Photo by Nattu
Inspired by Oscar Del Ben’s post on 30 Habits that Will Change Your Life I’m taking on 8 of them for a month to see how I do:
1. Exercise 30 minutes every day.
Yes, I workout most every day. When I’m on the road it’s easy to let this one slip so what I wind up with is this ebb & flow with workouts. When I’m home, they’re solid. When I’m on the road, eh, I get a workout in if I can. What kind of progress could I have made if I were working out *every* day? We’ll find out.
2. Eat five portions of fruits and vegetables every day.
This is going to be a tough one for me. I get veg by mistake most of the time – on a Subway sandwich or alongside something I ordered in a restaurant. I know I’m not getting anywhere near 5 most days.
3. Drink one glass of water when you wake up.
Thinking on this one, I do drink water when I wake up, but not immediately after getting out of bed. Usually it’s after I’ve gotten up, brushed my teeth, checked my email, and then realized “eh, I’m thirsty…”
4. Avoid soda.
Yes, I drink diet pop. Sure there aren’t any calories, but it is loaded with sodium. Just because it says it’s not 200% of my daily recommended intake doesn’t mean that after adding that to the sodium in meals that I’m not way over the mark. That, and the corrosive nonsense. I’d like to keep my teeth. Oomph, okay. No soda.
5. Take the stairs.
When I lost that 22 lbs in Dallas this is exactly what I did. I took the stairs up 7 flights every time I left or returned to my room in the hotel. It was a nice jolt and overall it translated into some pretty good weight loss combined with the other things I was doing. I’ll really try on this one. I took a spill going up some stairs once and tore up my knee pretty good. Ever since then I’ve had this fear of falling in one of those stupid stair wells and then not having anyone around to help. I think I’ll shoot for a 2nd or 3rd floor room from now on. Fewer stairs, but still something I could hit on the way up/down every time.
6. Wake up early.
I used to do this all the time! I’d be up at 4:30am to work out by 5am. The reason I was doing it at the time was so I could get a lane at the pool. Otherwise, I was stuck working out on the treadmill or sharing a lane with someone. 5am it is. Every morning.
7. Wait before buying.
I really need to do this one. Call it whatever you like: sleeping on it, letting it cool down, giving it some thought. My brain is really good with the justification. If I decide I want something suddenly I can come up with two dozen reasons to buy. Slipping the old brain into neutral for 48 sounds like a good idea.
8. Meditate 30 minutes per day.
I’ve read several books on meditation and self-hypnosis and the ideas are really great. I’ve learned how to clear my mind and re-focus when things get cloudy and I’ve helped other people do the same. I’ve never set aside time to do it every day, but knowing what kind of benefit I’ve gotten from my little 5-10 minute sessions this sounds like a good one too.
