I saw this guy’s blog linked to from 43 Folders, a site I often visit to learn more about GTD, organization, and productivity. His idea was inspiring for me.
So I’m announcing the start of an attempt at improving my quality of life. I figure that with a new job coming up, it’s a good time for change and transition and starting new habits. I want to focus on a few areas: Health (exercise, eat more healthily, etc…), Wealth (make a budget, save and invest more, start an IRA, start printing money), Productivity (I waste a lot of time on things that aren’t productive and really don’t really do much for me at all), Organization (this covers not only how I organize my time and tasks, but also my physical surroundings. I have lots of things around that I should donate, sell, trash, or at least tidy up), and Happiness (I want to spend more QUALITY time with my wife, spend more time doing things I love like reading or taking photographs, I want to lower my stress level and find joy in everything I can).
I don’t have plans to make all of this happen just yet, but I do have several things in mind to help get started on the path.
Tonight my wife and I cleaned out all of the food cupboards, the freezer, and the fridge. We threw out tons of old or unwanted food and have some items which are still good and we can donate to the local food drive. The kitchen is transformed and finding what you want is far easier. We are also going to give weekly menus a trial run. The idea is that you plan all of your meals for the week in advance (ideally picking healthy options) and create your shopping list based on that menu, buy only what is on that list, and only go shopping once a week. Our shopping for this week’s list of meals came to about $53, and that is including a $20 hunk of fresh Salmon. That seems to be lower than our usual grocery shopping trip. I’m hopeful that this plan will help in many areas. For instance: by planing meals in advance I will eat healthier and less impulsively, I will save money by limiting my shopping to what is needed to support the menu, I will lower my stress by not having to think about what I want for dinner every night and trying to balance my cravings versus my health, and by limiting what we buy to what we will consume that week, the cupboards and fridge should stay less cluttered and less likely to accumulate items that are years past their expiration date.
I will be posting here to document my progress, mostly for my own motivation, hopefully daily. Things like my weight, activities, accomplishments, back-slides, photos, etc… will show up here. Depending on what you’re into that may be good or bad:)
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