Being Me – Erratic Frog

Your Life? Then “Life” It Your Way!

Dawn

I was always an outcast because of the way I looked and dressed growing up. For example, when I was younger I was overweight and that gave my peers a way to attack me. Growing up it felt like I was always the one who was different and didn’t fit in with the crowd. When it came time for somebody to be ridiculed and made fun of yours truly was the target. I always felt like I didn’t belong anywhere and there was a lot of depression and feeling of anxiety in my life. I was always the one who was alone, without friends in a state of unease.

There are points in our life where we have to make choices, they change the direction our lives go in. Right now, I could be writing something from the same point in my life as then. What a sad state it would have left me in, had I not been able to take that chance and change my course.

Today I am happy, and mentally healthier. I eventually learned to embrace who I was, that allowed me to find my own personal style. I realized that I didn’t need to fit in with everyone else or live up to their expectations of who I should be. I was unique and that was okay. In truth we are all unique. No two people are the same, no matter how hard they try to be, they can never achieve that goal. For me it meant that I started to dress how I wanted to dress. There was no need to style myself how everyone else wanted me to dress. I started to feel more confident in myself and empowered. At the same time I found my own voice. What I realized was that I was never really alone, I just hadn’t found my tribe yet. And while I say tribe, what I am really saying is that I found a place where I fit it. A tribe can be a group of two, you don’t need a big one. When I finally found my tribe, I felt like I belonged somewhere because those people I chose to share my time with understood me, they recognized me and my virtues, we allowed one another the freedom to be who they wanted to be and respected them for it. I felt like I had finally found a home to call my own.

This encouraged me to sit down and write out a couple of points that had become clear. I jotted them down in my diary so that I wouldn’t forget them. Those lines have been read so much since then that the page finally came loose one day. No matter, the words had become ingrained in me.

Remember:

If you live someone else’s version of your life, you will never be truly happy.

Living your life like somebody had planned for you is self-destructive and in the end impossible.

If you’re continually striving to be someone else, you’ll never be able to be yourself.

Don’t even attempt to be somebody else than who you are. Chances are good that the person you are trying to be is trying to be somebody else anyways.

You will never realize your greatest potential if you are not honest to yourself.

When you are so hooked up on who you want to be seen as you really can’t focus on what needs to be done.

You’ll never be able to find your own voice if you’re always attempting to sound like someone else.

Just like everything else that makes you who you are, your voice is important. Discover what it is and use it to express yourself.

If you are continuously following someone else’s style, you will never be able to find your own.

This adds up to your own personal style, your way of seeing, handling, and overcoming the world and the different things that it throws at you in your life.

If you’re continually trying to fit in with someone else’s tribe, you’ll never be able to find your own.

Are the cool kids keeping you out of their circle? Then why do you want admittance so badly? Find people who accept you for who you are.

You will never be truly happy if you do not become who you were born to be.

Everyone has a need to be who they are meant to be. Sometimes the person that stands in the way the most is one in the same. Stop standing in your way.

All of this allowed me to flourish both in my personal life and professionally. It finally allowed me to be true self and I was finally able to reach my full potential. Today I have no trouble finding my own voice and find pleasure in my own personal style.

For me, the first time I realized that I was free to make my own choices, I felt liberated in a way that is hard to put into words. And trust me, it has been years since that first epiphany and I have trued numerous times to take it down in words. The anxiety was gone and it felt like I could finally breathe. There is nothing like the feeling that you can be yourself without caring what anyone might think. I didn’t have to conform to anyone else’s standards or expectations of who or what I was. No. It isn’t an easy process getting there. But the reward is too great to avoid trying. The reward? Being able to dress how you want to dress, act how you want to act, and be who you want to be. Today that means I am finally free to be me. And just me. And you know what? I like being me!

How I Stay Focused: Sometimes

Dawn

When attempting to be productive, it is critical to maintain focus since it allows you to best organize your time, break down large tasks into smaller ones, and pause to recharge.

If you’re having trouble staying focused all day, there are several things you can try to help yourself. To begin, make a list of just about everything you must accomplish and keep it handy. This will assist you in staying focused on your priorities and avoiding distractions. Second, divide your projects into smaller, more achievable steps. This will make the task appear less daunting and will increase your chances of success. Finally, take frequent breaks to allow your mind to relax and regenerate. This will provide you with the energy you require to return to your responsibilities with fresh eyes.

Here Are My Three Easy Tricks to Stay on Track

Make a List of Everything You Need to Do

When you have a huge amount on your plate, it’s easy to become overwhelmed and lose sight of what’s most important. Making a list of all that needs to do throughout the day. Then keep referring to it when needed. This may mean that you are frequently looking at your list or you might need to only occasionally glance at it to stay on track. No matter what you need this will assist you in staying focused on your priorities and avoiding distractions.

Divide Your Work Into Smaller, More Manageable Chunks

Attempting to tackle a big task in one go can be intimidating and frustrating, and you are more likely to no get it done which can be discouraging.

A better strategy, one that helps you see your work progress, is to divide the task into smaller, more manageable pieces that you can work off the list. This will make this process appear less daunting, give you chance to pause, and in the end it will give you the best results.

Take Frequent Breaks to Allow Your Thoughts to Rest

When trying to stay focused, it’s critical to take frequent breaks. This will allow your mind to rest and your body to revitalize, allowing you to return to your tasks with renewed vigor.

You will be surprised how much you can get down and how easy it makes things feel when you employ these simple tricks.

Sure, it can sometimes be difficult to stay focused, especially when our lives are busy, but it is important to try to maintain a clear frame of mind and focus on what needs to be done. If you are having difficulty, take a break and return to your job at hand later. And most importantly, don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it.

When I Am Feeling Overwhelmed I Get Organized

Dawn

Since it is getting into the gloomy months a lot of my colleges have begun to complain about it being dark all of the time. Darkness does not bother me, but I can accept that some of us aren’t the nocturnal sort. So I decided to put together some of the things I do to stay focused during the day. These aren’t specific to a particular time of year by the way.

Don’t worry, if you’re having trouble staying focused at work, you’re not alone; we all get overwhelmed from time to time. It’s a common issue, particularly in this day and age of constant distractions and ever-increasing work loads.

But it is possible to overcome this obstacle and stay on track; you can even make the task itself easier, even in the midst of chaos, which does appear from time to time. Here are a few strategies I employ to maintain focus at work:

1. Get and Stay Organized

I know that it is a given, that it is easier said that done, but one of the best ways to stay focused is to get organized. And stay organized. This means having a place for everything and knowing where everything is. Stop looking for pens, your glasses, or the memo your boss gave you.

Start by de-cluttering your work space, keep only the things you need on your desk, get rid of anything that isn’t essential to your work. Then, create a simple system for organizing the things you do need so that once you are done with them they can be returned to there place where only they are stored.

The same things goes for the tasks that you need to complete during the day. Here you could start using a physical planner to keep track of your tasks, or using a digital to-do list app. This really depends on your type of job, I have used both and I think that the handwritten planner works the best (for me). Find what works best for you and stick with it.

2. Prioritize

There is no need to say that with a cluttered work space and a long to-do list, it can be hard to know where to start. That’s why it’s important to set priorities for the tasks you have to complete. Not everything is so important that it needs to be done right now. In fact you can schedule your day around the most important and then fit the others tasks in where they work the best.

That is why I take a few minutes at the beginning of each day to think about what needs to be done and what can wait. Then, I start with the most important tasks and work your way down.

3. Don’t Forget Yourself

It might seem counterintuitive, but taking breaks can actually help you stay focused, full of energy and give you a chance to reflect on what you have already accomplished. When you’re feeling overwhelmed or bogged down, a short break can give you the mental reset you need to power through trying chores.

All you really need to do is step away from your desk for a few minutes, take a walk or do something completely unrelated to work if you can. Just make sure you keep it brief – you don’t want your break to turn into a procrastination session which is all too easy when we have daunting tasks to complete.

4. Eliminate the Daily Distractions

In today’s world, distractions are ever present, in fact there are more distractions than ever before. And when you’re trying to stay focused, even the smallest distraction can throw you off course and waste a couple of hours before you manage (if you manage) to get back on course.

Eliminating distractions really isn’t that hard once you get the big one out of the way. That big one being your phone. Start by turning off your phone and putting it somewhere out of sight, I usually slide it in a drawer. Then, close any tabs on your computer that you don’t need for your current task. Try and limit it to two or three, this gives you an overview and you can close them before you begin your next item on the list.

I work in an open office. This in and over itself can be distracting. If you work in an open office, like me, consider using headphones to block out noise. And if you find yourself getting pulled into side conversations about topics that are not currently pressing for your attention, politely excuse yourself, then move to a different area.

5. Set a Time Limit

When you’re facing a large or challenging project you should limit the amount of time that you are willing to work on it in a single session. I like to take the big, challenging projects and break them up into small, bite sized pieces. These can then be put on the schedule in the morning and you can work them off as they come. When we try and do it all at once it is easy to loose the oversight and end up with more work than is necessary.

I hope that some of these items were helpful. When I was in my senior year of college I began to implemented them on the ever increasing workload. Since then I have been able to tackle even the biggest tasks satisfactorily.