Weekly journal: 2023-01-29

As part of my year of connection, I’m going to experiment with a weekly journal here to connect with myself. You’ll probably be bored if you read this.

Last week

Let’s start with a vowel check:

• A – Have I practiced abstinence this week? Yeah, not counting Thursday and Friday when I was carb loading for a race.
• E – Have I exercised well this week? Yep. 20 miles running and a couple solid weight sessions.
• I – What have I done for myself this week? Ran a half marathon race Saturday morning. Went well! Also had my first ever therapy session (in person, too).
• O – What have I done for others this week? Drove Henry (my 9 year old) across the state and stayed in a hotel with him so that he could compete in a spelling bee. Ill-fated trip though, see below.
• U – Do I have any unexpressed emotions? Things I need to say – Henry: I loved getting to go on that trip with you. Charlie: I’m so impressed by your art and I hope you keep at it. My mother in law: Thanks for babysitting despite her really busy day and making this next thing possible:
• Y – The “yeah” factor; what brought me joy this week? Nancy and I saw the musical Come From Away on Friday night and it was incredible.

Last week’s plans vs. reality:

• Weekly experiment: Say “let me write about that and get back to you” at least once per day. Trying to build the habit. I totally forgot about this. Going to repeat it for this week. I put it in my todo list so I don’t forget this time.
• Mistake of ambition: Post in my work Slack to gauge interest about a “Peopleware therapy office hours” thing. Done, and a lot of people are interested! 🥳
• Stressing me out: Things have calmed down at work, which means I am not being yanked around, which means I have free time, which means I need to think strategically and proactively about what I’m doing, which means I could make the wrong choice! I found a few exciting things to work on – a coaching training, the therapy office hours thing, and being more involved in product.
• Looking forward to: Driving across the state on Monday evening and staying in a hotel that night, so my 9-year-old can compete in the state spelling bee. The trip there was a great bonding time. We chatted the whole way, and he had a blast exploring the hotel. Next morning, he started throwing up so he couldn’t compete in the bee and we went home early. Bummer.

Takeaways from last week:

• Road trips make for great conversation with kids. I can’t get distracted by my phone (or anything else), and they’re strapped in place.
• If nobody shows interest in a thing I’m excited about, maybe I didn’t ask enough people. When I posted in a Slack room of 25 people, I got crickets. But in a different room of 200 people there was a lot of buzz.
• I’ll forget to do new habits if I don’t have reminders for them.

Next week

• What’s my next weekly experiment? Same as last week: Say “let me write about that and get back to you” at least once per day. Trying to build the habit.
• What is stressing me out? Not much! Feeling pretty light from a good work week, a fun half marathon, a happy marriage, and kids that aren’t sick.
• What’s my next mistake of ambition? Figure out a format for Peopleware therapy “Manager therapy” and send out the invites.
• What am I looking forward to? I’m getting LASIK done on Friday! No more glasses for meeeeeeee!