Alright, I know what you’re thinking.
“Way to start a Friday on a down note, Bev.”
Normally I don’t like to start on such a negative-sounding note, but hear me out.
Typically I’m one of those “glass half full” kinda gals. I’m not all sprinkles and rainbows all the time, but I’m all about framing things in the positive as much as possible (at least in theory). Five things I want to accomplish. Five goals I have. Five things I’m looking forward to. I mean, who would want to read a blog post entitled Five things I’m dreading?
But let’s be real, we all have things we need to stop doing, whether we say them out loud or just think them in our head.
Image credit: by Steve A Johnson on Flickr
It doesn’t matter how big or small they are, we all have them.
Having been inspired by this wonderful dig-deep-within-yourself book I just read, The Firestarter Sessions by Danielle LaPorte, this week’s Friday Five is inspired by one of her exercises, which is to think of things you want to stop doing.
Ready? Here we go.
1. Checking my e-mail incessantly
Do you realized what a time-suck checking e-mail can be? It’s such an easy way to procrastinate cause somehow I’ve tricked myself into thinking that it’s actually productive, when in reality it just gets in the way of life a lot of times. Especially since I have a smart phone and I can check it All.The.Time.
Sure, I might think I’m good at multitasking, but the amount of energy I use going back and forth between what I’m supposed to be doing and checking my e-mail could be so much better spent either doing something truly productive or enjoyable. So I’m working on checking my e-mail three times a day: in the morning, mid-day, and early evening, instead of all day. (Speaking of which, I’m going to close my Gmail tab right now!)
And along those lines…
2. Looking at social media past 9:00pm
You know when you’re all set to unwind for the night, and you decide to take one last eensey weensy peek at your Facebook newsfeed, and somehow an hour manages to escape you? Yeah…I need to stop doing that. No more Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest (or email, for that matter!) past 9:00pm.
3. Writing my to-dos and ideas all over the place
Are you guilty of this as well? Jottind down to-dos and ideas in notebooks, post-its, on your phone, and just about everywhere you can possibly imagine, so that you can’t actually keep track of your to-do-s or your wondrously amazing ideas? I vow to better utilize Evernote and write everything down there, in a place where not only is it centralized, but I can do a search. (Handy as those post it notes are, they don’t do me very good when I don’t remember where I put them!)
Image credit: Photo by robstephaustralia on Flickr
4. Worrying about what others think of me
This is huge for me. I waste so much energy worrying about what others think, and it gets in the way of me putting myself out there. For some reason I need everyone to think great things about me, and heaven forbid if I do anything that could make them think any less of me. You know what? I’m going to embarrass myself sometimes, and there are going to be people who don’t agree with me or who downright dislikes me. And you know what? The world around me is not going to come crashing down.
5. Thinking about all the things I need to do
Even if I had all the time in the world, my to-do list will never be at zero. It’s just a fact of life that I have responsibilities, so there will always be things that need to get done. But that doesn’t mean I have to constantly be thinking about them. When I’m spending time with friends or family, relaxing, or doing something I truly enjoy, I’m going to mentally push aside that nagging little Bev in the back my mind who feels the need to constantly remind me of all the things I need to do and just enjoy the moment.
What do you want to stop doing?