The Plans

Phew, this is a long one so sit back, grab yourself un caffe latte (or a cup of tea or hot chocolate or whatever takes your fancy) and if you get bored and your eyes glaze over I won't blame you and will forgive you for not getting to the end.


It has become increasingly apparent to me lately that if I want to achieve anything then I have to do something about it. Obvious I know but in order for me to do something it seems I also need to plan and to make myself accountable to someone other than me so that I stick to whatever than plan is.

Apparently I'm too easy on myself and lazy as well whereas the people who I imagine read this (and I know that for the most part they are imaginary, I'm not going to kid myself about the sort of traffic this blog gets!) are really hard on me!

So, in light of all of this self-revelation I have decided to release some plans that have been floating around in my head - it's not the best place to be trapped after all ...


Plan One - Thirteen Weeks of Summer

Summer in Australia this year runs from Thursday, 1 December 2011 to Wednesday, 29 February 2012 - exactly thirteen weeks - and I plan to fill those thirteen weeks with changes and challenges that see me a different (better) person at the end. Each week starting this Thursday I will either set myself a challenge for the week or make a change to my 'norm' with a view to changing habits and improving my lifestyle in areas that fall under each of the following categories:

Health and Wellbeing - these will be more general, habit changing challenges than the food and fitness changes and challenges that are a part of Plan Two.

Organisation - I constantly suffer from the feeling that 'there's just not enough time' but when I sit back and break down my day into hourly slots there really is enough time for a lot more things, I just need to be more deliberate about them.

To Do - I have a mental 'to do' list that's longer than my arm and it's starting to hurt my brain! Most of the things on it are probably going to be quick and easy and I'm looking forward to getting them out of my head and done (with all of this stuff coming out I'm going to end up with an empty head!).

Just for Fun - not wanting to make this whole Thirteen Weeks of Summer too much of a bore for either me or you I've decided that I want to set myself something each week that is, well, just for the fun of it!


Plan Two - Become a Healthier, Fitter Person

Short version - I have to move more and eat better! Okay, okay, couldn't we all ...

I have been up and down on this for years now and I've decided that this is it, the last time I go up. In order to ensure that I don't go up again I will not just be focusing on the initial need for weight loss but will also be looking at forming long term eating and exercising habits.

Yes, measurements will be taken and numbers will be written down, there may even be a photo or two for later comparison. No, I don't know yet if I will be sharing the specifics of those particulars with you - I'm just not sure I'm comfortable with that much sharing ...

In the spirit of the accountability I was talking about earlier though I will be sharing my weekly planning and talking about my success/failure at sticking to those plans. Again, there's something about putting it 'out there' that makes me much more likely to stick with it.


Plan Three - Be a Better Blogger

eeeek! The Sparky's Christmas present just got delivered to the office - it looks great! Unfortunately I can't share until after he's seen it but I will, I promise.

So, where was I? That's right Be a Better Blogger or Build a Better Blog, either works. As with everything else in my life it seems that this requires deliberate planning rather than just a desire to do better.

To that end, my current plans are to dedicate a day a week to a different topic:

Thursday will be for the Thirteen Weeks of Summer, an outline of what the plans for that week are.

Fridays I'm generally a little brain-fried so Friday's posts will be simple - photos, thoughts, quotes, pretty much any sort of randomness than takes my fancy.

Saturday will be an outline of the week's health and fitness plans. Unlike the Thirteen Weeks of Summer, I will run my health and fitness week from Sunday to Saturday, rather than Thursday to Friday.

Sunday will simply be a scripture, probably no commentary or expanding just a scripture or a quote that I like or that has spoken to me in some way or another recently.

Monday will be dedicated to ramblings, commentary, photos etc. Generally details about something that has happened during the week, a place I've been, something I've done, food I've cooked ... just stuff that is worthy of it's own post and more than just a photo or two.

Tuesday will be Travelday and will be for photos and stories of places I've been, things I've done and seen, places I plan to go and places that are just plain on the 'wish list'!

and finally Wednesday which will be a run down of the week that's been and how I went with the challenges I set myself for the Thirteen Weeks of Summer.


So, there they are, The Plans. If you've made it to this point, congratulations and please don't hate me for boring you so. I wish I had something funny or insightful to reward you with but I don't, this post was really much more about me than you and, well, that's just the way it is ...

Any hints, comments, encouragement you can give along the way will of course be much appreciated, if the imaginary people that I'm making myself accountable to turn out to be real ... well that thought actually frightens me a little so let's just see how I go.