5077 Readers
Jan
04
I am curious to see how many of you do set New Years Resolutions…
If you feel like sharing why you do or do not set resolutions, post in the comments below. You can also post your resolutions (if any) there too.
Jan
02
Update: Actually it’s 27 Articles…but who’s counting ;) My 41 year old vision ailments seem to be kicking in… lol
Is it just me or did 2008 go fast? It seems like just yesterday I was working on the 101 Goal Setting Breakthroughs series from last January. Which is now a book you can get with my free advanced goal setting newsletter. But in looking back through the blog, it just feels like it went too fast. Maybe it’s me being middle aged now? :-)
Anyway, I went through last years’ posts and came up with a list of the most commented, Stumbled, Dugg and otherwise most popular posts in the last 365 days. Below is the list for your review, and increased success.
Happy New Year and have fun!
Dec
27
In my post make a pile of chips I talked about Abraham Maslow’s wife and her mentor’s advice to make a pile of chips. The moral of the story is even though you may not know what you are doing, start something. By making a pile of chips, you allow underdeveloped ideas to take shape.
This year has been my best for woodcarving. Starting with a few blocks of basswood, saws and some new professional carving tools from my family, I set out to make some Christmas elf ornaments I found in a magazine.
I quickly learned I had underestimated the skill level required for these ornaments. Two weeks had passed and you couldn’t even tell what the first ornament was supposed to be!
I wanted to to give up and simply carve some beginner Santas. In fact I bought a book Carving Santas from Around the World. But I decided to stick with it a bit longer. After all, carving is fun, even if I am only making a pile of chips.
Dec
23
Last year I was smacked with inspiration to pen a Christmas story. Like most inspiration, the idea for the theme, characters and plot came in an instant. If I didn’t begin work immediately, I would have lost the story. So, I did start writing on the spot.
I wrote most of it while my family made the yearly pilgrimage to Williamsburg, Virginia last year. Here’s what I had to say about it back then:
I remember touring Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia and seeing Dickens’ A Christmas Carol in one of the shops. And I thought, that’s it! I need to write my own Christmas story. It needs to be timeless and reflective. One that makes you think. And I want it to inspire joy and a Christmas spirit for those who read it.
I wrote it over the period of 3 weekends mostly from the passenger seat of our family mini-van as Kim drove us to some getaway locations. The story was easy, the ending was hard. Editing was tougher than everything else. But it’s here, at last.
A few comments made about it online and off:
Nice writing Brad. I like the powerful imagery. - A. Lange
Wow, that’s quite possibly the darkest Christmas story I’ve ever read, but I loved it. - Gary
I am going to lose sleep thinking about the note - Kerri
So if you are ever curious about what might be tumbling around in this head of mine, this story is a good place to start.
You can download a copy by right clicking the link and choosing “Save Link As” or by reading it in your browser:
Comments or criticisms about the story are appreciated in the comments below.
Dec
15
We were packing to leave Williamsburg, Va. One of my son’s jobs was to pack up his and his sisters’ air mattresses and sleeping bags. He got them all rolled up, ready to be inserted into the carrying bags. This was the point at which he got stuck.
“Son, you need to put the air mattresses into their carrying bags.”
“I can’t” he said.
I didn’t miss a beat. I said “you can and you will.”
He asked me how.
I said “you’ll learn how when you do it.”
He probably figured I couldn’t be budged on this subject, so he simply bagged up the air mattresses as if he’d done it 100 times.
When he was done, I wanted to reinforce the lesson. . I asked him “when you said ”i can’t’ while you were trying to bag up the air mattresses, what did that mean?
“That I was wrong?” he said.
I said not only that, but almost always ‘I can’t’ is a trick. If you couldn’t, the sleeping bags and mattresses wouldn’t be bagged. It’s important to understand this lesson. Can’t is usually a lie. The opposite of the lie is I can.
Nov
30
This is the first in our new series The Goal Setting Diaries. The Goal Setting Diaries is a group-think project similar to the sex diaries and the money diaries. Real stories from real people who want to achieve a goal. This is a diary from Carol, do you see any tips you can give her? Post them in the comments below. P.S. She was awarded a free copy of Achieve-IT! goal setting software for submitting her goal diary. You can get the same if you submit yours and I post it on this site or in my newsletter read the FAQ for more information.
The goal: My goal is to lose 20 pounds. I started at 180 pounds and want to get down to 160 or below. I am 35 years old single woman.
Started out well. Had a good breakfast of two boiled eggs and some toast and strawberry jam. In the past, I haven’t eaten breakfast a lot, but they say to eat it if you want to lose weight. Had a cheese sandwich for lunch, cleaned my kitchen. Got bored, popped some popcorn and watched TV. Eventually, guilted myself into going to the gym to work out. Had hamburger helper for dinner.
I hate Mondays. I had a bowl of Basic 4 cereal and after I finished, there was some milk left so I poured more cereal in the bowl. It was busy as hell as most Mondays are. Went to lunch with a friend from work. It was her turn to choose so we ended up at the Deli. I thought about having the salad. “Yawn” I had the burger instead with chips on the side. I didn’t have anything else to eat until dinner. I felt guilty for what I ate for lunch and wanted to be good. So I had a can of tuna and some Rice-A-Roni (not the whole box, thank you.) Watched Greys Anatomy on my DVR as I ate. I didn’t work out.
Woke up and hit the snooze button 3 times. It made me too late to make myself breakfast. Decided I’d stop at Starbucks and get something. Picked up a Grande Mocha Latte and saw Starbucks new Oatmeal advertised on the counter. It looked healthy, but too messy for the car. I went for a bagel instead.
At work, people kept stopping by my desk and interrupting me. At least it wasn’t Monday. Got shaky around 11A.M. from the caffeine. And I feel a little nauseous.
Went to lunch with friend again at the deli downstairs. Had an egg salad sandwich on Whole Wheat and a side of carrot sticks. (that’s healthy right?)
But a dumb co-worker brought in a cake for no reason. I couldn’t resist, so I had a big piece. Got tired at work and dragged myself home. Thought about going to the gym, but I was too tired. Took a nap.
Wednesday - I had a small bowl of Basic 4 cereal and coffee for breakfast. Work was an average Wednesday. A lot less busy than Monday or Tuesday.
I brought my lunch today and surfed the Net as I ate. Had Peanut Butter and Jelly on white bread and a bag of Lays light potato chips. Felt good about saving money and eating lighter than if I had gone out. Had some trail mix as an afternoon snack and talked to Tom (guy I met online.) We are going out Friday night.
For dinner all I had was two packages of Top Ramen noodles with green peas stirred in.
I was starving an hour later so ate a Chocolate marshmallow Cliff bar as a snack.
Thursday - Skipped breakfast, with the exception of coffee. Started feeling sick around 10 so I ate some trail mix. It didn’t do much to calm my stomach. Started getting a headache.
Drove up to Subway and had a full Subway club for lunch with lettuce, tomato, onions, peppers, olives and light ranch dressing on white bread no chips and water to drink.
Didn’t go to gym today, but I started to feel guilty so I put on some sneakers and sweat pants and did some fast walking through the neighborhood (about 15 minutes). Back home did 30 situps while watching Entertainment Tonight.
Dinner, had 1/3 a box of spaghetti with Ragu sauce and 1 piece of white bread with butter. Felt full afterwards but during sitcoms, I ate 3 Chips Ahoy cookies (normally I’d eat 4) and 1/4 cup of 2% milk.
Woke up late again, but it’s Friday! Went to Starbucks and got a regular grande coffee and a scone. Lazy at work, I didn’t do much except surf the Internet. Went for Japanese with a group from work. Had the teriaki chicken with rice and vegetables. It was a lot of food. Took half of it to go for later.
Tonight is my big date with Tom. We went to Fridays and split an appetiser of potato skins. He’s a computer engineer and two years younger than me. I guess that makes me a cougar. ;) I had the Chicken Ceasar salad and 1 glass of chardonnay. He bought dinner, even though I offered to pay for mine.
Afterwards, we went to see the Batman movie (I paid because I didn’t want to be obligated.) Great movie!
Tom and I will see each other again, so it’s been a good day!
I slept through breakfast and woke up at 11. Had a lunch of a bagel with cream cheese and some orange juice. Popped some microwave popcorn for a snack at 2 and then went to the gym at 2:30.
I knew I’d be splurging for dinner so I wanted to offset it with gym time. Speed walked the treadmill for 20 minutes. Then did some weights for 10 minutes.
Tom called me around 4. We had a light conversation and decided to go out again next week. My turn to pick the place. I’ll probably call him tomorrow to set up.
Met my friends at Red Lobster for dinner. Had the Crab fettuccini which came with a salad. I ate the salad and 3 biscuits. I had 2 glasses of chardonnay to drink and a piece of chocolate cake for dessert.
Felt sick afterwards. Why do I do this to myself?
Nov
19
This is a guest post written
by Rick Anderson from The Goal Geek blog.
Some people are predisposed to accomplishing things “organically”; that is, their orientation toward life and accomplishment is one that allows maximum freedom to “see what happens”. Others are more formulaic–they define objectives and milestones and start taking deliberate actions toward their objectives with varying degrees of conscious effort. Sometimes the two types of people collide, with the organic folks abhorring the discipline and predictability of well-formulated plans and actions while the formulaic among us struggle to value what they imagine to be an aimless life, void of the satisfaction of accomplishment.
