Scratching your Monday itch
Oh, hi friends!
I woke up at 5 a.m. Without an alarm.
That’s…unusual. If left to my own devices, I could sleep until noon every day.
So, 5 a.m. Why?
I think it’s because my brain knows I have a noon deadline for something that’s important to me.
Brain was itchy and anxious. Because I was circling and debating this deadline all weekend, finally going to forget about it altogether.
And yet…5 a.m. That means something. Right?
So on this Monday, I urge you to listen to your own itch. That thing you want to do, know you should do, but are having a hard time scratching.
Then maybe grab one of these...
AND SCRATCH IT 'TIL YOU FEEL BETTER.
“I do a lot of writing, and I used to procrastinate horribly when I didn’t feel like writing something. I finally realized that when I procrastinated on a project, I was introducing an outsized amount of negative emotions into my life – days and days of feeling the thing hanging over me and knowing that I should be doing it and feeling guilty that I hadn’t, plus knowing that I’d need to sit down and start it at some point. But if I just did whatever it was and got it out the way, I didn’t have all those days of vague dread, and I also got the relief and triumph of having it done. And truly, I think there is no better feeling than “done” for writers!
So I started focusing on that feeling as a way to motivate myself to get things finished – and it’s actually completely cured me of procrastination. Similar to the way other people tell themselves they’ll have some chocolate or a beer after they finish something they’re putting off, I tell myself I’ll get to have that great feeling of having the damn thing finished – and I won’t have it hanging over me. And that’s enough to motivate me to do it.”
Hahahaha this one hurt. A lot. From Gretchen Rubin’s interview with Alison Green, who writes the excellent “Ask a Boss” column on The Cut! As someone who has faced VAGUE DREAD more days than she could count, I am now aiming for RELIEF and TRIUMPH.
Your time is valuable. My time is valuable. But I’m 100% confident in recommending you take three minutes to watch this video of a Rube Goldberg machine created by some genius named Joseph. As someone who loved Mouse Trap as a kid (and “The Goldberg Variation” episode of The X-Files as a teenager), I feel like this YouTube channel was made for me!!! Just…watch it.
Also! I covered the excellent Brooklyn Designs survey at the Brooklyn Museum this weekend, where I profiled a dozen interesting product designers, artists, architects, and more for The Bridge. So many talented people! I couldn’t handle it!
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Thanks, as always, for reading.
Love, Kara