drip, drip, drip

Oh, how things don't go to plan sometimes! And oh, how exciting it can be when they do! March has been kind of like that. The end of March brings the end of the three month goals I made at the beginning of the year. I've updated them each month, but it's fun to look back at what I thought at Christmas I'd be doing by the end of March.

Have I cleared out the entire house, or even half of it? No, but the attic's looking a lot better, and I'm at least on top of the washing most of the time. Do I have a table, a gate, a washing line in the garden? No, but there's all kinds of things growing (more on that later in the week). Have I been running three times a week? Yes, actually, I have! Sometimes only for 20 minutes at a time - but then that's the beauty of vague goals... Have I stuck to my budget? Yes, pretty much, although it's had to be refined a little because of a couple of unexpected things. But mostly it's ticking along nicely, and it doesn't half feel good to be in control.

Am I up to where I thought I'd be with the PhD revisions? Er, not quite, but I'm sticking to the timetable I made in February, when things were a little clearer. Did I look for a job every week, and apply for a total of six things? No, but that's because I was offered the first thing I applied for (tee hee). Is my voluntary project finished? Not quite, but it will be by the end of this week, and also the community garden is progressing nicely too.

And have I posted at least twice a week on my cheery little blog? Er, it seems not. Sorry about that, must try harder...

My goals for the next three months are pretty similar. I'm having quite a lot of success with ongoing goals - make sure you do a bit of this, a bit of work on that, do something several times, doesn't matter if it's not every week, and slowly, gradually, it drips in, and eventually becomes part of life.

So April's goals range from the rather specific, but fairly tedious things that wouldn't get done if they weren't on a list (sealing round the bath, sorting out a washing line, listing a load of old text books on Amazon, clearing out my old office), to the fairly vague but cheery things (er, should I confess on this list is 'start finishing Peter's Christmas present'??), from the measurable but not very arduous (go on two bike rides), to the decision-making (decide whether to continue with voluntary project. Oh, and I really do plan on posting here a little more often...

March felt busy, head-down kind of busy, and has mostly focused on applying for, being interviewed for, and being excited about my new job. April feels like kind of an in-between month - I'm not finishing this old job yet, not starting the new one yet, not finishing the PhD yet, lots of things just trundling on slowly, drip, drip, drip.

On the other hand, April's the month of my birthday, so it always feels like a rather cheery month :)