Life G.P.A

I want to thank everyone for their patience with me... I have an inbox full of messages, calls I have to return, a home I need to clean, a gym I need to attend, and a stack of assignments to complete. I chewed off a lot this year by deciding to return to school while balancing 2 jobs. Now, 2 ½ months into the first semester things are getting REAL.

At the end of a long week of studying for 3 days straight, flashcards, little sleep, and 2 jobs nothing feels better than to see an A on an exam. I live for the grade. When it’s all said and done the grade reaffirms that all of my hard work and sacrifice isn’t in vain. I find this need for a grade spilling over into my personal life. Now that I am back in school I find myself wanting an A-F grade for everything. How clean is my room? A-F, How neat is my handwriting? A-F, How is my outfit? A-F, How well do I kiss? A-F......Seems I always need to know the grade. Of course If it’s less than an A I’m hurt yet even more determined to earn one. I want a 4.0 in life (and a few AP courses wouldn’t hurt either).

I am a Capricorn, and we love to be productive, organized, and accomplished. Although, I am making A’s in my classes. The rest of my life report card is suffering:

School A+
Work A-
Gym B-
Returning Calls C
Returning Emails D
Cleaning House F-

My life G.P.A is not looking good. (Anybody want to calculate it?) Not, to mention I only posted one post last week which utterly hurts my heart. Whether I have a million followers or not this blog grounds me. In many ways it gives me balance and motivates me to continue on my own journey toward total health and wellness while inspiring others.

I believe goal setting is important and effective for success  yet  I can’t help but wonder if a grading scale is necessary for every aspect of my life. Is it healthy or unrealistic and ultimately detrimental to all of my efforts? What are your thoughts on it?

In the meantime, as I struggle/strive to make the grade I appreciate all of your patience, support, comments, emails, invites, and love. You are noticed and appreciated please check your inbox soon for a reply message from me.

How do you Prepare for Success?

It’s easy to give into being too tired, too busy, too something and not follow through with our wellness goals. I try to create a game plan for when these times arise. A few things I do to prep myself for success are:

1. Set out exercise clothes the night before, including shoes, socks, fully charged ipod, ipod arm strap, and keys.
2. Set my alarm same time everyday including weekends (after a while I just get up on my own)
3. Create a set exercise routine for each day of the week
4. Prepare all meals for the week on Sunday
5. Track my exercise and food in a journal

Please, share your strategies on how you organize and balance health/wellness into your life. 

Make Acheiving Fun!!! Goal Setting with Rewards

 

Studies show that people who set goals with an incentive attached are more likely to accomplish the goal, than those without an incentive. For instance athletes look forward to shiny trophy's and bronze medals just as much as models love free merchandise after their shoots.

Incentives can take on many forms but say you could create your own incentive in an effort to propel you further in accomplishing your goals. This is what I do often to keep myself on the right track. I give myself rewards for accomplishing fitness, career, lifestyle, and weight-loss goals. Below are the steps I follow to make goal setting fun and rewarding.

1.     Create a list of goals (that will take at least a week to accomplish)

2.      Develop a budget for how much your willing to reward yourself as each goal is accomplished.

3.      List as many rewards as you did goals.

4.     Match the goals with the corresponding reward in greatness and importance. i.e smaller goals=smaller rewards and larger goals=larger rewards. Below is my own personal example in steps:

Step 1: Healthy Lifestyle Goals

1.     Drink 9 cups water daily

2.     Take all vitamins daily

3.     Get to bed by 11pm

4.     Exercise 6 days a week

5.     Do 100 ab crunches daily

6.     Do 50 push ups daily

7.     10 minutes of morning meditation

8.     Try one new exercise

9.     Stretch before and after exercise

10.  Jog an 8 minute mile

Step 2: Under $15 for each reward

Step 3: Rewards under $15

 

Step 3: Rewards under $15

1.      OPI nail polish

2.     Magazine subscription

3.     Candle

4.     Manicure/Pedicure

5.     Logo running t-shirt

6.     Running Socks

7.     CD or DVD

8.     Flowers

9.     Book

10.  Alba or Burts Bees lip gloss

Step 4: Healthy Lifestyle Goals and Rewards

(I reordered the ones I know maybe harder to implement due to my schedule or fitness level)

Goal	Reward	Date Accomplished
Drink 9 cups water daily	Flowers $10
Take all vitamins daily	Book $15
Get to bed by 11pm	Candle $15
Exercise 6 days a week	Manicure/Pedicure $15+
Try one new exercise	Magazine subscription $15
Do 100 ab crunches daily	CD or DVD $15
Do 50 push ups daily	OPI Nail Polish $9
Stretch before and after exercise	Running Socks $10
10 minutes of morning meditation	Alba /Burts Bees lip gloss $8
Jog an 8 minute mile	Logo running t-shirt $15+

Another example below is when I’m doing weight loss goals with a larger budget. Key thing to remember NEVER reward yourself with food.

Weight-loss Goals and Rewards

Starting Weight: 138lbs Goal: 124lbs

Rewards for every 2 lbs lost

Goal	Reward	Date Accomplished
136lbs	Roses $20
134lbs	Spa Manicure/Pedicure $45
132lbs	Carols Daughter Body Products $70
130lbs	Race Medal Holder $40
128lbs	Running Charm Necklace $50
126lbs	Shopping Spree $450
124lbs	Spa Day $400

    Goal setting is an integral part of success. Truth is we are going to spend money in life why not spend it on ourselves sometimes. My idea of rewarding myself so frequently never stemmed from vanity or greed rather from the fact that I rarely bought myself anything besides the BARE necessities; and I rarely gave myself a pat on the back for all I had accomplished.

 

Creating an actual structured list encouraged me to be accountable for thanking myself. It allowed me to take a breath, and acknowledge my achievements. In the beginning, I was so bad about doing things for self my list of goals included: take a bath once a week, do nothing for thirty minutes, and wait 24 hours before returning calls.

    I learned through this process that by not taking the time to acknowledge my accomplishments downplayed all my hard work. Even in my professional life I'd accomplish one thing and without acknowledging it I was on to the next project. I am now committed to wellness in all aspects of my life and goal setting and rewarding is just another way I make wellness a priority.

How do you reward yourself for your accomplishments?