24 February 2010

Good things I did for myself today

I'm working on starting new habits and breaking old ones that impede my ability to be who I want to be and do what I want to do. This is what I did so far today that was good:


  1. I went to bed at a relatively decent hour (12:15). Not as early as I would like, but an improvement. This will help me be better-rested and accomplish more today.
  2. Before going to bed, I read a book rather than surfing the internet. Not for as long as I would like (only about 10 minutes, with net surfing until then), but again, a good start. I believe this will help me fall asleep earlier and bring the pleasure of reading back into my life.
  3. When I went to sleep, I shut off my computer and did not leave a movie playing, as has been my habit. I believe the silence will give me more restful sleep.
  4. When my alarm went off this morning, I hit snooze only twice and then got up to take the dogs out without logging onto the internet. I lose a lot of time in the morning to getting sucked into checking email, looking at the news, etc., without ever leaving my bed, and I want to get an earlier start.
  5. After letting the dogs outside, I began drinking a glass of ice water. The early hydration is supposed to be good for the metabolism; it also helps me wake up and avoid the temptation of returning to bed.
  6. While I was writing this post, my iPhone vibrated a number of times, signaling the arrival of new emails. The last few times it did so, I kept writing and didn't stop to check emails. I am concerned that I am being multi-tasked to death, in areas where nothing bad will happen if I attend to the second (or third, fourth and fifth) task later. I am concerned that this over-multitasking leaves me unfocused, unproductive and overwhelmed. So this was a tiny first step toward "one thing at a time."
Not a bad start for the Midnight to 8 am time block! Let us see how the rest of the day plays out.

3 comments:

Marsosudiro said...

Wonderful on so many counts!

I only encourage you to enjoy each small success and let it be like a seed that you've planted.

Don't ask for perfection or for immediate revolution.

And... because you do spend much of your world in work mode, I encourage you to find a copy of this book: Mindfulness and Meaningful Work: Explorations in Right Livelihood

It's a collection of many short pieces, great for dipping in wherever and whenever (including the bathroom!!!).

Some of the pieces are very much about the Mindfulness and the Meaning. Others point to the very practical. And, of course, they all knit together.

Regarding your every minute of every day, I encourage you to look the book up on Amazon, do the Search Inside the book and find the passage on "green dots", which takes some pressure off the every minute of every day, but definitely engineers in a bunch of fine reminders.

Marsosudiro said...

Oh, and read the paragraph about the harried receptionists and the telephone ringing, immediately after the green dot story!

Lisa said...

Thanks, Phil! Book ordered, and green dot and receptionist stories read. Really helpful!