Blog entry the first

   Sunday, June 9, 2013, began a 31-week journey for me of self-discovery, creativity, and productivity. I’m keeping this blog as part journal, part fishing for compliments, but mostly accountability. I’ve tried a lot of different means of motivating myself – rewards, punishments, deadlines. Very little of it works at all, and the rest pretty much works once or twice before the shine wears off. But, two of the suggestions for goals and how to reach them are: write them down and tell someone else. So, I’m writing them down in this blog, and I’m telling the world. Or at least as much of it as reads this blog.

   So, let’s get started, shall we? Here’s how the 31 weeks are going to break down.

1. Clean up of my previous motivational attempt – 3 weeks. 
2. Create a new eating plan – 2 weeks. 
3. Establish the new eating plan – 3 weeks. 
4. Use the 10 week course in Willpower Instinct – 10 weeks. 
5. Use the 12 week course in The Artist’s Way – 12 weeks. 
6. Evaluate and review – 1 week. 

   There are some things that will also be interwoven throughout the 31 weeks – exercising and volunteering. But neither of them will be my main focus any of the time. Now, I anticipate a lot of questions (and I need some inspiration to write in this blog), so let’s answer some of them.

   Why Sunday, June 9? I figured out my last motivational attempt wasn’t working and I needed something else. I also was depressed and promised my husband (wonderful man that he is) that I would seek treatment (despite the financial cost and toll to my pride) in 6 months if I didn’t get things turned around. I gave myself 2 weeks to figure things out, and 2 weeks from that time was June 9.

   Why 31 weeks? Because that’s what it added up to.

   31 weeks is more than 6 months. (Not a question, but a statement that implies the request for a response.) True, but my husband agreed it was a good plan, and he was fine with 31 weeks instead of 6 months.

   Why those things? In future articles, I’ll talk about what I’m not doing in this 31 week plan. There are a lot of things I could have chosen. I’m sure that some of my friends who have heard me complaining the past few months could think of one thing in particular that is missing from this plan. But I can’t do it all, and I can’t do it all at once. Things need to take their turn. These 5 items are first.

In my next post, I’ll talk about each of the items (including #6) and why they’re on this journey.

I invite my readers to comment, question, cajole, compliment, complain, and so forth. Responses are not promised, but the likelihood is greater than 0%.