A few Measly Steps a Day

Link to Article

Quote:

9. Coping with turbulence Time is always as much subjective as objective and when we’re in a turmoil of short-term fire-fighting, it passes with such speed that it causes stress by itself. If I had to sum all of this up as simply as possible, I would say that the key to coping with stress and pressure is: to do just about the opposite of what feels most called for: slow down as much as you can, look ahead as much as possible, drop everything non-essential, and do the rest as carefully and thoughtfully as possible So you only have to do any of it once. And always, always, try to avoid making yet more work for yourself by rushing, cutting corners, and making [avoidable] mistakes.

[I cut the parable of the kayakers.] I'm doing some of what he suggests: I'm nudging what I can out past the current due date (9/11 11.59 pm). I'm keeping tabs for later for other stuff. I'm clustering errands when I can. Some things I want to buy I can live without another week. Complicated follow-ups are pushed to next week. I've penciled in a fullish day off right after we deliver the grant. Feels good to list them, I'm offering myself credit.

Found this thread diary of FloatThruThis's 2023 goals. Definitely in the spirit of measly steps. Wonder if we might drop in and cheer her on sometimes?

I'm finding my daily warmup here quite the tonic. Turns out, amidst all this turmoil my bio-energy is in the down slope. Think today is the lowest.

Finding fresh joys in plain view. Like how much fun it is to sit around and talk! I have three places for that now: a Jung Society Cafe on Saturdays, my monthly mens group, and the weekly film discussion group. Might be interesting to arrange a week where I'm in this type of live & in-person chat each day.

Today the film cafe will discuss Sense and Sensibility (Ang Lee, 1995). First of a series of film adapted from Jane Austen's novels. The scriptwriter (and lead actor) Emma Thompson published the shooting script which I hope to pull from the library on my way to the meeting.

Last idle then to work: why did Jane decline marriage?

HI, R,

My creativity group is going great - so far at least. I hope people keep coming, and I hope they have fun.

You're right - learning new things can be fun. I still have computer - phobia. Editing is more fun than usual. I feel like I'm making progress. That's the fun part. Are you enjoying semi-retirement? It sounds as if you're ready for it.

I'm going to try Pubby. It's internet thing where you read other people's work and critique them, and in return, people critique your work. I want to get my stories as good as I can. If I'm going to get critiqued, I want the comments to be positive.
I have physical therapy (shoulder) and sleep doctor appointments coming up. I'm hoping there's something that will give me more energy. (not caffeine or other stimulants. I don't need to be any crazier than I already am. )

Okay, I'll try to get a little more done, and then that's it for the day.

The joke's on me: as a consultant I've been semi-working/semi-retired my whole career. The work is nearly always new enough that I have to immerse myself into it. After it's done, I might get a breath, or I might have to plunge into something else. When working hard I have to cancel stuff I really enjoy, or simply miss it. Hate that!

I'm working my brain to its limits through Monday at 11.59 pm, when we deliver the grant.

For a number of reasons, I let yesterday be a drift and low-focus day. Caught up via email with a few friends, and took a long bath.

Today, refreshed, I'm back on task.

Until yesterday, I had 2 credit cards with me. A personal one and another for getting things for the condo when I happen upon them. On Wed, I slept walked through 2 buys, apparently, because I used the condo card for personal purchases.

A lapse. Milton Erickson, a fabulous hypnotherapist, had a rule for his family: when you make an avoidable error, don't berate yourself too much, instead, pick a punishment.

I think his was cleaning the garage for X minutes, his wife's was darning socks. For me, this time, I'm going to memorize my 16 digit card number, exp date, and security code. 16+4+3 = 23 digits.

Getting to it.

HI, R,

I read your post and wondered what would be a good punishment for me. I decided it was doing the laundry - And then I remembered there was laundry that needed to go into the dryer or it would get moldy. Thanks, R.
Tomorrow, I go see the sleep doctor. Square Peg said he loves his sleep machine, and my friend Trisha said the same thing. So I'm hoping something good comes out of the appt.
I'm done spending big bucks on my house (I hope.) I've been doing cute girlie things. I have a metal heron in front of the house, and he's standing in a stream of blue marbles.
Writing is happening. it's not too interesting to talk about, but . . .
What else? Creativity group was a no-show. I hope next month will be better. Book club this Saturday, and my husband's high school reunion the Saturday after that.

No major disasters.
Happy semi-retirement.

Turns out, the visa card # was not too hard to nail.

It's xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx exp yy/yy cvv zzz

See. just 3 letters.

I think part of going to a sleep doctor is the inner feeling of living through a ceremony for diagnosis, treatment plan, and finally, a treatment!

Sleep soundly.

About writing. Exciting? I once read a writer describing her day. Not sure why. Ever so often she'd sit and write, or edit, or read.

It's really hard to show in plays and movies. In Hamilton, he's shown a couple of time neglecting his family to write. I think he wrote while walking like I see people reading books while walking. If pressed for time, I think he wrote different things with each hand. His biographer concluded that H. wrote as much as a human could given the technology of his time.

Since I'm a hack writer, having decided that editors and publishers were hard to find, and harder to please, and that the pay per effort was out of whack, I have to get myself to the task. Some days it's a breeze, some days it's harder. I'm never up for any awards, the Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer, the Booker Prize, poet Laurette of Our Fair City. What would I wear to the Nonprofit Awards? Nominees for the best use of literature in a grant are ... Me, and a few other folks. Oh, the suspense.

And the winner is ... then I wake up.

I think of creative writing as similar to painting. An artist makes a sketch, then corrects the lines, adds shadows and reflections, makes corrections until the picture is finished. Writing is similar. You write the rough draft, correct the plot line, add and subtract descriptions, correct voice, rhythm, develop character, and correct typos, misspellings, and grammar mistakes. Editing is hard when you have to look for errors and seek out the imperfect. But it's heaven when you can find the answer and the paragraph that used to be boring wakes up.

ON a different note, the floor beneath my bathroom is rotten, and the toilet is leaking into it causing bad smells. More $$$$.

There was a book around in the 70's called "Future Shock." It talked about technology changing so fast that we can't keep up with it. You probably read it. Anyway, I identify with the feeling so much o the time now.

I tried to make a virtual doctor's appt. It didn't work because, they no longer accept a computer visit, They want you to use your phone app. If you try to hook up on the computer, the doc can't see you, and insurance won't pay for the visit unless the doctor can see you. So, after failing to hook up using my computer, I tried to use my phone. It's a smart phone, but it doesn't have the Stanford app. So I tried to book an appointment on line for an in-person visit. I finally got my appointment by calling the office and having a human make it for me. Yay! I love humans.

Usually, when I try to do something electronically it doesn't work. Most of the time it's because I did something wrong. I am not well-adapted to this era.

Hi Steppers. I feel your pain about making that appointment. There are rooms of whiz-bang coders asking that very question: how do we remove any pain points? And then they don't! They all are smart phone savvy and think: let's make an app! Ha!

I'm often "brittle" nearing an important work event (something due or a workshop to facilitate). Tiny bumps feel like quakes. Case in point: ordered printer toners, toner turns out to be crap (messy, leaks, streaks, print is gray/not black). Simple matter, return the toner, of can't eat the loss.

But, it's 10.30 pm, long day, challenging days ahead (always challenging days ahead). Got all these itty steps to do :: find the return button, follow their process, upload a couple of pix (take the pix, and to upload means shifting to another computer) print label and on and on.

And still I am without toner! Back to the top of That Process and begin again.

Yuksville.

It's about 4 items long. Began at the top and worked down. Then, after a meeting where I used my computer, left my adapter cord. Hope it's still there and I can pick up tomorrow.

What I'm dancing with is how these little things affect my moods. Right now, I'm miffed at myself for forgetting the cord. Last night, I was upset with USPS for sending back a certified letter when I never got a notice and thus a chance to pick it up. Talking with clerks is like a May-Nichols skit. I think it's the second worst managed Post Office in the country. Funny that PO are the initials for Post Office and Pissed Off.

Second worst is from Laugh In. Actually, when I make rankings I often call something the second or third best or worst. Prevents a lot of needless haggling on who's number one.

I guess I have to abandon my goal of getting my notes done of a book I'm peer-reviewing. My goal was to get most of it done before leaving for a 3 day staycation sleepover. If I can settle my nerves I might work some on it tonight. On the other hand, putting on music and working on it might settle me down. There's a hope. R.

I get your feelings, R. Things that wouldn't have bothered me twenty years ago drive me crazy. And I hate returning things. If it's not too expensive, I'd rather just throw it away.

Me - crossed fingers, I might be finished editing. We're having a fundraiser at our church - an Italian Extravaganza in a week and a half. and I'd like to have my book available then. Yay!

I started physical therapy for my frozen shoulder (rotator cup) Right now it's stiffer than it was before. Apparently, this is going to take a long time. I'm not surprised. The shoulder hardly moves.
Good wishes for all our challenges.

Good wishes that we defeat them, that is.

I had my neuropsychological exam two weeks ago. My primary care doctor let me know that the results are in and said I could make an appointment right away to discuss the results. Or, I could wait until my check-up in November. I'll try to get in next week -- I'd like to know what's going on before my next Quarterly Review.

Usually I can see test results in "The Portal." But this provider is outside the system.

Keep up the good work Revu2, delightful!

Whoa, SPG & Ms D, keep strong and get better through your medical issues.

My brain today is flat-lining it. It's after 8.00 pm and I'm calling the day a loss. This morning I couldn't focus much and then had a fund-raising lunch followed by a bit of shopping and errands.

Tomorrow's another chance at everything. Tonight I'm putting on music and doing catchup housekeeping like putting away my summer clothes and getting my warmer stuff out. G'night.

I'm plagued by mediocrity. My mediocrity, not someone else's. it's my first paragraph. It has to be really good because that, the title, and the blurb on the back is what sells a book. In addition, next Saturday, we're doing an "Italian Extravaganza" an Italian dinner plus a lot more, and I'll get a table to peddle my books. I want to have this one ready to go (might be wishful thinking) because it's the best one I've written.

In other news:
I have to call Apria and ask if they forgot me, or if I accidently hung up on them because I assumed they were a bogus call. They're supposed to contact me about a CPAP.

Physical therapy is going okay, but apparently, it's going to be going and going and going for over a year.

I've been watching too many medical movies. I started wondering if my hip is leaching cobalt. I'm tired, have mood swings, am dumber than I used to be and have no energy. There are many other explanations for this. but . . . Also my hips are titanium, which might have cobalt in it, but shouldn't have a lot of it. Also, per the internet, leaching cobalt is rare, but can happen.

I'm still throwing money at my house. (I thought I was done with expensive repairs.) The floor under my bathroom has rotten wood. I'm looking for someone who replaces rotten wood, but so far I haven't found anyone. Meanwhile they are withdrawing insurance on our lake property house. The house isn't worth anything, so it's probably no big deal, but . . .
Seriously, it isn''t worth anything.

That's most of the story of my life.
Good luck to all of us. May good things and easy fixes surround us. Also good friends and loved ones.

Hi Ms D. I remember the afternoon (or was it morning)? when the Lit teacher at Yale Summer High School broke down the first line of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. "In the town there were 2 mutes and they were always together."

Tale of 2 Cities: "It was the best of times and the worst of times."

Chromos by Felipe Alfau: The moment one learns English, complications set in."

From Google Search AI:
The best opening lines can serve multiple functions, including:
Setting the scene
Introducing characters
Setting the tone
Piquing curiosity
Evoking shock
Introducing conflict
Starting in the middle of action
Provoking thought

Here are some famous opening lines from novels:
1984: "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen". This line sets the tone for the dystopian world of the story.

Invisible Man: "I am an invisible man". This line is enigmatic and introduces a man who is ignored by society.

A Frolic of His Own: "Justice?—You get justice in the next world, in this world you have the law".

The End of the Affair: "A story has no beginning or end; arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead".

Moby-D i c k: "Call me Ishmael".

Pride and Prejudice: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife".

Gravity's Rainbow: "A screaming comes across the sky".

Actually, technically, "Call me Ishmaei." Is after a chapter or 2 on, I dunno, the history of whaiing? Found this:

Yes, Chapter 1 ("Loomings") of the novel begins with Ishmael introducing himself. But the so-called first chapter is more like the book's third, thanks to two rambling introductory chapters respectively titled "Etymology" and "Extracts." In these sections, Melville introduces us to two fictitious researchers (a grammar school usher and a "sub-sub-librarian") who begin to educate us on cetology, the study of whales. Many novels begin with an epigraph, a little apropos quotation that precedes the opening lines. But these two chapters go way beyond that, supplying no fewer than eighty epigraphs. They foreshadow the novel's frequent digressions away from the nominal plot into the minutiae and lore of whales and whaling. And they're absolutely part of the novel proper, which means that the first line of Moby D*ck is not "Call me Ishmael," but rather this beauty: "The pale Usher—threadbare in coat, heart, body, and brain; I see him now." Hmm, maybe Melville would have sold more copies if he'd tightened that beginning up a little.

My note: HM started this way to mimic the long periods of boredom involved with this trade.

No pressure, R.

It's Sunday, cloudy - gray skies. much like the interior of my mind. Still, I'm up and can get to some things.

In the final hours of edits of a review of a book for a publisher. It's been messy and will delight in hitting "send."

What's then up is looking at this shift to retirement through 15 domains. Things like dependents, finances, health, life satisfaction. I have about 16 weeks left till I'm Out. So, it's a good fit.

A couple of interesting stats I've come across: (a) 2/3 of all people through human evolution who lived past age 65 are alive today.

(b) Planner who compute this stuff project I have about 23 more years to live. I'll be 93. My mom died at 92 plus 2 months.

But really what's on my heart as I sip my tea is writing back to a couple of friends who sent lovely email messages over the weekend.

R, Good wishes for your retirement. May you have some amazing adventures, and some peaceful quality time doing little.
Square Peg, good luck and good wishes with your health issues.

Me. The original first line of "The Molly Chronicles" was "They call me Molly" None of my friends caught my humor.

Our Italian extravaganza was a success. And I sold a few books, which boosted my spirits. Also, I look at "Through Unfamiliar WAters," and think of all the things that are wrong with it. Everyone at the extravaganza said they liked it. Also a boost. And I put Molly in for a review on Pubby, and got a five star review. Also a hit. So a lot of positives. I hate to admit it, but I do require external validation. I guess I can keep going without it, since I have done so for years. But OMG if feels good. And I have gotten a lot of negative comments - some good suggestions for improvement. Some ????
So fueled by good stuff, I'll see if I can get my latest book out by the end of the week. (So probably by the end of two weeks??? a month???
With that, I'll

I'm still almost finished with editing "Refuge and Warm Tea."

Thanks for the good wishes. I have 80 odd days left. Or 80 even. Not sure.

Soak up the approval! If it keeps you going, absorb it. Writing is mostly solo, so hearing people like the work is good feedback. Ignore most of the negative stuff.

It's interesting how we deal with reactions. I take chances when I facilitate and many people like it and a few don't. Same workshop, same topic, but I'll still try various tweaks or variations. So I rarely got 5.0 stars. Out of a group of 30 people, say, 27 liked it and 2 had minor issues, and 1 hated it. My co-leaders would look at those 3 and work themselves into a tizzy: should we change the approach? I never liked how we did that 2nd exercise. Etc. I'll take in what feels right. Once I got a comment that I shouldn't talk over the reflection time and allow people to have silence to think. Spot on and I've not done that since.

But I, on the other hand, would say, 27/30 = 90%. OK. I have no idea what was going on in the lives of those 3 outliers. Difficult news from home? Just told they are being laid off? No bonus for the holidays? So I let them be.

At conferences I have some fun with this. I'll get started and when it's clear to a few people that my style isn't what they expected, some folks will quietly get up and leave. After they are clearly out of the room I say to the crowd, that's great because they probably won't fill out evaluations!

My day: Dealing with a MR BIV* problem. I was having trouble with wifi printing and top advice on one site was "reset" the printers. Ha! It's actually delete the printers! So, I've managed to get the corded printing to work for my computer. But that doesn't work for my partner's computer. And wifi printing works on neither one now. After a bath I'll take that up. As long as it takes. Putting on relaxing music and taking plenty of mental health breaks.

I was tired and thought the fix would be easy. Lessons: Proceed with caution. Just use the cord for a while and delay a better fix till rested and can take time to read up on how to deal with it. Consult the appropriate sub/reddit or other forums.

Annoyed with self. Just as I'm finishing up a rack of work I give myself this problem. Note to gremlins: back off. I've had more than a lifetime of problems, thank you very much.

* MR BIV = mistakes, redos, breakage, inefficiencies, and variations. Courtesy of Ritz-Carlton Hotels

Quote:

Originally Posted by Revu2 My day: Dealing with a MR BIV* problem. I was having trouble with wifi printing and top advice on one site was "reset" the printers. Ha! It's actually delete the printers! So, I've managed to get the corded printing to work for my computer. But that doesn't work for my partner's computer. And wifi printing works on neither one now.

Fixed & DONE. Updated my OS, backed everything up, unplugged and replugged in the printer, opened a file, dialog box said "nearby printers" (a good sign), selected my printer, and ... it worked! And also with the other computer, too. Sigh of relief and back to a quiet day.

Turns out that with my upgrade to 12.6.7 my space bar stopped working. AND, the battery icon is missing from the menu bar, PLUS the battery isn't charging.

While pondering these disruptions, I considered if I might have to get a whole new computer to use turbotax. Just checked, I'm still good with system 12.6.7.

We have an apple genius bar (what, no drinks, I thought this was a bar!) 20 minutes away.

Ms D, I caught your plagued by mediocrity line. Funny. Can't find the originator of the phrase. Any ideas?

Visited the Apple Genius Bar, and they reset my P-RAM which fixed the charging, battery, and icon on the menu bar problems.

Then he tested the space bar and said it probably needed replacing. A few minutes later they brought it back from the wizards in the back room all working.

Now the printer isn't printing from wifi again ... but I think it's a matter of unplugging the printer and plugging it back in.

Let's test ... yup works fine. Case Closed.

Another case closer happened today ... the utilities dept took our broken recycling bins. They just put them in the back of the dumpster and they disappeared from view to be reincarnated.

Hi, R.

For the record, 27 out of thirty is better than ok.

I've had a couple of weeks of nobody returning my calls. A bummer. I was persistent , and finally got someone from Apria (they never got an order for a CPAP for me. And I finally got my computer back. My computer freezes up and goes black a lot. This time, it froze, and wouldn't reboot. Scary! Plus I've been sleeping badly, so it's harder for me to function. Last night was pretty good. A writer friend turned me on to Pubby, and I tried it. It's a good deal. You read other people's books, and rate them on Amazon, and they read your books and rate them. Pretty slick. Unfortunately, (funny how often my sentences begin with unfortunately.) Anyway, I couldn't leave a comment for the two books I read, due to my computer being in the hospital. Meanwhile, the credit union froze my card and declined Pubby's bill. So I'm trying to fix all that. You have to publish the review pretty quickly, so I probably can't get the review in for the two books I read. I'd publish them anyway, so that the writer can get credit for them.

For our book club, we're reading "The Island of Missing Trees" It's about Cypress during the fighting between Greeks and Turks. I bri ng up the book, because one of the characters is superstitious and believes in the evil eye. I never thought about it. My family wan't particularly superstitious, but my mom used to dry-spit into the and say some like "So we don't jinx it by looking at it." (doesn't translate well.) My background is Russian, but I think the evil eye is in that culture as well. Anyway, it got me thinking. It seems as if as soon as something good happens, something messes it up. I don't consciously believe that, but geeze!

Okay, that's all for me.

Good stuff to you.

Ya know, this got me to thinking about Great Customer Service. It does exist. So here's a list of 10 stories. I'm touched,

10 Unforgettable Customer Service Stories

I've got a couple of current customer service challenged companies that might take a lesson from these examples.

Just in from a short vacay to a nearby city and an overnight with a writing buddy of my partner's. Trip had a few rainy moments, but otherwise nothing much to improve it. I like getaways like that.

Hold any feeling of success as long as you can. I know that good stuff followed by a problem rhythm. The worse.

Measly steps for Tuesday: crunch through email. Work about an hour. Doodle a bit. Walk.

Keep smiling cos when you're smiling the whole world smiles with you.