Bears do it, Bees do it (maybe) ...

image: Merry Christmas from "Switzerland"


Motivation:

"The road to someday, leads to the town of nowhere.
Procrastination is the silent killer."
~Anthony Robbins

2 peter 3:9a The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish,

Diary:

Today (December 20) is the shortest day of the year - tomorrow we start adding minutes to our days - it is one of my most favorite day of the year.

It is especially dark today as the clouds have moved in an light snow is forecasted for the next day+. I am hunkered down.

I am thinking that this is why bears hibernate. I feel like I have gained many pounds of fat this month and am storing up my honey for the rest of winter. Bees must hibernate too, cause I haven't seen any bees since winter arrived. I haven't seen bears either. Maybe it has to do with honey. Both bears and bees store honey, and they don't show up in the wintertime. Is there something odd in honey that makes animals tired or shy? I did have some honey that I put in some healthy bars that I made. The ingredients included nuts, berries, dried fruits, cocoa, carob, coconuts, and honey. After eating a few bars, I wanted to curl up, flatten my wings and just go to sleep for a while. Honey! Who knew....

I decided to just let go on my fitness and nutrition plan for a few weeks - not to eat to excess or to be a sloth, but just to allow me to not be so strict about my meals, the timing, the fitness routine has been loosened a bit, and I have stopped journaling every day.

I am going to spend this weekend re-tooling my nutrition and journaling program and getting it ready for a restart in January! I am excited to get back into starting mode. Ready for new goals and milestones, ready for new challenges and ready for new revelations and insight. For now I am being patient and just relaxing and letting myself be comfortable with who I am and where I am.

I am planning a trip to California at the end of January, so my first fitness goal will be to be in shape to feel great and have fun in the sun. It will be a great contrast from the winter wonderland here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.


So why did I choose the two quotes that seem somewhat opposing? There is a difference between taking time off, having patience, listening and just "living" for a while, vs procrastination and putting off the work that needs to be done.

I have been taking the December month as an off month for many of my goals, but I haven't abandoned the goals or given up on them. I am planning for a rebirth of sorts, when the timing is ready. I think my body, mind and spirit will be ready for the new routine, and in some ways, I will be tired of the non-routine and ready to get back into structure. I know the feeling of collapsing at the end of a really productive day, and how there is great pleasure in that pain. It is addictive.

What is the deal with Switzerland? I will have to keep the mystery going on this one - cause I am not really sure where that is going. All I know is that I am Switzerland - for now.


Notes:

Earlier this month, I finished my critique forms as a STC Documentation Competition Judge. My group gave 1 award from our entries. I learned a lot from the process, not only having to read and judge other writer's works, but having to meet with other judges and collaborate, discuss, dispute, and give our case for what is good and bad in the documents that we have read, and why we feel they are good or bad.

Over the discussion, one of my team members gave me a great analogy about planning and prioritizing your tasks at work. He indicated that when he is given a new project to work on, he asks "When does this project need to be done?" Based on that answer, he has four trays on his inbox with the following labels:

• MICROWAVE - for projects that need a fast turnaround. The consumer must realize that this creation will be done and "cooked thoroughly", however it may not be the best quality and have all the bells and whistles as other output. The thought is that we are ok with giving up quality for a quick timeline. (Not that we strive for bad quality, but every now and then someone just needs "something" to get by - so we nuke it.)
  
• STOVE TOP - for current projects that require a lot of attention. Maybe it is at a simmer, and you are just watching and stirring it, maybe it is at a rolling boil, and you are really "cooking" on a project. This is the main course that you are working on during they day, and you probably don't have more than 3 or 4 of these projects going on at once (you only have 4 burners on your stove-top oven, right?)
  
• CROCK POT - for projects that require a bit of setup, but once you have the ingredients put together and in the cookware, then you can let it go for the rest of the time - it sort of takes care of itself. These projects may be things that require answers from other people, or a product that isn't finished in development. For these projects, there is some prep work to do, maybe a template to make or a document plan to write-up, but then it just needs to sit and develop without your immediate intervention - in fact if you open the lid you will disrupt the process. Just do your "due diligence" and then walk away until it is ready for you to serve.
  
• DEEP FREEZE - for projects that are either not worth doing now, or dead. If it is dead, put it in the freezer for some other day. You can thaw these out later, but they don't need to crowd your desk or field of view. Just tag them, bag them, and find a nice cool place to store them.
  

Since this list was both Technical Writing and Food related, I was excited to hear it and share it. Maybe this will give you some insight on how to think about getting things done at your work or home projects.

more later,

Chazz

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