Dec 09 2008
Sometimes It takes discipline to get something done
As an Author it is hard at times to sit down and work at the computer. Especially when your back and fingers are aching from trying to type and reading the manuscript. You put on some nice quiet music but not something that will put you to sleep just something classical like dinner style or cafe style music.
You dim some of the lighting and light a few candles and some incense. When you get up to stretch do some Yoga. My favourite bone cruncher is lilfting my right arm to the sky and my left arm down to my feet while standing straight with legs hip distance apart. A loud cracking sound happens and I feel instant relief in my neck and back.
I still haven’t found something for the hands other then gently pressing each finger down towards the palm one at a time. This seems to stretch them and make them feel better. I have a bad habit of cracking my knuckles and now I find the fingers get cramped up whenever I’m typing for any short period of time.
One day when I have the money or if I’m blessed with a gift, it will be a voice activated program that can type up my notes for me. Or maybe hire my own secretary to do the some for me, someone who has editorial experience as well.
It’s easy to come up with the ideas for stories, i find the writing of the sentence structures and p’s and q’s the difficult part. It’s been a real struggle these past six months but now i’m using words spell checker, only instead of it changing my errors i take the time to do it myself. This way I will catch myself the more I practice.
I took the time to proof read my manuscript myself and it took me hours to do so! The good news is that when i did the spell check I had half of the errors corrected and I was even catching them as I went along.
Our brains can be programmed like a computer if we take the time to do it. We learn by repetition and by association. I’ve always had trouble spelling the word friend and now I just think of the letter “I” comes first because “I need friends.” Now when I type the word “friend” I associate it with the thought that “I need friends.” Try doing different things with those problems that seem to come around again and again.
Do you ever catch yourself repeating the same mistakes over and over again? Then you come up with the excuse that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? Think again! When I received my miniature poodle daisy for a christmas gift i was told she was around seven or eight years old. She had a problem with going to the washroom all over the house. I was determined to re-train her!
I was told that she was too old to train and that it would be impossible. Not so! I got a dog cage and put newspaper down in it and she had to stay in the cage when we went out for the day or when we went to bed.
We took her out for walks every two hours for the first six months and each time she did her business we would praise her and then come in the house and give her a small treat. Then we went every three or four hours. Now were up to five to seven hours and she no longer needs the cage. She’s free to roam the house day or night.
When we moved into the house on the first day we took her outside then she came in and did her business on the floor. She was scolded and out came the cage again with newspaper. She stayed in it overnight and we let her out when we were at home then back inside when we went out.
This time when she went outside and I put her in the house I would leave her alone for about two hours and come back and look around no mess. I said “good girl, good daisy no mess! here’s a piece of chicken for being such a good girl.” I have each day when coming home checked for any mess then said the same words and gave her more chicken.
So far so good, she hasn’t made a mess then we had to leave her for eight hours to do some errands and shopping and got back and took her outside and as soon as we got in the house looked and there was no mess. So she got chicken and a piece of ham.
She has learned that going outside is rewarding. Doing it inside you have to stay in the cage with newspaper and learn not to do it again. So far this has worked with her. You can try it with your dogs to see what happens.
Most people complain that their dogs are having accidents in the house. I believe that if you get into a set routine with your dog and have them go outside every four to six hours starting at 7a.m you should be able to train them at any age that they are expected to do their business outside.
As for people we can train ourselves to do our work at certain times of the day and if you just don’t feel like it or are too tired then go take a breather for about three hours and do something you really love to do then go back to work. Reward yourself every few hours with anything you can think of and this will help you get the job done! It’s just a little discipline to get something done!
