Yesterday I carved a jack-o-lantern. (Maybe I'll post a picture, I really like how it turned out) and baked pumpkin seeds. Tonight I am baking pumpkin bread.
So I think I want to start using this blog to really get some focus on my life goals. I wanted something that kind of combined Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Project (http://www.happinessproject.typepad.com) as well as kept me on track with my writing. Putting my goals and my progress towards them in writing should accomplish three things.
1) It will make them seem more real.
2) Writing them all down will allow me to be more realistic about what I've already accomplished and what I still have to accomplish. (I have a tendency to forget the things I've finished and focus on the things I haven't and then self-blame like crazy, and all it does is paralyze me and decrease my effectiveness.
3) It will allow me to track my progress and perhaps more importantly my feelings about my progress. (This is kind of similar to two, except its more journally.)
Okay, so what are my top three life goals (I've been told you should only have one, but I'll start with three and edit from there.)
1. Finish my applications for MFA programs.
2. Write everyday. (Blog and work don't count.)
3. Make some sense out of my cluttered chaotic apartment.
Sub-goals
1. Go to a reading every week.
2. Send a piece out to a lit. mag or contest every week.
Top smaller self-improvement goals
1. Give accurate ETAs (to work, friends, anyone, I'm always over-promising and under-delivering)
2. Brown bag it everyday. (I'm driving myself into debt by eating out too much.)
3. Be on time to work every morning - Leave the house at 8:10am instead of 8:30. (I need to be at work at 9am. They're really lax and I always make up the time, but the guilt over being 5 to 15 minutes late most mornings is eating me up and causing me stress.)
P.S. I'm thinking about cutting back on caffeine. As much as I love it I'm thinking it's may be a contributing factor to my continuous battle with anxiety. I feel keyed up as hell right now. I had two cans of soda before 2pm. Tomorrow, will-power permitting, I'll go without caffeine and see if it significantly improves my mental state. (I know, I know, there are a lot of other variables so it's not a perfectly scientific experiment, but it's still worth a shot.)
So I think I want to start using this blog to really get some focus on my life goals. I wanted something that kind of combined Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Project (http://www.happinessproject.typepad.com) as well as kept me on track with my writing. Putting my goals and my progress towards them in writing should accomplish three things.
1) It will make them seem more real.
2) Writing them all down will allow me to be more realistic about what I've already accomplished and what I still have to accomplish. (I have a tendency to forget the things I've finished and focus on the things I haven't and then self-blame like crazy, and all it does is paralyze me and decrease my effectiveness.
3) It will allow me to track my progress and perhaps more importantly my feelings about my progress. (This is kind of similar to two, except its more journally.)
Okay, so what are my top three life goals (I've been told you should only have one, but I'll start with three and edit from there.)
1. Finish my applications for MFA programs.
2. Write everyday. (Blog and work don't count.)
3. Make some sense out of my cluttered chaotic apartment.
Sub-goals
1. Go to a reading every week.
2. Send a piece out to a lit. mag or contest every week.
Top smaller self-improvement goals
1. Give accurate ETAs (to work, friends, anyone, I'm always over-promising and under-delivering)
2. Brown bag it everyday. (I'm driving myself into debt by eating out too much.)
3. Be on time to work every morning - Leave the house at 8:10am instead of 8:30. (I need to be at work at 9am. They're really lax and I always make up the time, but the guilt over being 5 to 15 minutes late most mornings is eating me up and causing me stress.)
P.S. I'm thinking about cutting back on caffeine. As much as I love it I'm thinking it's may be a contributing factor to my continuous battle with anxiety. I feel keyed up as hell right now. I had two cans of soda before 2pm. Tomorrow, will-power permitting, I'll go without caffeine and see if it significantly improves my mental state. (I know, I know, there are a lot of other variables so it's not a perfectly scientific experiment, but it's still worth a shot.)