Thriving or Surviving

This past weekend, I wrote THIS post and THIS post about getting a lot done and invited you to work on your own tasks as well. Sometimes, I'm able to be extremely productive over a couple of days with minimal negative impact on the days that follow. Other times, not so much. This is one of those other times.  Today, I had a list of tasks I wanted to accomplish before work, during my breaks and lunch, and after work. Instead of doing any of them, I just barely managed to take care of my dog and a dog that I was babysitting today. And, I just barely got through my day regular work day.  I woke up feeling absolutely drained--possibly from excessive bad dreams driven by the current news cycle mixed with warmer than usual weather--and slept in until I absolutely had to get up in order to take my dog to go potty and to be back at my desk on time for work. I didn't do anything on either of my breaks or my lunch other than the bare minimum which included taking my dog and her doggie...

I recently wrote THIS blog post about getting lots of little tasks done around my home. The key is that each task was *small* and *defined*. As much as a good friend and I want to say we will clean and organize our ENTIRE homes, we both find that to be overwhelming. Even saying, "I'm going to clean my living room" is frequently too much! So, what do we do instead?  We create small and measurable goals that are easy to accomplish. And, we do that over and over throughout the day. You could argue that we are simply making to do lists, but I think that over simplifies things. We don't make a complete list of everything we plan to accomplish for the day as that can feel overwhelming. Instead, we list out just a handful of tiny tasks and micro-goals, accomplish those, and then repeat the process. When I wrote the post linked above (and linked  here ), I did set a larger goal, but I broke it down into micro-goals. The larger goal was to clean up the living room, dining are...

I love the idea of a weekly or monthly reset, but they don't work when everything feels chaotic all the time.  Due to some chronic health issues, I've not been keeping up on a lot around my home for months. Thus, piles have grown here and there. Dustbunnies have also grown here and there. No surface is clear or clean. My home is stressing me out right now. This is not how I want to live. I've started some new meds recently, and while there are some unpleasant side effects, overall, I do feel about 80% of normal. My energy is improving, as are my strength and overall stamina. So, today seemed like a good day to get lots of little things done.  If you've been feeling stuck and need a body double, then feel free to work alongside the tasks I list in this post!  My first step to any project that could be overwhelming is to text one of my dearest friends with my thoughts ("I don't want to do this. I hate this. Why is everything so messy all the time?"). Then, I...