I love this shift in thinking about measures of success. I started off 2023 with a list of a bunch of things I wanted to make progress on. Not a list of things to finish or accomplish but progress through continuing to work on all those different things little by little. Some months I only touched one thing on that list and other months I did multiple. Some projects didn’t get touched for months but I did come back to them. I am thrilled to say I made progress (some just a little and some quite a lot) on most things on that list. And that feels good and doable to try for again this year. A little bit most days is how I like to think about it.
Ooh I resonate so much with all of this! I don't have any great tips or thoughts, so I'll just share the one thing that came to mind while reading this: every year I tell myself that this is the year I am going to keep track of the books I read. I usually am good about a list in January in February and then it derails. BUT in reading your essay I was reminded of how because of this, my reading practice is one of the few things that I don't have goals or numbers attached to and that makes it feel really different in a lot of ways. Just don't ask me which books I read last year because I have no memory ;)
I love this shift in thinking about measures of success. I started off 2023 with a list of a bunch of things I wanted to make progress on. Not a list of things to finish or accomplish but progress through continuing to work on all those different things little by little. Some months I only touched one thing on that list and other months I did multiple. Some projects didn’t get touched for months but I did come back to them. I am thrilled to say I made progress (some just a little and some quite a lot) on most things on that list. And that feels good and doable to try for again this year. A little bit most days is how I like to think about it.
Ooh I resonate so much with all of this! I don't have any great tips or thoughts, so I'll just share the one thing that came to mind while reading this: every year I tell myself that this is the year I am going to keep track of the books I read. I usually am good about a list in January in February and then it derails. BUT in reading your essay I was reminded of how because of this, my reading practice is one of the few things that I don't have goals or numbers attached to and that makes it feel really different in a lot of ways. Just don't ask me which books I read last year because I have no memory ;)
I love your writing and especially your message here. The mending project sounds wonderful.