It has been 4 weeks since I posted my blog entry about my new
schedule. When I wrote Time – NonRenewable Resource although I was excited about it, I don’t think I realized how amazing I was
going to feel following it. I feel
incredibly happy and proud of it. I have
been sharing my thinking and planning with lots of people and I truly feel like
for me it has been one of the best things I could have done.
In the past four weeks I have been sticking fairly close to the
schedule. There have been a few hiccups
where things haven’t gone quite to plan and I have also learned what works and
what doesn’t. It has all been an
interesting part of seeing what schedule my time would actually be like. Overall I have to say I’m thrilled with how
it is working. Having a schedule has
been helping me make the most of my non work time and is helping me to feel
like I’m a more rounded person.
The most surprising result that I have noticed in the last four weeks
is that I no longer struggle with feeling like I should be doing something
else. Pre-schedule when I was doing one
activity, like scrapbooking, I would often feel like I should be doing
something else, like going to the gym. I
was feeling pulled in too many directions and like I didn’t have time for any
of it. It was a weird version of guilt. With the creation of the schedule I’m finding
that now I don’t feel that same pull.
Having a spot for all the things that matter means that when I’m doing
something I can focus on just that and know that later I will have time for a
different activity. It takes any guilt
out of doing the things I love because no one should feel guilty for doing the
things they love.
Another thing that has been really fantastic about the schedule is how
much I’m getting done. In the last month
I have spent more time with friends, done more hikes (6 hikes – 3 of which were
on the same day), completed more scrapbook pages (I wish I had counted how
many), read more books (3 –so close to one a week that I want), written more
words, and even got to the gym more than I have ever before. Then thrown in were a few things that
although planned were not technically on the schedule, like Globalfest
fireworks. I feel really productive and
can see the progress I’m making in all the things I love. It actually amazes me when I think about how
much I have gotten done. It not only
makes me feel good but it has also helped to keep me feeling grounded and
centered.
Another benefit to having my schedule is that I have been making myself
look for new things to do and places to go.
Sunday is my adventure day. The
only goal I really have Sunday morning/afternoon is to get out of my
house. In the last four weeks I have
gone to some different farm markets, went to a pig farm and gone hiking. It has been really cool to get to see things
around my province that I hadn’t seen before.
I’m also already looking ahead to winter and what I will fill my
Sunday’s with as the weather turns bad.
I know that this will be a little bit more challenging but I will figure
it out I’m sure. Heheh. It is amazing when you start looking for
things to do what you can find. It is
also amazing that even though I have lived in Calgary my whole life there is a
lot of things I have never done or thought to do.
One last thing that I have seen that may not be directly related to the
schedule but likely helped by it, is that out of the last 4 weigh ins 3 of them
have had me with a loss on the scale. It
does make sense though the scheduling would help. I mean I’m making time for the gym and food
planning and prep which is a huge part of giving me success. I’m also happier and more fulfilled in other
ways so I don’t need to turn to food to make me feel better. I’m also doing less mindless tv watching
which always seems to get paired with mindless eating.
There has been some learning to come out of the schedule as well. In the past few weeks I have noticed that I
need to tweak a few things. The first
thing I have to tweak is my scheduled writing time. I need to add in some evening time for my
writing. My morning writing sessions
have been great for getting my novel organized (ie. fixing timelines,
clarifying characters, ect) and to get my head back into the time period but
they have not been as good for actually writing much in the story. I definitely find my creative energy is
higher later at night. So my new
schedule will flip one of my two sessions into an evening session.
The other thing I realized that I have to tweak is my meal planning,
grocery shopping and meal prep. My
current schedule has me doing meal planning on Saturday and then shopping and
prepping on Sunday. Since my Sunday is
my adventure day the thought was I could grab groceries on the way home and
then prep in the evening. The problem
is my adventure day has been longer than I thought it would be and I have been
coming home more tired than I figured I would be. The solution will be to move at least the
grocery shopping to Saturday.
The last thing I have noticed is that while I was planning I left out a
little of my non work time. I completely
forgot that Monday to Friday I have an hour where currently I have no plans. I have decided that in my new schedule I will
also come up with some things for my lunch hours at work. It will give me 5 more hours in which I can
get in activity or maybe do my meal planning or just read a bit more.
All in all I have been really pleased with what having a schedule has
done for me. Sure there are times when I
still choose to do nothing but at least now I know what I’m giving up if I go
that route. It has been quite motivating
and freeing. I don’t have to waste
valuable time trying to figure out what I should be doing. I always know. The last four weeks have renewed me. It has shown me that you really can do
everything you want (even if you can’t do it all at once).
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