“It’s not about the product for me, as much as it is about the process. And what I mean by the process, the process saved my life.” – Inky Johnson
Source: Pixabay
In 2015, Inky Johnson was featured on a special edition of Eric Thomas’ movement, which originated as YouTube videos and later became podcasts. In this special edition of the podcasts, Inky Johnson talks about imposing our will. What does this mean? When adversity hits, when hardships are unavoidable, when life gets difficult, how do we choose to face these challenges? This thought process directly affects our ability to be productive in seasons of pressure is parallel to our thought process of reacting to adversity. What do we do when things get hard? How do we stay motivated? Inky Johnson shares a piece of advice that his mother gave to him: “Whatever you start, you make sure you finish.” But how do we do that effectively and diligently?
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Acknowledge that whatever you are producing is worth it.
Many times we as individuals do work that is not interesting to us or not appealing to our goals or dreams and that is where we fail. To be productive in hard times there must be some underlying incentive, or excitement for the work that you are doing. For instance, if you want an A in a class and you have a four page paper to write, and you know that the four-page paper contributes to your overall grade. You become more willing to do the work because the incentive is the grade that you will receive for the paper. Therefore, you have to find purpose in your work.
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Stick to your plan.
If you need to do work but it seems unreasonable or unrealistic because of your circumstances, I’m here to tell you where there is a will, there is a way. Acknowledge the difference between an obstacle and an excuse, and also acknowledge that both can be solved. There is nothing that you cannot do if you lay out a plan and stick to it. Will results always be immediate? Maybe not. The important part is that by sticking to your work you are operating under more difficult circumstances and that means the next time pressure arrives, you will have a plan. Which then results in you less likely to experience failure.
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Love yourself through the process.
Being productive during difficult times can be exhausting. Reward yourself for completing hard work through hard times. Whether that reward is a physical stimulus or a mental stimulus make sure that you are taking time to care for yourself. You cannot be effective if you are overworked and burnt out. Spend time keeping yourself healthy so that when the tough gets going, you can handle anything that is coming your way.
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You need to know yourself.
It is going to be impossible for you to expect to be able to face adversity if you do not know who you are. The biggest lesson I have learned when dealing with hardship is that pain cuts differently when I was not prepared to heal the wound. You are most prepared, when you are complete and whole within yourself. Once you are sure of yourself, no matter the challenge—nothing can stop you.