Does your mind wander to other things or the bigger picture while doing a task, leaving you overwhelmed?
If yes, then same pinch!
Even as I’m writing this for my blog which has no readership, I’m wondering who will read this, how this fits in my niche or if anyone even cares about this topic. If not those, then my mind is telling me about 117 other pressing tasks that need to be completed immediately.
Either way, I find myself distracted and overwhelmed. It’s been a challenge to stay focused on the task at hand and why I want to do that task in the first place.
This is true for everything I do. My freelance work, my content creation, and even my free time.
There is a sense of rush and a need to chase vanity results. What they do is make the tasks that I otherwise enjoy doing just for the love of it more stressful and daunting. As I noticed that it’s affecting every aspect of my day, I decided to take steps to remedy this and one simple step I took worked like magic!
Harnessing the Power of Intention Setting
The secret to changing your life is in your intentions. Wishing, hoping and goal setting cannot accomplish change without intention. What is needed is a shift from the inert energy of wanting to the active energy of doing and intention.
Wayne Dyer
I think our problem is that we operate from a place of wishes and goals, which are mostly big and seem very far away. While it’s great to have them, they make the smaller tasks (the building blocks of the goals) seem insignificant and worthless. So, motivation and interest to do these tasks take a huge hit and in the end the entire dream castle comes crashing down.
That’s why we need to focus on the intention.
While I hope my blog grows and makes me money someday, my purpose with this blog is to share my journey living a curious and joyful life and my lessons from it. This is both my medium of documentation and sharing my experiences.
Somehow I always find myself focusing more on the hope of growing than my purpose behind the blog and it always leaves me with very less motivation.
So, I started thinking how to set the intention right everytime I sit to write. And I came up with the idea of Intention Prayers.
Intention Setting Prayers
I have done intention setting before but as a one-time-a-day thing in my morning journal. It was really helpful but the current needs are a bit different. There are 4 parts of my day that I need to be more intentional about, so instead of one intention-setting exercise in the morning, I chose to create Intention Prayers for each of these parts to help me stay focused on why I’m doing what I’m doing.
I recite these Intention Prayers 3 times out loud at the beginning of each part.
Part 1 – My Writing Time
It’s an hour every morning that I have set aside for writing. The idea is to put my thoughts and perspectives into words. They can be for my Instagram scripts, Substack newsletter or this blog.
The Problem: Because I know they have to eventually make it into these platforms, I tend to critique even as I write and that is stifling. What I needed was to write judgment-free and just express myself.
The Writing Block Prayer
Part 2 – My Freelance Work Time
I have taken up minimal projects so there is enough time to focus on my creative pursuits. So, on most days, if I give it a focused 3 hours I will be done with my work.
The Problem: Work expands to the time you give it. And because the entire day is there for me to do as I please, I tend to procrastinate and give in to distractions a lot. Which ultimately serves as an excuse for me not spending proper time on my creative tasks.
The Work Block Prayer
Part 3 – My Creation Time
This Piqued Pilgrim is a brand that I’m trying to grow online. Currently, I’m focused on 3 channels – Instagram, Substack and Blog. Putting out content on these channels needs time and effort regularly for which I have reserved 3 hours every day.
The Problem: I find myself getting preoccupied with the metrics, engagement and worrying about growth. This makes creating each piece stressful because you don’t know what will and will not work with your audience and the algorithm. That guessing game is pointless and tiring. I need to be focusing on the purpose of Piqued Pilgrim.
The Piqued Pilgrim Prayer
Part 4 – My Winding Down Time
Since I could always be doing more as a solopreneur, I feel like I SHOULD BE doing more. All the time!
The Problem: I’m too wound up to wind down and let myself play. Most of the days I struggle to shut off my work brain and end up not doing things that would recharge me.
The Wind Down Prayer
It has been 3 weeks since I started this practice and it has made it easier for me to put aside the mental chatter and pressure. I find myself going into each part with more clarity and less distraction. Overall, my productivity has increased in my work and I have actually been able to wind down!
PS: I don’t follow this strictly every day. Some days, I have not been able to write a word or focus on my freelance work even after the Intention Prayer. On some days, I don’t feel like reciting the Intention Prayer. I allow myself those down times and try my best to get back as soon as possible.
