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1. foot health
First actions: make appointment with Dr. Kempeny, make appointment with that acupuncturist. Figure out where the time for all this is going to come from. It can't come from work.
2. cardio health
First actions: check out prices and times at the Y and at the local high school that has a pool. Already did the huge first step, the haircut.
3. better use of time
This means LESS TIME ON LJ. Seriously. WAY less. Need a plan for this. Block my access during certain chunks of time (a Greasemonkey script will do that)? Make a small read-every-day filter and a larger catch-up-on-people filter and then the extra for communities and feeds? Something. Advice welcome.
4. decluttering
First step: cancel several magazine subscriptions.
5. better diet
I ate broccoli yesterday. This shows how committed I am. Broccoli is poisonous. Broccoli is the spawn of the devil. Broccoli tastes like somebody didn't clean the kitchen drain strainer for two weeks and then served the results up on a plate.
6. writing
N words per day, no excuses? Or a goal of the form "write and submit this many short stories and edit that 2003 novel for submission"? Deciding soon would be good.
7. stretching
If I don't do my spine twists the pulling in my ribs wakes me up. No clue what that is, but I know stretching gets rid of it, so I'm a fool not to stretch.
8. finances
Time to look up whether I qualify to invest in a Roth IRA even if my company has a 401(k) plan, time to look over the past year's Quicken data to see where I can trim the excess, see whether my investments are right, etc etc.
9. flying
Finish the WVFC Piper Warrior checkout, get a Citabria checkout, start in on some acro, then move over to Attitude's Extra or Pitts.
OK, this list is too long now. Grump. Better pick which ones I care about most.
First actions: make appointment with Dr. Kempeny, make appointment with that acupuncturist. Figure out where the time for all this is going to come from. It can't come from work.
2. cardio health
First actions: check out prices and times at the Y and at the local high school that has a pool. Already did the huge first step, the haircut.
3. better use of time
This means LESS TIME ON LJ. Seriously. WAY less. Need a plan for this. Block my access during certain chunks of time (a Greasemonkey script will do that)? Make a small read-every-day filter and a larger catch-up-on-people filter and then the extra for communities and feeds? Something. Advice welcome.
4. decluttering
First step: cancel several magazine subscriptions.
5. better diet
I ate broccoli yesterday. This shows how committed I am. Broccoli is poisonous. Broccoli is the spawn of the devil. Broccoli tastes like somebody didn't clean the kitchen drain strainer for two weeks and then served the results up on a plate.
6. writing
N words per day, no excuses? Or a goal of the form "write and submit this many short stories and edit that 2003 novel for submission"? Deciding soon would be good.
7. stretching
If I don't do my spine twists the pulling in my ribs wakes me up. No clue what that is, but I know stretching gets rid of it, so I'm a fool not to stretch.
8. finances
Time to look up whether I qualify to invest in a Roth IRA even if my company has a 401(k) plan, time to look over the past year's Quicken data to see where I can trim the excess, see whether my investments are right, etc etc.
9. flying
Finish the WVFC Piper Warrior checkout, get a Citabria checkout, start in on some acro, then move over to Attitude's Extra or Pitts.
OK, this list is too long now. Grump. Better pick which ones I care about most.
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So I need to admit that my current "I'm busy" filter is the BEST I'm going to do, and I need to make a new filter, much smaller, and use that one by default.
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Also, how things are prepared makes a great difference. Do you hate cooked broccoli as much as raw broccoli? What about if it's just lightly steamed? What about with cheese sauce on top? What about with peanut sauce on top? What about with just a little lemon, garlic, & olive oil? What about eating cauliflower or brussels sprouts (or kale, or bok choy, or spinach, or cabbage, or chard, or Swiss chard) instead?
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Lightly steamed, please, with some shreded chese on top. Or sauted with garlic and olive oil.
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That's exactly the arrangement my wife & I have.
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Wait ... What was the question?
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I like broccoli that's prepared by me trading it to someone else in return for asparagus, spinach, or any of a number of other green things. :-)
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There is now apparently a "Roth 401(k)" option.
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Our 401(k) people are considering giving our plan a Roth option. I should check on whether that went through.
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Um... kinda offtopic, but...
I'll send you an email tonight...
Re: Um... kinda offtopic, but...
If you don't hear back from me tonight, comment again here, and I'll heartily scold my spam-trap.
Re: Um... kinda offtopic, but...
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Decluttering: Cancel the magazine subscriptions! I let a bunch of mine expire. Some I didn't miss at all; some I did miss, but the feeling of freedom is worth it! I was getting more than I had time to read, but one can't get rid of a magazine one hasn't read but is going to! Now I get Newsweek, Arthritis Today (http://www.arthritis.org/resources/arthritistoday/Default.asp), UU World (http://www.uuworld.org/), and Bird Watcher's Digest (http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/) (a gift) - the latter two are only bimonthly. I miss Smithsonian and National Geographic most, but those were also the biggest time sinks and therefore the biggest clutterers.
Time: Don't reduce LJ time too severely if you value the connections and friendships you have here. It's hard to re-establish them when you're not there very often. When I withdraw from time to time it's not deliberate, but I miss my LJ friends and then it's hard to catch up with their lives again, and the relationship is just not the same. Make reading filters -- that's what I did when I started moderating freecycle and the extra computer time had to come from somewhere. I have a filter with all the people I want to follow regularly; a communities filter with all my communities; and a limited communities filter which has a subset of my communities that excludes the really busy ones. I read the people filter first; if I still have time in the day I'll read the limited comms filter. I rarely get to the full comms filter any more, but it's worth doing without them for the time it saves.
Writing: N words a day is a recipe for failure. The first day you don't make your goal, you'll have all sorts of guilt. That's for people with lots of time in their day, like professional writers! That method also breaks things up -- I don't know what writing method works best for you, but I do better with a more spontaneous schedule where, if I get on a roll I can keep going, but if I'm stuck I can just put it down without guilt and come back again later or tomorrow when my brain has had a chance to chew on whatever the block is, so I'd do much better with the "write and submit N stories" type of goal. But keep N low so you'll be successful, rather than coming up with how many stories you think you "should" be writing and then feeling rotten when you don't do it. You can always raise the bar next year if you find that writing has become important enough in your life.
You can do everything you want to do - you just have to figure out what that really is! When I was in my 20s, I took an adult ed class where we had a reading assignment each week and then met once a week to discuss it. I became friendly with a woman in the class whose house was on my way to the school where it was held, so I'd stop there and pick her up. I always did the reading, but she often didn't.
One day in December I got to her house and saw that she had painted all her front windows with wonderful Christmas scenes of Peanuts characters. After I told her how terrific it looked I said, "I'd love to do something like that, but I'd never have the time to do all that painting, and then wash it all off later!"
"I know what you mean," she said. "I don't know how on earth you find the time to do the reading assignment every week. I just can't seem to fit it in!"
That's when I learned about priorities. You can't do everything -- you have to pick what's most important to you. Most of us do that unconsciously, but it's much better to make it an intentional choice. Now that you've started flying again, something else has to go, but only you can decide what you can manage to give up.
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I hate disagreeing with sentiments that seem both reasonable, workable, and very well-intentioned. But here I go:
The muse will come only after you set up a regular appointment with her, plain and simple. I would not plan to write a *lot* every day, but I stand by my suggestion that you write each and every day.
This has the side-benefit, by the way, of requiring no preparation whatsoever. There is no "should I submit this piece?" or "to whom should I submit this piece?" or even "what's the address to which I need to submit this piece?" There is only sit down and write three pages.
Take you ten minutes, and you could do it Right Now.
Some days you feel like planning your writing career, and some days you don't. Some days you feel like writing a book, and some days you don't. These sentiments I agree with 100%.
But there is enormous value in simply getting in the habit of writing every damn day.
One man's opinion.
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I'm always open to discussion of a different point of view, as long as it's couched in a respectful way. Yours certainly is, and I appreciate it!
I would not plan to write a *lot* every day, but I stand by my suggestion that you write each and every day.
This has the side-benefit, by the way, of requiring no preparation whatsoever.
That's an excellent point. I probably waited too long to mention that a schedule like that wouldn't work well for me, personally. If I'd said that up front, instead of making the first part an absolute statement, it would have been much better.
Still, I've known too many people who set a daily goal -- be it writing n words, taking in only n calories, or whatever -- and the first time they blow it they throw up their hands and say "I screwed up. I can't do it. I might as well give up," or, "Well, on Tuesday I [didn't write enough/ate a piece of pie/whatever] and the world didn't come to an end ... I'm feeling so lousy today, I guess I can [skip it/have this chocolate bar/whatever] today. Just for today." And then "just for today" starts happening more and more often.
I'm sure many people have the self-discipline and/or the stick-to-it-iveness to avoid falling into that trap -- but many don't (=ruefully raises hand=), so it's important to at least be aware of the possibility.
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I don't know where, but at some point along the line, I acquired the Gym Door Rule, which works like this: if you arrive at the gym with everything you need to work out (e.g. the right clothes), and you touch the front door, you get credit for visiting the gym that day. Anything else you may do while at the gym is strictly a bonus.
I wouldn't be surprised to learn that sunnydale47 and I agree on a few things: if you feel you should write more, then plan somehow to write more. If you fall short of your short-term goals, try to stay aware of the fact that simply by trying, you are acting in accordance with your long-term goals. The patient win in the long run. And finally, be aware that there's a funny balance to be struck between stick and carrot, and you can get into trouble forgetting that.
Oh, and Go You! :-)
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The part I'm specifically referring to for this situation is that he advocates having a list of things you want to get to "Someday/Maybe." Simply having such a list (and actually glancing it over monthly or quarterly or whatever) helps to free up the mental energy that tends to get locked up in thinking about those projects that aren't really best started soon, but which you don't want to forget about, either.
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Well, you can't let go of all the things you feel you ought to be doing. Paying bills isn't much fun, but it's kinda hard to get anything written if you're sitting in the dark with no computer because the electricity has been turned off.
But yes, it's never good to "should" on oneself too much. That's part of why it's so important to prioritize one's time intentionally, rather than letting it just happen by default when you run out of time at the end of the day with things you really wanted to do still undone.
On another side note, this language is really deficient in having only one word for the second person singular, the second person plural, and the general "someone." I couldn't bring myself to write "That's part of why it's so important to prioritize one's time intentionally, rather than letting it just happen by default when one runs out of time at the end of the day with things one really wanted to do still undone" because it sounds horribly pretentious.
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Heh! Yes, well, good point :-)
But yes, it's never good to "should" on oneself too much. That's part of why it's so important to prioritize one's time intentionally, rather than letting it just happen by default when you run out of time at the end of the day with things you really wanted to do still undone.
Yes. I have been finding that tere is significant decision-making energy that needs to go into my to do list at any given time, and that separating out the decision-making part from the actual doing of things helps. For example, identifying the very next concrete action that a particular vaguely-worded to-do list item is supposed to imply is half the work. Having done that much, it becomes far easier to look at a to-do list containing that item and feel energized rather than beaten down.
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That's an excellent observation. I'll have to give that more thought, and maybe I can put it to use -- I've abandoned more to-do lists than I can count because just looking at them was too enervating and it seemed easier to start over with a shorter list. (Not a good strategy, I know, but it's better than not doing anything! )
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Don't reduce LJ time too severely if you value the connections and friendships you have here.
Good point. I still need to do something, though. I'm spending a huge fraction of my day on LJ. I may have to cut my losses.
N words a day is a recipe for failure.
People who are published, and thus much farther along than I, swear by it. (Some of them also have day jobs.) I suspect different people work best in different ways, and I'll have to figure out how I work best.
The writing goal may be a good place for a a New Moon resolution.
You can't do everything -- you have to pick what's most important to you.
Thus my last line. I suspect if I gave up (or cut back severely on) LJ, I could do all of the rest of the list and more. That's a sad thought.
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See my reply to
That's a sad thought.
Especially for your LJ friends! I hope that if you do cut back, I'll be one of the people on your short list. I truly value your friendship!
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The only way I can imagine not corresponding with you on LJ is if I decided it would be best to go cold turkey. I still want to keep the connections with people I feel connected with now. I suspect that what I most need to do is cut back on reading communities, feeds, and people I never "talk to".
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That made my whole day! I can't begin to tell you how much I value your insightful comments in my journal, and I love reading about your thoughts and activities in yours!
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Seriously, if I just cut back on feeds I'll be in much better shape.
And I adore that icon.
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First actions: check out prices and times at the Y and at the local high school that has a pool. Already did the huge first step, the haircut.
VERY savvy.
5. better diet
I ate broccoli yesterday. This shows how committed I am.
For most, a better diet is all about eating more of the right stuff instead of less of the wrong stuff.
If you eat two cups of vegetables a day, your diet will be better, because you'll have less room for candy, or whatever your particular downfall(s) might be.
Also, remember that the most effective changes to diet happen at the grocery store.
6. writing
N words per day, no excuses? Or a goal of the form "write and submit this many short stories and edit that 2003 novel for submission"? Deciding soon would be good.
Keep it manageable. "The way to write a good song is to write 87 bad songs." I like the perspective offered by the excellent book The Artist's Way, which advocates writing three pages a day. OF ANYTHING. "I can't think of anything to write, so I am typing blithely, and gosh this is boring" COUNTS.
7. stretching
If I don't do my spine twists the pulling in my ribs wakes me up. No clue what that is, but I know stretching gets rid of it, so I'm a fool not to stretch.
Yoga classes are great for this too, I expect. That's certainly my primary flexibility-increaser, though to be fair, one of the primary forms of motivation to go to yoga class probably doesn't work for you.
8. finances
Time to look up whether I qualify to invest in a Roth IRA even if my company has a 401(k) plan, time to look over the past year's Quicken data to see where I can trim the excess, see whether my investments are right, etc etc.
The issue is simply how much money you made, I believe, not whether you have a 401(k). I say this though I lack full confidence in its accuracy in the hope that it motivates you to research it for real, hoping that I'm right.
And if you start getting more into investing, let me know if you want company. It's a big 2006 resultion for me too.
Good luck! Starting is half the battle. Congratulations.
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"The way to write a good song is to write 87 bad songs." I like the perspective offered by the excellent book The Artist's Way, which advocates writing three pages a day. OF ANYTHING.
I am surprised that I've gone this long without purchasing a copy of The Artist's Way. I really would like to read it. The 87 songs has an analog in prose fiction: "The first million words are crap." If I write a NaNovel every November, it'll be twenty years before I'm out of the "crap" range. I'd like to speed that up a bit!
Yoga classes are great for this too, I expect. That's certainly my primary flexibility-increaser, though to be fair, one of the primary forms of motivation to go to yoga class probably doesn't work for you.
Which motivation is that? I'm curious. :-) My primary demotivator for yoga is that much of it is done standing. I simply cannot do that. I do steal my twists from yoga, though.
The issue is simply how much money you made, I believe, not whether you have a 401(k).
That concurs with what I've found on the web so far. I hope that's the only limitation, because I sure could stand to save a bit more for retirement. Anything I can get into a qualified plan is excellent.
As for investing, I've put you on my "financial musings" filter, which has seen (I think) three posts total in its lifespan. It would be good to resurrect that!
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I am surprised that I've gone this long without purchasing a copy of The Artist's Way. I really would like to read it.
Let me know if my sending you my copy is the only way you'll be motivated to read it.
Which motivation is that? I'm curious.
"Dude, the yoga babes are totally hot!"
Why bother to deny the motivating factor of beautiful, athletic, flexible women who are comfortable in their own skins? Among straight women, the appeal of Yoga Guys may be similar, but in my limited experience, yoga classes tend to comprise more women than men by a pretty wide margin.
As for investing, I've put you on my "financial musings" filter, which has seen (I think) three posts total in its lifespan. It would be good to resurrect that!
Let's do it!
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I am chuckling about the yoga babes. I won't deny I appreciate seeing hot yoga guys (or hot yoga babes either). That's one disadvantage of doing yoga alone: no hotties in stretch clothing!
Financial: cool, post coming soon.