Meow’s Productivity Accountability Blog

Yesterday was so nice getting into the flow of doing resolutions again, that today I’m inspired to continue the trend.

Reflecting on yesterday, which was a big success, I realised something was missing from the complete victory.

I haven’t watched a movie.

I hadn’t done anything fun or creative that made my heart sing.

It was kind of sad, to have arrived at the end of the day, having accomplished everything and still feeling like you haven’t done anything fun.

So, this morning, I added an 8th resolution to round out my core seven:

8) Do something fun, playful, relaxing or new (10 minutes)

That makes my resolution list for 2020 be:

Projects 1) Edit or write 1000 words a day (currently: M39 Novel) 2) Go to gym every 2nd day (current: pass fitness test) 3) Do one course exercise a day (current: Artist’s Way) 4) Progress 1 chore a day (current: renew passport)

Habits 5) write morning diary daily (emotions) 6) stretch daily (body) 7) Meditate daily (spirit) 8) Do something fun, playful, relaxing or new (novelty)

Let’s begin!

I’m a night owl, I woke at 10am. By the time I had breakfast and brushed my teeth, it is noon right now. Also, I got my online friend, Squirtle (like the pokemon) with me on discord, and we’ll be doing 25 minute pomodoros to get ourselves moving.

Pomodoro technique is a productivity technique where you focus on a task for 25 minutes uninterrupted, and then have a 5 minute break. Then repeat.

The day feels very different when I have a virtual friend “studying” with me. It’s a very different vibe compared to working solo.

Normally, after breakfast and brushing teeth etc, I’d do the morning pages diary first. However, as I was brushing my teeth and listening to music, I didn’t want the current song to stop, which inspired me to start off the resolutions with stretching instead. I always stretch to music, and I really feel like listening to some more songs.

6) stretch daily (body)

Next, I feel like rambling, and thinking hard. Diary is perfect for this.

I usually put chakra chanting as background ambience while I diary. It adds a nice spiritual dimension to what can be considered a mundane activity.

Doing the diary didn’t feel hard, although the 25 min pom ran out where I was 5 lines from finishing, which was a little annoying, as I had to take a 5 min break before resuming. Sometimes when you work with a friend on a timer, it can interrupt flow if the timer doesn’t allow for neat chunks of work to be done.

5) write morning diary daily (emotions) 

In the diary, I was discussing what order I might do the resolutions today, and I got excited about doing the course exercise of all things, which I usually get done dead last. It’s only 10 min, so I’m gonna do that next. Don’t forget to reward yourself as you go, such as give yourself a nice glittery sticker like I do!

I went for a little longer than 10min because the time ran out and I was close to finishing the exercise. I was continuing yesterday’s Artist’s Way exercise where it was asking me to list wishes in various life areas, such as career, relationships and leisure. I spent a little more time and got spirituality wishes listed too, which completed this particular exercise.

3) Do one course exercise a day (current: Artist’s Way) 

What’s next? I want to finish all the little tasks first, so that I can focus on big tasks uninterrupted. That makes meditation the next item on the to-do (easy wins, remember?).

But first, lunch.

I got a really important phone call just after lunch, which lasted 40min. Now I feel like I don’t have much time to waste, so off to the meditation! The trick is to not debate about whether to start the task or not, but just do it. For me, that would be grab the timer and sit on the floor. If I do that, I will end up meditating.

I grab the timer and sit on the floor. 10 min meditation starts now.

I really struggled to meditate this time. I had so many thoughts racing. At one moment I caught myself writing a letter of apology in my head. At another point, I was trying to solve a problem in a piece of writing. I tried to reign in the thoughts but the flood of them was so strong my control instantly shattered. I didn’t try to be quiet the thoughts after that, I couldn’t do it. I did pay attention to my breathing while the thoughts did their thing in the background. I just tried not to focus on them too much.

7) Meditate daily (spirit) 

Next, I I have only two items left, the chore and daily writing (the gym isn’t on the list today cuz I gymmed yesterday). I’m gonna start with the chore, which today is editing a friend’s writing in preparation for Sunday’s meeting. It’s about 2,200 words long. I estimate it would take me an hour and a half to comment.

It took 1 hour and 10 minutes to comment. Luckily this work was an enjoyable read. It would’ve been much harder to edit if it was slow or uninspiring. I was able to focus the entire time, not checking email etc. Fantastic!

4) Progress 1 chore a day (current: renew passport)

Now it’s just the daily writing left. I feel pretty exhausted though. I think I might have a longer break to read or chill out to give my brain a rest, before starting what is essentially another editing session, where it’s a lot harder because it’s my own writing and I often hardly know what I meant when I wrote it, haha.

I decided to do the item eight, relax, in hopes of cheering myself up. Item eight today is watch Iron Man, one of my favourite movies. I got sidetracked watching youtube videos though, and then I did put the movie on, but I didn’t realise how long the movie was, and by the time it finished it was super late. Yeah, I didn’t account for that very well. Let’s see if I can write a little bit, a token effort, maybe 500 words instead of 1,000.

Luckily I was able to concentrate despite the late hour and did 600 words, which took me 1h 15min. Good job!

That’s it, that’s all the resolutions done! Hooray! This deserves a sticker!

Technically it’s day 15 of my 365 challenge/new year resolutions. However, like most of you, I ran out of steam and flopped my resolutions.

Today marks a reset to day 1. I don’t see flopping as an excuse to give up the challenge. Maybe I can’t do it for the full 365 days in a row. But maybe I can do it for two days in a row, or ten, or a month. In any case, I hope to have figured it out by December.

The 365 challenge is:

Projects 1) Edit or write 1000 words a day (currently: M39 Novel) 2) Go to gym every 2nd day (current: pass fitness test) 3) Do one course exercise a day (current: Artist’s Way) 4) Progress 1 chore a day (current: renew passport)

Habits 5) write morning diary daily (emotions) 6) stretch daily (body) 7) Meditate daily (spirit)

I’m restarting this blog to share the journey with you. Why not restart your resolutions now? Or set some if you haven’t yet, for an exciting year of growth.

So, where I’m at right now, is I’ve just awoken from burnout.

I couldn’t string two words together, much less write heartfelt 1000 words of my novel. Yesterday, I had a trip to meet my boyfriend’s parents. Sitting in front of two well-meaning strangers, being asked simple questions like "what do you do?” had me in stumps.

The parents meant my profession but I was thinking about something much more mundane.

What was I doing day to day?

Burnout is a horrible thing. It robs you of inspiration, creativity, and creates an unfillable void in your chest. Nothing feels good enough, good enough to try. Nothing is exciting. I’ve been reading day after day, all day, trying to fill that emptiness in my soul.

That trip to see “the parents” made me look at myself as an outsider. I didn’t like what I saw.

What the hell was I doing with my life? It’s only been two weeks of the resolutions and I all but forgotten them! I have lost myself, letting entropy and the lack of energy dictate my life.

So today, the start of Day 1, I am restarting this blog and getting myself into gear. Gently.

I urge anyone starting out to treat yourself gently, like a new student. To get back on your feet you need encouragement, not harsh blows of criticism.

Today’s all about getting back to our feet. Gently.

I’m typing this blog as I go, because I need gentle encouragement. Baby steps.

First thing I’m gonna do is have breakfast. Luckily I have eggs in the fridge. I did say today marks the start of Day 1. Forget the resolutions for now. Even doing breakfast feels hard.

For breakfast, I made 2 eggs with leftover tofu and spinach from who knows how long ago, and packaged miso soup. I have miso soup every day, so it’s a typical breakfast for me. You shouldn’t try to make anything fancy. A jam on toast is fine. the point is to eat something that gives you energy to start the day. It’s hard to function when you’re low AND have no physical energy either. So we start with breakfast. I also made a banana smoothie in a blender to snack on as I go.

Next, I’m gonna tidy up my room. I live in a share house and my bedroom doubles up as my study and entertainment and library. I have piles of washing on my bed, plates on my table, pillows on the floor, random plastic bags of stuff that I barely remember dumping by the bed to be dealt with later. I have so much stuff that I can barely breathe. I need orderliness to think, and right now, my surroundings make me feel anxious and suffocated.

I’m not gonna clean up the whole place, that is too much effort. But I took the dishes and cups to the kitchen. I have put scattered books into stacks so they’re out of the way. I put all used tissues in the bin.The biggest eyesore are clothes. Seeing clothes on the floor makes me feel out of control. I have two baskets where I sort used clothes instead of just throwing them on the floor. I put exercise clothes in one basket under the bed, while lounge clothes went in the other. It didn’t take long. The one thing that did take time was folding the laundry. It took time but it was worth it for the sense of freedom of my room clothes-free. Just remember, we want to create a sense of peace and serenity, so that you can get on with your day. Maybe you don’t mind your clothes on the floor, maybe for you it’s cleaning up that really ugly stain that bugs you. Or that shutter making an infernal rattling noise that you couldn’t been bothered to fix. Get your peace of mind. Fix it.

I put on some nice music while I tidied. When I was done, I lighted a scented candle to cheer up the place with a nice scent. Maybe play a victory tune to celebrate if that’s your thing.

The tidying took up more energy than I was prepared, and I feel wiped out. I haven’t even started on my daily seven yet. I just feel like collapsing with a book and not getting up again.

Luckily for me, there is one item on my daily seven that invigorates me when I remember to do it. It’s number five, the diary.

Now my diary isn’t like a normal record of the day diary that most people use. My diary are the morning pages from Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. All I do is write out my worries. That’s when it works best. Sometimes I don’t know what’s bugging me and writing it long hand helps me figure it out. Sometimes I can’t think of a worry, then I write whatever is on my mind, stream-of-consciousness style. The point isn’t to list all your worries, but to let out of your chest whatever is gripping you. Sometimes it’s the excitement of a new idea, and I have written little scene sketches in the diary too. Dreams. To-dos. Battle plans before meeting The Parents. There is no wrong way to do the diary as long as you write whatever comes to mind, not stopping. “I don’t know what to write now...” is something I see too.

I did this diary for 2 pages of my large notebook, which is roughly 22 minutes. And that takes of item number five on my daily seven.

5) write morning diary daily (emotions)

I give myself a sticker for each of the seven that I complete. It cheers me up and brings a little bit of joy into my day.

In my morning pages diary, I realised that each of the items isn’t hard. The illusion of it is. It seems hard, but once you start doing, it’s actually not that hard to do the task in the moment. Stretching isn’t hard. Thinking about doing stretching, about how much time and energy it takes and that I’d have to get up and start moving and that I’ll never be flexible so what’s the use, is what keeps me stuck dead. The key is not succumbing to the illusion of difficulty, and just starting. Once I start, the task will take care of itself. 10 minutes meditation is nothing. But thinking about sitting there trying not to think and how my back always aches, is the enemy.

My advice is, start the thing. Don’t think about starting the thing. Start doing the thing. If it’s gym, get dressed and out the door. Start doing it. No debating allowed!

I’ll meditate next. Another thing that often remains undone, because it’s boring.

I find meditating boring.

Sitting without thoughts, experiencing time without beginning or end is very hard for me. I’m very good at imagining stuff, such as cleansing the chakras or directing energy in my mind. Sitting quietly with a silent mind, 10 minutes seem to go on on FOREVER.

All right, fine. Start. Not deliberate. I’m going.

I sat on a cushion and set alarm for ten minutes.

Ohh, it started off well enough. Then I got really restless. I started counting my breaths to 10, which really helped. Then after some time, my thoughts went wild. I was deciding which movie to watch tonight as my reward for doing so well, Dr Strange or Iron Man. Those are my favourite movies. Also I was thinking that I was gonna finish early today, and how early was early? At which point I realised I’ve had a pop song playing in my mind’s background for some time. Ugh.

Ten minutes felt long, but I lasted the whole time and now I feel so happy and proud of myself! I have done the meditation for today, item seven. Another sticker. Yay!

The benefits of meditation are numerous, but the benefits don’t kick in until several months in, same as gym. It took my brother 3 months of gym before he began to look great. I’ve just started gym and meditation myself on New Years Day, so it’ll take some time for my mind to center and my body to look great. Today’s a great day to start!

7) Meditate daily (spirit)

Well, I feel like I’m on a roll with my daily habits, so I’m feeling inspired to do the 10 min stretching. I’ve already done morning diary and meditation, stretching feels like a piece of cake! (See how small steps inspire more small steps? I’m all fired up!)

I put up some music, set the timer, and bam! Done. Three stickers today. The amount of bones I cracked was embarrassing.

Why do I resist stretching so much? Again, it takes time, even if it’s just 10 minutes. It’s boring, even if I put on music. Plus it hurts when I’m sore or I try the splits. Then why do it? Because doing something like a ten minute stretch helps keep flexibility and freedom of movement for life. Like all good things, the tangible benefits don’t kick in until later in life. (I’m beginning to see a pattern here).

6) stretch daily (body) Done!

That’s the Habits triad done. Yay for emotions/body/spirit!

Where’s the mind, you may ask? Well, the rest of the daily tasks are mind-heavy. Writing, gym, course exercise and chores tend to draw heavily on intellect. They make my brain flex.

Writing draws heavily on all areas.

Going to gym is as much a mental battle as physical exertion is.

By now, I’ve done the easy items on the list, the ones that take 10 minutes max. Doing it this way was semi-deliberate. I need easy wins right now to feel empowered. Attempting something like number one: writing, would be too overwhelming for me. Thanks to starting with the small items, I feel accomplished, I feel confident about getting more items done, I feel cheerful and I have what I feel like lots of energy (stretching could be at play for the energy boost).

Next, I feel like tackling the easiest item on the Projects list. Which is number four, the chore of passport renewal.

All I have to do for passport renewal is to load the official form onto USB and print it, get two passport photos, and go to post office to pay a fee and lodge the form and the photos.

The due date is tomorrow. I’ve been putting it off for a month.

The reason is, I am hesitant about taking that photo. I currently have long-ish hair at my boyfriend’s request, but I normally keep it short. I don’t want long hair in my passport photo. I have been procrastinating getting a haircut (and hurting my boyfriend’s feelings), yet I wasn’t comfortable taking a long-haired photo. That would be ten years staring at a photo that screams “not me”.

Some of you might be thinking “Gal, it’s your hair, you don’t have to do what your boyfriend says!”. I agree. This time, however, it’s not a bother to keep my hair long. I don’t care that it’s long right now (and I like that my boyfriend appreciates it), I just don’t want my hair long in my passport photo.

Alas, I’ve decided as I’m typing this this that I’ve left the decision for too long, and I’m worried about the paperwork expiring tomorrow if I don’t do something now. So, I’m gonna find that passport form and put it on USB, then fix myself for going out (long hair and all), and see if I can take the photo at the post office directly rather than getting someone to do it for me and then rushing to a printing shop last minute (for all of you who can print at home, I am jealous and I salute you!).

Finding an empty USB and loading the doc there took less than thirty seconds.

The getting ready didn’t take too long because I had met The Parents yesterday and so I was all clean. I wore the same clothes cuz I just needed to do the photo, not please people.

Doing well so far.

At the post office, the lady told me they don’t do printing. While they could do the photo, they can’t print my form to finalise the process.

I envy you, printer-owners.

I contacted a relative to see if I can use their printer, and also if they can do my photo. It would same me money if my relative could print the photo for free. They said okay.

Turns out the passport photo couldn’t be printed via inkjet printer. I only printed the form at the relative’s.

Then I drove back to post office, did the photo, and submitted the whole thing.

I’m so tired now. This recovery thing is hard.

Or maybe that’s cuz it’s early dinnertime and I haven’t had lunch yet.

4) Progress 1 chore a day (current: renew passport)

I’m gonna make some food next. It’s not dinner, not lunch, but something in-between.

I made a sandwich for that meal. Again, I wasn’t going for fancy, since I’m so low on energy.

While having lunch and talking to my brother, I have randomly uncovered an answer for a touch writing problem I’ve been having about some critique I’ve gotten. I was so inspired by this insight that I worked on the solution for about two hours, which resulted in about 2,500 words. That covers number one on the resolutions list, quite by accident.

I love when success begets more success.

1) Edit or write 1000 words a day (currently: M39 Novel)

Now it is late, and I’ve been sitting down for most of the day. Plus the gym rush has ended. A great time to head out to gym.

I didn’t stay long in the gym, only 40 minutes, 20 of which was walking on treadmill. Baby steps, remember?

2) Go to gym every 2nd day (current: pass fitness test)

By the time I got back and took a shower, it was 10pm. I still have one item not done.

This leaves only one item not yet attempted, and that is item two, the course exercise (for the Artist’s way). It takes only 5 min. I remember that all exercises for week 11 in the book are lengthy. I don’t think I can easily do any of them. So, I’m gonna do the trick I do for really difficult tasks, or tasks I’m really scared of.

I set a timer for 10 minutes.

In that time, I’m gonna read the exercises and see if I can do any today. If not, I’m going to pick one and write up a list of materials I’ll need, or do a search if the exercise asks me to contact people etc. Basically, I’m gonna spend the 10 minutes trying to progress something somewhere.

10 min. Go!

I could do one exercise. It was massive. I had to list 10 wishes in 7 areas of health, possessions, relationships etc... I only got through the heath, possessions and leisure in 10 minutes, and I thought I was coming up with wishes pretty fast. Those course exercises aren’t quick!

However it does accomplish my daily resolution of progressing a course exercise by a minimum of 10 minutes. Yay!

3) Do one course exercise a day (current: Artist’s Way)

This means I did all 7 resolutions! Hooray!

I gave myself a special sticker to celebrate!

But it did take me a full day, from breakfast to 10:30pm to do all seven, and I didn’t have any obligations today. If you have work or are looking after kids, then maybe try for one resolution a day. I definitely don’t want to be spending an entire day tomorrow doing just the resolutions. I’d like to do other things too. But today I wanted to start it easy and so I didn’t plan any other things so that I had plenty of time to do the resolutions.

I hope that once I’m more at the rolling stage, I can achieve all the resolutions in a single 3-4h evening. If you have a lot of resolutions and you’re struggling, do the math to figure out what is realistic. My resolutions take a total of 3 hours 20 minutes as a minimum (items 3 to 7 are ten 10minutes each, to a total of 50 min. Gym takes about an hour. Writing is variable, but 1 hour for 1,000 words sounds reasonable. Plus add a minimum of 5 minutes between each activity. Seven activities require six breaks, a total of 30 min). So, a theoretical 3 hour 20 minutes worth of tasks took me 12+ hours to do today. Again, be gentle with yourself.

What are your resolutions for today? I wish you success, good luck and good cheer!

Hi all! I thought I’d try writing the blog again, keep accountable and share my creative productivity journey with the world. I hope this inspires someone out there to get started, too.

Right now it’s mid-January, and like many of you, I’ve already flopped my New Years Resolutions. I have 7 resolutions. They are:

Projects 1) Edit or write 1000 words a day (currently: M39 Novel) 2) Go to gym every 2nd day (current: pass fitness test) 3) Do one course exercise a day (current: Artist’s Way) 4) Progress 1 chore a day (current: renew passport)

Habits 5) write morning diary daily 6) stretch daily 7) Meditate daily

The duration for each is 10min, unless it’s gym or writing, which has “show up” or “words” rather than a time limit. Projects mean focusing on a specific outcome, whereas habits are more about health and well-being.

All of the above is not hard, and takes 10 min each (except writing and gym, which take longer). I have had people comment it’s reasonable. Yet I have flopped my New Years Resolutions/365 challenge by week two. Why is it so hard to keep the resolutions? Well, look at it this way. I have a whole year to figure out how to do all 7 in a consistent manner.

Hi all who might’ve been reading this blog! I’ve been silent the last couple of weeks, because I’ve made a great discovery about effective productivity/accountability and I’ve been implementing it. And it is:

Being in a (discord study) community.

I’ve joined a study group discord server, where you’re in a private DM and there’s a common timer. Everyone (or who wants to) says what goals they’re gonna do in the next time period, and we do the timer together.

At the end of the timer, people share how they went.

It’s worked like magic. I shared “I’m going to restructure chapter 11 in the next round” and then I report how I did it in the break. And you get the strong sense of community and connection from the virtual people who are in your DM, because they’re accomplishing their goals alongside you. You don’t feel lonely, if you’re down people will encourage you or try to problem solve with you, and procrastination is minimal because you’re on a group timer.

Try it! the discord I’m on is called Study Hall. Ask your friends if any of them are in a study discord. Or search for one online.

Good luck in your productivity and accountability journey!

The goals for Thursday 7 February 2019 are:

1) Review Alien chapter for posting ~2hours

2) Comment on part 2 of Ian’s work ~1hour

3) Read 1/3 of Mary’s work and take structural notes ~ 2h

4) Get ready to head out with friends ~40min

5) Write in my emotional diary, since it helped motivate me last time ~20min

I’ve also been taking notes on “Developing Effectiveness for IxTJ and ExTP personality types”, which is a podcast by Personality Hacker. I strongly recommend Personality Hacker podcast. It’s one of the best personal development tools I’ve found! Definitely worth the time. I listen to it when I eat lunch and when I commute to places.

I’m a visual learner and so I want to have the podcast as text in front of me so I can follow the recommended exercises, and so I was transcribing the information onto paper. It took me 18 minutes to transcribe 4 minutes 15 seconds of the lecture (and a lot of paper!). The lecture is 50 minutes long. When I actually put numbers to the things I’m trying to do, I realise how just how freaking long everything takes xD So, to transcribe that 50 min lecture in full would take me about 4 hours. Maybe it’s time to evaluate which parts I wanna transcribe.

Good luck to you tackling your own goals!

The goals for Wednesday 6 February 2019 were:

Optional 1) go to the gym - I am feeling a bit faint today, not sure if I should go 10 min to ready + 20min drive + 1hr session + 20min drive + 10min misc = 2h total

A: I decided to forgo this time. I wasn’t feeling well.

2) write in emotional diary, figure out why I’m procrastinating 30 min or less

A: Done. Unfortunately I don’t have exact time since diary merged into story writing. I think pure diary was about 20 minutes. I should diary more, as it stopped procrastination on the spot xD

3) amend the weekly schedule to be more forgiving 30 min or less

A: Done, 20 minutes

4) Review one of my friend’s stories for the upcoming writing meeting Tough one. Work is 2,500 words. Estimate 2 hours?

A: It ended up being an incomplete piece, and fairly developed so I didn’t have many comments. Took 50 minutes (felt very quick compared to usual).

Optional 5) listen to a lecture on motivation and take notes Lecture is 45 min. Estimate full notes in 2 hours? It’s okay to do this in parts.

A: I took notes of the first 9 minutes and it took 30 minutes because I had to write everything nearly word-for-word; it was gold xD

Score: 3/3 with 1/2 optionals

Lessons learned: emotional diary, where you write what bothers you, helped a lot to untangle my vague uneasiness about writing. When I tried to describe how I felt stuck, it cleared away the feeling of stuckiness, and then I felt like doing stuff again. It’s like a miracle cure!

Good luck with your own productivity adventures!

I had broken my last chain at day 7, so let’s try it again. The goal is the same, to last to day 14!

The reason the last chain broke is that I ended up going out every day four days in a row, including going on 2 dates where I had to listen attentively to new people, which I find extremely draining. So much outside time without a break put me in what is called The Grip. When this happens, I have absolutely no energy or patience to deal with the outside world. My friends kept asking how did my dates go, and I hope I wasn’t a jerk to them, but my voice was very clipped because I just couldn’t handle anymore interaction. The Grip is pretty much 100% stress. So, at the first opportunity to stay home, I binge-read and now I feel somewhat human again. My motivation is really low as I’m recovering. I didn’t even remember I had goals to set and accomplish. I hate The Grip.

The lesson there, is to know yourself, and to honor those limitations. I didn’t intend to have four days of constant meetings in a row, but when I saw it happen, I knew it was probably not gonna end well for me. And yeah, it didn’t.

Now’s the time to get back to being productive and build a new 14-day chain! I can do it!

This blog has one subscriber now. Congratulations on joining the weirdness and embracing your productivity journey! Feel free to share your goals. Let’s keep each other accountable xD

One new thing I’m gonna try with the goals this time is to estimate how much time I think each one is going to take, and then see how long they actually took. I think a lot of my troubles come from not allowing enough time for goal completion (or not working fast enough, that’s also possible).

The goals for Wednesday 6 February 2019 are:

Optional 1) go to the gym - I am feeling a bit faint today, not sure if I should go 10 min to ready + 20min drive + 1hr session + 20min drive + 10min misc = 2h total

2) write in emotional diary, figure out why I’m procrastinating 30 min or less

3) amend the weekly schedule to be more forgiving 30 min or less

4) Review one of my friend’s stories for the upcoming writing meeting Tough one. Work is 2,500 words. Estimate 2 hours?

Optional 5) listen to a lecture on motivation and take notes Lecture is 45 min. Estimate full notes in 2 hours? It’s okay to do this in parts.

Hmm, that’s a lot of time when I put down the minutes. No wonder I didn’t complete the full goals list in my previous attempt.

This results post is about 6 days late (today being 6 February and Day 7 goals having been set for 1 February, 2019).

1) Get Alien chapter ready for posting (hail or high water, cuz I’m running behind)

A: Nope! While I worked on the chapter, I didn’t get it ready.

2) Bath

A: Nope again!

3) Shut down computer by 10pm, and go to bed by 11 pm.

A: Nope. I got playing a video game with friends and we finished late xD

Score: 0/3

So, the results are a complete failure. Ouch! Ah, it happens. I think why this happened is that I procrastinated the whole day, not wanting to tackle that Alien chapter, and then, by the time I had somewhat looked at the chapter, there was no time for bath.

Friends calling for a round at a computer game is fine, but not stopping as I had planned isn’t cool.

Lessons learned: obey your own schedule and things tend to work out well!

Happy February 1st, everyone! Today’s the start of a new month, which is a good time to check how you’re going against your yearly goals, and how your January goals have turned out.

I have 10 goals for the year, and I had 10 goals for January, which I won’t type as it’d take way too long, but it’s sufficient to say that my yearly goals look very good, I’ve taken quite a progress on 9/10 of them, while my January goals didn’t look that great: done 5/10, with partials that’s 8/10, and not done 2/10.

Take a few minutes to write down what you’d like to accomplish in February.

For me, I looked at my yearly goals, and I asked myself what action I can take on each to move the yearly goal forward. This resulted in 1 or up to 3 actions I can take this month to bring myself closer to accomplishing the yearly goals.

I came up with a whopping 16 goals for February. Some of them are complex, like “work up to doing at least 1/2 of my planned work sessions a week”, to goals that can be accomplished in a single action, such as “Move the table from storage to my room”. There are 16 goals total. The trick is scheduling time for those goals, or, you have to make sure you’re doing activities that will naturally lead to the goal, and the goals are just for focus (eg, I’m going to the gym anyway, so the goal of “do 8 push ups” isn’t something I’d separately schedule the time for. 8 push ups will take care of themselves if I focus on them during the gym time).

The goals for Friday February 1 2019 are:

1) Get Alien chapter ready for posting (hail or high water, cuz I’m running behind)

2) Bath

3) Shut down computer by 10pm, and go to bed by 11 pm.

Let’s see if I can do it! I estimate that the Alien chapter will take me 6 hours (just a guess). Let’s see how much I can do!

The results for Thursday 31 January 2019 are:

1) Shower (Something simple, good for self-esteem xD)

A: yep! xD

2) Schedule in dating time

A: I really can’t slot it anywhere, other than to check the dating site when I normally have breaks. So, check the site while resting between work sessions

3) Use breaks for comms (as opposed to during sessions)

A: I tried and it worked, although I still checked messages between tasks occasionally while within the session period. I can try better next time.

4) Do a single lass over the Alien chapter (I’d prefer more but a single one is minimum)

A: I got snagged on the first scene of the chapter, and that’s where it got 2 passes. The whole chapter I didn’t get full pass. So, only 1/2 done? There was more work than I hoped for.

5) Arrange a date

A: done.

6) Go over Alien a second time

A: yes, but only over the first scene (out of 3), because it required more work than I thought. So, again 1/2 done.

7) Save Alien comments

A: Done

8) Translate movie structural beats into novel structural beats

A: Done.

Score: 5 full, 3 partials, out of 8.

Reflections: The day went well, with the exception of my coverage of Alien. There was more work than I have anticipated. I need to allocate more work sessions to cover 2 full passes. I fixed the first out of the 3 scenes.

I’m realising that my goal accomplishing ability needs some work xD Maybe I’m too ambitious, or my executing ability hasn’t caught up with my wishes yet. Either way, I’m gonna keep working hard to bring my productivity to the desired level. I feel working to become more productive is the only way forward. Giving up or settling for less isn’t an option!

The goals for Day 6, 31 Jan 2019 are:

1) Shower (Something simple, good for self-esteem xD)

2) Schedule in dating time

3) Use breaks for comms (as opposed to during sessions)

4) Do a single lass over the Alien chapter (I’d prefer more but a single one is minimum)

5) Arrange a date

This seems a bit too simple, since a lot of it is scheduling. I can add more:

6) Go over Alien a second time

7) Save Alien comments

8) Translate movie structural beats into novel structural beats

This may turn out a bit too much now. Let’s see how hard I can hustle. Yesterday doesn’t count! xD

Here’s how the Wednesday 30 January 2019 turned out:

1) A session of M39 writing

A: done!

2) A session of Alien writing

A: Not done, because I ended up writing messages to friends instead D:

3) Make Sushi for dinner

A: done!

4) Go to gym

A: done!

5) Pick up groceries after gym

A: done!

6) Go to bed on time and read

A: I will, after I post this blog!

Score 5/6.

Hmmm. It sucks that I didn’t get a session of Alien writing in. Chatting to friends seemed to be so much more stimulating. I made a new rule where I check messages only during meal times. Let’s see if that helps with the random urge to check messages issue I’ve been having today! xD

Today’s Wednesday 30 January 2019. Wow, nearly a full month has gone. How did this happen?

Goals for today are:

1) A session of M39 writing

2) A session of Alien writing

3) Make Sushi for dinner

4) Go to gym

5) Pick up groceries after gym

6) Go to bed on time and read

I have been going to bed really late and waking up very late, and I’m feeling the lack of energy in the mornings. Hence the go to bed early goal.

The goals for Tuesday 29 January 2018 were:

1) Vacuum the floors

A: Done!

2) Mop all tiled areas

A: Done!

3) Scrub toilets

A: Done!

4) Scrub shower

A: Done!

5) Wash all miscellaneous dishes

A: Done!

6) Wipe kitchen counters

A: Done! 

All done! 6/6 Yay!

I had allowed the whole day to just cleaning the house and nothing else. It had worked! The focus was very high.

Today’s a cleaning day on my calendar. The only goal is to clean as much of the house as possible! Within that, I’d like to get done at least the following:

1) Vacuum the floors

2) Mop all tiled areas

3) Scrub toilets

4) Scrub shower

5) Wash all miscellaneous dishes

6) Wipe kitchen counters

The key to cleaning fast is keeping tidy. If you had virtually no objects in your house, the house would be easy to clean. Keeping everything in its place means you can easily find whatever object you’re looking for. Keeping the same kind of objects groped together (say, all your clothes are in the wardrobe only) means you have all your decision making in one place (as opposed to checking the bathroom floor, the living room couch and the wardrobe to decide on an outfit).

The book Spark Joy by Marie Kondo is a great user-friendly resource (with pictures and funny stories!) on how to keep a house organised and clutter-free.

Let’s see how much cleaning I can accomplish today!

The goals for Monday January 28 2019 were:

1) dig up the current M39 version and skim

Done! But it took way longer.

2) Structure Alien ch 10

Done!

3) If mum confirms our meeting, go visit mum.

Mom canceled, so free time! I actually ended up reading M39 some more.

Score: 2/2 Yay!

The learning for the day was that I again didn’t allow enough time for M39 skim. This is because I haven’t worked on M39 for a really long time, so it’s pretty much a new project for me. Lessons learned for a new project: allow heaps more time to familiarise or you’ll run out of time (I ran out of time signing up to a dating website too). When it’s something I’m already working on, I can do it in chunks. When it’s something new, my inspiration is so high that I need to allow a full day to it to get the most of the energy wave.

Short day today because I had a long day yesterday and didn’t go to sleep till 3am. The workday today starts at 2pm. Not much work can be done in 3 hours!

Productivity tip: rise early, you get more time to be productive, than if you wake very late.

The goals for Monday January 28 2019 are:

1) dig up the current M39 version and skim

2) Structure Alien ch 10

3) If mum confirms our meeting, go visit mum.

Short day today because I had a long day yesterday and didn’t go to sleep till 3am. The workday today starts at 2pm. Not much work can be done in 3 hours!