Wednesday, April 28, 2010

A Few Small Things

It's Small and Simple Things Week, Day Three. Welcome to you. Come on in and take a seat. Jeeves will be along shortly with a beverage.

Once a week, my husband and I sit down and talk. We discuss our calendar for the coming week, what our personal goals are, things that we want to work on.  We talk about the progress of our little family. The things the boys have learned. Things that made us laugh. Things that frustrated us. Things we'd like to see change based on the previous week. It's a really unique opportunity to connect over the mundane things that we otherwise take for granted.

This week, my big goal is to work. I know. It's kind of strange to set that as a goal, but I feel like I've been slacking off. I thought hard about what the small things are that I need to do to feel productive and successful. And it really just comes down to work. Work at keeping the house clean. Work at getting critiques done for my crit group. Work on writing new stuff. Work at spending quality time with my kids. It all really seems to come back to working.

Another small thing I'm working on this week is being more positive. I admit it. I've been kind of down on myself. It's a cyclical thing. It's hard to want to do anything at all when I'm feeling low. Motivation reaches critical mass and implodes into some sort of black hole. And this is going to take more work. Small thing. Big difference.

The last thing small thing is to set really (and I mean really) attainable, measurable, realistic goals. Get the dishes done. Pick up the living room. Write 300 words. Read one chapter. Things that I can reward myself for. It's an important thing.

What are your small things? What are you focusing on right now?

10 comments:

Krista Van Dolzer said...

I love the idea of setting daily, easy-to-acheive goals. I often do that in the morning, and I always feel so much better about myself that night when I manage to accomplish them.

Talli Roland said...

My mind is all over the place right now! I should focusing on the next step but you know what? I'm not going to... until tomorrow!

Shannon O'Donnell said...

One foot in front of the other...my kids' activity schedules for this week are crazy!! :-)

Elana Johnson said...

Work is always a noble goal. I'm focusing on getting well right now. And my husband's upcoming graduation. Then I'm hoping to get the last of my novel cleaned up and out the door.

Abby Stevens said...

I could definitely work a little harder and be WAY more positive.

Also, I awarded you a "Creative Writer" Blogger Award over on my blog. If you'd like to play along, the rules are here: http://www.abbystevens.com/2010/04/miscellaneous.html

Karen Jones Gowen said...

Gosh I could have written this post. Except for the part about husband and me talking cuz we never do that lol! I saw a picture of some sticky notes that said One Task Today with a place to write the one task to accomplish that day. What a good idea! Sometimes we only do one thing and feel like we were slackers when actually that one thing might have been super important!

PJ Hoover said...

What a great idea. It's so important to focus on the small things and the big things alike.
Great post, Kayeleen!

Jaydee Morgan said...

I'm seriously impressed that you have these weekly sit-down discussions.

I'm a natural list maker so I usually start my days writing everything I need/want to do for the day. I really need to incorporate more writing time into that list though.

Jennifer Shirk said...

I love setting a lot of small goals. It's very rewarding to cross them off my "to do" list.

I have a goal of writing 2 more pages and to organize the kiddo's playroom.

Nishant said...

It's so important to focus on the small things and the big things alike.
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