Alright. I have all sorts of things to get done today, and I imagine you do too.
So I’m officially declaring today to be a Day of Chickening!
How it works:
You state the thing you want to do.
That’s basically it.
Or, if you like, you can also set it up (entry!).
For example, you can think about how you want to approach it or play with it.
And what will help.
And what you’re going to try if the initial approach doesn’t work.
Here’s mine.
Okay, background!
The monsters from the Grumblethrum Collective (their slogan: No time! No time!) are saying there are seventeen billion things that need to be done today.
We know from experience that this is not true, but it feels true.
So. My initial plan, to be revised later if necessary.
I’m going to try focusing on a few items (and using the fractal flowers so that working on one thing is secretly working on all the other things).
Maybe this will demonstrate to the Collective that yes, actually this does make a difference.
They’ve already — thanks to rigorous scientific testing I’ve persuaded them to let me run — accepted the premise that doing SOMETHING is more effective than them yelling and me getting stuck.
The approach for today:
Doing things in sets of three.
With a variation on what Maryann (of Secret Playdate fame) calls the layer cake technique.
(Layer cake is when you alternate X minutes of the thing you’re working on with X minutes of something creative, fun or different.)
Lately I’ve been doing my layering in intentionally-non-numbered sets of three.
- First I work on the part of the project that intrigues me.
- Next a creative or restful Intentional Switch of some kind.
- And then following it up with something that is not fun and needs to be made more fun.
I also like break things up between sets.
Usually with ten minutes of walking around and breathing. Or interacting with my work space in some way (like some old Turkish lady stretches or giving myself puttering-permission). Puttering Time!
What will help?
Oh! I can use secret agent code phrases for the things I’m working on, and rename them.
If it doesn’t work?
What am I going to do if I’m not experiencing this in the way I want?
I’ll do some stone skipping and ask useful questions.
Specifically:
- What are the qualities that will help me with this?
- What about my environment is supporting me in this? What in my environment needs to change?
- What is the essence/purpose/mission of the thing I’m trying to do?
- How can I make this more like Rally (Rally!). How can this get more ease-filled, creative and fun?
And I will isolate iguanas/monsterlets/sad-selves as necessary, and help them find safe spaces.
Let’s do it!
What I want:
How much progress can I make today on updating the Crossing the Line page?
Here’s my first set:
#) Love notes (secret code!)
?) Tea
!!) Ask B + R about X
I will check-in during the day and see how this goes. Adjustments will be made as necessary.
You can play too. Comment zen for the chickening…
Just state (silently or here in the comments) what you want to work on or play with. That’s enough! You can proxy if you like.
Check back in as you feel like it.
If it gets challenging (or even if it doesn’t), we interact consciously. We experiment. We notice things.
We can respond to each other with warm, loving hand-on-heart sighs. Or cheering. Or whatever you want. Ask for what you want.
We all have our stuff. We take responsibility for our stuff and we let other people have their stuff. We don’t give each other advice — unless someone specifically asks for it.
Let the Day of Chickening begin!
p.s. This is something we do at my Kitchen Table program — with a dedicated board (the Deguiltified Chicken Board) just for this. I post chickens there almost every day. It’s how I get so much done. Developing a chickening habit: recommended! If you plan to be at Crossing the Line, we’ll learn how to do this.
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wooooo go wooooo yeahhhh! <>
Ooh, I love chickens!
I’m going to post a chicken of what I just did.
1. clean out cubby drawer #1.
2. Laugh hysterically at passport photo that looks like mug shot.
3. clean out cubby drawer #2.
4. Bask in fresh emptiness of cubbies. And lovely fullness of shredder.
yay and yes to layer caking!
i will do 10 mins on diminishing pile of stuff on floor (with loud music playing), then 10 mins of dancing or stretching (to same loud music), then 10 mins of dishes (+ music! loud!).
then it will be lunch and i can revisit rest-of-day after that.
this seems so much more manageable somehow. thank you maryann for layer cake concept and havi for reminding me of it right now.
oh, and i really need all the e-hugs anyone can send. really.
and from me, hugs to all who would like them!
Well, Hello, Day of Chickening!
I have a whole mishmash of things that want doing today. And I’m feeling icky, which complicates things a bit, or at least slows them down.
So, what I want to do is get stuff done AND be gentle with my icky-feeling body.
Some of the things that want doing:
–work on my secret project
–figure out what I’m cooking for dinner, and cook it
–take a sneaky artist date
–wash ALL the dishes
–pay some bills
When my body feels icky, I will ask it what it needs, and do things more gently. If I encounter the voice that says, “You’re feeling icky, you need to sit still and do nothingnothingnothing,” I will ask, “Is that really true? Is there some gentle progress I can keep making even while feeling icky? If I encounter the voice that says, “Poor miserable you, doing all this work while you’re feeling icky, you must be so unhappy and angry and resentful!” I will ask, “Is that really true? Does it really have to be true? What if there is a way to be kind to myself and still get things done? What if it’s possible to be happy and productive at the same time, even while feeling icky?”
(P.S. Just saying the word “icky” over and over seems to make me feel better. Ptang!)
Chicken!
What I want to get done:
Make a plan for my weekend so it will be filled with fun and ease instead of self-hate.
@ make list of things to do
# make loose schedule
! implementation!
Will have to contemplate how layer-cake will help this. But cake makes everything better!
Yes, yes, yes!
I have a secret project that I want to have done. I don’t actually want to do it, because of the aardvark (hard work) and iguanas but I want to have done it. And today is a beautiful fall day, I have to teach, and I have a doctor’s appointment, so how likely is it that I will deal with the animal kingdom?
How can I set this up so it will happen? How can I make this more fun, filled with ease, Rally-like? Thank you for modeling this, Havi, and for the reminder about the layer cake.
I need to sit down and think pretty hard about this one; I’ll be back to Chicken.
Huzzah, Day of Chickening!
Was just doing a “do-over plan” based on Cairene’s incubator stuff, which dovetails right into chickening. So I’m figuring out what I need to do. It involves letting some stuff go. By end of day, I plan to have a plan. 😉
Happy chickening, you guys. 🙂
Mmmmmmmm. That’s my loving hand-on-heart Hiro-sigh for all of these beautiful chickens.
I went to dance class and then a late breakfast.
And now I’m going to pretend that I only have ten minutes to make a change to the page that will change it in a meaningful way.
And then a Revue/break. And then list the ten changes that need to happen after that! Go go magic chickening!
I have exactly one hour and 50 minutes between now and my next client appointment. I would like to accomplish the following:
~ Breathe in
~ Enjoy a cup of coffee
~ Imagine the rest of my day going perfectly
~ Finish and email Aug for PF
Off to get my coffee now!
Yay Jennifer! I like those four things.
Okay, chicken for me:
It took me longer than I’d expected to make the change I’d wanted: to find the quote, format it and think about it. But it’s a really useful change and I’m happy with that.
I’m going to look at what worked there, and then I think my next step is going to be listing 10 changes, and then maybe talking to some monster-pain that is on the edges.
Progress!
Hugs for Tereza! (And everybody else who wants ’em.)
I’ve gone through a couple of layer cake cycles so far. It’s helping me to document all the little things I do but then usually discount as “not that big a deal”. This is a great way for me to give myself some recognition.
I’m noticing that it’s hard for me to figure out the fun layers when I’m here at the day job. At home, it’s easy: roll around on the floooooorrr! Here, lots of monsters appear. Maybe monster talking is next.
Hiro-sighs all around.
Pasta fazool for dinner tonight! Perfect. I have most of the ingredients already. Now, on to the secret project. I have a couple of good proxies lined up to help me along!
Chicken dance!
Mmmmmm, hand-on-heart sigh for Kylie!
I had a REALLY productive talk with Slightly Wiser Me about how I think I don’t know how to make boring stuff fun.
It was awesome, and now I have been getting lots and lots done. This is what happened! She helped me invent a song! And name my boat!
Like this:
She asked: “Well, if you were 100% okay with being able to play and with play being legitimate, what would you do?”
Me: I don’t know! Normally I would say music but we’re in a cafe.
I could rename things. It’s like I *want* to be in the excitement and then I lose it. I already have a metaphor for copywriting, which is decorating the HAT.
Hmmm.
What if this whole HAT-decoration was its own Adventure? With a theme song.
Sailing away on my speedy boat Harriet (aka Hattie), wearing my fabulous shopkeeper’s hat!
Here’s the song — sung to Away, Rio, of course:
Away, hatters, away!
Away to acquire haberdashery!
So fare thee well, uninteresting hats
We’re bound for the Haberdashery Grand!
…
Yes. It sounds ridiculous. But it totally put me in the zone.
Yay, Chickening Day!!
I love everybody’s sets and things and questions!! Specially what Kathleen said about the icky body – I have saved that for my “Bad Day Kit”. Thanks, Kathleen!
My set:
– Work on a client’s project
– Have fun with my women’s group (we’re also doing a spring chickening-ey thing over there)
– Work in a draft for tomorrow’s blog post
Hugs!!
I made a chicken list offline. Before diving into it, I infused myself with energy by doing some Shiva Nata, as well as a crazy Muppet dance, to OK Go’s newish cover of the Muppet Show theme. And yes, I did this during my office hours, between receiving students, with my door open.
Whatever works!
(By the way–I’ve been flailing while on the treadmill at the rec center. Difficulty level, if the treadmill is moving fast and at a steep incline, is ridiculous. I think of it as “hiking with Shiva.”)
Ooh Muppets! Specifically Fraggles! Perhaps infusing my work with Fraggle songs will help me.
HAHA! Here’s a quite appropriate song from Fraggle Rock:
Without a Hat [01:54] *LP*
Performed by: The Trash Heap, Philo, Gunge, Boober and Red
Well you can go take a bath.
Figure out math.
Eat a Doozer tower on the garden path.
But you can’t do that.
No, no, no, you can’t do that.
No you can’t do any of that,
Without a hat.
Well you can ride on your bike.
Go fly a kite.
Make a sticky sandwich in the middle of the night.
No you can’t do any of that,
Without a hat.
Well you can talk real tough.
Huff and puff.
Say you didn’t mean it and all that stuff.
But you can’t do that.
No you can’t do that.
No you can’t do any of that ,
With out a hat.
Can’t do any of that,
With out a hat.
You can’t do any of that.
Well you can be real brave.
Be real bold.
Over come a danger,
Just as good as gold.
But you can’t do that.
No you can’t do that.
No you can’t do any of that,
Without a hat.
yay chickens!
thanks for hugs, here and elsewhere!
progress chicken [big giggles there cause i picture a chicken using tools and wearing a tie]: did way more than 10 mins on huge pile, which became a very small pile and turned into doing a load of laundry, which was great because laundry didnt even make it onto my to do list cause i soooo did not want to do it. but gorgeous day = lovely sun- and wind- dried clothes = happy me. and it was easy!
stretched way less than 10 mins and never got to the dishes, but feel super-ok with that because my dear friend stopped by and we had an awesome awesome co-counseling session that i so needed and am now feeling much more peaceful and loved and ready to do more with my day. dishes are so second in line to that and i am glad glad glad.
now out to the garden to harvest greens for dinner, then help make dinner, eat, dishes (maybe) and go to evening event if possible, or provide support to other friend if needed.
yay us, yay day of chickening.
hand on heart sighs for all.
Chickening to say that I had a brilliant notion about my secret project! Very exciting! I also had a successful sneaky artist date. Off to cook dinner soon…
Oh yay!!
Only seeing this at the end of my day (its 00:45 here in europe) but inadvertedly i did something like this.
1. i worked on sorting my emailbox and issues in it
2. i snuck of and saw an afternoon movie (felt sooo decadent and sooo amazing)
3. i came back and solved issues
hadnt thought it would work but it was a good day
🙂
Coming up behind you with slightly out-of-phase Day of Chickening, which will be tomorrow:
I am going to put together a “work” (ugh – need a new word that isn’t “play”) book for a class I just did on meditation. It has a posture and technique review and among the resources will include a pointer to the Procrastination Dissolve-o-Matic tool. And I want to put it out on Friday and that is craaaaazeeeeee.
But there we are. And I am open to having this be easy.
I’ve got this dreadful thing that I need to do. No amount of metaphor mousing can make it any less awful. ( it seems. ) I just need to dig myself out of this terrible terribleness.
Arrrgh.
Doesn’t help that what I need right now is a Nice Huge Dose of Nothing. I need a shavasana day. Badly. Won’t get it until NEXT weekend.
Complain complain, kvetch, kvetch. Oh… did I say Shana Tova yet? err….
(sorry. not a good, inspiring chicken at all. boo…)
So here I am middle of the night, no progress on my project or the pile of iguanas or anything. ‘Cause I took some friends to the hospital, taught a class, went to the doctor who twisted the heck out of my knee and made it worse and then I took my friends home and went home myself to nap! And before I could nap, I had to write an enormous check for some work that still isn’t finished.
But later I had a salad and some raspberries with ice cream and even though I didn’t get done what I wanted to, I feel okay about it. And tomorrow morning, my knee won’t hurt so much, and after the dentist I’ll spend the afternoon with friends and it will be a good day and maybe I can proxy this project or this project can be proxy for another iguana.
First thing will be thinking about it, the way Havi demonstrated. And doing an invocation. And creating safe rooms.
So, tomorrow. Another day of chickening.
late chicken?
a happy new year chicken 🙂
Feeling huge mountains of resistance to something I have to do. REALLY have to do. Like unless I quit my job tomorrow, which is possible, but not the right choice just yet. Let’s just say I’m getting there.
De to the nature of the chore it takes some time to get organised and started and figure out what the heck I’m doing in there so I think I may also make a layer cake but the layers may have to be 30 minutes. And the cake is going to be very tall.
Some things to put the yumminess in the cake – I might do some shiva nata, some knitting, nice walk to the library to return a book, hang out with my husband or cuddle my little boy while he reads me his joke book (this is awesome – even the monsters have a giggle).
what I’m wary of – the layers getting all messed up and the cake falling over, main ‘dull’ project abandoned (this seems to happen a lot, the other layers are WAY more interesting).
Also aware that – some very heavy emotional stuff going down with someone. Have to continually use my force field to keep their stuff (or my imagined their stuff) OUT and send it to the elevator shaft.
Havi if you’ve been clearing a lot of stuff out of there recently it’s because I’ve been sending dumpster loads of it.