Committing Time to You.

All people have things they want to do. Some things are easy. Some are really hard. But often, none of those things get done. Not even the easy ones.

When that happens, people seem to spend an incredibly huge amount to explain why bad luck was at blame. Or that the circumstances aren't favorable to start right now, but later. Except that the circumstances never seem to turn.
And then they look at the (VERY) few people who do in fact do what they want and are as a whole a lot happier than the people around them. And they wish. If only they could do what they wanted. If only they had that level of success.

And on and on and on.

Sad thing is this. The differences between the people who are going after what they want and people who wish they did can probably be brought down to one thing: commitment.

If you keep procrastinating and waiting for a better day to start, you never will. Because here's the fact: there is no such thing as an ideal day. There will always be little or big things that niggle. Especially in the beginning.  

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If you focus on those niggles and let them keep you from starting, what you want will never happen. Things that make us truly happy never just fall into our laps by luck. We have to go after them with everything we've got.

So if you want to paint, find a way to take art classes. Maybe the ones in your area might be too expensive. Don't start looking for a class that is in your price range. Or if you want some time to be alone, try to make some.

If you keep making the things you want to do a priority, you'll do at least some of them. And sure, kids and family responsibilities can make things harder, but as I said, doing things you want to do depends on your level of commitment.

You might not be able to do as much of what you want as you'd like, or you might not do all of it, but just the fact that you spend some time at something you're passionate about will make a difference in your life.

The way I suggest for someone to take on something important to them: Start by committing a small block of time to it and make that time a priority. I've found that when I do things that I love, I automatically make more time for the things I truly enjoy.

For me it's come to the point where I hardly ever watch t.v. because those hours of staring at the t.v. just don't give me any particular joy. Nothing that compares to the thrill of finishing a piece of writing, or the relaxation of creating something with my hands.

So yeah... if you want to take charge of your life by focusing on something you love, start small and work your way up. After all, Rome wasn't built in a day.

If you could do anything in your life right now, what would it be? Do you think there's a possibility that you can fit it into your life, even if it isn't in the way you would ideally do it?

Time for another Goal Review

As I mentioned the last time, I'm going to do a check-up of my goals and see how I'm faring. So.... these are my goals. Comments are in red. Comments from the previous Goal Review in black.

I want to finish Doorways before 30 June. 
Not likely, since I have to depend on Crit Partners for edits. I'm approximately halfway now. 
Definitely not happening. I'm about 2/3 of the way through, but that last third won't happen in a day. I have since moved my deadline to 31 August. 

I will query Doorways on 1 July.
Can't decide if this will happen. 
Won't happen until Doorways has been beta read. And I'm still waiting for my CPs to finish with it. 

I want to finish the WiP2 rewrite by 30 September. 
Will start in July. 
Honestly I've only been thinking of it in the quickest of ways. Still, I really want to finish this rewrite, which means that I have to start in the near future. 

I want to finish the Don't Look Back draft by 31 December. 
Not sure when I will start this, but no later than October. 
This hasn't changed.

I want to finish at least one draft of the musical libretto by 31 December.
Working on this every week, but since I had no idea of the work involved, I think this one won't make it. 
This has fallen by the wayside as well, because both me and my co-writer have been very busy since the last time I did the review. 

I might want to look at Guardian again. 
If I have time, I will. 
Still depending on whether I have time, but might not happen because I have two new WiPs in the pipeline. Not ideal, but the muse wants what the muse wants. 
Reading: 

I want to read more (crit partners' manuscripts don't count).
I'm trying to read at least one book a week. But I am definitely reading more.
Admittedly, I've been struggling with this since I started working full time. When I'm not working, I'm editing, writing, drawing, writing, blogging.... basically almost everything except reading. 

I want to read Shakespeare, Austen and Martin. 
So far, I've read two Jane Austen books. Still gathering courage for the rest of them.
Jane Austen books finished so far in this year: Northanger Abbey, Persuasion and Sense & Sensibility (yesterday). Taking a break now because she takes too much concentration. I think it's time for me to hunt down and buy my first Game of Thrones book. Or maybe I'll wait until I have my kindle. 
Life: 

Auditions, auditions, auditions. 
One audition so far. 
Was invited to another one, but none of the characters spoke to me. I'm not taking on practices if I'm not even really interested in the character I'm playing. 
I want to master at least intermediate cooking.
Let me put it this way... I'll be able to feed myself on more than bread or takeaways.
I'll definitely feed myself, although I mainly take care of breakfast, now. 

I want to spend more time designing.
Haven't even looked at my designs yet. Feeling terrible about it, but I just need to finish Doorways first.
Still the same, but I have been drawing again, which is a good start. 

I want to brush up on my French and Mandarin (at least one of the two) and take another language. 
Lacking time and money. I'll look at this again in the second half of the year. 
Not lacking the money, but time is even more scarce than before. 

I want to take classes in a musical instrument. Either piano or guitar. 
Went to my first guitar lesson last week. 
Still doing guitar, but full time work is making it difficult for me to find practice time. 

I also want to get out more next year. Cabin fever never did suit me. 
Still working on this, but I think I am getting better at getting out of the house. 
Definitely getting out more, but not as much as I'd like to. Maybe I should take my next edits with me to a restaurant or something... 

Since I achieved four goals in 2011, I want to achieve six in 2012.  
Looks like I'm on course for six. But I definitely want to try for more.
Yikes. Looks like I'll only get five done now. Still, that's better than last year. 


Have you reviewed your goals recently? How are you faring? 

Just a quick update

Today I thought I'd give you a quick update on my progress in taking charge of my life.

I'm mostly sticking to my scheduling and things are getting done. And the best part is that feeling good about this is making me even more efficient.

I'm not writing regularly at the moment because I don't seem to have anything major to write while I'm finishing the edits to Doorways. But I'm using the time I would have allotted for that to refill my creative reserves by reading and drawing.

I'm practicing guitar. I'm even exercising regularly again, which is making me feel really good. So good that I decided to tackle my weight again. So once my mother is back from the Netherlands, we're starting on the gym's suggested eating plan. It's not going to melt the fat off like some other diets do, but it's designed to keep the weight off without sentencing me to a lifetime of dieting.

And unlike certain diets that I'd followed, this one is designed to make it possible for me to continue exercising.

I'm pretty excited about that. Then I'm also planning to draw some more tonight. It will definitely be my most complex drawing to date, with lots of textures and shades, so I'll see how that turns out.

Hopefully, if I can squeeze in a bit of time, I'll do some reading as well. It's about time that I finished Sense and Sensibility.

That's me for today. What's going on in your life?

Now is your time to ask.

I was going to write about my impending trip to Europe, but now it's not all that impending any more.

So... now I'm sort of at a loss as to write about today. I considered showing you some of the charcoal drawings I've done, but I still want to try do at least one more before making a post of it.

But what I will do is this. If you ask me any questions, I will answer in the comments AND give a more detailed answers in blog posts over the next few weeks?

Interested?

Shoot with the questions. Can't wait. :-)

How not to freak out when scheduling

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I have to admit, when I look at how much I have to get done in a day, it takes a lot of effort for me not to freak out.

I do fun things like color coding it and interspersing fun activities throughout the day, but many colors might not be a good thing when they mean that there are only an hour and a half's worth of white spaces.

Still, I decided to look at my schedule as a prison, I see it as a sort of guide. A reminder of everything I want done. If I'm tired or whatever, about 80% of those colors can go. Often times I double (or triple) book my time slots so that I can do all of them at the same time or pick one if I need to.

As long as I make the time I need for the things I need to do.

It really makes a big difference to think about my schedule like that. Instead of just becoming another source of stress, my way of looking at my schedule turns it into a useful tool.

And I'm seeing the results. Ever since I've visually represented what I need to do in my day, I've gotten more done.

Do you schedule out your day?