More Advice from Sam Bennett's "Get It Done"

I can’t believe it’s November. I have already heard “All I Want for Christmas is You” The scariest stuff happens right after Halloween, am I right? Anyway, I’m so busy with several WIPs, my Happiness Project, my book club, my poetry group, and making Christmas presents for about thirty people. Oh yeah and this blog. And today we’re going back to Get It Done because if anyone is good at saving time and being productive its Sam Bennett:

• “Deadlines inspire us to action, they set our wheels spinning and they let us know when we’re slacking off”

• 
  

I love deadlines. I crave deadlines. I did very well in school because I respected deadlines. Students often flail when they get to college because their teachers will give one deadline (usually one big project or paper at the end of the semester) without the baby steps that were given to them in high school. I quickly set reminders and deadlines in my planner (to be in college you need a planner) so I broke up the due dates into a bunch of mini deadlines and my work was always completed in time. 

• “Your creative life is never going to take precedence over your everyday life unless you make it happen”

I was very busy in college. I did four sports simultaneously, wrote for the school newspaper, was involved in politics as well as taking maximum credits. But I made time to work on a project that was both soothing and stimulating to me: an illustrated poetry book. Because I can’t draw, I’d print out silhouettes and I would trace the silhouettes to make a drawing. My parents bought me special colored pencils. I would print out the poems and decorate the area around it. Maybe I missed out on some inside jokes or late night runs to grab chick-fil-a with my friends but they were a small price for creating something that made me feel good about myself.

• “After all, just because a person can make something work doesn’t mean she should”

Something I’m learning to delight in is saying “no”. Sometimes its just a bad time, sometimes I really don’t want to do it, I can now turn down collaborations, dinner plans and party invitations. My priority is my mental (and physical) health. If I don’t think I’d be very fun because I’m stressed out or tired, why would I want to inflict that on other people? 

• “It’s never too late to educate people on how to treat you”

I used to be kind of a doormat. Not even kind of. I was a doormat. I took bullying and abuse from alot of people. I was afraid to offend people by standing up for myself. In 2019 I ended a very toxic relationship. I was terrified to do it and afraid he would retaliate but I knew I had to get out, plus I had distance and parents to protect me. So I gathered up all my courage and did the right thing. I immediately fell into a FWB relationship with one of my friends. This was also an unhealthy experience since he only used me for sex and then just ghosted me. Years later he texted me and apologized but I was having none of it. I shut him down. From now on I’ll only date boys who treat me right. From now on I won’t tolerate any form of abuse even from people who pretend to be my friend (you know who you are).

• “Instead think of what’s working for you in your space and not working”

My space is….limited. And it doesn’t really work. At all. I’m pretty messy. And I have alot of craft supplies- stamps, stencils, Distress Ink supplies, Alcohol Ink supplies, stickers, and a whole bunch of stuff that I’m not even sure what it is. My desk is constantly cluttered with another project. Sometimes it creeps downstairs. Like we have an entire table in the dining room dedicated to my Diamond Art. That is all what is not working. What is working is I have a separate corner for  my library books. Yeah, that might be stretching it a little but I’m desperate here.

• “Here’s the simplest way to sift through your belongings. Ask yourself “Do I use it? Do I love it?” If you love it, then keep it. If you don’t, out it goes. End of story

”

It is definitely the simplest way.  But for me it might not be the most effective. I might stare at an object for a full ten minutes before deciding what to do with it- and even then I might not know. I think  I have a block in my brain when it comes to throwing things out. There is a link between OCD and hoarding which I addressed very early on in my blog. I don’t think I’m a hoarder as I explained then. But I think I have a hoarding tendency. In high school I used to hold onto packs of empty pens. I didn’t love them. And I didn’t use them. Good thing I got rid of them eventually.

• “There is a big myth that hanging on to clothes that are too small for you is a good incentive to lose weight. Guess what- it’s not”

• 
  

What?????? That’s a myth?? I really hoped that was true because I  have so many beautiful clothes from when I was a smaller size. Since I’m the fattest I’ve ever been I always look like a sausage in my clothes. I want to get new clothes but hang on to the old ones because they represent memories and hold for me the possibility that maybe….just maybe, I could get skinny one day. 

• “I pretend that things are okay with me when they arent”

I’m not very good at hiding when I’m upset. I get passive aggressive when I’m angry (sometimes sarcastic). If my feelings are hurt I will often start crying. Funnily enough I am a very good actor in plays and social deduction games like werewolf. I guess that doesn’t translate to real life.