that people do to each other. People can be a positive influence or a negative influence, and as a person with goals and ambition, obviously you want to eliminate the negative. Stay away from the complainers at work. Stay away from the people who want to suck away your energy. Stay away from anything or anyone that will distract you from your plans. This is easier said than done, but you have to set up boundaries that ensure that you’re at least always striving to make your environment as nurturing as possible. You’re the type of person who finds it invigorating to be around other people who are doing interesting things. You want to be surrounded by these creative, energetic individuals whose energy is contagious. Here’s the thing: interesting people don’t magically come gravitating toward you. You have to seek them out, just like any other opportunity in life.
- Keep your goal visible. You started the week knowing I needed to finish chapter 2. Half-way through the week you had to remind myself. Thursday came and you had a board meeting after school and didn’t return home until after 9PM…chapter 2 didn’t even come on your radar. You must keep the goal visible.
- Last, you have to carve out time for your craft. Regular office hours. A standing commitment. If you don’t, nobody else will.
Signed,
Your Observing Ego
Teresa Shimogawa 