tightening up
Oct. 29th, 2006 08:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anotheranonWith the help of friends, family, and the useful book The Renaissance Soul, I've finally been smacked with the clue-by-four that if I want to get more out of my hobbies, I need to make time for them.
Much as I've chafed against the "if it doesn't make money, why do it?" dismissal of non-work pastimes, I did fall into the habit of viewing my hobbies as something that shouldn't be all that important because I don't make money off of them, and because I have so many interests that I can't claim expertise in any one of them. Hence, I pretty much resigned myself to being a dabbler that sewed and fenced in my "free time", and then wondered why all those allegedly open hours got filled with housework, websurfing, and the like. Yes, I know - took Captain Obvious awhile to strike, didn't it? :P
So, I'm trying to get organized, making lists and setting goals. Fencing is something I can't do alone and must leave the house to do, I had to set aside the time and I have enough people who will wonder where I am if I don't show that organizing that time was easy. Sewing, much more difficult.
D. pointed out that I have a cluttered workspace and often spend half of my "sewing time" looking for tools or clearing off an area to work, so yesterday I cleaned it up a bit, throwing out any obviously too-small-to-use scraps so I have cutting space and cleaning off the reading materials table so I have space to open a book. I also reshelved a lot of things, further reminding me that I have no business getting more large art books until I can make space for what I've got and read some of the backlog.
So, short version:
Fencing: modern fencing at least once a week; historic fencing twice a month (less if gas prices are punitive). If I can't get to historic practice, at least do what drills I can on my own. Short term goals: Sport: reboot my game and unlearn bad habits; historic: figure out where I lie on my group's new curriculum and where I need to work next. Keep a log (here or elsewhere) of progress so I need not strain brain trying to remember what I need to work on :P
Sewing: at least 3 hours a week, more on weekends as I have time. Short term goal: complete the doublet and draft a pattern for matching breeches. Make lists of what needs to happen in what order so I don't strain brain trying to remember what I figured out the last time I picked something up :P Get binders to organize miscellaneous flyers and instruction sets I've accumulated and get them off the table and onto the bookshelf.
Reading: at least 1/2 hour an evening, more if at all possible. Prioritize borrowed books first, balancing fiction and non.
Much as I've chafed against the "if it doesn't make money, why do it?" dismissal of non-work pastimes, I did fall into the habit of viewing my hobbies as something that shouldn't be all that important because I don't make money off of them, and because I have so many interests that I can't claim expertise in any one of them. Hence, I pretty much resigned myself to being a dabbler that sewed and fenced in my "free time", and then wondered why all those allegedly open hours got filled with housework, websurfing, and the like. Yes, I know - took Captain Obvious awhile to strike, didn't it? :P
So, I'm trying to get organized, making lists and setting goals. Fencing is something I can't do alone and must leave the house to do, I had to set aside the time and I have enough people who will wonder where I am if I don't show that organizing that time was easy. Sewing, much more difficult.
D. pointed out that I have a cluttered workspace and often spend half of my "sewing time" looking for tools or clearing off an area to work, so yesterday I cleaned it up a bit, throwing out any obviously too-small-to-use scraps so I have cutting space and cleaning off the reading materials table so I have space to open a book. I also reshelved a lot of things, further reminding me that I have no business getting more large art books until I can make space for what I've got and read some of the backlog.
So, short version:
Fencing: modern fencing at least once a week; historic fencing twice a month (less if gas prices are punitive). If I can't get to historic practice, at least do what drills I can on my own. Short term goals: Sport: reboot my game and unlearn bad habits; historic: figure out where I lie on my group's new curriculum and where I need to work next. Keep a log (here or elsewhere) of progress so I need not strain brain trying to remember what I need to work on :P
Sewing: at least 3 hours a week, more on weekends as I have time. Short term goal: complete the doublet and draft a pattern for matching breeches. Make lists of what needs to happen in what order so I don't strain brain trying to remember what I figured out the last time I picked something up :P Get binders to organize miscellaneous flyers and instruction sets I've accumulated and get them off the table and onto the bookshelf.
Reading: at least 1/2 hour an evening, more if at all possible. Prioritize borrowed books first, balancing fiction and non.
