My Happiness Project Week 2

One of the first things I did last week to get my happiness project rolling was to buy a book.  I headed to Staples and found one with a hard cover that was made recycled material.  I threw the title on and started writing. (Notice the grease stains on the front. . . well used already!)

For now, I am going to follow what Gretchen Rubin did in her book.  The first month she focused getting her body feeling better by exercise and sleep and by organizing and completing nagging tasks.

In my Happiness Project book, I threw in a couple of goals for myself.  The first was my motto from last week, "look good, feel good, be happy."  In order to do this I am going to eliminate eating after supper, improve on the number of days a week I get ready in the morning and I am going to continue with my exercise program.  The 2nd goal was NO MORE PROCRASTINATING!  Under this heading I put, get caught up with home videos, be more on top of giving cards and gifts and organize/sort/toss/clean.

I needed a way to be accountable, so on the next page I am keeping track of my, "look good, feel good, be happy goal."  Last week I sucked at this goal.  I only did 1 of my 3 runs and could not stop myself from eating after supper.  I did pretty good on the getting ready front, though. As you can see (from the picture at the right), I just made a mini-calender and am circling the days I complete the tasks.  I am excited about keeping track this way.  I will be able to see progress!

On the third page, I have my NO MORE PROCRASTINATING goal.  I also put a calender on this one to keep track of my "one minute rule".  This is something that Gretchen Rubin did.  The idea is that if something takes you a minute or less to do, you can't put it off -- you need to do it right away.  So, for example, today I walked into our entrance way and noticed the dozen or so pairs of shoes laying around (how it got to the 12 mark without drawing my attention is one of those things I don't think I will ever figure out).  Instead of walking by, tripping on a few flip flops and thinking, "I need clean this up later," I thought, "crap. . . the one minute rule!"  I picked up all the shoes and even a couple of hangers at the bottom of the closet before I even hit the 45 second mark. I am keeping track of the one minute rule by circling the days in which I have consciously thought of the rule and then done something about it.  I am LOVING this rule -- stuff is getting done!

I am also keeping a log of the things I do each day to organize and be on top of cards and gifts and my dreaded home videos.  Many of the tasks are things that I would have done without the happiness project, but I am enjoying eliminating tasks that are hanging over my head like planting the garden, hanging curtains in the nursery and big boy room, purchasing gifts, and cleaning the bathroom to list a few. I feel like I am really accomplishing things as the list gets longer!