Work smarter, not harder: but do *something*

Twenty-one days ago, I pressed the reset button to rewire a few errant thought patterns and get back on track toward the vision I created for myself in February (see “Take your dreams to the next level…”). This included five action items to accomplish each day for three weeks. One reset task comprised writing for at least 21 minutes daily. Some days the time flew by; others it crawled, the latter of which forced me to discover new ways to stimulate my enthusiasm. A daily writing prompt often became the catalyst to unblock my creativity; another day I drafted a blog post. And another I played around with story ideas. More and more I’m finding that there isn’t one “right” way to live the good life. But [doing] something is better than nothing. And because it’s common for life and its myriad demands to pull us away from our goals, we should work smarter—not harder—to be good stewards of our time.

How do you work smarter?

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

A new lease on the New Year

For the past 28 days, I’ve written three pages of stream-of-consciousness long hand dubbed my “morning pages.” It’s all part of a 12-week (self-guided) workshop I’m taking called The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. After I dropped out of NaNoWriMo last month (see “Are you doing what you’re supposed to do…”), a friend posted a link to Cameron’s website on my Facebook page and I’ve been hooked ever since. Although I didn’t end up with a novel at the end of November, that’s okay. Because I’ve been learning lifelong tools—like how to better manage my time—that will benefit me in all facets of my life. Most importantly, I’ve realized that a good life has less to do with circumstances, and everything to do with where I focus my attention. In fact, it’s a wonderful life, indeed. One that grants me “veteran” status in Club 50 this week. And a new lease on the New Year.

What is one area you plan to focus on in 2018?

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.