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Day 182: Gratitude 22

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Gratitude of the Day: Clean Spaces

I am not a tidy person. I try my best, but I just have a hard time keeping spaces clean and clutter free. Also, to clarify, I’m not dirty in that I clean everything regularly, but every place just seems to accumulate things wether it be bits and bobbles on my dresser top or that pile of clothing on my desk chair. When I do manage to clear off a space and it’s tidy (for me) it’s SO NICE! I love having the clear spaces since it feels like I have my life more together and my mind feels less cluttered. (Less to pay attention to?)

Since I like it so much I really should strive to keep things tidier, but for now I will just savor my small accomplishment of keeping my dresser top clear. Thanks me! 🙂

Until tomorrow

183 Days to go

Day 167: Gratitude 7

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Gratitude of the day: Pomodoro Method

Have I mentioned I used Pomodoro Method in the past? The basic premise is you set an amount of time to work where you only focus on one task. So set a 15 minute timer for writing and then you get a 5 minute break and then another 15 minutes to focus (or 25 or whatever time works best for you) and then wash and repeat. It’s really helpful to break down larger tasks into smaller time increments to make them less daunting and more manageable (and easier to start)!

I started using the Pomodoro method coupled with the X-method (don’t miss a day so you can see all those sweet x’s) and it really changed the way I get things done. I have such a hard time starting tasks, but it’s easy if I tell myself I only have to do 5 minutes and then I just keep rolling along until I’ve gotten more done than I anticipated. And I get to fill in a day on my Habit Tracker 🙂

Easy peasy.

Until tomorrow.

198 days to go. Eek!

Day 165: Gratitude 5

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Gratitude of the Day: This Blog

This blog may never be what I hope it will become, but it’s helping me keep myself accountable for what I want to accomplish. I love the quote from Bill Gates:

Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.

With this blog I can see my failings and successes over time across days and months and maybe even years. I can see where I need to put in more effort and where I can sit back and relax. It’s really good for me.

Until tomorrow.

200 days to go! Oh my!

Day 123: Monthly Check in Pt. 4

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Time for my fourth monthly check-in. Everything sort of fell by the wayside since I got my promotion. Not only did I start a new job and have to figure out what I’m supposed to be doing, but several people were out of the office for various reasons and it was A LOT of extra work. My schedule has just been work, sleep, eat, repeat. It’s terrible.

  1. Work on my Novel – Like I said, everything fell to the wayside so I haven’t worked on my book at all. But I have several days over the Thanksgiving holiday to work on it and get back on track.
  2. Ballet – I went a few times at the beginning of the month, but then fell off since I was working a lot of overtime. Classes are cancelled for the weekend, but I’m aiming to be back on track next week. Hopefully….
  3. Promotion –  DONE! 
  4. Get out of credit card debt – This is actually going pretty well! With my promotion, I have a higher salary, but I’ve also been working a ton of overtime so I have more money than anticipated. Good for the holidays too. 🙂
  5. In a relationship – Still Bumbling. Since I started working more, it’s been harder to date. It didn’t really pan out earlier, but I know I have to keep trying. I often wonder if I’ll ever meet someone, but that’s another thought for another day.

So there’s my fourth monthly check-in. I feel a little discouraged since I feel like I haven’t done much since last month. I have to remember things take time and I can’t get everything done all at once. It’s only been four months and I’ve already accomplished a few things. I have eight more months to get everything done.  Plus, as they say, you have to plant the seeds for the trees to grow in the future.

Until tomorrow.

 

Day 100!

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Happy Day 100 Me! There are way more milestones to check in than I thought! I have the first of the month, the monthly check-ins I set aside for myself and now 100 days. (Today also happens to be the first of the month so it’s double check in day.)

I’m not going to do a check in since I just did one, but I do want to say it’s good to have “check-ins” on a regular basis. Just take ten minutes to yourself and see what you’ve accomplished and what steps you still need to take to move towards your goals.

I generally do a life check-in at the beginning of each month (today!). I have a habit tracker that I fill out every day to see if I’m building the habits I want to make part of my life. I check off the boxes every day, so if ever there’s a long string of empty boxes, I know I have some work to do. Sometimes it’s empty because someone was visiting or I was traveling, so my routine wasn’t the same as usual, but if I know there are no different circumstances around those days, I know I need to do something! I also have a longer term goals check-list which I carry over from month to month so I can see what I’ve completed and what I still need to do.

So check in with yourself! And hopefully it’ll help you see trends of your behavior and days over time.

Until tomorrow!

265 days to go!

P.S. Went to ballet. Yay!!

Day 92 : Writing Life

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UnderwoodKeyboard

I decided this week to write a few posts about what I’m going to do for each particular goal. #1 is Writing!

I know I’ve said this before, but I completed my novel (again), so I’d really like to make some serious headway on editing so I can have a complete draft by the end of December to begin querying agents in the new year. There’s 68 days until December 31st so that should be plenty of time to comb through each chapter and make sure everything is in tip-top(ish) shape. Even if I’m not done by the end of December, I think I should start querying agents anyway. I keep editing and editing and editing, and there will always be sentences to fix and plot points to mull over. But sometimes you just have to take the plunge and see how things net out.

Other writing goals! I want to continue blogging on a semi-regular basis and write one personal essay to submit to online publications. I’ve never submitted anything before (I’m a scaredy cat) so this will be a good learning experience for me. In regards to timelines, let’s say end of November to look for submissions in December. We’ll see how things go!

Until tomorrow.

273 days to go.

Day 91: Monthly Check in 3

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Time for my third monthly check-in! It’s been three months since I started this self-improvement plan (project?) and I think I’ve done relatively well so far! The holiday season is quickly approaching so it’s best that I come up with a few ways to stick to my goals (next post!)

  1. Work on my Novel – I finished my novel (again!) after cutting out the whole middle section. Now it’s just time to edit again (and again and again and again. Will the editing never stop?) I do think I’ve learned a lot in this process and hopefully my next book will not require so much cutting and rewriting and editing (but it probably will.) I’m hoping by the end of the year I can have a solid book and begin sending query letters to agents.
  2. Ballet – The cycle for the beginning of class started again, so hopefully it’ll stick this time! It’s definitely been a struggle (clearly), but I’m always hoping to do better.
  3. Promotion –  DONE! 
  4. Get out of credit card debt – Blargh. Still working on this and I will be for quite some time. Hopefully with my promotion I can start paying it off more aggressively (plus that bonus and tax return next year will hopefully help!)
  5. In a relationship – Still Bumbling. I’m not sure if anything is going to work out. Usually I get irritated with people by the third or fourth week and I can feel it happening again. There’s just an expectation with online dating that everyone wants to either just hook up or jump directly into a relationship. And I don’t want either of those things so I feel people are often disappointed.  And I’m resistant to both so we get nowhere in the end.

So there’s my third monthly check-in. Ninety one days in and I’m a little farther along with all my goals except Ballet. Perhaps November will be Ballet month, just like October was meant to be Ballet month.  Eventually I will figure out a way for it to stick!

Until tomorrow.

274 days to go. It’s a lot of time and it’s no time at all, right?

Day 80: Success!!!

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Hooray! A second success! (Sort of.) I mentioned before that I cut out the whole middle section of my book. It was a pain, but I think the book is better for it. Or at least I hope it is. It took a lot of work and a lot of Pomodoro time, but I finished this morning!

Side note – Preparing to fail, I’ve been writing in the morning and not counting on myself to write at night. (Yay!)

There’s still a bunch of work ahead since I need to go back and edit everything and make sure it’s cohesive. I tend to let story elements fall away and then I’ll remember the villain is meant to be doing this or that and I’ll bring them back, so I need to make sure it’s even throughout (where it makes sense.) Taking a few days off and then I’ll inch towards completing my book ten minutes at a time.

Double Hooray!

Until tomorrow.

285 days to go.

Day 78: Sacrifice

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The thing about wanting to achieve my goals is that there’s never enough time or energy for everything. I spoke about this previously in my 100 blocks post. (Day 5! That seems ages ago!)  I wish I was a high energy person, but that’s just not the case and so I just have to deal with it instead of pretending I’ll be high energy when I get home. I know that if I blog, then I’ll have less time and energy for writing and if I cook dinner to save money then I’ll basically be too tired for anything else.

Part of it is about planning to fail. I know I get tired after cooking, so I make a large batch of something and have that sustain me throughout the week. Part of it is deciding what’s more important to me. Right now in my life it’s important that I cook instead of eating out to save money. It’s important that I blog some days instead of writing (or writing less) because it keeps me accountable.

What this really comes down to is that I KNOW I won’t have time and energy for everything so I need to prioritize what’s important to me. That means saying no to dinners and drinks so I can save money and have time to write. It means giving up on dating for awhile if it’s taking up too much of my time. (That is TBD at the moment…) Basically it means sacrificing some things I enjoy now, so I can be proud of where I am in the future. Now I just need to figure out what’s more important. Part 2 coming soon!

Until tomorrow.

287 Days to go.

Day 76: Be Terrible

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Yes! Success! For the first time in a couple months I went to ballet class. I was initially apprehensive about going because I haven’t been in awhile and even when I was going, my attendance was quite spotty. I’ve realized recently that often times my decision not to go to class had only to do with my own fears and anxieties. I was the one standing in my way because I was worried my teacher would judge me for all the progress I’d lost! Which is ridiculous! I’m not going to become a professional ballerina or even go on to dance in any sort of recital. This is for exercise and for fun. For my health! The thing I should be least worried about it what my teacher will think of me.  The thing I should be most worried about is making sure I attend class, so I can take care of my body and myself. And so this is another lesson I learned. Be Terrible.

Okay… don’t be terrible, but don’t be afraid to be terrible at something. I’m an adult! I have a job I find moderately rewarding and pay my own bills. Everything else is just for my own enjoyment and happiness. So what if I’m terrible at pirouettes.  At least I’m getting out there and spinning across the floor like my four year old self would be proud of!

This advice is important for not just exercise, but also for writing! I’m often worried of what will happen at the end of writing my book. Will all the hard work be for nothing? Will it be rejected? Will I even get an agent? Will it arrive on shelves and then sit there until it’s put in the bargain bin and I’ll never write another thing again? Or will I be a wild success so I can quit my day job and just spend my days writing and writing and writing? (Yes, please!) But none of these are an option if I don’t at least finish the book. So let my story be terrible and I’ll fix it up afterwards. After all you can’t even read empty pages.

Until tomorrow.

289 days to go.