Lose weight. Read my Bible more. Floss daily.
Resolutions made…resolutions broken. I do it every year. I start January 1 (or in the case of 2009, January 5) gung-ho, raring to go. And apparently, rhyming.
Anyway, I get highly motivated at the beginning. The beginning of the year, and later, the beginning of a month (March rededication, here I come) – it’s time to start over, to begin new, to really do it this time.
The problem is that I just can’t stick to it. I don’t have enough stamina.
I found I was missing stamina over the weekend, too. I took Mark to the College Basketball Experience and attempted to school him in the regulation version of Pop-a-Shot. Turns out, all those years of standing on my driveway and shooting until I made 10 baskets in a row paid off. I’m actually pretty good from the free-throw line…for about 20 seconds.
And then I got tired. So very tired. My shots were veering to the left and then, even sadder, not even making it to the net. If the game had been 30 seconds long, I would have had a chance at beating my much more skilled (and in-shape) husband. Alas, it lasted a full minute. And I got stomped.
The interesting – or frustrating, depending on how you look at it – thing is that the only way to build stamina is with exercise. That just doesn’t seem right, does it?
I don’t have a solution or a clichéd summary to put here. I just noticed the correlation between my sad attempt at hoops and the difficulty of reaching goals in general.
So I’m asking you – How can we reach more goals in 2009? You don’t have to call them resolutions, and it doesn’t have to be related to anything we start in January. But help me out. Help us all out – how have you stayed motivated, finished a project, fulfilled a dream?
hmmmm…… Well last year my New Year’s Resolution was to lose weight and I was very successful. I did it with the help of my support groups on http://www.sixweekbody.com–although since I had more than 30 pounds to lose it took me 12 weeks :-D. (Do you think I’ve told you about this enough??? :-D)
THIS year, my goal is to get my knees back in shape– they crunch when I walk due to osteoarthritis and since I don’t want to be in a wheel chair by the time I’m 40, I better do what I can now to reverse it! I have been having a hard time sticking with the stretches my chiropractor/physical therapist swears will fix them. So this year my resolution is to make sure I do all 15 minutes of stretches every day, plus take my glucosamine horse pills every day. (I have a VERY hard time remembering to take my pills and vitamins–its a good thing I don’t need them for my sanity’s sake!)
In Addition…I want to do my Wii Fit at least every other day to strengthen my leg and back muscles and stabilize my knees that much more–it is fun after all!
Hopefully I will do as well on this as I did on last years!
I can’t offer much help either… I have been successful at losing weight though, in the past, and what worked best was taking it day by day. I know it probably sounds cliche, but I did exercise tapes in high school, and I remember thinking, instead of “I’ll start tomorrow,” “I’ll just do it one more day.” It’s hard to get back on the wagon when I fall off though. :( And I’m definitely not going to be helpful with eating, b/c I much prefer to target weight loss through exercise than through diet. In fact, I did lose weight by counting calories in high school, but that didn’t stick (obviously;) and (I’m told) made me annoying to be around sometimes. The other thing is to do something fun (but I think you still have to make it part of your routine or something, or at least have time to do it). I actually enjoy walking at Gray’s Lake (with music or a friend, and not below-zero temps, that is;), and I enjoy doing DDR. Plus, DDR is a video game, so you want to keep trying to get a perfect score — if you’ve ever been a video game player, I mean. Maybe you’re not. ;) Sorry, that’s about all I have for you! I’m not one for following things through either!
P.S. I thought that picture was from InPlay, but I didn’t think you were wearing that top. :)
I love that picture of you shootin’ hoops… Such concentration.
As far as your questions, motivation is something I don’t have much of these days. I have many unfinished projects, and as soon as I come up with a dream, I’ll let you know how I plan on fulfilling it. Sorry that I’m no help.
Recently, I’ve been asking myself, why is it that I do have good discipline to do certain things and then not much when it comes to other things that I value as equally important? In fact, I might write a post about this if I can sound somewhat intelligent about it. Eating healthy and exercising is easy for me, but there are other important things that I put off and procrastinate over.
HM, you have told me about it a few times – but believe me, when I finally lose weight, I'll be sharing the good news, too! Your goal for your knees sounds good – probably easier to do now that you lost weight!
Chelley, you've told me about that philosophy before – I need to remember it, because I think it's a really good way to trick myself into doing the right thing. :)
Haha, B, you're right – I get very intense when it comes to shooting hoops!
Oh, Chelley, it's not from inPlay. It's from Dave & Buster's a few years ago. I wore a shiny shirt to inPlay. :)
For me, the big issue is gauging the goal to my ability to meet it. As soon as I feel overwhelmed or do more than my health can handle, the goal is lost and I would have been better off never making the goal in the first place. And then, of course, breaking down the goal into babysteps with rewards attached. I do love rewards! I also try to figure out what reward I’m getting by life the way it has been. What I’m I getting out of the way things are now that makes me not want to change things? That realization is almost always a good kick in the butt since it usually shows me an unwanted facet of my character!
Maybe that's the key somehow, Brenda: incorporating something you are motivated about with something you aren't. It's tough though! I think accountability probably helps too, but it can also backfire, because people tend to be overly understanding, I think, especially the people to whom you'd want to be accountable. ;) I did think of one more thing, though (which you've probably also already heard me say &/or blog, Photo;), and that (even though it's easier said than done) is to accept when you mess up and just start again. Keep trying and going to God with it. Then again, some things are thorns in the flesh that we will deal with our entire lives. I know I have some. :) Not that that's an excuse to slack on them! Sorry, I think I'm rambling again, and I'm not sure if I'm making sense. But recently I've found that this works with my fingernails (for the most part). I've been a nail-biter all my life, but I've had nails for a while now, and I think it's because I just start over when I mess up instead of expecting perfection and giving up when I don't have it. (Now, if only I could accept less-than-perfection in other areas, because I'll never be perfect!;) Although, I have to admit, with the fingernails, I can also see visible/tangible results, which helps too. I can clearly see the consequences of my actions. With things like weight loss and spiritual growth, the benefits/results aren’t always as clear, and definitely not as immediately clear. Sorry, that was long again. This is a question that isn’t easily answered, Photo! And I think I remember the top, btw. :) Wasn’t it hot pink? :)
Oh, and I agree with Brenda about your look of concentration in the basketball pic. :)
What’s ‘rodgy’ mean? It’s my security word, and I think I like it, but it also sounds like it might mean something negative. Or, wait: is it just a pet name for ‘Roger’? Well, that’s much more boring. Never mind, then.
My husband came home last night with this brilliant idea… he said, “why don’t we pray about it?” I don’t know why I always forget that.
accountability.
im gettin me some accountability this year.
mandy challenged me to write just 2 chapters a month to her 2 songs a week. easy – but theres accountability, so i HAVE to do it.
i blogged about it, and now others are joining in. i say utilize your bloggin friends. agree to report back to your blog with updates of how youre doing. maybe that’ll help.
i don’t think rodgy is a good thing, chelley. it sounds like a cross between raunchy and dodgy. sounds a little shady and scandalous!
Oh, you’re right!