The Invisible Force of a Gentle Wind

Here’s to the invisible force of a gentle wind ~ Jill Badonsky

My world has been full of new routines lately. I split my blog into two blogs, which requires more than double the posts. It also includes separate Facebook pages and Twitter accounts. I am newly single, so I have a whole bunch of new routine chores that need to be done around the house. In addition to that, I’m trying to move forward with my two current WIPs, one set in the 1930 and another fantasy merman story.

There’s also a lot of reading I’m trying to accomplish as well. Part of my hesitancy in reading is because of one book on the topic of my recovery during this time of divorce. Funny how I normally devour non-fiction books, but this one still sits on the desk waiting to be read. I’m finding new titles all the time, but the part of me that almost always finishes a project feels a need to finish the recovery book first.

So I decided to try something different. Instead of saying I would read a whole chapter of the book, I decided to set a timer for 10 minutes and read the recovery book. After that 10 minutes was up, I set the timer for another 10 minutes and read a new self help book (The Shadow Effect by Deepak Chopra, Debbie Ford, and Marianne Williamson). After that 10 minutes was up, I switched to my current gay romance title, A Tested Love by Kayla Jameth.

Then I expanded this “10 Minutes At A Time” routine to other big chores: cleaning the entire house by myself, working on promotional posts, blog posts, critiques for my two writing groups. Pretty soon, I had accomplished a little bit of everything I wanted to do! The first benefit of this new routine was not getting bogged down on a to-do list a mile long, but working through each of the projects for a specified amount of time and accomplishing a little bit on each.

Now there are some projects, in my humble opinion, that just need to be completed from start to finish. For me, those include cleaning the cat box, doing the dishes, watering the plants, chores around the house where I feel I just need to do them. But I break those chores up with fun stuff in between: reading, posting on Twitter,

But I gleaned a second benefit from working this way. Soon, I stayed with projects longer than the 10 minute limit. This extended from the chores I mentioned earlier, to reading the book vital for my recovery from divorce right now. And this includes continuing to read and participate in an Al-Anon recovery program. Today, instead of switching books, I read the recovery book for 20 minutes while on my exercise bike, but switched the other book for the last ten.

Established routines are important, but new routines can help jazz up a schedule if it’s starting to feel stale. For me, this new routine is helping me get back on track to the routines I’m used to following every day to reach my goals and dreams.

What new routines have you tried on your dream journey today? Were they helpful or hindering?



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Can't get enough of the 5 Steps? Look at the archives in my original blog:

Develop and Follow Routines