Customer Concern

Had one of my customers contact me today with a concern that there appears to be a lack of progress on the project.  I've had the same nagging feeling about the project myself.  At first I was thinking that I've failed somehow and the the customer thinks the same.  But, I spent some time speaking with him and learned that this is partly due to how we're reporting things on our bi-weekly meetings.  My customer gave me some guidance on what we could do differently, and it meshed with some suggestions I received from the team yesterday.  I was feeling a bit better, but I still have these thoughts that I won't be able to get the team on track and that I'm doomed to be a failure.  I can address these thoughts, in particular the failure thoughts (how can I be a failure when the project is nowhere near complete?).  The main thing I need to do is seek help, from both my team and from other project leads.  Seeking help may lessen the forecasts of failure, primarily because I'll be actively trying to fix the situation rather than just feeling bad about it.  We'll see.

If you'd like to contribute one of your experiences, reminders, any tool entry or just your thoughts to possibly help others make better use of Mood Sentry, please consider e-mailing the item (or your thoughts) to 4theblog@moodappsllc.com. I'll protect your privacy and keep the source anonymous.

If your therapist would like to contact me with questions or suggestions, have him/her contact me at info@moodappsllc.com.

Never Set any Goals for Today

I intended to, but never got around to it.  I guess I didn't use Mood Sentry at all today.  I did pretty well in any case because I had an idea of the goals I intended to set today, which helped.  Regarding my thoughts, this was my first day back after my vacation and I had forecasts that things would get out of hand.  What I did was press on with the things I needed to do.  Accomplishing things is one of my best defenses against tainted thoughts.  That's something I've learned over the past couple of years.  Note that in retrospect, nothing got out of hand.

Just Reviewed my Goals

I just reviewed my goals for today, and I hit all of them except the ones related to this app.  I feel pretty good about that because the goals I hit were the ones I really needed to hit.  I can address the ones for the app over this upcoming week.  Note that I had a lot of anxiety inside me this morning and early after noon.  I kayaked this morning, which helped a bit and then went in to work this afternoon which helped even more.  Physical activity and actively addressing those things that drive my thoughts can really help me manage my anxiety.

Another OK Day

Remarkably similar to my previous OK day.  I did not set any goals for today, but still got a lot of stuff done.  I ended up going into the office and set a time limit of 2 hours for some reason.  I got plenty done in that time, and felt much more comfortable (I was feeling a bit anxious about work, and was forecasting that I would be inundated with things that piled up while I was out).  I'll probably go in tomorrow for a bit to do some clean up.  Regarding setting goals, I just set some for tomorrow that include play, work, and some updates to the app.  I need to get my focus back on the app and plan the next update.

If you'd like to contribute one of your experiences, reminders, any tool entry or just your thoughts to possibly help others make better use of Mood Sentry, please consider e-mailing the item (or your thoughts) to 4theblog@moodappsllc.com. I'll protect your privacy and keep the source anonymous.

If your therapist would like to contact me with questions or suggestions, have him/her contact me at info@moodappsllc.com.

Had an OK Day

I'm still on vacation.  I did not set any goals today, which in hindsight may not have been the best decision.  I had this nagging feeling throughout the day that I wasn't getting anything done.  However, looking back on my day I can see that in fact I did get many things done, including a workout, catching up on work e-mail, catching up on my reading, updating my finances, and more.  Setting some goals up front helps me recognize when I accomplish things throughout the day and helps beat these thoughts of not getting things done.  I'll set some goals for tomorrow before turning in tonight.

Didn't Sleep Well...

Didn't sleep well last night.  Was tossing and turning, thinking about work.  This morning I made the time to review My Experiences with the thoughts that were in my head last night.  I caught a bunch of distortions, such as all or nothing and overgeneralizations.  I tried countering those thoughts, but was still anxious throughout the day.  I kept challenging those thoughts throughout the day and this evening I reviewed a couple of essays and observations that related to my thoughts.  Right now, I'm feeling OK.  Not great, but definitely better than earlier today.  I'll keep working this.

Slept Well, but...

Returned to the inn after a great day, only to find a voicemail on my work phone related to the issue I'm having at work.  I felt really bad that this issue came up in the first place, driven mostly by a should statement.  I didn't quite understand the question the caller asked, and thought I wouldn't be able to fix it from my current location.  I returned the call and left a message for him to contact my alternate and see if he can help.  I then opened up Mood Sentry with these thoughts in mind and reviewed My Experiences.  I recognized the should statement, but also some labeling, magnifications, all or nothing, and forecasting.  I then opened the Event Log and worked on the item related to the issue at work.  Doing these two things didn't eliminate the stress and anxiety I felt, but they definitely reduced these feelings.  I'll keep working on these.