Tag: What really matters

Why I’d rather set stretching goals and just miss them than take the easy path and be successful

It was kindly pointed out by someone yesterday that I’d slipped a little lately when it comes to achieving my goals. My aim to get through March without eating any sugary crap (biscuits, chocolate, cakes etc) hasn’t quite been achieved in full. It hasn’t been a huge disaster, but I haven’t achieved that particular goal. …

Why I perform better when I’m up against the clock – time on my hands isn’t good for me

This is a classic example of a problem I have that I believe should be easy to resolve though the reality is quite different. It’s an issue which dates to my secondary school days (a period when I completed something like 6 or 7 English essays in the week before my GCSE deadline, rather than …

A health / weight update – I’m not as fit as I thought I was…

Despite needing to lose weight, I’ve always thought I was relatively fit. I walk quite often. I eat a relatively health diet. I get plenty of fresh air. I just need to work on shedding the excess fat that I’m carrying. However, a couple of things lately have demonstrated to me that I’m not as …

I need to stop living life like I’m stuck in a revolving door

Right now, it feels as though I’m living life like I’m stuck in a revolving door. Not at all from a family and personal relationships perspective – everything is absolutely fine in that regard. This relates more to the general routine and humdrum of life. Here’s an example of a typical week for me: Monday …

Turning 50, fearing the aging process, and some fine advice from Clint

I turn 50 in December of this year. I won’t be mentioning it too often here as I’m really not happy about it. In fact, I’m dreading it. Not because I fear there’ll be some big noticeable change in my life, but mainly as this is the landmark birthday which makes me feel I’m truly …

Keep the good people in your life close to you

A short post this week, prompted by a few things which have happened over the past few days to remind me what is truly valuable and important in life. Perhaps it’s a sign of getting older and wiser but it’s really easy for me these days to identify the good people in my life. The …

Are lists good or bad for us?

I’ve always been a list maker. For as long as I can remember, I’ve used them daily in both my work and personal lives. I’ve always believed they’re helpful though I’ve recently wondered if that really is the case. If anything, I now think they cause pressure and anxiety where it really isn’t needed. I …

Does anyone else have a really poor attention span or is it just me? I’m blaming technology again…

I have a real problem with paying attention to a single task for any moderate length of time (let’s say 15 minutes or more). This hasn’t been an issue all my life, as far as I recall, though it certainly is now, and I place the blame firmly at the feet of modern technology… There …

What would happen if you looked at your story and wrote it from another person’s point of view?

I recently watched a snippet of a TED talk which really hit home. The talk is titled How Changing Your Story Can Change Your Life, by Lori Gottlieb. The general theme is that what we tell ourselves shapes how we live our lives – Gottlieb summarises this by saying “The way we narrate our lives …

Benefits of losing weight (I hope…)

Apologies for yet another weight-related post so soon after the one last month but things have changed a little since then. In that post, I wrote about not beating yourself up if you’re finding it difficult to lose weight, or if it takes time to achieve (as it is with me). However, since then, a …