Today was a good day. What do I mean by good? I spent it with a peaceful mindset, I accomplished all of my goals for today, which now I am writing down. Every opportunity that I encountered with other person I chose love and acceptance, not annoyance and blame, as I sometimes do. Sounds pretty good, right? It is to me.
Because just labelling something as good or bad doesn't mean much. You have to give it a meaning. What does it mean that you had a good day? Why it was good? What did you do or didn't do? For us to improve we need to be able to measure what we do and we need to know where we are going. How can you know that you are going in the right direction if you don't even know what that direction is?
I started to write a daily journal. My goal is to write down my daily goals, so I can hold myself accountable. Before that, I used to be very flexible. I would say too flexible. Always leaving room for change of decisions. Maybe sometimes it is good but definitely not always. I realised, if I never plan, leave everything out in the open and wait till I feel like doing something, that for all I care, I would probably go to gym once a week, eat everything I desire and everyday watch two to three movies. In short, not much change would take place. It is ok, if you make that choice but I realised, if I want extraordinary result, if I want to see what is the best I can do in this life, then I have to be willing to be uncomfortable once in a while. Maybe more often then not. To do things even, if I don't feel like doing them, and do them just because I know they are moving me towards my goals.
I also realised that allowing myself to do anything I want anytime I want it isn't actually that much fun. The things that are always available loose their appeal. But if you can have a piece of cake only once a week, you feel like you have earned it, you enjoy it, you savour it. If you have it anytime, you end up swallowing it because you know you can have a second one, if you wish. Easy. You can have it all, explode and then go again :).
Practising self-control and delaying gratification is very empowering. I learned though, that I have to prepare myself for the tough days. It is easy to make some kind of commitment (and I will use food as an example because that is what I have made thousands of goals around) when you just ate and you say to yourself :"I think I will give that intermittent fasting a go. I can easily eat only in an 8 hour window. Skipping breakfast? Yeah, why not?..." First day goes by ok. Motivation is high up there and you feel like you are killing it. Second, ehh, still fine but you start noticing more and more thoughts creeping in. Third day, uhh, you wake up at 5 because that is when your baby wakes up (and here I am talking about myself of course) and you think to yourself :"I can have my first meal only after 7 hours. Oh fuck, what am I going to do all this time?"
The emotional attachment to something I have done for very long time is strong. I almost want to eat breakfast not because I am hungry but because in my mind it is so fun to eat breakfast. I am so used to it. Familiar feels nice and cozy. Unfamiliar, feels really unfamiliar and uncomfortable. Only then the real work begins. Not when things are easy but when I get shaky, shaky, and I start thinking :"Why the hell I came up with this nonsense of not eating breakfast?" Those 15 min of breakfast seem so appealing and they are really calling my name.
This morning I manage to go by that uncomfortable feeling and I notice that it soon passes. Uhh, I survived. I didn't give in those chattering thoughts. And two things really helped. One, is that I actually wrote it as my goal, that I will eat only in an 8 hour window and I really wanted to tick that goal in my planner as "JOB WELL DONE". Two - I asked my husband to help me to control myself around food, because overeating in the evening became really uncomfortable and I decided to ask for some help. Because I had these things holding me accountable, my planner and my dear husband, I let those chattering thoughts and uncomfortable feelings pass.
This is my third day on the intermittent fast. For those who don't know what it is, let's say, it is a way of eating. You are eating in an 8 hour window and then giving the other 16 hours to your body to restore. I won't go into details but there are many benefits which you can read and research on your own. In short, if you eat all the time, all your body does, is digests food. It has no time to repair other then when you sleep, which in and of itself is a fast. But by intermittent fasting you are prolonging that period and you give your body more time to do great things.
What did I learn today? I learned that if I decided to do something, achieve a goal, it really helps to write it down and tell somebody to help you monitor yourself. Of course the other person only helps, if you don't want to let them down. If you don't care what they think then there is no point really. I learned that I can self-regulate pretty well, that eating less makes me sharper, calmer and more energised. I learned that I have a lot of control over how my day goes by and today I chose it to go well.
How do you hold yourself accountable? How do you make sure you reach your goals? What kind if goals do you set for yourself?
Notes : Here is a great, informative video on intermittent fasting, if you might be interested to try it out for yourself https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xv2cWhnkPU
How do you hold yourself accountable? How do you make sure you reach your goals? What kind if goals do you set for yourself?
Notes : Here is a great, informative video on intermittent fasting, if you might be interested to try it out for yourself https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xv2cWhnkPU
Love,
Kris
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