Out of my Comfort Zone

It's 14 days in into 2021, but it feels as it was longer.

I knew that I wanted a change this year. I know that my efforts are scattered and not focused. I know that I need more discipline and motivation. I know that I need something that will carry me through the hard work and the tough days.

During the holiday break which I didn't have, as I spent 4 days trying to piece together a 1000 "intense" puzzle that our good friends have gifted to us for Christmas, and that took almost all my holidays as I was working as well. The rest of the free days were spent recovering from stiff neck and relaxing.

Last year, I decided to do some online content creation. This year, I decided to take it more seriously. I bit the bullet and joined the NAS Academy without realizing that the bigger bullet laid on getting and upgrading equipment. I wasn't ready for it, but I was already way too far into the rabbit hole. It makes me wonder, what kind of video did I watch and how effective was their marketing? Well, the good part at the very least, is that they will teach me.

Anyhow, when I saw that there was one class starting right after the New Year, I jumped on it immediately thinking that I can attend a class at 4am. It didn't help either that the hubby was also starting work at 4am that week and the thought of waking up with him to be able to empathize more to his complaints about how tired he always is, gave it more of a pleasant ring for some reason.

Anyhow, we're about halfway into the class now, 10 days. What I didn't know prior to signing up is that we have labs. I thought that I was only waking up twice a week at 4am but there are also 2 labs included, which is great, and that makes it waking up 4x a week at either 4 or 5am every week. I'm telling you, this rabbit hole is getting deeper and deeper as we go.

The good part is that I started to notice that this is slightly changing me. Last year, I must admit, that for some reason, I've just been letting myself naturally wake up disregarding time. I figured that as long as I get all the work done that I needed to do, then I'm good. I was not deliberate with my time nor was I proactive in building business. I must say that I embodied the word reactive in every sense of it.

The past week and a half has changed my body clock. It was hard in the first few days as I couldn't get myself to fall asleep, but now, I'm naturally tired around 8-9pm. I like that I'm waking up early and that I'm focused on my work.

I like that my activities and how I spend my time are now more focused as well. Knowing that I have so little of time in my hands all of a sudden, I feel that I need to use it more efficiently. I volunteer in 4 other boards where I responsible to lead in two of them. I should probably talk myself out of a lie that I am believing that I'm learning other skills that I probably don't need but may possibly come in handy down the road, and meeting people that may be of a good contact somewhere somehow, I don't know.

I feel like I' am giving a lot of my time and effort and energy away, and a part of me wonders that if I just spent all those time focused on my business, I'd prolly get really far. I'm not trying to be selfish, but it's about prioritizing. I've already committed though, but once I finish those commitments, I think that it'll be time to restructure.

So I start feeling that way, until I accomplish a project. There's something so rewarding about accomplishing something not only on my own but sometimes as part of a group. I think the problem is that I feel like I have too many projects and sometimes, the deadlines pile up one on top of the other. When that happens it's crunch time. That's exactly what happened last week. All the meetings piled up with homework and work demands. I must be careful that I don't fall into the exhaustion realm.

There's something good about crunch time. Yesterday, I saw a real powerful image that I really felt that I can relate to. I love this image particularly because it's true that in order to produce big results, you cannot be contented with "comfortable" outputs. You need to stretch yourself way beyond your comfort zone in order to get extra ordinary results.

I must admit that last year, I can say that I was releasing mediocre outputs at best, thought deep inside me, by big dreams were still eating me.

Back to my content creation class. I remember that the very first day, the instructor told us that it was an intensive class. I remember looking back in University thinking that intensives are awesome because it's short and sweet. I forget the amount of work that I needed to produce in such a short period of time. Then I got reminded... by this instructor. He was giving us homework due within 48 hours, from a topic that we just learned. As if life didn't happen! He then said that for each hour of time spent in class, there's 8 hours of work expected outside of class. Here I am, having an outrageous internal battle, with both my mind and body screaming "I didn't sign up for this!!!!"

The earlier days of the classes were not so bad, because we were working on scripting. Then it got a bit harder when we needed to think about the shots. Then we were asked to execute the shots, in a lockdown. It was daunting to think that I was shooting 20 footages with all my creativity and no time. I wanted to give up and couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel. The worst is when it came to editing. I have never touched Premier Pro in my life, and I hated Photoshop. The learning was steep and I was afraid of the suffering that I can foresee with the daunting hours of getting lost in a software. The thought alone was scary.

I must give it to the program. It is intensive but the fact that they broke it down into bite-size chunks makes it more manageable. There days when I asked myself why am I doing this?!? Then I remind myself, so that I can learn, and create better videos. I also paid for it and I wouldn't want my money to go to waste. Lastly, I know that left to my own devices, I would have never been able to produce anything close to this at such a short period of time. Yes, I can watch YouTube videos about how to create content and video edit, but the moment that I would encounter a challenge or when the going gets tough, I 'm pretty sure that I would be turned off and would put it down. Maybe I'll pick it when I'm more determined to learn, but I can assure you that there would have been no way that I would be able to produce a high quality video in 5 days on my own.

When I see that the deadlines are met, the meetings went well, or that I get nominated for a a volunteer recognition award, that outputs are actually appreciated, it feels good. It like there's something inside me changed and it reflects on my face as well. It's as if I have this accomplished look on my face, I stand taller and I feel more confident. I glide through my days and my speech changes. My stance is more solid, and the combination of all of these feels like it I'm set and ready to beget success.

It feels as if I have stepped out of my comfort zone and I'm on my way to make magic. I feel that I still have some way to go and a few miles to run, however, the sticky and hard part is done. I feel that now is just pacing while consistently increasing output. It will be hard, I know, but I also am confident that I 'm one step closer to making magic happen.