Today I tried WOOP (wish, outcomes, obstacles, plan) technique for 4 of the main things I would like to have or work on during this 1000 days (now 996 days!). The 4 W- wishes are “to have a finished project”, “to get a job in the creative field”, “to work on connections (with people I have already met, and the ones I have not yet to meet)” and “inner peace”.

It will get pretty messy if I wrote all of it out, plus most of these share common obstacles and if-then plan so I will only write down WOOP for “to have a finished project” here.

I do think new finishing projects, more than one, need to be done anyways for me to get a job in creative field, and when you get a job, connections and inner peace are something you want to do well in after all. So in many ways, I believe the project is a important first step for me to make sure I succeed in.

O- Outcomes, this is when you list all the things you could get if your wish comes true. The best outcome from finishing a projects are, as honestly as I can get, sparking my creative passion, joy, a portfolio I can be proud of, satisfaction of finishing it, fans / followers that would love my work and some recognition from people that work in creative field.

O- obstacles, what might prevent me from doing the thing to achieve it. For me, biggest and most frequent one for working at home would be ①getting distracted by YouTube videos, useful information or just plain entertainment, they are too many and I just click on them without thinking when I am on my phone, ending up wasting many hours through the day. Another thing that are might get in the way of me sharing my work or doing anything online/public is ②lack of confidence. The most difficult one I find is when ③other people have different plans or needs that involve you, whether it be going for a walk together and picking some berries (it’s a countryside during quarantine time), or figuring out how to forward an email.

P- plan, what to do before or when obstacles hit you. Use if-then planning in this section, for example, if I want to get a snack and it’s getting distracting, then take a 5 minutes and walk outside. Substitute the action with something else

① Turn off internet or notification when you can. Have your mobile just a little out of your reach to make it a bit annoying to get to. Hide YouTube app in a folder with other random apps and make it a little difficult to find it. When you notice you going for YouTube, click on Spotify instead and listen to something that fits your work mood.

② Breathe. Tell yourself it’s all an experiment and experience. If that’s not enough meditate for 5 minutes or go for 100% run for 20 seconds.

③ See if it’s possible to do it after your current task is finished. If that’s not possible, reflect back to your value card, the number 2 and or the number 3 of the 7 habits and think of your priorities. In my case, it’s usually go with the others’ plan unless it goes against “act with a passion for your creativity” personal rule following the number 2 of 7 habits. (I can’t be confident this is correct in if-then planning sense but it’s the best I can think right now)