My latest post was a bit misleading as I actually wrote it a month ago and just posted it. So now I am actually at the END of my bootcamp. I have to say, it went really well and I would recommend it to AD/HD peeps and anyone just trying to get some stuff done that they can’t quite make happen. A few highlights:
I had four categories to work on – cleaning/organizing at home, developing a daily writing practice, organizing my work day, and finding a new job. Well, at the end of the first week I received an email for a job interview and had that job by the end of the next week. So, hooray, I got to get rid of a whole category. More importantly, I have a new job. Hoorah! I really like it a lot. I’m getting to do more, you know, interacting with humans and so on, and less interacting with, like, paper. I could talk about it a lot but I don’t want to say too much publicly about my OLD job, just that there are several people there that I already miss very much.
So, hoorah – no 4th category! So more time/energy to work on the other categories, right? Um, sort of. I would say that I am well on the way to developing some good habits. I get up early almost every day to write, at least for a half-hour. That is really huge, because I was very worried that I wouldn’t write once my screenwriting deadline had passed. (I’ll need to start working on it again in a few days, but that’s another story)
I also have started “picking up” around the house for a mere 10 minutes most nights. I wouldn’t say it’s a habit yet, and I wouldn’t say that I still don’t dread it. However, knowing that I only have to do it for 10 minutes makes me actually do it, so that’s another 50 minutes of cleaning a week that I might not have done at all otherwise. Our bootcamp director talks about “paying off the interest” rather than “making payments toward the balance,” which means that, if you’re only spending 10 minutes a day either cleaning, organizing, filing, dealing w/paperwork, etc., while you are building a habit, you are probably just dealing with what’s new that day and not getting to the Big, Scary Pile that made you sign up for a procrastination boot camp in the first place (see last blog for photo of Big Scary Pile, with dog). So ultimately I will need to up the time spend a night to 15 or 20 minutes, but right now I am “being kind” to myself and still trying to just build the habit.
I would say that, ultimately, the thing I learned from the boot camp is that I really do have the power to make small changes in my life that make a big difference. I realize this sounds extremely trite, but to someone used to looking at her disorganized, chaotic life saying “I don’t even know where to start,” it is a big deal. It’s sort of like the first time I did Weight Watchers and realized, “Oh my gosh, I can really do this.” I just didn’t really care to do it that long. But THIS change is easier – there’s lots of rewards, lots of self-kindness, and lots of baby steps. As someone used to taking big bites and having eyes bigger than her stomach (and known for mixing metaphors), learning that I can take baby steps and still be successful is pretty huge.
The next step is maintenance, which I will have to get back to you on…
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Hey folks. As you can see, over the last year or so, I have been toying with several different ways of approaching my blog. Originally I tried posting once a week, and then later I thought it would be better to write shorter, more “off the cuff” blogs and post more frequently. THEN I thought, hey, what if I just go like five months without posting anything? That’s a good idea, too.
Somehow the last approach has not increased readership so I’ll need to start from scratch again. Luckily, this time, I have help. Woot! I’m currently in the process of a month long AD/HD “Boot camp.” Which means, right now, I am using my daily 30 minutes uninterrupted writing time. Yay! The idea is that a month is enough time to build habits, and we’ve been focusing on “effort, not results” (which I like, a LOT) so that it is more about putting structure in your life than to see magic changes. I won’t go into much detail about the program itself because Kim, our coach, describes it much better anyway. Here is her site if you’re interested: www.kensingtoncoaching.com. She does one-on-one ADD coaching as well, and she’s really, really great.
So, I’ve run into quite a few obstacles so far in my journey. After our kick-off phone call, I was pumped to get home and start my first task: set a timer and just “pick-up” around the apartment for 10 minutes. The idea is to try to pick up around the apt for 10 min a day to just keep it looking nice, rather than going “OH MY GOD, I need to clean for like 4 hours!” and either a) not doing it (who the hell wants to clean for 4 hours?) or b) doing it and then hating cleaning so much that I never clean again. So cleaning for 10 min: totally manageable. Since we have (notice I say HAVE, not HAD, and this story takes place in the past…) lots of dirty dishes, I thought that would be a good place to start because it’s a nice, self-contained task, but would make a visible difference.
Of course I get home and the water has been turned off. I knew the water was going to be turned off earlier anyway, but apparently they, like, broke something while trying to fix it and now it’s really really off. I am told by a neighbor that it’s supposed to stay off for the next 24 hrs. GREAT. (It turned out it was turned back on like 2 hrs later.) So I go inside, set my timer, and look around. Where the HELL do I start? The apartment looks like a sty. Every flat surface (including floors) is covered with clutter. The kitchen is a mess. I have a pile of clothes sitting in front of the closet that is some dirty, some clean. And of course my dog is like “Hey dude, what’s up? Time to play with me?” I ended up having to chain him to his little dog bed because everything I picked up to clean he thought was a toy, which slowed things down considerably.
I decide to start by clearing the Xmas lights and ornaments off the coffee table because that’s the most embarrassing thing to still have out. So this means finding places for the Xmas stuff, which means finding other parts of the apt that are messy, and thinking I need to clean that, too. In the end, I clean about .01% of every part of the apartment, but not any one part to any degree that another person could tell when looking at it. Effort, not results, right?
Obstacle #2: I’m supposed to get up and write for 30 min in the morning (as I am now). Unfortunately, I left my laptop, keys, and wallet in my friend’s car last night. But still, in the effort of habit building, I get up early, shower, walk dog (in rain), and then get ride from lovely, helpful BF to work. I was planning on writing with a pen on a blank page of computer paper while I sat in the school cafe until I remembered that my co-worker gets in to work early and would have unlocked the office by now.
Aside: Did I mention that we had a fire (or a non-flame fire, just a lot of smoke) in our elevator last week and now neither of our elevators work, AND I work on the 8th floor? And that the 8th floor is really the 9th floor if you count the mezzanine? (I do.) You know, you would think, having to go up and down nine flights of stairs every day would make you BETTER at going up and down nine flights of stairs. So far, not happening. I now look forward to going to work even less.
Anyway, co-worker had come in so now am using office computer to write blog. Because that’s what office computers are for. So I’m glad I came in early after all.
It’s been interesting so far – I will keep you guys posted on the further ups and downs.
Somehow the last approach has not increased readership so I’ll need to start from scratch again. Luckily, this time, I have help. Woot! I’m currently in the process of a month long AD/HD “Boot camp.” Which means, right now, I am using my daily 30 minutes uninterrupted writing time. Yay! The idea is that a month is enough time to build habits, and we’ve been focusing on “effort, not results” (which I like, a LOT) so that it is more about putting structure in your life than to see magic changes. I won’t go into much detail about the program itself because Kim, our coach, describes it much better anyway. Here is her site if you’re interested: www.kensingtoncoaching.com. She does one-on-one ADD coaching as well, and she’s really, really great.
So, I’ve run into quite a few obstacles so far in my journey. After our kick-off phone call, I was pumped to get home and start my first task: set a timer and just “pick-up” around the apartment for 10 minutes. The idea is to try to pick up around the apt for 10 min a day to just keep it looking nice, rather than going “OH MY GOD, I need to clean for like 4 hours!” and either a) not doing it (who the hell wants to clean for 4 hours?) or b) doing it and then hating cleaning so much that I never clean again. So cleaning for 10 min: totally manageable. Since we have (notice I say HAVE, not HAD, and this story takes place in the past…) lots of dirty dishes, I thought that would be a good place to start because it’s a nice, self-contained task, but would make a visible difference.
Of course I get home and the water has been turned off. I knew the water was going to be turned off earlier anyway, but apparently they, like, broke something while trying to fix it and now it’s really really off. I am told by a neighbor that it’s supposed to stay off for the next 24 hrs. GREAT. (It turned out it was turned back on like 2 hrs later.) So I go inside, set my timer, and look around. Where the HELL do I start? The apartment looks like a sty. Every flat surface (including floors) is covered with clutter. The kitchen is a mess. I have a pile of clothes sitting in front of the closet that is some dirty, some clean. And of course my dog is like “Hey dude, what’s up? Time to play with me?” I ended up having to chain him to his little dog bed because everything I picked up to clean he thought was a toy, which slowed things down considerably. I decide to start by clearing the Xmas lights and ornaments off the coffee table because that’s the most embarrassing thing to still have out. So this means finding places for the Xmas stuff, which means finding other parts of the apt that are messy, and thinking I need to clean that, too. In the end, I clean about .01% of every part of the apartment, but not any one part to any degree that another person could tell when looking at it. Effort, not results, right?
Obstacle #2: I’m supposed to get up and write for 30 min in the morning (as I am now). Unfortunately, I left my laptop, keys, and wallet in my friend’s car last night. But still, in the effort of habit building, I get up early, shower, walk dog (in rain), and then get ride from lovely, helpful BF to work. I was planning on writing with a pen on a blank page of computer paper while I sat in the school cafe until I remembered that my co-worker gets in to work early and would have unlocked the office by now.
Aside: Did I mention that we had a fire (or a non-flame fire, just a lot of smoke) in our elevator last week and now neither of our elevators work, AND I work on the 8th floor? And that the 8th floor is really the 9th floor if you count the mezzanine? (I do.) You know, you would think, having to go up and down nine flights of stairs every day would make you BETTER at going up and down nine flights of stairs. So far, not happening. I now look forward to going to work even less.
Anyway, co-worker had come in so now am using office computer to write blog. Because that’s what office computers are for. So I’m glad I came in early after all.
It’s been interesting so far – I will keep you guys posted on the further ups and downs.
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