Posted by Always looking for some method to motivate myself without involving anyone else. Because I’m obstinate like that. The surefire way (I think) to make progress would be to at least tell someone what my goals are and periodically update them on my progress. But, no. I refuse. I want to do this on my own. And not just on my own… pretty much “in secret.”
Anyways, here’s the new approach: work on one goal every other morning. Do this until it’s done (Nothing is ever completely done. “Done” in this sense is minimum viable product.) or until I decide that I will not do it.
And on the “other” days: workout. I used to be a gym rat. I felt fantastic. My fitness has been sporadic for years now. For a good reason to begin with, but not any longer. It’s time to dive back in. And I think my unfocused fitness has been contributing to my unfocused life. I have less energy now.
Every other day switching between one goal and fitness six mornings a week. On the seventh day, do the tasks that I would otherwise put off for months.
But only the ones that actually need to be done. I want to ruthlessly eliminate the ones that seem like a good idea, but I really don’t have to do. And focus on things that I let get out of control from sheer disinterest but really shouldn’t: e.g., pay medical bills. I have the money. I don’t have the motivation, which is ridiculous. Or update the address on my driver’s license. So that my renewal notice isn’t sent to the address I had two years ago because I didn’t make the time in two years on this planet to stop by the DMV.
I used to be very good at this sort of thing when I was younger. Not anymore. I think there are a few factors:
1. Nearly all of the paperwork and payments I need to do now are online and automatically renew. I generally do NOT need to deal with it at all. I set it up years ago and it just continues. So I don’t have a routine that these other tasks easily fit into.
2. I’m not scared of consequences. I used to be afraid of what would happen when I was younger. Turns out: not much. At least not for the amounts I owe. But I do want to be a responsible citizen and while it hasn’t had a terrible effect on my credit rating, that rating could be better.
3. I’ve done so much of this over the years and I just don’t want to anymore. Is there a service for this? There should be. I want a personal life assistance program that will take care of the bills and paperwork so that I don’t have to. E.g., Move my money around to take advantage of higher savings rates and lower debt rates. Does anyone offer this for the masses?
Tomorrow morning: I begin. First goal is a doozy because it’s publishing an android app that has very specific functionality that I want, but currently no one seems to offer. And I don’t know how to code.
ThoughtsForBots 