The GYM

I hate going to the gym in January. It is always so full of people! All those new year resolutions and good intentions. Often half the people there don't even know what they are doing. Which is probably why they get discouraged after awhile and clear out by mid-February.

So if you find yourself in this predicament here are a few articles/tools that might help with your work out goals. Best part? A lot of these are gym free!

SimpleFit

How to Design Your Own Fail Safe Exercise Program

The Simple Fitness Rules

Stories I Missed

Good article from the Christian Science Monitor on the stories you may have missed during 2009. Of course I haven't been following the news very closely so all of these were a surprise to me.

Favorite bit of news:

"In October, the United Nations named Tinker Bell, the forest fairy from “Peter Pan,” as its “Ambassador of Green.”

article here

My Resolutions (and more on goal setting)

It was brought to my attention that I did not commit publicly to my goals. I did that on purpose because I have tried to keep this blog fairly non-personal. Upon further consideration though I have decided to go ahead and publish my goals.
This month I am focusing on eating healthy and exercise. Specifically 1470-1800 calories per day (which is subdivided into carbs, fat and protein allotments) and 3 days a week of cardio and 3 days of strength training. I am using SparkPeople (and their awesome App) to keep track. The goal is to lose 3lbs per month for the next 6 months.

I am also going to have meaningful prayer every morning immediately after I wake up and just before bed. Additionally I will read scriptures every day after work for at least ten minutes. For the prayer and scriptures I am using a trigger method (see last post and this article).

My other goals include:
Paint a picture
Learn about horses and rodeos
Write a novel
Scrapbook 1/2 my life
Start the 52 photo project
Be able to swim 2 miles (perhaps in a Spudman)
Travel-Visit Vancouver and Mexico
I know that most of those are vague and do not meet the SMART criteria for goal setting (if you haven't heard about Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely goal criteria you should check out the article). But I have decided to plan for each as the month comes up. This keeps it all manageable.

I also know that I am cheating by adding habits on top of my weight loss goal. I rationalize this because both are really things I have been doing I am just trying to routinize them, make them firm.

So now I have committed publicly...well as publicly as this blogs readership of 3 can be!

A New Approach to Resolutions

New Years is always a time when I spend a lot of time reevaluating my life and making a multitude of goals. On average I would say that I actually follow through with 10% of those goals. This fact has often frustrated me. So as I stand at the dawn of a new decade I have decided to take a new approach.

This approach is based on a couple of articles I have recently read.

The first was "The Definitive Guide to Sticking to Your New Year's Resolutions" from Leo Babauta at ZenHabits. Leo breaks down why resolutions fail and then offers his method of keeping resolutions. My two favorite points are "we try to do too many resolutions at once, and that spreads our focus and energies" and "resolutions are often vague...don't contain a concrete action plan". His solution called the 6 Changes Method requires 6 habits and 2 months per habit. He encourages you to take it slow and make the change gradually and easy. A very tortoise "slow and steady" approach.

The next article "Blame It on the Brain" from the Wall Street Journal. Illustrated how scientific studies have shown that willpower is "an extremely limited mental resource" they compare it to a muscle that can reach failure. Below are some excerpts from the facinating article:

"...several dozen undergraduates were divided into two groups. One group was given a two-digit number to remember, while the second group was given a seven-digit number. Then they were told to walk down the hall, where they were presented with two different snack options: a slice of chocolate cake or a bowl of fruit salad.

Here's where the results get weird. The students with seven digits to remember were nearly twice as likely to choose the cake as students given two digits. The reason, according to Prof. Shiv, is that those extra numbers took up valuable space in the brain—they were a "cognitive load"—making it that much harder to resist a decadent dessert."

"Given its limitations, New Year's resolutions are exactly the wrong way to change our behavior. It makes no sense to try to quit smoking and lose weight at the same time, or to clean the apartment and give up wine in the same month. Instead, we should respect the feebleness of self-control, and spread our resolutions out over the entire year."

These two articles have convinced me that I a have been trying to "run faster than I am able". I am going to focus on one main goal/new habit each month, instead of the laundry list of resolutions from years past. Picking just one thing has been difficult. There is so much I want to do now! But I am confident that narrowing my focus will lead to greater success. I will keep you all posted on how it goes.

*I really encourage reading both articles. Both have great insights on goal setting and habit forming.

Entertainment These Days....

Just got home from seeing Avatar (playing in a theater near you). This was a visually stunning and generally fun movie; escapism at it's best. However because it was escapist, it failed to strike any kind of resonance. Which in my opinion is the problem with movies these days.

Instead of aiming high and telling a story for the ages the industry settles for something that will draw a crowd. I am not saying that there aren't new and original stories out there. There are plenty of great, interesting writers. But those movies are usually attached to a low budget and carry the word "independent" in the trailer. The art of true storytelling is not often coupled with the money that is thrown at blockbusters.

I believe that good stories only become blockbusters when a big industry name backs it (see Schindler's List, Cast Away, Dark Knight) or someone is truly committed a la Lord of the Rings or Titanic. But too many movies these days pander to the masses and fail to be great or even good. Deep down we want to be inspired, too come away from a movie thinking or wanting too be more.

Escapist movies are like popcorn. Sure it tastes good but it doesn't fill you up.

Stay tuned for a much longer diatribe on how the Hollywoods has destroyed sci-fi.

The Enemy of Good Enough

I love the quote "Don't let perfect be the enemy of good enough." Because while there is nothing wrong with striving to be perfect, too often it becomes a road block. I like this post on Get Rich Slowly, in it J.D. relates this principle to financial planning.

The same applies in life. When we beat ourselves up for not being perfect we fail to see that we are good enough.

And good enough is a heck of a lot better than nothing at all.

In B flat

This is one cool webpage. As the website says

"In Bb 2.0 is a collaborative music and spoken word project conceived by Darren Solomon from Science for Girls, and developed with contributions from users.
The videos can be played simultaneously -- the soundtracks will work together, and the mix can be adjusted with the individual volume sliders."

If you are interested in music I suggest you click on over.

I really had fun.