Day 2 - Official Stating of Goals

Alright here I am on Day 2 and yes I'm awake 20 minutes earlier again!  Today was actually a little harder.  Even with the time change it's so dark in the morning in Chicago.  But I'll stick to it.  I guess the process is to wake up about 20 min earlier than usual for a few days and then start shaving off more time little by little until you are at your goal awake time (mine = 5:30a)

So, yesterday I was musing with my boyfriend about my decision to take on this endeavor and I got to laughing about some of the "suggestions" Leo (author of Zen Habits) had for tasty breakfast ideas. His top suggestion was oatmeal, flaxseed, blueberries and almonds. Another suggestion was scrambled tofu. Uh...yum? We also were giggling/rolling our eyes at Leo's story about while running 22 miles "the other day" the sky burst into rain and then suddenly stopped to be flooded with God graced sunlight leaving him so euphoric he shouted out "I'm Loving Life!!!" gag.

Key Differences Between Leo and Myself:

• He is married with six kids, having a clear need for organization in his life
• I'm single with no dependents whatsoever (I set my fish "free" the other day because he was overwhelming me with responsibility. Sorry Annatto.)
• He is a full-time blogger
• I work full-time for a giant marketing company that is an hour commute away
• He lives in Guam. Read: beautiful tropical island with average temperatures of 86 degrees.  How can you not live a happy life?
• I live in Chicago. Read: gray, cold winters and humid, sticky summers.  High risk for Seasonal Affective Disorder from November - May.  

Now I'm not a hater by any means - in fact I'm actually rather envious of Leo's Zen Life. But as I mentioned before, it's just a little...aspirational. Which is why I'm trying to distill these principles down to something applicable for the average, city living, young woman. Or as my boyfriend would say "Could you just give me the bacon and eggs version of Zen Habits?" Couldn't have said it better myself.

So here are my goals:

Professional -

1. Score well on the GMAT (target score in my head)
2. Apply and be accepted into a year of service with Ameri*Corps (Fall 2008)
3. Apply and be accepted to choice Business School (Fall 2009 for applying)

Personal -

1. Wake up earlier to maximize day
2. Exercise consistently
3. Eat better - meaning cook at home and actually go grocery shopping
4. Stick to budget

I have more goals in life, but I'd say these are the ones I'd like to focus on in the near term.  And as I see it, they are all sort of linked.  I need to score well on the GMAT to apply to choice business school.  And I would like to serve a year with Ameri*Corps before I go to business school.  As for the personal goals - those just seem obvious.  

The first goal I am going to tackle is scoring well on the GMAT.  I'm taking a class from March 20th - April 17th and taking the test shortly there after.  The current plan to tackle this effectively is as follows:

Plan for Goal 1:

• Establish waking up early, use morning to get an hour of studying done 
• Attend class twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays which means I cannot let myself get stuck at work
• 100% committing to my coursework.  It's only a month!  I can do it.  
• Slowly integrate eating well and exercising habits since I assume those are both things that help my brain with studying effectively

So there we go.  Goals have been put to paper so to speak and now it's time to carry them out.  I'll be perusing Zen Habits for tips to carry this out effectively and hopefully most of them don't involve scrambled tofu.