We are in a part of our creative process that requires a little more looking and watching rather than doing. Sometimes creatives call this an incubation period, where space is produced to support the making of something greater.
I remember an exercise that one of my college professors had us do. She asked us to answer this question: “What gets in the way of creativity?” My answer was not surprising. Nonetheless what came with that awareness still helps me today to redirect my focus from the resistance part of the equation towards achieving my goals.
For today, you are going to observe what is wasting your time. What is sucking your energy? It’s important not to get caught up in trying to change that behavior. Do it while observing it. Sometimes we don’t even have to observe our life to know what those time-wasters are, but do it anyways,. You, too, may be surprised.
You may spend lots of time cleaning up, or reading your email, or responding to email you don’t really want to respond to, or lingering on social media. There may be other time usurpers that are hidden, perhaps it is something that you may not see at first as being a time waster, but is still calling for your attention. Of course, this question is as relative as your own definition of time, so everyone will have their own experience of it. When I saw it, it really stood out.
You can make some notes if you like, but it’s more about the feeling you get. So maybe add to your notes the feelings associated to observing yourself and questioning what consumes your time.
If for whatever reason you don’t find yourself wasting time today, take another day and see how it goes. Or, if you know what wastes your time and it didn’t happen today, make notes on the observations and feelings on that particular thought.
Then make list of your “bad habits.” We will be using the time wasters and your bad habits as a way to launch your sankalpa into the universe and start a new path!
Examples of Bad Habits and Time Wasters
- eating & watching TV
- Netflix binging
- smoking
- lots of caffeine
- checking Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest
- driving and texting
- checking the news
- checking email (all day long)
- compulsive shopping
- staying up late
- snoozing
- napping
- gossiping