discipline

February 3 in 30

February 13, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

Perhaps you noticed that I missed posting my 3 in 30 post for the first week of February, or that this post actually belongs to Sunday, but I’m not posting it until Monday. Or am I the only one keeping tabs on my procrastination. Actually, it’s not procrastination. I’ve just felt the need to actually relax on the past two weekends because the weekdays have been so very full.

I have set goals, however, even if I didn’t tell the world about them. And for the first week of February, well, let’s just say I haven’t done all that well with them, but I they are things that I am determined to change as the month progresses.

Getting to bed on time. This is something I did not perfect in January, and if anything, February has been worse. For one thing, I need to get my husband on board with this. There are so many distractions late at night, it seems. But I still maintain that it is key for me because it affects how my day begins the next day.
Get up at least an hour (preferrably an hour and a half) earlier than my children, who wake up around 7:00. This gives me time for some critical morning routines and some headspace to start my day with.
Get back to consistent exercise. I care about how I look and how fit I am, but lately, I’ve been sacrificing that for a little extra here, or a few more minutes doing something else. If I care enough, I’ll exercise.

Again, I’m ignoring some larger issues, like the packing and so on, but I know the rest will fall into place when my days begin and end well–kinda getting back to the basics.

Stick with it Saturday: Ups and Downs

January 28, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

Earlier in the week I was thinking how good it felt to be exercising again. I finally seemed to be having a week where it all came together. On Sunday, I did 20 minutes of intervals on the mini-trampoline. On Monday, I had an early doctor’s appointment in Toronto, and didn’t have time to exercise in the morning. If I don’t exercise in the morning, it doesn’t happen. On Tuesday, despite another early appointment, I did 20 minutes of intervals on the mini-trampoline. On Wednesday, I did Turbo Jam for 20 minutes then turned it off and cooled down. Wow! It was pretty intense, I thought.

This is where things break down. On Thursday, I woke up feeling every minute of that Turbo Jam workout, and a few muscles I forgot I had. I was aching and had a lot of work to do. On Friday, I woke up feeling worse, and wondering how much of the achiness had to do with exercise, and how much had to do with the fact that I was obviously fighting some kind of head cold, due certainly to a lack of enough sleep this week. I also had this to deal with:

You’re looking at the staging area for THE BIG MOVE. Every possession we brought with us a year and a half ago, as well as everything we’ve accumulated since then must fit into one of those boxes, plus two suitcases. Every homeschool book, every toy, every article of clothing, every bottle of vitamins, every shoe, EVERYTHING. (Did I mention the homeschool books?)

It’s a daunting task. And you’re looking at the good part of the picture. If I were to turn the lens in a different direction (which I won’t), you’d see the rest of the horrifying picture–all the stuff that has yet to fit in. I was doing well until yesterday, when we found an additional bin lurking in a closet and remembered the one we sent on ahead to my parents which has a lot more homeschool things in it.

I wanted to jump back on the exercising this morning, but when I stumbled through the piles in the dark and came downstairs to look at this, I decided I had other priorities.

I’ll stick with it next Saturday.
- Carey Clark

Stick with it Saturday

January 21, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

This week, I allowed life to take over a bit. But I did manage to exercise three days. Admittedly, they weren’t the best workouts in the world. Twice, after missing my own exercise, I tried to squeeze it in later in the day–once with the kids as part of their homeschool time. (If I give a good effort, though, I still manage to work up a sweat):

Monday – One mile walk with kids
Tuesday – Tore the cellophane off that Turbo Jam video and did the Learn and Burn.
Thursday – Interval training on the mini-trampoline. These are definitely the most productive workouts. I should have done another one this morning, but I was just plain lazy. Not much more can be said about that.

I’m going to make a sincere effort to get back on track this week, but I’ve kicked the moving and packing into high gear so we can be moved out by the end of the week and clean the house top to bottom on Saturday, so I’m prepared that I may not always be in bed when I should and therefore not always up in time to exercise. I’m going to do my best.

A Disciplined December

December 5, 2011 by Carey Jane Clark

Can you believe it’s December? Well, if you’ve been to the mall, I guess you’ve been confronted with the reality, but still. Really?

Recent goal-setting failures aside, and the desire to eat turkey, light candles and do nothing barking at the door, I’m determined to have a productive December, and bring some much-needed discipline back to my routine. Here are my goals:

Structure my personal schedule in order to make time for morning routines. My hope is that this will help me eliminate backlog and find time for things like writing (because I’m very excited about the new novel idea that’s been brewing in me), and internet use (because marketing for After the Snow Falls has taken on something of a life of its own).
Regroup in the homeschooling department and come up with a strategy for what we’ll do until we leave Canada. We just came back from a vacation, so we’re in get-back-in-the-groove mode, but we’ll have to stop really soon for Christmas. And then there’ll be moving frenzy. (Trust me, I know this well.) So I need to rethink schedule, prioritize and make it happen.
Successfully launch After the Snow Falls. It will be released on December 15, and I’m lining up a blog tour now.

Wow! They’re big goals, and maybe I’m being overly optimistic with all the good Christmas-y feeling in the air, but I think I can do it.

And believe it or not, I haven’t forgotten Advent. I sincerely believe that if I’m able to structure my days better–maybe more realistically–I’ll be able to do the slowing down necessary to prepare my heart for this season.

What are your goals this month?