First up, how April ended up:
Under 195 - nope
100 sit ups - didn't even try
Keep working the 12 steps - fell short
Track all food daily - nope, about 70% success
Sign up for May 10K - Beat the Bridge - May 16 *WIN*
Sign up for Summer Tri - not yet
Train daily for Fall 1/2 Marathon - TOTALLY! *WIN*
fit into size goal pants - they fit! snug still but fit better!
Take progress pictures - nope
Make 5 new receipes - I don't think so
Weigh in only 2x a week - not even close.
April wrap up - not so good. I back slid a lot. A didn't track, I didn't cook, I generally struggled a lot. but that's last month. It's May now - a clean slate. And I've got all new goals!
Under 195
Attend 4 or more OA meetings
Track all food daily
Sign up for Summer/Fall tri
Train daily for Fall 1/2 marathon
Take progress pictures
Take and track measurements
cook at home at least 5 days a week
one long bike ride a week (one hour or more - trainer counts)
And now I'll open it up to you guys - I need a goal that helps me build my self esteem - one that teaches me to accept credit for the hard work I've put in. What do you suggest?
Under 195 - nope
100 sit ups - didn't even try
Keep working the 12 steps - fell short
Track all food daily - nope, about 70% success
Sign up for May 10K - Beat the Bridge - May 16 *WIN*
Sign up for Summer Tri - not yet
Train daily for Fall 1/2 Marathon - TOTALLY! *WIN*
fit into size goal pants - they fit! snug still but fit better!
Take progress pictures - nope
Make 5 new receipes - I don't think so
Weigh in only 2x a week - not even close.
April wrap up - not so good. I back slid a lot. A didn't track, I didn't cook, I generally struggled a lot. but that's last month. It's May now - a clean slate. And I've got all new goals!
Under 195
Attend 4 or more OA meetings
Track all food daily
Sign up for Summer/Fall tri
Train daily for Fall 1/2 marathon
Take progress pictures
Take and track measurements
cook at home at least 5 days a week
one long bike ride a week (one hour or more - trainer counts)
And now I'll open it up to you guys - I need a goal that helps me build my self esteem - one that teaches me to accept credit for the hard work I've put in. What do you suggest?
Comments
Keep the ideas coming! I need all the help I can get!
I read a book last year that advocated a self improvement strategy called positive psychology. Basically the idea is that you shouldn't dwell on things that you perceive are wrong with you and constantly try to fix yourself, but instead you will be happier if you figure out what things you excel at and try to use those skills more in your life.
Anyway, the exercise is that every day for two weeks, you write down 3-5 things that you liked about the day. Then you look at the list of things and figure out what skills all those activities used. Skills that come up a lot, you identify as a strength and then for the next two weeks, you purposefully do an activity every day that uses that identified strength. I couldn't imagine that this would really work, as I thought I already knew my strengths. I'm a scientist and a big nerd, and I was sure that intellect would be my biggest strength. I have never thought of myself as a people person, but as I looked at this list of unrelated activities I liked, I realized that facilitating relationships and fostering the communication that sustains these relationships was the unifying theme of the stuff on my list. So then my exercises were things like, calling a friend and catching up with them and filling them in on what our other friends were doing, organizing a group lunch or happy hour, introducing a colleague to another person to start a collaboration, etc. I know it sounds silly, like how could organizing a lunch be self improvement, but it really made me feel like I was utilizing my talent every day and was a boost to my self-esteem.
Anyway, sorry this was so long, but I hope this makes sense!