Why disconnecting is important for reconnecting?
A while ago, I was following this amazing self-proclaimed challenge —
One Medium Post A Day
I had an amazing streak too! However, other priorities demanded attention and I was forced to disconnect from (writing on) Medium. This disconnected phase made me gain some valuable insights about Medium, my writing goals and myself —
Writing was just an ‘option’ to me.
Treating success as an option is one of the major reasons why people don’t create it for themselves — Grant Cardone
The fact that I chose other work over writing made me realize that writing was just an option to me. If something ‘urgent’ or ‘important’ came up, I would give up writing for it!
This mentality was not going to help me succeed in writing (or any goal for that matter).
**Realization**
In order to succeed at something, it needs to be a commitment, an absolute must. If I want to succeed in writing I have to treat it as an absolute must!
I was not stretching my creativity.
Creativity is Intelligence having fun — Albert Einstein
As I was not writing posts on Medium, I had time to reflect on the posts that I had already written. Most posts that I had written revolved around topics of Motivation, Productivity, Self-Improvement (you get the idea!). I was unknowingly writing on topics that I was personally inclined to. As the topics were limited, my creativity wasn’t used to the fullest.
**Realization**
The more I suppress my creativity, the more confined my thinking will be. Confined thinking is NOT going to take me anywhere close to my goals.
I had no strategy.
A vision with a strategy remains an illusion — Lee Bolman
The whole reason I landed in a position where two priorities conflicted was because I had no strategy. I used to wake up in the morning and ‘figure out’ the rest of the day.
*Realization**
If I wish to tackle the tasks I encounter as and when they show up, I’m bound to fail. To truly succeed in a day, I need to prioritize my tasks and allocate time windows for them. Strategy is necessary for me to execute well.
**Conclusion**
You will have (or be forced) to disconnect from the some step towards your success. Instead of whining, use this time to reflect and figure out ways to reconnect. I did it with writing and found out three major action items —
- Make writing a commitment.
- Stretch Creativity.
- Strategize EVERYDAY!
I reconnected with something I had disconnected with. If I can, so can you. What was the task you disconnected with? Spend some time to reflect on it. Do you wish to reconnect?
