Getting some focus

Okay, I’ve been slacking in so many different ways it’s not funny. Well maybe it’ll be funny at some point later on, remind me and we’ll laugh together. It’s not that I’m not functioning at all, just not operating at a high level of efficiency. I’ve been getting up later in the morning and rushing down to Burlingame. While I’m there, I’m getting things accomplished, but not really engaged in the tasks I’m doing. Either they are things I just don’t enjoy doing, like screening someone else’s calls, or things that are a bit tedious, like transcribing notes or determining why a Windows 98 machine doesn’t shut down cleanly. I bite my tongue because it wasn’t that long ago I was still using Windows 98, but the inner geek in me is saying, “Windows 98? That is SO last millennium!”

Then I’ll go home and cook dinner, which typically is a healthy mix of meat and veggies. Then run errands and catch up on email, bills or hang out with my housemates. I’m trying to clean up after myself which seems to take a lot of time some days. Then there is organizing and getting things ready for the move or working on my job search.

In any case, I’ve been lazy about getting to the gym regularly. I understand that if I went to the gym regularly I would be a nice little boost that would make it easier to get to the gym regularly. But you can see that getting started is the problem here. I’ve gotten myself organized enough to plan my big storage move for tomorrow. I’ve enlisted the help of a couple of friends, rented a truck, made an appointment to view my containers and with any luck will be able to appreciate the cooler weather that we’ve been promised. I’ve even gone to the bank to get some cash should I need to enlist some day-worker assistance. I’m feeling rather good that everything is in line.

I do need to remember to send my niece’s birthday gift. Wouldn’t want to be the lame aunt who can’t get her ass to the post office. But worse comes to worse I can do that on Saturday. At her age, it’s not so bad to have something new show up a day or so later, just to avoid the ‘so many new things and not enough time to play with everything’ syndrome. In any case I wish that I could have been there to wish her a happy 4th birthday in person. Happy Birthday Kaitie!!

Once I move my stuff, I don’t have any other huge projects looming, so I’ll be devoting more time to finding a job that fits me better and taking time to brush up on my skills. I recognize how easily distracted I am and how I really enjoy being able to pursue any little thing that catches my eye. I suspect this is the leading cause for my overall lack of focus and it’s going to end.

Really.

My plan is to actually list the things I want to do or accomplish and write them down. Some of them are serious like getting my weight to a healthier level or finding a job that I enjoy doing and others are more fun, like buying gifts for my nieces who were considerately born later in the year than their parents. Yes, I know you’re thinking about something you once read that proves that written goals are more likely to be achieved than ones you keep in your head. I’ve read that too.

But wait… there’s more! Now that I’ve written these buggers down I print it out and refer to the list the next time I decide I’m going to do something. Is this something that will help me achieve one or more of my goals? Well, great, go right ahead. If not, then that’ll be a personal decision that I’ll have to address. Oh sure, I’ll still get distracted and goof around. But perhaps I’ll be able to start working toward some of these things I really want to do.

So I’m curious what do you do to get and keep yourself focused?