Tag: calendars

Original Thought · Self Improvement

Flip the Page

Bob McInnisLeave a comment

A month that was and a month that will be. The flipping of a calendar page should offer pause to reflect on what challenges you faced in September and how you responded to them. Did you shrink away? Are you still researching possible solutions? Was some butt kicked and challenges overcome? Could you have done better? What inspired you in September? Did you try something new? Take on something different? Meet someone special? Were you inspired by a challenge?

I take these somewhat arbitrary but appropriate passages as an opportunity to move ahead. I reflect on what I did and what I could have done another way. I learn from my past experiences, I try not to beat myself up, and I move ahead.

October brings a new season, some celebrations and family gatherings, new opportunities with work, some planned challenges and a birthday. I set out to add some routine – 31 days in a row of writing, 31 consecutive days of working out, and an alcohol free month. I have mental and physical goals attached to these three commitments and a plan and schedule to remove barriers. I have set some expectations of myself and outcomes.

I am also leaving space for the unexpected, the anti-routine. I have a couple of events I am attending that aren’t my usual fare. Places and people that I wouldn’t encounter if I stayed the course. I have 3 books at the ready from authors I don’t know and whose subject matter is outside my comfortable niche. I have set a goal to meet someone new every day; not for any advantage or leverage but just to add their their space with mine for a moment in time. I don’t have any assumptions or predictions about what comes from venturing away from the safety of my shore but I approach October with hope.

What challenged you in September? What inspired? Have you charted a course for parts of October? Are there adventures you are planning?

Make October Remarkable,

B

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Two Hands – Three Balls

Bob McInnis1 Comment

Are you juggling too many balls? Too many is a relative term. I can keep two in the air with one hand but struggle to keep 3 or more up with both hands. If I had another pair of hands or many more jugglers everything gets more complicated. It is why jugglers (and magicians) impress me. But for the rest of us, what do we do with the additional balls?

I might never master keeping three projects going simultaneously. In me the myth of multitasking seems to be disprove. I am easily distracted by another shiny thing but only if I set aside what I am focused on in the moment. To make the transition work I need to lay down one file and pick up another. I need to bookmark one conversation so I can return to it if I am drawn into something else. I dog ear books and love that Kindle remembers where In was when I stop reading.

I use lists, calendars, memory cupboards with some success and I schedule almost everything to try keep the saucers spinning in the right direction. You have all seen what happens when one stick wobbles and the whole array of plates crashes.

I don’t have a simple solution to juggling. I probably don’t have a simple solution for anything. But for me improving focus on the task at hand and then demarking it in some way helps me make a smoother slide to the next task. It isn’t really juggling but the balls all keep getting passed.

 

Make Today Remarkable, by not joining the circus,

B