Personal Rhythms - Annual

This blog item is the fourth in a series about the rhythms we choose for our lives. Today the topic is annual rhythms.

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What activities do you do every year? I find that putting these on a calendar (either electronic or paper) is very worthwhile - so that I don’t forget. I’ve listed some examples below.

• Birthdays/anniversaries/other yearly celebrations. I set up a re-occurring item on my electronic calendar for these.
• Vacation. Taking at least a week off to do something completely different than the other weeks of the year helps sustain your focus on what is truly important in your life. Generally I reserve the days on my calendar well before I know for certain what I am going to do.
• Physical/medical checkup. Most medical plans encourage some kind of annual checkup. Use the data to make appropriate life style changes (and minimize medication over the long term).
• Thorough house cleaning. Many people still do ‘spring cleaning’ because it works to keep the home in great shape. Some elements of thorough house cleaning (that aren’t part of weekly or monthly cleanings) might be:
  • Cleaning windows inside and out
  • Taking everything out of a storage area, cleaning it, putting back only what is still needed, donating/trashing the rest
  • Getting all the spiderwebs and debris from the garage floor and ceiling
  • Cleaning under furniture (may involve moving the furniture)
  • Checking the pantry for old/forgotten/expired cans or boxes of food
  • Emptying the refrigerator, cleaning the shelves (hopefully not finding any long lost items that should have been eaten or thrown away long ago)
• Resolutions. Most people do this at the beginning of the year but it can be done any time. The idea is to set some longer term goals…and the ways you will measure them for the next 12 months.

 Are there other things that should be added to this list for annual consideration?

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Previous posts in this series about personal rhythms can be found here: monthly, weekly, daily.

Personal Rhythms - Monthly

This blog item is the third in a series about the rhythms we choose for our lives. Today the topic is monthly rhythms.

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There are activities that are generally done on a monthly basis. For me, monthly activities clump into two main areas: keeping the household running smoothly and personal metrics. I’ve listed some examples in each area below.

Keeping the household running smoothly

• Bill paying. Usually credit card, utility, and mortgage payment are a monthly rhythm. It is one that causes a lot of fuss and flurry if not done consistently on time.
• Non-perishable household items. Making one major shopping trip a month for non-perishable household items can save money and make the other shopping trips easier. For me, this has taken some getting used to; it took me awhile to realize how much cat food was needed to sustain 2 cats for a month!

Personal metrics - These are tightly linked to personal goals. For me, most metrics are collected daily (things like: weight, blood pressure, books read, blog items posted, time spent in whatever area I’m trying to improve, etc.) and analyzed weekly. On a monthly basis, I look at the overall goals I have for the year and decide if the metrics are still the right things to be measuring…and does the data tell me that I am on track to achieving the 2012 goal I set for myself.

Think about the monthly rhythms most important to enable your life to move along the way you want. Are they firmly in place or ad hoc? Could they be honed to better meet your needs?

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Previous posts in this series about personal rhythms can be found here: weekly, daily.

Personal Rhythms - Weekly

This blog item is the second in a series about the rhythms we choose for our lives. Today the topic is weekly rhythms.

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There are activities that are generally done on a weekly basis…almost always associated with a particular day of the week. They serve as infrastructure to other activities so must be done sometime during the week although they can be moved to other days if necessary occasionally. The three that are nearly constant for me are:  

• House cleaning on Wednesdays
• Groceries shopping on Fridays
• Laundry on Saturdays 

If I make a batch of muffins, it is generally on Sunday. Visits to museums, galleries, or gardens are most often on Sunday afternoon.

For young children, it is worthwhile considering a weekly cycle to provide a bit of structure for activities that would become boring or overwhelming if they happened every day. The idea is to have a theme for the day that can be repeated in subsequent weeks. For example: 

• Family activity on Sundays
• Seasonal craft on Mondays
• Baking/cooking on Tuesday
• Painting/drawing on Wednesday
• Farm or other extended outdoor activity on Thursday
• Grocery shopping on Friday
• Music on Saturdays 

Think about the weekly rhythms most important to enable your life to move along the way you want. Are they firmly in place or ad hoc? Could they be honed to better meet your needs?

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Last week, the post was about daily rhythms. I’ll post an item about annual rhythms next week and there will be a final post for rhythms that don’t quite fit into daily/weekly/monthly/annual cycles or the rhythm is set by a metric other than time.