Breaking Patterns on a Saturday Afternoon (and What Happened)

As I write this, I’m licking my wounds after a Saturday afternoon spent on breaking out of my routine. As you might have guessed from the previous sentence, things didn’t go quite as well as I had hoped.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve noticed just how stifling my weekends tend to be. I’d sit inside in front of the computer, resolving to be productive, which more often than not backfired into an hour or two spent on computer games.

Ironically, the few times I would venture outside (usually in pursuit of lunch) I’d invariably think to myself how nice it was outside and how I really should get out of the house more. Noble aspirations, which lasted about as long as a delicious bowl of pho. Then back to the cave for some more procrastination, in the name of “resting and recharging.”

I am, unfortunately, a genius of rationalization.

This week, I decided to take action. In the spirit of breaking out of this unproductive, cave-dwelling routine, I resolved to kill two birds with one stone. I’d go outside and get some writing done.

The Plan

Things started out well. On Wednesday, I put my money where my mouth was and ordered a brand new netbook off of Amazon. Which wasn’t really much of an accomplishment, since I happen to love shiny new gadgets.

But I bought this latest gadgets with the best of intentions. I swear.

My new computer arrived Friday afternoon, courtesy of FedEx. By the time I went to bed Friday night, it was charged, personalized, and ready to hit the road with me.

Fast forward to this morning. My plan went something like this:

1. Grab lunch at a restaurant with Wi-Fi; get some work done while waiting for the food.
2. Head over to Barnes & Noble to bask in the combination of free internet and thousands of books.
3. Come home after a few hours, then sit outside by the apartment complex pool to enjoy some more fresh air as I work.

Three steps to a wonderful, healthy, productive, and rejuvenating Saturday afternoon.

And as I said, things went well at first. I had pastrami and swiss at Schlotzsky’s, where the change of scenery (and free Wi-Fi) did everything I hoped it would. I wasn’t distracted, hunched over, or stuck in a rut.

So lesson learned: When you’re stuck or bored with your routine, changing the scenery really helps.

The Unraveling

After finishing my sandwich, I drove over to Barnes & Noble to sit and work in their indoor cafe (and possibly do some casual reading as well).

Then I hit the first snag – the Barnes & Noble network wouldn’t cooperate, despite assurances from the very prominently displayed “Free Wi-Fi Internet” sign on the window. This resulted in a lot of frustration as I attempted to fix the problem. Which mostly consisted of fiddling with some settings and restarting the netbook a few times.

Eventually, after wasting about half an hour, I gave up and decided to regroup. I hopped back in my car and headed home, feeling rather proud of myself for staying on track.

The Icing on the Cake

The apartment complex I live in has this really nice resort-style pool area, complete with huge trees, lounge chairs, and a small pavilion on one side. It was the perfect place to both relax and work.

Or so I thought. *cue the dramatic music*

I found a chair in a shady corner of the pool area and sat down … right into a mess of spider silk. To which I am mildly allergic. Great. Itchiness. After brushing myself off (and checking myself for hitchhiking spiders), I found another chair to sit in.

I turned on the netbook, connected to the internet, took a deep breath, and was immediately assaulted by three very hungry mosquitos. I am also mildly allergic to mosquito bites, of which I now have three.

By this time, I’d had enough. I packed up the computer and trudged upstairs to the apartment, where I am now writing this blog post about my exploits.

Lessons Learned

So what do I have to show for my afternoon (besides three mosquito bites and a receipt from Schlotzsky’s)? A few lessons:

• Breaking routines works. Despite all the unexpected happenings, I did learn that breaking out of routines works wonders for inspiration and productivity. A change of scenery might not directly inspire you, but it does act as a psychological trigger, telling your brain that it’s time to wake up and take a fresh look at things.

• Eliminating distractions is a lot better than trying to control them. We all have our weaknesses. Computer games and procrastination happen to be two of mine. Often, trying to fight our weaknesses “head on” isn’t the best strategy. Instead of trying (and sometimes failing) to ignore distractions, its much more effective to simply remove the distractions entirely. For me, that meant getting out of the house and away from the computer on which said computer games were installed.

• Stay on track, because personal development is messy. One of the problems with all the personal development advice out there is it’s too neat. It’s inspiring (as it should be) but not always realistic. The reality is, change and growth are messy. You’ll run into unexpected obstacles and stubborn networks. Sometimes it will hurt. Other times it will buzz, bite, and then itch for a few days. But it’s important to stay on track and regroup whenever you’re frustrated. Because, hey, you can always blog about it later :)

• Try, try again (after a good night’s sleep). So my attempt at breaking out of the old routine was only partially successful. But it’s only Saturday, and I’ve got one whole day of weekend left. Here’s hoping that mosquitos rest on the Sabbath.

And in case you’re wondering, I wrote this post on the new netbook anyway. Partially to justify buying it in the first place, and partially to spite those damn mosquitos. Can’t keep me down. Ha.

***

Speaking of breaking patterns and being productive, some of you may remember the The Excuse Project from way back in October. Many of my excuses revolved around procrastination, and as you can see, I’m still wrestling with them.

Those of you who participated: how are you doing? What progress have you made? What’s still holding you back? Those of you who haven’t joined in: why not take a stab at it?

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