After you complete an experiment, you conclude and also reflect on the methodology for improvement. My theory was that I do not honor my time because I am not intentional about it. I considered the experiment successful if I got my work done and increased my step count. Was I right? The experiment was a partial success. I had not anticipated a pop-up hurricane in the equation. I did honor my time more last week, but there were still days when my plans were completely derailed. I was intentional about getting back on track which helped, but does not get to the root cause of why I get derailed.
In my last post, I said when I finished, I would reflect on what went well and what did not after I finished my blog. I did have to battle a few distractions, but I did complete the reflections. What went well with the experiment? Being more intentional about my time gave me a more robust framework and structure while providing the flexibility to pivot. Every day except yesterday, I did my nightly review and tasks for the next day. I had to reevaluate my strategy and change tactics daily. Lauren, my inspiration, structured her experiment like school. At the end of the week, I believe my inspiration felt more like Tetris, with the strategy being to provide more space to be able to shift and rotate the pieces to fit better. My step count did not increase week over week due to the hurricane, but I did get outside more during the day, and when trapped inside, I got up and moved around during meetings.
On Day 0, I realized I had not scheduled any time for myself. I also realized that digital reflections are not as powerful as writing things down on paper. On day 1, I was more intentional, and I noticed I had not put in the hard things. I immediately scheduled fifteen minutes dedicated to the not-fun things. I also noticed that I have a fear of missing out on learning new things but also that I need to be more selective because I was falling into the realm of procrastilearning. By Day 2, I was falling back into old habits and found that I needed to add a timer to make me recognize the end of a block. I will continue the experiment and incorporate more buffers because I need the head space.
What surprised me the most is how much I abhor making decisions and choices. My in-laws came over for breakfast and brought two kinds of juices. Instead of choosing one, I opted to mix them. Being accountable to you all also helped me to stick with this, and I recognize that I need to be able to look in the mirror and be accountable to myself. I also found it ironic that for someone who advocates play, I did not schedule any playtime. Last week, I noted that I stole time from my family. Because I did finish mainly working on time, my family reaped the benefits. They enjoyed home-cooked meals, and my youngest is now the manager of my Twitch account. If you want to check out the UltimateGamerMom playing Fate and crawling around dungeons while discussing philosophy, find me on ultimatemomgamer - Twitch. I did enjoy playing my favorite video game, and my son is happy. That is a win-win situation.
