Over last summer break a friend of mine gave her boys things to do each day to help them accomplish tasks and be disciplined, she gave them 11 because it was 2011. Some of the things were things they'd do anyway - brush their teeth, etc. Other things were things they needed to do, but didn't necessarily want to - read 3 chapters in their school books, etc. If they had two perfect days they got a reward. A week of perfect days got them a bigger reward. I loved the idea, but actually thought it might be something to help motivate myself to be more disciplined. Many of you know I am not the most focused or disciplined person. So for 2012 I've made up a list of things to do each day, following the example of my friend, except with 12 things, you know cuz its 2012.
Here they are in no particular order:
1. Time in the Word: 5 minutes or an hour. I want to make sure I get some time with my creator. Reading the word, praying and resting in Him.
2. Workout: At least 20 minutes of some sort of athletic activity. A walk, a run, a workout video. Right now my workout of choice is Jillian Michaels 30 day shred. I am loving it.
3. Drink 100oz of Water: Especially when I drink 2 cups of coffee I need to be re-hydrating myself. Not to mention it will help me on my goal of loosing weight and being healthy.
4. Laundry: Laundry here is a 5 part process. In the machine, hang on the line, take down from the line, fold, and put away. This time of year the time between hanging on the line and taking down from the line can take a couple days. either way I want to be doing at least one step in the process each day. Nothing worse than running out of clothes when you've got no dryer and a washing machine that takes an hour per cycle.
5. Sweep the House: Our apartment isn't very big, so giving the whole place a sweep is an easy and necessary thing I can do each day to keep the place looking nice.
6. Up before 7am: The rule with the kids is they can't get up before 7, so even if I only get 5 minutes to myself before they arrive on the scene I know I'll be a better mom and have a better day.
7. Be prepared for School for the Next Day: I am often find myself scrambling before school each morning. Grabbing and printing papers. Screaming like a crazy woman at the kids. Ya, not pretty. So it makes sense that I get ready for school beforehand. Great idea. Not sure why I didn't think of that before.
8. Write an Email: Communication and me are one sided friends. I like to recieve emails, letters, texts, fb notes, etc. But I really, I mean really, stink at actually doing any of those things in return. So my goal for 2012 is to work on that, resulting in an email a day. I figure if I email, or blog I suppose, once a day I'm upping my communication like 100 times. Wanna jump on the email list? Just let me know :-)
9. Breakfast Dishes: In my family the dishes always were done in the afternoon. I don't really remember doing them as we finished eating except for at night. Set the plate on the counter come back for it later. It kinda fits in with our usual "why do today what you could do tomorrow?" attitude. Here in my kitchen, if I don't clean up the dishes immediately we've got a major traffic jam that is quickly spilling into the hallway and out into the living room. Its bad. So I've had to adopt a "why put off till tomorrow what you could do right now?" attitude. Ok, lets be honest, I'm trying to adopt that attitude. Breakfast dishes are the place to start.
10. Time with Kiddos: I am always running from one task to another. My kids suffer. A lot. So, I hope to spend 20 minutes (or more) reading, playing, talking, whatever with them. They just got a bunch of new legos for Christmas, so I'm thinking this "task" is going to be a blast!
11. Practice Language: My Arabic is ok. Not bad, not great. I can usually get by, but now its time to start expanding my vocab and getting my pronunciation down. So want to spend an hour practicing Arabic each day. Whether visiting with friends, watching a Moroccan soap opera or actually hitting the books. Each day I need to get on it.
Last, but not least...
12. Make My Bed: best way to start out your day, make your bed. Your whole life feels more organized and less chotic. Well, at least mine does.
I'm not sure what kind of reward I'll give myself for doing these things everyday. Maybe each day I get it all done I earn an hour of sewing/crafting time on Saturday?! Oh, that sounds heavenly! So far I'm doing ok, probably 70%, now that I'm posting this though I'll have to really get on the ball :-)
