Tag: 100 Days to change

100 Days to Change // Day 6 – 9

January 6/7/8/9 2016

I was right. Turns out the main aim of this week was just to get through it. Have to say the first week back at work was a bit of torture. Horrible commuting, trains being diverted and being unable to kill this cold contributed to the outcome. Once Friday evening came, I was fit to sit on the couch, watch some telly and veg.

I did manage to get this week’s episode of The London Ear recorded on Thursday evening, so the second part of the week wasn’t completely lost.

Saturday 9th January 2016

Unable to shake cold or not, today is Saturday, I wanted to make the most of it. I kinda miss working with music on a daily basis and decided a while back that I wanted to do more with music, whether it’s working with some artists again, running a night somewhere, maybe even proper management, which I haven’t done in a few years.

Today I joined the Music Managers Forum and have signed up to do their Music Publishing Programme. It’s always good to update the knowledge you have and learn new things. I love all this so this is right up my street. Can’t wait for it to start.

If I was into canoeing, today would have been perfect! Despite the deluge from the sky, I decided to brave the conditions and head into town even without an arc. Just went for a walkabout really, just to get out, get a bit of fresh air and exercise. Even though there were reports this week that London exceeded the pollutant levels already for 2016, it’s good to get out for a little while.

Tomorrow marks Day 10 of 100 Days to Change, that’s one tenth of the way through. I better make it count!

January 9, 2016
100 Days to Change // Days 3 / 4 / 5

January 3 / 4 / 5 2016

Today is Tuesday January 5th. Since Sunday, I’ve learned one thing. If I’m not doing something to further my 100 Days to Change, I actually start feeling guilty. I guess that means that keeping a note of everything here on the blog is a good thing and will hopefully keep me on the straight and narrow.

Sunday was a little bit of a chill day, getting ready to head back to work yesterday. I did another bit of work on the back end of my website and have plans now for some further changes which will happen over the next week or so.

I’ve also been working on some plans for a new website, with a new domain for another venture. So I’ve been breaking down everything and putting it all into a planning map of how I want the site to be. I’ve also start work on the copy for the different sections.

It really didn’t help my plans that I didn’t really sleep on Sunday night for some reason. But, I still was up in time to pop into Paperchase and get a proper actual notebook without blobs of glue.

First work day of 2016 wasn’t quite a daunting as Sunday night’s fear would have one believe. One of things I really want to do in 2016 is pick up speaking French again. Since moving to London, I haven’t really had the chance or opportunity to speak much French but I want to change that. One of the big things we getting back into a language is getting your ears used to how it sounds and picking up what you do know, and then trying to figure everything out after that.

In order to do this, last night seemed like the right time to settle down to a French drama series, ‘Les Revenants’. The ending just screams for a season 3. I’m not going to spoil it for anyone. So all I’ll say is it’s good. Real good.

Waking up this morning, I felt I had been hit by a truck. The horrible cold I had last week and reared it’s ugly head again. I blame picking up everyone else’s germs at work. So, the main thing this week is for me to get through the week without falling over. Oh, while I’m at it, I did learn something valuable today. If you’re taking medication in a capsule, for example, a cold and flu remedy, make sure you drink lots of water. If you get a stuck in my throat feeling, drink more. It’s not nice when it melts or explodes.

I will admit I took it a little easy this evening but while I was doing that, I was checking out some music for my radio show. Got a couple of brand new gems for this Saturday!

I’m off to sleep and hopefully get rid of this bug.

2016 Notebook for ideas, plans and plotting

January 5, 2016
100 Days to Change // Day 1

January 1 2016 – Happy New Year!

The day didn’t get off to the best start to be honest. I’ve had a horrible cold for a few days, which seemed to keep me awake for ages, meaning I slept ’til lunchtime. It also rained all day which is never great to give you the get up and go that I had hoped for. Couple this with an annoying cough and you get the drift.

So as it was going to be an indoor, take it easy day, I decided to do a social media cull. So in what way is this making life better I hear you ask?.

Well, I use Facebook, primarily to keep up with family and friends and for my radio show, so I left that alone. Personally, I prefer Instagram and Twitter but it’s easy to add random people to who you follow.

It took a couple of hours, while sitting on the couch, but using Crowdfire app, I went through who I was following that I didn’t really need to be, and had no interaction with and unfollowed. With a couple of hundred less people followed, it’s easier to see what’s going on in your main timeline. It’s not as busy. Next job on Twitter is to add people are are not already in lists into appropriate lists so it’s easier to follow, social media tips, music, radio etc.

A lot of people seem to think that the way to reorganise themselves on social media is to step away completely for a while. For me, using it for work and for my radio show, as well as keeping up to date with the Irish Crew, that’s not an option. So what I wanted to do was to get rid of a lot of noise and already I can see the difference.

Quiche – Tastes better than it looks!
My timeline isn’t as mental, friends on Twitter don’t get caught up in all the spam.. I’m happy so far!

Oh, I also made a absolutely yummy quiche for the first time in my life.. doesn’t look too pretty but tastes yummy! Hurrah for achievement number 1 of the year!

So that’s Day 1 down, yes, I eased my way into it. Here’s to the next 99 Days of Change.

Happy New Year, here’s to a happy, healthy, productive 2016.

January 2, 2016
2016 // 100 Days to Change

It’s New Year’s Eve, a good time to reflect and make plans for the upcoming year. 2015 was good, nay, great in some ways. Ireland made history and got equal marriage and my new niece Charlee was born. Good things, I’m sure you’ll agree.

But 2015 has also made me think. It’s time we all took a step back and actually thought about us for a change. How we are, the mental stupid running around we do. We should be concentrating on enjoying life, doing things to better ourselves, doing things we enjoy rather than living a complete humdrum existence.

We all have to pay our way in this world and yes, money helps – a lot. But many of us spend up at least an hour each way commuting to work, that’s 10 hours a week. That approx 480 hours a year. Is there anything we can do to benefit us in that time or change our lifestyles so we gain that time back?

2016 is a year where we MUST treat the little rock that is our home better than we have been. Recycling, conserving energy, things people have been speaking about for years but still our planet is in a mess. We need to change and not be selfish. It’s the kids in 80 years time that we need to think about.

I’ve heard productivity experts say that if you want to change and are serious about it, an accountability buddy is the way to go, someone who will ask what you’ve done to achieve your goal this week. To be honest, I really don’t want to lumber any friend with hassling me about my guitar practice or other goals. Of course, there are friends I chat to about goals and plans, different people for different things. What I want to do though in 2016, is to ensure that everyday I do something to benefit me in some way, whether it be losing a few pound, doing a software tutorial, do some volunteering, actually playing guitar, you get the idea. I have to do something everyday.

You need to do something 21 times before it becomes a habit, so this will enable me to make the most of my evenings and out of work time for the better. There’s more to life than a boring 9 to 5 existence. It’s up to us to make a change, if we make a change in us, it hopefully will rub off on those around us.

I’m going to try and tell you everyday in a short post, what I’ve done and by Day 100, hopefully will have changed my habits and myself, for the better.

Happy New Year, here goes nothing!

Image from Facebook

December 31, 2015