Friday Before Spring Break

I feel good today. As a matter of fact, I don't remember the last time I have felt this good about my commitments to establishing daily routines--I feel like I'm on a roll...like I'm really doing this. I'm "pumped", and I'm anxious to go to the next step and start adding other goals and commitments. I know that Steven, my accountability partner, will be helping me take it slow and be realistic, but I'm still already looking ahead and planning for greater things.
Yesterday, we took a group of Hispanic kids to a program that the Hispanic employees of SBC puts on to encourage the kids to go to college. Things that kept coming up were the importance of goal setting, keeping a planner, delayed gratification, planning ahead...all things that Steven and I have discussed. It was cool to hear someone else confirm these things. I'm looking forward to Spring Break and getting a lot of things accomplished around home.

My report for Steven:
1. got my prayer and Bible reading in, plus quite a bit extra
2. got to work on time this morning
3. got to bed last night...not only on time.
4. did my repetetive reading of Psalm one
5. did my grading yesterday
6. wrote in my journal and made my daily report as promised both yesterday and today.

There you go, Little Brother...another successful day. I believe that the weekend is going to be especially challenging. I'm taking some extra precautions--we'll talk about that later. Happy Birthday, by the way!

On a Roll....

I could get used to this. I know it sounds like I'm strumming the same chord, but the old adage about "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail" really does seem to be the key to the whole thing. Otherwise, you're simply letting life happen to you. Seeing what you have to do, starting early, and planning around time blocks that are already filled is the essence of good time management and the way to positively get things done without excuses.
I'm not silly---I know that unexpected things come up that simply can't be circumnavigated. But I'm feeling so good about the last few days---sort of a "eureka" feeling of having found an empowering truth. At any rate, here's my report for my buddy Steven:

I prayed yesterday, got my Bible reading in, did my grading, got my repetetive scripture reading in, and wrote in my journal----and even had a enough time to harass you by Instant Messenger a little bit. I got to bed On Time and got to work On Time. So I'm feeling pretty good. Church was great last night...had a guest speaker. And the most important thing about this is, even though we had church last night and our schedule was strained, through just a little bit of pre-planning and thought, I still complied with my commitments. So it's working!

Troy

Finally See The Light...

Some things that come naturally to organized people just don't come naturally to me, but if I try long enough, I eventually seem to get it. :-) I've always been disorganized when it comes to time, money, and things...much to my parents' chagrin. I can tell what needs to be done, but I have a hard time staying on track to get there.
I wrote an essay for my accountability partner on keeping commitments. It was the best sort of exercise I could have done, because it really made me think...if I have things to do, then making up my mind to do them is not enough: I have to make PROVISION to to them...start early enough, and plan for unexpected obstacles. That's called responsibly planning (as opposed to letting life happen), and this is a new concept for me.
I've finally figured out that if I wait and don't think through what I have to do and predict how long it will take, then it won't get done. Today is a church day...since I already know I won't be home tonight for a large chunk of the evening, then some of my commitments must be taken care of early. With that in mind, I took my Bible and read my chapters for the day while my wife drove me to work (she needed the car today). I'll get my grading done here at school. My other commitments will have to be planned around what time is available.
My new motto is "results, not excuses".

Report for Steve:
Got my prayer and Bible reading in both yesterday AND the day before (week's starting off great), did my repetetive reading of Psalms One, and got to work on time today. Also, I did my grading yesterday.
Because of yesterday, I have been late to work twice--but things are looking up, Buddy.

On My Way

Well, today's going pretty good. I WAS late for work , but I'm starting to see a real pattern to the problems underlying the habits I'm trying to change. I never leave myself enough time, so my good intentions are scuttled on the altar of things that "come up". Well...this is a new week...

Report for Steve:

Prayed yesterday and today...did get my Bible reading in yesterday (Monday) and going to do it right now, today.

Got my grading in, too, for Tuesday.

Gotta run...got things to do before lights out.

The Past Week

Well, I'm a lot better today, which is a good thing. Service was terrific last night...an awesome presence of the Holy Ghost. My daughter prayed through and was talking in tongues for like forty minutes (TYJ), but my wife ended up going home sick. She must have caught what I had. Fortunately, she was better this morning.
Last Friday, I was so sick that my classes basically had a free day. I gave them some Easter vocabulary and let them do a seek and find puzzle, then I let them play Scrabble in Spanish for the rest of the hour. They're probably looking forward to the next time I get sick...hahaha.
Every week, I make commitments for the week with my accountability partner. I did a terrible job with my commitments this past week. Tonight's my night to talk to my accountability partner, and I've sort of been dreading it, because I figured he was going to hammer my butt. At any rate, when I got home from church last night, he had messaged me saying (very apologetically) that he'd had a lot of trouble with his own commitments for the week. So I guess we're in the same boat. At any rate, here's my week in review:
What was supposed to happen:

1. devotions six days (prayer and Bible study)
   
2. Sunday school lesson done early (not at last minute)
   
3. begin next week's Sunday school lesson on Sunday
   
4. be to work on time everyday
   
5. be to bed on time Sunday through Thursday
   
6. start keeping a journal in order to accurately report
   
7. do forty-five minutes of grading a day on five days
   
8. write an essay on the importance of commitments by Thur.
   

What happened:

1. I got started this blog spot...but didn't do it till Sunday (Sorry, Steven)
   
2. I did not get my Sunday school lesson ready ahead of time...but since I couldn't be to church Sunday anyway....ah, forget it...whether or not I got to church on Sunday, I didn't keep the commitment.
   
3. I missed getting to bed on time at least once
   
4. I was late for work on Friday...which wasn't really my fault in that my wife came home late (I have to be there early on Friday for faculty meeting)--but I really should have reminded her.
   
5. Don't EVEN ask about the grading (okay...he's going to ask)
   
6. I DID get my essay done and sent off...albeit late due to computer problems.
   
7. daily devotions...I missed one day, I know, and I don't remember missing again till Friday. So much for my commitment to keeping track of everything in a journal. (I promise I'll do better, Steve...)
   

TO MY DEFENSE: things really fell apart when I got sick on Friday...I'm not going to count Friday (I was sick in bed) and I at least have half an excuse for Saturday (I didn't feel too good then, either). But I was going to do extra devotions on Sunday to make up for a day I missed...and that didn't happen.

So as I was saying, I'm not going so good this week, and I'll probably get hammered tonight...but I guess that's my fault. Oh well, this is the last week before Spring break, so I guess there's something to look forward to (if I'm allowed to live that long, that is). :-)

New At This

Well, here it goes. Today is Sunday, and I'm supposed to be at church. I got sick Friday and my wife got sick this morning (just some annoying virus, or so it seems), so I called for a ride for my daughter, tended to my wife, and created a web-blog. What a morning! At least I'm a jump ahead on my Sunday School lesson for next week.