Page a day, pound a week

You know, this incremental weight loss, which I feared so impossible just weeks ago, really feels manageable now. I feel that it is now just a matter of consistency, commitment, and gradualism. I'm not trying to lose 10 pounds in a week. But I am trying to lose 10 pounds in 10 weeks. One week at a time. One pound at a time. This feels so much less scary and overwhelming than looking in the mirror and discovering: no! I'm 20 pounds overweight! How will I ever lose 20 pounds? I forget where I read this, but it really makes sense now: I will just lose one pound. But I will do it 20 times.

Since this seems to be working and making so much sense, I'm going to apply this to another area of my life, too. I'm an academic, so the main thing I have to do in the summer, besides prep the next year's courses, is research and WRITE. And I can sometimes feel overwhelmed by how much I need to write. Among other things (several articles, reviews, encyclopedia entries, etc.) I have to write a book. How will I ever write a book??

Now I know! I will write one page. I will just do it many (many) times.

So, starting today, instead of binge writing in fits and starts, I'm going to try writing a page a day. If it blossoms into more writing, wonderful. But every day I only have to write one page (good cop)!

And every day I HAVE to write one page (bad cop)!