Yes, definitely!
Day 7 complete:
Yeah, I know it's a problem, that's why I usually prefer typing. Still, if I was typing it, I don't know if I'd resist that urge to compulsively edit, which is a blocker to getting things done. Writing it down allows me to be more personal.
Nice to meet you all I'll sort out an avatar and stuff later.Intro:
Nightsong, this is your third self-improvement notebook — and you're making great progress! You're keeping up with CBT techniques, you're being more social, getting more exercise and working on making life memorable. Let's continue that! Let's make the next 30 days memorable for all the right reasons and use this notebook as a record of 30 days of achievement and enjoyment.
Goals:
1. Complete the 30 day challenge.
2. Read more (3 hrs per week)
3. Socialise more (3hrs per week)
4. Exercise more (2hrs per week)
5. Record more (3 diary entries)
6. Eat better (3 days of healthy eating per week)
7. Do something for others (twice a week)
8. Date (send ten online dating messages)
"There is no editing stage"
It's so cool you're working so much on thatAs I said, sharing that then keeps me accountable, but I also think it's important for the social anxiety. It's something that I mostly do not do and would put up various walls around doing.
Welcome !Nightsong wrote: ↑Tue Apr 23, 2013 10:46 amI just found out about this thread from SA and registered on the strength of it (though my MLP credentials go so far back that the first forum I ever posted on on the internet was a my little pony forum). I'm only on day one, but I hope it's okay that I post my goals. This thread couldn't have come at a better time. I'm coming to the end of various other self-improvement stuff.
Nice to meet you all I'll sort out an avatar and stuff later.
The fun thing is, this is basically what I'm doing.
Haha, that's okay HiHi! wrote: ↑Tue Apr 23, 2013 3:14 pmIsaak, I'm sorry. I cheated today. I started thinking about the stuff I still had to do, and breaking them down into the very next action I had to take for each of them, but then it occurred to me there was no reason not to just do them. So I spent the last couple hours just doing them all, then I actually made the list. And now it's only the mostly unimportant stuff left on the list to do.
(Okay, I lied. I still have to get some exercise, and write something longer, but I'm jumping in the shower and going out for a long walk as soon as I click Submit, and I'll write a review tonight after the day is done. Also I have to still finish the day without going to Starbucks.)
That's really fascinating, I recognize some of the steps but didn't know there was an actual model for it. Might call upon you for input on something at a later time.
Thanks I must say, the incredible MLP smilies on this forum make everything seem really supportive and fun. I'm doing guided self-help CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) for depression / low mood, specifically. I can go into more detail if anyone is interested. It's kind of been helping, but my last guided self help session is next week but I'm still at the stage where I need some external motivation - hence joining this challenge.
It's very mellow and soothing, ideal for a dialogue-less montage of Big McIntosh in a golden dawn-caressed orchard, working in quiet solitude while all around nature is still waking up.
Wowee, go and open up a thread or something, because you make great stuff!ScionVyse wrote: ↑Tue Apr 23, 2013 5:16 pmHERE'S A MUSIC THING I DID. AAAAAAAAA I HOPE YOU ALL DON'T DIE. It's just an instrumental thing. Not a big deal. There's about 99 million mistakes though.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9tpx92y1tikwf ... 20Name.mp3
Tell your therapist that means a lot and that I thank them!
Don't apologize to me, I should be apologizing to you. I thought I had the best way ever to help fix every problem that existed, so I went ahead to try it without actually thinking ahead. Which means I gave the wrong impression to you and others and things didn't go the way we hoped it would.I'm sorry, Isaak. I know you said that there's no failing this, but I can't see how this is anything but a failure on my part, and I feel like I've let you down since you really wanted me to participate in this from the beginning. There's just nothing I can do.
You're doing awesome Momar, I'm so happy for you!So anyway, preparing my tax info was my Day 6 task, and Day 7, I did it. Once I got over my crippling anxiety, the rest was actually pretty easy. Wanna know how? I printed everything out. I called my dentist and pharmacy, and asked for EVERY receipt, and printed them out. I opened every CRA letter, T4, and loan document, and laid them out. Then I completely detached. They weren't my taxes. They were just bits of paper that needed to be put in the right order. Then I took my fat stack of paper (just papers, totally not my tax return, nothing to see here), scanned every page, and sent it off to the expert. Out of sight, out of mind. But most importantly, done!
100% of the tax return (if there is one) is going into my savings account, and those funds are earmarked for first & last month's rent. It also helps that getting an apartment is a six-month goal
It depends per person. I've done a lot over the years to get rid of bad habits, but there are still things that have cropped up over the years.
If many forms of convincing yourself to do it doesn't work, try simply not convincing yourself. Once you have the list of steps you plan to take (in your head or on paper), don't think about whether to do it or not. Just jump right into step 1 and be reckless! Your brain might feel weird as it is trying to make justifications for what's going on, but if you keep yourself busied with the task, by the time it figures it out you'll be done that step and onto the next...
Don't punish yourself for not doing things. I've done it and it only made me feel bad. As a long-term solution it's terrible.PonderSketch wrote: ↑Fri Apr 26, 2013 2:00 pmAaaand Day 11:
So, here's where I ask for help. I don't know how to make myself do things. I am a pro-level procrastinator, in that I always put things off, sometimes to the point of not doing them at all. Important things. Anything I know I should be doing, I can almost never bring myself to actually do. I don't know how to fix it. I can sit down, logic at myself until I know the only reasonable course of action is to, well, take action, and immediately afterward plop down at the computer to play games or mindlessly surf the internet. It makes me mad at myself, but that doesn't bring me any closer to getting up and moving. Soliloquy tends to turn into self-castigation. This is a problem I have no idea how to start tackling.
Does anyone here know how to go about fixing a willpower problem? I don't even know where to start with this.
NiceThrobulator wrote: ↑Fri Apr 26, 2013 3:58 pmHey peeps, just letting you all know I've not flaked out of this challenge. I just have a lot of balls in the air right now to properly pay attention to my journal.
Don't worry; the balls are all in cheerful colours.