Stargazer: Time Management part 1

A few weeks ago, I made a list of things that I want to try to do regularly. Here's what it is, with some comments:

8 hours of sleep every night. Back-counting from my wake-up time, that gives me a bedtime. I added an alarm to my calendar.
Meditate for ~10 minutes a day.

I haven't quite worked on this habit yet. Well, I've put in a couple of meditation sessions at the end of a workout, or the beginning of a day. But the intent is to set aside a time of day for this, and do it regularly.

I found an app for my phone, called Workout Trainer, that seems really good. It has a wide variety of exercises for flexibility, strength training, cardio conditioning, plyometrics, etc. The Free version uses a robotic voice, but it reads off the exercises and gives directions, so I don't have to crane and look at the phone all the time while I'm doing the workouts.
So one of the workouts on the Workout Trainer app is Sun Salutation, it's a 7-minute yoga routine. The app even lets you schedule the workout in your calendar, so I have it scheduled for first thing in the morning every day. I do still skip it some days, but that's happening less and less.
There's also a short (~6 minute?) Moon Salutation that I've scheduled for the evenings, but only actually done once. However, the Workout Trainer's "Moon Salutation" is a lot like the Sun Salutation, with standing forward bends and planks. Most of the yoga classes I've taken at the Y use side-poses for moon salutations. Side angle bends, triangle poses, Goddess pose and such. So I'm not sure this is quite what I want.

I kind of / sort of adapt the No Excuse Workout (NEWO) system for my own uses. The concept is to do cardio intervals on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, with bodyweight strength trainings on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.
The Workout Trainer app has appropriate workouts for this, maybe not exactly the NEWO version, but close enough. I have the routines scheduled in my calendar, and am starting to pick up the habit.

As I said above, I kind of / sort of adapt the No Excuse Workout (NEWO) system for my own uses. The concept is to do cardio intervals on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, with bodyweight strength trainings on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

I am also a martial artist, and I'm trying to get back into / stay in training. I have a LOT of things to practice, when I make time for it.

I'm working on turning my yard of Bermuda grass into a mostly-native, drought-tolerant, edible landscape permaculture. It's an ambitious goal. It's already taken several years, and will take many more. So, I want to keep / build the habit of working on my garden regularly.

One of the blogs I read posted last week that bloggers should blog on a daily basis. Personally, I think it depends on your purpose in blogging, your goal in life, and your priorities.
I'm not blogging for money. One of several reasons for blogging is because I'm unlikely to ever have a geeky daughter like I was, to encourage in engineering. My son is a joy and a delight (and one of the reasons I'm not online ALL THE TIME). But I'm also trying to pass along what I know and/or have learned where girls and women like me might be able to find it.
As I said last week, I'm going back to graduate school. I also have a full-time job and a family to spend time with. So I aim for at least one, and preferably 2 or 3 well-thought-out posts per week. But I also accept what is.

Again, these aren't always long. Most of my chapters to date have been in the 500 - 2000 word range. Right now I'm working on consistency, building the habit, and practicing the skill of writing.

I'm not ready to spill every thought that crosses my mind into my public blog, no matter how low my traffic count is. Some things are private, other thoughts need development. So I have a notebook, and periodically set pen to paper for my own thoughts.

I definitely want to continue doing something musical each week while the Chorus is on summer break. I had thought that I might join the band with Brian, but our son seems to like having at least one evening each week at home with me.
Practice keyboard at least 10 minutes per day.

I have been very, very slowly over the past year starting to teach myself to play.
While "Outliers" talks about how, with dedicated practice, 10,000 hours can be achieved in about 10 years, right now I'm setting the goal at about 10 minutes per day.
If I start to practice while DS is awake, he usually takes an interest.

My husband loves video games, and has had fun performing karaoke at a few events. So we have several karaoke video games, and some evenings we'll play those together. All three of us will take turns, it's a lot of fun. Unfortunately, DS hates to leave it for bedtime.

Obviously, I used to play clarinet. I was able to sit in on band rehearsal one week while DS was with Granny, and I would like to get my chops back into shape. That'll take some practice.
I also have played recorder and penny-whistle. Since those are already assembled, it can be easier to pick one of them up & play.

This is a habit I haven't started to work on yet. But I put in a lot of time to learn the language, and I hate the thought of it going rusty from disuse. I have several books I could work with, I know at least one website, and I used podcasts for a time. So I'd like to work on that.

Well, okay, this wasn't actually written on the list before today. I had started on the Chinese Learn Online podcasts some time ago, and it wouldn't hurt to get back to them. I actually have had formal study in mind... after I finish my current graduate studies.

Right now, I'm already working to build a daily / weekly / monthly schedule with the things that are on my plate. If / when I find the habits I listed before crystallizing, it would not hurt to refresh my Spanish, and/or build on what I know of American Sign Language and Korean.

It's late, and this is long. I'll save the discussion on Google Calendar for another time.

Stargazer