It’s time to get to organized, ladies and gentlemen!
I have been staring at my mess of a room for months now. I usually am really good about keeping my room clean and all. Yeah, not so much lately.
I am having a hard time with it, though. I know there is stuff I want to sell, stuff I want to keep and stuff I need to get rid of. I’m just having trouble getting started.
I got this book recently. I think it’s about time I give it a read!
Any advice or suggestions?
I had deemed this month OGO (Operation Get Organized). Instead, I started something the last week of February and have kept with it so I figured that would be my change for March.
I call this month’s change The FACE!
Why? you ask. Well, for a long time, I would go to bed without washing my face, brushing/flossing my teeth (I know, I know) or taking my contacts out (!!!). When I started my job back in January, my boss told me that appearance was important as I am the first person that people see when they walk in the door. I may not agree with this, but do understand it. Plus, I really love makeup and hadn’t really had any reason to wear it before. Now, I wear it Monday-Friday (I am glad I take the weekends off).
At first, I thought it was going to take me forever and that I was going to get to bed really late. In reality, it literally takes me 15 minutes to take OUT MY CONTACTS, take off my makeup, toner, moisturizer and floss and brush my teeth. Speaking of face products, I have DRY skin and HUGE pores. Any recommendations of good facial cleanser, toner and moisturizer? I think what I am using is too harsh on my skin and is dry me out even more. HELP!! That’s it. 15 minutes a day! Who knew it could be that easy. There have been a few times where I’ve skipped but paid for it a few days later with signs of breakouts (which I capped right away).
I am really liking my new routine. It helps me finalize my night and get ready for bed. How is your March change coming?
Oh, my February change has come to a stand still. I really need a kick in the butt and some help.
February…..let me just tell you that month was hard. I also have to tell you that is the reason I wanted to do this change this early. I need as much support as I can get. That’s what we’ve got each other for, right?
I’m still exercising, though not as much or as hard as I want to. I know I need to look into changing up my workout. I also need to get back to counting calories and eating healthier.
I think this is the hardest change I have to make this year. I will make this work!
Now, to figure out what my March change is going to be. I have a few things in mind and I want to do them all at the same time lol.
I’m writing this post to ask y’all a few questions: How is your February change coming? Are you succeeding? Are you finding it hard to stay with this change this month? Are you still stilling to the change you made in January?
I want to hear from you. You are important to me. You keep me going. So, please share with me.
As for me, I kicked it into high gear in the middle of January with drinking more water. Since then, I have actually learned how to drink water. I know this may sound weird but it’s true. I would drink a 16 oz. bottle in the morning then not drink anything until after 12. I was then cramming 60-80 ounces of water down my throat in 4 hours (I wanted to be done by the time I left work, which is 5 pm). Oh man, that just lead to a lot of bathroom trips. I learned that you have only drink when you are thirsty and space it out. Now, it’s much better.
February started off well. I was exercising 3-4 times a week. I was eating healthier. Things where going well. Then the weekend with ALL the food. Then the UTI hit. I didn’t exercise all week until Thursday. I felt it. I know that I need to get back on track. I’m just having a difficult time keeping myself motivated. I’ve done this before. Why is it so hard this time?
Have you ever had a weekend that was just full of food? So much food that you don’t know where it all went?I live in the South…we eat
Yeah, that was a few weekends ago for me. I ate so unhealthy . It started on Thursday with pizza, then Friday with Taco Bell, then Saturday brunch at Jolie’s (OMG….if you ever come visit me, we will go eat our hearts out), then chilli at grandma’s, then breakfast Sunday morning at Dwyers (again, if you come visit me, we will have breakfast Sunday morning here), followed by fish tacos at PJ’s parents house then stuffed pork chop, stuffed jalepeno, stuffed mushroom and corn on the cob at our friend’s house for the Walking Dead premier.
Y’all….that A LOT of food consumed over the course of a weekend.
I wasn’t feeling good Sunday night and woke up Monday morning feeling worse (turns out I have a UTI- I’m on meds now and it’s getting better). I weighed myself. I wasn’t that surprised with the weight gain I saw on the scale. I was disappointed. I was disappointed that I let it happen. I don’t want to see that again, but it’s difficult to work out when you have to go pee like every five minutes. What do I do?
I need some help here.
Last week, I wanted to throw my hands up and say ‘I quit!’ But, I didn’t.
I wanted to say ‘screw it!’ to calorie counting and eating healthy. But, I didn’t.
I wanted to sleep in that extra hour. But, I didn’t.
Instead, I kept going. I held my head up high, gave myself little pep talks and continued on the elliptical (I even think I am finding my stride). I set my alarm 15 minutes EARLIER so I could get out the door on time. I am now enjoying the food that I am nourishing my body with instead of not caring what it was and just eating to eat.
No one said this was going to be easy. I knew this going in. I also knew that I really needed to do this early so I could make it stick.
Here’s to the journey!
Hey all! I’m Melissa from Press Play, just checking in real quick on this little blogger project of ours. 
I can’t believe we’re already well into February and well into our second change of the year! January went really well for me; I had set out to begin a healthier eating lifestyle for myself & accomplished just that by cutting junk food out of my life for most of the month, as well as going vegetarian for the last two weeks.
As of right now, I’m still semi-vegetarian (by choice!) and only indulge in junk food once in a while. Cutting things out of my diet drastically doesn’t always work for me- I tried coffee once, did NOT like that experience- but every once in a while it turns into a great experience. Cutting meat out of my diet for the most part has done amazing things for me and for right now I don’t plan on looking back to what I used to eat.
In February, I really wanted to continue on this healthy eating track and add in a fitness routine. I’ve never been the kind of person who LOOKS FORWARD to exercise, but after trying out fitness classes last summer I’ve been wanting to get into that kind of exercise more regularly. I was doing so well in January that I ended up activating my new gym membership a week early.
I was feeling great about it until February hit- I haven’t been to the gym yet and we’re already one week into the month! I was putting it off for the first few days, but now I’m just focusing on getting better from a little cold. I was told that exercising while sick isn’t the best idea, so I’m postponing my challenge for a few more days while still focusing on eating extremely well and getting healthy again.
I’m kind of sad to not be able to jump right into Change Number Two after such a successful January, but that’s just part of life, right? Things aren’t always smooth sailing and you just have to go with the flow. I’ll have a little bit less time to get my butt into gear & get into a good fitness routine- I’m not too worried though. I’m so excited to get into shape, I think I’ll find ways to make it work.
As of right now, I’m most excited to get back into a Jillian-Michaels-kicking-my-arse-routine every day as well as fitness classes 2-3 times per week. I’m hoping that by mid-February I’ll be getting my fitness routine worked out and once March comes around I’ll be ready to add my Third Change into the mix. As of next month I’m moving away from health and incorporating other aspects of my life into my changes, so I really need to make this month count if I want my Jan/Feb changes to be long term!
How have you been doing so far with your February? Have you hit any road bumps along the way in the past month and a half?
Editor’s Note
I LOVE the idea of vlogs for this blog. Feel free to keep them coming people! – Katherine
I have been given a lot of advice in my life. Look both ways before you cross the street; don’t wait til the last-minute to finish a project; if he doesn’t answer the phone the first time, he’s not going to answer the fifth time. (I’M KIDDING. I would only call three times.) Hi, my name is Ashley, otherwise known as Ashalah and I blog over at Ashalah.com.You know what the one piece of advice that stuck out the most over the course of the past five years has been? My coworker and friend once told me over one of our daily lunch discussions at my old job that:
It takes only 21 days to create a new habit.
I passed this piece of advice on to Katherine when we first started talking about this 12 changes in 12 months business. She asked me to research it a little and while I cannot trace this back to the original advice-giver, it is featured prominently in several psychological journals. The days vary from 21-28 days but when you add that all up: within a month, if done every day, a habit can be formed. Of course there are those who disagree but it’s a very interesting theory, one I’d like to see if we can prove! Considering we are trying to do one change every month, we may be able to do just that. If we implement that change every day for a month, we should be able to create a habit right?
I’m reminded of a few years ago when I decided to take up running in Central Park. I used to hate it. Would dread it and for a couple of weeks, it took me quite a bit of effort to come home from work, put on my running shoes and walk out the front door and not just plop down on the sofa like I really wanted to. But sometime after I began to want to put on my running shoes. I craved hitting the pavement and having those couple hours of alone time running in the rain, in the snow, in the sun.
I developed a habit and I bet you it took me around a month to get there. Any of the goals that we want to accomplish this year can be thought of in this same way. Want to lose weight/eat healthier? Start adding vegetables and eliminating something like candy or soda every day and while it may be hard at first, pretty soon you’ll be craving those veggies instead of the sugar and you won’t need that soda to get the energy to get through the day. Want to save money? Start bringing your lunch every day or making your own coffee (I got an $8 tiny coffee pot. It isn’t fancy, doesn’t have any buttons other than on and off but it makes coffee). Soon, you’ll be brown paper bagging it as if you’ve always been doing it. Want to be on time more? Setting your alarm fifteen minutes earlier will suck but soon, your body will get used to it.
21 days, people. 21 days. Not that long when you think of it! And When turned around, you get 12.
Somewhere, in some world, that makes sense. Happy goal-setting and goal reaching!
Hi everyone! My name is Melissa, and I’m one of the bloggers taking part in the 12 Changes project that was created by Stephany and Katherine. I remember seeing the beginning of this conversation on Twitter, and getting REALLY excited. I knew that if any bloggers could take care of this project the right way, it would be these two lovely ladies. And look at all the wonderful things they’ve done already! Not only are there SIXTY bloggers taking part in this amazing endeavor, but there is a Twitter account and, of course, this blog. It’s only fitting that we blog about our progress because we are all bloggers after all. It’s what brought us together and it’s the reason this project exists!
Today I wanted to talk about my own personal 12 Changes. 12 Changes reminds me A LOT of The Happiness Project [by Gretchen Rubin]. I wrote about it a little while ago when I read the book, and I had completely forgotten about it until 12 Changes came up. When I had originally read it I had REALLY wanted to do something similar for myself (because I love goals and it just sounds like a lot of fun) so I decided to plan 2012 around a Happiness Project of sorts. Mine isn’t necessarily about HAPPINESS the way that Gretchen Rubin’s was, though. My project is about setting attainable goals for myself throughout the year based around a new theme each month. Then, as each month comes to an end, I’m going to start my new month of goals while trying to incorporate the previous month’s achievements into the next. Of course I want to be *happy* doing it, but I think that will come naturally as I continue crossing off my goals!
This is what my themes are for each month of the year.
January: health
February: fitness
March: budgeting
April: procrastination
May: goals
June: friendships
July: personal living
August: mindfulness (or being open-minded)
September: school
October: organization
November: family
December: round-up (putting it all into practice)
I’m so excited and hopeful about this project, I really am. I haven’t chosen what each of my goals are going to be for each month of the year, but I am making sure to stay organized to be ready when I need to be.
Right now I’m working on the idea of health. I haven’t really *done* anything yet, but I have set up what I’d like to be achieve before February. Now that the holidays are really and truly over I’m going to put my mind to it and really get a few goals crossed off to start this project off right.
In January, I have four goals set up for myself.
1. Go one month without junk food
2. Start taking multi-vitamins every day
3. Try vegetarianism for one week
4. Keep a food diary
I also want to keep in mind 3 rules as I incorporate healthier eating habits into my life.
1. Keep the kitchen stocked with the right food
2. Boredom does not equal hunger. Remember the 10 minute rule.
3. When really hungry, always go for the healthy option FIRST. You’ll never regret a healthy snack!
By the end of January, I don’t expect to cut junk food out of my life permanently or become a vegetarian; the idea is just to try these different lifestyles to see what changes I see in myself. Ideally I’d love to simply use these extreme measures as a way to decrease the bad food I eat and increase the good.
By the end of 2012, I just want to see significant changes in myself; exactly what the project is ABOUT. I want to continue to feel inspired by The Happiness Project all year, and hopefully be successful with most of the goals I set up for myself!
Are you taking part in 12 Changes? If not, what do your goals look like for the year, or for January?
