Working the Plan...Kind Of...

Oh friends...welcome back to my third post of this new year!

If you missed the other two you can read about how excited I am to be back blogging with you here, along with thoughts on the direction I hope to take with my blog this year... You can also read about a really cool challenge I'm joining in on here...a Bible verse memorization challenge sponsored by Cindy Bultema over at She Sparkles (great blog title, isn't it?!).

Alright...so now for the stuff I promised you I'd write about...if  only you could see my face, staring at my computer on this cold snowy day in Buffalo. I'm sitting in a local Starbucks and as near to laughing out loud as I could be. Want to know why? I told you I was going to tell you all about writing down your goals and I have NO idea how to be effective at writing down goals and sticking to them...

Sigh...the cat is out of the bag.

I'm NO gosh darned good at writing down goals and sticking to them...I've done it maybe twice in my life...come to think about it all within the same 8 months (I must have been feeling extra inspired that year). Two years ago now I ran a 1/2 marathon AND shortly afterwards lost 8 lbs on the Flat Belly Diet. I ran the marathon because my sister had just had a baby and decided to run so I was kinda of trying to keep up with her goals, to be quite honest (I had NOT just had a baby and had always been the runner...I'm thinking that was pride rather than a good legitimate goal...but I DID write it down and I DID stick to it!). I committed to the diet because I was bummed that I hadn't lost any weight training for the 1/2 marathon and goshed darned if I was going to let that happen!

So here's the deal friends...I'm writing about writing goals here because this is going to be my year to write things down and stick to them! If I could summarize all of my resolutions into one sentence this year it would be that I want to... Become a woman who is more disciplined in the important components of her life. Become a woman who writes things down and sticks to them. Become the woman I've wanted to be for years, but have not been able to because I'm really undisciplined about a lot of things and I don't have a good plan. 


The truth is, I play a lot of defense in my life instead of playing offense.

I, unlike a skilled and capable architect who utilizes a detailed drawing of a house to build it...tries to build the house of my life from ideas in my head. Can you imagine if you were going to have a house built and the architect showed up and said...Hmmm, alright folks, this is the plan...it's all in my head...now let's go to it. 

LOL. That would be pretty scary!

When I decided to run that 1/2 marathon I actually wrote about in on my blog in posts I titled "1/2 Marathon Mondays". Just knowing that I would be sharing some of my journey with you made me more committed to doing it...I wanted to have something to report back on...I wanted to have some thoughts to encourage you with...I wanted to share some progress. I wouldn't have been able to do any of that very well if I sat around watching reality television all week and if I had been foregoing my training runs for trips to Target to buy stuff I didn't need (some of the distractions that sometimes sneak into my life!).

So, in that spirit...I'm going to go back to my Monday progress reports! This time I will title them "Managing Momma Mondays" and boy oh boy does this momma need some managing.

I will tell you what is working for me, how I'm trying to take the pieces of my life and mold them into a structure. And, in true Little Writer Momma style, I will be transparently honest about what is NOT working for me and where I'm not doing as well as I'd like...You guys will be my accountability partners and I'd love to be yours...

That said, I would LOVE for those of you who have blogs to link up here as well, so that we can all learn from each other. If, during the week you have something you are working on, a goal you have set and are working towards and have found a good productivity tip, or time saver, or bit of encouragement I'd love if you would link up here (as soon as I figure out how to set that up of course!).

So, here is what I am working on this week (and I would encourage you to work on as well if you struggle with being organized and disciplined)...January is about putting together the plan...While I have started journaling about my "New Years Resolutions" in my journal, I had no preconceived ideas that my goals or resolutions needed to be set by January 1st to count for the year...In Little Writer Momma world we have until January 31st to write down our goals...and then, maybe if we're brave, we can share a few of them with each other (another key to making progress with your goals...share them!).

I'm going to leave you with some insight from Kathi Lipp in her book "The Me Project: 21 Days to Living the Life You've Always Wanted". She says; 

"First, plan your work and then work your plan." 

That is my resolution this year...to plan my work (all of it, from writing to making meals) and then work my plan. 

I hope that you'll join me. 

Cheers!


P.S. Want to hear about some of the shenanigans that keep me preoccupied, undisciplined and wondering what happened to order...check out A Little Monkey Business