30 Days to a Better Me

Actually it is going to be 28 days or so. It is from now until May 1st and since today is April 2nd, we won't have a full 30 days. 28 days of a better me doesn't sound as cool. I digress. Let me explain.

Over the next month I will be making a few changes, solidifying some changes I've already made, and sharing all of this with you. Nothing is going to happen too drastically or too quickly, but I know that if I'm honest here in sharing what I'm doing and going through, I am more likely to be honest with myself and more motivated to do what it is I want to do.

Also, I am going to ask you to be a part of what I'm doing. I want people to participate in these challenges with me. Won't that be fun? I commit to post here at least every other day (It would be fun to post every day but that might not be realistic) and give new challenges as well as keep track of any progress made or lost.

I know many of you read this blog on facebook, but if you want to you can subscribe to my blog by going to wife-and-mommy.blogspot.com and clicking "subscribe via e-mail" and my blog will be sent directly to your e-mail.

So on to the first challenge. This will actually start tomorrow (Sunday, April 3rd).

Keep a daily log.

I suggest in 15 min. increments. Brandon and I are going to do this for a week because our daily schedule varies a lot depending on the day, but if your days are pretty routine, you could just do it for a couple of days. Basically, you write down everything that you do for the entire day in 15 or 30 min. increments. From brushing your teeth, to taking a shower, to fixing your hair, to preparing and eating meals. And just to give credit where credit is due, this is actually a suggestion by Dr. Howard Hendricks, renowned professor of Bible Study Methods and Hermeneutics at Dallas Theological Seminary. I am going to print up a few excel spreadsheets to make it easier.

The purpose of this is as follows: So much of the time we waste time by keeping busy with things that we don't even realize we are doing. You are at work and you check facebook every hour or so but you are on for 15 min. You end up not working for almost 2 hours in your 8 hour day! You go in to take a shower and you spend a couple of minutes plucking your eyebrows and popping zits instead. You go into the kitchen to start on dinner and you find yourself looking through the pile of mail on the counter. 15 minutes later no bills are paid and you still haven't made dinner, but you have a really good idea which is your favorite rug in the new Pottery Barn catalog. You get on the computer to check e-mail at home, and you find a fun website that keeps you occupied for a half an hour. Maybe none of that sounds familiar to you, but there is probably time in your day when you are doing something that could wait until later, or you are doing something that takes longer than you planned. These little 15 min snippets rob our day of productive time and then we don't have the time that we need to do the things that we WANT to do. In my case it is practicing the guitar, playing the Wii w/ my kiddos, sewing, or making homemade bread.

If you want to do this challenge with us, and you want me to e-mail you a copy of the spreadsheet that I am making, just leave your e-mail address as a comment and I will send it to you. Just use the form "address at suchandsuch dot com" instead of typing in your actual address. After I do this for a couple of days, I will be able to post here some of my results.

Join us if you can. It will be fun to see what all we can accomplish in 30 (or so) days!