Friday, January 29, 2010

A Little Reflection and Reevaluation

January has come and is nearing the end. It has left me thinking a lot about each of my days.

Where does the day go?
What do I do every day?
What am I not doing every day?
What do I wish I would be doing?

So I've decided to take the rest of this month to figure out what I want my priorities to be, and rearrange my life so that I spend February and the rest of the year doing those things instead of whatever else I seem to do doing.

1.) I know I spend a lot of time taking care of Bergen, but I wish I spent more time really "playing" with him and especially reading to him.
2.) I wish I spent more time reading myself, good books, the scriptures, and the Ensign. You know it's bad when it comes time to renew your Ensign subscription and you wonder if you really should because you haven't even read the stack on your nightstand that's been accumulating for months!
3.) I wish I was keeping better track of the "things I want to remember", which would include writing in Bergen's baby book and updating our blog more often since that is pretty much my journal.
4.) I wish I spent more quality time with Travis. When he's home it seems like we are always trying to check things off our list, and don't get to be "us" very much.

So in order to accomplish this list of high hopes, I need to replace the things I am currently doing. And what are those things? Well, I'm still trying to really evaluate just what that is, but so far this is what I've got.

1.)First of all, stop wasting time! I find myself wandering circles trying to decide how much time I have and what to do next. I may not always have enough time to finish something in one sitting, so I've got to start getting used to partial projects...because after all, lots of partial projects will eventually lead to completed projects, right?!? This post for example...I started it days ago :)
2.) Second, limit my computer use. I cut back on this quite a bit a while ago, but I think it's time to maybe do some more cutting. As much as I enjoy reading about everyone else's life, maybe it's time to spend more time living my own life. Along with this I need to stay focused! When I sit down to say update our blog, instead of spending 30 minutes looking at others and then deciding I don't have time for my own, do mine first.
3.) I don't often watch TV during the day, sometimes it's on for noise but I'm still working. Evening time is another story though. Two, three hours at night goes by just like that. Granted I may be doing dishes, putting jammies on Bergen, or picking up toys, but I could probably do them faster without the TV. So, I either need to give up some of these involving shows, or figure out if a DVR is worth the extra cost so I don't have to watch commercials and can watch at a more convenient time.
4.) Let's see, what else? Oh yes, cleaning! I think this is where most of my time goes. I have to come to grips that my house doesn't need to be up to perfection every day. It still drives me nuts, but picking up toys once a day, maybe picking up clutter and doing dishes every other day, and sweeping every third day, something like that. My house may be messier but if it means I better document our life, I guess that's what will be more important come next year.

So that's what I've come up with so far. Lots more thinking yet to do, but it's a start. Now it's time to implement. They say if you write down or tell someone else your goal, you have a better chance of achieving it. I'm doing both :) Whoever is still reading by this point can periodically ask me how it's going. And if no one asks me I'll let you know anyway. I bet you're so excited!

4 comments:

EricB said...

I'll check up on you occasionally and you can ask me how I'm doing. I still need to make my list though.
Ensign and scriptures are good. Too much TV can be bad. So the house gets a bit messy. Playing with the kids and being with the husband is better. Keep up the good work. I'm very proud of you for what you have done and are doing.

Tammy said...

Good post. I've been doing something similiar in my own head, I think you are right that writing it down (and sharing) would be more motivating.

The "D.C." O's said...

Did you write this about you or me? But I would say I let the house cleaning go a while ago now. I need to stop turning on the TV and computer when I have 5 minutes to fill. I still have things like Nathan's stocking to finish.:)

Emily said...

Seriously, did I dictate this to you? I feel the same way. Hmm, but I'm on the computer. Go figure. Thanks for the inspiration!