For as long as I can remember, I've ALWAYS been a morning person. ALWAYS. That was when I was most productive!
I mean some people can work all through the night...but back in the day, it just wasn't my thing. Fast forward to me living in Atlanta... I've now found that my habits and patterns have totally changed.
Sure, I still pitch up in the morning at the first ring of my alarm, and I'm still super productive at the earliest hours of the morning, but lately, I've found myself fighting for more hours and staying up wayyy later just to get stuff done.
Maybe it's that I'm older and therefore experiencing a shift in behavior (which is to be expected). But even then, it's odd for me to JUST be shutting down between the hours of 12 pm-3 am.
The worst part is that with all the extra hours I've added to my life this year, I still feel like I need more time to complete my tasks! At one point, my mornings had me totally overwhelmed with all the things I wanted to and had to get done. No matter what I did, I still felt overloaded. Yea... I'd be further ahead than I would've been if I hadn't stayed up late the night before, but I woke up mentally drained and too emotionally exhausted to do anything else but lay in my bed at the end of the day praying to be more productive tomorrow.
This thought process made me miserable and I had to stop and ask myself WTF was I doing?
What made me continue to allow myself to live in this cycle of overworking and feeling guilty for not producing as much as I intended?
I mean I know I have a Type-A personality, but what was the reason for pushing myself to a breaking point every single day?
That's when I realized I let the "noise" of what everyone else is doing around me and the idea that I could handle 20,000 things at once, trick me into believing that I wasn't giving my best when I didn't produce results fast enough.
It was at that moment I decided, I needed to do more to notice the fruits of my labour.
And then I quickly realized that my Type-A personality had struck once again!
That was NOT the right answer.
Funnily enough, the day after I decided my "work" wasn't working for me... I got a call that what I was doing WAS WORKING AND PRODUCING GREAT RESULTS.
So to everyone (including myself) who's struggling with feeling like they're not doing enough or working hard enough
...Screw those thoughts!
Your work, your hours, your time ARE PAYING OFF even if you don't see it yet.
Give yourself a break (you deserve it!), and take a moment to relax.
You need that time re-charge so you can pick back up with the same momentum to excel tomorrow. Stop looking at what's going on around you or paying attention to what other people are doing! And don't worry if they achieve their goals or reach their milestones before you.
Because what they accomplish DOES NOT CANCEL WHAT YOU'RE DOING!
Simply stay your course.
We all have different processes, stories, lanes, and timelines. You never know when the fruits of your labour will show up, so trust in YOUR ABILITIES AND YOUR HARD WORK ETHIC!
Don't let the noise make you feel less than you are. Just be patient with yourself and enjoy your journey because one day you'll be telling your story and inspiring so many more workers who come behind you!