Lists
Posted: Mon 21 December, 2015 Filed under: 2015/16, D4D™, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Introspective Leave a comment »As we come to the end of 2015, I’m spending some time making notes, lists, and plans for what I want to get done in 2016. It’s not resolutions or anything similar, but I’ve found over the last couple of years that having lists for things helps me to keep it all straight in my head over the year.
The lists aren’t hard-and-fast structures, more like reminders and ‘this is the stuff you wanted to do’ – but it’s a method that I’ve found to be working pretty well for me. I never used to think it would, that I’m not that organised and so on, but it’s been a surprise.
I don’t know if it’s usual, but I have two formats for the lists – my day-to-day ones sit on the mobile, but the bigger plans for the year tend to sit in my Notebook Of Doom.
A lot of the difference is in how things get crossed off, if I’m honest. Day-to-day “what I’m doing this week” works with just a tick gesture on the phone list, and that’s fine. But there’s more of an emotional and mental ‘achievement’ when it comes to physically crossing things off on a piece of paper, in a notebook, it’s a gesture of finality, of “done that”, which I really like.
Even though I don’t necessarily write about everything on here any more (and there’s some thoughts about that, which I’ll probably write and update over the Festering Season) and I certainly won’t list everything here, there’s a lot of stuff on the lists for 2016, which needs some thought and prioritising a bit.
I tend to over-load the lists too, give myself more on the plans than I’m likely to actually manage. But I’d rather have items as a backup for if I get everything done, or when a planned thing turns out to be unattainable and it’s time for Plan B/C/D.
Regardless, I’m looking forward to crossing off a lot of those items.
December
Posted: Tue 1 December, 2015 Filed under: 2015/16, Bankruptcy, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten) Leave a comment »So here we are, the last month of 2015. How time flies when you’re having fun…
It’s started well though, with my final payment of the bankruptcy scheme. It’s been three years of payments, and in that time I’ve paid nearly £25,000 – which is kind of scary, seeing how it all adds up.
From January, I’ll still be making payments – but they’ll go towards my own savings, which will be a very positive step.
At the moment, current evidence is all looking like 2016 should be good…
2015/16 – Writing
Posted: Thu 12 November, 2015 Filed under: 2015/16, Creativity, D4D™, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Thoughts, Write More Leave a comment »This post has been nagging me – I’d written the title and post-dated it for publication, but been stuck on what to actually, you know, write. And then I did it again.
It’s somewhat ironic that the post about my plans for the coming year’s writing has been published blank/empty not once, but twice.
So – third time lucky.
I’m not honestly sure what will happen with my writing plans over the next twelve months. There’s a couple of options (as well as the fallback point, of “do nowt” or “fail”) which is never a good start, as it leaves me in a quandary from the beginning.
The thing is, I’ve got lots of ideas. Loads. I just haven’t yet clicked on how they could stick together. Or even if they could adhere at all. I’m missing that bigger picture, the whole that all these parts could/should/might fit into. Or maybe each one is a different tale, and I need to focus on one or two of the better concepts, and just develop those. Maybe that will allow the others to rest, or maybe to develop along in their own timelines. Maybe.
I’ve definitely got two concepts which are kind-of similar, but separate. They fit into different moulds, different methods, so I could do both at the same time. Or I could focus on one and then the other. Or. Or. Or.
And that’s what’s sticking me up at the moment. Too many ideas, not enough drive.
I’d love to be ironic (or meta) enough to be able to write about a writer that is stuck on the writing, so that it’s turtles all the way down. But that’s beyond me.
I think the plan for the coming year will be to do just one project, focus on it, see if it works. If it doesn’t there are others waiting in the wings. If it does, there are others waiting in the wings.
Between now and 2016, some of it is just going to be brain-dumping stuff onto paper/keyboard as a record – perhaps that’ll help too.
So yes, I think that’s the plan. But now, which to choose as the first one. Which to choose…
Decaffeinating
Posted: Mon 9 November, 2015 Filed under: 2015/16, Diet Coke, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Food, Health, Sleep - or lack thereof, Thoughts, Weirdness 1 Comment »As people should have gathered, I’m currently doing a bundle of plans for the coming year, as well as continuing to make changes to my general life, health, fitness and so on.
One of those changes is – yet again – cutting down a lot on my caffeine intake, and seeing how things go.
My caffeine intake is highly cyclic, I cut it down (and sometimes out) for a while, and then it slowly goes back up again. And lo, another cycle continues.
Anyway, this time round I’m working on it again, and so far it’s fairly successful. I’m drinking a lot more water, and the Diet Coke intake is commensurately much, much lower.
What’s annoying, though, is that even with a massively reduced intake, it hasn’t affected my insomnia at all. It’s annoying because just about every person who has ever pointed out I drink too much Diet Coke (or caffeine in any other format) has said it explains my insomnia.
But nope, even when I’m just drinking water – and have been for a couple of weeks – my sleep is still atrocious. Indeed, sometimes even worse than usual.
It really is bloody annoying.
2015/16 – Health and Weight
Posted: Sat 7 November, 2015 Filed under: 2015/16, Change, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Health, Thoughts, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »Over the last year, I’ve worked on both health and weight with some success – albeit not as much as I’d have liked to.
A lot of the actual progress has happened over the last three or four months, once I’d changed gyms to one that was better located to fit in with my times and work life. That’s enabled me to go more often and more regularly, which has helped things immensely.
As a result, I’ve definitely lost inches, and gained muscle mass. That’s meant that I’ve pretty much stayed at the same weight – although it’s started coming off properly in the last month or so – which I suppose is good, if frustrating.
The plan for the coming year is likely to be more of the same. Some of it will depend on what happens for the next contract, and wherever I’m based at that point. If I’m based in London and commuting by train, the gym will still be perfectly placed. If I’m going to be based somewhere else, I’ll have to reassess and see what works.
Ideally, I’d like to lose a couple of stone over the next 12 months. That’s a feasible goal, assuming I can maintain the progress of the last few months, and keep doing more as I go on.
My other target/plan – albeit one that’s slightly less achievable – is to do another of the Marie Curie 10Km walks, and to do it in 60-70 minutes. That’s pushing it – although I’ve done other, shorted walks at that kind of pace, so it’s also feasible. It just might require a bit more training than the last two have…