Changing your rituals

Ever since I've been retired (that's such a funny word) I have noticed that I don't get done near the volume of work that I used too. It has bothered me a lot, because I feel sometimes like I move in slow motion. On one hand it has been a huge blessing to have a slower pace and I am not complaining...here comes the but...I think I would feel happier if I was achieving more in each day. So I picked up a book I had laying around entitled "Happier" and started to read.


One of the first steps is to take a look at your rituals, the things you do routinely all the time, keep the good productive ones and change the others, of course that was only in the first couple of pages but it got me thinking about the things I do every day...

I stay in bed until the sun comes up whether I am awake or asleep, robbing myslef of probably an hour or more of time. I have rationalized that I deserve it. So COMMITMENT #1 Get Up when I Wake Up!

Next, I lollygag most of the time on my walks with the dogs rationalizing that I need to go slow so they will keep up. COMMITMENT #2 Pick up the Pace, they will keep up.

Then it usually takes me at least 2 hours to eat, shower, get dressed and get going, mainly because I fart around on the computer, watch TV, and just putz around, thinking about doing laundry or just mainly procrastinating the stuff I know needs to get done. COMMITMENT #3 Shower, eat and get fully dressed BEFORE turning on the PC. Make a goal to do this in 1 hour. Make a short list of "Annie Do's" each night and tape them to the PC (along with a big note to remind me not to turn it on). For the second hour, laundry, clean up, house chores, etc.

And for the last commitment, I dink around on the computer for way too long, putting off really getting the scheduled work done. COMMITMENT #4
Work and "Must Do" comes first. I will schedule time in the evening to look at blogs and read email. This has to come after the priorities are done.

I'll keep you posted on how this works for me. But I think in my case, adding the structure so I know what I'm working towards will help. And one last note to self... It's time to kick up the exercising a couple of notches, so in the afternoon or early evening, build a schedule and stick to it, i.e. Monday=arms, Tuesday=lunges, Wednesday=arms, Thursday=squats, Friday=Free form and everyday=sit ups and some kind of cardio.