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I'm so tired of making it a week or two into a new challenge or project or habit or whatever and something comes up and derails it. It might be a legitimate problem that I can't adapt my new routine to, but usually it's more of an incredibly tiny puncture in my puffed up sense of commitment and dedication that instead of easily patching I start playing with until it rips wide open and everything falls apart. (As I write I've been picturing a deflating bouncy castle for some reason). So here we go: for the thousandth time, I am setting goals and am full of motivation and passion to see them through. This will only last a few days, though, so anyone who wants to exchange messages or be friends on here to help each other stay motivated, I would welcome hearing from you. I live overseas and have not found anyone who I can talk to about this stuff because the only expats I know are my colleagues and I am just not going there. BTW: Here's an AWESOME SITE for building a habit through daily check-ins, a running tally/tracker, reminders, and encouragement from strangers/friends: https://lift.do/. I love it. Okay, enough. Here's the good stuff: My main goal: Develop greater peace of mind Why: Because getting thinner won't make me enjoy the vast majority of what I do in a day any more than I do now. My 3 sub-goals/steps to get me there: 1. Read and put into practice 2 books on meditation and mindfulness (one for each 3 weeks). On weekends, review notes from previous study and spend time thinking about how the ideas compare with each other. 2. Make an action plan for transitioning from teaching to photography that includes weekly, achievable tasks to accomplish it 3. Discuss and set firm boundaries with the whole department to determine what is and isn't my role/responsibility for next term. STICK TO THOSE BOUNDARIES (and get them in writing) AND "LET THINGS GO" Life Quest: Pay off the small debts that I have to people like my mom and CITI. Totally doable if I'm not stupid. Okay, I'm gonna be bad and sneak this in here. I'm not even sorry. (Wow, that sounds dirty.) Fitness Quest: Get down to under 130 pounds and drop 4% body fat I've got a couple of guidelines for diet and exercise, but I don't want to push my luck and get blocked from this challenge for over-stepping my boundaries. Tracking Results: 1. Starting measurements and photo will come in a couple of days when I've finished an overseas flight I have tomorrow. 2. I have a list of debts in priority of when to repay them. 3. Lift and a printed calendar that I can X off or check off days on will help me see how I'm doing on daily/weekly tasks like whether I've read my books, done my studying, or worked on photography. Where I'm Stuck: I don't know how to "track" whether I'm making progress on the habits of mind I want to develop, things like calmness, patience, general pleasantness, mindfulness, etc. What is the starting measurement for stuff like that? Count how many times I get frustrated or complain in a day? Rank my day from 1-10 on a general "enjoyability" scale? ANY IDEAS???