December 8th

I mean, it’s not totally gone. I’m still down 5 pounds. It’s like when you go to the casino, and then you win 3,000 dollars, and then you lose 2,993 dollars. You just tell everyone, “I WENT TO THE CASINO AND WON 7 DOLLARS.”

So we’re back where we started. And by we I mean me. And by me I mean I. I’M BACK TO WHERE I STARTED.

It’s not all bad. In fact, there’s a pretty recent picture of me that reminds me of Chris Pratt. Well, not Guardians of the Galaxy’s Star-lord:

More like Parks and Rec’s Andy Dwyer:

But like he got stung by bees in the face…

I’m sorry if you’re reading this before bed, no one should have to look at that.

I’ve actually been reading books and articles regarding willpower and habit forming, as well as procrastination, goal setting, and habits of successful people for the past month or so. I was even able to use reading about procrastination to put off starting all of this stuff last month. What can I say, I’m a natural.

I read The Power of Habit, and Solving the Procrastination Puzzle. 

I read some articles online about morning routines, the finite nature of willpower, routine changing, understanding roadblocks/self-obstacles/internal objections, and other self-helpy crap.

I also like infographics because they are more fun to look at than a bunch of stupid words.

It means that even though most of us know the things in that infographic (and the things that I’ve read) are beneficial, a lot of us don’t do them. I can’t tell you the last time I woke up for anything other than to rush to get ready for work or another commitment. I love smacking snooze like my alarm just cut me off in traffic. A big problem for me is I love to stay up late on the interweb (blackpeoplemeet.com), or watching Netflix (I’m currently binging nightly on Parks and Rec, hence the Andy Dwyer reference).  So my number one challenge that I need to meet is waking up earlier.

In order to wake up earlier, I need to go to bed earlier. In order to go to bed earlier, I need to exercise so that I’m tired. In order to exercise enough to make me tired, I need to eat healthier foods to give me energy to fuel my exercise. In order to eat healthier foods, I need to wake up early to prepare and eat a healthy breakfast.

It’s like a vicious cycle of amazing.*

*Also known is being a normal, healthy person, something I don’t think I’ve really ever been. While we all know I’ll never be normal, I could probably be healthy.

Here’s my idea. I’ll just imitate a healthy person until I am a healthy person. That’s totally going to work. So what would a healthy person do everyday?

Here’s my list:

1. Wake up by 5:30am every weekday and 7:30am every weekend day.
2. Eat breakfast everyday.
3. Cardio every morning before work, weekends before doing anything else.
4. Drink only water, at least a gallon a day.
5. No fast food, and if I am at a sit down restaurant, order whatever the healthiest meat option is on the menu.
6. Cardio every night after work.
7. Lift weights 3 days a week.
8. Eat vegetables every night with a meal.
9. Listen to/read one chapter of a book everyday.
10. Learn a new skill that I’ve never attempted before by working on it 30 minutes a day.
11. Perform a random act of kindness every day.
12. Blog every day (even if it’s just a quick update to document what I’ve done that day)
13. Quit biting fingernails.
14. Volunteer once a week.
15. Count all calories.
16. Organize one thing (area of the house, table, dresser, cabinet) in my house everyday.
17. Spend 30 minutes every night planning the next day.
18. Floss every day.
19. Compliment someone everyday on something other than their looks.

I’ll do this until January 8th and then I’ll probably switch it up. 31 days sounds like a good start to the rest of my life, right? Thoughts? Questions? New skill idea? Let me know!