Sunday, March 23, 2014

Channeling Your Energy Productively

I am often so tied up in looking to, worrying about, and planning for the future that I have trouble living in the present. This has to lead to hours of research during my college career that should've been used to complete my homework, plan, etc. My best advice for those who deal with worrying about the future is to:

1. Make a list. Instead of driving yourself bozo trying to research every last detail, write down all your thoughts about the topic and put it away until you can really invest time into searching for it.

2. Contact People.
The internet can only tell you so much about a topic, program, experience. The people who can really give you all the details are the people who have been through it themselves. Use your social media stalking skills to find the people you need to talk to. I cannot count the number of people I have messaged on LinkedIn to find out more about a topic. Set up informational interviews with people. Do what it takes to find out what you need to know, instead of wasting your time on an interview for a job, position, or program that doesn't work for you.

3. Remember that there is a reason you're doing what you're doing.
The more you start to think about your goals, the more behind you may begin to feel, but remember there are reasons you are doing what you're doing right now, and usually its because you are working toward your goals already. I recently had the chance to interview the professor who oversees the greenhouse at my college.  I was trying to get one takeaway from him to use my article that people would read and think, "Wow the greenhouse is important." Although he had already told me what research  had been accomplished he rephrased it in a way that helped me to appreciate what his team had done. He explained that what they had done was add a building block to the structure of the extensive research on this group of plants. Although the team had not made any astounding discoveries, they were contributing to a larger framework. Often our daily activities are not particularly astounding, but they are contributing to the framework of our success. So take a step back from your work, but then get back to it and remember that the mundane tasks you're investing in now are building your future.