Sunday, January 10, 2010

Resolute

I seem to have writers block. It's not that I don't have anything to write about, & I have enough photos to make you all dizzy, but I just am not finding good words lately.

I'll start plainly.

When I wrote up my list of Keeping it Real New Years Resolutions, one of the things I wrote was:

Spend 15 minutes each day learning something new.

I got a couple of questions about this...and I do want to share because of all my resolutions, this is the one I'm most excited about.

Let me start by saying that I'm a perfectionist. Most people might think that a perfectionist would be staring a beautiful, uncluttered, organized desk right now. Well, that's not true. That might be more OCD or something. A perfectionist is someone who wants so badly for things to be perfect, that if they aren't able to do it perfectly- they might not even try. (That is me.) When I first got married, I wouldn't vacuum for the longest time because I really didn't have time to move all the furniture and do it right. I'd not really heard of the concept of just doing the traffic areas. ;) I got over that--but I had to relearn it. Not joking.

So that brings me to 15 minutes. In that same season when I was learning that it was okay to do the dishes even if you weren't going to clean every.square.inch.of.the.kitchen, I learned from FlyLady the concept of 15 minutes. "You can do anything for 15 minutes!" She says. Breaking down all the insurmountable tasks in my life, making them doable, a little at a time.

I'm sorry to say that I'm not cured of perfectionism. I'll say that I've mastered it in the home and with our schooling...but not so much in larger arenas in life, such as self-education. I get completely overwhelmed at the thought of learning something new- even taking a class. My husband doesn't know what to make of me, I think. I just freeze up and lose interest in that thing I was oh-so-interested-in.

There are a few things I'd like to learn more about , or things I'd like to learn better. So I'm going to plug away at those things, 15 minutes a day. In a year, I'll be a rockstar.

This week, I've been working on reading my camera manual and learning a new song on the guitar..new chords. It's fun to see what I'm learning already. 15 minutes is really doable. Last night I learned two new things about my camera that were so fun. I think it might be good too--because I might just remember those tips because I didn't learn 24 new things at once.

Now, I'm off to spend 15 minutes on blueberry muffins, then 15 more on paying bills.

Did you ever try cleaning out a closet in 15 minute increments? It really works!


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is a great perspective on learning / managing / perfecting.

You're a rockstar already.

Thanks for the clarification on your 15 minutes!

Kristin said...

It was nice to talk with you a bit on Sat. at the game. Nate played to well. Thanks also for inviting Josh to Nate's party. He had a lot of fun. Your blog always encourages me. Have a great week.

Yule {b}Log said...

Great idea! I can't wait to hear your music.

Hilary said...

I'm having the same sort of writer's block - so much so that I can't even manage to leave a decent comment! The most I can muster is that I really enjoyed your words here - we CAN do anything for 15 minutes! :)

Kellie said...

Oh Amanda. I completely know what you mean. I get stuck every day in the "if I can't do it right I'm just not gonna do it" frame of mind. And I too am a far cry from a perfectionist about so many things, but yet that ideal hangs me up so often. It drives me nuts. And if you've got 4 boys in the family - you're a rockstar already! :-P