Moving More, Eating Less: Officially Begun.

I've done this before: set myself up and "declared" I was going to start working out and eating not only better food, but less of it. And it came to naught but egg on my face (except for that stellar effort back in the Spring and Summer of 2009 when I lost 40, count 'em, 40 whole pounds!).



So, this is the layout I created in December when I thought I would start dealing with my weight and wellness issues again. If you read the journaling, you'll see that I was very careful not to commit to actually doing anything. I was acknowledging there was a problem: I was reading all sorts of web-things about how my mind needs to be "tuned" while I get my body reshaped. I took a real-age questionnaire and realized I was much older than my actual years. Things really started to rearrange themselves around in my head though, when I began reading Marianne Williamson's "A Course in Weight-Loss."

Then, I read the Obesity Myth and decided that the most important thing I could do for my health and well-being was to get fit. That's all. No focus on the numbers on the scale, no food charts, no wrestling with God required.

And, as a result, organically and without self-flagellation, I began to move. And I'm still moving.

Picture Winter #5

Prompt: Capture a daily ritual. Do your best to personify it.



4x A Day

Picture Winter #4

Assignment: Capture something that makes you think of sunshine

It was another overcast day. Big fluffy snowflakes fell. So, I made sunshine muffins.

(otherwise known as Corny Corn muffins.)

Reverb #12 &13: Body & Action

December 12 – Body Integration. This year, when did you feel the most integrated with your body? Did you have a moment where there wasn’t mind and body, but simply a cohesive YOU, alive and present? (Author: Patrick Reynolds)

I don't really understand: do people feel a Cartesian split between their mind and their body? I feel connected and integrated all the time.

My body is me: I am my body.
<----(me, yesterday)

December 13 – Action. When it comes to aspirations, it’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen. What’s your next step? (Author: Scott Belsky)

I am tempted to "set up" my whole year. Right now, I am focusing on a few goals centered around the theme I called "Lay the Foundation." I made up a resolutions chart and I'm marking up the boxes. I'm also participating in a class to help keep me on track with my fitness goal and I'm receiving daily prompts from Tracey Clarke's photography class to challenge my creativity every day. I'm already four days into my "plan" and I'm having a blast. I think my biggest "discovery" for 2011 may have already happened: I'm not happy just sitting on my duff all day. I am, actually, happiest with a plan. Who knew?

I don't want to overwhelm myself. I'm afraid I might if I continue, so I will say just this: I hope to focus each month on one "area" of improvement. Which areas and when aren't fixed in place: they aren't even defined, yet, and that's OK. I'm pretty sure February will be the month to concentrate on my relationships--or maybe I'll focus specifically on home school. But we'll see. I'm not sure exactly how to approach the whole "homeschool" thing yet. See? When I know, I'll know what to do.

Picture Winter #2

Assignment: Look out and find your muse.

We took down the tree today: but not before I captured a few pictures. I remembered to look out.


Reflections are a muse.

Picture Winter #1

The assignment: to capture rest from a different perspective.
I admit, this is almost an exact copy of the example given in our prompt today. But I still love it.

On Goals

Since today is THAT day, I thought I'd clarify for myself what I've been reading and learning about goals from Danial Pink's book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.

According to Pink, who is discussing the work of Carol Dweck, how you view intelligence will determine not only 1) what kind of goals you set but also 2) how you will deal with new situations after reaching your goals and 3) whether you will persevere through adversity.

According to Dweck (according to Pink), goals are of two kinds: performance goals, such as, "I will get an A in French this semester" and learning goals, such as "I will speak French."

Both, , apparently, can lead to high achievement: but the former can also interfere with one's ability to apply whatever you learned on the way to getting your A to new situations. So, theoretically, one can get A's in French class without being able to follow verbal directions on a street corner in Quebec City.

(And why do I say "theoretically"? It happened to me.)

Learning goals, on the other hand, can lead towards mastery. You persevere on that street corner, apparently, when your goal is to improve your abilities. You don't judge yourself as "stupid" and give up (as I did). Challenges are just a part of the journey, not a deal-breaker.

Performance goals arise from the perception that your intelligence is an entity. It is fixed, immutable. If you fail to meet your goal, then, it is because you weren't (fill in the blank) enough. Given enough failure eventually, in order to protect yourself you make your goals small and reachable (or you give up making goals entirely).

And even if you do reach your goals, according to other research, you won't be happy. Pink shifts the terminology and calls these goals "profit" goals. That is, goals which pertain to extrinsic aspirations, such as to achieve fame or become wealthy, once achieved, do not increase your happiness.

Apparently, it's gets worse. achieving these so-called profit goals can lead to more anxiety, greater depression and "other negative indicators." These insights are from research conducted by Edward Deci, Richard Ryan and Christopher Niemiec.

Intrinsic goals, however, goals called "purpose goals" --those oriented towards helping others, and to learn and to grow-- can lead to happiness.

And so here we are.

performance goal--challenge--failure--helplessness
profit goal--achieved--(greater) anxiety and unhappiness

Charming.

Here's the kicker: from what I've seen, (though I've hardly conducted an exhaustive search) most of the literature out there on goal setting will be about setting performance or extrinsic profit goals. It's just in the recipe.

When I gave the link to Lifehacker's post on setting goals the other day, I couldn't help but glance at the "SMART" formula. Take a look. Doesn't it seem like this formula is dealing with performance and/or profit goals? From lifehacker.

• Specific. Don't just say "Lose weight." Decide to "Lose 12 pounds."
• Measurable. Instead of "Be better about corresponding with old friends," decide to "Send out birthday and holiday cards to my high school friends."
• Achievable. "Be the perfect employee/mom/sister/spouse" is an admirable goal, but nobody's perfect, no matter how resolved they are. Make your resolution something that's possible—like, "Improve next year's performance review by at least one grade."
• Realistic. You've only got so many hours in the day, so make your goals realistic based on what resources and tools you've got on hand. Learning how to milk a cow, for example, is less realistic for someone who lives in the middle of Manhattan.
• Timely. Since these are New Year's resolutions, set goals you can reach at most within the next 12 months. Giving yourself a "deadline" of sorts will help you figure out where you should be when while tracking your progress.

This goal of mine to "lose weight" for example, could be cast strictly as a Performance/Profit/Smart Goal. That is, I can express it in these terms: It is June 30th, 2011. I feel happy and energetic now that I weigh xxx.

And that, though it follows the SMART formula perfectly, given what Pink has written, would seem to be a goal that, even if it is acheived, may bring me greater anxiety and more unhappiness than I have now.

And you know what?

I think he (and the researchers he cites) are right.

I'll continue this tomorrow.