This few days and week is quite a busy week for me. I feel like a lot of things coming in at the same time and it feels overwhelming. Have you ever feel that feeling? Or are you experiencing that also at the moment? I would think that most of the time, we always feel so busy with what we need to do so that we can’t do anything else. Is that true?

Most common answer that I heard, including my answer, is that’s true. Often times I feel that I can do nothing about it. Recently this thinking strike my thought, that there are some misconception that I have, that you might have it too, that makes me think like a victim.

Here are common misconception about what we want to do
1. We don’t have time.
This is true in most cases because when you think about doing something, you’ll think a block of time specially for something. If you are a mom with a new born, you might say that you need to feed the baby, wash the baby, clean the house, prepare dinner, etc. There’s no more time left to do anything else or even to sleep. For you who are working full time, you spent at least 8 hours at work, plus the commute that you need to do, it is hard to spare some time to do anything else, right?

2. You can do what you need to when you need it to be done.
Sometimes you feel optimistic plus a bit perfectionists when you think this way. It might be only me, that most of the time, I like to think I’m in control in everything I do. But in reality, other things takes precedence in the things that I need to do.

3. It depends on the mood
Just like art, we need to have the perfect mood and time for us to do it. If I come too tired, I won’t be able to do it. Have you felt that way? This misconception will give you tons of reason on why it is right for you not to do it. Which is apparently a wrong thing.

Have you feel that way? Those are 3 things that might occur in your thought. Especially when you want to improve yourself. There always be something that seems requires your attention and give you reason not to improve your life. This is normal as when you want to go up, life will pull you down. And that’s the reason why it worth the effort. Nothing in life that is good for you will be easy. If you think that it’s not that case for you, I would say that somebody else has done the hard work for you.

From those misconception, there are 3 mindsets and/or steps that you can do to encounter the misconception.
1. We have more than enough resources on our hand.
I’m not talking about money or time only. It can be anything. When you think in a deficit, you won’t be able to find solution on what should be done. Most of the time, it is hard for me to think of any day that I can spare 1 hour for exercise or to read books for my self development. But I’m almost certain I can find at least one 15 minute block of time to exercise or to read a book. And since I’m commuting on public transport, I have 20 minutes time to learn something to improve my skill. Knowing that I have enough resources to use, I can be creative on how to spend and plan what to do.

2. You can’t remember everything at the same time.
I don’t think I ever met somebody that can remember everything. If you are that person, can you see somebody else like you? I believe that most likely you are the outlier. Most people falls to category that they will have something slipped from their mind. So, I know you might think positively that you can do this, but in reality, you need some help to contain and to remind you on what to do. I know we should have train our brain to work harder but I found that I don’t have the same memory capacity like those people in the past we need some help and that’s okay. By doing this, it makes our mind to remember more important things and let other tools to remind you. I remember a quote about this “what gets schedule gets done” – David Allen. basically spread your mind bits somewhere else, so that you will get that information faster when you needed it.

3. There’s no such things as perfect world
You might think that in order for you to do things, you need to have several things in order before you can do things. But in reality, you will find it hard to get everything right. Perfectionism is another form of procrastination. Sometimes even when you don’t have the mood for it, set a time to do it and do it. By doing that, you’ll have higher chance of doing it. You might not have a huge chunk of time to do something, but you can spread out the timing whenever possible. I was planning to do exercise for about 15 minutes a day in the past and it seems that even 15 minutes is not possible. so what I did, I set a time of 25 – 30 minutes to do what i need to do, and then do 2 minutes exercise. Not to hard, but some light exercise, at the end of the day, I have about 30 minutes of exercise in that day. Think creatively on how you would tackle the situation. it’s the same like cooking. I would think you might not able to cook 3 dishes everyday for dinner, but you can cook 4 dishes in a day that you could spread for 3 days or cook a simple meal in 10 minutes. I’m sure a lot of people has share some ideas on how to think creatively on many other dream that you have.

I’m not sure what kind of situation you’re in at the moment. You might think that you can’t add more things to your busy schedule or you want to spend some time, but it seems impossible. Trust me, you have more than you think. By knowing that, you can be creative in managing what you have. If you think in deficit, you’ll feel that there’s nothing that you can do. Think in what you have and use it wisely. By doing that, you’ll add value to your life and you’ll able to improve your life. Remember these 3 mindsets. These are just some things that might spark your creative side.

Question: What other misconception that might exist in your mind? Share it with us, so that we can encourage one another.

“Think from what you have, and then you can do something about it. Think from what you don’t have, then you can do nothing about it” – Anonymous