Ten Steps to a Better Life

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I’ve decided to make some changes to my life. That way, slowly but surely, it will improve.

One, do some housework every day. I belong to the Quentin Crisp school of housework (“There is no need to do any housework at all. After the first four years the dirt doesn’t get any worse.”) but if we are going to retire to a bungalow I need to sort things out. I just did some shredding. I’m now up to 2008. No need to overdo it.

Two, exercise every day. Even a little bit. Including my hands. Make it into a habit. I’m going to find my weights and residence bands and start leaving them around too. As long as I remember to rearrange them every day Julia will never know I’m not actually using them.

Three, make a good nutritional decision every day. Today’s decision is not to eat biscuits. My willpower on this matter is boosted by the fact that we finished the biscuits on Monday. Tomorrow’s decision to avoid fizzy drinks should be quite easy too.

Four – stop pressing those internet buttons which promise to show you something amazing some American found buried in his back garden. It takes a long time and the only amazing thing is that I fall for it every time.

Five. Go out and walk every day. To the car and back should be about right.

Six – write a retirement plan – that way it won’t creep up and surprise me.

Seven –  start using shopping lists. It will make online ordering less of an adventure but will be better for us nutritionally.

Eight – plan my writing for the year. I have  a few things I want to do but unless I write them down with dates and everything, they won’t get done. This, Julia reminds me is a SMART Plan –  Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. I’ve done it before and it’s worked, I really should do it again. That should also help me stop pressing those alluring internet buttons – it’s nose to the grindstone for 2021.

Nine – employ psychology in my struggle with weight loss. Repeating the mantra “Stop eating or you’re going to die, you fat bastard” will be a start. I don’t see any point paying Noom to do that when I can do it myself.

Ten – stop promising Ten Point Lists when you can’t actually think of ten things.

 

19 thoughts on “Ten Steps to a Better Life”

  1. Lavinia Ross

    Life works on the bubble sort algorithm here. Eventually the important tasks bubble to the top of the list. The list is only for unsorted but fortunately remembered tasks and goals. 🙂

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    1. quercuscommunity Post author

      I hadn’t even heard of algorithms till a few years ago, now everybody is using them! 🙂

      I might have to get one myself as it sounds a good way of dealing with things.

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  2. tootlepedal

    Every point a winner, especially the final one. I don’t want to sound more stupid than usual but the secret of weight loss is to eat less. Don’t give anything up, just eat less, two pots instead of three, two biscuits instead of three….and so on. You don’t miss anything that you enjoy and soon you forget that you used to eat three biscuits. A little exercise doesn’t go amiss as well.

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      1. tootlepedal

        I can recommend cross stitch embroidery too. I used it to keep my hands busy when I had stopped smoking and co-incidentally it helped me cut down on drinking red wine too. The methotrexate was even more efficient at cutting the drinking though.

      2. quercuscommunity Post author

        I did some blackwork when I was in the Sealed Knot and used to make some of my own outfits (at the risk of sounding like someone from Come Dancing) though I hadn’t thought of embroidery for hand exercise.

        I started eating when I gave up smoking – a bad move in hindsight…

  3. Laurie Graves

    The great writer E.B. White noted “Don’t worry about being great, being good is hard enough.” Oh, how true! And, as your list illustrates, not just with writing. 😉

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