Good Stuff

Goals Inventory

Good Stuff:

Got my website up and running (and it looks awesome if I do say so myself!) check out www.wix.com/tesswest/photography

Lost 4 pounds...quite a bit more to go, but at least moving the needle in the right direction. Adding much more activity to each day. Tried quite a few new raw recipes-some successful, some not, but I attempted them.

Writing every day. Have missed 4 days on my blog out of 31, but did other writing, so I'm good there.

Taking pics for fun at least 2x per month. Have gotten some really nice images too. I'm happy with that.

Have a great start on my savings account for Italy. Making lots of headway on learning the language. All my flashcards are memorized, need to make more. Getting the pronunciation down pretty decent!

Ok...so those are the things I have accomplished. There are lots that I haven't yet, but the year is still young. What would I do with the rest of the year if I'd already accomplished all my goals? Am working on adjusting my plans and strategies for the rest so that I can do and be all that I desire to do and be in the upcoming year. One month down, eleven to go!

Inventory day

I've decided that on the last day of each month I will take an inventory of sorts to weigh how the experiment is going, look at which goals I am meeting, which goals I am missing and how I need to change my plan to be more effective. My friend is in college and taking a health class, and geek that I am, I was reading her text book a little today. It had a section on behavioral change and how it is most successfully accomplished. I think I'll be able to use some of the ideas from it to help me hone my plan a bit. I'm sure part of the reason I've failed at resolutions before has been that 1) I don't have a plan on how to reach the objective 2) I never go back and assess or refresh the commitment and 3) I give up if what I'm doing doesn't seem to work, instead of coming up with a new plan to reach the goal. So, tomorrow I should have an evaluation or score card if you will of progress for you. It will keep me accountable. And hopefully it will give me an idea of where to go from here.

The textbook had some interesting statistics. It said 80% of people make resolutions. 60% of the resolutions are health related. And sadly, only 10% of people keep the resolution and meet their goal. I really want to be part of the 10% who are successful and not the 90% that give up and quit!

Day Four

Day Four: Well, this could be a record for me. Today is January 5th and I've already gone through my file cabinet and cleaned out the previous year, made files for the new year, and have all the receipts and such put aside for doing my taxes. Quite remarkable. Now I am heading to the kitchen to cut up veggies for lunches. Then I will still have time for a nice hot bath and a little yoga before bed.  I am feeling really good about the changes happening so far. And I can honestly say I have not missed the tube yet. I did have a little pang last night when I heard the kids were watching Desperate Housewives...but then I realized how depressing the housewives and a lot of the other shows I used to watch could be. I loved CSI, House, Bones and all the crime shows. So much death and dismemberment surely is not good to fill your head with before you go to sleep, right?!

Day Three

Day Three: Yesterday was a good day. I got some things done that I needed to accomplish. And spent some time planning for the upcoming week. I made raw treats so that I can get my eating on track. (raw almond carob chip cookies and raw fudge brownies) I got containers to organize all my nuts and weird health food stuff, which will please my kids no doubt. You wouldn't think nuts would be a problem, but apparently I have some squirrel tendencies and have taken up a whole shelf in the pantry with my assorted nuts. In my defense, they are a staple in the raw food diet! Heading to Trader Joe's later to get the rest of what I need for the week. This is definitely one of the things I wanted to make time for by cutting out the TV, so I am pleased with my progress for today. Gold star for me!

Why

So, what will this blog be about? Well, as you can guess I've decided to pull the plug on television for a year. Why? What made me decide to do such a strange thing? It started with getting ready for the New Year and making a "goals plan". Not a list of resolutions. That has never worked for me in the past. But a plan. Some goals for the new year and a strategy on just how to arrive at these goals. After sitting down and working on the plan, I realized how many things I really want to accomplish this year. Some I've been trying to accomplish for decades (like getting into shape) and some are new dreams. But there are ALOT of them. And I realized before I even started that there were not enough hours in the day to do all I wanted to do. At first, I felt defeated. Then my mind went to work figuring ways to squeeze more time out of my days. I already knew getting up an extra hour early (like I've promised myself in the past) wouldn't work for me. I am NOT a morning person. Some say it's dangerous to talk to me before my morning coffee, but I think they're a bit harsh. So a.m. workouts and the like are out. Then it hit me, like a brick dropping on my head. (heavy, obvious and somewhat painful) What about all those hours I spend watching TV? What exactly could I manage to accomplish if those hours were free? And that's what I intend to find out through this experiment. What will my life be like in a year if I give up the TV adddiction? They say the definition of insanity is to continue doing the same thing and yet expect different results. So maybe this is my journey to sanity. Doing something completely different and hopefully not just expecting, but getting new results!