Reverb 10 -- Prompt 13

It's time to take some Action steps!  Photo courtesy of Tom Schmucker/Swivel Eye Photo

 

Today’s Reverb 10 prompt is: Action.  When it comes to aspirations, it’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen.  What’s your next step?

This is a cool prompt for me because I was planning on writing about this topic anyway.  I have already started to take action on a couple of my aspirations with the help of StickK.com.

When I truly make a commitment to something, I like to go public with it.  It keeps me very motivated to stick to what I have committed to doing.

Just a few weeks ago, I made two commitments: (1) to exercise 5x a week for a year and (2) to blog at least once a week for a year.  (I actually made a third commitment, but I find it a little too boring to be “blog worthy”).

I really needed to get back on track with my exercise program.  As I mentioned in my last post, I have been having problems with my foot for almost a year now.  This has forced me to give up my favorite exercise, which is running.  For awhile, esp. during the summer, I rode my bike a couple of times a week.  But once it started to get colder outside and darker earlier in the day, I realized that bike riding was no longer going to work.  Plus, I wasn’t doing it very consistently.

So, about a month and a half ago, I finally broke down and joined the Y, mainly to swim, because it's low impact on my foot.  I was afraid that I wouldn’t stick with it though (I kinda hate going to the gym and would prefer to exercise outdoors by myself), and that’s where StickK.com came in. 

I registered my commitment to exercise 5x a week with StickK.com, and my husband is my referee (so that I can’t lie and say that I exercised when I didn’t – thanks honey!!).  The best part for me is that StickK.com allows you to put some money on the line when you make your commitment. 

In my case, for every week that I am unsuccessful in meeting my goal, I will give $10 to the “anti-charity” of my choice, which is the George W. Bush Presidential Library.  I could have chosen to give the money to a “real” charity of my choice, but it wouldn’t have been as motivating for me.  I don’t want to give that George W. Bush library any of my money!!!  Whereas I wouldn’t mind one bit if my money went to something that I consider worthy, like breast cancer research.

I have just started the fourth week of my StickK challenge, and so far I have been successful, yippee!!

I also committed to blogging once a week through StickK.  I had been blogging very inconsistently for about two years now, and the inconsistency made me unhappy.  I don’t really have a plan for the blog at this point, although I truly am interested in finding a new community of like-minded people (see my December 9th post).  I just want to see where a year of consistent blogging will take me!

It’s been easy for me to be committed to blogging since I discovered the Reverb 10 challenge.  We’ll see what happens once December is over!

I also wanted to note that I don’t receive any money or any other kind of compensation from StickK.com.  I am psyched that I found the site and that it’s working for me, and I wanted to share it with others in the hopes that someone else might benefit in the same way that I am!

Comments

[janet]

i also like to go public when making a commitment. it helps me follow through with it and be less likely to back out. for example, i told everyone i was moving to the philippines or thinking about it before actually making the plans to do so. it works!!