Slowing Down – Failing And Starting Again
This is part of a series of articles I’m writing on slowing down. In pursuit of this goal, I’ve set upon some tasks that will help me meet them. This installation is kind of a report card on how I’m doing. On many levels I’ve succeeded. I’ve removed 5 of the 8 obstacles to meeting my goals, but I learned something very important; I’m still failing!
My Goals
Spend more time with my family
Continue to Meditate
Write more and better
Be healthier
Do Waterfall chasing and photography
Make room for all of this by reducing time spent doing other things
So Far
Here’s how I’ve been doing on my tasks to make more time for my goals
Strategy
Task
Succeeding
Failing
How will I try to Succeed?
Cut Out Things That Compete for My Time
Disconnect from Ello including passing on my Ellozen curator position
X
I Succeeded!
Stop posting and being involved on Medium
X
I Succeeded!
Budget some evenings for non-computer time
X
Turn it Off!
Streamline Things I Need to Do, But Aren’t My Goals
Get someone to help manage meditation group logistics
X
Keep asking for help
Change blog post frequency to once every 3 days
X
I Succeeded!
Change email newsletters to monthly
X
I Succeeded!
Reduce time spent on Social Media
X
Turn it Off!
Consolidate FreshPath Consulting (my company) administrative work to one day
X
I Succeeded!
Failing?
So with 5 out of 8 successes under my belt, why am I claiming failure? Maybe its the nature of the two tasks that I’ve not made headway. But what I’ve found is that all the time I saved cutting out some of my online activities, has just been absorbed by others.
In many ways, I’ve felt justified spending more time online. With the inauguration of the current White House administration, I’ve felt a strong need to stay better informed and to direct my attention to more balanced sources of news and information. So I’ve purchased subscriptions to the Wall Street Journal (slightly right leaning) and New York Times (slightly more left leaning) and spent more time reading news.
I’ve also had an uptick on the work front. I’m in crunch time at my newest customer, and renewed requests for my time at an old customer has led to more hours devoted to working (Over 60 hours last week as of this writing).
But, there is still a lot of idle distracted time spent trawling the internet. Facebook and Twitter still lay claim to many hours a week.
So what have I learned?
Clearing the path is not the same as walking it. While I’ve made more time to meet my goals, I have not always chosen to spend more time with my family or exercise. I’ve chosen to fill up the time with distraction. Am I failing? Yes. But am I done for? No.
I just need to add one more clarifying task to my list:
Choose to do the things I’ve set out to do.
So, let’s see what happens next!
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A short series on slowing down. I'll be sharing some of the things I've been doing to pare my life down so I can focus on the things that I think are impoirtant.
Slowing Down - Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing. - Benjamin Franklin
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The post Slowing Down – Failing And Starting Again written by Andrew Furst appeared on Andrew Furst.
