Friday, January 7, 2011

Self-Motivation

This week has been really nice for me. I’ve taken the opportunity to relax and enjoy some time away from work, and I’ve even got some thing accomplished. My big concern though is how to stay motivated. I have every desire to want to write and better myself through my writing, but it’s so hard to do. There are distractions everywhere I turn; from websites, to my kids, to stupid iPhone games, I am constantly being taken away from what I know I should be doing.

How do you stay self-motivated?

When I was selling insurance I was, basically, on my own but I was still held accountable for my production by someone who issued be a paycheck. I had an immediate motivation to work hard because it directly affected my pay, and I hate getting chewed out by my boss. I need some good tips and trick that you, my dear readers, may have to help me stay accountable to myself. I find that I am like the dog from “UP”. I lose focus and, although I want this, I’m finding it hard to really put my nose to the grindstone.

So, if anyone has some advice for me I would love to hear it. Leave me a comment or email me. Or whatever. Also, if you read and your not a follower of mine, that’s something you should be motivated to remedy.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Family Obligation

I love my kids.

Sometimes it seems as though I have to keep telling myself this. I do, in fact, love my children and I am very blessed and lucky to have them, but sometimes it seems as though the people who Mommy and Daddy really are get lost in the shuffle of changing diapers, and putting Thomas the Train on the television, and making bottles and cups of chocolate milk. I’ve said it on here before, and most likely, I’ll say it again: Being a parent is hard. It’s by far the hardest thing I have ever done. I used to think that marriage was hard, but since we have had Grayson, and especially Jackson, we don’t even have time for our marriage to be hard anymore. Even when the wife and I fight, it doesn’t last long because of the pressing needs of Thing 1 and Thing 2.

It’s a rare occurrence when Mommy and Daddy get to “get away” from the boys for a while, and I have found that when we do, it’s increasingly harder to connect with each other. It seems that all of our conversations revolve around the kiddos and, to an extent, that’s the way it should be. My real concern is that I don’t want us to lose track of the person we married. Everyone changes and I want to be able to keep up with the changes she goes through so that we can continue to be rock solid.

I feel like our marriage is stronger than ever, but there’s always the selfish desire I have to want to sit in my office and write. Or watch a Nascar race without interruption. Or play an Xbox game. My problem is that these things are alone time for me. It’s nice to zone out and reflect on what’s going on in my life. Watching 43 cars going 200 miles per hour in circles for 3 ½ hours lets me do this. The struggle is that it’s not fair to her. She should get alone time too, but she should also get more attention form me instead of constantly doting on her husband and children.

To me, no matter how good things are in my life, there’s always room for improvement. Trying to balance my marriage and family and my job and my hobbies and my dreams is really challenging. I’m not willing to give up any of them – except the work thing which I hope to replace with the dreams - so I know that I’m going to have to take the time to reflect on my strengths and weaknesses and a husband and father. It’s important to know when we do something right and when we just plain suck at something, but if you’re anything like me, I’d rather tell myself than hear it from someone else.

Monday, January 3, 2011

I'm Baaaaack!

It’s the first work day of January, and I’m on a little eight day vacation from my “real” job. I’m back behind the keyboard for the first time in a while, and I missed it. I took some time off from writing because of Christmas and surrounding madness that embraces my life in the second half of December every year, but I’m sitting here in my familiar chair typing away again and I couldn’t be happier.

It looks so pitiful....
The first order of after Christmas business was to completely revamp my workstation. This is what I started with. All of my blogs up until this one were written on this old, worn out, hand me down desk.











Thew and I spent all day Sunday assembling this monster.
This is my new baby, and I couldn’t be more thrilled with it. It’s given me the desire to write more and the organization to be able to do it with a clear mind instead of focusing on the surrounding clutter. 






We enjoyed our Christmas as much as we could even though, at some point, we’ve all been fighting being sick. It was really great to be able to spend time with our families and I seemed to get into the Christmas spirit a bit, albeit a little late.

I’ve decided that since it’s a new year, I’m going to change up my blogging habits a bit. I’m going to strictly adhere to a three blogs a week schedule; posting a new one Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. If I have more to say, I’ll blog more, but five and six blogs a week is taking away the time and ability to write something in addition to The Madness Spiral. If I’m going to make something of myself, I’m going to have to prioritize a bit smarter. I need to take more time to work on other projects, but I am certainly not abandoning this blog. I’ve had so much positive feedback from family and friends and from people I barely know and I appreciate all of it tremendously, so worry not, I will keep this site updated and current. It was nice to take some time off to get refocused, but I’m back and I’m going to start this new year off like a champion. 

It’s time to let the rubber hit the road. If you like this blog, leave me a comment, follow me, or recommend me to your friends. Your feedback makes this worthwhile, and any success I have will be in part attributed to the core readers of this silly blog.