I usually have to have quite a structured week as I have lots going on. Monday is for planning. Tuesday for Racing Mentor work. Wednesdays for editorial work and meetings, and so on.
But since lockdown started, I’ve been struggling to get into the right mindset to do things on set days. My paid workload has reduced so that gave me the chance to work on things like updating my personal website or creating a new site for my content agency.
This gave me so many small things to do that I was struggling to build it into my normal routine. My motivation tanked and I had about a week of just feeling down and overwhelmed.
Then a friend mentioned to me how she’s following her flow during this time. She’s doing the work she wants to do when she wants to do it, rather than following a set routine or structure.
I thought I’d give this a go and it’s been a game-changer.
There’s still some structure to my week because the paid work has to come first and I can’t ignore a deadline, but for everything else, I’ve just been seeing where my time takes me.
Here’s what I’ve managed to do in the last couple of weeks just by letting my interests and motivations take me where they want:
Written more than 10,000 words of my sci-fi novel
Completed two websites - Layout, design and copy
Added 2,000 words to the recently-neglected imposter syndrome book
Created a handful of digital drawings using my new drawing tablet
Continued experimenting with the Racing Mentor Instagram
Read three novels
Hosted a Racing Mentor webinar
Put plans in place for a Racing Mentor website redesign
So if you’re struggling with motivation, especially on your own projects, try just following your flow. Do the things you want to do rather than following a set structure — this works really well if you don’t have any firm deadlines.
I’m going to keep doing this as it seems to be working for me. I’ll report back in the coming weeks.
Social Experiment
Updating my Instagram feed and being more consistent with posting is definitely helping with engagement but I’ve been trying to offer extra value through my Instagram captions too.
Instead of just posting a quote or image, I’m adding helpful tips or a story below the image. As Racing Mentor is very information-based, this makes sense because it allows me to educate my readers while posting on-brand images.
If you use Instagram for business or your personal brand, how are you using captions?
Jess Recommends
📖 Read: The Four-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss — This book changed my life. It puts into place all the principles for efficient working with plenty of automation and outsourcing. If you want to live a rich life, run an efficient business, or just make more of your time, this is the book for you.
🎧 Listen: Daily Affirmations — Listening to affirmations in the morning is the secret to a productive day, for me, at least. I’ve linked to the one I go back most days but there are so many options out there (look on YouTube and Spotify). I’d encourage you to find the affirmations that are right for you and experiment over a few days to see what works for you. Use with headphones, if you can, and try not to do anything else while you listen.
💌 Subscribe: Behind the Wheel — This is a newsletter I set up to showcase the people behind the cars. The automotive industry and Car Twitter are great places to be but I feel the focus is often too much on the cars when there are so many great personalities behind them. The newsletter goes out once a week (most weeks…) and features insider info, lovely people, lots of pictures of cars, and plenty of driving road recommendations.
Win of the Week
I want you to share your wins with me. So please reply to this email and tell me what’s going well for you.
This week, I got my hands on a Zelo journal at the recommendation of one of my racing drivers. The last three days have been pure productivity and it might be the first time ever I’ve checked off everything on my to-do list three days in a row!
This newsletter is an experiment. I hope you found it interesting. I’d love to get your feedback so if you have something to say, hit reply to this email.
If you think a friend might find it interesting, feel free to share it and encourage them to subscribe.