I love my journal of small wins. It’s a great way of tracking the things I’ve been doing and, as handy as my Collins diary is, I love having the blank page so I can set my own rules on what constitutes a line item or a day worth of stuff.
It’s been an adventurous week this week, not only because it was my first week back at work for the new year; but I pushed my comfort zone and learned a few things about what I want. I’m also really bedding a new routine in and learning about my limits.
Routine Things:
- Meditated for five minutes: Sat – Wed.
- Wrote for two ten-minute stretches: Sat – Mon, Wed, Fri (mostly journaling but also brainstorming and writing e-mails and blog posts).
- Wrote for one ten-minute stretch: Tue, Thu.
- Sketched for two ten minute stretches: Mon – Wed.
- Sketched for one ten minute stretch: Sun.
Writing Things:
- Updated blog: Sun, Fri.
Small Wins:
- Got our re-usable bags out of car for shopping: Sat (this is something I usually forget, so to remember it while out shopping solo was a win).
- Cleaned the kitchen sink: Sat (it was in the morning before Vickie got up; I’d loaded the dishwasher and noticed the sink was grotty so I took to it with the steel wool – general household cleanliness and tidiness is something I’m a bit dodgy at).
- Vacuumed and washed floors: Sat (see above).
- Asked for help with fixing the house’s front roof gutter: Multiple instances during the week (asking for help is yet another thing I’m dodgy at).
Adventurous Things:
- Attended a capoeira class (Wed).
- Used Android phone app to record a first draft of a blog post while walking to work (Fri).
How am I feeling?
First off, I don’t think I’ve given Sonia Simone’s article on Copyblogger, “The New Year’s Writing Resolution You Can Actually Keep,” its due recognition for getting me into the writing habit this week. I’m sure I’ve heard the same, if not similar, advice before but Sonia’s wording of it happened along at just the right time for me to embrace it.
Still, during the week I was starting to feel pressured. Even though I was only asking myself for two lots of ten-minute runs per day, trying to create a writing and a sketching routine at once soon felt like too much. I noticed myself worrying about whether I should be pushing myself to Achieve Something Specific (particularly, creating strips for a web comic). I’ve been there too many times before and the results are never good, so I decided to take the advice of lots of habit-forming legends and just stick with the one.
Exercise also felt like overkill. I want to maintain the level of fitness I’ve built over boot camp, but… I felt like I was enough before I started it, and I reckon the things I’ve learned about posture and breathing are my real wins. I mentioned my reactions to capoeira in another post, so I won’t re-list them here.
I’ve been getting frustrated at using the netbook, too. Browsing is slower than a slug, which may be part of the reason I’m going cold turkey on Facebook – checking it is too painful.
What about you?
What new habits have you bedded in this week?
What adventures have you gone on?
How do you feel about what you’ve done?
