We've moved from Baltimore, Maryland USA to Venice, Italy in pursuit of living our dream!



Wednesday, September 14, 2016

The Half Way Point

Ciao, tutti!

Many, many thanks for the lovely comments I've received here on the blog, via emails and FB comments regarding this 10 day Blog Challenge.  I know it's a bit different, not Venice related, and I truly appreciate you hanging in here with me.  I need to get refocused, back on track, and this is going to help me get there, to get me back into the habit of writing regularly and making more frequent posts on the blog as well.

This blog post is in response to Natalie Sisson's 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day 5. The task for the day is to come up with a daily plan that I will put into place and use every day to help move me towards meeting my goals.

I need to work every day to complete tasks to get our new blog ready to launch and also write content to post on the new blog, and then keep it up regularly going forward. You all know from experience with me on this blog that I get into periods where I am not writing at all, even though I may be doing cool things that are worthy of writing about. I let life get in my way and have gotten out of the habit of writing every day.

Natalie describes a time management activity called the Pomodoro technique (after the timer used to keep track of time which is in the shape of a bright red tomato- thus Pomodoro) which is useful to keep you focused and on task.  You break your work up into small manageable chunks of time, 25 minute increments. You work for 25 minutes straight with no distractions, then give yourself a short break. After the break, you return for another 25 minute block of work. You can continue this several times in succession. I like the way this works. It seems like a workable plan for me, so I've decided to put the Pomodoro plan into action.

My plan to implement this strategy has to begin on Monday, as I already have plans to be out of town for a long weekend beginning early Friday morning. I'm taking the 3 days off- no work for me. The new plan commences Monday. I'm going to commit to three 25 minute work segments each day. I tend to write better in the evenings than in the mornings, so I'll set aside time between 8-10 pm. If I'm diligent about keeping to this work schedule, I should meet my initial goal of launching the blog , and help me stick to to a schedule to add content regularly.

I know I've been talking a lot about this new blog I'm focusing on. While I've been putting my energies in that direction, I have also spent time planning content for The Venice Experience. I've given up the thought of giving this space a visual overhaul, that's just too much on my plate for now, however there is always lots to write about going on here in Venice, and I will be doing that. Definitely NOT abandoning this. It's been my baby since July of 2007.  The Venice Experience will be 10 years old in 2017.  I feel a big birthday bash coming on!

Ok, Blog Challenge #5 is officially completed. And I'm halfway through the 10 days. That's an accomplishment in and of itself. Taking the rest of the night off!


                                            http://thefreedomplan.rocks/ten

7 comments:

Maggi said...

I really enjoy your blog. Wishing you success on your latest adventure. One request, could you please increase your print size - it is very hard to read for us older people. thank you.

karen said...

Thanks Maggi! I appreciate your feedback. Will increase the print size in the next blog. Grazie mille. Hope you will continue to read, and comment, comment, comment!

Karen

Unknown said...

Finally finished every entry on your blog! Really enjoyed your posts and your insights. I feel like I know Venice better and in a more authentic way. So glad you take the time to do it , and do it well.

Leanne said...

Hey, I wanted to make sure to say thanks for sharing these ... I hope that you're going to finish the other 5 days? It's been interesting following along.

christine said...

Just found your blog. Love it. Coming to stay in Venice for about 3 months in 2017 just because I love the place. NOt good with technology though. Could you email link to your blog so I can get reminder when you post.
Looking forward to some more interesting snippets.
Ciao
Christine
Australia

karen said...

Christine-Thanks! Would love to email you the link but don't know your email address. It isn't showing on your comment. I think if you follow the blog or click on the Rss feed you'll get notification of posts.

Sorry I have been quite negligent with writing. LIfe just gets in the way. But thanks for reading and following along in my adventures!
Ciao,
Karen

karen said...

Leanne- thanks! I had such good intentions of completing the 10 day challenge, and then life smacked me in squarely in the face. On day 6 we went off to participate in a vendemmia - the wine harvest - up in Prosecco territory, and had no internet for a couple of days, so got away from the challenge tasks. By the time I got back, it was beyond getting back into. I did get to harvest grapes and drink some wonderful prosecco, though! I thought that was a pretty good alternative.