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 |  is paved with good intentions... |
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** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Hi, I'm Elle. I'm based in Auckland, New Zealand. I'm the mother of two young adults, the wife of an entrepreneurial gamer and the Queen of Unfinished Projects. This blog will contain poems, short stories, possibly photos and book reviews if you're lucky, and my thoughts on a variety of topics. Hope you enjoy it. |
| My focus for October 2023 was to be more productive, to not let perfectionism stop me, to say yes to social interactions and to eliminate some unnecessary distractions. Wow, that was actually a lot of goals for one month. Or, three weeks really. The bullet journal did help me be more productive. Having the daily checklist was really beneficial, and I will continue that for next month. Switching from the original A4 journal to the smaller journal helped a lot. I forgot things if I didn't write them down, and the only way to ensure that I write them down is to have the journal on me at all times. Sometimes I was distracted by bullet journalling itself, in particular the online BuJo U, Facebook or Instagram - this is so ridiculously counterproductive. I need to focus on the basics, not get caught up with pretty layouts. On that note, I think I've been really good about not letting my perfectionism overwhelm me. I've made mistakes, some parts are messy, but I've accepted it. That was my biggest concern, so I'm really pleased about that. I only had a few social events in October, but I was conscious of trying to touch base with friends and family. I spent quite a bit of time with Steve and Caitie, not as much time with Jayden but I did have brunch with him and a couple of good conversations. I was to make spending some time with Jayden a priority for next month, even if it's just one decent occasion. I saw Shannon and Jannai. Didn't get to catch up with Nick and Anita as they cancelled on us, but I tried. I spoke to Mikey by Messenger - I must send him some dates to see if we can meet up some time soon. Sue wasn't well this month, but seems to be on the mend now. I did catch up with her and Jim though. Didn't see Dad, so need to do that next month. As to eliminating unnecessary distractions... I did take some steps towards this. I passed all my Writing.com responsibilities to other people and advised everyone there that I'm going on hiatus at the end of the year for 'a year or two'. That felt good - better than I expected. I quit the Style Circle. But I gained some distractions too - mostly bullet journal-related, so I need to manage that. Social media is definitely a distraction for me, and apart from the Support Group and keeping in touch with Beth, it offers little benefit. It was tough finding out that ANN Counselor, Lesbian & Happy  had passed away. She left the site a few years ago because she got Alzheimer's. I miss her long, newsy letters. I hated not knowing what her status was. I knew the Alzheimer's meant she'd forgotten me, and truly, I knew I was lucky that we'd been told she had Alzheimer's and she hadn't just disappeared without a trace, but I hated not knowing how she was, whether she was alive or not. Well, now I know. I'm definitely relieved to know, but also sad that she's gone. But I guess the Alzheimer's meant that she'd already gone. In the last letter I got from her, she told me she was reading her own memoir as a way to remember who she was. It's heartbreaking, but at least she had written that book, you know?I did find that I was more likely to do my stairs training because I was graphing my progress. And I find the progress over time really motivating and rewarding. Doing the exercise tracking is definitely beneficial and I need to keep it up. Action points arising:  Consolidate WDC portfolio Send dates to Mikey Turn off Facebook and Instagram notifications Set up date to visit Dad and walk Shakespear Park with him Spend quality time with Jayden |
Does anyone here Bullet Journal? I was looking for an organisational system that would work with my ADHD, mostly for work, and a friend recommended Bullet Journal. I thought it was just a artistic diary really, but I've now read the official book, and I couldn't have been more wrong! I think this system is going to change my life, and I'm desperate to introduce Jayden to it (after his exam this week - don't want to distract him) because I think it could really help him too. And Steve is even thinking, not only about doing it too, but about getting all his staff a Bullet Journal as part of their Christmas hamper this year!  One of the exercises Ryder (the creator of the Bullet Journal Method) recommends is called Mental Inventory. It's a way of working out which goals you should be focusing on and ensuring that you only focus on things that are worth your time and effort. He follows it up with another exercise called 5,4,3,2,1, which helps you work out which goals/projects to work on first, so that you're not splitting your time across too many different goals. It's quite an amazing process to go through. One of the things I'm realising though is that maybe Writing.com isn't where I need to focus my efforts right now. I've been winding down here for a little while and I think it's time to go on a proper hiatus for a year or two. There are some considerations though... 1. I need to consolidate my portfolio so that I can downgrade my membership. I started this but haven't finished it. I still have 966 items in my portfolio and I need to reduce it to a maximum of 250 so I can downgrade to Upgraded. Downgrade to upgraded.  That's funny. But yes, I need to do that. I can do that at least in part by putting all my poems into my two poem book items. That gets rid of about 100 items. And I have 562 in my recycling bin already, so that would get me down to about 300, and from there I'd only need to cull another 50 items. So it's doable. I just have to do it.2. I need someone to take over running "The Snail Mail Group"  . I can close all my other groups and activities, but I don't want to close that one. I actually want to keep sending and receiving snail mail from members even while I'm on hiatus. That's going to be tricky. The people who are most passionate about the group are not necessarily going to want to run it, for various reasons including time and health, so I need to find someone who has the time and energy (not that it takes much) and also the desire. The whole group can be managed with probably an hour a month, so it's not a huge commitment, but it just needs to be regular.So yeah, that's where I'm at now. I am currently working on refining my initial bullet journal. I started before reading the official book and realised I was 'doing it all wrong'. Plus, I thought I needed a large notebook because I had so much to do, and have now realised an A5 notebook would be far better. I've ordered an official Bullet Journal to work in, and I have to decide whether to start in that straight away (on the first of November?) or finish the current notebook and accept that it will be a sad initial one to kickstart my collection of Bullet Journals going forward. I still haven't decided, but while I wait for the new one to arrive in the mail, I'm refining my process based on what I've read. I'm also using the online community (I signed up to the official website) to learn more. It's so fascinating. I may write more about it, because I'm utterly engrossed in this at the moment (hyperfocus anyone? ) but for now I need to get back to work. |
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