Control Freak on Pause

 

WHAT A PERIOD OF MY LIFE.

 

I’m a control freak and sometimes, a perfectionist (but seldom, I believe) and it affects many aspects of my life.  

 

With work, I try to do most of the job myself, just so that I am sure it’s been done the way I like it. If I do work with people, it means I trust them very much to be able to deliver a certain standard of work I am comfortable with.

 

With the rest of my life, I try and have a fair idea of what I’m going to do with my time. First, COVID came and threw things off a lot- then I got stuck in the Gambia with no idea when I would be returning home. Being the control freak that I am, once I realized how far out of my control these situations were, I made a plan. I figured out what I wanted to do with my time in The Gambia, making sure I was busy enough to be productive. I got a new job, started a very hectic online course I am yet to complete, started this blog much later among other things. This was me saying, “I don’t like what’s happening, I cannot change it, but I would make it work for me regardless.”

 

I had a lovely consistent streak of productive work and then my laptop decided to go kaput. It just went off on one Tuesday afternoon and all efforts to revive my baby failed. The Gambia also has no licensed Apple technicians so getting it fixed was a very risky job I eventually backed down from. Control freak on pause. The Ghana Embassy was also doing a very bad job with regard to communicating how and when I can return home. There was so much going on all of a sudden, and very little I could do about them all. 

 

I was surprisingly very calm. I haven’t bothered to introspect yet and figure out why. I would do it later.

To be honest, a bulk of the work could be done on my phone but that would be highly demotivating and would affect the quality of my work, because of the energy with which I would do it. I just decided to take the time off- whatever work I couldn’t afford to do, once it didn’t have a super important deadline, I left. Note, this is a flimsy excuse and would not cut for a tangible one where you are working with other people and with strict deadlines. I wasn’t feeling disciplined enough to move past the excuse because I could afford to pause at the time. Do not try this at work.

 

What would this mean for an entrepreneur like yourself?

 

As you may know, I had a very consistent streak on my socials and blog, so I was very bummed about my break. BUUUTTTT, no laptop didn’t mean zero work was getting done and this is where I want you to follow me closely.

 

When I couldn’t create and post refined content, I gathered content (knowledge, my dears, knowledge) to use to create content whenever I resume. Read/Watch/Listen, Learn, Plan.

This meant reading up on or watching things related to the various topics I have been working with. In my case documentaries, reports, videos, podcasts on Education Technology, Social Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship in general, community building, tourism (at the time), and many other things. No, I wasn’t reading or watching anything I didn’t genuinely feel like watching because I didn’t want the period to start feeling laden with assignments. I love learning new stuff all the time though, so it wasn’t boring for me to read reports, etc.

It's very important to note that in my 'downtime', nobody died. While I was resting and waiting, the world's activities went on as planned. Your rest does not disrupt the world- so when you need it, take it. 

 

Now that you feel stuck in one place and without the zeal to work (whatever ‘work’ means for you), how are you spending the downtime which for some of you, you no longer deserve to be enjoying? Here’s a challenge to you; now that you’re not producing, spend time-consuming. Take notes anywhere you want- I write on A4 sheets, in my book, in my notes app, anywhere I feel like when the idea comes.

 

I haven’t made any clothes in the last few months, but once I get the chance to, I know exactly what I would make.

 

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

WHAT IS YOUR COME BACK PLAN?