Living in the present is for chumps
I’m trying not to be one anymore.
Obviously, I’m not referring to what we mean when we say “live in the moment”.
There are studies that I am far too lazy to find that show that living in the moment can bring you a greater quality of life. I’m not here to dispute that.
I’m talking exclusively about your business life.
This is something I’ve always had a hard time with. And I know a lot of freelancers, solopreneurs, and creators have this problem too.
Here’s the situation: you have an idea to start a business. You get all excited, start planning, come up with a name, make a logo, and register on all social media platforms. Then you start creating whatever it is you are going to be selling.
Then, you remember that there’s marketing to do as well. And what about the website? Have you fulfilled all the legal requirements? How is building your community going?
And every time you try to work on one thing, you remember there is something else just as important that needs to be done. Now you are trying to juggle doing five things at the same time and cook dinner.
If you’ve ever been through this, you know what I’m talking about. Here’s the solution I’m trying.
Live one month in the future.
Honestly, the amount of time is arbitrary. I’m trying out using a one-month timeframe because it allows time to deal with any surprises, but is close enough that whatever I’m doing isn’t old or irrelevant.
But this means that everything I’m working on today is only “going live” in a month. Yes, this includes this post.
In a world that expects you to be productive 24/7, this is the way I’ve found to maintain the productivity the algorithm demands while maintaining my sanity as a human being. I can take my time to do things right, and have the downtime I need, without the pressure of “I need to do something today to keep relevant”. Because the work for today is already done.
This is especially true in regards to work that involves content creation. When you have to post every day to make sure your content is picked up and your scores don’t fall, it is a lot of pressure to create content for that same day. If anything goes wrong, you could have months of work hurt because you missed one day.
I know, this isn’t something new.
This concept is as old as the demand for constant productivity. Content creators especially have been using this concept forever.
I’ve known for a long time that this was the correct way to go about things. but the urge for instant gratification has always been greater. The need to show off my work immediately has led me to burnout after burnout. This brings me to the reason I’m doing this in the first place.
Doing this helps to avoid burning out.
Working a month ahead means none of your problems are immediate. So there is none of the pressure to fix everything now or lose everything you worked for.
You have an entire month to deal with your problems. That means you can afford to take the weekends off. Or go to that social event on Friday. Or sleep at 9 p.m. on Tuesday because you feel really tired.
Or, most importantly, take the time to rest properly without worries when you get sick.
I know I bring this up a lot in my posts but as someone with a neurological issue that causes me to be physically stressed even if I’m not emotionally stressed, this is a huge deal. I will always have to deal with burnout cycles but being able to make them less intense and not as frequent is essential.
This is the main reason why I’m finally switching over. After all, it’s not easy to start a company while working a full-time job, taking care of a house, a dog, and still fulfilling all the social obligations there are. Even if there are fewer due to Covid.
So having time to deal with what comes is crucial. Because after all, what’s the point of killing yourself to build something you won't enjoy when you are done?
If you have any comments or thoughts about this issue, feel free to get in touch and let me know. And follow Growing Pains for more content about my journey in starting a new business. I’m documenting everything as I go, and hopefully, you can learn from my mistakes so you don’t make them as well.
