I have more big ideas than I can possibly deal with. I recently rearranged my life to be more able to handle them all. The changes are mostly for the best, but I'm learning a lot about myself in the process.
For instance, if there's something I should be doing, then most likely I'm going to sleep. If I were to feel a bout of insomnia coming on, all I'd need to do is decide to empty the cat litter box and give it a good scrub-down. Something like that hanging over my head would lull me to sleep for around 8 hours, no problem.
In case you were wondering, this is not productive.
One of the main things I've wanted to do is write. I've been putzing along, trying to make progress in this book I've been writing on. I'm part of an online group (WANATribe) where we get together, chat about writing and try to hold each other accountable for our goals. Plus, I've recently joined the NaNoWriMo movement this month. Some men choose to not shave in the month of November; some of us choose to write 1666.67 words per day each day and – theoretically – we'll have a 50K word novel at the end. (NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month.) Through this challenge I have learned that I actually can write that many words fairly easily if I put my mind to it. I used to struggle trying to write 500 words at a time, but now I sail past my nightly goal without thinking about it.
Unless, I fall asleep. Knowing that I need to focus and write in the evening after work is the best sedative I can think of for myself. Remind me that this is a critical part of the new life I'm trying to build and I will become positively narcoleptic. It's a struggle, I tell you.
I have learned, though, to use reverse psychology on myself. You see, I don't always fall asleep when I want to write. Sometimes I clean. Sometimes I cook. I'll do anything but write, really, as long as I can talk myself out of doing what I'm supposed to be doing. So, this morning I told myself that I was going to clean the litterbox, then sweep and mop the bedroom. Voilá! Over 1700 words flowed out of my fingertips without me even having to try. Not only that, but I'm supposed to be cooking dinner right now, so I got this blog post in as well. I'm on a winning streak today!
Okay, I think I'm pressing my luck now. People are going to get hungry pretty soon. Better get started on dinner.
Thanks for reading. We'll get together again soon.
Take care!