“Things to Change”

I’ve been talking about change lately. It’s something I’ve felt I’ve needed in my life.  On March 7th, 2012 at 11:13pm I sent myself the following email:

Subject: Things to Change

Body of email: “Read more. Less video games. Go to sleep earlier. Write more. Run more. Get job. Study for my personal training certifications. Work out more. Eat healthier. Change diet by cutting out dairy.”

Today I’m going through my emails to clean out my inbox and a month later to the day and I came across this one (no this wasn’t planned).  In looking at the list, it’s pretty generic, but it’s also a list with some very big goals.

Let’s break it down.

1. Read more: I hate reading. I have a bit of ADD and I really can’t stay focused long enough to read something to it’s completion and this annoys the hell out of me.  I have 5 books at home that I want to read and I’m going to start going to bed 30 minutes earlier and try and start reading before sleep. I’m hoping that I can train my brain to read more and enjoy it because I really do care about the information in the book.
2. Less video games: I love video games! I’ve played them my whole life and it’s something that I’ve never grown out of.  I use it as a way to unwind at the end of the day or on the weekend.  The thing is that it’s also a way for me to procrastinate or waste time.  I know I can’t cut them out completely because I really do enjoy playing them, but instead of playing for 45 minutes before bed to unwind, I’m going to play for 15 to 20 minutes before bed and then read for 30 to 20 minutes while in bed.
3. Go to sleep earlier: This one I have changed already.  I’m a night person. I always have been. In my early 20s I was able to function on 4 hours sleep no problem. That’s not quite the case anymore.  Over the past few years I’ve been managing to get about 6 hours sleep but by simply going to bed 45 minutes earlier, that extra half an hour a night has really helped me out.  I now get about 6 ½ hours of sleep a night and it’s improved my productivity at work, in the gym and in everything else I do.
4. Write more: This is something else I’ve been doing more but I still want to improve.  I realized I was only writing blog posts on life changing events or happenings but I’m now trying to convince myself that I should be writing more on a daily basis just talking about my workouts, what I eat and my goals.  I’m still having a hard time thinking that people give a shit about what I have to say, but as long as I continue to get positive feedback, I’ll do my best to keep writing.
5. Run more: Last week I did my first long run in almost a year and I hit 5km.  I’ve now decided that I want to do a 10k this summer.  After training for 4 months and not being able to run the Blue Nose Marathon 10k last year due to injury, it’s still on my list of things to do, so I want to get that done.
6. Get job: This was a big one! I wasn’t happy in my job at all! I was actually quite miserable.  It’s around the time I wrote the post “If you don’t like something, change it.” and I took my own advice.  I started a new job two weeks ago and I’m very happy there.  Things are going well.
7. Study for my personal training certifications: I currently have my “Weight Resistance Trainer” certification and I’ve taken the “Fitness Theory” and “Personal Trainer Specialist” course, I just haven’t written those two exams.  It’s been a year now and it’s time to smarten up, open my books, study and write my exams.  I’m getting offered some PTing jobs that I have to turn down because of this and I’m tired of saying “I just have to write the exam”.
8. Work out more:  I’m all over this like the fat kid I use to be when he saw a large pizza with the works. I’m not drinking for a month and I’m working out about 4 – 5 times a week and I’m owning it. Up 2lbs on the scale and down 1 ½” around the waist. It’s great and I feel awesome.
9. Eat healthier:I might as well just tie this one with the previous one. My diet is on par and I feel awesome!
10. Change diet by cutting out dairy: I’ve always known I don’t deal well with dairy, but when I cut it out for two days, I didn’t realize how good I could actuallyfeel. I didn’t feel bloated. I had no cramps. And to be honest and frank, I didn’t have the stinkiest farts in the world.After cutting out dairy I feel great and now when I do have some cheese I feel awful. As much as I love cheese, this is a no-brainer for me.

My goal in writing this email to myself wasn’t to make a list of 10 things to change in my life, it was just to remind myself that I have goals already set and I need to stop talking about them and actually do something.  It’s such a good feeling to come across this email and to see thta I’ve actually accomplished over half of this list and that TODAY is the day I fond this email.  It’s given me a great sense of accomplishment.

Do you have a “to do list”? Do you keep it in front of you or do you write it down and tuck it away like I did?

What are your goals?