New Year's Resolution 2010
Jan. 12th, 2010 10:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rowynKeep an activity log.
This is based on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
haikujaguar's suggestion. I'm writing down, very briefly, whatever it is that I did that day. The focus is creative stuff, but I'm including non-creative stuff which was time-consuming and/or significant things that I had to get done. Sample entry:
1/10/10
Art card
Xp allocation for WT
Laundry (4 loads)
HS: 6.5
The "HS" is the day's rating on my happiness scale, because one thing that I want when I'm depressed is to be able to look back and see how much of my life I've spent depressed. I'd like to be able to point to a big block of day-by-day assessments and say "hey, you averaged a 7.2 for the last two years so quit it with the 'I'm always depressed' stuff. This too will pass." We'll see if it works.
I am tempted to include other stuff -- which games I played or movies I watched or conversations I had -- but the point is to make it something quick that I can do in a few minutes, and that I can catch up on if I miss a few days. So trying to avoid scope creep. It's a log, not a diary. I've been doing it since December 29 -- apparently I liked the idea enough to try it immediately -- and it seems easy enough.
Do some marathons
The Wall Street Journal had an interesting article about marathons, making the point that, "in a long-term fitness sense, marathons are really sprints; the true marathon is the exercise program that lasts for decades".
And I think this applies to creative marathons like Nanowrimo and the 24 hour comics and the like. They're really sprints in the sense of a long-term creative life.
But this is not to trivialize the commitment and energy that marathons require, which is considerable! Moreover, there's something pleasantly rewarding about setting and achieving short-term goals. So in 2010 I want to set some more short-term goals like these, things I can do for a week or a month and then declare victory over them. Some of these may be more marathon-like than others.
January's marathon is to finish the 30in30 project. I'm at twelve so far.
February may or may not have a marathon. I'll decide when I get there.
And that's it for my 2010 NYR. I just want something goal-oriented and simple this year, since last year's felt both too broad and too vague.
This is based on
haikujaguar's suggestion. I'm writing down, very briefly, whatever it is that I did that day. The focus is creative stuff, but I'm including non-creative stuff which was time-consuming and/or significant things that I had to get done. Sample entry:1/10/10
Art card
Xp allocation for WT
Laundry (4 loads)
HS: 6.5
The "HS" is the day's rating on my happiness scale, because one thing that I want when I'm depressed is to be able to look back and see how much of my life I've spent depressed. I'd like to be able to point to a big block of day-by-day assessments and say "hey, you averaged a 7.2 for the last two years so quit it with the 'I'm always depressed' stuff. This too will pass." We'll see if it works.
I am tempted to include other stuff -- which games I played or movies I watched or conversations I had -- but the point is to make it something quick that I can do in a few minutes, and that I can catch up on if I miss a few days. So trying to avoid scope creep. It's a log, not a diary. I've been doing it since December 29 -- apparently I liked the idea enough to try it immediately -- and it seems easy enough.
Do some marathons
The Wall Street Journal had an interesting article about marathons, making the point that, "in a long-term fitness sense, marathons are really sprints; the true marathon is the exercise program that lasts for decades".
And I think this applies to creative marathons like Nanowrimo and the 24 hour comics and the like. They're really sprints in the sense of a long-term creative life.
But this is not to trivialize the commitment and energy that marathons require, which is considerable! Moreover, there's something pleasantly rewarding about setting and achieving short-term goals. So in 2010 I want to set some more short-term goals like these, things I can do for a week or a month and then declare victory over them. Some of these may be more marathon-like than others.
January's marathon is to finish the 30in30 project. I'm at twelve so far.
February may or may not have a marathon. I'll decide when I get there.
And that's it for my 2010 NYR. I just want something goal-oriented and simple this year, since last year's felt both too broad and too vague.
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no subject
Date: 2010-01-13 04:37 am (UTC)Based on my performance in the past couple of years or so, it would seem that I am better at getting things done when I have a short-term deadline of about a month or so. Even better if it's a "squeaky wheel." If it's "get it done whenever," it's doomed, simply because every project with a deadline will inevitably take priority over "deadline infinity." If I'm given a project with a wider scope (or an indefinite one), I have a tendency to get distracted.
But then, it could also be because for a longer-term project, it's a bigger target for "real life" to hit, and throw things off course.
Regarding "squeaky wheels," I work better if I'm in communication with whomever I'm reporting to. If I'm supposed to get 20 pieces of art done, a large project can become like several small ones - in terms of the sense of accomplishment at least - if I can fire off bits at a time and get quick feedback. On the other hand, if there are TOO MANY little steps, I can get overwhelmed when I look at how much I've gotten done, and realize that there's still so much left to do. It's very subjective.
I haven't yet figured out how to apply this "learning" practically to other areas. I'm still working on it.