DAY 57 Actions & Rewards

Hi Journal!

Saturday I talked about making a Plan to overcome my Bottleneck, and part of that included having short-term goals, and an action plan to make them happen (here).

I hadn't really planned on posting the goals. Part of me was probably afraid of the accountability...part of me was embarrassed at how they would sound...and part of me felt they would be just plain boring to anyone but me.  Guess it's time to put on my Big Girl panties and get on with it!

I had said that I needed to get a handle on Time Management, and that involved getting caught up, so I wouldn't feel the pressure to stay up, but go to bed on time.

So here is my ACTION PLAN to get caught up:

-Finish unpacking...yes, I have been here almost a year, and am still not finished. :-(

-Follow my daily cleaning routines...don't let it go because "it's not that bad, I'll do it when I have more time." More time never gets here! 

-Organize the clutter on my computer; deal with 3 files a day til caught up, then file away as I go.

-Clean the desk off in my studio...it's a cluttered mess, I don't like it, it makes ME feel messy.

-Work on my low carb recipe collection once a week, tentatively Wednesdays ....I have collected hundreds of free recipes to help me in my new healthy way of eating, yet I  usually can't find the one I want...frustration! They have been sitting in folders all piled up in a corner for months.

That is the work part...now for the REWARD part. I will have more time for these after I get caught up. 

Here are my short-term REWARD GOALS:

-Time to do a monthly illustration for my blog, like on Toon Tuesday....I have always been a slow poke at my art, so it won't be weekly unless I can learn to draw faster... I have all these ideas, and they are begging to be drawn...drawed...drew...;-)

-Time for sewing projects...I have a long list waiting to be done...I even bought a great electronic sewing machine from Craigslist, and haven't even learned how to use it yet.

-Time for painting...I have so many in my head...and I particularly want to finish one that is very meaningful to me, that I have already sketched out; the quote that is going on it is: "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life." I have hoped for so long to finally get my life back, and to finally see that longing fulfilled is wonderful. The painting will have a large elaborate tree in it...you'll just have to wait and see. ;-) 

-Time to paint cotton shirts...I have these cool designs all drawn out to paint onto cotton denim shirts with acrylic paints...this one I feel like I waited for a legitimate reason: I didn't want to paint my 5X size shirts, and then not be able to wear them later cuz they were too big!! LOL! Guess I could buy shirts that were too small now, and "grow" into them.

-Time to frame some paintings that are already finished...I have the framing equipment, but have never learned how to use it. I finally believe that in the future I will need to know this. :-)

-Time to sell stuff online...this was a matter of time and mobility. I will soon have more of both. :-)

_Time to do ongoing projects as they come up...right now I have several small projects to fix up the house, waiting in the wings, just never time to do them.

Well, that's it. It's rather daunting all written out here...but it also looks like some fun stuff, so that will keep me motivated.

And...drumroll....my Monday weigh-in: 370, for a gain of 1 lb this last week. I thought about it...I can identify 4 things that I did that contributed to it. 

One was temporary and on purpose: I stopped my exercise for 1 week to let my shoulder heal up some...it was getting worse after each exercise session. I am really happy to say it's MUCH better now, and I'm not waking up in terrible pain. So I plan to carefully start exercising again.

The other three, honestly, were my own doing...more from carelessness and getting too confident that I had the routine down...NOT!! I allowed myself to get too rushed, and was hit and miss in my morning quiet time of prayer, meditation and reading. And I allowed my schedule to get all topsy-turvy, which affected mealtimes...and I was not careful on STOPPING eating when I was satisfied, so the portions crept up.

The one good thing about committing to self-honesty is: the information is out there, not hiding in the dark. Now I can DO something about it. 

I must admit I had this "dream goal" of going the whole way without seeing a PLUS sign...maybe it's a good thing this happened. This is a result of getting careless...and that's a good lesson. It takes effort, EVERY day...I can't coast and expect excellent results. No excuses! Hopefully, lesson learned. So I can look forward to doing much much better next week.

From Dr Phil's book: "You must carve out time in your life for tension-reducing activities."

My verse for today: "You need to persevere..."

My quote for today: "If you learn from defeat, you haven't really lost."--Zig Ziglar

Enjoy the Journey,

Loretta

=^..^=