Progress Report

Having a catch up on life and especially on my To Do list from March.

1.Get up earlier on weekdays. I can put an hour into writing before I have to get ready for work or even go for a run instead of going to the gym after work.

Check:
I am getting up earlier and I am also leaving for work later. I am finding that I have an whole hour in the morning that is totally for me. But I am not using it as I had intended. If I start getting up even earlier then perhaps some of that time will be devoted to creative pursuits but right now I am using the time to keep on top of the house work. This means that I have to do less on weekends and have more time after work and gym can be put into my creative work.

2. Create a schedule. Figure out how many hours I have that are not spent at work or the gym and define for each day of the week what I will work on and for how long.

Progress:
I did create one and followed it for a couple of weeks. It worked out OK except that sometimes I just feel like doing something specific like cross stitching but the schedule says I should be doing my ceramics. So I will do the ceramics but get frustrated because I really felt like doing something else. Also I had SD down during the week which meant what was on the schedule didn’t get done.

So I am not sure this is quite the way. I find I am gradually falling into a routine, especially with all the time I have in the morning now. It might turn out to be something more goal oriented on a monthly basis like get X number of pottery pieces done and such and such number of articles written.

3. Do at least one post per week to NotWhatISeem so that I can see my own progress

Fail:
Ooooooh… BURN… When was my last post? Damn. And you know I have been dreading posting precisely because I know I am not meeting my own goals as well as I would like. However I have been writing. Not for this blog but for ezine articles and for the D42P and Hancock’s House of Happy. One can only do so much.

4. Create a schedule of projects and posts for the D42P and do no more than 3 posts per week

Progress:
I make sure that I post at least once a week and I am getting better at scheduling tweets for the extra content. My prolonged vacation in Portugal rather interfered with getting into a rhythm with this and I am behind on recipes and menu plans. I got loads of great content and ideas from my mom while I was visiting and I will be sorting through all this in the next couple of weeks.

5. Make at least one cross stitch chart per week not matter how small it is. I plan to use free charts to promote my shop and get people to come an see it

Fail:
Definitely not meeting this one. I think I did two since I did the list. Again being away didn’t help so revisiting this list is motivating me to get back to it.

6. Find a kiln closer to home

Progress:
Going to see someone hopefully this weekend. Don’t know if it will work out yet

7. Keep better track of my ideas in a notebook that I can carry around with me easily

Fail:
Have not sorted this out and being such a simple task I am rather ashamed I haven’t done it. I end up jotting things down on post-its and bits of envelopes. I remember that for certain art classes I have taken one of the requirements was to keep a sketch book and idea journal and even when my grade depended on it I was crap at it. Maybe this method just doesn’t suit me but that seems like a cop out. Maybe because I am afraid it would not have much in it deters me from making the investment. I need to have more faith in myself.

8. Make a space for working in

Progress:
Gradually clearing out certain spaces in my apartment and rearranging things. It is going to take some investment that I cannot afford immediately but having more space and getting rid of clutter really helps my brain.

9. Go dancing once a month

Fail:
Since I posted the list I have been once. But then I was away so I am cutting myself a break here. It is on the agenda for next Monday and I am even hoping to have some proper shoes!

10. Give myself a certain amount of time each day to just chill out and switch off

Check:
I find that I probably give myself too much time during the week! I need to pick up more slack on work days because my weekends with SD are essentially down time.

So how am I doing?

Two points achieved (over achieved in one case), Progress on four points, Fail on 4 points.

That constitutes a pass and also prompts a reassessment.

2. The schedule idea needs some work because a daily schedule is not the answer for me. It is not flexible enough.

3. Posting to this blog I am going commit to a once per month update on goals if there is no other writing. I write here when I HAVE to. So when I don’t HAVE to that is actually a good thing. It means I have my head together and there isn’t anything bothering me.

4. The D42P needs a weekend for me to sort out what I am doing with it. SD and I can’t be together weekend after this so I think I will take the opportunity to go through all of this then and get what I want down on paper

5. The cross stitch charts. Sigh. Sometimes I think I expect too much of myself but I did say ‘no matter how small’ so there really is no reason why I am not meeting this

6. Finding a kiln has been a pain. I hope this one works out.

7. The notebook thing is something I might just abandon. I will give it another go for a month and see if I can get it to work out.

8. Making a space for working in may eventually end up in buying a space for working in. Get the apartment in a state where I can sell and move up the ladder to something bigger that has the space I need. I have a plan of improvements, including a new kitchen, but it all takes money so it is all going to be rather gradual.

9. There are two excuses for not going dancing. The first is money. When I have the time I don’t always have the money and when I have the money I don’t always have the time. The second is SD. If he comes down on the evening of a class I can’t go. I am really keen to get him to go but it is the one thing he is refusing to try. And for not really any good reason other than he doesn’t want to. This disturbs me a bit because I know that he would do almost anything for me and the fact that he won’t do this points to a very deep seated fear or aversion. It would be wrong for me to manipulate him into a situation that so obviously makes him uncomfortable.

He has said he will go to see me do it and I have put this off because I felt it was not fair on him but if he says it again that’s it. We are going!

So that is it for now. I will check back in next month.