Big 4 Update – January 2010

Wow, this first month of 2010 has really flown. I can’t believe I am already doing the first  monthly update of “Big 4” which is my simple goal setting technique for 2010.

To recap, “Big 4″ is all about setting your foundation by creating four distinct and realistic goals. I like to look at them as structural  pillars to help you  build and grow,  and allowing you to achieve this by the end of the year. This will not necessarily mean that it should take you all year to accomplish, however, it does provide the most realistic time frame to either accomplish one at a time or work in phases. ( I choose the latter by breaking each of the four down to smaller respectable chunks)

So, here’s how I am travelling so far

1. I will declutter the whole house – I can now say I have finally got the study area into shape and  will continue to stay like this as I move on to the next room in the house ( which I am still yet to decide on ). This was a real tricky sort of room, as it was quite  deceiving in the way that many items  could have been easily be stuffed back into the drawers or filing cabinets. As I explained in my video, clutter is not always visible, you really have to get in there and sort through all the drawers and filing and really cull it down to useful levels. I will be posting another video shortly to talk about in more detail how I transformed the study.




2. I will write 100 quality posts for Live It With less – For the month of January I published six posts on the site, just a bit under my expected average to reach one hundred by end of the year, but I can honestly say that I am starting to feel like I am getting in the zone for some good stuff ahead of me. I would also like to say thank you to  Charley from You Simplified, and Caitlin from ClutterCubed who were kind enough to include me in their “bloggers to watch in 2010″ lists that were re published on Problogger.net As a result of this, it provided a huge increase in readership for my blog and most importantly has given me a  feeling that I must be doing some good. Cheers guys.




3. I will weigh 72kgs (158lbs) – For the month of January, I lost 2kgs (4.4lbs). It wasn’t easy I must admit, and did find it hard to adhere each day to my 1500 calorie limit, especially as I am currently at home on leave from work due to the birth of our third child (Jesse). However, this is all about learning, and I am not going to whine about it anymore. By the way, do you like the picture of the butter representation? I was hoping for more than a 4 pound loss, however, when you look at in this perspective you do feel satisfied that this pile of lard is no longer attached to your gut or butt.




4. I will write an informative ebook - Not much here to report on except that I do have a great idea for ebook. Of course, the focus will be on living with less, but will have my special twist to it. I am looking forward to finding some time over the next couple of months to begin some solid writing.

There you have it, I do recommend that if you already haven’t done so, start thinking about what really would make you happy  and how you would get to that point? Start now!

Remember make it realistic, keep it simple, and give yourself a deadline.

Good luck

Greg