Category: schedule

schedule, time, work

Leap: Lessons on Work and Rest from the Common Cold, My Dog, and the Dinner Table

Christa Avampato

“There is virtue in work and there is virtue in rest. Use both and overlook neither.” ~ Alan Cohen

Last week there was a little cold traveling around my social circles. For a few days, I felt very tired. When I need to get work done, I usually just push through until I get my second wind. This time I went against the grain, closed my computer, and headed off to dreamland early for a few nights in a row. I never got the cold that was making its rounds.

My pup, Phineas, is with me most of the day now since I mostly work from my home. He is a model of good, healthy living. He sleeps when he’s tired. He plays when he has energy. He eats when he’s hungry. He doesn’t have anything on his to-do list except to go outside and run around a few times a day. Other than that, he just follows his instincts. He’s quite a little teacher for me; I’m trying to live my own life by his example.

There are a lot of wonderful gifts to be found amidst hard work. There’s also a lot to be said for walking away from work to enjoy the wonderful gifts of rest. When I get up from the dinner table, I want to feel comfortably satisfied but not bloated. I want the same balance in my schedule – just the right amount of work to feel accomplished and gratified, but not so much that I feel drained of every ounce of energy and will.

I’m not so interested in work-life balance. I just want one, cohesive life that feels fully balanced between effort and ease.

routine, rules, schedule, work, work ethic

Step 224: The Value of Discipline

Christa Avampato

“Some people regard discipline as a chore. For me, it is a kind of order that sets me free to fly.” ~ Julie Andrews, British actress and singer

I used to dislike discipline. It stifled me, preventing me from following my curiosity in any direction I found interesting. With experience, I’ve found peace in discipline. In my yoga and meditation practices it has helped me to see myself and the world a bit more clearly. Discipline, when applied at just the right moment, in just the right amount, can actually set us free because it provides a focus to build around.

Some people are born with an innate sense of discipline. Some people have discipline only in certain areas of their lives. I fall into both camps. By nature, I am not a disciplined person. I don’t like rules and rigidity, and I don’t like setting rules for others. I started to gain discipline when I started running competitively. That’s translated into discipline in a number of other areas of my health and fitness. Exercise is one of those things that needs to have a schedule in order to see consistent, positive results. Work out once a month and it won’t yield much. Work out a few times a week, and the results are readily apparent.

I’m the same way with my writing – I sit down at this computer every day and just get it done. I wanted to be a better writer so I had to practice. Now it’s not hard for me to post to this blog every day. Actually, when I don’t post every day, I feel an emptiness. Something seems off and out-of-place in my life when I don’t write about my day. My financial savings plan is another areas where discipline is mission-critical. I pay myself before I pay anyone else.

So what areas of our lives benefit from discipline? I always go by one general principle: “what gets measured, gets done.” If you need to accomplish a goal or improve a skill, chances are discipline will help. Every accomplishment has a game plan, and if something has a game plan, then progress can be measured and tracked in increments.

And how do we build more discipline in the areas of our lives that need it? Here’s my method:

1.) Your schedule is your best friend. I live by my calendar on my phone. Once I see my schedule mapped out, I stop worrying about it. This map of my time also helps me to not over-commit. (I’m a ways off from that goal, but I’m improving!)

2.) I spend one night a week at home on my own and I guard that down time like a hawk. I need it, it’s important to me, and even if President Obama comes knocking for a meeting about how to fix the world, I’m not giving up my one free night a week. Actually, that’s not true. I have a lot of ideas about how to fix the world so if President Obama wanted my opinions on that topic, I’d take the meeting. But I’d probably re-schedule something else that week to make up for it.

3.) Write it down. What gets measured gets done, and I’m horrible at remembering my own progress. I have to write it down so I can refer to it regularly. I need that written guide. So whether it’s in excel or a note in my project notebook, it’s recorded.

4.) Don’t build discipline in areas that don’t interest you. I really love listening to jazz music, but I really don’t like playing it. I tried to develop a regular practice when I played the saxophone, but I didn’t like it. I just played an instrument because everyone else I grew up with played one. I didn’t get any joy from it. Playing the saxophone made me horribly nervous. So I gave it up and turned my attention to writing. If your body and mind are fighting discipline in an area of your life, maybe that area of your life is not deserving of your time.

5.) Break it up. A friend of mine in college gave me a tiny two-inch picture frame. I still have it on my desk at work, and it’s traveled with me to every job I’ve ever had. It reminds me that all I have to do at any one moment to get to a given goal is to do what fits inside that tiny picture frame. A huge project can be overwhelming. Separate it into tiny pieces and no one piece will seem that difficult.

What are your methods for gaining and maintaining discipline? What’s worked for you?

schedule, time, writing

Step 188: Routines and Rituals

Christa Avampato

For most of my life, I have fought routine. I thought routine would make me boring. I thought routines were a waste of time and lacked creativity. That changed when I started writing every day about 3 years ago. I’ve liked writing stories since I was a little kid, but I never really made a routine out of it. I just wrote when the inspiration hit me.

Later in life, I realized that practice makes better. Even with natural talent, practice is a necessity for mastery. And I wanted to be a master writer, so I set myself on the path to writing every day no matter how tired or uninspired I felt. I went to the screen or the notebook, and recorded some thought. Like a physical muscle, my writing chops improved considerably. I look back at some of my early blog posts and laugh at how bad they were. I think this is healthy – laughter and the realization that practice does indeed help.

I noticed a marked change in my writing about two years ago. I could write more quickly and with greater clarity. My mind started making connections and developing deeper insights. My readership started growing too, because I was promoting my writing and also because my content improved considerably with daily practice. My writing routine crossed the line into ritual, becoming not a chore, but a pleasure I looked forward to. And writing made my life easier because it helped me make sense of even the most complicated, messy situations.

This morning on my way to work, I began to consider other routines that I could develop into rituals with more practice. I’ve started taking a nicer route to my office. I meditate every day. I do at least 10 minutes of yoga every day, even if that means just a few sun salutations or seated postures. I love to watch CBS Sunday morning with my coffee and the paper. I’m thinking of finally getting a dog in New York, and that care will develop a routine of its own.

Routine isn’t the boring, tired-out activity I once saw it as. It’s what gives our lives purpose and focus and very often, peace.

Do you have routines that have become rituals, or are you starting some new routines in your life? I’d love to hear about them!

I found the above cartoon here.

change, schedule, time

My Year of Hopefulness – Time for Me

Christa Avampato

I am an over-scheduler. I am so worried about missing out on an opportunity that I routinely wear myself out with my scheduling. My sister, Weez, continually tells me that my weekends are busier than my workweek. She’s right. I’ve never learned the art of sitting still.

I marvel at my friend, Ken, who is so capable of carving out time just for himself to do whatever he wants depending on his mood and energy level. I’m so concerned with living up to expectations, put on me by myself and others, that I have a tough time scheduling Me time. And it’s critical – it’s something I’ve got to work on getting better at, particularly with my aspirations to start my own business at some point.

The calendar on my Palm is my best friend – it keeps going to the right place at the right time, always prepared. What I need to focus on in the next few months is using it as a tool to get more Time for Me. While I can be flexible if something wonderful arises, I need to make sure I am setting aside some time every week that is not scheduled – some time that is free to take shape based upon what the world has in-store for me and what I’d like to accomplish independent of any other opportunity.

It’s the 9th of May and I’m wondering where the first 4 months of 2009 went. I shouldn’t be wondering how that happened – my life should feel full but not stuffed. I should feel engaged with life but not overwhelmed by it. And I have the power to change that by putting aside the time to let myself relax, breath, and just be present, right here right now.

career, personality. psychology, schedule, school, work

A Very Extroverted Culture

Christa Avampato

On the Myers-Briggs scale I am an ENFP, Extrovert Intuitive Feeling Perceiver. The description of that personality type is so like me that for a moment I thought my mother had written it. A lot of people have a decent balance on each of the four levels and just tend to favor one characteristic over the other. I don’t. I’m off the charts on all of them. (This is also a mark of those who are either highly creative or insane. I’m still trying to decide which of those camps I fall into, but heck I’m inclusive. Why not be both highly creative AND insane? Isn’t life more fun that way?) I was talking to a co-worker of mine about how personality types form and support a particular culture in a company. 


“Isn’t it amazing what an extroverted culture we have here at work?” he asked. “Huh?” I replied. I hadn’t even noticed. “Go back and look at your calendar,” he said. “Let me know if you see a pattern.”

So I tootled back over to my desk and browsed through my calendar. Every day, specifically every afternoon, is packed with meetings and phone calls. I reported back to my co-worker and he smiled. One of the key components of the extrovert personality is that they like to ease into their day and gain energy as the day goes on. They get anchored in the morning, get up to speed, and by the afternoon are antsy and raring to go. That’s me. I don’t mind being up in the morning, I actually enjoy it, but I am one of those people who cannot be rushed into getting ready. I need to do my own thing for a while. For years I’ve hated the thought of exercising in the morning (I’m an after-work gym goer) and now I know why. 

Extroverts also approach other situations in their lives with this slow ramp up and the gaining of speed as time goes on. When they go to parties, they are a bit quiet at first and then the last ones  to leave. They take their time at the start of projects and then enjoy a swift and speedy wrap-up. Me again. Their best reflection time is at night when their creativity (or insantiy as the case may be) comes alive. And when do I write and study best? At night. Some people prefer to get to bed and can wake up early to knock out their work. Not me – I’ll stay up and get it done now thank you. I’m an extrovert.  

Not so amazing though, right? A lot people in this world are extroverts – 70% of the population. What is amazing to me is that an organization comprised of tens of thousands of people all across the globe has a very strong, identifiable culture that almost perfectly exhibits the traits of being a supreme extrovert. While we’d like to believe that a company’s goal is to be balanced with all personality traits, it seems that in some cases the “birds of a feather” principle stands. Who knew calendars were more than just a way to get where we’re supposed to be when? They’re actually a window into the psyches of the people around us.