I have a weakness…
Coffee! (After reading the blog tagline, are you surprised?) I’m a true coffee and Starbucks snob. However, I don’t need coffee to start my day nor do I have to have Starbucks when I choose to drink coffee. I drink “the other stuff,” too, and I quite often make my own coffees, lattes, and such at home. If you can be an unofficial barista and coffee snob simultaneously, that’s definitely me.
After posting this article yesterday about the New Year, I thought I’d offer up a quick tip on how to self-assist in meeting the checkpoints for those resolutions you’ve set. Don’t like coffee? That’s ok! What’s your weakness? This probably sounds terrible, but think through what you can deprive yourself of then use as bribery later. Stay with me – it’ll make sense. Promise!
In addition to writing and other fun hobbies, my “real job” is full time. On weekdays, I consistently bribe incentivize myself on the way to work. I like to have a bit of evening left at the end of my day, so I work from 7:30 to 4:30. If I get up to town where I work (about 20 miles away) at least 30 minutes early, I do not pass “Go” or collect $200, but go straight to Starbucks and grab a coffee. If I’m running WAY ahead of time – those extremely rare, once-in-a-blue-moon commutes where all the stars align, and traffic is in my favor, I’m able to grab an in-store coffee and actually stick around to read for a bit. Those wonderful coffee holidays always start my day off extra awesome!
What’s something special that you can use to reward yourself when you’ve hit that next checkpoint or goal? Another thing I do when I get home from work is to not sit down on the couch until all the chores are done (dogs fed with time to play outside, kitchen tidied up, light cleaning completed, laundry put away, and dinner prepped for when the hubby gets home). I’ve learned that if I make the mistake of relaxing on the couch to read or watch TV, there’s a 99.9% chance that nothing else will get done for the remainder of that evening beyond finalizing dinner once my husband arrives. This trick has helped me to be a lot more productive and feel more fulfilled when it comes to how I’m taking advantage of my evenings, even if it’s a long day and a lot of work.