Casting Off Constrains

Day 8 – Charting a Cartograph that works.

Here I am back on the freeze mode.

I realize that I am re doing exercises I have actually done.

The reality check is this if I do not show up for myself who will? I also realize I never showed up for myself.

If I have to achieve my goal then interrogating my calendar is a must. Lets begin… fortunately I am not in the place where many of my friends are I do not have to bring home the bacon probably that is what holds me back.  I fall sick, I do not show up at work.

I have not completed the recording for Arzoo. – I have not done this because I have not received answers and when I do ask I’m listening to the person through the filter that I am being demanding.

I have not connected with Naresh for the scheduling. – My script is not ready.

I have not deposited a cheque I received a month back.

I have not sent my daughter the gifts from the temple.

I have not set the date for the final ritual that I have undertaken.

I have not marketed my workshop.

There is a whole list of what I have not done… and I am clueless of what I am doing. I am floating sideways, Anna comes for a coffee during ‘her break’ Mark comes for a chat during ‘his’ break,  Peter wants “9 am coffee ritual’ so that he brag. I do not show up for myself. This brings me to the whole new question what has to be on my schedule what should not be.

My time is a non-renewable resource, so is Naresh’s time and so is Arzoo’s time. Peter,Ann and Mark are tapping into their spill over time. That is definitely not my spill over time. If I were to think of this like sweet vendor then

.

incident	analogy
I am doing everything except focusing on the two products that I should be focusing. This will bring me money	I’m allowing a product go waste.
People come to during their breaks. Just to ‘vent’	My product is being stolen and I am not aware of it.
I am setting a deliverable time and working things backwards to have it delivered	I am leaving my money on the table and not getting the best price
I take on things, without really checking and prioritizing them	I am selling a product that I do not have.

There are somethings that have to be done. Those are our none negotiables.

maybe I can look at my calendar like a cartographer mapping the potholes, and water puddles.

for the next 14 days is what I look at—

what should be on my calendar.  more importantly I should have a calendar and make it a routine to go through it.

fancy planners in wooden boxes and broken jars are good money gone south if you don’t look at it.

over categorized planners are again a no- no. Of all the planners I used the best ones are from ChaarPai and a close second is from Artloom.

what goes into my calendar…

• my commitments.
• time required to honour that commitment effectively.
• travel time if the event is off line
• set up time if the event is online.

We then look at unplanned work that pops up. Like putting aside time to redo a project unexpectedly. each day I left the last hour at work for that.

Consolidating outdoor tasks, like banking, etc if I could put it together then I would not be putting it off. Monthly grocery shopping. actually when we were younger ‘Raju Dhobi” would come in very Saturday and pick up the clothes to be ironed, he would bring them back next Saturday we had a laundry book in which the entries were made and he would be paid at the end of the month. All of us knew where the clothes to be ironed were kept, and we also knew where the book was that meant however was at hand attended to it.

Now let me choose the priority of the week, my patients. then I will work the time line. Three days in a week was my contingency option so I had to factor in for it.

What are the possible landmines? What are the unexpected bombs that could explode like the traffic jam this morning.

when I meticulously put down things in my calendar, I realize there are potholes it was essential for me to account for them too.

PS: Convenient planners other than the Bank diary next door are the Artloom they have dated and undated ones. But to my patients on the road to recovery I suggest chaarpai’s 3 month planner. It helps to keep the focus.