And roll week one!
I start things, and I don’t finish. Or I decide to do something, and I don’t start. Over the years I’ve spent a small fortune on books,
materials, courses, equipment, special tables/boxes/clothes for a new, all
consuming hobby which lasts, in some cases, only days. I start diets and fall off the wagon before I’ve
reached my goal weight, I start new exercise regimes and might manage to keep
it going for a week or two at most before manufacturing a reason to give up
(sore knees, a bit of a cold, I don’t have the right shoes....).
It’s not new to me, or probably to anyone, this state of erratic
hobbying. Of flitting from one thing to
the next, barely stopping to appreciate what I’m doing never mind actually
dedicate time to become proficient at it.
Maybe it’s the internet. Certainly having so much variety and
inspiration available at a click of a mouse doesn’t help but I really don’t think
it’s Pinterest or Facebook which are the problems here, the problem is me. A combination of a short attention span and a
misplaced confidence that the basics of whatever hobby I’ve turned to are too simple
and I zoom ahead to intermediate level and beyond and then wonder why whatever
I produce (if anything) looks crap, seriously I can’t even give my efforts to
my own mum! Which of course disheartens and
depresses me so I pack it in and pick up something else.
Not to make excuses but I’ve also got a ten month old baby
and believe me I’m not the sort of super achiever who is up and out of bed at
sparrow fart and has run 5k, baked a cake, prepared dinner for the evening,
written a chapter of a novel and is sitting calmly drinking a cup of herbal tea
and nibbling on a piece of toast made from bread baked that very morning as the
rest of the family stumble downstairs.
I want to improve, I want to be slim, I want to have a tidy
clean house, great relationships with my family and friends. I want the whole nine yards. I just sort of want it to happen immediately
and effortlessly without me really having to do much.
My answer is to take everything I want to change and change
it for one week. One week isn’t hard, I can
manage to stick at it for a week and if after the week is up I feel like I
could continue and incorporate the small change into my life then so much the
better but no pressure on myself to stay rigidly on track for ever. Short term goals with no long term commitment
suit me down to the ground; I don’t have the iron discipline needed to create
and maintain good habits in the long term but surely I can keep something going
for a week.
All good things start with a list. I wrote everything I could think of down, not
paying any attention of how it was going down, onto paper. I ended up with a massively long list. On the list was everything I think I need to
change, improve on, do or not do. I
added fun things and not so fun things, easy things and more difficult ones. Writing everything down helped me take stock,
a mini life audit to steal a pretentious turn of phrase. I’m not going to do them in any particular
order and I don’t think I’m going to post the list on here – who really wants
to read what is essentially a massive New Year Resolutions list. Boring!
What I am going to do though, as a mini motivator, is post my
weeks goal at the start of the week and update at some point in the middle of
the week and a final summary post at the end of the 7 days. Accountability is one of the stronger
motivators, as soon as you say it out load, write it down or tell a friend you
are more motivated to achieve whatever you set out to do. So here goes.
Week one.....
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