Sunday, April 11, 2010

What Went Well?

As one of those people who often has trouble keeping focus and has to manage myself to the nth degree, I've found that asking myself. "What went well today?" is a good question to ask. What did I do well that I'd like to continue doing.

So often, I get caught up in focusing on what fell apart, what ball I let drop, that I fail to see and appreciate the many things that I accomplished and techniques that actually work for me.

This isn't just one of those fake positive-thinking ideas, it's a real tool that I've found has helped me repeat the success I've experienced. Maybe one week at work I accomplished way more than usual. What did I do differently? Same thing with diet/exercise. Same thing with personal relationships. How did I manage to keep my cool and have a good day with my daughter instead of allowing a potential conflict spiraling into an argument?

My answer in short is: This week, I was really REALLY broke, and I wanted to treat myself to something fun, like a pedicure, but I didn't want to pay for it. What did I do? I did my own little pedicure at home with a kit my daughter had bought me at Christmas, including a heel pumice and then because I don't paint my toenails very well, I had my daughter paint them for in a bright obnoxious but cheerful HOT PINK.

Another thing I did well was resist the temptation to buy books at the bookstore. I am doing really well as ordering my books and even DVDs, such as old movies and such online through my library. So every few days, I have a new burst of books, music, DVDs etc. and they are free. I return them when I'm done and don't have to add to the personal clutter here at home. This week, even though my local library system didn't carry it, I was able to order Alice Starmore's Fair Isle video through the Interlibrary Loan System, and a copy is winging it's way to me from a Denver library. Isn't that nifty?

So today I ask you, as well as myself, "What went well this week for you?" and "Can you start doing it again more purposely as we face a new week?"

4 comments:

Elysbeth said...

Love the new photo!

Even if you have to pay a small fee for the interlibrary loan (sometimes they do charge), it's still cheaper than buying things & as you pointed out...you don't have to store them. (That was actually one rav person's argument for a Kindle- lots of books, no boxes to move).

Using what I have is where I sometimes fall down, I'm trying to get into the habit of just using stuff up and not replacing it, because I learned from my grandmother all about saving it for "good". Time to relearn...eh?

Phyllis Bourne said...

The new photo is cute! Our hair and glasses are very similar.

I don't paint my toenails very well either, but I always do 'em myself. I'm paranoid about catching a black toe fungus.

Librarywise, ours is just so-so. I pay $50 a year for a card in the "rich" county, which is stocked better than the bookstore. So you really get your money's worth.

ChelleC said...

Actually this is an old photo. I just put it up there because I liked it better and grew bored with the photo I had up there before.

Rebecca said...

Thanks for wonderful insights - you are so right! Why do we beat ourselves up for things we shouldvecouldve done and dont concentrate on what we did? I realy like this. Dont you feel so pretty with a nice pedicure ;)