Do you want to create more and consume less?

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I used to have so much time in the day. Or so it seemed. Back in the day, I used to work at my day job 9–6, came home, cooked and had dinner, showered, and then worked again from 7-midnight or til 1–2am sometimes.
I wouldn't say I was doing busy work because I was feeling accomplished and achieving my goals. Besides, I was feeling great about my productivity.

And then something changed. My husband and I welcomed our little girl into this world. Parenthood is no doubt hard but at the same time, it is very fulfilling. With that, we faced a lifestyle change. The reality then was work was busy, life was busy and time just flew by. There was little or no time to stop and think anymore.

Over the past few years since my lifestyle change, I have had to slowly let my side projects go. I had put my consultancy business under hibernation. I had stopped working on my start-ups. Although I often still had light bulb moments, I couldn't seem to take actions to see ideas through.

Then I was feeling not very happy - I felt like I was being lazy. So I had to stop for a moment and think long and hard and realised a fact that I was trying to ignore. I had always been saying to everyone and myself that I didn't have time to do this or that anymore. But it wasn't because of time. The truth is I could wake up early to get things done when the house was still quiet or utilise a few hours that I have between my daughter's bed time and mine. The reason was not time. The reason was because I didn't have enough energy or momentum. Boom! What a realisation that was.

Many people had asked me or wanted to know why I worked around the clock earlier in my life. It was not because of a financial reason. It was mainly because doing so gave me joy. I liked "creating" and therefore, working on my side projects made me feel good.

We all know that in this day and age, it is so much easier to consume than create. Most of us are consuming more than creating. Social media, fast Internet speed and unlimited data; they are all enablers to mindless consumption on the Internet.

Anyway, with my new found realisation and my strong desire to 'create', I have kickstarted my creation journey in a slightly different way recently. I write. I speak. I facilitate. I create. And I try to be disciplined about it. It has not always been easy because, hey I'm a human too and sometimes, I'd rather surf Quora or Facebook or {insert any social media platform} than work on my article or presentation. I just have to remember to not beat myself up sometimes because this is a journey, creation is a journey and a journey that is not about the destination.

Today, I decided to write this article for those who want to create and make a mark in this world. However small your first step may be, once you really understand what you want to achieve and take that first step, the rest will follow.

Just do it.