Energy Drains and Unresolved Projects

Following Debbie Ford’s lead in her book, The Best Year of Your Life, I determined that these two qualities are the ones I need to make this year the ‘best year of my life’:

• Self-discipline


• Razor-sharp focus

However, working from home comes with its own bundle of self-discipline and staying-focused challenges. Then you add to that my reoccurring tendency to:

• put too much on my plate


• get overwhelmed


• take a ‘regroup’ nap


• finally get started on a project


• then it’s time to go to an outside appointment

This morning I woke up feeling very foggy, sluggish and scattered – which is a surprise considering that yesterday I had a great day keeping focused and on task. I was really looking forward to doing the same today.

Going through my list of projects at breakfast, trying to get out of the fog and get some energy going, I came up with about 8 hours of action steps that needed to be done. Then I counted the number of hours I have available before going to teach and rehearsals tonight….

There were only 4.5 hours available. (Even thought I got up at 6:00 a.m., taking that ‘regroup’ nap right after coffee and playing with DC (my kitty) set me back a few hours!)

So as I went through the list again, determining which things could wait and which absolutely needed to be done…. Then it hit me…

Unresolved projects drain my energy.

I already know that when I’m working on something and get hung up because of waiting on a decision or feedback from someone else that hasn’t come back in a my-timely fashion, it can really derail me.

Same thing happens when I’m in the middle of a movie and have to stop watching it. I get antsy and pre-occupied with it. (Getting hooked on the show ‘24’ will either cure me of this or drive me insane!)

This happens when I’m in the middle of a project too – especially a composition project.

(Is it even possible for a right-brained circular thinker to learn to ‘compartmentalize’?)

Anyway… I realized that there were two things on my to-do list that were ‘unresolved.’ One I’m waiting on critical feedback from another person. (This project has been unresolved for about two years, going through many attempts to reach the finish line. This is a newly resurrected attempt.)

The other unresolved project is waiting on me! Because I keep putting it off. (It’s a left-brained detail activity that always seems to take way more time than it should!)

Energy drains make it hard to focus.

The ‘waiting for feedback’ project is out of my control. So I have to let that one go. The other, however, IS in my control. So guess I’ll do that one next. AND just so it doesn’t take all of my time this morning, I’ll set a timer to only work on it only one hour. It’s not critical that I finish it today. But it IS critical that I at least get started on it to give it some momentum and give me some energy-drain relief!

Scheduling a couple of projects to do after that hour – ones that absolutely MUST be done today will help motivate the ‘self-discipline’ quality to take charge when the hour timer goes off.

…. That’s my plan for today anyway….

Here’s to continuing the Journey…. and trying to get a handle on the energy drains that steal your focus.

-Becky