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Two words: Utter fail.
The intention was there, but not the actions to back it up.
Something was off. I was off. And I’m struggling to fix it.
But I’m determined to get this right, so I’m starting again.
When you see the break down of my screen time below (the days I just gave up and embraced procrastination), you’ll understand why tomorrow will be Day 1 again. [Read more…] about Days 8-15 Recap: 30-Day Deep Work Challenge
These past three days have been challenging when it comes to holding focus and working deeply.
There is this inescapable feeling that, by scaling back on social media and other distractions, that I’m missing something. So, it’s been harder to resist picking up the phone, which is reflected in my screen time.
Still, I’m determined to stay the course and get to a place that helps me focus and work deeply.
I’ve removed the Facebook, Twitter and Instagram apps from my phone. If there is something that I do want to post, I will do it from my laptop.
Screen Time Recap:
| Day 5 (Friday,8 April 2022): | 1H49M |
| Day 6 (Saturday, 8 April 2022): | 3H28 |
| Day 7 (Sunday, 8 April 2022): | 1H49 |
Read the recap for Days 3 & 4 here.
Yesterday and today, I did not pick up my phone until I was ready to leave for work. That’s important for me because I’m up around 3:00 am, first to write my Morning Pages, then to read (currently The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene and Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport). Then I get about 60-75 minutes of writing time. With no distractions, I managed to finally finish the edits to a chapter of my current WIP (note: I started the edits to that chapter last week!). [Read more…] about Day 2 Recap: 30-Day Deep Work Challenge
When I learned to kayak, my instructor made swim the rapid. Even though I grew up with a pool in the backyard, I wasn’t a strong swimmer. And the lifejacket strapped to my body didn’t really comfort me, either. “Don’t panic. And take a big breath when the rapid shoots you out, because then it’s going to pull you back down again.” Sure enough, I panicked. Underwater, my arms flailed grandly as I tried to reach the surface. When my head popped out of the water, I took a breath — probably not as big as I should have — and then quickly disappeared underwater. When I came to the surface again, I was beyond spent and, to my dismay, headed straight for the next rapid. And I was desperately in need of a course correction. [Read more…] about Course Correction
When I started my vacation on 10 March, it was just days before the world began to turn in on itself because of COVID-19. Nothing had really changed for me, though. I was still waking up around 3:30 or 4:00 to write while the rest of the world slept. Then, after a run, I’d return to the business of writing for a good chunk of the day before prepping dinner late in the afternoon. My evening ritual of either reading or watching reruns of Two and a Half Men rounded out the day. I had my groove on.
But as my vacation transitioned to an involuntary leave of absence and then a layoff, there was a shift. Since I had the condo to myself, I started going to bed later, which meant getting up later. Still writing in the morning, I’d unexpectedly become an early afternoon runner (lesson learned: not my greatest time to run). Something else was at play, too. My body was adjusting to not zipping through time zones. I had lost my rhythm, fell out of my groove. [Read more…] about How I Lost and Found My Groove