Yesterday, I spent the evening checking in with myself. 

To start, I went for a walk. At about .2 miles an hour, I moseyed around my section of the city, following the sun beams that streaked through the buildings of downtown. I live on the northeast side, which makes it difficult to find a patch of warm rays to blanket me as I peer into myself.

When I did find some, the light and shadows were so gorgeous I had to take time to set down my caramel apple cider and play. It’s impossible to capture the magic of the twilight hours on “film.” But I try. This has always been my favorite time of day. 

… . 

My natural course of action with any process is to make lists. Lots of people make lists. Right brained adults are especially fond of making lists, and sometimes to a fault. I could go on about the topic of list making as a  primarily right brained person, and maybe I will in a future post. 

What I want to share with you here is the checking in part. 

I’ve begun this year with the intention of making monthly checkins with myself about my experiments, my experiences, my goals and my growth. That wasn’t meant to sound as easily memorable as it does. Maybe that can be a tool for you, and for me. 

I used a simple list in order to guide me through the exercise. 

Here is my check in for yoga/physical training : 

What’s working : kettle bell/barre/sculpt training working well. Getting stronger.

What’s not working : Body is s changing, so need extra work in flexibility and relieving tension - take yoga 2 class every week + water flow class every 1-2 weeks.

What I’m trying next : side crows and headstands w/out the wall

And for my Craft : 

What’s working : Shorter is better. Finding tone and style. Outlining. Telling from experience and in moderation.

What’s not working : Taking breaks from daily work. Trying to define the undefinable. 

What I’m trying next : Publishing every day

And for my Business : 

What’s working : Talking about it to everyone. Keeping my inbox sacred. Still experimenting with conversations and short posts. 8/9-12/1 schedule. 8hrs a day + 8 hrs a day. Outsourcing X. Still experimenting with interviewing + audio/visual. Google + conversations.

What’s not working : Facebook instead of inboxes. Waiting for X. Twitter as communication tool. 

Question : How can I delve deeper with my audience and keep it simple on an individual level ?

What I’m trying next : Publishing short “thought” style posts. Dreamlining 1,2,6,12 months.

And for Friendships : 

What’s working : Identifying feelings and needs. Using observation language and non-judgments. Asking permission. Always requesting never expecting. Expressing appreciation. Appreciating.

What’s not working : Making unintentional internal judgments. Expecting posture instead of requesting posture.

What I’m trying next : Identifying feelings, needs, and strategies. Viewing speech as a spiritual practice. 

I have a few more categories but you get the idea.

… . 

I want to be taking time to pay attention to my learning and progress in all these areas, because they are the most important ones in life (although as I said I have a few more).

I want to keep track of what’s working and not working in the areas of  business, craft, relationships, etc. Not only so that I don’t waste time spinning my wheels employing strategies to get my needs and goals met that aren’t working (because let’s be honest, it would take at least twice as long to figure it out if I didn’t look intentionally). 

I also want to check in and experiment so that I’m keeping innovation paramount in my life. Creators are coming up with ideas all the time and I want to both sharpen this practice and also sharpen the process of turning those ideas into reality. This is by far one of the most challenging pieces to being an artist. 

Certainly not all artists move through the other parts of their lives in the same way they move through their craft. But I want to. For me, this is a goal. I want my whole life to be as intentional as my craft and in working toward this, I begin to find alignment.

I also want to stay on task, another of the more intense challenges of being an artist, right brained rockstar, creative, whatever.

So I check in. 

I wonder if you have any similar practices? 

I remember growing up it seemed like I would hear someone talking about a new daily, weekly, monthly, yearly checkin/planning session they heard about from some self-help guru, preacher or leadership guy. I felt overwhelmed at the number of different strategic planning sessions that people said were necessary for success (or the way I heard it, to be a successful human). 

I’m still growing into this process for sure. But after today’s mid-month checkin, I’m feeling good about the past and coming months. That alone does a lot for an artist’s stamina.

Next post, taking it deeper by identifying needs and strategies to meet those needs.

(Source: checkingin)