Jake Lodwick’s Blog

My Standards project is alive and well (even though I haven’t posted about it for a while).

A few weeks ago it was pissing me off! I found myself with a daily checklist of about 35 little tasks, making my life feel robotic. I began to resent myself, feeling like I was under the watch of a micromanagerial boss. I scrapped the checklist format and gave myself a little more freedom, breaking my day down into several broad categories, modeled loosely after Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. It worked; I found a system of holding myself accountable without holding myself hostage.

For each category, I give myself clear criteria for earning a green, orange, or red splotch of color. The goal is to get lots of green.

Last week was a little rough. My woman is out of the country for 5 weeks, which throws off my routine in general, especially socially. So I end up going out a lot more, and going out means drinking. I can limit myself to one or two, but still, I don’t particularly enjoy seeing all those red marks. I also finished the Odwick project on Wednesday, and really haven’t known what to do with myself for the past few days.

The second image shows my “Travel Standards” for my mini-week in San Francisco, before I head to Melbourne. This will be my first vacation with Standards. I think they’ll be helpful, you know, to give myself a baseline, something to hold on to. That I’m traveling doesn’t mean I can’t have an anchor.