Adaptation and Your Schedule

I got so excited about the last post, that I forgot how often things change! Recently, I've taken on a few more side projects in my spare time which will be eating into my time to improve my skills in other areas. But no fear! I feel this is a good thing, and everyone should expect (and welcome) change in their life, and their schedule. Here are some steps you can take to stay on track:

Being able to adapt is probably one of the most important skills you need when trying to reach a goal. Things will change, and you can't let that distract, discourage, or even delay you. The first step is to...

Recognize.

Identifying change takes some practice, but it's the most crucial step IMO. Look for patterns. Are you delaying into your schedule when you stat more often than not? Do you find yourself not wanting to continue for various reasons? Stop to take a second and think. For instance, when I got home this past week, I noticed that because I went out to eat at lunch everyday (we just recently moved offices at work and haven't gotten a fridge yet) I felt inclined to take an extra few minutes to really make a dinner that I was proud of. I didn't plan on this. I also had some health issues preventing me from doing my exercises. Nor did I plan on more work hours in the morning, meaning I had to go to bed early. Both of which cut into the hours I laid out for drawing, french, and pop culture nights. In addition to this, launching a game project gave me more reason to delay from starting at the right times. See where I'm going? New things presented new problems with the schedule I had just set up. So what now?

Redefine What's Important.

I've been enjoying my pop culture nights, but I've also been exposing myself to things on the weekends. Two nights a week is a little excessive, especially full nights I could be using for projects. Also, I've been making progress a lot more in French with a program I found called DuoLingo, which i feel is more efficient than the original study plan. I haven't been drawing as much, but when I do practice, I've been making a lot of progress. So all three can be cut down to either less time or less often, or both. In addition to this, I realized it's been about 3 weeks since I played my tin whistle! I've been trying to learn new tunes, so I think I should factor that back in. But ultimately, I need to dedicate at least 2 hours a night to certain projects and that will be the most important thing right now.

Implement a New Schedule.


Taking action is important. Now that you know what went wrong and keep the scope of your goals in mind, you can reconstruct something to try. After adjusting some things around, this is what the future holds for me:

Last step?

Try It.

If you find it difficult to keep up with, then maybe your expectations are a little ambitious. Pick one thing to focus on for a month or two and then add on or switch when you're satisfied. Whatever makes you happiest.
Just remember the first step and keep an eye out for when things aren't working like you want.

That's about it for me, I'll post an update to let you know how it's working. If you really want, I'll post it in French ;)