I am a procrastinator to my VERY core. I have grand plans and inspiring ideas every day, but I usually don't end up implementing half of what I'd truly LIKE to do. To tackle this weakness of mine, I declared 2012 to be the year where I got outside my comfort zone to actually do some hard things WITHOUT putting them off. I'm happy to say that 2012 was fairly successful in that regard. I overcame procrastination in quite a few areas of my life and I did do a lot of new things. That year long push made me finish out 2012 feeling a little more capable and open to the possibility of doing MORE and procrastinating LESS.
Ohhhh, self discipline is a tricky virtue.... it's terribly easy to talk yourself out of doing stuff. Oh, I'm the Queen of it and I'm really, really good at it. The only trouble is that I don't WANT to be good at that. I WANT to be good at disciplining myself ~ not just to do the things that I HAVE to do, but to do the things that I WANT to do. Those ideas, dreams and projects that are swirling in my head... those plans and possibilities for me, my family and our homestead ~ they're all gaining momentum creating a tidal wave inside me. How truly unfortunate that my knee jerk response is to sit and do none of it.
My journey through 2012 uncovered the real weakness inside of me.
A distinct lack of self discipline.
Hard to imagine that ONE weakness could be so pernicious. I'm determined to grow out of it and overcome it, one task at a time.
One of my goals for 2013 is to shave down our grocery bill by reducing the amount of meat that we eat. We simply eat too much of it out of force of habit. It's our largest annual food expense which means that it is an area of the budget where I have the most room to reduce spending. We won't stop buying top quality pastured meats from local producers, we're just going to be buying a little less of it in 2013. I'm planning to stretch the meat that we do buy in several ways. One of them is to add more beans, lentils and other pulses to our meals in place of half the usual measure of meat. Eating meatless suppers once/week will also help me meet my goal. I've done that in the past and it works, but admittedly, I've not been self disciplined enough to keep at it. Old habits die hard.
In order to DO this successfully on a regular basis (and therefore meet my budget slashing goals), I needed to re-stock my freezer with cooked beans and lentils.
Enter: Self Discipline
Exit: Procrastination
My friend, Rose is really good at this and I'm hoping to train myself to be more consistent at it, too.
Here's the fruits of my labour today:
Thanks to 2 pressure cookers going simultaneously, I was able to get about 2 weeks worth of lentils and beans cooked and into the freezer. As well, I cooked a Lentil Lemon Soup for supper which smells divine and will taste delicious with homemade bread.
While I was doing all of the above, my 15 year old daughter kept me company in the kitchen and whipped up 2 dozen pumpkin muffins for lunches during the week. Score!
Well dear readers, it's time to log off the computer, face my demons and slay them.
Until we meet again,
Sherri
Well done Sherri!
ReplyDeleteHaving beans & pulses ready in the freezer means you will make yourself add them to your meals! Great organisation.
On ya Sherri!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you are off to a great start! Way to go! :)
ReplyDeleteWe were in the same decision making process when it came to meat 12 years ago. I am a little bit of a carnivore and our old family habits died hard. Cindy came up with a simple plan though and it has worked very well for us. We have meat with most every meal, we just eat a lot less of it. Instead of a t-bone each, the 4 of us share 1 or 2 steaks. The rest of the plate is filled with veggies. Works well for us and we don't miss the meat. Even at restaurants we often share certain dishes instead of being overwhelmed. I don't think I could do a meatless supper! LOL
ReplyDeleteyeah... turns out my husband isn't fond of meatless meals either, LOL. Oh well - LESS meat per meal is still better than what we were consuming...
DeletePeople need to understand that for some meat is a very important part of the diet... In our family - my daughter and I can go without meat - the boys - they would rather have a hand chopped off than not have meat. As you said - reduce the amount - but it's an important part of diet - listen to your body - if you need meat, consume it, just cut the quantity. : )
DeleteBoy do I hear you! : )
ReplyDeleteI would like to tell you about what our family have done in the last three months which has reduced our appetite, our food bill, our weight, our mind....... I read a book called "wheat belly" by Dr William Davis - Yup.... gave up wheat - once you find out what the genetic modified stuff does to your body - increases appetite, puts weight on, *&%$ up your entire system.... you cant go back
NO WHEAT - WHAT ! WHAT WILL we eat? Three months down the track 10kg lighter (for hubbi and me) our food bill has reduced by 20%, we eat meat, fat, eggs, milk(good stuff) - our appetite has decreased (unbelievable I know) and this has reduced our food bill - my (autistic) 6year olds behaviour has improved out of sight (hard to believe he is the same boy..
If you would like some ideas on how to take wheat out - we started with just a month - no wheat for a month - see what happens WOW - will never go back...
More info? ask
Love your blog - your honesty - your outlook - your desire for change
Cheers
Narelle
I agree about the GM wheat (and all gm food). We eat organic, heritage wheat grown by John Schneider (up in the comments above) and love it.
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