A few Measly Steps a Day

Revu2 · Apr 30, 2020 at 10:54 PM

Hello and Welcome!

A few longtime members of Barbara Sher’s forums are “migrating” to PsychCentral to continue our Daily Steppin' Thread. Barbara closed her site May 1 and after a long search we decided to move over to PC.

By announcing you’ll take a few measly steps every day towards a goal, you’ll make steady progress. And win a lot of encouragement. As you go you can vent, rage, complain, and sigh at the slow pace here, too.

Here are the paltry Guidelines:

Announce any number of steps you plan to do in the next 24 hours.
Return the next day and share how much you did.
Rollover the steps that still need doing, add more if you like.
Add any rants, quotes, or comments.
Repeat

You can also post your Ta Da! wins—steps you made that “just came up” or felt suddenly right to do.

At any time you can offer inspiring quotes, like

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thomas Edison

Everything comes to those who hustle while they wait.

(no apologies, Tom, for the pronoun changes. I think you would understand).

Membership action: post your first Measly Steps.

Revu2

Revu2 · May 01, 2020 at 05:41 PM

Just watched Netflix's documentary on Tinker Hatfield. The Designer of nearly all of the Air Jordans, and other shoes, for Nike.

"If people don't love—or hate—your work, you haven't done all that much."

This is my maxim. Do what I need to do. Recently, I took on a task for my condo board and one of the board members expressed doubts. Thanks for the support. And I was able to get the engine of change rolling. We're not out of it yet, but it's in motion.

For people close to anyone's action, or, to use I, to my actions, I prefer support or that you quietly step aside. Support, help or get the h*** out of the way.
Revu2

delightful · May 02, 2020 at 02:04 AM

Me too. Positive comments please unless I specifically ask for a complete critique.

delightful · May 02, 2020 at 05:51 PM

So I used zoom, and got an email. The subject of the email was my zoom password. The email threatened me. I didn't read the whole email, but I probably should have. rats!

California is going to stay sheltered for another month, but they're loosening some of the restrictions. I have to read them more carefully. I'm still supposed to stay inside because I'm over 65 - at risk. Given that I've worked haz mat for 20 years, and that I've been ducking cold germs for five years, I feel pretty good about going out into the world and staying safe. Still, nothing's 100%, and when I worked in the lab, I did horrible things to my respiratory system.

Most of my steps lately are out in the garden. I've done a little writing, but I'm feeling "what's the point?" about it.

That's my steps for today.

Take care and stay safe.

Trueasiteverwas · May 02, 2020 at 01:22 AM

Lyndon here. Steps for next 24 hours:

Explain what/why the Trueasiteverwas name.

Work on Stone Soup game for Diane and grandsons.
And explaiin what that is to.
Saturday activity for "worked enough" is to get game chat tested for GramCat (Diane) and a character sheet done.
And explain Diane's use name.

Things to limit: Stay under 4 hours of "work, work" jobhunting studies today. Didn't do much this week -- but resting is a better weekend activity than working myself into working not-smarter.

Find a quote to share.

Get my intro to board up in New Members.

To be continued!

Lyndon

scout2 · Feb 03, 2021 at 04:37 PM

Hi Guys. Inspire here. Hope everyone is well.

My steps for the day:

1. Make space in the hallway to get the vacuum cleaner through
2. Vacuum room
3. Move computer over to other side of room
4. Put all stuff on desk in a box so I can use the desk while I'm sorting through the box.

Good luck today, everybody!

Revu2 · Feb 04, 2021 at 02:51 AM

Welcome back. Tick off those small steps!

Thursday:
get to ad hoc clinic my client organized to just see the operation, possible be of help; at least stay out of the way.

This mean a really early start (up at 6:29 — "I was up before 6:30."

To sleep, perchance to dream,
R

delightful · Feb 05, 2021 at 10:29 PM

Hi, Scout/Inspire, I'm glad to see your post. Wishing you good things with your steps.

R - You asked about dwell time. I assume you mean time where your work is on a back burner and it's just sort of percolating in the back of your mind. For me sometimes it's part of the creative process, and sometimes it's time that could be better spent doing something. I do think we all need some down time, or dwell time or whatever. How much? Good question. I've always thought that you spend a lot more time being productive than I do, and you need to make sure that you get some down time, whereas I need to make sure that I don't take too much down time. It's partly because I'm retired, and simply don't have the demands that you do. I probably didn't answer your question.

I'm considering - strongly considering - changing the novel I'm working on from past tense to present tense.

Happy stepping, everyone.

Revu2 · May 02, 2020 at 12:55 PM

Ta Da! Got my first of two shingle vaccine shots. I'd been waiting for a lull in my schedule and noticed that from Friday to Monday I didn't have much booked.

Ta Da! Friday was a listless day. I had to restrain myself from making just a few notes.

Today: already I've completed week 6 of the well-being class on Coursera. Next is four weeks of picking one of her rewirements and keeping at it for a month. Here's the list:

Signature Strengths - using your top character strengths in new ways
Savoring - taking time to savor the things you enjoy
Gratitude - (List and/or Letter) - expressing gratitude for the people and things in your life
Kindness - increasing your acts of kindness
Social Connection - making connections with strangers and acquaintances along with scheduling time for the people in your life
Exercise - increasing your physical activity to at least 30 minutes a few times a week
Sleep - making sure you sleep at least 7 hours a night several times a week
Meditation - meditating for 5-10 minutes if you are a beginner or increasing your time in meditation if you already meditate regularly

I think I'll roll with gratitude, but I want to sit with this decision a day before committing.
Revu2

Zoeing · Jul 11, 2020 at 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Revu2

Ta Da! Got my first of two shingle vaccine shots. I'd been waiting for a lull in my schedule and noticed that from Friday to Monday I didn't have much booked.

Ta Da! Friday was a listless day. I had to restrain myself from making just a few notes.

Today: already I've completed week 6 of the well-being class on Coursera. Next is four weeks of picking one of her rewirements and keeping at it for a month. Here's the list:

Signature Strengths - using your top character strengths in new ways
Savoring - taking time to savor the things you enjoy
Gratitude - (List and/or Letter) - expressing gratitude for the people and things in your life
Kindness - increasing your acts of kindness
Social Connection - making connections with strangers and acquaintances along with scheduling time for the people in your life
Exercise - increasing your physical activity to at least 30 minutes a few times a week
Sleep - making sure you sleep at least 7 hours a night several times a week
Meditation - meditating for 5-10 minutes if you are a beginner or increasing your time in meditation if you already meditate regularly

I think I'll roll with gratitude, but I want to sit with this decision a day before committing.
Revu2

Oh hey! I know which class it is! I've completed it earlier and it was mind opening. It gives me a new perspective and now I'm putting it in practice. I can't say I'm new to meditation but it still has to yet work on me. I set my phone up so I can do 5-6 deep breathes every hour, and a meditation at night before bed. So far so good I guess. Does it help you?

Yeah..I'm taking measly steps everyday, too, both on my well-being and the creative side of my career. It's not easy. I'm naturally an impatient person and everything is testing my grit. I tend to get easily upset, irritated. Anger issues?

Initially I see this thread and wanted to rant a bit. Today's a cloudy rainy day mixed in a bit of thunder. Been staying home so much that I'm grumpy at everybody around me, now no one wants to talk to me. See, still have a long way to go with those meditations...

Revu2 · Aug 24, 2020 at 03:48 PM

Clawing through a day sometimes I feel things bunch up. I then make a Quick List of the next for our 5 things with any time markers. Thus:
Between now and 3 pm:

call the water company about street flooding after 2 PM (it's 1:47 now)
finish a survey for the festival I just presented at (12 questions, 15 mintues)
take a 15 - 20 minute nap
put a meeting in book and confirm attendance

Revu2

Revu2 · May 02, 2020 at 06:57 PM

I am convinced you always have to change direction when things are good.

Revu2 · May 03, 2020 at 09:40 AM

Time to rotate that password, Delightful. One tactic I have is use a different email+password pair for every site. These hoodlums are sending out thousands, or perhaps missions of these so really, its not personal. They wait for any impulsive enough to respond and then their fun—and our grim—begins.

For keeping track I use Password Wallet, but there are many other password management apps out there.

scout2 · May 03, 2020 at 02:20 PM

My goal today is to clean my living room. Doesn't sound like a big deal, but my whole apartment has descended into chaos. So one room at a time.

2nd goal. Find all my papers for taxes. I haven't done them and if I don't I might not qualify for another stimulus check is they do that process again. I don't need to do the taxes. Just find the papers in the paper piles!

Revu2 · May 03, 2020 at 04:24 PM

I mis-typed a word a couple of posts back: it seems "missions" came through my fingers, when my thinking was "millions."

Revu2 · May 04, 2020 at 11:15 AM

Work call @ 10. Practicing WOOP: Wish Outcome Obstacle Plan as I learned from the Well-being course on Coursera.

Wish - Calm acceptance that I have opinions that through hard thinking few other people will automatically share. Get through my meeting with a level demeanor the whole time.
Outcome - Fist pump! I can do this. dissolve a bit of early training by my father who ridiculed my ideas, that is, laughed at them.
Obstacle - verily, I rename thee "inner obstacle" because that's where the technique takes me. I have fast rising hackles. They probably make me feel bigger than I actually am. I guess as a child facing an adult, they did.
Plan - when I feel my hackles rising, I reassure them internally that I will hold to my points of view. I breathe, I smile, and ask a single probing question after starting, "That's interesting. Mind if I ask ... "
When I do these three simple, doable, steps, I'll make a mark in my score box in my favor.

Fuzzybear · Mar 27, 2022 at 06:45 PM

Thanks for sharing!

(another one I sometimes do is smile at them while saying silently ''eat ****''.... these are nasty people...)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Revu2

Work call @ 10. Practicing WOOP: Wish Outcome Obstacle Plan as I learned from the Well-being course on Coursera.

Wish - Calm acceptance that I have opinions that through hard thinking few other people will automatically share. Get through my meeting with a level demeanor the whole time.
Outcome - Fist pump! I can do this. dissolve a bit of early training by my father who ridiculed my ideas, that is, laughed at them.
Obstacle - verily, I rename thee "inner obstacle" because that's where the technique takes me. I have fast rising hackles. They probably make me feel bigger than I actually am. I guess as a child facing an adult, they did.
Plan - when I feel my hackles rising, I reassure them internally that I will hold to my points of view. I breathe, I smile, and ask a single probing question after starting, "That's interesting. Mind if I ask ... "
When I do these three simple, doable, steps, I'll make a mark in my score box in my favor.

Revu2 · Mar 29, 2022 at 02:36 AM

Hi measly steppers, I'm back after a few days of dashing about. 'Cept today—spent 3 hours at a Korean spa (separate gender areas with showers, mild pool, whirl pool, cold pool, dry sauna and steam sauna. Upstairs, 4 warmed rooms and 1 chilled room plus chairs and pads for resting). Ah.

Brego, thanks for the correction. Though 160 oz is about 20 cups a day. Plenty of liquids.

D, delighted you got much done. Actually, days with little planned are a bit of a trap. Be wary.

Fuzzybear, WOOP is actually an app. I learned about it from the Coursera Happiness Course led by Prof. Santos at Yale University. When she first offered it she got the largest enrollment for any class in Yale's history! "The Science of Well-Being, the explosively popular online course from Coursera, is adapted Santos' 2018 Psychology and the Good Life ‚ which became Yale's most popular on-campus class in its 319-year history, eventually requiring the university to pull fellows from other schools to staff it." Source
Am I happier for taking the course? I guess. Happy I finished it. The best parts were her interviews with people in the field. One was with the developer of WOOP.

Oh good, looped back to WOOP, I'm out.

Revu2

delightful · Mar 30, 2022 at 03:40 PM

Hi, Everyone,

scout2 · May 04, 2020 at 07:53 PM

I did get some work done on the living room, but it's not "done". I decided to do my old trick of setting the timer for 10 minutes and just do 10 minutes in each room. Chipping away..........

I did find a pile of papers that included some tax stuff, but I haven't sorted them. I also found my census form and plan on getting that done soon.

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delightful Member Member Since Feb 2020 Location: United States Posts: 421 4 13 hugs given	May 02, 2020 at 02:04 AM #3 Me too. Positive comments please unless I specifically ask for a complete critique.
	Reply With Quote

scout2 Junior Member Member Since Feb 2020 Location: San Francisco, CA Posts: 15 4 2 hugs given	Feb 03, 2021 at 04:37 PM #6 Hi Guys. Inspire here. Hope everyone is well. My steps for the day: 1. Make space in the hallway to get the vacuum cleaner through 2. Vacuum room 3. Move computer over to other side of room 4. Put all stuff on desk in a box so I can use the desk while I'm sorting through the box. Good luck today, everybody!
	Reply With Quote

Revu2 Grand Member Member Since Aug 2013 Posts: 817 10 4 hugs given	Feb 04, 2021 at 02:51 AM #7 Welcome back. Tick off those small steps! Thursday: get to ad hoc clinic my client organized to just see the operation, possible be of help; at least stay out of the way. This mean a really early start (up at 6:29 — "I was up before 6:30." To sleep, perchance to dream, R __________________
	Reply With Quote

Revu2 Grand Member Member Since Aug 2013 Posts: 817 10 4 hugs given	May 02, 2020 at 06:57 PM #12 I am convinced you always have to change direction when things are good. __________________
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Revu2 Grand Member Member Since Aug 2013 Posts: 817 10 4 hugs given	May 03, 2020 at 04:24 PM #15 I mis-typed a word a couple of posts back: it seems "missions" came through my fingers, when my thinking was "millions." __________________
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delightful Member Member Since Feb 2020 Location: United States Posts: 421 4 13 hugs given	Mar 30, 2022 at 03:40 PM #19 Hi, Everyone,
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scout2 Junior Member Member Since Feb 2020 Location: San Francisco, CA Posts: 15 4 2 hugs given	May 04, 2020 at 07:53 PM #20 I did get some work done on the living room, but it's not "done". I decided to do my old trick of setting the timer for 10 minutes and just do 10 minutes in each room. Chipping away.......... I did find a pile of papers that included some tax stuff, but I haven't sorted them. I also found my census form and plan on getting that done soon.
	Reply With Quote