Goals for May

I thought I'd take some time to look at my goals for this month. I pencil it into a note book but I thought I'd also think aloud here on this page.

Last month:

• Plan each week: too tired some Fridays, it's then hard to find another time to do it, not menu planning some weeks also meant extra trips to the shops. Weekday lunches are going extremely well. I average three times a week so that's a definite improvement on the last few years. Less screen time - less TV time, yes (well done :) ) , less computer time, NO!
• Exercise three times a week - NO, Not happening! Well, I did jog once a week but on the weekend it was too cold and wet. Oh, and I did buy new runners which are much more comfortable.
• Reflect - I'm happy because it's on my radar. See Create. Yet to find a definite time where this can happen.
• Create - I did print out one inspirational quote one morning.
• House - Yes!  I've been doing little jobs here and there which has made it easier to keep the house tidy. I finally got rid of the children's desk in the front room and have now replaced it with an op shop find that I love! 

• Garden - Yes! With the help of Mr S we have refreshed the garden. 
• Be social - Yes! Mr S made some buns and we visited family members. It was a good 'excuse' to call on people. Both Mr S and I find it hard to impose ourselves on people so sometimes we need a 'cover'. It can be quite hard for very shy people to initiate social interaction, which is all the more reason why I need to keep working on this goal.
  

Looking ahead: I've underlined things to take note of. 

• Planning - Keep this for Friday nights. This month I think a good shopping list is my goal. 
• Exercise three times a week - I really want this to be part of my lifestyle so it stays on the list. I think I might need to change mealtimes to accommodate midweek exercise. 
• Reflecting 
• Creating - Do I have time for this? 
• Around the house - If I do the dishes at night then I have time in the  morning for house work and other tasks, even for reflection. I've got a good work schedule this term so I might look into making a 'reflection' time before work. Monday or Tuesday mornings could be a good time to reflect. Could tie it in with a chai latte!  
• Around the house 2 - Hang up pictures... yes, I know it never happens, but I will attempt to do one picture this month. If I blogged it that might help?? I also want to declutter the clutter in the study. Ten minutes at a time rather than always jumping onto the computer.
• Garden - finish putting mulch down, a quick tidy here and there each week, help Mr S with the vegetable garden
• Be Social - invite friends M and B over for dinner, as soon as Mother's Day is over.

I prepared this post a couple of weeks ago. Both Mr S and I have not been well but we are finally on the mend.  It's another reminder to me that goals are not the true baseline in my life. I am learning to tune in to what is happening around me and to be in the present moment. Nevertheless, good goals are good guidelines and do help me stay focussed and organised, and keep my life intentional.
I have started decluttering the front room, ten minutes here and there. I'm now off to do the shopping with a carefully thought out shopping list. I'm determined to get back to exercise so I've 'scheduled' a walk after my shopping. My social anxiety tendencies are saying "Avoid! Avoid! There'll be too many people around on this lovely morning" but my logical mind is telling me to be strong and to shift my thoughts over to what I really want to do. So, have a lovely Sunday. I'm off to shop and walk!!

Goals for 2016

Driving over to South Australia the other day gave me plenty of time to think about my goals and where I want to go in 2016.

I had to accept that 2016 was the year I did not tick off as many goals as expected. Yet, upon reflection I realise there were good reasons for this.

I did not have as much free time as in the past. My role at work changed and it took me much longer to prepare lessons. I tried hard to do more exercise throughout the year and that meant less time for other goals.  There were times when I just did not have the energy and I simply had to put “life” on hold. 

So this year I’ve aimed to be more practical and more realistic about setting my goals.

I see my goals falling into four areas:

1.       Organisation: I’m not a natural organiser. I can be quite absent-minded at times. I need to plan so that I can manage what comes up each week. I need to ensure I stay on top of things, as far as possible.

2.       Health: I want to be healthy now in order to be healthy in the future. I need to be healthy now in order to have a fulfilling life. Ultimately, being healthy means feeling good.

3.       House: I want a comfortable, welcoming home. The tendency is to put house maintenance on the backburner while I focus on a myriad of other things. I don’t want my house to fall apart and I don’t want the mess to pile up so that my weekends are spent  tidying up.

4.       Me: I strongly believe in “me” time, possibly because I’m an introvert and I know that I function well when I get “me” time. Organisation helps me manage what comes up each week, but at another level, reflection and ‘time out’ are what help me manage my emotions and my inner life.

GOALS

Organisation

• Use Friday night to pay bills, menu plan and organise weekend and week ahead.
• Wake up early. Do small jobs before and after work.
• Make lunch three times a week.
• Reduce screen time. Make screen time more intentional.

Health

• Drink lots of water daily.
• Eat food made from scratch.
• Exercise three times a week.  (Must include yoga as a way to maintain back care. Run twice a week.  Ride once a week.)

House

• Do one cleaning job a week. (Usually does not happen. Think about how it could happen!)
• Get broken window handles fixed.
• Finish setting up front room.
• Hang up pictures.

Me

• Take time regularly to indulge, relax, enjoy: read a book, create/paint, work on my family tree, visit the countryside/beach
• Learn something new: possibly sewing or making soap
• Find a regular time each week to reflect.
• Go to a talk or a play (x2).
• Invite friends over or out once a month:  Keep practising those social skills which are too easy for me to overlook.

I have not included goals which are an established part of my routine.

I have included goals from 2015 which were not accomplished  or still need to be worked on.

I actually feel very good about my list for 2016. Being an idealist, I'm not usually so practical.  I've got to say that it feels achievable and it allows plenty of room to add goals should the opportunities arise. I do have a wish list of things I would love to do. It includes things like buying a new couch and rug for the living room, buying a decorative name plaque to put at the front door and having a weekend away. My practical mind can see that if I achieve what's on the goal list, life will be pretty good, even if the wish list does not materialise!

Getting up early: after 30 years of getting up late

It feels good to write that title. After 30 years of getting up for work every day at the last minute, I'm actually getting up early.

What is getting up early?

• enough time to have breakfast
• enough time to get dressed nicely in an outfit rather than throwing together anything that is clean and wearable
• enough time to do something else, whether it be water the garden or take a few moments to compose myself before heading off for the day

My usual routine?

• a one minute shower
• a scramble to find something to wear
• grab bits and pieces that need to be packed in my bag
• mad dash to find glasses and/or keys and/or phone
• a desperate rush to find some food to take to work...often coming up with nothing or forgetting what I  had organised, though I do sometimes take my muesli and yoghurt to work to have later.

Getting up at the last minute has been my story for most of my life until a few months ago.  It struck me that I  dream of  mornings with a chai latte  while others actually get up and have a chai latte. The message hit home after chatting with friends who explained how they get up very early in order to have the lifestyle they want. I sat there listening to their stories and I realised:

1. I want to be like them. I'm not like them. What's my excuse? No excuse. It's up to me....but I'm not a morning person...
2. The clincher....getting up late had become part of my story. I didn't want to retire with   that sort of mad morning rush having been part of my daily story for my whole working life. I wanted to change the story. I wanted to do something nice for myself and not waste the precious opportunity that each  morning offers.

So... I began. 

It started with the alarm going off an hour earlier than usual and me pushing the snooze button two  or three times. That was OK because I was still getting up earlier and I was enjoying doing a job or two before work. A few times I watered the garden. Other times I tidied up or did something for work. To counterbalance waking up early I had to go to sleep earlier.

Fast forward to March 2015....

At the moment I still wake up early but I do a mad dash to get out the door in time to catch the bus. Time gained now goes towards time on public transport. I have altered my routine, though. I  gather things together the night before and  I plan what I'm going to wear. I make sure glasses, money and keys are all in my bag, ready to go.

Next week, my routine changes again. I will have a car! I plan to keep my early morning schedule. It's getting harder as it's dark now when I wake up. This morning,waiting at the bus stop, it was quite chilly and I wondered how I would manage if I had to do this all winter. Regardless, I'm determined to stick to my new habit. I'm determined to have the occasional chai latte. Idealistic as ever, I want to enjoy the morning. 

Just do one thing before you sit down

When I come home from work I find all I want to do is sit down and veg. Some days I have no energy. My inclination when I walk through the door is to sit down on the couch as quickly as possible. The problem is that I usually have plenty of things to do, including getting a meal ready. 

One day, after thinking about my time-wasting habits,  I realised that flopping down on the couch was the crucial point at which I was choosing to "slack off".  I realised that I needed to change what I did right at that point. Ever the queen of making life easy, I challenged myself to do just one thing before I sat down. I figured that would lighten the workload at least a little. I don't believe in work, work, work but I know that relax, relax, relax is counter-productive as well!

So, one thing is what I try to do before I sit down and succumb to the need to veg out after I come home from work. Keeping it simple, is the key!! I usually assign myself something easy to do, such as put ten things away (yep, there can be a lot of mess sometimes), before I have a cuppa, or clean the basin, then have a snack.

You might have already guessed what I'm going to say next. After I do one job I feel a sense of achievement and I find myself doing a little bit more. The ten things I pick up, quickly and easily, become twenty things. While  I give the living room a quick tidy-up, I start working out what I need to do for dinner. The other day I decided to water the pot plants and I took a quick walk around the garden.  Most of the plants are dying off after the summer season but I found a zucchini ready to pick. 

This is also where a meal plan works well for me. It helps if I start on the meal preparation before I sit down. I sometimes feel daunted by the task of cooking a meal after a day's work, so it is much easier when I don't have to think  too much about what I'm going to cook. I apply the same principle to meal prep: just do one thing for the meal before I take a rest. More often than not, I end up cooking the whole meal.

I recommend doing just one thing when you need to do work but can't be bothered or you're just too tired. It makes life a little  bit easier and lightens the load with minimal effort. And, if you're lucky, you'll probably end up doing more than you set out to do!

Some of this probably sounds outlandish to busy parents who don't always have the luxury of free time before mealtimes.  To tell you the truth, I'm not sure how they do it. 
I do know that  in the years gone by I would be totally drained at times by being with other people.  There would have been times when I felt worthless (and worse) and it was very hard to turn around and do a simple task such as nourish myself with good food. Social anxiety can be extremely taxing on the mind and body. 

Should I tear up my goal list?

I've been trying to get back to my blog schedule of talking about my goals mid-week. I was sure that with focus and commitment I could achieve what I set out to do but it looks like these holidays my plans are flying out the window. Perhaps I should tear up my goal list?
Just over a week ago I hurt my back and all my holiday activities were curtailed. I couldn't do much at all so that included no running, which was one of my top goals. I couldn't write and I couldn't work at my laptop for more than a few minutes. I could surf the internet and I could watch television but I've even tired of those activities.
It makes me wonder about making plans and trying to determine how our lives will be. I've had so many good intentions these holidays, many of which have not eventuated. I had hoped to visit old friends but one didn't reply and the other had to postpone till autumn. I've called friends to catch up on the phone but no one is home! I had hoped to blog regularly but Mr S and I were devoting a lot of time to job-hunting. 
Surprisingly I've been positive while finding myself beached on the couch. Health issues flare up every now and then for me and I've had to resign myself over the years to surrender and give in to the need to rest completely, after many years of ignoring what my body was saying. Back then, when I did start staying at home longer to recuperate, because I had no choice,  I used to get upset the first couple of days realising that I couldn't do what I set out to do for that week. I hadn't realised how tightly I had tied my self-worth into "work" and "achieving" or getting things done. So, it was interesting to see with this current injury I accepted very quickly that I would rest completely even though nothing would get ticked off my "to do" list. 
Yes, it does help that it's holidays and I've got support at home which I didn't have in the past. It's also given me plenty of time to see that while my prescribed goals are not getting ticked off the list, the world keeps turning and I keep learning and moving ahead.

• Each day, I've noted improvements with my back and celebrated small achievements. I was very excited when I realised I could walk again. The first day I was able to walk, I went with a smile on my face each time I took off, taking a few tottery steps here and there. Yesterday was exciting because I managed to sit at the table and do an email for the first time in a week.
• Mr S landed a job half an hour after I hurt my back. 
• Resting on the couch, for the umpteenth hour, I looked across to my precious bookshelf and realised that I'm ready to cut down the number of books on those shelves. That's one area I thought I'd never ever tamper with and yet, that moment has arrived.
• I caught another glimpse of the beauty of life from my couch one early morning when I woke and saw Mr S studying hard at the dining room table so that one day he can take a course to better himself. I was filled with admiration. 
• This experience has reinforced the challenge of embracing life as it is now. It's shown me that there are still highlights to be had.  One thing I've looked forward to in the last few days is a walk outside amongst the vegies. Sometimes I'm too busy to get out there and look properly but this week I've enjoyed my little wander and I've been able to take the time to notice what is happening in each area.

I can't help wondering what the point is in heavily scheduling memories when life has its own way of delivering what we need. Why don't we let life unfold  naturally? 
There seem to be gentle reminders that life does this anyway, no matter how much I try to herd it into my carrel of "The Perfect Life".   
I often hear people say they want to create memories by going to a certain place at a certain time. What happens to those people if they have a lovely moment with their son or daughter at the kitchen sink while doing the dishes? What happens if the kids have a barrel of fun running under the sprinkler in the backyard on a hot, summer's day? Is life only remarkable if we can plan for it and photograph it?

What does this mean for me? 
I guess it's another question to ponder. I know my goals and my list for each day are very important to me. I love returning from holidays and being able to share with people what I've done. I love celebrating all the projects I've completed. 
These holidays have certainly presented me with another way to live,and very little of that was on my goal list!!  What am I going to say when I head back to work next week?

Simple living Sunday: When I say simple what do I mean?

Finding a hidden treasure when decluttering this week.

I always have holidays at this time of the year so it's a great opportunity to evaluate where things are at in my life. Even though I'm fairly happy with where things are at in terms of my simple living goals I wanted to try to define what simple living means to me. I came up with the following:

making a conscious choice to live  mindfully, 

making choices that are people-friendly and earth-friendly 

and which enable life to be simple and uncomplicated. 

The last part could be an oxymoron as I can be intense at times especially when my inner chatterbox is in "anxiety mode" which is why simple and uncomplicated are important parts of the definition.

Simple and uncomplicated means that my life does not have to be determined by the media and marketing world. I can live my life free of advertising persuasions. It means that  shopping is intentional moreso than a way to pass time. At Christmas time I chose not to buy presents for friends. I know some people put a lot of time and thought into gift-giving but when I see the amount of things in my home I find I choose not to add to the clutter and, ultimately, landfill. I have plenty so I don't feel the need to gather more and I'm not sure that Christmas is meant to be about that sort of gift-giving. That's something which I hope to explore a little more come Christmas 2015!

Simple and uncomplicated - I'm learning- means that life's goals can be achieved just as well using the simplest of methods rather than resorting to expensive or complicated methods. Simple and uncomplicated is also where I find my life balance. Weeding the garden is one of my most enjoyable recreational activities. I find it therapeutic and I find it energises me.

Simple and uncomplicated means that I don't have chickens and sprawling vegie gardens and I don't make everything from scratch. One of my life purposes is to teach and to be present to those students and that requires time and energy. I'm happy to do that work so bringing chickens into the equation would not fit at all. There are weeks where the dishes don't get done so it's important for me to know what I can manage easily (=simple) and what would make life  unnecessarily stressful (= complicated). It means I do what I can when I can.

This week I've gotten into the swing of making sure simple living can happen in my home by decluttering the tubs and cupboards in one of the unused rooms. At one point I was quite dismayed to see the amount of stuff I had stacked away as I really do try to be careful about what I hold on to. Once I got past that stage it felt good knowing that I could focus on making way for a nice, inviting work and relaxation space. It's been very satisfying carting loads of stuff off to the local op shop but just a tad frustrating knowing I haven't yet finished. Stay focussed!!

It's time for these papers to go!

These tubs have been sorted. Just one cupboard to go...

Sunshine after days of rain

So on this windy, overcast Sunday, it's back to the grindstone. I want to make a vegetable lasagne for dinner,  I'll probably relax after that as I've been feeling tired lately and I don't have any pressing deadlines at the moment. The sun's coming out which is heartening as this  house is dark in summer when the light is low.

Have a good week.

GOALS: Too busy to clean

CLEANING GOALS

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I pushed cleaning down the planning list to make room for some of my preferred goals. This has worked very nicely. I find I approach the week with a keener anticipation knowing that I will get to enjoy working on my “preferred” goals.

However, I don’t want to neglect housework completely. I actually dream of having a cosy little cottage which is warm and inviting and a lovely space to be in. With that in mind I came up with a ‘modified cleaning plan’.



Some days



Other days

The plan works like this:

·        Washing clothes and doing dishes get done regularly.

·        Each month I aim do the following four jobs.

o   Sweep and wash the floor

o   Vacuum carpeted areas

o   Clean bath and toilet

o   Clean shower

The problem is I have not been getting these jobs done. Life is busy. Things come up. I work fulltime etc. etc. So, upon reflection, I am putting this out there to try to make me more accountable.

This October can I do all four jobs?

• Sweep and wash floor  - Done 5/10. Because mum was coming over!!

A pleasing, yet surprising, start!! Well done!

How do you fit everything in when life is so busy?

 

Redefining My Goals

I love goals, in the same way that I love lists.
Over the last couple of decades I've taken delight in setting goals and seeing them come to fruition, even if it does take a couple of years longer than originally anticipated.
This last year I've found it hard to find time for my big goals. This month alone I've had plans compromised by a sore back, changes to the routine at work and now I'm getting over days off work with laryngitis.

Nevertheless, I've come to realise there are some things I do that account for why my goals haven't been happening these last few months.

• I plot the big goal each week. I never get to it. I never pinpoint a time or action.
• I spend  waste a lot of time on the computer when I could be doing something more productive and, most likely, more enjoyable.
• I do have a large number of goals in addition to my regular work commitments and everything else that needs attention in the week.

Well, the time spent reading blogs hasn't been all wasted.  I found a lot of useful ideas after reading comments about routines and goal-setting on the  Down-to-Earth Forum  and  I found some great advice on  http://organisingqueen.com/ .

I know I should probably have crossed out a goal or two and shortened the list,  but I just couldn't.  So, based on what I learnt from the sites above, I have refined my planning.

• I allocated two blocks of time where I could be pretty sure it wouldn't get swallowed up by other  weekly happenings.
• I identified  a smaller, achievable action for the bigger goals for that week alone.
• I moved housework down the priority list (except for the main jobs)

Voila!  It worked.

Take a look.   

Goals:  FAMILY TREE,  FAIRY GARDEN, BLOGGING, HOME
Time:   Tuesday night   I hour,    Saturday 1 hour
Task :  FT - Start collating all the details I have on great, great, grandfather MB
            FG - Go op shopping and see whether they have any little knick-knacks that could be used in
                    the fairy garden.
Result: FT- Done. Had time to go onto trove.nla.gov.au and find more old newspaper articles.
            FG - Nothing special for the fairies but I did find a basket which I'm going to upcycle and use
                    for some spring flowers.

The best result is feeling motivated to go about my week's routine. I feel like I'm achieving and, most of all, I experience the joy that comes with working on my goals.  I've noticed, too,  the positive vibe lifts my spirit and spills over into other areas of  life. I thought about what wasn't working and what I wanted to work. I'm glad to say that the readjustment has actually worked!