On Focus

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Sweater- Target

Blouse- H&M

Skirt- Thrifted

Tights- Target

Shoes- Old dance shoes

On Monday I wrote out a list of small easily achievable goals for me for the month and plastered them to my closet door. One such goal was to make time to work out more. Working full time has really thrown off my balance of figuring out what is my time versus the time for getting things done that need to be done. So in order to find the balance and figure out a way to really maximize my time I wrote a list of things that were important to me, not to my well being per se, but that were important to me. Things like my music, sewing, working out/walking, getting dressed in the morning, being creative, and whatnot. These are the things that make me happy. Then I listed all the things that I have to do to survive, like spend eight hours at work each day, do laundry, fix food, shower, clean, that sort of things.

Well long story short I decided I had to start getting up earlier and going to bed at a specific time each night. So I am up at 6am, and in bed by 11pm. I also begin and end my day with a walk. I have a 20 min walk that goes around my neighbourhood and each morning and night I walk it. Well needless to say the getting up at six has been a huge challenge. I like my sleep, and I like to huddle under my blankets on cold mornings. The mornings have been cold but I have to get myself up and get my blood pumping. Day one I thought i was going to die. It was so cold, I had to break out some mittens (I'm not complaining), and breathing in the morning air was like being stabbed in the lung several times over. Night one, was better, but I found that I was exhausted, and just wanted to turn back by about the second block I'd walked. But I trudged on. Day two was a little better as it wasn't quite as cold and I took the time to jog in place and get some blood pumping. That night I was still tired but did much better. Then came day three. On day three I woke up before my alarm and hopped out of bed. I threw on my work out clothes and walked. I was excited for this. I know.

Well today is day five and I have found out the following:

• I like having the mornings to myself to prepare for the day ahead
• I now look forward to each day as a thing filled with possibility
• I'm far more efficient at work
• I'm actually less groggy
• It has become something important to me, and I actually look forward to it each morning and night
• I am happier throughout the day and am less irritated by irritations
• I always eat a healthy breakfast
• I feel like my life is far more organized

So I am very happy with the results of this, however I am at the point where I could suddenly drop it, which I don't want to, so I've got to push myself the next few days. I really want this to be a habit I stick with forever.

Of course there are other things that i am trying to sort out as well, but I'm trying hard not to focus on too much. I think what I'm going to do it focus on one thing per week. This week was getting up earlier and walking, next week we'll shoot for something else, building on the other improvements. One other thing I did this week was limit my TV watching only to the shows I really, really enjoy, and only about two -three hours all week, as well as turning my computer off after 7:30. No computer time for me between 7:30pm-9:00am. This has been monumentally helpful in keeping me focused on my goals, and not on what the interweb world is doing. As much as I love poking my nose into your wonderful lives, sometimes I think I forget to live my own wonderful life.

So all in all it's been a really good week! I'm excited for the weekend (Berry picking and a girls day out (which is unfortunately to LA, but I'll survive) and maybe even Disneyland!) and for next week, oh and I started up voices lessons again which will give me the kick in the pants to actually write some music!

How was your week? How do you stay focused on your goals?