In the Nineteen

Longtime readers will know that I am fond of the week between Christmas and New Years': the hullabaloo surrounding Christmas has died down, but we are not yet back into the regular routine. It's a tiny little slice of calm which I call the Week of Reflection. I use it to think about the passing year's successes and failures, and what I would like to accomplish in the coming year.

I do this both personally and professionally; there's a great deal of overlap between them, for me. In 2018, I think I could have hustled harder! (No point doing this if I'm not going to be honest with myself.) I'm not especially good at time management at the best of times, and this past year was definitely not the best of times. The world is on fire, and it distracted me a bit! Sometimes in good ways - I spent a lot of time writing postcards to voters - and sometimes in just time-wasting ways - reading new websites and twitter for far longer than is useful. Then I read pottery blogs & Pinterest to soothe myself.

That's always been a pitfall for me, actually, but I just recently found a way around it that I haven't tried before, that seems to be working: A FitDesk!

It creates kind of a win-win situation: the longer I noodle around online, the better workout I get. If I don't feel like working out, I'm going to have to find something constructive to do.
I know there's a logical leap in there - there are lots of ways to waste time that don't involve a computer - but those don't tend to be traps that I fall into. It seems to be working! I don't even have to put "Gym" or "workout" on my to-do list - it just happens. So I'm excited to start the New Year with a new good habit already in place.

I also treated myself to one more little gift: a mopping robot! I am a tidy person by nature (yes, I know, I made a strange professional choice) and two people, six cats, a turtle, and a pottery studio are more conducive to mess than cleanliness. Dirt is distracting to me (to a point! I like to say I 'm neat but not a neat freak) but cleaning is basically an infinite job. Now when I start to stress out, I can put the mobot to work and forget about it. The house is cleaner, I save time, and my mind is at ease.

There's lots more I have to reflect on, in the brief time I have left in the week; most especially I have to set business goals. I am feeling tempted to make a change, in the form of a storefront...talk me out of it!