Six Changes: Belated New Years Post
I saw a link to the 6 Changes Method for forming new habits and I thought I'd give it a try. I like the way that it focuses entirely on one habit every two months, and on accountability.
Last year my goals were to eat better and exercise as well -- I was successful for 2-3 months out of the year, during the time when I was having a partial remission, but then slacked again afterwards. Regardless of this slacking, I managed to go from a normal weight of 145, which was somewhat overweight, to a healthy weight of 120lbs, and maintain it that way. I also realized that WoW was more of a stresser than a source of pleasure for me so I successfully kicked it as a habit, at the end of the year. I theoretically worked on dental care and while I improved over my abysmal track record (I have always loathed flossing) I cannot say that I have done a very good job. I did at least go to the dentist regularly and work through all of the problems brought about by my neglect, including a long-overdue wisdom tooth extraction, but I still don't have a good flossing habit. I also created a new habit to feed Brad, which I've carried out successfully (with a few hitches over the winter break) into this year. And I got my sleep schedule under control, and now wake at 6am and take my medicine by 7am even if I then go right back to sleep, which is a big improvement over some of the bad sleep patterns I've had. So all in all I think I made a good deal progress last year despite the fact that most of these goals were sort of mish-moshed together rather than being treated as separate goals with two month blocks for each.
I want to try this method because I think it's more focused and I might be even more successful at building useful habits this way, and I'm less likely to feel overwhelmed if I have a period of bad health because I'm only adding one new habit every two months.
So here are six habits I would like to form this year:
1) Eating better
2) Dental care (especially daily flossing)
3) Exercising regularly
4) Computer backups and file organization
5) Being more social
6) Decluttering/home organization
I made "eating better" my first goal for two reasons: the first is that I think it's really key to my health and energy levels, and the second because I already have some habits still in place from last year, so it's easier to revert to it than to build a new habit from scratch, and that's good since I'm already halfway through January. I may end up "cheating" by trying to also incorporate exercise, because I want to exercise whenever I feel able to, but again since exercise is a holdover from last year so I already have some habits and strength from that, I don't think it'll degrade my food goal especially as I'm giving myself permission to prioritize food. Also, this goal helps Brad as well, because if I am focused more on healthy eating I tend to prepare more healthy foods for both of us, making more from-scratch soups and the harder to prepare but more nutritious vegetables, which can give him better nutrients than simply slapping a store-bought dressing onto a salad.
Baby steps for eating better:
1) 1/4-1/10: Eliminate or at least minimize all known allergens; minimize suspected allergens (uncultured dairy.) Complete: eating only minimal amounts of cheese, cottage cheese, and yogurt/kefir. Mostly using non-dairy alternatives. Have eaten no corn incl. starch this month.
2) 1/11-1/17: Cut empty calories to 10% or less of total diet: this consists of all fat over 30% of diet, more than 1/3rd fat being saturated, sweeteners, non-whole grains, potatoes, CAFO meat.
3) 1/18-1/24: Track everything I eat (I'm using Lose It! on the iPod touch.) Also track crashes and probable reactions to food.
4) 1/25-1/31: Start "pantry rotating" i.e. using stockpiled food in the freezer and pantry to replace it with fresh stores.
5) 2/1-2/7: Eat at least "five a day" fruits and vegetables, preferably 2 servings fruit, 3-5 vegetables.
6) 2/8-2/14: At least 1/3rd of all meals should be wholly vegetarian while still containing enough protein for my personal needs (ovo/lacto is allowed.)
7) 2/15-2/21: At least 25g of fiber a day and 8 cups of water.
8) 2/22-2/28: Regularly make soup from scratch. (Enough for at least half the week.)
(Edited to make weeks begin on Monday, which is more convenient for me.)
Last year my goals were to eat better and exercise as well -- I was successful for 2-3 months out of the year, during the time when I was having a partial remission, but then slacked again afterwards. Regardless of this slacking, I managed to go from a normal weight of 145, which was somewhat overweight, to a healthy weight of 120lbs, and maintain it that way. I also realized that WoW was more of a stresser than a source of pleasure for me so I successfully kicked it as a habit, at the end of the year. I theoretically worked on dental care and while I improved over my abysmal track record (I have always loathed flossing) I cannot say that I have done a very good job. I did at least go to the dentist regularly and work through all of the problems brought about by my neglect, including a long-overdue wisdom tooth extraction, but I still don't have a good flossing habit. I also created a new habit to feed Brad, which I've carried out successfully (with a few hitches over the winter break) into this year. And I got my sleep schedule under control, and now wake at 6am and take my medicine by 7am even if I then go right back to sleep, which is a big improvement over some of the bad sleep patterns I've had. So all in all I think I made a good deal progress last year despite the fact that most of these goals were sort of mish-moshed together rather than being treated as separate goals with two month blocks for each.
I want to try this method because I think it's more focused and I might be even more successful at building useful habits this way, and I'm less likely to feel overwhelmed if I have a period of bad health because I'm only adding one new habit every two months.
So here are six habits I would like to form this year:
1) Eating better
2) Dental care (especially daily flossing)
3) Exercising regularly
4) Computer backups and file organization
5) Being more social
6) Decluttering/home organization
I made "eating better" my first goal for two reasons: the first is that I think it's really key to my health and energy levels, and the second because I already have some habits still in place from last year, so it's easier to revert to it than to build a new habit from scratch, and that's good since I'm already halfway through January. I may end up "cheating" by trying to also incorporate exercise, because I want to exercise whenever I feel able to, but again since exercise is a holdover from last year so I already have some habits and strength from that, I don't think it'll degrade my food goal especially as I'm giving myself permission to prioritize food. Also, this goal helps Brad as well, because if I am focused more on healthy eating I tend to prepare more healthy foods for both of us, making more from-scratch soups and the harder to prepare but more nutritious vegetables, which can give him better nutrients than simply slapping a store-bought dressing onto a salad.
Baby steps for eating better:
1) 1/4-1/10: Eliminate or at least minimize all known allergens; minimize suspected allergens (uncultured dairy.) Complete: eating only minimal amounts of cheese, cottage cheese, and yogurt/kefir. Mostly using non-dairy alternatives. Have eaten no corn incl. starch this month.
2) 1/11-1/17: Cut empty calories to 10% or less of total diet: this consists of all fat over 30% of diet, more than 1/3rd fat being saturated, sweeteners, non-whole grains, potatoes, CAFO meat.
3) 1/18-1/24: Track everything I eat (I'm using Lose It! on the iPod touch.) Also track crashes and probable reactions to food.
4) 1/25-1/31: Start "pantry rotating" i.e. using stockpiled food in the freezer and pantry to replace it with fresh stores.
5) 2/1-2/7: Eat at least "five a day" fruits and vegetables, preferably 2 servings fruit, 3-5 vegetables.
6) 2/8-2/14: At least 1/3rd of all meals should be wholly vegetarian while still containing enough protein for my personal needs (ovo/lacto is allowed.)
7) 2/15-2/21: At least 25g of fiber a day and 8 cups of water.
8) 2/22-2/28: Regularly make soup from scratch. (Enough for at least half the week.)
(Edited to make weeks begin on Monday, which is more convenient for me.)