Creating structure

I realised early on in my project that I wanted more structure.  I have 2 main reasons: 

1. I feel guilty about engaging in such self-indulgent activities, and have felt as though I'm "wasting time," and 
2. I hope that adding some structure will help me share my experience with others.

1. My first concern, that I'm "wasting time," is not exactly supportive of what I'm trying to accomplish here -- spend serious time thinking about what's important to me, and shape the next stage of my life. I think that concern is rather telling of a few points: 

I feel better when I have some structure to guide my time. This seems perfectly reasonable, and I'll chalk this up to a deeper understanding of how I work well. While this doesn't seem like a huge discovery, it's telling that I can't really remember the last time I had even a few hours of unstructured time regularly throughout my week. I can also do something about this issue relatively easily. I'll spend some time experimenting with various ways of scheduling time for specific activities. I already keep a log of project-related activities, but this is retroactive. This daily routine seems a bit too structured, but I do like the suggestion to start out your day with a creative activity (and not checking email), and to get up and move around more.  Since I'm taking a d.school class, I could easily start with a drawing exercise.

The next point about my concern of being too self-indulgent with my time is slightly more disconcerting. I feel somewhat guilty that I don't deserve this time for myself, since I'm relatively emotionally stable and shouldn't have anything to worry about. My reaction now is that everyone should take time for themselves, if nothing more than to prevent any small concerns or anxieties from getting worse. 

A friend this weekend offered a different perspective -- that in business we spend so much time planning, strategising, and executing, but we rarely spend time reflecting to improve that circular process. So I'm just actively making time to what many of my friends and classmates don't have the opportunity to do. 

2. The spirit of helping others brings me to my second main point. I've told several friends about my project, and this blog is my first attempt to make my project more public. My friend Nina suggested this, and this weekend gave me more suggestions about how to improve the usefulness of my blog.  

One is simply posting consistently. I'm choosing Tuesdays and Fridays. Hopefully that will provide some mid- and end-of-week procrastination for anyone who needs it. 

Second is incorporating and commenting on others' posts. I've started to include some links in this post. I'd love your suggestions of other good blogs I should read. Hopefully looking at others' work will help with my creativity and broaden my perspective. 

Third is to be a lab for others' experiments. What should I try for a day or a week? I don't expect to be as bold as The Happiness Project, but in her spirit of satisficing, I will start out small. My first project, as I mentioned above, is to start my day with a creative activity.  

My mood right now: Very happy. Perhaps influenced by just watching Obama swearing in as President. Or my amazing weekend with sunny warm weather in the woods and by the beach with good friends. I know this euphoria won't last long, but I'm excited while it lasts!

Back to my schedule,

Emma