Little Engine That Can

I was partway through a post about struggling to find continuing motivation when I decided to reread Zen Habits’ “Get Off Your Butt: 16 Ways to Get Motivated When You’re in a Slump. Unsurprisingly, it got me out of my slump. The winner for now, I think, was #13, “Read about it Daily”.

It had been a while since I read blogs — and most of my blog subscriptions are geared towards my goals. Yesterday I took time and read through many of the 300+ entries waiting for me, and found myself excited again. Not crunk, exactly, but ready to move forward with drive, and excited about the ideas being bantered about.

I got paid today for my occasional weekend work at the hospital — yes, I still have that gig from last summer. That money went straight towards debt, untouched by human hands. I’d been using that supplemental income for all sorts of nefarious and wasteful purposes, and this morning, as I was running out the door — late as hell — I scheduled the payment to the credit card company.

Emily over at Remodeling This Life wrote a post about snowflaking your way to a better self that beautifully sums up my thoughts right now. I have trouble some mornings getting out of bed to go to work. I have even more trouble eating well consistently and running a clean house and paying down debt. Taking on all these things at once in any sort of massive endeavor isn’t going to work.

But lately I’ve been okay with chipping away at things on weekdays. Running the vacuum cleaner while water’s boiling for pasta. Doing sets of planks or push ups when I try to figure out a code issue (at home). Doing a set of counter push ups when I go the restroom. Making two of my three meals a day small and my third not-so-bad. Planning my D & D session with WO in little chunks. Filling out a form for my new job (!!) during lunch, and maybe another later during downtime in the evening.

Weekends aren’t nearly so bad. I schedule my energy as I please and get done what I want. It’s the weekdays — over 71% of the week — where things slow to a crawl. By Friday, I’m craving alone time to curl up at home and read. Recharge time. I need to clear more of my weekday nights of outside obligations.

Honestly, I miss being unemployed. I got so much done, especially technical and creative pursuits. Maybe I just need a Sugar Daddy/Momma in order to get that self-directed life. 🙂