Letters of a Hugh Sam #7 (07/31/2019)
If you're serious about it, treat it like a job.
Dear Reader,
Okay, I admit it, I probably have an unhealthy obsession with jobs (9 to 5s, baby) even though I don't have one or probably, because I don't have one.
I'm usually here bashing about jobs and how I hate them or how I would change them to make them better (s/o to last week's letter), but not today ! I'm actually going to address a rather positive aspect of jobs.
But before ! A Little Background !
I've always thought about myself as an Idea Guy and I hated it. Because not only did I do that with ideas, I also did it with habits and anything related to moving my life forward (yup, I was really good when it came to finishing anime series in a week, but not so much when it came to going to the gym 3 times a week).
After many many years (until like 2 weeks ago), I realized that throughout the years, I was never able to consistently stick with something no matter how bad I thought I wanted it except for two things.
My jobs (software developer and part-time jobs)
My sports (first badminton, then track, now back to badminton).
I mean obviously, the reason why I always stuck to my jobs is because well, I didn't want to get fired. But the reason why I stuck to my sports was a bit unknown and it came down to two factors that you can apply.
Make it a part of your very being
The first thing that really helped me is how I thought about myself doing sports. I wasn't someone who simply played badminton or ran track. I was a badminton player or a sprinter aka an athlete.
And athletes don't skip on practice because their friends want to go out or any non-urgent issue.
I think the reason this works is that when you think about it as an "activity" that you do, then skipping out is simply ditching that activity.
On the other side, when it's part of your being, you let yourself down because you have to ditch the image of you being an athlete (or whatever image is associate with your activity); which is a lot harder to do.
Treat it like a job
What I realized two weeks ago is that if you're really serious about something and you want to stick with it and continue doing it, then simply thinking about being serious is not enough. You literally have to take it seriously by treating it LIKE A JOB.
What does that mean exactly?
Juan: Schedule it ahead of time
What I LOVE about typical jobs is that everyone understands them.
While I was working, there is literally NO ONE that ever asked me to go eat out or do an activity between 9am to 4pm during the week because they KNEW that I was working and thus, couldn't possibly hang out.
The same has to apply to whatever thing you want to take seriously.
For instance, this whole summer, I was supposed to work on a project and I really wanted to take it seriously, but I also needed money and stuff so I figured that I would do it during my free time (which I had/have a lot of). Bad Idea.
During that time, I was pretty busy during the day working at Nike
then I would be tired so I would take a nap to take care of my health
then my friends or girlfriend would ask me to go out and since it's the summer, why not
then I would have badminton practice
then I'd watch some anime/fb/youtube/netflix to relax
then it's bedtime.
BOOM. Just like that, the day is over and I did absolutely nothing productive.
When your schedule has free time, you tend to fill it up with "fun" stuff, not with "hard" stuff. Straight FACTS - Nick
So now instead, I changed my availabilities at Nike saying that I had another job (partly true now that I'm treating it like a job 😉🙊) and in my Google Calendar, I have blocks of time allotted to my project.
The last step, for me, was super crucial. There's something harder about physically having your phone say to you "TIME FOR PROJECT" vs just saying in your head "time for project..... or another episode !" LOL.
TOO: Tell everyone about it
I mean if you had some free time before and don't anymore without telling your friends, you can't blame them for trying to invite you somewhere.
That's why, you should tell them and while you do, make sure you put emphasis on how important this is to you. If they're good friends, they should understand, if not well... Bye Felicia !
TREE: Only skip if your boss would let you skip
Of course, in life, there are some emergencies and that's why at work you have sick days, personal days, paid time-off, unpaid time-off, etc.
So a cool trick that I have is to visualize yourself saying it to a fake boss.
For instance, if I'm feeling sick, can't even stand straight and my head hurts, then I wouldn't feel like a fool telling this to my boss.
But if I really want to watch that next Brooklyn Nine-Nine episode then, it'd feel really silly saying like "hey, can I just take a few minutes off of work, I really want to watch this next episode"..... Yeah, I don't think so, buddy.
And that's that ! If you ever want to treat something seriously, then treat it like a job !
Note:
This only really works if you really want to take something seriously. A lot of times, the reason why I'm not able to stick with something is because I don't really want to do it or because it's not the right activity for me.
The first step would probably be to determine how serious you want to be with said activity.
💥 Positive Impact Company : Brandlucent
Brandlucent is a montreal-based branding company. Pretty boring compared to my other PPCs right? NO ! I would urge you to click on the link and visit their website because their message is totally geared towards what I love. Authenticity, staying true to oneself and website that speak for the company (so not just click bait)
A lot of branding companies (and marketing) try to help companies by selling them what's hot and although some techniques might work in the short term, but not in the long term. I believe the long term game is about finding why your company exists and then blasting it so that people find you.
I also like their word play. Brandlucent = Brand + Translucent. I see what you did there.
📌 Action item(s) :
Well this is pretty easy, I laid out juan, too and tree action items in my newsletter, but just in case, let me repeat them here !
Take something you want to seriously stick too and
Put some allotted time blocks in your weekly schedule for that activity.
Tell everyone that your schedule changed so that they respect your time.
Do that activity.
If you ever feel like skipping, try imagining telling the excuse to your boss and see if you feel silly saying it, or not.
PEACE.
Hey you ! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this week's letter.
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Also, if you like something in the articles or simply want to discuss with me or give me some constructive feedback, feel free to email me @ onlythetruenjhs@gmail.com
We'll talk more next Wednesday, until then, have a nice week ! ✌️
— Nicholas