31 January 2019

Daily this and daily that

Inevitably January is a time of new starts and often these are tied up with (imho) the silliest of all things, New Year's Resolutions. 

But how else do you decided when to start something that you hope to continue, or make a habit? Apart from the convenience factor of the start of a year or first day of the month, probably you just decide, on the day, and you might set some sort of time frame - a week or a year or whatever - and see how it goes.

I quite like the idea of 90 days, but have never managed it! (yet...)

So, at the moment I'm engaged in some "daily" things. 

First, the 10K steps, which my fitbit has been instrumental in supporting. In the past couple of weeks I've not been hitting the heights of 2018 and have slipped up on daily targets because of being at home - being creative! - which involves sitting (or standing) still. It takes about two hours to fulfill the daily walking target and I've become a bit lazy and idsorganised. Getting out in the air and sun and light yesterday, though, reminded me of how good it is to Keep Moving.

With the purchase of the Art of the Fold book I dreamed of making one of the structures each day, working through the book. Well, first of all I started in the middle of the book, and made three the first day, and none since. But a home-day stretches ahead and the paper is laid out and waiting....

Some daily things consist of burdens that need shifting. These may be with us for shorter or longer times. For instance, the past couple of weeks have contained this thought, at one or more times in the day: "Must write that article today; goodness how long would it take; oh for heaven's sake, just do it, eh?" ... and then something appears that's more urgent. (This is why we love deadlines: suddenly the avoidable thing becomes the only priority!)

Having despatched that article First Thing this morning, I had a moment to reflect on how important it is to "do the most important thing at your best time". Gosh isn't it difficult to sort out what that most important thing is, though! Maybe it's the new "daily" task that needs to be slotted into the daily routine; maybe it's something that you rashly agreed to do and now regret. Maybe it's getting out of the house and escaping it all for a while!

Which brings me to Daily Clutter Removal. This is a task I'm sharing with a distant friend - the idea is that we each work on (or in) one or other room and get rid of "some" (quantity unspecified) clutter every day, and report progress to each other. I'm very pleased to have gone from this -
 through this -
 to this -
leaving the knitting and sewing baskets, 'cos that's where they get used.

Most of this DCR consisted of removing (unread) magazines and resolving to "read" (thumb through?) them, over breakfast, and pass them on -
Hmm, where next? But first, a reward - choosing the colours for the next pair of socks -
Top rib will be paleish and darker turquois, with a little stripe in lime before the purple rib of the main sock, with (nylon reinforced) heels and toes in turquoise.

Actually that's another daily activity, the knitting - one that is somewhat automatic and thus not regarded as a daily chore. 


1 comment:

patty a. said...

I know how hard it is to get those 10,000 steps in everyday. Right now we are having a polar vortex so I can't walk outside. I try to get as many steps as I can at work by walking to the scanner with one item at a time, go to the restroom that is the farthest away from my desk, etc., but still I usually fall short. And you are right, other more important things come up.

I like the idea of you and your friend being accountable to each other with you daily clean ups. It seems you are making progress and that is fantastic!