Inspiration for a joyful and creative life

Have you ever considered what it is costing you to avoid doing what you really want? Procrastination is hard work.

It takes an enormous amount of energy to worry and feel like you should be getting to something but you aren’t.

It is hard work NOT to do anything and it can be harder than taking those small, small steps and realizing your worst fears.

Procrastination is a form of escape that tricks you into thinking you are avoiding danger, even if it is an unconscious decision. The truth is it is like invisible handcuffs that keep you trapped by disappointment in yourself.

Usually the fears are what stop you in the first place. See if any of these ring a bell for you:

• Too many goals
• Fear of failure or making a mistake
• Fear of success….and maybe that will lead to too much work

I’ve personally experienced all of the above. I will probably always have more things I want to do than is humanly possible. But that is just part of my nature.

What I finally started to understand is that choosing one or two goals to fully commit to and take action on is so much easier than worry about if it is the right decision or how it will turn out.

It doesn’t mean that I never worry but since that doesn’t EVER make anything easier or better, I try to keep it to a minimum.

And the biggest antidote to procrastination and worry is taking action with small steps.

Your Worst Fears Realized

Let’s take the above examples and show you that even if your fears are realized, you are still better off trying.

Too Many Goals – If you never choose something, anything to try, you’ll be stuck in the never ending cycle of feeling like you’ve failed.

It is better to pick something and try it and if you decide it’s not for you, luckily you have a lot more ideas where they came from!

Fear of Failure or Making a Mistake – If you fail, if you make a mistake, hey join the party! If you are not failing at least occasionally, you aren’t challenging yourself.

Everyone learns from their mistakes and no one is perfect. Do you know how many successful businesses and people failed before they succeeded? Probably about 99.7%. The rest just got lucky. Cut yourself some slack and go make some mistakes!

Fear of Success – You may worry that if you succeed, it will be too much work or that people will raise their expectations of you and you won’t be able to keep up.

I remember hearing Barbara Winter talking about people worrying about problems they don’t even have yet. She said when you solve one set of problems, you get to upgrade to better ones.

In other words, you can cross that bridge when you come to it. There are solutions to every problem and you do have choices. You can always change what you are doing or even stop.

Take an Empowering Step

Don’t beat yourself up about procrastinating. We all do it at one time or another.

Instead of punishing yourself and feeling like you’ve failed already or you are not living up to your expectations, make a positive choice.

While it will take effort, commitment, and work to complete your goal, I really believe it will be less demanding and draining than the unfulfilled weight of procrastination.

The only way to stop feeling the fear is to face it, to move through it. So take a small step. Just one. And then another and another…….

I have my own filing system on my computer but as I am getting more and more stuff, sometimes things are hard to find. Or I can’t quite remember the name or it takes me 6 clicks to get to the specific file.

My sister Susan told me about a quick and easy way to find anything on my computer which has saved me lots of time!

It is simply to use the search function on your computer, even if you already know where to look for your files.

On a PC, go to Start, and you’ll find the search box at the bottom. Type in as few words as possible. This is another tip because you are more likely to find what you need and quicker.

So, for example, if I am looking for an article I know I wrote but I can’t recall the exact name, I may just put in one word of the title. That will bring up all my documents, images, emails, etc. with that word in it. Usually the file I’m looking for is easy to spot and just one click away.

I’m sure the Mac has something similar.

I have recently starting using Springpad and I love it!  Since I have online businesses and do a lot of computer work, I am constantly finding resources, websites, and items I would like to save.

Well, my old method was to print things out.  And depending on what it is, I still do.  But I was getting buried in paperwork and then I had to file it!  More work, more time, and more paper!

With Springpad, I can bookmark a site, or a page, or clip something, and save it online.  I especially like that I can easily add tags so I can search or find it later.

Let me give you a couple of examples of how I use it.  I might be working on a project, and come across a site I would like to explore later…because I’m trying to focus on the project at hand!….I can “spring it” and add appropriate tags and a description if I need it.

I have used it for creativity and time management sites, cool artists, craft or home projects, recipes, website designs I like to help me re-design my jewelry site, virtual assistants or affiliate partners, research for articles, and lots more.

If you are planning a trip, you may want to save several hotel sites, or siteseeing activity sites, restaurants, etc. that you can reference later without writing down all the information or printing it out.

SpringPad also has specific folders for books, recipes, wine, music, movies, businesses, contacts, etc. if you want to use those.

They have a button that you can drag to your toolbar that makes it really easy to just click and add the page or site you want to save.

Keep Track of Your Lists

I haven’t used this feature yet but you can also create lists such as shopping lists, task lists, or checklists.

Add Events, Coordinate with Google Calendar, and Set Alarms

You can add appointments, events, or set an alarm.

You can access your information from anywhere online.  You can send other people your finds by email.  You have an option on each entry to make it public or private.

You can access your bookmarks and lists from your mobile phone.  And there is an IPhone app for it.

I may have to move into the 21st century and get an IPhone or Blackberry.

I haven’t even begun to explore all it’s uses but what I’m using so far is great.

If you have other ideas for how to use Springpad or use other services that you really like, please add a comment and share your experience.