Birth of an Entrepreneur

I procrastinate too much. I had such big plans for the weeks between the summer holidays and the start of my tutoring (about 5 weeks) and, now I am literally days from starting up tutoring again, I have achieved practically nothing!

This has made me reflect on the past few weeks and try to get to the bottom of why I have stagnated and made so little progress. Here’s what I have found:

1. I prioritise my downtime over everything else. As someone who has struggled with mild depression on and off for years, “taking care of myself” has become an important factor in my life. But I’m now overcompensating and using that as a reason (excuse) not to move forward. Making progress is what is going to make me feel empowered and successful. Not more episodes of Star Trek Deep Space Nine on Netflix!
2. In a similar vein, I view anything that isn’t sitting on my butt relaxing as “work”. Turning on my laptop to finish creating a tutorial video, or start a new study pack I can sell, feels too laborious. That mindset needs to change!
3. Because my day job as a teacher is demanding, and because I spend the rest of my time parenting a two and half year old, I tell myself I deserve a little R&R, some time to recharge my battery. What I have realised is that this is my SOCIAL battery. The time spent making progress on my business(es) can be downtime. I can have my music on and I don’t have to talk to anyone. Plus, I get to sit on my butt while I do it!
4. I’ve been front-loading my downtime. I know I’m going to be much busier from about mid-September as my tutoring business starts up again, so I’ve been relaxing as much as possible “while I have the chance”. Frittering away time now (late August) will not make me feel more rested in October. Quite the opposite, in fact!

So, it is clear I need to pull my finger out. I need small gains and quick successes to spur me on. I need to pick small tasks I’ve been putting off, and just get them done. Then, I’ll have the motivation to keep going with the bigger tasks.

I also need to start using downtime as a reward rather than an obstacle. I don’t need to binge three episodes of DS9 of an evening. Instead, I can watch one after a successful evening building my business.

Before anything else, though, I need to make myself accountable. I need to create a timetable and stick to it. At the moment, I only work when I feel like it, which clearly isn’t often enough! I need to be accountable, even if only to myself. I’ll post it on here as well.

They say if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life. I know that I’ll love building my own business and working for myself. I know that I’ll love turning my ideas into reality.

All that remains now is to do it. Now!