State in 2009
blogEvery week for the entirety of 2009 I assessed my state by asking ten questions and giving myself a mark out of ten for each.
These were:
1. Organized – minimalist life, everything in place, remove distractions, know all that is on plate
2. Fit and Healthy – eat well, walk, cycle everywhere.
3. Loved – enjoy relationship, love and be loved, connect with family
4. Financial Security – money in order, good investment decisions, healthy savings
5. Productive – Focus on completing ONE project
6. Flow / Clarity – Achieving beyond what I must, engaged in life, know what to do, confident, a good worker
7. Social – Go out once/twice per week with people whose conversation I enjoy, meet new people
8. Challenged – face difficulties with spiritedness, expand horizons/comfort zone
9. Appearance – a modern dandy, paying attention to details, a serene home
10. Happy – content within self, living a life that is fresh and flexible
These are the week by week results, with a commentary.
02/01/09
74 – Overcome bovine contentment but otherwise very positive
09/01/09
72 – Feel good, but let down by being terribly anti-social
16/01/09
85 – Excellent, only slight blot is lack of progress on MD.
23/01/09
74 – Very good, but feel a bit disorganized and time-poor after Tim Chipping came up to stay knocking routines out of kilter. Procrastinating a bit about Lycos transfer, although I think/hope that should be sorted soon.
30/01/09
84 – Excellent again. Need more love and more commitment to getting projects finished.
06/02/09
72 – A difficult week of tolerance to happiness. Clarity and simplicity the cure.
13/02/09
69 – My worst week for a while, where I indulged in all my swinish practices. Probably necessary in the long run, to see the consequences of indulgence. Back on the simple clear path better than ever before.
20/02/09
55 – My worst week ever. Have felt bad, rebelling from good deeds, procrastinating, lacking time, full of cognitive dissonance.
27/02/09
74 – An erratic week, low scores on purpose, challenge and accomplishment but positive signs after reading that book about resistance.
06/03/09
69 – A very busy week, but one that shows that I have learnt some lessons. Done my Spanish which is good but also need to do self-care activities.
13/03/09
56 – Quite depressed. No purpose. Want to reduce my life to as minimalist an existence as possible but to what end I don’t know. Anything to stop being full of vanity.
20/03/09
79 – Have pared down the list to remove all the parts that don’t accord with my new minimalist approach to life and am generally more optimistic. Not sure this is really necessary any more. I am sustainable now. This is the end, maybe, of boom and bust.
27/03/09
89 – Best week ever due to doing nothing and enjoying life. Being in the moment, existing, appreciating, being.
03/04/09
95 – Quite ludicrously high, which tends to make me think that I am influenced largely by how I feel on the actual day itself. As I feel great today and have no projects on the go to bring me down, I am happy to give myself such a high mark. The secret has been to go on a very strict but intelligent information diet.
10/04/09
69 – A marked drop off due to drinking too much alcohol that has really buggered up what has otherwise been a good week.
17/04/09
57 – A more honest account, perhaps, acknowledging my inability to remain mindful. Have decided to reduce my possessions in order to get rid of the clutter in my house. There are lots of old things that can go.
24/04/09
45 – Really bad week. I have been all over the shop, recovering from a weekend of drinking and all the mess associated with another person coming to stay. Worst week ever.
01/05/09
78 – An excellent return to form, inspired mainly by having started this F91W mindfulness blog, which has revolutionized my sense of time and productivity. A little bit distracted by its success, but in a good way.
08/05/09
63 – May be slightly dragged down by feeling pretty ropey from going out last night. Good challenge, finances, and sociability.
13/05/09
93 – An excellent week in which I loved my work and got a big commission. What I’ve discovered is that the less I think and write, the more engaged I am in my work. I seem to have embraced my calling rather than think of it as a secondary thing by which to just make money.
22/05/09
77 – Still adjusting after the weekend in Leicester. Must find a way of doing it sooner, but over-committed. More or less back on track now, but mediocre.
29/05/09
58 – A mixed bag, dragged down by being ill. Had an interview which got me out of my comfort zone. Looking forward to solitude and time off.
05/06/09
74 – Still ill but getting better. Keenly anticipating tomorrow’s half day at work and a full day off. IN SOLITUDE!
12/06/09
82 – Need to focus more on specific projects, but otherwise very happy.
19/06/09
57 – On the way back from holiday, always takes me too long to get back into the groove: cleaning, organising, ugh.
26/06/09
57 – Really not with it yet. So much stuff to try and get on top off and I’ve basically failed this week. Slowly, surely, though, it is all fitting into place.
03/07/09
67 – A bit better, but still most everything was obliterated by hayfever. Bloody hayfever.
10/07/09
67 – Feel okay but still not at all in control of things, too many open loops and too much wasted time. Have given up reading which should help.
17/07/09
80 – Much much better this week. Due, possibly, to sleeping well, drinking less, doing less in general . . . the less I do the more I enjoy the things I actually do do.
24/07/09
78 – A good week with one glaring omissions. I am not at all social at the moment and need to engage with the world more.
31/07/09
72 – A mixed week, undermined by Antichrist which is horrible.
07/08/09
50 – A torrid week, disorganized and feeling disenchanted. When did I feel most happy.
14/08/09
76 – A much better week, helped by the fact that I was late with the other weekly review. Perhaps I should do two per week.
21/08/09
67 – Need to be more healthy and procrastinate less. Shall do this by going to the gym and focusing on one project at a time.
28/08/09
73 – Pretty good. Being fairly organised is the linchpin, I think. Want to start yoga, getting up at 7am, and generally being more mindful.
04/09/09
67 – Not great, just very very average. Getting stuff done efficiently, but not being very social and not doing yoga.
11/09/09
69 – Feel that if I just do path of least resistance and the path is going to the right place I will be alright. Write down challenging tasks on to do list
18/09/09
81 – A very good week, helped by staying organized and doing an out of ten during the week. Am tempted to do it every day. Not sure if this would reduce its effectiveness.
25/09/09
60 – Was nice to go down to London but suspect that it gave me the illness that has afflicted me all week, dragging me down to want to have a revolution of yoga and walking.
02/10/09
74 – A mixed week. Still incredibly lazy. Need to force myself up in order to walk to work. The yoga produces a lot of resistance, but I think it will be worth it in the end.
09/10/09
69 – Ugh. V.ill but worth the pain and expense of the Great Escape I think.
16/10/09
74 – Pretty good. Been very good to do random things and construct my computers pedestal.
23/10/09
73 – Okay, felt good after having performed recently. A sense of achievement.
30/10/09
70 – Okay, again, I think I just need to be more focused and less focused. It’s that grey area that brings me down. The grey area has the general effect of blanding out my sense of achievement.
06/11/09
80 – A good week, mainly because I think I learnt something – how to relax and not care after reading Bob Black’s essay. It was good for me, I think.
13/11/09
75 – Mixed, I decided to abandon these strange ideas of living like a philosopher in order to embrace living like what I am, a web designer. This is what I want to do. Unfortunately I appear to have taken on a load of additional projects. Strip away.
20/11/09
61 – Not great. Clearly important not to have any freelance projects on the go. Now just to complete them.
27/11/09
51 – Back from Leicester and rather disorganized, but less so than it could have been. It is winter and I want to do winter things like wrap up warm and read.
04/12/09
72 – Can’t believe that I’ve almost done this for a year. I think it’s useful as a way of reminding myself but may not do it again next year. We’ll see how much of a hassle it is to put together the graph and the journal entry.
11/12/09
84 – Pretty good week, aided by having my early Christmas present – a beautiful midi piano keyboard which I have been enjoying learning. It is amazing brain training, challenging but satisfying.
18/12/09
85 – Very good, more so since I took ‘one thing at a time’ as my mantra.
25/12/09
61 – A poor ending to this project, caused mainly by a week in Bilbao during which I was slightly conflicted. Next year, I will continue to look at these reminders (perhaps expanded) but without the scoring system.