photo credit: Cláudia*~Assad

Still alive despite the carrots (and added them to today’s smoothie, too). I can tell you’re relieved.

You might have noticed from my last few rewards that I’m kind of on a crafty kick. I go through phases, and it seems that I am doing the “nesting” thing that pregnant women do, it’s just manifesting in sewing cute little things rather than, say, house cleaning.

My Amy Butler book arrived yesterday, so I got fabric for a project out of that book instead of the hat and booties pattern (which hadn’t shown up yet, so I didn’t know how much to get). I’ll post pictures somewhere when I’m done with it—and unless I screw it up royally, you’ll probably die of cute overload.

Most Important Tasks

• Get Leanna going on WordPress upgrades
• Code the front page for TweetStyle based on the design I created yesterday
• Do a yoga workout should one arrive by 3pm (expecting three DVDs, one from Netflix, two from Amazon, but need to be clean and at the church by 5:30 to sound-check for our big weekend)

The reward

Free time to work on the sewing project.

photo credit: kathryn_rotondo

I’m so brave. I’m sure you’ll all be tremendously impressed to learn that I put some cooked carrot in my protein smoothie this morning, despite being irrationally afraid of veggies. This was my mom’s suggestion, and so far, it hasn’t killed me (should probably consider that statement “pending” for 24 hours or so, though ).

I thought I had found the perfect solution to my non-veggie-eating diet with the V8 v•fusion juice—the one where they mix fruit juice with veggie juice (from sweeter veggies like carrots). But with the high glucose levels, my doc specifically told me to lay off soda (which I rarely drink) and juice. So now I’m being more intentional about eating broccoli (the one veggie I like) and trying things like the carrots in stuff.

Truly, I’m six years old.

Most Important Tasks

• Be available to help Leanna recover her dead hard drive and reinstall everything on the new one
• Make any requested quick changes on the client theme I’ve been working on
• Create a layout (design only, not code) for TweetStyle based on the awesome new bird character Pasquale made me

The reward

Buy the fabric I need to make two sets of the patterns I bought yesterday.

photo credit: tracyhunter

After my post last week, I carefully considered both of the productivity courses I was thinking of taking… and decided to go with “neither.” Why? Because realistically, I already know most of what I need to do and am not doing it, so I think it would be a mistake to spend money on something else at this point.

One of the great things both of those programs offer, though, is daily encouragement. I’m sure the creators of both programs would counter my reasoning for not enrolling with something like, “Everyone struggles with not doing what they know they should do—my program helps you take action with daily motivation!”

So I’m looking to replicate that—on the cheap. Fortunately, I have a few good ideas. They’re a combination of tools, carrot, and stick (though maybe I should say “chocolate” instead of “carrot,” since I don’t actually like carrots… ooh, or “carrot cake”! ).

• The tool: I have a bunch of motivational podcasts that I’m already subscribed to. I enjoy them when I listen to them, and it would be a great start to each day to just hit play on one.
• The carrot cake: Leo (the Zen To Done guy) recommends rewards, and lots of them early on. I will give myself a small reward each day I hit my targets.
• The stick: I’m posting my plan here, and you’ll all know if I don’t do it. I’m also committing to posting a daily update for the next three weeks (sorry, might be boring reading for you, but I know from experience that public commitment motivates me).

A successful day

So the question is, what am I shooting for each day? I’ve made a specific list (because specific = finite = I know when I’m done!).

• I will start by listening to a motivational podcast. I’m resisting this one a little because it seems kind of frivolous (“why don’t you just get down to work?!?”), but I know that I am more likely to actually get down to work after I feel motivated.
• My first task will be to decide on two or three “most important tasks” (Leo calls these MITs). These are the tasks that matter most for one reason or another; they might be urgent, or they might relieve some particular stress, or they might further a developing business idea. But absolutely no more than three per day—otherwise it’s just not realistic.
• Accountability kicks in when I post the daily plan on this blog. This will probably be a very short post—just a list of my MITs, my reward for success, and any random thoughts that crop up as part of the process. I’ll put them all in the “Daily Check-In” category so that you can skip them easily if you aren’t interested.
• In addition to doing a few things right, I also need to break some unproductive habits. Consequently, I won’t check email or Twitter until at least one MIT is done. And I won’t check it again until all MITs are done.
• For the next three weeks, my specific “good habit” I’m developing is the “Process” habit. That means that my daily target will be to process all new email that comes in each day, plus five older emails (because I’ve got to get through that backlog somehow!). That doesn’t mean that I’ll complete the tasks contained in every email, just that I’ll process them, get them on the appropriate list, and stop using my inbox as a to-do list.
• Once I complete the previous items on this list, I will update the morning’s blog post with a comment.
• Finally, I will turn off my Mac before going to bed. Besides the benefit to the electric bill + environment, this means I will have to put everything away—save files, bookmark sites, etc. The morning will be much nicer with a clean slate.

Today’s plan

I thought of doing a second post for this but it seemed silly.

Most Important Tasks

• Finish the back-end design for my upcoming blogging course
• Record a video walk-through for a client
• Record my first video for the blogging course

The reward

If I get my day wrapped up by 4pm, I’ll take off early (to the living room!) and give myself some time alone with my new John Grisham novel.