Is It Possible…Part 2

Part 2 – Is it possible…

Here is part 1.

So the day I wrote the previous post, I was able to complete all four areas in my life. And it felt good.

But guess what. I haven’t been able to maintain that. And that answered my question of is it possible.

Or did it?

I still have all of my goals. Of writing every day, of reading through my reading list this year, of meditating or being active, all of these goals are still in place. So I had to come up with a new strategy.

I began by paying attention to how I was spending my time. No, I didn’t write anything down, I simply observed what I did or didn’t do at a given time. I discovered that I did have space in my life but I wasn’t using it wisely.

I discovered that I had space in the evening, after my official work was done. We will talk about what constitutes official work at a later time. I always have books sitting by my side of the couch but I seldom picked them up. I was too busy with my favorite distractions i.e. electronics etc.

What I also discovered is that for the first bit of time, I enjoyed this time with my games and surfing etc. But then I would get bored but I wouldn’t put the device down. And I still wasn’t reading.

I’d forgotten one thing about reaching your goals – you must be intentional about it. I wasn’t being intentional.

Now, I still reserve some time for electronics but I now will pick up my book during one of my breaks during the day and read a chapter. It doesn’t take long especially if there aren’t other distractions around like the TV or kids etc. And I am making progress on my reading list.

I listened to a podcast – Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach – that talked about the idea of spending time to plan for your goals. The podcast was designed for writing and writers but it can work for many different things. So I sat down and looked at my schedule and the things I wanted to accomplish:

Professional Development – specific to my official work
Learning – specific to my other interests I.e. writing and neuro-plasticity. Of course those things go together.
Self-care – I’m not great at this one
General house stuff – I can’t live and work in chaos.

My schedule is full but flexible – for the most part so to look at it and see different time slots for different things. The biggest change I’ve made in recent weeks is when I see space in my schedule, it isn’t for wasting but I could add something in there. Even if it is just 15 minutes, I could get so much more done if I worked in 15 minute increments.

When I looked at my writing time – which I have been better but not where I wanted it to be. It seems that I was waiting until evening to do this also. Regardless of what my day looked like, I would wait until I was done with my official work and then try to find the energy to write. Sometimes I was successful and sometimes I wasn’t. Thankfully, the successful times were growing more than the unsuccessful times.

But I wanted to be more intentional about my writing time. I want to get more done in that arena. But It is also something I could do with the 15 minute increments that I’d set out in my previous post.

What I’ve begun doing is to write during other down times throughout the day. It may be just 15 minutes or it may be the first of many writing sessions through my day. It’s the only way to reach my goals.

Meditation and or activity – yeah, I’m still working on that one but I am going to apply the same principles for my activity as I have for the other ones. I’m still a work in progress and it will come.

Until next time,
Angela