Beating procrastination (and feeling a weight lift)
Yesterday I did something I have been putting off for almost two years.
I’ve written it on endless lists, talked about it to friends, got opinions from people in the know, and worried about it every single time I’ve driven since I decided it would be a good idea to fix.
And yet it was only yesterday that I eventually managed to take Poppy down to Maldon and get her four new tyres.
Yeah. TWO YEARS.
Now while my old tyres weren’t (quite) illegal, neither were they performing brilliantly in the soggy weather we’ve had recently. Consequently I’ve been worrying about longer trips, and freaking out as soon as I realise it’s raining or icy outside, for the past two years. Not to mention driving people mad with the response “I’d love to, but let me check my tyre treads first…”
And yet it took me a five minute phone call to check the tyres were in stock, a twenty minute drive to a place I trust, 90 mins for them to strip, refit, fit my new alloys and redo the alignment on all four wheels, and a twenty minute drive home (with a two hour pitstop at my Gran’s for tea and biscuits). Less than a morning’s worth of work – and the moment I started her engine to leave the tyre fitter’s, I felt a huge weight literally float up off my shoulders.
So why did I put it off so long? I think it felt scary and expensive, and I think some fear got in there as well – what if I don’t know what to reply when they ask for sizes / what if I order the wrong ones / what if, what if, what if. All while also worrying constantly and subconsciously I was going to lose my licence for having sub-standard grip on my tyres if the police pulled me over. (turns out they were still legal, but close to the limit – so all my worrying was quite literally for no reason.)
And yet to beat that epic round of procrastination, all it took in the end was a reminder from my friend Nic, a phone call, and a few hours on a Saturday morning, and now I can relax and enjoy driving my car again. I feel good, and also slightly sheepish.
A lesson I’m hoping to take into other parts of my life – I can think of another few things that get nudged from one list to another endlessly, and build up to be something more than they are – when they’d probably only actually take a little while to remove from my job list entirely.
What do you needlessly procrastinate about? (Go on, share your stories and make me feel better…!)
With love and unicorns,
PS The garage I used was George Tyres in Maldon – highly recommended (and sensibly priced, as well as very reassuring), if you’re in the area 🙂
Creating A Magical Life – the Dream Board
It’s no secret that I’m a great believer in talismans – visual or physical (or both) representations of what means the most to you.
Things you’re aiming or hoping or striving for; things you want to be reminded of; dreams you’re chasing; anything you want to keep in mind.
And I’m also a convert to the power of manifesting – or making what you want happen. The concept has undergone a bit of a transformation, from something totally away with the fairies to something more concrete and tangible, and I believe much more socially acceptable than it was a few years ago. (It’s possible I just hang out with very open, likeminded people, but either way I don’t much care what people think – it works for me!)
I’m the biggest fan of magic going, but actually I’m not convinced manifesting is particularly ethereally magical. I think it’s a more practical magic – if you get clear on what you want and remind yourself of this regularly, then you’re much more likely to notice opportunities to make it happen – opportunities that may otherwise have passed you by.
Gratitude and goals lists are already part of my daily routine – usually the last thing I do at night before I put the lights off and snuggle up with a cat on my head (yes, really – Luna-kitty refuses to sleep on the bed unless she’s on my head, purring loudly into my ear. It’s a surprisingly nice way to fall asleep). These tend to be more immediate – things from the day I’m thankful for, things I hope to achieve in the next few days/weeks/months. I have a list for each year too, though I’ve not yet shared that here.
So when I saw Leonie’s suggestion in her 2015 Shining Year workbook to create a dream board for the year ahead, I jumped on it – a wonderful combination of talisman and manifesting list!
I covered an old noticeboard in pretty fabric, and found a teacup to store my pins. Then I dug out my scrapbooking stash, some precious objects, my 2015 intentions list and my Pinterest boards and proceeded to create a visual representation of the things that mean most to me and the things I intend, hope for, wish for and plan for in the coming year.
Some highlights:
At the top is my Hogswatch 2014 medal – as one of the outstanding highlights of 2014, and with the passing of Terry Pratchett while I was away in Texas, Hogswatch 2015 in Wincanton is the one event I will be at by hook or by crook this year.
On the other side is a Night Circus inspired embroidery my gorgeous friend Gabby made for me – to remind me to keep my imagination, my dreams and my eclectic style going and not succumb to normality.
Then there are the other pins – ranging from reminders to inspiring quotes to business goals to personal aspirations, skills I want to acquire and experiences I want to have, things that inspire me and beautiful things I’d love to have in my life (velvet cloak, anyone?).
I add to it constantly, and tick things off as I achieve them too. It lives in my living room, at the heart of my house – and it’s one of the best ways I’ve ever had of keeping track of multiple intentions.
Big thanks to Leonie – I’m already excited to see how it’ll look by the end of the year!
Do you have a dream board? Would love to see…!
Behind the scenes – how I plan and stay organised
It’s no secret by now that I am a stationery addict, and I’m also a bit obsessed with Filofaxes, notebooks and the wondrous world of organising – even though I am one of the least naturally organised people ever.
Back in my uni days I kept all my appointments, engagements and deadlines in what my friends affectionately referred to as my Head Diary. I rarely wrote anything down, but never actually missed anything.
Clearly, the addition of a home, two businesses and a day job, not to mention the kitties and the birthdays/weddings/anniversaries of my loved ones, mean that this is no longer possible – most days I can’t remember what I had for breakfast, never mind what I’m meant to be doing in three weeks’ time!
Enter my Organising Kit For 2015. It’s epic, but it works for me.
Planning on paper
Filofax: Raspberry leather Finsbury A5
A present from my colleagues when I left the library, I’ve updated this with custom sections and planner printouts, and it’s the hub of more or less everything – it has a section for home, day job and each of my businesses, as well as self development, contacts and money, and sheets for meal planning too.
Eventually I’d like to split this out into a home planner and a business planner, as it’s getting a bit full, but it’s perfect for now and the colour always makes me smile.
Daybook: Paperblanks Maya blue silver filigree with clasp
The most beautiful notebook in the world, and this year it’s helped me break the habit of buying gorgeous notebooks and then leaving them blank on the shelf.
This one is with me every day, and serves as one of the two places where I capture all my thoughts, ideas, to do lists and things I’m tracking (including my attempts at inbox zero, but more of that later).
It’s just bigger than A6, and is hardback so survives being bashed around in my handbag. I haven’t left the house without it since I bought it – and I hope it will be a record of 2015 as well as being the way to catch all my thoughts so they don’t run around my head and drive me mad. I borrowed the idea from Annastasia.
Out-and-about diary: Simon’s Cat mini diary
More of a social diary than a business one, this has short notes of everything I’m doing scribbled in, so that I can schedule in time with friends and family, or slot in new experiences and days out, when I’m with the relevant people, rather than spending ages emailing back and forth afterwards.
Plus I love Simon’s cat (and think it should be required reading/watching for anyone considering getting a cat of their own…)
Blog planning: mini diary and A6 notebook
This year I’m trying to make sure I get as many of my ideas as possible out into the world, and I’m experimenting with a dedicated blog notebook and diary set to do this. The notebook is a place exclusively for blog scribblings, but isn’t the only place I keep post ideas. It’s really useful for expanding on an initial idea and getting to draft form though.
The diary is a week-to-view layout and gives me a better idea of when is a good time to post things – making sure that there’s plenty of fresh posts here, and also that I’m not posting the same subject too often. It helps to plan year-long challenges like the 52 project, and also to make sure any series that I write are evenly spaced out (and that they actually get finished…). I’m still being flexible with exact posting schedules, but so far it’s working well!
Spirituality and knowing wtf the moon is doing: Witches’ Datebook 2015
I’m always subconsciously aware of this stuff anyway, so it’s good to be able to track it – and I’m hoping it might give me some insight into my bizarre up and down energy levels, too. My Saturn return starts in December so I suspect I will be having one of these next year too…
Calendar & wall planner
A calendar in my kitchen has sections for “Life”, “Biz”, “Ink Drops” and “Appointments/Occasions” – meaning I keep up to date with birthdays, Ink Drops post days and the cats’ injections/worming etc. It has a shopping list attached, so I can write down what I run out of immediately, and means I never run out of vital things like cat food, bin bags or chocolate (ahem).
A small wall planner lives on my studio door – it’s less detailed, but means I have an at-a-glance idea of when I’m free and when I can fit things in when I’m Skyping with clients or friends, or writing a sales page or a blog post and trying to work out a deadline.
Digital planning
Google Calendar
A digital version of all the above put together, I have 14 colour coded calendars and every event, phone call, appointment and social gathering goes into it. It syncs across my home and work PCs, my tablet, my phone and my work laptop, and means I am never trying to guess what is happening on a particular day.
Each month, I print out a new version of the next six months and add it to my Filofax. At the same time, I’ll flick through my various reminders and the list of events/shows/trade shows I want to go to, and note the dates of them – I don’t make it to them all, but it helps me plan around them if I do want to go.
I can also set recurring events and reminders – crucial for not forgetting my MOT again!
Evernote
The digital equivalent of my gorgeous daybook, I have Evernote open whenever I’m on a computer. I keep notes, drafts, clippings from the web, pictures, receipts, photos – you name it, it’s probably in there. It’s the digital catch-all for the jumble of thoughts that is always in my brain, and I’ve found it especially useful for holding something interesting or exciting I’ve tripped over during my day job, until I have time to go and look at it properly at home.
The notebook stacks are also brilliant – for someone who has loads of different interests on the go, plus a near-addiction to lists, it’s lovely to be able to organise them all so easily.
{app} Business Calendar for Android
This syncs with Google Calendar and is the easiest and most comprehensive calendar app I’ve found – and bizarrely, much more intuitive to use than Google’s own calendar app.
You Need A Budget
I’ve been trying to take my money management more seriously for ages, and as this year I have a lot of outgoings (buying a house!) and am also trying to add to various funds (photography training! coaching! jewellery workshops!) and build up my businesses, I need to track where my day job money vanishes to, and start reversing that process.
Enter YNAB. It’s terrifying to put the figures in in real time (and you can upload your bank statements, so you can’t pretend you haven’t bought things) – but actually, after only a month of using it, it is already making me more aware of my money mindset, and how I don’t actually ever reduce my spending in a category if I overspend in another. Which, of course, is the only way to ensure I don’t go back into my overdraft month after month!
Dropbox
More storage than planning, but I have recently overhauled it to automatically back up my photos from my phone and tablet, which is a weight off my mind, and it is an absolute lifesaver for being able to work on my own stuff at lunchtimes, and for sending big files to friends/clients/colleagues, without trekking endless USB sticks in and out of the office.
I’m also starting to plan my Instagram posts more, and Dropbox is great for that as I can upload direct to Instagram from my phone, even if the original image came from my DLSR and is on my computer.
Dictaphone
I had an old style one for years, and then acquired this one in my final year of uni. It’s brilliant for taking notes while in the car, recording my thoughts out loud and getting a more conversational tone for copywriting (especially for the day job, where I have to do this in really scientific subjects – not my forte!).
Hardware
A non techie friend commented the other day that my studio at home looks a bit like an international newsroom. Currently I rely on:
one 17.5 inch HP laptop
one main Acer monitor with my laptop acting as second monitor
one Samsung mobile phone (Galaxy S4 mini) with SD card
one netbook which technically belongs to my day job but goes everywhere with me
one Samsung 8 inch tablet which is mine, but which doesn’t hold charge as well as I’d like it to
one Canon 70D and various lenses (separate post on my photography kit coming!)
and one Olympus digital voice recorder – which is rather a nice step up from the tape dictaphone I had for years.
That’s more or less it – I have another set of products for recording and journalling life, but I shall share those in another post.
What do you use to organise your life?
Self-worth boost: the Achievements Jar
You know how it is – you’re rushing around, juggling your business, your day job, kids, family, friends, social arrangements, getting the car MOT-ed and trying to find time to clean the house without waking the neighbours at 1am with the hoover.
And as you sink into bed each night, you wonder how it is, exactly, that you’ve spent all day full speed ahead but don’t feel like you’ve actually achieved anything.
I’ve felt like this for all the time I’ve been running my businesses – because between my shop and Unfurling, Ink Drops and my day job, I am more or less constantly on the go.
And yet you are doing SO much more than you give yourself credit for.
How do I know this? Well, at the start of 2015 I set up my achievements jars. I think I first came across them on Pinterest though I have no idea whose pin they were.
I have one (the biggest) in my living room, by my dream board, one on my desk at home,
and one on my day job desk.
Next to each one I keep a little stash of torn up pieces of paper (a great way of using scrap that would otherwise go in the recycling straight away).
During the day, I scribble down what I’ve just done and pop the pieces into whichever jar is nearest, and empty the jars regularly into my beloved Ikea resealable patterned plastic bags.
They can be as small as “played with kitties” or as big as “added new products to my website”; as mundane as “hung washing before work” and as exciting as “ordered prototypes of custom talisman” or “successful experiment with new bangles”.
The idea is that by keeping track of even the tiny things, you see the paper build up and have a tangible reminder that although it may feel like you’re not achieving anything, you are Doing. So. Much. And so much good!
You can adapt the concept for a memory jar, for compliments, for good days – but I like this simple catch-all, and it has really helped me to take a moment to notice what I do.
And realise that every single thing I do, from everyday routine to motivated action to much-needed rest time, is moving me forward into the life I’m designing, not just the obvious things.
Try it – you might just be surprised at how much you’re achieving without giving yourself credit.
Approaching 29
Seven weeks into 2015, and just a few hours from my 29th birthday.
I’m not one to get overly hung up on ages and dates, but I did get a bit of a shock at Christmas when I showed my cousin my 30 for 30 list, and blithely declared I had 25 months left to do it all in. She swiftly pointed out that a) maths clearly isn’t my strong point and b) I had 13 months left, not 25.
Oops.
That list rapidly became ‘daydreams to do’, because my 29th year is already packed full of wonder – there are some things on that list I know I will do in my life, but I also know I won’t do this year – I don’t want to squish in all the experiences, I want to have time to anticipate and then savour each one.
So what have I learned, in my almost 29 years on the planet? Here’s a list, in no particular order:
Sometimes the things you’re most opposed to can lead to the most glorious moments of your life.
I definitely don’t want children (the cats are quite responsibility enough) – but I’m properly excited for more of my friends to have children, so I can be the cool auntie who brings inappropriate presents and has them over for weekends full of sugar and fun.
Living on my own has been one of the best decisions I ever made. And it isn’t lonely.
Occasionally, you’ll make decisions which will change your whole life and turn it upside down. But mostly, you’ll move towards your dreams step by (sometimes painfully small) step.
We overestimate what we can do in a day, but (massively) underestimate what we can do in a year.
Pets are actually small, furry family members, and just as precious as fellow human beings.
I can tassel twirl. And as part of the Paper Dolls burlesque troupe, I also do it on stage. The shy, gawky, nervous 15-year-old me is staring down the passage of time, awestruck and slightly embarrassed and bloody proud of how I’ve dealt with my body image issues in the last few years.
I’ve learned we shouldn’t pigeonhole ourselves too early in life – discovering at 19 that I was creative, after a lifetime of being told I was academic and not creative, was the single biggest revelation of my life to date.
If you don’t like your job, get the hell out. Don’t quit without a plan, but start looking – knowing their shit is no longer your problem when you hand in your notice to a place that’s wrong for you is an amazing feeling.
Your first broken heart hurts like hell.
You learn an absolutely ridiculous amount about yourself from relationships and their endings. Seriously, it was like a crash course in How Carla Works, both times – in very different ways.
Never, ever settle for being second best or someone’s backup choice. You are worth SO much more than that.
Try everything that catches your fancy, if it’s possible – I have a room full of craft materials, half of which I’ll probably never touch again, but all of it has brought me joy and new skills at some stage.
Serendipity and coincidence are sweet – and never get old.
Old friends and new friends are just as precious, but in different ways. Don’t abandon the old in favour of the new unless you have good reason to do so. And don’t assume that just because someone is very different to you, that you can’t be friends. Variety and different perspectives are always good!
Don’t feel guilty about things you can’t control or influence. Spend your energy doing what you can, but remember that everyone has their own free will.
Nothing is original, but no one can do what you do like you can. And never second-guess people’s reactions to what you do. Telling people about my alter ego coaching and course has been eye-opening – the reactions have been amazing from even the most unlikely people.
If you make a daft statement like “I love this house so much, I can’t ever imagine crying while I live here” when you move into a new house, you are highly likely to be proved wrong within the week.
Having good friends within walking distance is unbelievably sweet – especially after close to ten years of trekking up and down the M25 on a regular basis. (I’m still working on getting certain people to move up here….!)
It’s ok to stop doing things you don’t want to do – whether that’s a business, a job, a relationship, a house… it’s good to have a plan first, but you don’t have to do anything forever unless you want to.
Life is too short to worry about your weight or what other people think of you. Wear, and do, what makes you the happiest.
Oh – and if you want to dye your hair, go ahead and do it. I waited 9 years to dye mine blue/turquoise – and while I love that it represents me so perfectly right now, I do wish I hadn’t waited so long.
Here’s to the very last year of my twenties!
With love and unicorns,
52 Project, week 6: colourful
Couldn’t choose just one for this week – too much good stuff! Rainbow shoes, My Little Pony hair, glittery Doc Martens and a sign I’m on the right track…
First up, rainbow decopatched heels – these were a much loved pair of black leather Mary Janes from Schuh, which I own in black, red and magenta. But all three pairs have been so worn over the last 7 or 8 years that no amount of polish was going to make them acceptable. So I turned the black pair into rainbow shoes.
Then I went to get my hair re-bleached for some more and brighter blue on Saturday. But liked the brown-to-blonde-to-mint-green look so much I haven’t actually put any extra dye in yet! 
If I don’t find any cowboy boots I adore on this trip to the States, I shall be buying these glittery babies the moment I return…
And a sign that I’m on the right path with Unfurling Your Wings – I’ve never bought Illamasqua, though my friend Wendy has designed bags for their launches, but I have just discovered that their tagline is “make up for your alter ego”. Perfect. 
As ever, the other contenders are on my Flickr stream.
I'm Carla, a quirky thirtysomething with a penchant for unicorns and glitter. I believe in magic and make-believe, and the gorgeous rebellion of making your life absolutely your own. And I'm a proud multipod!
I am a photographer and catalyst for small business owners, and a real life mermaid. I photograph people as they truly are, help women see and step into their brightest and best selves, add a sprinkling of magic to the mundane, and am a happy ambassador for stationery and slow living.
Proud to be both girly and geeky, when I’m not writing, photographing or daydreaming, you can find me dancing burlesque, riding my bicycle Bluebell, growing herbs and collecting typewriters.