Over the past few days, I've started thinking about New Year's Resolutions, and goals and intentions for 2010 more generally. And I realized that most of them come down to doing more of something. Read more. Write more. Blog more. Knit more. See more films. Cook more. Clean more. Exercise more. Entertain more. These are all good goals, in and of themselves, but taken together, a problem emerges. You see, they all basically require time. And the issue, of course, is that I just listed nine things off the top of my head on which I want to spend more time, but I'm having trouble coming up with anything on which I want to spend less time. And all this time has to come from somewhere. So. I don't know. I have no great insight or solution to this. I'm just throwing it out there. Ideas, anyone?
Posted by Kat at December 27, 2009 09:10 PM
Comments
Perhaps offset some of the do more, with some do less.
These are goals for me, although I have not written them down.
1. Exercise more
2. Couch potato less.
3. Surf the web less.
4. Take more Photos, and process them.
etc...
Good luck.
AO
Figure out when you'd like to be doing these things, and decide whether or not you're okay with the things that you do instead. Use that to decide when to take the time to do your resolution activities.
Example: When I lived in Boston, I wanted to start working out. I figured that the best time for me to do this was after work, since the gym was on my way home. Didn't work. Why, I asked myself? What was I doing instead? Well, most of the time I had plans with my friends, and was going out with them after work. Was I okay with that? I sure as heck was! That was right in tune with the way I prioritize my values system. What were my other options, then? Going to the gym on my way to work in the morning. Could I make that work? Well, I missed out on a home-made breakfast, but I figured the trade-off made it worth paying for breakfast once I actually got to work. I could shower at the gym, and my morning routine actually took less time than when I was at home. So I got started going to the gym a couple of days a week, and ended up with a pretty good 5 day a week workout routine (at least until I sprained my ankle, which is a whole other story altogether).
For me, the first step was accepting the fact that I *can't* do everything. In comparison, it was pretty easy to make sure that I'm at peace with the things I do do.