Overwhelmed

12/20/15 • 3 min read

This post was originally posted on December 21, 2015 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.

Four.

As Advent comes to a close, I’m still working on my Advent Resolution of preparing for 2016. In fact, last Friday, in the post-Star Wars euphoria, I took a day off and sat down to put in writing all the ideas and plans that I’d been working on.

I quickly became completely overwhelmed.

I started by grouping my goals into four categories… fitness, family, professional and household. And then started trying to figure out how to make all these things happen. But the list of things I want to change are long and two things happened:

1. I got discouraged: How am I ever going to do all these things next year?
2. I got depressed: I have to change all these things to feel like I’ve accomplished anything.

And planning and preparation came to an abrupt halt. Friday night though, I came to a conclusion: I really love my life and I don’t have to change anything. But I want to be healthier, more organized and more connected to my family. I can’t make all these things happen at one time. They have to happen gradually as part of a lifestyle change.

I tackled my list with renewed energy. I tried to prioritize items as I grouped and I noticed a pattern: Every category had a foundation.

For the fitness and health, the foundation goal is walking at lunch. When I walk at lunch, I eat better and feel better, and I’m more likely to work out more and log my food in Lose It. All my other goals start to fall in line if I make time to walk around downtown Columbia at lunch.

For my family, it’s eating dinner at home as a family around the dinner table. With our busy schedules, it’s too easy to eat out. Things just run better when we eat at home and get all five of us around the dinner table.

For professional improvement, it’s the blog. When I’m posting regularly, I’m more creative and energetic. Writing about design and creativity typically sparks ideas and projects.

And for household, it’s sitting down with my wife to plan the week, figuring out meals and schedules for the week ahead. Life’s a lot easier when we are on the same page.

As I started to structure my goals, it became clear that if I do those four things, lots of good things tend to follow. I’m going to add a few more things like using my phone less and some specific long term fitness goals. But I’m starting with my four foundation goals.

And I’ll build from there.

What I loved about Star Wars: The Force Awakens

12/17/15 • 2 min read

This post was originally posted on December 18, 2015 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.

I saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens on opening night and completely loved it. J.J. Abrams did an amazing job capturing the spirit of the original and building an awesome new environment for the future of the franchise.

It’s not a perfect movie, but it is amazingly fun and I enjoyed every minute of it. If you haven’t seen it and are even remotely a Star Wars fan, go and see it.*

You can find spoiler-free reviews all over the internet. I’m not going to do a review or spoil any plot points, but I want to talk about the things I really loved in the new movie.

• Rey. I have daughters. And I couldn’t be happier that Rey is a strong, independent and awesome character in the Star Wars universe. The original trilogy didn’t have any strong women outside of Leia. I can’t wait to see what my daughters think of Rey.
• Droids. BB-8 steals the show. Seriously great. And great moments from C-3PO and R2-D2, too. Funny and comical in the same way that they were in the original trilogy. Not obnoxious and slap-stick like the prequels.
• Spoiler Free. I went into the movie completely spoiler free. I hadn’t read reviews or online spoilers. I watched the trailers, but that was it. I didn’t have any idea what was coming next. And it was perfect.
• Mystery. Lots of mysteries are revealed, but even more are teased and not answered. Plenty to reveal in the next two movies.
• Production Design. The movie looks incredible. It’s a perfect visual extension of the original trilogy. The ships are great. The planets look amazing. And the whole thing looks like Star Wars.

I’m going to see it again tonight with my wife and will probably have more thoughts. But as a Star Wars fan, I’m happy. Thanks, J.J.

* And see it now, before the movie is spoiled for you.

Speeding along

12/13/15 • 2 min read

This post was originally posted on December 14, 2015 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.

Three candles.

Advent is speeding by and my preparations for the new year are moving forward. But I feel like I’m running out of time to prepare for 2016.

I tried this week to limit my phone use and honestly really struggled. I made a couple of simple changes that I hope will help. I turned off virtually all notifications to limit the “pull” of the phone. And I reordered my apps so that only the necessary apps — like banking, calendar and to-do list — are on the home page. Social media apps like Twitter and Facebook are now on page two so hopefully I won’t get sucked into other apps on my phone when I just need to check and appointment time.

This week, I’m going to think about health and fitness. My biggest challenge is our crazy family schedule. We eat out too much and don’t always make time to work out. I’ve got some ideas for how to plan a little better and work out more consistently. I’m hoping to hammer out details this week.

I bought a Fitbit Charge recently and I’m tracking my activity. I’m going to start using Lose It for food tracking again. Personally, I find that having those data points help me be healthier.