At the moment I'm back working in the city in one of the high-rise office blocks. High-rise in Auckland isn't as tall as many other cities, and usually equates to around thirty floors. I'm on a floor halfway up with a great view of the harbour. The building is close to St. Matthews church, and from my window I look out at the top of the tower.
You get a different perspective of the city from that height, and I guess when the church was built in the first few years of the 1900s it would have been one of the tallest buildings in the city. Now, the church is dwarfed by many of the bland office blocks.
The only constant is change, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, but change nevertheless.
Language is another of those things that is constantly evolving. Flicking through an Enid Blyton book recently, I was reminded of frocks and sixpences, and a world that no longer existed even when I first marvelled at the Faraway Tree and wanted to go on adventures with the Famous Five.
Text talk and abbreviations seem to be a totally different language, but I remember comments my parents made about my teenage-self and friends and our conversation, and then I think of some of my favourite Shakespeare quotations. It's the same language, but very different.
With the start of a new month, I've heard a few people making the comment, 'Where has the year gone?' With our third house move this year looming, I know where our eight months has gone!
It's been a busy year as we've sold, rented, bought and renovated. Added to which there is family, work, writing and that little thing called 'having a life'. The list is in no particular order, although 'having a life' got tagged on the end almost as an after-thought, as it's been for a while!
I hear you either tutting, or taking a big breath to tell me how much busier you've been. But wait a minute....
That second paragraph, while entirely true, was written a little tongue-in-cheek. I listen to people at work, friends, acquaintances and passers-by talking, and everyone is BUSY. Not just busy, but BUSY!!
We seem proud of the amount of hours we have to work and our lack of spare time. It's almost a badge of honour. A way of showing how important we are. No longer are we talking about the new car/sound system/television we have, but rather our lack of time to use these items. Even children aren't immune. They seem to spend their lives being ferried around to after-school classes/clubs/social events with weekends full of teams and sports.
I'm not sure if it's worse than it used to be, or if being on-call 24/7 with email, smartphones and gadgets makes it feel that way. If I could bottle something that solved our time deprived lives, and sell it, I know I'd make a fortune.
There isn't really a one-size fits all solution. We have to find the answer ourselves. I think it begins with realising the effects this state of busyness has on us, keeping us in a state of near panic. If we're constantly running on adrenalin, we're not doing our physical and mental-selves any favours, and our decision-making capabilities are degraded.
Unfortunately, most of us aren't in a position to change everything in our lives. At the very least, I think we should stop for a few minutes at least once a day, and clear our minds of all those chattering thoughts that want to grab our attention. We should use the time to notice where we are and the things around us, and how we actually feel physically. In other words, to be exactly in that moment, rather than still continuing an argument we had earlier with someone, or still being angry with the driver who cut into the queue, or the other thousands of mostly inconsequential things that drag us away from enjoying NOW.
W.H. Davies wrote this poem in the early 1900s.
What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad day light,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
Someone once said they doubted anyone would ask for the words, 'Wish I'd spent more time at the office,' on their tombstone.
It's a beautiful world out there. Appreciate it.
We moved house recently, not a totally unknown occurrence for us as we have nomadic tendencies, but we’d lived in the house for almost six years, which is pretty much a record for us.
The new place is only about 5 km and a couple of bays further up the coast, so I know the general area, and still use most of the same facilities, shopping etc. Because of this, there have been one or two occasions when I’ve got into the car and switched into autopilot mode, only to find myself taking a route back to the old house. Habits are powerful things!
Autopilot mode is useful and we use it in most aspects of our life. When we first learn to do something, like driving, we have to go through each individual movement, possibly even muttering instructions to ourselves as we do. However, once we’ve learned the sequence of movements and practiced them, dozens or possibly hundreds of times, the knowledge moves into a different area of our brain, and we don't think through each individual component or movement.
Habits of themselves aren’t good or bad, they are a part of our learning and development. When you get dressed tomorrow, look at what foot you put into your pants or socks first, and then the following day use the opposite foot first. It’s hard to break the habit because it’s something we do without thinking, but if we had to think through every movement or task we do, we’d be overwhelmed.
The writing work ethic is an interesting one. Some writers wait for the muse to attack, while others write every day.
My day job is non-fiction writing, and if I’ve learned anything it’s that waiting for the muse to attack doesn’t work. It may seem like a very ‘writerly’ thing to say, but in practise it means we’re not going to finish. The only way to finish a book is to write.
It’s certainly not the easiest thing in the world, especially when the sun is shining, but the bottom line is: writers write.
I speak from the experience of both sides. I’ve had periods when I’ve made myself sit down every day and write, and periods that, for various reasons, I haven’t been able to, or not felt like writing.
What I do know, is that when you sit down to write on a regular basis, magic happens.
Now to practice the art of habit and follow the advice of Mary Heaton Vorse.
‘The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair.’
At this time of year in New Zealand it's the celebration of
Matariki – the traditional Maori New Year.
Of course we also celebrate New Year on the 31st
December/1st January, and as there is also a large Chinese population
we have festivals to celebrate Chinese New Year, as well as Matariki events.
I’m fascinated with our obsession of changing habits and
making goals on a specific date because it’s a New Year. I think having several different dates emphasises the
point that we can make goals and change behaviours at any time.
I’ve blogged about making goals before, but it seemed a good time to post about a few of the things I've learned. The major thing has been to make one goal at a time,
which is a good reason not to confine them to New Year.
If our goal is about big behavioural changes, then we’re more
likely to succeed if we concentrate on one change at a time.
Ask yourself what you really want to change? What skill you really want
to improve? Or what skill you’d like to learn?
Take some time and really think about what you want out of
life. Now is a good time as the papers and magazines aren’t full of celebrity
goals that can sway our thinking.
When you’ve come up with your goal, write it down. I find the act
of committing it to paper makes it more real.
Now break the goal down into smaller more manageable tasks you
can measure and set a time period for achieving.
In the past I’ve tended to choose a number of things I want to change or do, and then I get bogged down trying to keep them all. Making one goal at a time and steadily progressing towards it allows me to focus on what I need to do.
I’ve also found it useful to tell
someone about my goal. Usually just one person, again it’s about making it
real, but also about choosing someone who recognises why that goal is important
to me, and will remind me about it in a supportive way.
Many companies have a program of continuous improvement. I’ll leave aside the fact that many pay lip
service to it, but I think about it in respect of my goals. Things aren’t going
to change overnight, we will probably find ourselves reverting to old habits, but
concentrating on one goal, breaking it down into bite size pieces and giving ourselves the time and space to achieve makes success a lot more certain than a New Year’s
Eve scattergun approach.
Start now - get out a piece of paper and think about something you really want to achieve.
If you're interested in finding out a little more about Matariki here are some links:
http://www.matarikievents.co.nz/
http://www.mch.govt.nz/nz-identity-heritage/matariki
One of the simplest ways I've found to get over a slight mental stumbling block, whether on my creative writing or non-fiction, is to move away from the computer. Often it's just the equivalent of a walk to the water cooler. For me this is to the fridge, or tap to fill my water bottle.
I can't count the number of times I've mulled over a section of dialogue, the assessment questions I need to create, or a topic for this blog with a white fog drifting through my head. I walk away from the computer and something comes to me. It's like magic.
I change my perspective and my thoughts change.
I like that thought on a bigger scale as well. Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at change.
For a while every time I've thought about my WIP I've thought about how stuck I am with the plot, and yes, I'm over the 'losing the plot' jokes!
So I'm taking my own advice and changing my perspective. After all I'm only stuck if I decide I'm stuck and don't try to move forward.
I'm busy at the moment with various learning and development projects, but one thing that never seems to change is the sudden about-turn that's required when one project goes quiet for whatever reason, and another suddenly becomes vitally important with a deadline of yesterday.
I've often joked about the saying 'the only constant is change', but it's so true. How many industries and jobs are there now, that didn't exist 10 years ago?
This reminded me of a book I read a number of years ago - Who Moved My Cheese. If you haven't read it, then get a copy. It's a small book and doesn't take long to read.
Here are a couple of the points that resonated with me.
Change happens: Whether we want it to, or dread it. Whether we go with it or bury our heads, change happens.
The biggest inhibitor to change is you. Oh no it's not, we say, but it is comfortable here, and things are very nice. Why can't they stay the same?
When you move beyond your fear you feel free. This is an interesting one. I tend to think of fear as terror or horror, but fear is also something that stops us doing things. So when we push ourselves to get beyond it, we feel an amazing exhilaration. It's a great feeling, and there's nothing quite like it. We should all do it more often.
There's a difference between activity and productivity. Even knowing this, I still find myself busy, but not always productive. It's so easy to spend time on blog posts, emails, Twitter etc. and not actually produce the all-important word-count.
It also has a lot to do with making goals, and prioritising what's important.
Most of us don't have control over every hour of our day. We have work, families and other committments, but what about the hours we do have control over? What do we do in that time?
Do we spend it watching TV or on activities that contribute to our goals? Putting it like that makes it sound virtuous, but dreary. Ultimately we have to decide for ourselves. At the moment I'm very aware of time, and that we don't always have the endless supply of it we often imagine.
Change happens - embrace it, or at least deal with it.
Get busy and don't wait to live the life you've been dreaming.
