Setting Priorities Right!
– Michael J. Fox
“Family is not an important thing. It’s everything.”
Just the last week, I was watching the latest one in the Fast and Furious series – Fast X.
I am a fan of the race and the chase and I love some of the unrealistic stunts in this franchise. But what I watch it the most for is the underlying mantra of the series.
And Dom (Dominic Toretto – the main Protagonist in the series) put it nicely – “Without Family, you have got nothing”.
Now you might be thinking, what has a car chase and family connections got to do with content creation and podcasting?
In fact, it has got everything to do with content creation!
I have always been proud of calling myself a workaholic. In fact, I would spend hours together working on content. Sometimes to the extent that I would even sacrifice my sleep.
I had been doing it for years and I found no problem doing it.
Until about 5 years back.
On that day, my little daughter had come to me about 4-5 times because she wanted to show me something. I was so busy with what I was doing, that I kept telling her, “I will be there in a minute, my dear”.
Hours went by and that minute never came.
She too didn’t come back to me after persistently doing it for about an hour.
I had to go out with some work and when I came back, there was a note on my desk with a big sad emoji on it.
It read, “Dad, I wanted some help with my mathematics. Whenever you will find “a minute” for me, please let me know and I will come”.
That coming from a 9-year-old meant, there was something big that I was missing.
And that’s “FAMILY“!
I had read about being organized, working on time management, productivity, etc., and the importance of putting systems in place.
But I never really felt the need for all of that.
Things were ok.
Things were going on.
Why disrupt something, when it was just fine?
What I never realized is that the “things are just FINE” was happening at the cost of my family time.
That day and that message from my daughter changed everything.
We as creators carry the burden of expectations – both our own and from others.
And that burden can make us work hard, real hard.
But it also means that we forget “me time” and “family time” and use up all of that to work hard on what we are doing -content creation!
Don’t do that.
Organize yourself.
Pick your work hours and non-work hours and give your family the importance it deserves.
Here are a few things that I suggest that every one of you creators should do –
- Pick one good tool to organize yourself and stay productive. I recommend Notion, but what you pick is entirely your choice. The point is that it shouldn’t be more than one tool.
- Whatever the size of what you are doing, structure it. Note down every single step involved in what you are doing. Then categorize it into broad categories like – Research, Brainstorming, Creating etc.
- On a calendar, slot out time for 2 things – Personal time (Non-work hours) and Work time (Work hours)
- Assign time slots to the broad categories you created.
- Block time slots for the tasks involved in each of those categories.
- Come what may, ensure that your work hours don’t encroach into your non-work hours
- Spend your non-work hours with the people who mean the most to you – your family. Play games, watch movies, read together, chat, and enjoy!
Remember, what you lose today by not spending time with your family can never be regained later.
Create, but Responsibly!
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Found on the internet
Here’s what I found on the internet this week.
Writing is something I have been learning for years and still I feel that there is so much more that I can learn from the best out there in writing.
This thread was an interesting read and had some really nice tips in it.
You might like it.
We often come across successful people who we think are overnight success stories. But what we don’t realize is that there were years and years of hard work that went into that overnight success story.
We just couldn’t see all of those years.
This post from Jay Clouse (I have been following him for some time now and his success story is worth reading), puts it in a nice way.
What am I reading?
The book that I moved on to mid-last week is an amazing read. This is the second time I am reading the book.
If you have ever had questions about why you think in a particular way, then this book answers that
Check out “Thinking Fast and Slow“!
That’s it for this week!
Do let me know your thoughts, feedback, and opinion about this newsletter.
