January, it was all about ME!

The month of January is over now. Time to sit and look back. Have I met my January's resolution lists? Have I been diligent enough to check every items before I go to sleep? What's work, and what's not?

 

1. Exercise regularly -- I found that I had sticked to this resolution quite diligently. I joined the classes that I found interesting. I walked in the morning either Saturday or Sunday. Yes, I missed some gym time when the workload in the office was high, but I compensated during the weekends. So I found that I'm quite good in meeting this resolution. But still could do it better.

 

2. Only eat when hungry. Only eat inspiring food. Eat it mindfully. Stop before full. -- This one I mostly fail when I'm home, on holiday. Too many good food, too many eating out. Had to admit, I could not resist the temptation. Frankly, I took this concept from Hypnolangsing. I joined their workshop last year, and I will share later on about the summary of their 5 Magic Rules. My problems in implementing this concept are: I loved to munch at any time. I'm easily tempted by snacks. I still need to practice the Abundance Mind, where you don't feel the need to finish the food in everybody's plate. So for this resolution, I will still bring it back to next month list.

 

3. To clean and care: Start a ritual before sleeping. -- Before the resolution, I was a lazy girl. I was rarely clean my face or brush my teeth before sleeping. Most of the time I forgot to put on night cream. Now, I'm quite diligent. Now, I only forgot to clean and care about 1-2 times a week. Good improvement, I said! But definitely need to be kept on the checklist, so I won't miss it.

 

4. Put on make up, before I go. Never forgot the lipstick! -- I had a habit on putting make up in the car, a few minutes before arriving at the destination. This resulted in feeling sleepy and actually slept all the way to my office. Now I made the efforts to look pretty before left the home, so that I felt more energized. It works!

 

In my January journey, I found that breaking my big goal to smaller goals, and then breaking it to measurable and achievable targets were helping me a lot. I am convinced that my big goal is achievable. Thanks, to Gretchen.

 

However, I also found that the list no matter how fancy they are, would not work if you didn't review it. My problem was that I didn't review my resolution list every day. Gretchen suggested that you have a Resolution Checklist, and you review it every night before you go to sleep. She even offered her template and her tool in the Project Happiness Toolbox. So I tried several alternatives:

1. Printed spreadsheet. Not working. I don't like bringing a piece of paper anywhere. Kept on forgoting and end up as garbage.
2. Spreadsheet on my computer. Not working. It's not always possible for me to open my Thinkpad before I slept.
3. Journal book. The same with printed spreadsheet, not working.
4. Gretchen's Happiness Project Toolbox. The internet connection is not stable and I have difficulties in updating it in my mobile phone.

So, my next task so I could implement February resolution in a more effective manner, is to find a tool, that I could access anytime, anywhere. Since I could not be separated from both my iPhone and Blackberry, I need to find the tools that running on either of the gadget.

 

Overall review: I loved MY HAPPINESS PROJECT! It's not fully working yet, but hey! It's the journey of becoming a better person that I'm looking at. And I think the process is showing a positive trending. So am looking forward to my February resolution list! :)

How I drag myself to do exercise

One of my resolutions is to exercise regularly. This is a very tough resolution, because:

1. I've been away from gym for nearly 15 years (I'm not counting my 4-5 times effort during that time in subscribing to a gym, but lasting only less than 2 weeks of exercise).
2. My idea of heaven is reading a book in my cold bedroom while munching chips and listening to a soothing music.
3. It's tough to slip a few hours to go to gym in my tight schedule. I had to spend minimum 4 hours in commuting to and from work. It's not rare that I have back to back calls and meetings. Lots of work to do. I could not take morning class because I to drop my princess at school. I could not go home too late, because I want to spend a good small time with my little princess, before she's going to sleep.
4. Gym is quite costly. I could spend the money for buying milk, book and courses for my little princess.

The good thing is I actually had started this resolution about 3 months ago, when my office launched an interesting program: Bye-bye Big Challenge. This challenge was targeted for the employees who were categorized as obese and would like to lead a healthier life. I said to myself: This is the time to make the change for myself. And I signed up for the program.

Since I have this target, and I have competitors to beat (I love competition), and now I also have this resolution, I set my strategy to drag myself to start exercising regularly:

1. Subscribe to the nearest gym from the office. Good thing is my office attached to a mall that has a gym. Actually there were 2 other gyms near the office, but I took the nearest, so there would be less reason not to go to the gym.
2. Squeeze the time for gym. Previously, in regular weekdays, I had my lunch in my desk, while working or surfing the internet. Now I took earlier lunch around 11am while working, went to gym around 12PM and come back a little pass 1PM. I also took 5pm class on Monday and Wednesday, because my daughter had afternoon course and I would be picked up late anyway. I tried to use Personal Trainer for the first 2 months, but I found it not quite suitable to my style. I didn't like being chased for coming to gym, I felt like I hadn't paid 100million debt and being chased by debt collector. I don't like having to fit my schedule to other person's schedule. So right now, I think arranging my own schedule is the best for me. Maybe later on I will think again to hire the PT. (besides, PT cost a lot... :) )
3. Book the schedule in my calendar. I treated gym as my other appointment and calls. I booked it in my calendar, and put the reminder 30 minutes before.
4. Find the fun in exercising. I love dancing. But after I got married, and later wore hijab since last year, I didn't go dancing anymore. In the gym, I joined 'Body Jam' class, and I'm so happy. It was really fun, and it felt like I was back to 10-20 years ago. This is a class I will not miss. When not in class, I do the cross trainer, and I watch all the good programs in the TV while training. This may not be a very good suggestion, as you're not focusing on the exercise itself, but hey... I didn't realize it's already 45 minutes on the machine. Am thinking to bring a book to while doing static bike... I also tried Yoga classes, which I had difficulties to follow, but still excited. And beside gym, I tried to schedule bi-weekly exercise with my little princess -- it's either swimming or walking on Car Free Day.
5. Try not to pass 2 days in a row without exercise. If I knew I would not go to gym or swimming, I will walk around my backyard for 45 minutes in the morning, after morning pray. When I'm on holiday to my in-law's village, I offered to go shopping to the local wet market, and I walked for about 1km from home to the market. I even considered my weekly grocery shopping as exercise as I would require about 90 minutes to complete. 

I think the strategy works very good for me. It's not my original, I got it from here and there, including from my mentor in the Bye-bye Big Challenge and The Happiness Project. But it works... At least now I go to gym 3-4 times a week. :)

My January Resolution: Myself!

I had decided that my first resolution for My Happiness Project is Taking Care of Myself!

 

I found that if I thought I looked good, I feel my mood is up. If I thought I looked like mess, then I would feel a bit low. So I made a formula:

 

HAPPY <= Good Mood <= Look Good <= Take Care of Myself

 

So, to be happy, I have to take care about myself a little bit better. :)

 

Frankly, I'm not a stylish person that have to have matching appearance from top to toe. It's actually the other way around. Most of the time I forgot to clean up before sleeping. I only have 1 pair of shoes and 1 nice bag for work. I do like putting make up, but a very basic one. Since this month, as my resolution is to take care of myself, I decided to put extra care for myself, my body, my health and my appearance.

 

So my January resolution focus is:

• Exercise regularly, minimum of 30 minutes and no 2 days gone by without exercise.
• Only eat when I'm hungry. Only eat inspiring food. Eat it mindfully.
• Start a ritual before sleeping -- to clean and to care.
• Put on my make up before I go. And... never forget to put on lipstick.

 

As a very wise lady said:  

Put on some make up, to cheer you up! 

*btw, that lady is my 62-years old mom, who still looked young and chic*