So, little more than two weeks ago I decided to set up some ambitious goals to move me out of my comfort zone and I posted them on my Steemit blog. Today I’m doing an audit of my progress at the mid-way point with the intention of sharing some of the wins—and the fails!
September 1: For the month of September I will show up at work exactly on time and leave exactly on time instead of my usual habit of arriving early and leaving late. I'm not paid for overtime and worse, it simply gives others the impression that I either can't complete my work on time or I don't have a personal life (which is actually kind of true.)
WIN – Not only have I NOT put in a single hour of overtime this month but I also received an unexpected raise yesterday. A modest raise to be sure but a complete surprise. My boss said the raise was to reward me for my work on several successful projects this year but a colleague told me that my new habit of leaving the office right at 5 pm, instead of at 5:30 or 6, had alarmed him.
September 2: I will spend the entire day refraining from any negative comments what-so-ever. That includes comments about the weather!
WIN – And I’m making more of an effort to continue this every day.
September 3: I'll be spending the day at our family's cabin with extended relatives so my experiment for the day is to have a one-on-one conversation with each cousin, aunt and uncle instead of hiding out in the kitchen or with my nose in a book.
WIN – So happy that I spent time talking to my relatives especially my aunts since it showed me how much I was valued and loved by my family. For a long time I believed I had disappointed them when I ended up in an abusive relationship and that they had thought less of me.
September 4: I will take the long route back home from the cabin in order to visit my elderly uncle at his senior's complex.
Half WIN – I did drop by to see him but he was in one of his moods so I left quickly in order to avoid antagonizing him. He suffers from dementia and often confuses me with a sister he had disliked as a young boy. I’m going to try again next month.
September 5: I will attend a yoga session at our local gym instead of my usual habit of doing yoga at home.
FAIL
September 6: I will have lunch with colleagues in the staff room at least two days this week instead of eating in front of my computer alone in my cubicle.
WIN – I had lunch with colleagues three days that week but it wasn’t easy. I can’t stand small talk and had to pretend I found the conversations interesting.
September 7: I will attend the library book club. It's only once a month but I've been told the members keep in touch with coffee dates and emails between meetings. This would be an opportunity to make new friends who share a common interest in literature.
FAIL – I discovered this month’s choice for book club was a chick lit book by a British author. I don’t read that crap.
September 8: I will attend a networking breakfast. Our company (and its affiliate company) holds one several times a year and I've yet to attend but this would be a good opportunity to meet colleagues from other departments.
WIN – Not only was the food fabulous but I met a colleague from one of our suburban branches who I really hit it off with—and it turns out that she will be transferred to our main office in the new year. Yeah, someone cool to sit with at lunch.
September 9: I will go out to a movie (on my own). I think it's been about three years since I last saw a film in a movie theater.
FAIL – I couldn’t bring myself to do this but will try again next month.
September 10: I will attend my sister's birthday party even though there will be a lot of people there that I won't know.
WIN – I went and stayed the entire evening and had a pretty good time despite the noise and horrible taste in music. Not a fan of 80s rock.
September 11: I will volunteer at my mother's church which is holding a bake sale that afternoon. I will make a point of speaking with the other volunteers.
WIN – This was an interesting experiment in that I met people who had known me when I was a kid. One old guy told me that I “was such an inquisitive child that it was not a surprise to see that I had done so well with my career” – a reference to a time when I worked at a prestigious company after college. Seeing myself through others’ eyes gave me a fresh perspective and reminded me that I wasn’t as big as loser as I sometimes feel I am.
September 12 - 16: I will say good morning to my colleagues and have brief conversations instead of my usual pattern of walking quickly past them on my way to my cubicle.
WIN – Yes, I have done this every morning at work. The hellos and convos are brief—Hi, how are you, love your shoes!—but has helped with my resistance to initiating conversation.
September 17: I will post a poem on Steemit even though it may lead to criticism. I used to enjoy writing poetry and had several published in an anthology years ago.
FAIL? I don’t think I’ll be posting a poem today…unless perhaps this haiku:
One window opens
another closes, tightly
choose your path with love