A few Measly Steps a Day

Hello folks migrating from Barbara Sher's forums. I had a nice personal message of welcome from DocJohn, the site's founder. He happened to know about archive.org that works to preserve much of the internet. He shared the link for their record of the whole Barbara Sher site in May 2019.


BarbaraSher.com • Index page That's a snapshot of the content from May 2019.


Not that bad, huh?

Revu2

I got an sad email from Barbara Sher's friends. In case you didn't already know, she passed away. She made a difference to so many people including me.

Barbara lived as she coached. She worked hard, helped many, lived well, and I hope died contented.

Revu2 or Lynx on her site.

I checked out the Barbara Sher link. A blast from the past - that's the best way to describe it. I was expecting a page, not a whole month.

So about me - I'm getting sucked into to the stay at home and do nothing mode. It feels okay, but I can tell it's not good for me. Tomorrow, I'll have a couple of errands to do.. usually, once I get outside, my energy goes up, and I can get things done.

Today, however, will be a garbage day. I did get some editing done, and a wee bit of gardening in. Maybe I'll do some more editing, or clean a room or write a letter or all of the above before I hunker down and watch TV.

I took a few steps backwards with my editing. I found a place on the Internet that said you almost never put a comma after "and" So I used "find and replace" to remove any commas that came after "and" or "but". In case you're not bored with punctuation, (I am.) the commas in question came when a clause followed the "and" and "but" - as in - And, in spite of my better judgement, I removed the commas. Took another look at the grammar rules, and, sure enough, the commas belonged in the sentence., so I've spent the last few days, adding all the commas back in. (Which takes a lot longer than removing them.)

Hope I'll be more productive tomorrow.

Delightful, you're grappling with the Oxford comma. And also the oft quoted line that a writer worked hard all day. Spent the morning putting in a comma, and the afternoon taking it out.

Here's the Comma Queen on the topic:

Revu2

I got everything done on yesterday's list. The housekeeping is sketchy, and not good enough for company, but it's good enough for me. Okay, back to editing. I should be done with the comma snafu by the end of the day.

Everyone, good wishes to you.

Today's steps: one call and two online conference calls; check out car battery (light came on) + window washer fluid levels; & process turkey tail mushrooms we just picked. Processing is boiling down for an hour then adding 95% alcohol vodka in a jar with a tight lid. The last part is letting it sit for 5 weeks, shaking once a day.

Plus, take a sign in for remaking to Fedex.

Much todo, bye.

Cool steps, Revu.

Me I finished the comma snafu - today, not yesterday, but I did finish it. I'm having a friend over on Tuesday - in my garden - lots of space to spread out. So that gives me a reason to get the house clean. What else? Got lost trying to find Alameda. (doctor apt.)

I'm starting to come into the light (not that light) - just the one outside my house.
Happy stepping.

Thanks for the hugs, Unaluna. Hugs back at you!

Today's adventure and steps: My Garmen (GPS) broke, and I never replaced it. Today I had to go back to Alameda. Long story somewhat shortened - Downloaded directions from Mapquest. I couldn't find the tube, finally got there by the bridge instead. Couldn't find the street I needed from the bridge. Finally found where I needed to go. Coming back, a sign said the tube leaving Alameda was closed. I couldn't find my way back to the bridge. Finally ended up back where I started and tried the tube anyway. Turns out it was open. Where it not for two kind pedestrians, I'd probably still be driving around . . . somewhere.

So my steps. - I need to figure out how to download Bluetooth from my phone, and I want to buy a paper map as a backup. (If they still exist.)

Have a good day.

Just a couple of years ago, i saw a man on the street with a paper map, and i was like, "omg, are you alright?!" He wasnt even in the right century! He was like, yeah yeah, this is a restaurant guide from my seminar! But it was funny how totally odd it seemed to me. That he seemed helpless somehow.

It's all about the maps. unaluna I've been watching your hugs, too, and loving them. We carry a local book of maps and I always travel with printed mapquest and google maps. Because ... we only buy cell phone service. Never ashamed to ask questions.

Today, worked on two documents needing drafting (done) and filled my brake fluid cup (done).

Enjoying BJ Fogg's Daily Habits zoomcasts:

• Part 1: Daily Habit “Show and Tell”
• Part 2: Tiny Habits “Recipe Rumble”
• Part 3: Rapid-fire Q&A

• Starter-step Monday
• Technology Tuesday
• Wildcard Wednesday (anything can happen!)
• Thriving on Thursday
• Family Friday (including Tiny Habits for Kids)

###

You got it exactly right, Unaluna. GPS became available at the beginning of this century. Just about the time I retired. It sure makes things a lot easier. I remember standing on the side of the road in the middle of the night in the rain trying to read the small print on my Thomas Bros. map. (That's when I knew I needed glasses.) No doubt about it, GPS makes life so much easier. But the thing about paper maps - if you've misspelled something or need to find a bridge that you don't know the name of, a paper map comes in handy.

Revu2 I plan to check your zoom show.

Speaking of habits, psych central is beginning to feel like home.

I'll finish the GPS/maps step today. Didn't get around to it yesterday.

Okay, I'll complete a couple of steps with editing and housekeeping, and then I'll goof around shamelessly.
Hugs to all.

Tuesday, 64th day since my state began the stay home orders.

Have a mobile mechanic via wrench.com coming today around noon to replace our alternator. At least that's what I told them. Twice the hourly fee of our regular mobile wrencher but he didn't return our calls. The check battery is on and the car is losing electrical power for accessories so we got it home and parked and await developments today.

Have some invoicing to get in, and poking around my draft articles for linked in. fit in a walk at some point and catch the 2 pm BJ Fogg tiny habits zoom webinar if the repairs are done. If you haven't caught it yet, do hurry. BJF said he will make a decision Thursday if it's worth his time for so few participants. He wants to see 200 people on the shows. If short of 200 he'll likely cancel the series.

Happy stepping to all, Revu2

Rats! I planned on checking the zoom program you talked about and kept forgetting. I'll try to remember to get there today.

I got my phone connected to the car, and installed Bluetooth. I need to do something else to actually use Bluetooth, and I don't know what it is.

Re editing: Still at it. Concerning the big comma snafu I've been reading books that have commas around clauses that follow "and" and I've been reading books that don't. It might be a British vs USA thing.

Gardening - It's the only thing I'm doing where I can actually see some success. Oh, there's failure too, but I'm seeing enough success to keep motivated. I do need external validation.

Onto my next internal adjustment ... dealing with yet another childhood shackle my interactions with my father had left me with. You can follow the details in my Steinbeck Warmups thread.

Dealing with a miffed repair, I think. We needed an alternator replaced and used wrench.com. Routine, right?

But, when we moved the car half a block it ran rough and there was a smell of gas. Called wrench ... next visit by the same mechanic on Monday at three. Disrupts a few plans my partner had to attend a class. For the second week.

My work with a senior center is probably wiped out. Despite the huge grant because that was from before ... this is going into post-COVID19. Seniors will be last "allowed" to congregate. The grant was all about various was to get together. In person. As in face-to-face.

My client has said "wel'll have to be more careful about my hours" from now on. So 2023 has shrunk to April 2020.

As we say when playing bid whist after a game ended,
New Day. Deal the cards.
Revu2

We had a tradition on the Barbara Sher forums of kicking off each month with a fresh thread. We discussed continuing that but settled on keeping one thread and letting it run long.

The flipping of the calendar page still brings a feeling of a slightly fresh start. Here's a list of recent things I've toyed with. Perhaps in the upcoming months I'll take each up in turn and say more.

• Tiny Habits as discovered by BJ Fogg
• WOOP - Wish Outcome Obstacle Plan
• Start to Finish, Finish to Start and Visionary Planning

This month: WOOP
From the website: What is WOOP?
WOOP is a science-based mental strategy that people can use to find and fulfill their wishes, set preferences, and change their habits.
Science
WOOP is based on 20 years of scientific research. The method has been shown to be effective in numerous studies with people of all ages and in many areas of life*.
*In research, WOOP is usually examined under the scientific term Mental Contrasting with Implementation Intentions, abbreviated MCII.

This is what it means: call up a Wish, describe what achieving the wish will do for you (Outcome), List one Inner Obstacle, Make a if-then or a when-then Plan. And carry on.
Revu2

Usually I WOOP while lying in bed before I get up for the day. It's quiet. One for now:
Wish: I want to be quicker to act on small matters.
Outcome: more time freed up to attend to bigger, more important stuff.
Obstacle: My imagination can see all the burdensome added or incumbent steps to following through completely.
Plan: When I decide something is relatively a small matter, assay the pros & cons within a minute, then decide and immediately act.

Example,
W: Someone posted USB headset on trash nothing.
O: A better headset might be great due to the bigger role online work has now.
O: It's free, but l'll have to clean it, and it not in the closest neighborhood.
P: The smallest act is to try to claim it. It might be taken and then the obstacles don't matter. If It's mine discuss options with owner. Make the trip an adventure.

wish - to get more writing done
objective - edit to the end of the novel
obstacle - none except lack of motivation.
plan - write until it gets too hot, go to the store, got to the Berkeley Marina to finish the editing, Come home, goof off shamelessly

I did the edit. Next plan - Berkeley Marina, bring computer. order pizza and salad (from mom and pop establishment.) then go home and goof off shamelessly.

Coming off a horrible-feeling experience with wrench.com where they intentionally skewed my call for their mobile mechanic to come check out a couple of problems my car had after their repair. They want to treat it like a non-related service call and charge their high diagnostic fee.

I really can't prove anything. Yet, I know, from a customer expectations and customer retention and customer positive word of mouth they have really messed up. I'm dedicating myself to getting my disgust with them to several review sites like yelp, car talk, & consumer affairs. Then I'm going to find out who the CEO is of one of the venture capitalist backers and tell then where I shared my experience and suggest that whatever business model wrench sold them on probably is lacking deep understanding of how to build a positive customer experience.
Whew! Thanks for letting me vent.

R

Have a detour: getting a cover & resume out for a decent enough looking part-time gig. Pays $23/hr helping with academic research on causes of health issues and their resolutions. Have to apply, given that my main client has alerted me to a big decrease in need for my time, and there are still things I want to do that will cost money. Imagine that.

Another detour is figuring out how and where to get away from the bad news for a day. Barely up and the onslaught begins. The doors for this are my email, even just the subject lines, and my partner, bless her spleen, who feels it's her appointed duty to keep me abreast of "the news." Well, it's their news, and I have plenty to deal with dealing with my news.

The big issue is I may not be able to find an open bathroom. This limits my roaming to about 4 hours, so 2 hours out, 2 to return. But, if I'm watchful I may find an option and then my day will be basically unlimited.

What will I do with most indoor options shut down still? What adventures will I have? Dunno, I'll have to find out.

r

Wish: Step away from the insistent negative news. I'm getting news daily that people I know are in crisis: one hasn't enough food, another feels trapped: too young to retire but currently out of work; all the yada yada spewing about COVID-19, everyone hollering across the civil hollow at one another .... ENOUGH! I'm stepping away for just one day. I'd like to do more, but with all the C-19 limits, there's no where that will take me in.

Outcome: reset my stamina, renew my strengths, recall my own intentions in the world, restore my compassion for those I love.

Obstacle: Technology (internet headlines), email, and my lovely partner. I originally thought I would get away for just myself. She invited herself along. It's been my experience that 90% of how she initiates talk starts off from the negative. Frankly, I don't think she has the discipline. I may have to schedule yet another day if she can't restrain herself. My own annoyance that I bear a burden on a day I'm hoping to slip from the loop of burdens for a day.

Plan: Remind her of the limits and that I decide what's a complaint or negative not her. Prepare to ask we travel in silence if she fails. (b) not look at email, not even a peak, till Sunday @ noon. Find a small book to bring that restores my spirits.
R

Oh, Revu2, I know what you mean. The news makes me either furious or depressed. My husband is pretty good about not mentioning it unless it's something that I really need to know, and then he feeds it to me in a a succinct bit. I know he'd like to rant about it a bit, but I can usually only take a small morsel. I'm glad I'm not the only one,

Re auto mechanics - I have a great one now, but I've also experienced bad mechanics.

Re public restrooms -ah yes, I remember, fondly, the days when you could . . .

And yikes! on the work. I hope it all turns out okay.

My goal for today is to email my friend's daughter about getting a photo for the cover of my book. My other goal is to continue working on the path to my garden. This will involve removing garbage, pruning some trees, and raking leaves and debris and putting it into the green waste container. Then comes the fun part - making it look appealing. and installing a hand rail.

Re writing - I was talking to a friend on the phone, and she was so excited about her writing project. She's elderly, and has some serious health issues, so she's been housebound. And she's thrilled, excited, exuberant about her writing project. I wish I felt like that.

That's it for me. Take care.