* Identify your common self-sabotage patterns and notice what situations, emotions, or thoughts tend to trigger them. Prepare a battle plan ahead of time when you are in the right frame of mind.

* One off-track meal or missed workout does not erase your progress. 

* Set realistic goals that fit your current lifestyle rather than aiming for an all-or-nothing approach that requires an insane level of discipline and long-term self denial that you have literally never possessed.

* Keep healthy foods easy, quick and convenient while making less healthy choices less accessible.

* Create a backup plan for busy or stressful days, such as healthier take-out choices, pre-packaged meals kept in the freezer, and 10 minute equipment-free bedroom workout videos saved in your playlist.

* Never think that you’re above celebrating your small wins, including drinking more water, adding vegetables to meals, or completing a quick workout. Even if it's the same old same old. You should keep celebrating these new habits because a year or two ago you were striving to be this version of yourself.

* Avoid using food as a reward or punishment.

* Track habits instead of just outcomes so you can recognize progress even when results are slow.

* Remember your deeper reasons for wanting to be healthier and revisit them regularly.

* Surround yourself with supportive people who encourage your goals and healthy habits, even through the content you consume.

* Acknowledge your habits that lead to a setback and focus on your next positive choice rather than dwelling on mistakes. Get up, move forward.

ohh so impossible. so so impossible. okay first step is to not be mid-depressive episode. if that's squared away:

caffeinate

change your environment

impose accountability. i recommend the strategy that i recommend to my undergrads on peer review workshop days: choose someone who seems capable of psychologically damaging you.

accountability but make it immediate. i will cowork with friends and we'll start by saying, in this 40m session i will.... and then if i don't do the thing i will have to explain myself. oof.

accountability but make it immediate, deranged, and panoptic. in moments of true desperation my virtual coworking friend and i will sometimes share our screens so we can actively surveil each other.

make it silly

break it up. there was a period last spring where i was KILLING it at stardewdoro, which is when you play one day of stardew valley and then do one task from your list, ad infinitum. this does require you to:

lower your standards, especially for quantity--sometimes i cannot face the Big Task but if i tell myself, actually the goal is not "start the chapter," the goal is

i am vastly more likely to attempt it. i made eye contact this morning and that got me started on making my tbr list, which is a separate task that is now less of a Thing because i already have it started.

~ Mummy Board of Iineferty.

Period: New Kingdom, Ramesside; 19th Dynasty, Reign of Ramesses II

Date: ca. 1279–1213 B.C.

Place of origin: Egypt, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Deir el-Medina, Tomb of Sennedjem (TT 1), Egyptian Antiquities Service/Maspero excavations, 1885–86

Working hard from self worth = building

Being independent from fear = avoidance

Being independent from wholeness = freedom

Overexplaining from anxiety = seeking approval

Explaining from clarity = communication

Staying busy from discomfort = escaping

Staying busy from purpose = creating

Chasing someone from fear = attachment

Choosing someone from confidence = alignment

Avoiding conflict from fear = suppression

Choosing peace from standards = discernment

Overgiving from fear = earning love

Giving from fullness = generosity

Withdrawing from fear = self protection

Taking space from awareness = regulation

Seeking validation from lack = dependency

Receiving validation from wholeness = appreciation

Controlling outcomes from fear = anxiety

Leading outcomes from trust = stability

Being chill from fear = self abandonment

Being calm from security = groundedness

Holding back feelings from fear = disconnection

Pacing vulnerability from wisdom = emotional intelligence

Clinging from fear = scarcity

Allowing from trust = abundance

Perfectionism from fear = never enough

Excellence from self respect = pride

People pleasing from fear = losing yourself

Olandria Carthen