Day’s Verse:
Summing up: Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless—that’s your job, to bless. You’ll be a blessing and also get a blessing.
1 Peter 3:8-ish

The other day, Ben linked to a blog post that I found really interesting. Called “Start Every day as a Producer, Not a Consumer,” it seemed aimed at people who work from home, or have lots if discretionary time in which to achieve certain tasks. I found this article thought-provoking, since right now — and, with a few notable exceptions, as far into the future as I can anticipate (which, granted, isn’t very far) — I have lots of time on my hands.

What an opportunity! How many people covet time to just do what they want? And that’s exactly what I have: Almost every day, wide open, to shape and use for whatever I hope to achieve. I’m not making any money, it’s true, so whatever I do should be on the cheap… But that’s hardly a limitation to creativity. Yet day after day, I find myself in the evening trying to account for myself and saying things like, “I went for a bike ride, read a book, and took a nap.” Hardly an effective use of time for somebody with a BS in Technical, Scientific, and Professional Communications, a certification in teaching bicycle skills, and a good, working brain.

I will play the pregnancy card; I cannot believe how tired I’ve been since getting pregnant. I sleep well most nights, but can still easily nap for a couple hours during the day. However, that’s not a particularly compelling excuse, as most women at 16 weeks pregnant are still working a regular job and doing all those normal things. So I may feel tired, and that does encourage me to spend more time dozing than I normally would, but that’s not exactly an insurmountable obstacle to achieving things.

I think the bigger obstacle is motivation and lack of concrete goals. Although dissatisfied with the way I’m letting my life run right now, apparently I’m not dissatisfied enough to take action. I say “achieving things”: What things, specifically, would I like to achieve? What are the discrete steps towards achieving those goals? I don’t feel a need to have a real job (although I don’t object to income!), but productive use of time and, more importantly, skills is important. God has given me certain abilities for a reason. It’s wrong to squander them at home, doing nothing. I have to think about this some more.

In the meantime, in response to the blog post I mentioned at the beginning, I’m going to work on standardizing my morning routine. For many years, I had a very predictable, standard morning routine that worked well. The longer I’ve been “flexibly” or “lightly” employed, the more I’ve diverged from that routine. I think it’s important to start the day right, not just killing a couple hours checking all my usual entertainment websites, so I’m going to change that starting now. One change I want to implement: I’m going to blog something every morning. I won’t guarantee quality, but quantity will be there. Hold me to this!