Tag Archives: discipline

How to do what you don’t want to do.

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Raise your hand if you have no troubles at all motivating yourself to do something you really DO want to do.

Like, let’s say: watch TV.

Aaaaand all hands are up!

Ok. Raise your hand if you don’t want to be bothered with That Thing That Is Good For You But You Don’t Want To Do.

Like, oh, say: exercise.

Look at that! All hands are up again!

ah huh… I get you.

I even hear that little click in your brain that sounds a lot like: “Sooo… What are we going to do about it?”

Well. Here it is: Pair something you LOVE with something you don’t really want to do but still need to do.

Like, for instance: watch TV while exercising.

It works for me–keeps me from being absolutely miserable over what I’m trying to do. And it’ll probably work for you, too.

We are fast-foodies. We are inspiration junkies. We are artists. We are creative. We are creatures of comfort–motivated by desire, not discipline. It’s true. And if we don’t want to do something, then we won’t. Our “want” has to overpower our “won’t.”

I mentioned before that I’ve watched Alias while on the elliptical, and friends, it’s a magical combo! …until I got a bit tired of Alias (Sydney: if you’re reading, I’m so sorry. I still want to be able to do side kicks like you do.) Solution? I moved on to another magical show.

What’s next for me? Get up early, like the grown-up that I am, and do my morning writings, like the artist I want to be. How? My best shot is Ice Cream for breakfast. This will probably also “tip the scales” in an unfavorable direction… Problematic, yes.

What about you? What would you say is your “That Thing That Is Good For You But You Don’t Want To Do?” Seeing any possible magical pairings?

There’s a Pavlovian dog inside me. And I’m going to find him, train him, and name him “Muse.”

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So I’ve spent the first three months of the year spending a pretty consistent amount of time on the elliptical. Finally. The secret? Watching Alias while swishing. The forty-five minutes fly by.

And then I got all into Alias and then I broke my rule and watched an occasional episode while *not* on the elliptical and, like magic, my mind and body go into “let’s get moving” mode (you know, like when you’ve had one-too-many cups of coffee).

Interesting…. I think the thing that’s happening in my brain is kinda like Pavlov’s salivating dog (I. Hate. Saliva.) experiment, except with more agreeable results. It’s a trigger.

Ooohhh! I can use this to make our brains get all creative! I need a trigger. A set of steps.

Right around the time I was thinking about how to trigger myself (that sounds awful), an article came out about the creative’s routine–their mundane morning routine that gets them in gear. This is some of what the 99 percent had to say:

The different elements of the routine become associated with this creative state of mind, so that they can re-enter it by simply repeating the steps of the routine.

So I decided I’d go for it, and I’d start using this method before any intense time of creativity. I needed something that’d take about 15 minutes. Get me away from technology. And still my mind.

I talked to Drew about it, put a routine together, and the results? Well. They were sparkling. They were mesmerizing. They were sedately explosive.

They were, to say the least, fruitful…

A Progression of Thought on Self-Improvement:

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1) My therapist called. I was in the middle of writing a song. I sacrificed remembering the melody in order to answer the phone. It was that or forget the melody while stressing over why in the world my therapist was calling.

2) When your therapist calls to ask if you know anyone who can offer technical assistance with a project and you say you can help and then she asks again and again if you’re sure you can help because you have a lot on your plate, you start to doubt yourself. And you might panic just a bit that you made the wrong decision and should’ve given her some names instead.

3) One way I lower my stress level is by raising my heart rate and happy brain chemicals. I get on my elliptical and try to stay on it as long as I can. This was difficult until I started watching Alias while on the elliptical. Then I didn’t want to get off the elliptical. When Sydney moves, I move. When the music picks up the pace, I pick up the pace. Find what works and do it.

4) Of course they got rid of Russell… He didn’t stand a chance this season. But I can’t believe he cried. I stream episodes of Survivor while doing laundry, because I’m not much of a domestic goddess and I need a little assistance. It works for me.

5) We’ve always had a weekly date night–it’s a non-negotiable in our marriage. The tired introvert in me often ruins any outings he may have planned, but I’m always up for quality time. Last week, he scored big: a quiet walk on a solitary stretch of beach, then a trip to the grocery store to take care of my slightly neglected shopping list. While there, he made an event of buying dinner. I was to pick the first item/ingredient of the meal–he selected the second–I grabbed the third, et cetera. Dinner was a delicious adventure.

6) If I stop buying Salt&Vinegar potato chips, I might not eat them as often.

Any self-improvement tips you want to share?

Artist vs Technology

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“The Noreaster,” a writer in New England, posted this in the comments of the Elizabeth Gilbert post on creative genius – one of the most profound things I’ve ever read on this blog:

I remember last winter I was in the middle of a late night conversation with the Muse and then suddenly, He just left. At first I thought I just lost my train of thought, but I can usually find it again if I review my notes and my physical steps — literally being in the exact same place doing the exact same thing will let me get it back. Even if the only thing I have to write is a piece of toilet paper while I’m — okay, I’ll leave that part out. But, I was onto something big — or so I thought (in a different place and situation) — when suddenly every thought I had about the subject vanished in an instant. Just like that. And you something? I was furious. Oh man, was I mad. I mean it. And I let God know how I felt about it, too: “I almost had it! Why did You leave?!?!” Actually, God will never leave. And, assuming I’m not completely off my rocker: angels are messengers so maybe, just maybe, they play a role here, too. Honestly, I reaally think they do. Because I’ve felt that something from someone outside of me…

…And I just got a text message, which means I lost my train of thought.

But, don’t worry; I’ll be back. :wink:

A few minutes go by, then:

Back.

And I love how the concept Gilbert presents here totally takes the burden off my shoulders. I think Orson Wells would have had a much longer, better, and more fulfilling film career if he hadn’t taken so much of the burden upon himself. And then, of course, there are musicians who simply can’t live with the burden of, say — I am so ignoroing that text message — can’t live with the burden of having created something so big. It’s why Elvis died and why M&M had to write Recovery. But if you look at Bono — I sure wish that red light would stop telling me I have a text msg — if you look at Bono, he always always always took God with Him out for a night on the town, even if he was just doing the snake dance. And that’s how and why, in large part, he is so good at what he does onstage and everything else he does offstage. He ultimately gives credit where credit is due and when we don’t do that, when we assume sole responsibility for what our creativity creates, it destroys us. You see it all the time in an age of “celebrity culture” — and that red light is seriously getting [on] my nerves…too doistracting. Our brains are not built for multi-tasking; I don’t [care] what anybody says.

I’ll be back.

He didn’t come back.

And this is exactly why I have to turn off the internet, silence my phone, and sit in solitude to really crank out songs.

How do you battle the war with technology in your own life?

What Happens When I Write…

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So I told y’all that I was participating in a 21-day writing/yoga challenge, right? 800 words a day, yoga 5 days a week. Well, I managed to finish the insane thing.

And here’s some of what came out of it… Some stupid, some worth working on:

Friends are good. Complicated, but good.
___________
Greatness does not happen by accident.
___________
If the wrong choice is made, it cannot be undone by a simple explanation.
___________
385 words now. I’m nearly halfway there and very hungry.
___________
Some say pain helps us. Makes us stronger. When I’m in pain, all I feel is weak.
___________
Change changes things.
___________
The end of the day
is soft and is sweet
is shadow on cheek.
___________
How can I do more creativity?
explode.
I can explode.
Burst into a frenzy of making and creating and doing. Just let it all fly out of me without any hindrance of self-critique. Just let it flow…
___________
simple moments – how can I make my life more simple? how can I have less distractions and more focus? how can I continue to put the computer down in search of simplicity….?
___________
every time we enter a car and drive down the road, we are putting our lives in the hands of other drivers. how can we be so blindly trusting of complete strangers?
___________
the challenge in creating is not the new idea, but how to best represent the new idea to the rest of the world. What’s in my head rarely comes out correctly on paper, melody, or line.
___________
Fear is muted by the deaf ears of determination.


Any favorites? Anything I need to turn into a song?