About Those Intentions

In a capsule form - Intentions need attention. 

Forming the intention almost doubles the chances that you will follow through.  Explicit Intentions, I believe makes the odds even better.  After breakfast, by 2:00, etc is an example of explicit intentions, sometime soon is not.  Tomorrow obviously is a slippery one, it can be explicit and it can be vague.  My examples are about time but there is other explicitness that comes into play.  To catch up with housework leaves the field open for distractions, perhaps it is the bathrooms that need attention, so do that.  It is easy to slip into an unending version of housework, as you vacuum the rugs and end up sorting though some corner of clutter and the bathrooms wait, while your whole day is gone and supper is about to be take out.  I’m assuming that housework is not your priority every day, although some days it will be.  So form an intention that includes time but also puts an accurate description on the activity chosen. 

Intentions can also come into play when there are problems.  If … then.  If I get tired, then I will persevere.  If I lose focus, then I will move my attention back to the task.  If a lot of things come up that seem to justify not following my intentions...

if I find one thing too difficult....

if I slip up or blow it....

then I will make sure it doesn’t become the new routine by getting back on track as soon as possible. 

 

I intended to open a file (intention) and give it a rounding out, a polish and publish.  That is to be done before it is time for coffee.  9:50. Done. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

15 Minute Time Blocks

 

One thing I have learned; good advice is not just something to read, it is to be done.  Holding my desire to ‘do anything’ that will lead to a more productive self, (less procrastinating) I try to do that very thing.  So one day I read this:  Track your activities in 15-minute increments (or in time blocks, such as morning, afternoon etc.) this will let you see where you are being productive and where time is being wasted. It wasn’t long before I saw that my mornings were pretty well organized.  I had a routine that worked.  I followed it, honoring my intentions fairly well. But in the afternoon, I did not have any schedule at all.  I worked when I was inspired or when I was disgusted with the state of things, or occasionally when the mornings’ project was really, really interesting, I would continue with that.  So I felt that arrangement didn’t feel like it was working all that well.  Then I realized too, that I suffered from a frustration that was quite solvable.  My frustration was boredom essentially.  I wasn’t accomplishing anything, I wasn’t challenging myself, and my wheels were spinning.  Remedy?  See below.

 

 

The ability to write and be published depends on some effort.  I’ve managed to do both but lately I am pushing towards a substantially more complex goal than before.  I want to give this (writing thing) a fair shot.  I’m aiming to establish my place in the literary genre.  My reading reflects this, as I have embarked on a self-directed course of study.  First any fiction in the form of short stories is paramount for me to read.  Fiction writing techniques as spelt out by various workbooks, that’s a natural thing for me to do, I’ll always be a student.  But when I realized that my afternoons were open, I found another area that seemed natural for me.  I am now my own agent.  There is no sign painted on my door, but there is effort taking place.  I have an ongoing list of things that I believe will assist me.  And because I found a infrequently used segment of time, I do this in the afternoon.  FYI – I’m a writer in the morning, every morning.  I’m a student, or an agent, or a writer in the afternoon, every afternoon, for at least an hour.  It’s working.  Sweet.