Do you ever get to the end of your day and feel like NOTHING got done?
It can be so frustrating, right?
You are staring at your Creative Projects, and feeling like they are just in stand still mode. You woke up this morning with the best intentions, you woke up inspired and ready to take action on your Art and truly be Unstoppable…..
And then,
Email
Texts
Laundry
Shopping
Facebook
Unexpected Family Issues
Phone Calls
All these OTHER things pulled you from your Art. And the voice rises up so loud,
You’ll work on this WHEN these other things are taken care of.
There’s TOO much to do!
Let me just take care of this one more thing now…..
You feel like a ping pong ball, scattered in a million directions and end your day frazzled, overwhelmed, and no closer to receiving the acclaim you desire. And your inner critic is having a parade in your head saying,
This will NEVER Happen!
Have you ever felt like this?
How do we turn this around and actually have our days work FOR us instead of against?
I’m settling in more, living in New Jersey suburbia. My body is settling too, and I found myself putting on some weight. I realized the pace of running a business out of a home is very different than running a business out of an apartment in NYC.
The biggest thing missing?
The walking of public transportation. NYC is a place with exercise built in, the streets, the subway steps…something I had taken for granted, until I was living in a home and had a car as transportation.
So, last week, I found myself at a gym, and as I climbed onto the elliptical, what struck me most were all the TVs plastered across the walls above the mirrors.
So many of them with blinking screens and flashing lights…
Talk Shows
24 News Channels
Reality TV
Close Captioning bold letters moving across the screens,
Trump’s latest Tweet
Rain Expected for Days!
Fatal School Bus Crash
And I could feel my chest tightening. I could feel the initial urge to want to read every word. And then I looked down at my elliptical machine screen, and saw an option,
Courses.
When I clicked on this, I saw I could choose a course titled :
Grand Staircase Hike.
As I am a HUGE lover of outdoors, I clicked right away and found myself immersed on a hike through the National Parks of Utah. I felt my chest relax, and realized the course was taking me on a path.
One single path.
Every now and then, I would gaze up at the TV screens calling me to get involved in Russia, Weather systems, or endless footage on a continued repeated loop of an angry tennis player smashing a camera. My path was still laid out in front of me, and yet these other screens were taunting me with their headlines.
And in that moment I thought of you.
Distraction is the destroyer of productivity.
And it comes in SO many forms today. We have devices and screen ALL around us vying for our energy.
And while we wake every day WITH energy, we only have so much, and that tank is dependent on how much sleep we got, our general health, our mental well being, and our nutrition.
As our day continues, that tank lessens and lessens before we need to recharge again with sleep.
So, how do you want to use your energy?
How are you beginning your day when your tank is most full?
And most importantly, what is your path?
What is your vision, that juicy desire that brought you to your brush, your music, your dance, and your pencil?
Too often, we just throw ourselves into our work with no real vision of what we truly want. Since we aren’t connected to what’s most alive and important to us as Artists, we will get easily distracted.
And there is a LOT of garbage on those screens.
Take stock, and ask yourself,
What helps me stay focused?
What inspires me to stay on my path of receiving the acclaim I desire?
And check in with your body.
What causes constriction?
What pulls your mind in a million pieces?
I can say for myself, News Channels are a one way ticket to a black hole. I can feel every creative element in me shut down. Reality TV does this too.
Having visual inspiration is vital for our Art, as most of us are visual learners, however, our minds can only focus on ONE THING at a time. Multitasking is actually a fallacy. It’s exhausting your brain, overstimulating your nervous system, and putting you into overwhelm.
And how does that affect your Creative Flow?
It shuts it DOWN.
So, if you only chose one screen…..what would be playing?
And my invitation is to turn the others off.
I used to have a DVR so full, I literally couldn’t catch up on all the shows I thought I “had” to watch. In truth, the hours I was spending every night in front of the TV were just distractions keeping me from the fact my whole marriage was falling apart, and I wasn’t where I wanted to be in my performance career.
When the bottom fell out, one of the first things I laid a boundary on was the TV. I shut out all the crazy noise so I could actually connect back with what was most important to me.
So, what is most important to you?
Recognize the distractions for what they are, and come back to your path.
What is your path that inspires you and energizes you?
Turn off the other screens.
They were just draining you anyway.
Walk on your Grand Staircase, and ENJOY the single view.