Weight Loss Series: The Importance of Writing Schedules Goals and Planning For Your Weight Loss - Day 15

If you’re looking to change your weight and your life, writing out schedules, goals, and planning, is the best way to achieve all the things you want.

Writing is the best way to dissect our lives. Unless we know ourselves and pay attention to our needs, moving towards what we’d like may be impossible. It was impossible for me. I tell people, “writing saved my life.” It sure did. I remember, it was June 2006. It was right after a breakup. I was unhappy with my weight, I was angry, and brokenhearted. A lot was going on in my life at the time. I was always a writer in some capacity, since a very young age. I love writing. But, it turned out to be a life changing tool. It would end up being the tool that helped me find “me.” Its helped me still, each and everyday, since its been such a huge part of my life. I won’t ever let writing, journaling, scheduling and planning go, now that I know its true power. Here are some of the benefits you should capitalize on by writing each and everyday:

- So you don’t shorten your vision.
Do you know what you want to do with your life? What do you want to accomplish in this lifetime? Whether big or small, you should never allow yourself to shorten your vision because you don’t do the work necessary to “get there.” It all begins with a vision. But, than what? If you stop there, guess where it’ll get you? Nowhere! However, if you write it out, plan it, stick to schedules and time frames, and set goals, you become your own architect of that vision. As you continue writing about it and working it out on paper, it tends to get better, and you begin to see the realism in it. You’ll reach a point, where you stop, think, and feel, “this is really happening.”

- We can move in steps to handle whatever may come.
We can’t expect everything to come easily, there will be challenges along the way. The best way to handle achieving what we want, is to work in steps. We should have our ultimate vision planned, but it’s not realistic to think things won’t change along the way. You’ll face road blocks, and that is why an overall goal. plus setting stepping stones along the way, makes perfect sense. Daily writing, and “fixing things,” and “analyzing how things have gone for the day,” and “anticipating tomorrow before hand,” are so important. It guarantees, that you’re “in this” completely, and any snags along the way won’t stop you. Where you may have once given up or been lazy, now you’re continuing to move forward, even on what feels like a “worse day.” Now, you’ll have a stronger focus and drive.

- It’ll hold you accountable.
Not everyday will go to plan. We won’t always have the best days. But, we can deal with these things, rather than spiraling out of control and not understanding what’s going on. Why didn’t today go so well? By writing, you’ll have a way to figure things like this out. Sometimes we all need a break or get bogged down, but at least if we’re learning from it, those types of days will lessen. We all need a break from time to time, but it can’t turn into more than that. We need to keep moving forward, because when it comes to things, such as weight loss, you could let things slip away quickly. But, if you know the answers to the whys, it makes a big difference. No person or situation, is accountable for you but you. If someone or something messed you up or tripped you up, you’re still accountable, and need to figure out how that happened. We need to be accountable for our success, our weight loss, or whatever it is, because we only have ourselves to fix things and to rely on.

- We get the job done.
If you can get in the habit of scheduling, planning, and being on top of things happening in your life daily, you’ll achieve many great things. You may be a procrastinator, have fears, feel uncertainty, but through writing, you’ll feel like your own guardian angel. Things will start happening that you never thought possible. And, things go smoothly to after a while. You’ll understand yourself better. You’ll know how to work “with you.” You are now on your “own team.” The job gets done, you’re out hustling, and you’ll notice a new you that you love being. The job gets done, and then you want to take on the next one, and the next, etc.

Writing, scheduling, and goal setting, will take you out of the cage that’s been holding you back. Instead of just thinking about doing things, you’ll do them. For myself, writing in this new way, was a huge piece in the puzzle of changing my life. When something bothers me, I write about it, and it’s my way of dealing with it. I don’t need to hold things inside me anymore, and I don’t need to accept things I don’t like about my life. I can change whatever. I’ve been given the power of the pen.

In 2006, I had a few painful months. It was the summertime. I spent that whole summer, writing hours and hours each day. Even if I kept writing about the same hurts and the same plans over and over again, I did. I needed to get years of “stuff” out. It was the summer that changed my life. I left behind my food issues, my self-hatred, everything that hurt that I wrote about. I stopped being angry over my grandfathers death. I stopped being abusive to my body. Writing gave me the strength and power, to move away from the person I didn’t like, and towards the person I always wanted to be. Writing has given me freedom. I know the things I absolutely love and want to do with my life. I’ve hiked different trails around the country, kayaked different rivers, been to shows, cooked wonderful healthy meals, worked with wonderful people, etc. These things begin with a vision, the power of writing, and my own guidance and conviction to make them happen.

See also:

- Weight Loss Series: You Can’t Stay on the Fence You Either are or You’re not - Day 10

- Weight Loss Series: They Don’t Want You to Succeed - Day 11