Just wanted to send a big thank-you to everyone who’s been reading along, commenting, emailing… 2009 has been a bumpy year, but working on Promises Promises and getting to know all of you a little bit has been a big highlight for me. I hope you got some laughs too.
I will be posting a weekend weigh-in on Friday, (god help me) then I’ll be back Monday January 4th. New comics, new stories and no doubt some old jokes.
Have a safe and happy New Year’s Eve, and wishing you wonderful things in 2010!
What needs work – Getting back on track
Well, obviously the last of the holiday cheating caught up with me and it’s time to get serious about my efforts again. It’s a good time to remind myself about what works:
- Tracking – writing down what I eat and adding up the calories honestly.
- Activity – I’m at my best when I make at least 3 visits a week to the gym.
- Protein and greens – Filling up on the foods that process slowly, cleanly and keep me satisfied the longest.
- Water – It is a dry time of year and if a body isn’t getting enough water it leads to weariness, food cravings and water retention.
- Affirmation – Make positive observations about how I’m feeling when I am on track and celebrate the little achievements along the way.
The other big thing to focus on now is not to get discouraged and get the; “oh well, damage is done now, what’s one more going to hurt?” which I have done SO many times in the past. I know I let my discipline lapse, and falling off the wagon is certainly more fun than getting back on it, but I feel so much better when I am, it’s really worth it.
What worked – Reigning in and keeping perspective
On the bright side, 1.2lbs gained is not impossible to recover from quickly and lord knows it is certainly not the worst I’ve ever done over the holidays. I may not have been at my tip-top discipline, but I slowed down and stopped a lot sooner than I would have in the past. I even made it to the gym a couple of times when I would have enjoyed a nap much more.These are definitely skills that I will have to continue to develop in 2010.
Welcome back and Happy New Year!
I had a whole big rah! rah! rah! planned for the first Monday of the new year and kind of blew it a bit here. Well, not completely because technically what went wrong was part of a learning curve that includes one of my resolutions, but presently, I am resigned to admitting that my 2010 launch didn’t exactly go the way I imagined.
I love the fresh start feeling of a new year. It’s one of those rare opportunities to just get excited about your own potential! Very exciting. So we make our resolutions, some we keep and some we let go, but there’s always that moment of infinite possibility!
The trick, is turning possibility in to probability. One of the other readers over at webcomics.com posted a link to a great article: 10 Tricks To Keeping Resolutions!
After giving it some thought, I’ve come up with my Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time based (SMART) goals for 2010. On to step 2, declaring my intent thereby cementing my resolve. Right. OK. Here we go:
- Lose the remaining 30lbs to reach my healthy weight and complete the 10k Terry Fox run to achieve my fitness goal – I will accomplish this by attending my weekly diet meetings, continuing my training at the gym a minimum of 3 times every week, and recording my weekend weigh-ins in this blog. Knowing I have to write about it publicly every week makes it a whole lot easier to turn down the treats. That red arrow is embarrassing.
- Make my comics my full-time gig - (This will probably take more than a year but I’m committed) I will accomplish this by first, getting back on a regular posting schedule. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday I am committed to posting a new comic. This is the reason for the new banner. It actually says it right at the top of the page! Ironically, the new banner is the reason I did not get today’s comic finished. It will be posted on Wednesday, then on to the deeply committed posting schedule. The second part of this plan is to have a book printed and ready for conventions this year. As much as I love just doing the meet n’ greet, I do have bills to pay. Which brings me to my next resolution.
- Learn to manage my site properly – I will accomplish this by signing up and successfully completing some serious coursework in technical web basics. I will learn about printing houses, advertising, putting up a store, paypal, building community, elevating hits, coding, I will talk to other web comics artists and writers about what works for them, I will become a forum nuisance of questions!
There it is. Three big ones for 2010! It’s going to be a steep learning curve and I’m prepared for a few tumbles (like today) along the way, but I am resolved! I’m in my eye-of-the-tiger head-space! Come to think of it, I also want to go to Philadelphia and run up the museum steps like in all the Rocky movies. This one, I’m not so sure I know how to achieve though. I don’t have any big plans to go to Philadelphia this year…maybe there will be a layover on the flight home from SPX?
I’ll work on it.
