Sunshine and some playtime began the week with a whole new photographic style for me – it’s becoming more abstract and I think even stronger.  Now I’m looking for new venues for this aspect – maybe those modern galleries downtown aren’t so far out of reach after all…;-)

Beyond that it’s  been a long week with ‘progress’ meaning I got the basics done – and sometimes that is progress.  I think it’s human nature to think that mountain climbing means summiting a peak on a daily basis. The reality is that mountain climbing is really about putting one foot in front of the other when it’s most challenging.  My challenge this week has been keeping my emotional distance -something I’m really bad at, so bad that I occasionally even consider it a positive trait! But getting dragged into drama with family and work where my input doesn’t de-escalate the situation and doesn’t move me forward (or anyone else for that matter.)  I like to get things that are unsettled settled so I can forget about them – which is where patience comes in.  Sometimes you just have to let things go and be prepared to deal with them when they come back at you.

I’ve been working on my travel essay instead. And deciding that a simple feng shui solutions book will be my first e-book.  It’s a popular topic, I have several illustrations ready and I won’t get hung up in editing the text forever because it’s going to be simple lists.  I’m looking forward to getting started but it will have to wait another week, I think. The U.S. government is claiming my attention this weekend with the looming tax date – might as well just get it done.

Technorati Tags: baby steps, creativity, letting go

I was checking out other blogs this weekend and found myself relating with some chagrin to the latest post on Zen Habits, Productivity tips for people that hate GTD.  The chagrin was due to having recently re-added my tattered copy of Getting Things Done to my to-do pile because not much of it stuck from the last time I tried to follow it.  So this article got me to thinking about all the times we use precious hours trying to get something to work for us that simply isn’t a good fit.  Morning pages don’t work for me either (see Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way.)  I know they work for others, but after three months all I got was notebooks full of nothing.  I think maybe the obvious non-working things are easier to stop doing, but how often have you seen an author address the need for more time by saying “just get up a half hour earlier in the morning” as if theirs is the only advice/exercise/task you are trying to follow.  Pretty soon you’re getting up two hours earlier, and not seeing results because you are now critically deprived of sleep, which you probably were already if you’re like the majority of the population. Maybe it’s time to pursue only the things that add the most value.

As a reminder of what’s important, I have an ideal day schedule posted on the wall behind my desk.  This is simply how I would love to spend an ordinary, everyday kind of day.  What surprised me when I put my thoughts to paper is that without keeping track, everything added up to between 23 and 25 hours a day – guess my subconscious was trying to tell me something;-)

My ideal day looks like:

• 1.5 hours meditation and visualization
• 2 hours physical activity
• 2.5 hours cooking & dining
• 2 hours with family and friends
• 6 or 7 seven hours working
• 1 hour chores
• 8 hours sleep

My real day doesn’t look like this – yet. But living a life where this schedule is a normal day represents success to me, not how much gets done. I have to ask myself if GTD or other things in that to-do pile are aiding or detracting from living this ideal day? And much as I hate to admit it the answer is detracting. I think I’ll stick with the parts that stuck with me from the first time I tried it (I have a bill paying folder and a basket for stuff I need to deal with) and leave it at that.  A new pasta recipe and an after-dinner walk are going to do more to move me towards my real goals.

Technorati Tags: achieving goals, getting organized, getting things done, ideal day, letting go, routine, time management