I’ll tell you what, when you set an intention and act on it consistently, it’s amazing how quickly you will get results. That’s what I teach in Writer Mama, How to Raise a Writing Career Alongside Your Kids, in my classes, and in my presentations. But it’s nice to apply those same proactive principles to other areas of my life and witness the transformation.
For example, simply from exercising four times a week (while I watch Oprah!), I have lost about five pounds. I look better. I feel better. And this just motivates me to keep exercising.
Notice, how I’m not hyper-analyzing it or becoming obsessed with dieting or losing weight. All I did was start exercising, incorporate it into my daily routine, and I’m seeing results.
At four o’clock, I simply say, “Oh, time to exercise.” And one day a week I get to take a pass, which is nice to either save for the end of the week or use if I have an appointment or something.
I’m even adding additional exercises over time to increase the results. Because, as I always say, results lead to results.
Speaking of results, we are eating healthier because I am cooking more. We are shopping less because we are buying in bulk for the month at the local discount supermarket instead of Costco (where we always spent more than we needed/wanted to). We get some healthy frozen option from Trader Joe’s (we’re a small family, so we can get away with that) for nights when I don’t want to cook (which still happens for one reason or another). And this provides flexibility for when things come up, which is nice to have.
I’ve worked out a positive childcare situation for my daughter since her childcare provider stopped taking part time kids last June. She stayed home for the summer, but in the fall, since we chose a half-day Kindergarten instead of full-day (which suits her better) I needed to find more help. I was not able to get all of my full-time job done with her home half-days (actually more because “half-day” is a misleading description). So I found a neighbor who does in-home childcare for two afternoons a week and a friend, who I offered to pay (because I’d have to pay someone else if not her), to watch my daughter three (soon to be two) afternoons a week.
Samantha is very social by nature and she’s happy to have these opportunities to see so many friends each week.
Of course, things will change, they always do. But by knowing what my priorities are, I can identify and address my needs, ask for help, and keep my eye on my priorities.
On a sidenote: I’ve been tagged for memes and am receiving a high volume of networking e-mail over the past weeks. Please bear with me while I am under my 60,000-word deadline. I take a great deal of pride in my work, which work goes through many stages and revisions, and it doesn’t look like I will be doing much “socializing” online or in-person until classes start mid-February. Sorry!
I’m looking forward to announcing the winner of the first Writer Mama Scholarship tomorrow, though.
I just wanted to share that I’m working hard and I’d love to hear how you are too, and what kinds of results you are seeing, so far, in 2008.
