The Science of Self-Help

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Day 287 & The Holiday Effect, Cont.

Day 287 Record Keeping
Day 256 Fixed Meditation 
Day 202 Bodyweight Exercise  (2x8 uneven pushups, 2x8 35lb rows)
Day 129 Writing = 81 (editing meditation book)
Day 302 Eating = 63
Day 59 Work = 64
Great sleep, great wakeup. 

Holiday Effect, Continued
Yesterday night, my mom said my dad wanted to go out.  I thought to myself “great, this is an opportunity where I can test my holiday protocol.”

Pizza. He wanted pizza.

I did good up to a point. I ate my meal, my dad got pizza, I even toasted it up for him. He got some wine which he shared with me. Great.

After having a long conversation, I had a bit of a personal scare, so my emotions were all over the place. Then I toasted up some of my dad’s leftover pizza and ate it all. Then I snacked on cashews - no problem, but then I ate some Doritos, finishing a bag.

So not so good when it all comes down to it.

Here’s what went wrong:
Once I learned that there was going to be a situation, I need to immediately do my implementation intention AND at least read through my mental contrasting. I should also do the whole Flash Diet thingy and take pics of the food I eat.

I did none of those things - I was distracted with work or something and didn’t immediately do it, so the next thing I knew the pizza had arrived and I was amidst the situation without proper preparation.

So this is good - I know that something works, the time I did it, it worked. The time I didn’t, it didn’t.

So I’m going to  make this an official thing - throughout the holiday season, I’ll be doing a Holiday Effect Project just like my No Bread Challenge. I’ll be posting on the blog about avoiding such temptations in an attempt to have a solid set of protocols and know what works and what doesn’t while navigating this discipline-tricky time of year.