Whenever I embark on a new day one, I create all kinds of ways to motivate myself. All in efforts to trick myself that this may really be the time that I'll stick with a diet and exercise program.
This one seems to be the most extreme I've done...a public blog. I really don't think I'm motivated by begging people to read or even the expectation that people will follow, but I can't lie, reading the comments yesterday were really fun. They reminded me that we all have our own struggles keeping on top of things and I think most of the people I know, like to be connected to others. This is one more way to stay connected to each other, even if it's via a screen. I'm looking forward to seeing this develop...it makes me more impatient to get those dvd's here and get rolling.
I also am enjoying sharing this with my 90 8th graders. I shared what I did over the break and it included me watching that infomercial too many times and by the end of the day, through the kids' ideas, we decided on a way to motivate me. Because I have a fairly lame track record of sticking with things to fruition..the marathon excluded, I told them that my family was taking bets on when I'd quit. One family member gave me 6 days...one gave me 10 and one gave me a whopping 14 days. I told my kids to decide what day they thought I'd quit and they get to write that number on a sticky note and I'm going to put in on a poster. Every day I go further than one of those sticky notes, I get to take off those numbers and say "suck it!" to that number...not the child. :) Yes, I wasted 5 minutes of their academic life discussing this in class but I figured it's teaching those life lessons of setting goals and making them public.
You may think this is a weird way to motivate, but I thought I'd try it. There's a little reverse psychology in there, right?
I also tend to eat too much as I gear up for day one. No exception here this time; at least I'm consistent.
So, I wait and keep pondering what will make this journey different.
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Wow Sally. You are such an inspiration - no wonder your students love you! I really admire your courage to put your personal life into a blog and I wish you luck. I will keep following if you don't mind, maybe I will get motivated to take a chance as well :)
ReplyDeleteOnly one comment?--what's up with that? The compelling thing about this blog for me is that I have started many (a ga-zillion?) self-improvement programs, and I wonder how this will work out. I have had success with my own plans, and I have made plans that petered out. Some were good ideas (weight watchers, "maintaining ideal body weight through diet and exercise" (1983 SPU). Some were ill-advised: Adkins 2004--ended up in the hospital with emergency appendectomy. Sometimes I got down to a great weight. The thing is that today I'm right back where I was then---like you, wanting to drop that 10-15 pounds I'm packing again. Thanks for the energy. Thanks for the inspiration.
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