progress report june 2008
The end of June means that we are halfway through the year and a good point to assess how the overall plan for the year is coming along. Knowing that I would be becoming a father in January I severely trimmed down the goal list to ones that really mattered to me and now it seems that I will have to trim it yet further. A few goals are therefore being removed from the list as follows.
- achievement log
- visiting friends
- svenska
- typing
The achievement log is actually a bit unclear to my mind and I am always a bit unsure as to what ought to go in there. Obviously things that are on the goal list. But should I write down each time I manage to complete the hundred mile quota? A good way to calculate my success but then my blog is peppered with very short posts. So that is the dilemma: what do I consider as achievements? I would rather not have to think about it except for those things that are obviously achievements.
I’m really not going to get a huge amount of time to visit friends this year. I can always invite them to my house but by having this as a goal I am simply putting pressure on myself to perform in a way that is not practical at the moment.
I’m going to Sweden once this year and even though it would be useful to maintain my level I think that the time and effort spent on this could be better spent elsewhere.
I cleaned my keyboard recently which has enhanced my experience of typing as well as doing some finger exercises. But I don’t think I can spare the time or effort to do this properly. I will still continue with the occasional finger exercise but that will be all.
The second major tweak or adjustment to the overall plan is the weekly planning session. When I sit down on a Sunday evening and write a list of goals for that week I have found that I tend to make the goal a little too broad or vague. So now I’m trying to pinpoint the exact goal. So rather than set a goal which says, “Update my website”, I set a goal that says, “Update the 4th paragraph on the home page”. This is an important point because the main idea behind the weekly planning is to have a clear set of goals for that week without any designated time slots. If the goal is not clearly formulated then I tend to think of it as far bigger than I originally intended. To continue with the above example, “Update my website”, would mean update everything and obviously I didn’t mean that when I wrote it down on the Sunday.
Minimum of 100 miles per week
I’ve done pretty well at this during the month of June with only one week where I was under the quota, but only just. Good going.
Meditation
I’ve been teaching meditation twice a week and that keeps my hand in there but this month even though I have been meaning to do my late night meditations I have been just too tired. So maybe I need to look at this. It’s a good time to do the practice when I do have the energy and don’t start to nod off.
Yoga practice
Not too bad this month. A couple of short sessions just enough to loosen up those stiff joints but enough to maintain my sense of continuity. Especially now that I’m only teaching four classes a week.
Pilates
The plan was to do just one exercise a day, the hundred. But it has been something like three times a week. It takes me less than five minutes to do so this is something I need to address. I need to find a time to do it that is consistent and available. But on the plus side I have been bringing the core focus into my yoga practice and have been using the core when reaching for things on high shelves etc.
Achievement Log
This started life as Celebrate my Success. But I don’t really know what happened here. I’m all confused about what is an achievement and what is not. So the achievement of no achievement.
Visiting Friends
I did catch up with a couple of old friends this month but they did come to see me and this is the way forward I think.
Bike rides
There was one week where I did two bike rides and it was great. I’m finding it easier and my fitness in coming along in small increments. 
Relaxing and fun activities
This is another one that I find hard to define. If I put a certain relaxing activity on the list of goals then is it still downtime? There hasn’t been much downtime this month but I have been reading again. I picked up the Brothers Karamazov again after a few months on the shelf.
Ebay Sales
Nope, I didn’t sell anything.
Clearing stuff out
When you know that you could get something for it on Ebay you kind of hold on to it a bit longer. But I think that perhaps I should consider Freecycle instead.
Computer Off Day
Fantastic. Great idea and still going strong. On some Sundays I do get the odd pang to spend a few minutes on there but there is life without computers. A good rest and a good exercise in discovering the rest of my life.
The Wheel Log
My aim was to build a hundred wheels in 2008 and so far at the halfway point I’m up to 40. A bit under where I should be but still pretty close. I’m on holiday for most of July so that leaves with only five months to make 60 wheels. That means I’ll need to advertise and promote myself a bit.
Svenska
I have done virtually no practice. I went to see my Swedish friend who helped me to translate a letter but we didn’t work on any conversation.
Learning PHP
I have been learning a lot of PHP this month. Rebuilding my wheel site had me creating my own functions, working with files making many shortcuts.
Typing
This one is out. Shame really as it would have been a good one but low priority really and my speed is fast enough for what I do. 