Hello Beautiful People!
One of my New Year’s resolutions
was to upload a new blog every week, but two weeks in I’m already struggling. I’ve
have a list as long as my arm of potential ideas but I’ve sat looking at them
for a good ten minutes and none of them are really grabbing me tonight.
Determined not to give up so soon I’ve just text my friend Nicola for ideas.
Immensely helpful as ever, she came up with the fabulous idea of writing about
how wonderful she is (that girl is so modest) and whilst she is without a doubt
an incredible person, Ten Reason’s Why
Nicola is Amazing wasn’t really the sort of idea I was looking for. So I’m
sitting here fretting that two weeks in, I’m already on the point of failure
and then BAMN! I remember the Don’t Break
the Chain concept.
Way back in 2012 Charlie McDonald
posted a video called Don’t Break the Chain where he talked about how he used Don’t
Break the Chain charts to help him commit to working on his videos every
day. The idea is that you take a task you need to do on a regular basis (in
Charlie’s case spending at least half an hour a day working on his videos),
make a chart and cross of each day you complete the task. I think the charts
are a brilliant way of help you commit to a task and making you increase your
productivity because the more days you complete the longer the string of
crosses gets and the more determined you become not to break the chain. I remember
watching it at the time and thinking that it seemed like a fantastic idea but
never got around to using it, so this year I have given myself three.
Chart Number One – Go Outside
 |
| It doesn't have to be a boat trip, a walk to the shop will do |
The first chart is to simply make
myself leave the house at least once a day, because apparently fresh air is
good for you. Before you all start shouting at me for spending my life locked in
my bedroom festering away, give me a chance to explain! When I’m living at home
during the holidays leaving the house at least once a day is something I do
without thinking about it. I have to go to work, take the dog for a decent walk,
walk into town to grab some bits from the shops, the list goes on. When I’m at
uni however, it’s a slightly different situation. Whilst some students have extremely
busy timetables where they’re in 9 till 5 every day, I don’t. As an English
student most of my work is based around individual studying (reading,
researching, writing etc.) so I only have around eight contact hours a week
timetabled over 3 days, leaving me with four days a week where I don’t technically
have to leave the house for anything.
It don’t do this intentionally but sometimes if my work load is particularly
big I can spend three days sat at my desk, reading and writing and being
productive, but not actually going outside. This usually ends up with me
feeling tired, grouchy, and miserable, because a lack of fresh is really not
good for you. So, using the Don’t Break
the Chain chart as motivation, I will be leaving the house every day this
year, even it is just for a 15 minute walk around the block and even if it is interrupting
a productive day of work, because in the long run the magical effects of fresh
air will increase my productivity.
Chart Number Two is going to help
me succeed at Chart Number One because…deep
breaths everyone…I’m…wait for it…starting
the NHS Couch to 5k scheme, a 9 week course of 3 runs a week. No don’t laugh, I
actually am! I am well aware that I have participated in little to no exercise over
the past four years but I am endeavouring to change that. The Couch to 5k was
introduced to me by my friend Kate who in the past year or so has really got
into running. It’s a brilliant starting point for people who want to start
exercising but don’t where to begin. Week 1 starts off with a 20 minute session,
consisting of a 5 minute walk and then alternant 60 seconds of running and 90
seconds of walking. The running time slowly builds up over the weeks until by Week
9 you’re doing solid 30 minute runs. There is also a free podcast for each week
that breaks down the time slots and talks you through each session. I think it’s
a fantastic programme and for the first time in my life I’m actually excited
about exercise and can’t wait to get started. Again I think the Don’t Break the Chain chart is going to
come in really useful for pushing myself to complete the three runs a week.
Anyway I’m going to have to do because I’ve bought running shoes now!
Chart Number Three – Weekly Blogging
Chart number three is there to increase
my writing productivity by making sure I write something every day. It doesn’t
have to be a full blog post; it can just be an idea or an outline but the more
I write, the more ideas I’ll come up with and hopefully this will mean I won’t
be struggling for blog ideas so much. I’m trying to push myself to improve and
the only way to do that is through practise. Some of the things I write may be
terrible (some of you may think this blog is terrible) but at least I’ll be
writing something and the more I write the more chance there is that some of it
will be good.
So there you go, my three Don’t Break the Chain charts for this
year. If any of you fancy trying the Don’t
Break the Chain charts you can print them off from Karen Kavett's blog here. Let me know in the
comments what you’re using them for and how you get on.
Love
S
xxx
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