health-minded goal setting ...

hello monthly habit #healthmonth ... in december, team CDWL@edi - 3 team members from cubeopolis - started healthmonth. literally within 2 days, all of us were hooked (and still hooked). here we are in january with 5 team members, and all of us are continuing into february. we also intend to lure others to join.

on creating monthly goals and habits ... go figure - as i was catching up on my other favorite past-times on saturday, i came across my fave yvette and her article - goodbye new year's resolution, hello monthly habits. as stated in her article -

"And the thing is, experts agree that if you can stick to a habit for 28 days, the habit becomes permanent. You no longer think of it as a difficult task. It just becomes part of your daily routine. ... So, how do you come up with 12 habits rather than 1 impossible-to-keep resolution? Well, how about breaking up that big impossible-to-keep resolution into 12 mini-very-possible-habits? ... Instead, this year, we try easy goals. All we have to do is this one thing each month. ... Besides making the habits realistic, try to make them fun! How, you ask? Make keeping the goals into a game. ... "

yvette's article completely made me realize the obvious - healthmonth has been my place for my health goals and my monthly fun, all packaged up in a nice little framework. (note to self: tell yvette about healthmonth)

habit goal-setting ... i am fascinated at how i have changed my mindset about a healthier lifestyle. and i strongly believe the healthmonth format is the main reason - support from friends (and healthmonth'rs), the simplicity of the goal-setting format, rules that i choose, and simply being self-aware. it's not just about diet and exercise - it also has been the spiritual, mental, and emotional health aspects - and most of all, about an accountability system.

healthmonth - an accountability system ... by the first day of the month, i lock-in my monthly goals for what i intend to achieve each week. here is a preview of what my february rules may look like. then the social, gaming, goal-setting, goal-achieving fun begins ... i do a daily check-in, weekly true-up, and end of the month tally.

• daily check-ins (or you can slide but just need to remember what you did) - seeing how i am coming along each day with each of my rules that include activities i allow and do not allow (or minimize) on my terms, e.g., frequency, amount, etc.
  
• weekly true-up - a tracking-restart of sorts of the weekl allowances and indulgences i have chosen that i have tracked each day. this "restart" provides that chunkier framework where i can see how close i am coming to achieving or not achieving the weekly goals i've set ... in a week's timeframe. and yes! when i'm edging closer to the end of the week, i'm certainly looking to meet each rule - OR indulging a bit.
  
• monthly result - all the math stuff is done behind the scenes. with the goal of having at least 1 (one) life at the end of the month (after starting out with 10), it's all about looking to meet the incremental goals i have set. AND depending on the outcome of lives
• next month start-up - then the cycle starts again, however, you can pick new rules, get rid of rules, change your frequency of activities, the amount you consume, etc. ... AND you have a nice "contract" with yourself of your choice of a reward (when you have at least one life point) or punishment (when you have zero or negative life points).
  

no-guilt system with self-awareness ... for me, healthmonth has become more of a guilt-free system, and i had no idea that would be the case. sure, i'll indulge and have that extra diet coke beyond the 3 days/week of the rule i set. BUT after having nearly 14-20 diet sodas a week (on average) back in december, i'm doing great at ~ 3 days/week! and balanced with more water, exercise, meditation, and many other activities i did not do regularly, it's a major shift.

monthly habits + self-awareness = healthy habits
(or something like that)