As James Clear would put it: Commit to a process, not a goal.
We are already getting close to March 2018. Who would’ve thought the first two months of 2018 passed by so damn quickly? Oh wait, this happens every year. I’ve been unemployed for almost 3 months now, and I will soon be working but that’s not the point.
In the midst of my transition and mini career change (…although, did I have a set career to start with? Nope. I have a ton of interest and can thrive in multiple environments and that’s okay!), I have placed multiple goals for myself. I want to have this license by June, I want to eventually get this other license, I want to be able to do this-this and that.
Goals are great, but they can be daunting. I signed up for James Clear’s email subscription recently and this morning, he gave me a much-needed reminder. I was reminded that focusing on the end goal can be exhausting, and only serves as motivation for a stretch of time, then we can easily fall out of the motivation… and return eventually as long as it’s before the date of our desired “end goal”.
Instead of focusing on the goal, focus on the process. Focus on writing every day (which is what encouraged me to write this post to start with. I constantly talk about writing blog posts and needing to keep up with my writing but I only write when I am reminded the last time I wrote was a month ago. My goal has become “write a blog post a day and then I’m good”. No. That’s not okay, if I’m going to keep writing, I need to write on a regular basis whether that means writing for ya’ll or writing privately.
Focus on exercising every day. There are days I travel, there are days I may be feeling sick or exhausting. However, that does not give me a reason to not spend time stretching at home, or doing a few workouts with the TRX, Yoga Mat, or Resistance bands. There are ALWAYS exercises we can do via body weight or even when we’re working (calf raises when working a standing desk is great!)
Focus on reading (a book) a certain amount of time every day. As I have been unemployed, I’ve had plenty of time to sit on my butt, look at my phone or my computer… to the point where I’ve been exhausted staring at a screen. I’ve also realized that sure I can read endless articles online to increase my knowledge of various subjects, but it does not compare to sitting and reading a book. Thanks to Michael Harris, I am reminded that many of us have forgotten how to read.
I can keep going on the million things I need to do every day in order to reach my “goals”, but one thing I’ve learned through my free time of unemployment is… it’s very easy to become distracted and want to accomplish and million and one things with ALL the time on my hands.
I’m not going to fall victim to that this time around. I’m going to focus on writing, exercising, and reading every day. I know the combination of the three will bring me to achieving the success I want and desire.
What are you going to focus on? How are you working on your process?
Joanne Lam 
Gah, thank you so much for this! I am also unemployed right now. I will be working soon, but it’s still made me feel worthless and like if I don’t get thousands of things accomplished, I didn’t spend my time correctly. Thank you for this. I needed it – today specifically.
In my free time, I’ve also been working at reading and writing every single day. I also make myself watch documentaries instead of other mind-numbing things. 🙂
Besides that, I’ve been working at creating – mostly through photography, but I’ve been thinking about music and videography as well.
Fantastic! I know exactly how you feel about being unemployed but still feeling unaccomplished even if you get a few things done. It’s really easy to fall into a hole of judging ourselves for what we do and what we don’t do.
Stoked to hear you have been reading, writing and watching documentaries. Any favorite documentaries to recommend so far?
Good luck and let’s keep each other accountable! #unemployedbuddies