Some weeks go better than others. This has been one of them. Had a ton of paid work to get through. Very good progress on that front. Got round to doing some bike maintenance jobs. Cycled a fair few miles. Published a new post four days running. Eh! What gives?
Ever heard the saying that if it wasn’t for the last minute nothing would get done? I think that’s whats behind getting on with the work stuff. The deadline crunch was not of my making. That makes no difference. Projects needed to progress. It was the right amount of pressure in this instance. It got me in the flow. That state where you do not notice the passage of time. Where the demands of the task take you close to but not over the limit of your capabilities. Where there is some intellectual challenge to the job in hand. Having others interested in and contributing to the work I was doing, a welcome bonus. It feels good.
I put off working on my bike(s) for many reasons. None of these reasons are insurmountable. I give most too much weight. I keep the two bikes I have in the same room where my main computer is set up and where I work from home. Every day I would look at the new wheel I had made ready to replace the one that was past its best and already on the bike. I think it may have been the regular visual reminder that prompted me to finally get on with the job on Saturday. I thought I had all the bits I needed. Turned out I needed one more item. Making a start created the momentum to keep going despite needing to go out and acquire the missing part. The decisive action in this case was taking the old wheel off, removing worn jockey wheels and throwing them in the bin. This meant I had an obstruction in the room instead of a working bike.
I got the job completed and felt pretty good about that. This had a knock on effect and I was inclined to tackle another maintenance job on Tuesday. One that had been waiting for my attention for a couple of months. A case of success breeding success in this instance.
The distance I’ve cycled since Monday has something to do with it being the start of a new month. New starts are a reliable motivator for me to act on my intentions. I’m a morning person. I like Mondays. I embrace change. I look forward to the turn of seasons. I enjoy new starts and beginning again. When I get a bit of a routine going I often stay with it for a while. If a miss more than a couple of days I’ve switched tracks and then it takes a bit of an effort to get back in the groove. I’m in the groove right now. I’m not normally derailed this early in the month.
Last on the list is writing these posts. It’s the first Blaugust I’ve contributed to so there’s the novelty factor to gee me on. Being part of a collective endeavor is another. A modicum of personal accountability to do the thing also helps. Balancing that against not pushing myself to finish and publish a post in one sitting is getting these out there. It’s not all in the method but I guess that helps.
There are plenty of other longer term, relationship and environmental factors contributing to this weeks productivity. It seems everything so far has been well aligned for me. It will not last. It never does. Life would become a grind if it did. For now I shall strike while the iron is hot.