Resourcing the Revolution

freelancing

The Power of Procrastination (or: schedule it!)

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procrastination_640One of the things that I learned from Chris Guillebeau a long time ago was the power of deciding on and sticking to a schedule. For someone who is a skilled procrastinator like myself, this has proven to be invaluable. One of the keys to success is consistency – for example, picking Tuesday evening as your scheduled time to put up a blog post (oh hi there!) – and sticking with it, no matter what.

If you fail to stick to your schedule, you then have to publicly admit defeat. For example, if you miss writing a blog post, you are then required to post something – even if it’s as simple as a note that says “this week I failed.” (Ouch.)

The reasoning for giving yourself this level of consistency is that you create a standard to which you hold yourself (even if no one else is reading this, I know that if I miss a scheduled post, I have failed); if you allow yourself to slip, it then becomes easier and easier the next time, on and on in a downward spiral. “Oh, I had a lot going on today, I’ll just write tomorrow… oh, this week was just no good, I’ll write next week…” All of a sudden, it’s next month, and your blog is lying awake at night, lonely and abandoned… you get the picture!

I hold myself to this standard, knowing that my personality type is such that I could earn a gold medal at the Procrastination Olympics – next year. By creating consistency for myself, I hold myself accountable. I allow myself to sidestep the messy procrastination track, and I keep myself on task.

I know that this system doesn’t work for everyone, but if you’re anything like me, give it a shot. Be your own accountability partner and schedule yourself for success. And, let me know how it goes (or if you have tips and tricks for your specific personality- or work-type)!

Kicking Fear in the Face (and telling it to hit the road)

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fear_640Have you ever been paralyzed by fear?

Not just nervous about the outcome of something big, but really truly stuck in place, unable to move because you are so terrified?

I have to admit that I have been fortunate enough to have never experienced anything truly traumatic in my life. Yes, I’ve been scared plenty of times, but my fears tend to the mundane.

Recently, though, I have noticed that fear is starting to creep in, whispering in my ear, a specter of its sinister self. As pretty much everyone who has ever stepped out on their own can tell you, it’s scary out here. There is definitely something to be said for the security of being able to rely on someone else for the big pieces of your life – a 9-to-5 job with benefits, a high-earning spouse, insert your definition of comfort here – and there are times I find myself wishing for that security.

This year marks the first time in my life that I have been truly responsible for myself, financially and otherwise. My divorce is final, and I’m supporting myself as a freelancer. No company to lean on, no spouse to bring in extra cash flow.

And you know what? It’s freaking terrifying.

Amidst the chaos of everything I have going on, fear has been winding its cold sinewy hand around my heart, sneaking in while I haven’t been watching, waiting until I’m feeling weak and beaten down – and then it happens.

Fear sees its opportunity. Clamps down. Whispers “but how will you pay your rent next month?” and “you can’t make it on your own”.

I’ll admit it – recently, I’ve been awfully close to letting fear win. It’s easy to succumb to the desire to be stable, secure, boring.

But…

Today, I’m taking a stand. I’m kicking fear in the face. I’m telling it to get the hell out of Dodge.

Looking forward, I’m looking at fear as a signpost. If I’m scared, I must be doing something right.

When your opposition is scared of you – keep doing what you’re doing. (I think back to this summer and the Tar Sands campaign; if we weren’t making a difference, they wouldn’t have thrown us in jail. We would have walked, and they would have kept on with business as usual. As it happened, they were scared of us, and tried to break us. Funny how that backfired.)

It’s natural to be scared – our genetics mean that we have the fight or flight response programmed in. If our early ancestors didn’t respond to fear, chances were they would have been eaten by some large furry beast. Fight or flight helped keep the human population from disappearing into the abyss.

But now that we’re (mostly) past the point of having to worry about being eaten by predators, let’s take a different look at our fears.

Let’s use them as guidance, as signposts along the way.

No one has ever changed the world by letting fear get the best of them. So, let’s roll up our sleeves and get back to work. Fear be damned.

There’s a world out there that needs your mark.

Go make it.

Ripples (or: throwing rocks in life’s pond)

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ripples_640There is a software developer in town who has become somewhat of a mentor to me over the past year and a half. He encouraged me to step outside my then-current worldview, and was one of the first to encourage me to start my own business. I had been hiding behind finishing school as a start date for doing anything, but he pushed me to believe that I didn’t have to wait for some magical event; he even brought me onto a team project as a designer – my first real client work. As work ebbed and flowed, we went our own ways, and it had been a while since the last time we had spoken. This past spring we ran into a small error on the site we had worked on together, and it gave us a chance to catch up. I was getting him up to speed on everything that had been going on in my life, and he said the following:

When you make big changes in your life, it’s like throwing rocks into a pond. You never know how big the ripples will be, or how far they will spread.

It turns out that I have thrown quite a few rocks into what had once been a fairly still pond. The first big rock was starting my own business, stepping out of the traditional career track and starting on the path to creating a lifestyle that more closely reflected what I want to do with my life. Those ripples unsettled what could be considered a fairly “normal” existence: husband, house, two dogs, one car, steady careers, life planned out.

Fast forward a year, and it’s now one dog and me. I’m still riding my ripples, and still throwing rocks in the pond.

In the past year, I have learned more about myself than I would have thought possible. I have come to the realization that content just doesn’t cut it for me; I don’t want to be able to see every day of the rest of my life laid out in front of me, orderly and safe. Don’t get me wrong – sometimes I look back to that life and think how easy it was, how secure and dependable. I allow myself those moments, and then I come back to the present, the now. All it takes is the thought of all the possibilities this life holds, and I’m back in the game. I have thrown the weight of my being behind my passion for environmental change, and come to realize that I want to continue in that vein for the foreseeable future. What comes after that? Who knows.

As I continue on this path I’m carving, I will be finding myself and my balance, trying to make a difference in this world while still enjoying my days in it. And, I’ll most likely keep throwing rocks in the pond.

Who needs still water, anyway?

Have you thrown any metaphorical rocks into the pond of your life? To what effect? I would love to hear your experiences in the comments!