in addition to trying to post… something here everyday, i’m working on a number of other efforts to better myself.

i know i’ve said things like this here before and i have no expectation that these renewed efforts will be any more fruitful than previous attempts. still, at least for now, i feel like this time it could be different.

the difference is that this time there’s no long-term plan or grand goal at the end. rather than saying, “i’m going to lose weight” or, “exercise more” or the like, i’m just taking it one day at a time. and if a day goes off the rails, i’m not getting worked up about it; tomorrow’s another day and we’ll try again.

with no lofty goals, i’m just trying to be conscious of a few things throughout my days.

for starters, i’m trying to eat better. though i’m still not keen on cooking and am not preparing homemade lunches, i’m focusing on smaller portions. this not only saves me a bit of money, but keeps me from eating too much in the middle of the day. lunches are where i’m also trying to get my starch as plate lunches are difficult to get without rice, or the like. in the evenings and weekends, i’m focusing on lean protein, fruits, and vegetables. its at home where most of my junk-food eating seems to take place… mostly because i don’t like cooking.

in addition to trying to eat less and better, i’m also trying to spend my time in more productive ways. though this effort has been met with mixed results so far, it’s still just one day at a time.

conscious of my inclination to stay up late for no particular reason, i’ve been setting my bedtime at 10pm. for the last week, or so, the plan as been as follows: i come home after work, or whatever, have a small snack (cheese, fruit, or a pice of bread), then watch an hour or two of television while i prepare and eat dinner. following dinner, i’ve really been trying to turn off the boob-tube to read, write, or do other work. this has been trickier for me, as i have a difficult time starting. once i sit down to do… whatever, i usually stick to it. but it’s always the starting that i struggle with.

finally, partly as an effort to have more to write about and partly just to spend time other than playing games or watching television, i’ve been trying to read more. mostly news stories and related studies. for a quite a while, i’ve been adding articles and such to the “reading list” in my safari, though never actually going back to read them. now, to curb that bad habit, i’m keeping the articles open in tabs; i may not get to them all right away, but they’re less likely to be set aside indefinitely and then forgotten. this has also been met with mix results. there are articles that have been open in tabs for more than a few days, though mostly because i intend to write something about them and so they remain as easily accessible references.

all in all, after about a week i’m doing fairly well. my therapist says it takes something like 16 weeks to form a habit. and while i’m in the very early stages with all this, and really trying not to look down the road too far, it is my hope that at least some of these efforts will become habits.