Strategy

My New Plan: The Library

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(Do you have an area in your life you are struggling with?  How many plans have you implemented to solve it?  Did you finally come up with one that worked?)

Well, the School Plan as gone to the waste side.  The good side with me failing to come up with a plan that I can stick with is that all of you who are reading this will have many plans to try. Hopefully one will work for you.

One of my problems is that when I get home I get distracted and not get done what I say is important to me. I will even write me a to do list and after 3 days notice that I hardly looked at it.

My new plan is that I go to the library for a minimum of one hour Monday – Friday after my first job. I go straight there for if I stop by my house most likely I will not leave.

I have filled a backpack with paper for a to do list, journal, class planner, my story notebook, a couple of books I have been wanting to read about a topic I want to learn.  I did not have all of these from the beginning. The first two days I walked in with a book, my future to do list and my journal.

That first day I did pretty well. I did some journaling, worked on my to do list, worked on class stuff and found a book on the library shelf that will help me learn the new topic I have been trying to learn for about 3 years now.  I was very proud of myself, though the last 15 minutes went slow because I started to get tired and hungry.  I am now bringing a snack and water for me.

I started this about 6 days ago.  I forgot how much I love the library. One of my fantasies is to get locked in a library for a day or two.  I love books!

The library has so much more to offer than the last time I was regularly using it, which was about 6-10 years ago. I am so glad the library is still there and it is being used.

Since I have started going I have been reading to learn, journaling, working on class items, and have even worked on my story that I started about 2 years ago.  In addition to that story I wrote a storyline for a children’s story which I would like to make into a series of stories.

I am feeling more productive than I have for a while.  I have a friend that recently went to a coffee shop with a pile of papers that needed to be dealt with.  She said she was surprised how much she got done without distractions.  I guess it isn’t where you go, but that the distractions are minimal.

I hope this works for me.  It is just sticking to it and making myself do it!

Do you have an area in your life you are struggling with? How many plans have you implemented to solve it? Did you finally come up with one that worked?

My Newest Strategy – School?

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(What 6 things would you like to be working on or learning?)

I have read several books on bettering myself, procrastinating, how to stop the negative thoughts in my head and how to get organized.  They all have good advice in them.  I try to follow their advice, though nothing substantial has stuck.  I have learned a little from each book and at times I think back to my favorites, but I am still looking for that magical strategy that will work for me.

I have been journaling in my notebook so I can figure out what I am going to do with the rest of my life.  Right now I am working 4 jobs and volunteering a few hours at a Senior Center.  When you put these all together I am working 7 days a week.  If that wasn’t bad enough I am not breaking the 40 hours a week mark.  That could be a good thing, though with 4 jobs you would think I would be making extra money by working over 40 hours.

So one of the several things I am trying to work out is what jobs am I going to have coming September and how I am going to accomplished what I (keep telling myself I) want.

As I write in my journal I vent and then tried to problem solve.  I started thinking about High School.  During school I was taking 6 classes and doing homework for these classes.  I liked learning new things.  What if I treat all these ‘wants’ as classes.  As long as I fit some homework in every week then eventually I would get to my goals.

I have more than 6 things I want to work on, though I decided to pick the top 6 to start with.  Here is my list:

  • PE  (I need to get exercise back into my day.)
  • Blogging about decluttering  (This way I can cover decluttering and blogging in the same class.  I do plan to do other blogging topics also.)
  • Make $ on the internet  (I want to learn how to make money from home and try to learn about passive income.)
  • Making furniture   (We are going to build a loft in one of our bedrooms… I need to figure out a plan for this, the materials we will need, and how to actually build it.)
  • Planting, gardening, yard work  (Since all of these are outside in the yard… I just grouped them together.  I am not sure I am ready to garden, but I want to grow food.  I have blackberries, a plum tree, a pot of strawberries, and I just got me a raspberry plant.  I am hoping to get blueberries next.  I want to utilize them this year… in years past many went to waste.)
  • Swing Trading  (I have looked into this some but then stalled out.  I feel like this would be a good fit for me, though I need to learn more about it.)

These are my six classes that I want to spend time doing homework for.  I hope this strategy will work for me.  If not, I am not sure how many more ideas are out there for me to try.

I look forward to completing these classes or better yet having them become a habit or future job.  Then I can go onto my next 6 classes.

What 6 things would you like to be working on or learning?

I Begin Again: Decuttering

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(Do you have shoes to go through?  After you do tell me how many you tossed/donated?)

Well, I am finally back.  I have hardly done any decluttering.  That doesn’t mean that I haven’t been thinking and planning.  I have been working extra hours at one of my jobs, then went on a week vacation with my family.  Though mostly I just couldn’t get myself to do anything.

My plan was for me to get my jobs situated and work a little less during the summer so I can work on projects.  One of those projects is to declutter.  I have less work hours right now SO….

Here I go!  My first project is to go through our shoes and declutter/minimize.

I forgot to take a picture before I started.  This picture is when I have already taken some out of the wood shoe shelving.  Also to the left of the wood shelf is our black rolling shoe rack that usually hides behind the cat tree.

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I ended up throwing away 8 pairs of shoes.  I think I could have done 2 more, though did not have the constitution to do it.  8 pairs in the garbage may sound like a lot to you, because I know it does to me.  Let me tell you how I deal with my shoes.  I buy a new pair of shoes when my old ones develop holes.  I will keep the shoes I am replacing just in case my feet get sore in the new ones or in case something happens to my new shoes.  Well, I have been doing that for the last 7 pairs of shoes without getting rid of the extra pair.  I was happy that even though I threw a lot away I was able to donate 3 pairs.  YEA!

Here is what the final product looks like.  Outside the wood shoe tower there were consistently 4-6 pairs of shoes on the floor.  Now only flip flops.  The black shoe rack is now back behind the cat tree.  This time just full of shoes we plan to use.

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I feel pretty good about this project.

Do you have shoes to go through?  After you do tell me how many you tossed/donated?

When You Think You Have It Planned

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(Have you ever thought you had something all planned, then have it fall apart?)

I have been working hard making plans for my summer and when I think everything is settled, all of a sudden it isn’t.

I have been looking for a new job to go along with my others.  I have quit my morning job (they knew I was looking) after I have found a new morning job.  I had figured out my hours, how much money I will be making, and how much time I would have off to get projects done this summer.  It was all looking great.
I went on a camping vacation with my family and I was to start the new job on the Monday after returning.  The night before I got a call from a different boss telling me they are closing their business with no warning.  I am now losing about $400 a month.  Then to find out that the new job I just got may not be steady work, but come in as needed.

I am not panicking because I really wanted more time in the summer to do my projects, though I do need to make sure I can pay my bills.  Walking that fine line can be tricky.

So, I am going to go with the flow and hopefully if I start to struggle I can ask for more hours from another job that I still have.  Sometimes there is a benefit working for more than one company.  Like the saying says….  Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

This is life?  As in the movie Matrix…  if life was all easy we would get bored.  I will definitely say I am not bored and at times I just want to laugh at this situation.  Stay tuned and see if I make it through the summer.

Have you ever thought you had something all planned, then have it fall apart?