March 2013 Update

This month has been epic in the goal-achieving department. I feel SO GOOD about myself. So here’s what’s up.

I just finished up my 14th book and started up my 15th. After that, this leaves me with only 135 books to go on my list! Whew! I am super fantastically enjoying my books! They’ve all been really good, except “Call of the Wild”. That’s okay. One out of 15 isn’t so bad.

My oral care routine is, in fact, the awesome I wanted it to be. I haven’t been brushing my teeth at night like I had said I wanted to. But I have been flossing every day, brushing with my Sonicare toothbrush, and I just finished up my Crest Whitening Strips! My teeth are so beautiful and white! It’s gorgeous! Check out pictures on a new post for that category coming soon!

My emergency project to become less apt to get angry is going slowly. I really liked that 30 day program my husband and I were on, but it was hard to remember to read the emails together after he woke up. I check my email every morning after I settle in the kids from waking up for the day,  but then when my hubby gets up, I totally forget we have an email to read together. We have missed a lot of emails. I don’t think we’re going to try to catch up. We *do* however remind each other not to yell at the kids, and that’s something we keep as a goal each day, to yell less, if not at all. Also, to love more instead of the yelling. I have seen improvement, but there is much still to improve. I am thinking that maybe I will sign up for the next round of this 30 day program and do it on my own. If my husband wants to do it, too, he can put himself on the email list and we can work separately… but still together. 🙂 I’ve also saved all the emails and continue to do so, so maybe I can just take myself through it when the time is right to add to my schedule.

My handwritten journal is going great! I write almost every day, and be sure to record special memories of the kids. I have already almost filled up an entire notebook! Almost time to get another edition going and add to my stack of old journals from high school!

Learning to Enjoy Running is one of the projects I am extremely proud of myself for right now. I haven’t missed a single day (except when I am scheduled not to run) and have done more than I thought I would be able to do. My level of intensity is increasing at a rate that I feel good with, and so far my knees haven’t put me out of commission like last time! I won’t get into all of what has been going on with that here. You can look for more in-depth details for that in my latest posting under that category as well called “Feeling the Burn”.

I recently printed out a calendar for April to plan my project for next month: Spring Cleaning! This is a continuation of my Mastering House Maintenance goal. Here it comes again! I scheduled what I would be doing on which days and wrote out a detailed checklist of what I want accomplished in each individual area of focus. I’m also brainstorming home improvement projects… So be looking forward to all of that hard work and new cleaning method experimentation next month!

Pursuit of Excellence is going steady and is working hand-in-hand with projects I already wanted to do for myself, so that’s great!

Soda drinking for me has slowed down. I’m trying my best to drink more water with my increased workout activity. We no longer have sodas in the house, and I prohibited my husband from buying surprise 2-liters anymore. I had a strawberry limeade two nights ago, but I didn’t even finish it, and I can’t remember exactly the last time I had a soda. It hasn’t been very long, but I didn’t actively say to myself, “Okay, this is my last soda”. I’ve been taking it one drink choice at a time!

Now here’s my advice for the month. MAKE A PLAN. If you want to do something — REALLY do something — to change your life, it takes work, motivation, determination, endurance… and a good plan to hold it all together. Before I tackle a big project or goal (or even a small one), I sit down and make a plan that works for me that I know will help me succeed with some way to measure my success. I write it down or print it out and put it someplace I will see it every day. Make a checklist, a schedule, a calendar, a motivational picture/quote, a graph, a reward list… whatever works best for you! Just do it! And do it before you start in on whatever it is you want to accomplish. Just like every strong house has a strong foundation laid before it, every great and successful project has a strong, smart plan before it! So get planning, people! Go out and achieve your goals! Don’t just read about me doing it, do it yourself!