shapeshifter_v

This totally sneaked up on me, but this is how it’s gonna be.

• Finish file
• Webinar
• Test
• Call M.
• Mop floors
• Laundry cont.
• Study MB

• Dentist
• Work
• Laundry (3 loads???) – 2
• Paperwork
• Study
• Short visit to mom

Breathe in-breathe out

By my bootstraps

• Send finished file
• Shine sink
• Cook
• Make dentist appt!
• Complete and send profile
• Iron
• Absolutely send test by the end of the day
• Work
• Change sheets
• Laundry
• Farmer’s market
• Chamomile

Today’s the first day of the next 46 years of my life.

• Early morning walk done; see photo
• Work: file format
• Do the test I put off yesterday
• Weekly review
• Iron

• Complete file #1 (also checkproof)

• laundry: 1 load
• Iron
• Clean
• Clean out frigge
• Cook zucchini + eggplants + broccoli
• Make (birthday) cheesecake

Study
complete 1 test (2 hours)

What do you mean it’s Friday?

• Send my questions to client No 1 and make sure she answers by the end of the working day
• Catch up with housework

Today I need to work work work.

• Try really hard to complete first draft
• Make a list of all my questions
• Plan tomorrow’s errands
• Study

• one potential job; write offer
• one new customer; fill in paperwork

This is my very own variation on Flylady’s theme (30 minutes)

• Brew chamomile tea
• Shine sink and put everyhting away
• Empty trash
• Turn off computer
• Shower or cold footbath
• Brush teeth
• Lay out my clothes for next day
• Chamomile cormpresses

If I do this, I sleep well (relatively painlessly) and the next morning is soooo much easier.
The problem is, on most days I’m way too tired to do any of these.

I need to do these more often.

• drive dd to her school
• SM (recycled from yesterday)
• have my hair colored???
• kitchen work
• laundry work
• Dining room!
• study

• new work project

Monday to Saturday: Get up at 6:15

• get dressed
• morning walk/training, preferably at the track (time: variable = 30-60 min)

• make coffee
• fill water bottles
• vitamins/medications
• shower/wash hair
• wear my work clothes
• quiet time/planning/emails
• prep ingredients for cooking
• breakfast

Often I have a pre-morning routine: When work is too much and I’m too anxious to sleep more than 3 hours, I wake up (at 4 or 5) and work until it’s time to do the “regular” MR.

On Sundays my schedule is slightly different, as I spend 2 hours doing the MR, then GTD-style weekly review. As I usually go for a long walk with my husband later in the day, I don’t go to the track in the morning.

Today:

• Checkproof my translation
• Super market – long story but no; stayed inside and waited for my sister to call, which she didn’t

• Goethe (library + ticket; library closes at 3)- no time to go downtown

• Bank(s)
• Write order (still waiting for instructions)
• Study biology

Sep 4
The smell of books
I went into a big bookstore today, to get a book for dd. The place smelled like heaven!

Sep 5
Keeping it together
Keeping my sanity in the face of extreme anxiety is no small feat. Knowing how ugly things can get, I feel more grateful than I can express with words.

Sep 6
Eros Ramazzotti
His music is my instant pick-me-up

Sep 7
Cheesecake
Not eating it; just making it. A feast for the eyes!

Sep 8
Watching a movie from start to finish in good company
It’s been ages since I last did it! My husband and I sat down and watched AirForce 1. I felt grateful I had the time and he was there to share it with me.

Sep 9
Finiding a long-lost friend
I found on linkedin a dear friend after 25 years! He was as moved about this as myself.

I have decided to sit the exam in January 2014.
I am starting my preparation this week.
I will be doing a little (one paper) each week.
If I take on more, I just won’t do it.

It’s practically impossible to plan this week ahead.
I’m waiting for 2 BIG clients to contact me about 2 co-operations (one book, one agency with a steady workflow). If this happens, I will have little time for other stuff.

• Finish 1 test paper (2 or 3 hours)
• Have my hair colored (about 2 hours)
• Study Molecular Biolog and Statistics (still unsure – perhaps 5 hours?)
• Catch up with 1 person
• Decide about the cleaning lady
• Delegate duties for home cleaning
• Clean

• Translate till I drop
• Meet my deadlines

• Tidy up
• Catch up with more friends
• GTD again
• Catch up with other job
• Payments
• Goethe: library + Gerhard Falkner reading at the Agora (get tickets by Tuesday afternoon) no

I’ve relized that this goal is now about rediscovering (rather than reinventing) myself and making the commitment to become the person I dreamed of being at age 17-25.

Many of my life goals have taken up a new meaning during the last few years with the growing financial crisis in my country, and so has this. Greece is falling apart at the seems – but that’s a different post.

• a top-notch translator
• a voracious reader
• a lifelong langage student
• a supportive mom, daughter, sister (and wife, if it works out)
• healthy and good-looking
• financially independent
• eclectic with my friendships, but a good friend nonetheless
• as untidy as I can get away with

For the last 15 years I’ve been telling myself excuses about why I didn’t have the time or energy to be true to my goals.
I’ve allowed my life to drift into a completely different direction.
I made some very poor decisions guided by fear and anxiety. I’ve been micromanaging my misery.
In my attempt to make my marriage and family business work, I’ve denied myself of everything else.
And I probably would keep doing it, if it were not for the freefall in our financial situation.

In order to start translating again, I had to overcome an unimaginable level of anxiety, but I did it.
And after this, my life has been falling back into place.
So, despite the despair, I’m closer to my true self than I’ve been in many-many years.

• finish 2nd draft
• references
• checkproof ?

• shine sink
• cook meat balls
• make potato salad
• grate carrots

• 1 load
• iron

• make some progress please!

• farmers market
• super market
• trash + recyclables

I had numerous discussions during the last year, with various German teachers. It’s very clear to me that the thing I desire most is to have German lessons again. It’s also clear that I don’t have the time or the money for it, as I first need to take (and pass) my DipTrans exams in Greek.

For the time being, I will be reading books.

A rush job came in late Friday afternoon. It’s urgent and I need to focus on it.

• Copy text from PDF into a Word file
• Finish 1st draft of translation – at least 1,500 words on Saturday – the rest on Sunday
• A swim would be nice
• The weekly review would be even nicer

No swim and no weekly review. It was work work work. But my first draft is finished. Tired but content.

Yesterday was not enough to complete all these tasks.
So here we go again:

• Tidy up the office (goal: make it ready for the next big project)
  made some progress, but it’s not really ready for the next project, which has already arrived
• Laundry (goal: down to practically zero)
  done
• Iron (goal: reduce pile by at least 1/2)
  finished about 3/4
• Work on my dining room project (goal: max 4×15-minute increments)
  nothing; I decided to make this my personal challenge for September
• Cook (goal: oven-roasted chicken w. potatoes + eggplants + pasta salad + fresh salad; optional: cheesecake + bake bread)
  everything but the eggplants; will do on Saturday
• Shine sink (goal: it should still be shiny when I go to sleep)
  yes!
• Catch up with friends/family/co-workers (goal: just choose one person and give it my best)
  this is so hard; the more I stay out of touch, the more difficult I find it to reconnect
• Get papers ready for dd (goal: make sure it’s all there!)
  Yes!!!
• Plan (I’m quite sure there’s something I’m forgetting…)
  Yes – there was a payment to be made; everything is OK now