This is my 26th episode! If I'm doing my math right (and please don't burst my bubble if I'm not!), I've been podcasting for 6 months now. Half a year! That's pretty amazing, for a few different reasons.
One of those reasons is that I'm not good at doing anything very consistently over long periods of time. I'm really good at starting things. I love to dig in and learn new things and figure stuff out. I'm very project oriented. I even like finishing things, actually.
But, I don't like to maintain things. For example, I love to plan a garden, figure out all the kinds of flowers and vegetables I want and where to put them. Create the space. Shop for plants and muck around in the dirt planting them.
But. Then. Then comes the weeding and the maintenance. This is when it becomes real work for me to keep going. I'm a much better garden planner and creator than an actual gardener.
A little over a year ago, I learned that this tendency of mine wasn't just a massive flaw, as I had always thought. I learned that there are a whole group of people in the world wired to be this way. Wired to want to learn in a a variety of vastly different disciplines and curious about a whole host of things. It goes by a variety of terms like polymath, scanner, multipotentialite. And there are different types within these, but I fall solidly in that camp. A friend once called me a skill collector. She said that she was always amazed to find out I knew about or could do one more thing that was very different than anything she knew about me before. And she's right. It's a good description.
But, it means that doing things like this podcast...a long term, open-ended commitment with a consistent publishing schedule...is not a strong suit for me. That was my biggest concern when I began this podcast. That I'd get it figured out, do it for awhile and then become bored pretty easily and want to move on. But, it's been easier to maintain than I expected and I thought I'd share why.
Three Tips for Turning Difficult Things Into Success
First, I chose a topic that would cover a wide variety of interests related to what I'm learning and going through on a weekly basis, which changes all the time. This means that while I still have to maintain a consistent schedule, I don't have to talk to you about marketing every week forever and ever amen. Being able to talk about a variety of different things helps me maintain interest. If you're faced with a task, project or responsibility that has elements of things that you aren't good at, look for ways to bring things you ARE good at into the task. Look for ways you can bring your strengths to the project to make it a better fit.
One of the reasons I linked the podcast to my art was to give myself a deadline for being in the studio each week. For producing at least one piece a week. Some weeks I may do more, but this holds me accountable for at least one which will accumulate to 52 in the course of a year. That goal is important to me. It adds a ton of work to the podcast process. but the studio time is important in and of itself. The podcast functions as incentive. So, your next takeaway is to link difficult tasks to something you find valuable; to something you really, really want to accomplish.
Is your goal losing weight? And your Achilles heel is sugar (like mine)? What reason to lose weight is so important to you that it will help you choose to not pick up the Girl Scout Cookies. Well. there may be nothing quite that emotionally powerful, but you get my point. Find a "why" that's meaningful enough to drive your everyday actions.
The other thing that I've done is to make the podcast part of my weekly routines. On a good week, I've written most of it on Monday and Tuesday and done the art on Tuesday and Wednesday. I record and edit Wednesday night. Thursday and Friday are for all the follow up work to get the show delivered to you. I have Saturday off and Sunday I'm starting to do some of the pre-thinking that happens before the research and/or writing.
I do have to admit, there have been entirely too many weeks in the last few months that I've been writing on Friday night and working through the weekend, but the norm has been to absorb it into my weekday schedule. For example, I generally record Wednesday night in the car while my son is in an art class. Because that time is set aside and consistent already, it gives me a concrete goal and helps drive the schedule. It also keeps me from shopping during that time period, which is a bonus win for my budget.
So, if you have a project, task or responsibility that you're struggling with, that has elements that are difficult for you, that requires you to function in an area of weakness, I've given you three ways to help turn it into a success.
- Look for ways to bring your strengths into the task.
- Find a really strong why that motivates you.
- Work the project into your routines and habits. Link it to things you already do so that it becomes part of your lifestyle.
Episode Artwork
In the art this week, I'm celebrating Spring flowers. Our world in the South is full of blooming cherry blossoms, redbuds, dogwoods and tulips this week. It's so pretty! So, I was thinking about the three things I mentioned above and how I could apply them to gardening...because I do actually want a garden this summer.
How can I bring my strengths into the process of maintaining the garden? Weeding is my downfall. But, I'm a great researcher. I need to figure out the best way to keep weeds down with a minimal of ongoing effort on my part. This is probably the hardest item to apply in this instance.
My why is more effective, though. I love having fresh vegetables right outside my door. I need to remember how much I love picking peppers that I can carry in and drop in a pan (to saute with onions and serve with my eggs). I also would love to have fresh flowers to cut, enjoy, photograph and paint.
How can I work the gardening tasks into my routine? This is probably the thing that would create the biggest difference in my gardening success. I walk my dog every morning when we get up. If I stopped for 5 minutes every day and weeded before I came back to the house, I'll bet I could keep up with it. And it's the best time of day here because it's the coolest.
So, that's my plan. If I can find a weekend to do the big work very soon, maybe we'll have peppers and tomatoes this summer!