Week 4 — Water tastes better out of a wine glass

Things are moving quickly. It looks like my gentle pottering is about to come to an abrupt end; for a month at least.

A meeting this week with a company which provides newsroom technology has resulted in me agreeing to a business trip to Doha in March which could be for a good few weeks. This is a company I hope to be doing more contract work with over the coming year. It ticks a lot of boxes of what I’m looking for from freelance/contract work and I’m keen to take this first opportunity while it’s on offer.

It’s exciting - I’ve never been to Qatar. I’ll be doing new and stimulating work. I have lots to learn.

It’s scary - I’ll have to get off the couch.

The challenge (apart from the work itself) is how I make sure I keep my tiny Jenga Tower of Habits in place (I’m not sure the glue is quite dry!), while living in a hotel in a foreign land, working a full day, and probably socialising most evenings. It’s one thing to stick to your habits at home in a nice, safe, regular environment where you are in full control — it’s another to transport them to a completely alternative life.

I MUST remember to pack that Habit Queen tiara.

So, the routines I’ll be introducing over the next few weeks, are going to be the tiniest ones on my list. Tiny is good. Baby steps are crucial. What’s most important at this stage, is that my ‘habitettes’ are hardy, that they can stand the test of travel. It is not the time to introduce ‘cook gourmet meals four times a week’ into the schedule!

Water, water, water….

They always tell you that you need to drink more water, and given that my water consumption is about half a glass per millennium, I suspect they are right.

You’d think this kind of thing would be easy really, but in the middle of winter, the idea of swigging back the old H2O is about as attractive as that bathtub falling through the ceiling in Breaking Bad (which, by the way, was the point where I nearly gave upon that series completely. Thankfully, it got better from there!). If it was up to me, I’d just have another cup of tea instead.

But how much water? There are so many different arguments. Two litres a day, half your bodyweight in ounces, your grandmother’s age divided by the speed limit, no-one can quite agree. Apparently too much water can kill you. And what about if you drink tea, does that replace the water you should be drinking? Or do you have to drink MORE water because you are also drinking tea? These questions are rhetorical. I don’t really want anyone to answer because I know no-one will agree. But I definitely think I should drink more water than I do. I’m lazy about it. I let myself walk around thirsty for hours. I don’t really know why.

But, as previously discussed, baby steps it is. One big glass first thing when I wake up in the morning, rather than a cup of tea. NO TEA ALLOWED FOR SUZI until that water has been drunk.

You’re laughing, I know, it’s a pathetic amount. But, it’s all about ye olde momentum. I have to do something I can stick to. Obviously, I’m not prevented from drinking more glasses of water during the day if I want to, but I’m not going to force myself to either, well not yet anyway. One more stick for the Jenga Tower. A lifelong habit that begins here today.

It’s so important, it gets its own acronym; WOW. Water On Waking! See it there on my updated Grand Master List Of Daily Routines (GMLODR) with a little checkbox next to it. I will do myself a WOW and then tick the box and feel ridiculously pleased with myself. I will have at least doubled my previous daily water consumption by 5.15 in the morning! Hurrah!

You’ll notice the WOW gets an asterisk. As previously discussed, that means it happens EVERY DAY, even away days, even days I have to get up and out the door by 6.00am to make it to an early freelance gig, even days I am in Doha. But not necessarily holidays. We agreed that last week right?

Troubleshooting

You never remember? Put a big glass of water on your bedside table next to your alarm clock so that it’s the second thing you see in the morning. Just don’t knock it over all your gadgets as you fumble around to turn off your alarm. That will wake up your partner AND really bugger up the morning.
You still forget and have tea before your remember? Put a sticky note on the kettle the night before, with the word ‘VERBOTEN” written on it, in your strongest and most forbidding handwriting.
You absolutely MUST have something hot in the morning or you won’t be able to function? OK, boil the kettle, have hot water (and perhaps a slice of lemon). Gaze longingly at the teabags while you do it, knowing you will be able to reward yourself with one of those next.
You hate water? Get a grip and remind yourself how lucky you are to have water coming out of your tap, if not your big American fridge with built-in filter! Come on guys, 650 million people do not have access to safe water, I’m guessing you are not one of them. Hold that glass, take a moment to look at that beautiful, clean water, imagine you are in a desert and radiate some gratitude as you allow it to soothe your dry throat.
As a last resort, drink it out of a wine glass. Trust me, it really helps!

Time for the DONE list…

Not quite as impressive as previous weeks, but I blame that on the fact that I only got one full day at home last week. That was a shock to the system. Somehow I’d managed to book myself quite a few appointments and meetings, became quite distracted by the Doha developments, and then I flitted off to Spain for the weekend to visit family.

Other good things that happened last week…

I had a three hour catch up with a friend at the gorgeously hippy Dalston Eastern Curve Garden — a community garden with lots of comfortable couches to sit on, home-made soup for sale and free wifi. They even give you hot water bottles and blankets so you can enjoy sitting outside despite the winter chill. Love it! Shame it’s on the other side of the city from where I live.
I drank wine and ate food on the street with a very clever artist pallet type board to hold your bowl and wine glass as you negotiate the crowds at this food and wine festival in a small Spanish town. As an added bonus you get to keep the lovely little terracotta bowls and glasses for a souvenir. Total cost of bowl, glass, and eight tickets to purchase wine and food — 1o euro! If you need more tickets, you get more bowls and glasses. We are now equipped to open our own cafe.
I got to be part of the 11th birthday celebrations for my niece. It’s the first time I’ve been able to do this since she was one year old. Very, very special.

It’s a new week, I’ve just drunk my glass of water, here’s to a week of renewed hydration to all!

Suzi

P.S. If you are suspicious of the value of tiny habits, have a read of this from Buffer’s Belle Beth Cooper.

FOR HANDY REFERENCE: 2016 habits glued to the Jenga Tower so far…
The post that started it all — For the first time that I can remember, I’m not waiting for something…
Week 1 — Get up early, ignore social media/email/news-infused mobile phone with special dopamine enhancing features and head straight to old-fashioned pen and paper for writing of Daily Intentions and identification of day’s Peace Mission
Week 2 — The keeping of the ‘Done List’ predominantly made up of achieved Peace Missions.
Week 3 — Breaking the day down to a magic formula of 45 minutes of Pomodoro Technique + 15 minutes of movement (housework/exercise/dancing etc)

(Thinking you’d like to hop aboard this slow-moving ‘make the most of your day/productivity/I have to justify giving up my job’ train? Just click the ‘Follow’ button and we’ll do it together.)