Do what you are.
I have to admit I was skeptical when my PTSD therapist assigned me the task of writing about my experiences on the blog for two months as an exercise in injury recovery. The intent was to clear my mind of the negative impact of the accident and my injuries to make space for returning to work with a clearer head in 2015.
I would listen to her talk about the potential healing benefits but still found myself putting it off for weeks. It just didn’t seem logical to bring to the forefront everything I was trying to put behind me. More honestly, I was afraid to start the process and didn’t have faith it would work or be remotely healing.
Until one session when I simply reached the tipping point. I realized I would not be able to go further in any direction, personal or professional, until I dealt with my fear about putting words to the experiences I’d been having, how I felt about it all and, more importantly, what I’d learned along the way.
I also realized the only way to be fearless is to know what fear feels like. And the only way to take back your power is to confront fear directly.
There were many times I wished I hadn’t agreed to the experiment or committed to doing two full cycles (months) of writing about it. I am so glad this post is the last of the series. However, I’m pleased to share that this crazy experiment worked! With each post, I could feel my strength and hope returning little by little. And with it, little glimpses of the pre-accident me became visible. (I feared I might have been lost forever.)
Now I have earned a reward for having faithfully kept my commitment. I’ll be taking the next month (November) off from posting to the blog. If I’m able to make a sufficient recovery during the hiatus, I will return to writing in mid-December. If it turns out I need a bit more time, I will postpone my return until January.
In the interim, I wanted to share my go-to formula for perfect productivity. Based on real science. I love it and I think you will enjoy experimenting with it too if you haven’t learned about and tried it already. (I first shared this formula in the ProductivityZen program but many of you are new to the SMARTSTART Community and may have missed that course.)
It might seem counter-intuitive to work fewer minutes per hour as a strategy for becoming more productive just as my writing assignment seemed the least likely activity to help me overcome my injury-related challenges. Still, I encourage you to keep an open mind (like I did with the therapeutic writing exercise) and experiment with the formula for two months just to see what happens.
I think you’ll be amazed by the great results you experience. In fact, you may just want to make it your new way of working! Think of it as a form of “business therapy“. PTSD not required. 🙂
More next time. Until then, remember to LOVE YOUR WORK, whatever it may be.
PS I hope you’ll find the new RAISING THE BAR series inspiring. If so, please share this post with friends and followers. You never know what burdens others are carrying or how much their load might be made lighter by doing so. ♥♥♥
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ABOUT RAISING THE BAR:
Raising The Bar is a new series for the SMARTSTART community that has been taking shape in my head for most of the time I’ve spent working to recover from catastrophic brain, spinal cord and psychological injuries resulting from a near fatal accident in 2009. Success, whether it’s in rehab, business, relationships, or life, hinges on our ability to master this simple formula: Belief (B) + Attitude (A) = Response (R).
I’m excited to be sharing it with you now as a next step in my injury recovery. Consider this your invitation to join me on a grand adventure. Oh, the places we will go! Including all the places that scare us most. For that is where the greatest opportunities for joy and happiness — the true measures of success — reside!