I probably should make another goal instead, “lose 5 kg”, which is not so intimidating.
After the holidays I probably have put on a kilo instead of reducing my weight. I thing I weigh about the same now as when I started on this goal.
I have been a good girl in other respects, but for the time being I am utterly confused when it comes to dieting and what is healthy and not.
I feel that it would really be good for me to weight 5 or 10 kilo less, but should I eat fruit or not? Grains or not? Milk or not? Soy or not? And I absolutely do not want to eat meat of any kind. I used to eat mostly raw food, now I eat some cooked food too. I wish somebody could tell my what would be the perfect diet for me.
I even bought a chocolate today. And ate it.
I have been reading other books that the 24 on my list lately. I bought myself an IPad and have been reading a series of e-books about vampires instead. (fun and not so heavy in my suitcase when I travel)
Will continue on my 24 books in August.
I have been away from 43 things for some months, and when I returned and looked at my goals, this goal no longer seemed relevant for me. I think that my problem is not that my character is not strong, my problem may be that I need clearer goals.
1) I got more organized at work, the most important thing was to get my inbox down to less than one screen ful every day.
The hardest part was to organize or delete all the 6800 e-mails that were in my inbox when I started the project. Now I feel in control of my “to-do’s” at work.
Inspiration: The book Getting things done, by Dave Allen.
The second most important thing was to get rid of the piles of papers at my desk.
The third thing (which I have not written about), was to delegate more work to others – they will not be able to work independently if not given the opportunity. Less control actually feels good.
2) I used to say “yes” every time I was asked to take part in a committee, organize something or be a boardmember. In the end it was just to timeconsuming. Now I have resigned from almost all of it, to get more time for my own interests and my family. I know that I have done a good job – now it is somebody elses turn to volunteer.
I no longer feel that I need to have reducing stress as a goal, but I will try to keep up the good habits that I have introduced, it feels good!
Made an appointment to meet a very good friend for lunch tomorrow.
A very nice lunch at a good cafe.
Being back on 43 things after 3 months away.
Having great success with following the “getting things done” principles. A main point is that you are not supposed to use you inbox as an archive. Another week now, and I hope I will have reached my goal, which is to be able to empty my inbox every day.
Already I feel so much more in control (I started out with 6800 e-mails in my inbox and said that I would clean out at least 100 every day untill it was empty.
Still working with the “Getting things done” principles. Just about 70 e-mails left in my inbox (used to be 6800) and everything else is organized in tasks and projects. Every day I go through the list of active tasks and pick out my tasks for the day.
Yesterday I started at the top of a pile of clothes and other stuff that needed mending and worked right down to the bottom. (Two pair of jeans, a dress, two tableclothes.) The second tablecloth was crocheted in quite an intricate pattern, and had several holes in it. I managed to reconstruct the pattern quite well, not by crocheting, but using more like a tatting technique to build up the missing parts. You can see it if you look at it really close, but otherwise it blends in. I was actually very proud of myself, that I managed to repair it.
1. Mended a pile of clothes, it feels really good to take care of things in stead of throwing them away and buying new.
2. Going to a cafe with my husband
3. Free from work 5 whole days (but I am also very happy that I have a job to go back to after the holiday)
1. Looking very much forward to having some days free from work.
2. Having lunch with my daughter.
3. Listening to a group of very talented young music-students having a concert with newly composed music, written in an old style (like Bach). My daughter was one of the soloists.
4. Have reduced the number of e-mails in my inbox to less than 80. (Down from about 6800) My real goal is to have an empty inbox, but I have as an intermediate goal to not have more e-mail than fits in to the screen. Not so much left now!!
I started to walk to work some weeks ago, it did not last. I went back to the cafe latte and reading a book on the tram. (so nice and comfortable). But is not good for either me or my wallet to buy cafe latte every day.
I also tried out walking and buying cafe latte on my way, in a small coffeshop where I could get both coffee and something quite unhealthy to eat for the same price as only the cafe latte at the place where I normally buy my coffee. So then I had some days with both cafe latte and som heavy french baked goods. Me walking to work was not nearly enough to compensate for the enormous amount of calories (but it felt very luxurious).
Today I tried another approach: Brought green tea with me from home and drank on the tram on my way to work. Homemade tea and a book on the tram is better than shop bought cafe latte and a book on the tram. Better for my health and my wallet. But it would be even better to walk..
Tomorrow I can try to walk again, I have found out how to motivate myself, today I fetched a new audiobook from the library, which I will copy to my Ipad. Walking to work and listening to a book while walking is better than reading the book on the tram, because it takes longer.
1. Felt efficient and energetic at work.
2. My son said that the dinner I had made was very good
3. Got a new audiobook from the library (Catching fire by Suzanne Collins) – Last week I saw the movie “Hunger games”, which is based on the first book in a series of three. “Catching fire” is book number two.
Stopping to use my inbox as an archive is an ongoing process. As I am beginning to see that it can be possible to emtpy my long overfilled inbox quite soon now, I get more optimistic and feel that I am getting a better overview over which tasks I should do first and which that can wait, or can be delegated to others.
This feels right!
Today I had less than 140e-mails in my inbox when I left work, that is down from 3 423 e-mails just 5 days ago.
That is because I went to work this Sunday and sat by myself all afternoon sorting, deleting, archiving and making some of the mails into tasks.
My goal is stil to be able to empty my inbox completely every day, but it already feels so much better.
The hardest part will be the last 140 e-mails, because many of them are of a kind that you will need to do some investigation or make some strategic decisions before you know how to handle them. To do that, you need to have some time on your hands – which I have had very little of at work lately
1. Our lucky day – my son received a scholarship for a summer music course he will be attending.
2. I have made great progress with my inbox – less that 140 e-mails left when I went home from work today (and there were more than 6800 e-mails just a few weeks ago.) I really feel lighter and more focused, it is amazing.
3. My daughter visited for dinner today, we prepared the meal together and had a good time talking in the kitchen. The rest of the family enjoyed the food.
4. A new season of Mad Men has started, I am a great fan!
1. Dined out with my husband
2. Let my daughter have a party with over 20 friends at our place – that made her very happy.
3.Was very efficient in cleaning out several hundred mails from my inbox. It feels good.
1. A concert at my sons school (very varied music, from classical to jazz and punk) – very energizing to see and hear so many people making music together.
2. Nice and sunny spring-weather.
3. Having success with my inbox-clearing project.
I have managed to clean out at least 100 e-mails from my inbox every day. (remember – I started with about 6.800 e-mails, so it is already reduced to the half)
My goal is to stop using my inbox as an archive, I want to be able to emtpy it every day. I foresee that it will get more an more difficult as I have removed all the easy stuff, advertisements, newsletters, unimportant messages, and get down to the harder decisions.
In a little more than a month I will be through – I hope.
My goal is to continue to reduce the number of mails in my mailbox untill it is empty. I started with 6800 mails, now it is less than 4000. So maybe in a months time or so..
More work is piling up than I can manage to do these days, but at least now I am compiling lists of tasks so I know what to do every day and can sort out the most important things.
