A Silver Lining

I have to admit, I didn't achieve all of my goals last week. But don't worry, with every cloud there is a silver lining. I was closer to achieving them this past week than I was the week before.

With my Spiritual Improvement area, I studied my scriptures for 20 minutes four times. I went from Sunday to Wednesday then just went back to reading a chapter or verse. This week I'm going to try focusing on the scripture mastery scriptures. Hopefully I will have a bit of direction with that. I might also try some conference talks. With those I'd look up corresponding scriptures. I think I'll have to try a few different things before I find my groove.

Exercising wasn't much better. I went to the gym twice (Tuesday and Wendesday) and the third day (Thursday) I played Just Dance 3 . I did get the idea while talking to my roommate to reward myself extra if I exercised six times a week instead of just five. I'll have to decide how, but I'll figure that out later. I think that will help me not skip a day then just not want to do it the next day. That's what happened this week.

I practiced the piano four times this week and got one song most of the way learned. My problem there is I don't like to practice while my roommates can hear me so it's hard to find a time which works. I'll have to see if I can get some earphones for the piano. It's a digital, so I can do that.

I was closer to achieving my "friendly" goal. I paid more attention to the patrons in the library and I tried to listen more when anyone was talking to me. There is also a friend of a friend I see a lot that I don't particularly get along with and sometimes I'm a bit rude to him. Last time I saw him I was better. I tried not to make any snide or sarcastic comments and I think I succeeded. I even laughed a joke or two he made. I think I'm making progress.

The last goal was the most successful. I kept my room clean. I have a bag of stuff I need to donate on my floor, but the closet it clean, my laundry is done, there aren't any dirty dishes sitting next to my computer, I could even vacuum right now if I wanted to. I don't, but I will sometime this week. That's my mini goal this week.

So, there you have it. With most of my goals I seemed to fizzle out around Thursday or Friday. Monday I skipped because it was a holiday, but that isn't the case this week. I'll try to form the habits and carry them over through the next holiday.

Real quick before I go, the nonfiction book I decided to read is called Love is a Verb by Mary Ellen Edmunds. Obviously, its about loving others and serving them. I've read part of it before but never finished it. I figure it's a good place to start since it has to do with my service area of focus. I need more ideas on how to serve. Plus I have my own copy so I can mark it up if I want.

Gloria

A New Year

I wonder how many blog entries posted today have that title.

Last year, around this time, I made a list of things I wanted to improve or "restyle" (get it? the title of the blog...ha ha.) about myself. It was a pretty good list, comprised of things like keep a gratitude journal, take better care of my body, and have an improved relationship with my Father in Heaven. After reading through the list today, I noticed I had made only minor improvements on some of the items and none on most of the others.

"What?!" I said to myself, "I've had an entire year and I've made practically no progress in becoming the person I want to be! Something has to change."

So, here I am, ready to make some changes in my life. Not just the things from my original list, but also my approach to achieving them.

First I had to look at last year's list to determine where I went wrong. I noticed something right away. My list was very vague and too long. I tried to do everything at once without really knowing what exactly it was I wanted to do.

I decided to make more specific goals and to simplify my list. Here's what I came up with. The items on my list fit into one of five categories: Spiritual Improvement, Talents, Physical Health, Service, and Other. What if, every month I focused on one goal from each of those categories? So far, so good. Moreover, I would need an incentive to keep me going, basically, a way to be accountable. I typically have a problem with making goals and flaking out, so I decided to write this blog to keep track of my progress. I've never really written goals down before and I'm using the S.M.A.R.T. goal guide. It's something I picked up while in college. It makes you look at your goals and see if they are good goals or not. Here's what the acronym stands for:

S - Specific
M - Measurable
A - Attainable
R - Relevant
T - Timely

That's as far as I'm going to go into that. I'll let you figure out how to apply it to your own goals if you don't already.

After looking through my areas of focus I decided on one goal from each category. To save on time, I'll just give the bare bones of the goals. They are as follows:

Spiritual Improvement
Scripture Study
Spend 20 minutes a day studying the scriptures
Have scripture study once a week with my roommates

Talents
Piano
Learn two new songs a week
Practice 30 minutes a day 5x's a week

Physical Health
Exercise
30 minutes 5x's a week
7,000 steps a day

Service
Be a better friend
Smile at everyone
Listen to and care about what people say to you

Other
Keep my room clean
"Tidy up" every night before I go to bed
Vacuum once a week

Yes, I know. This is all stuff I should already be doing. That's why I'm going to start now. I hope this blog will help me to stick to it and restyle myself into who I want to be.

Oh, real quick before I go, there's one more thing. I'm a librarian and I read lots of fiction, but I'm not generally huge into nonfiction. I would like to change that, so another goal I have is to read one nonfiction book a month. I'll let you know next week what the title is for this month. I have to do a little research first.

Congratulations for making it all the way through my post! If you aren't asleep yet you'll just have to try counting sheep or listening to some harp music. Sorry.

Gloria