Gym Time

I used to leave going to the gym to the end of the day. This year I started going in the mornings.

I have two alarms in the morning. 6:00 AM, when I get up, brush my teeth, and then meditate and write in my journal till the second alarm goes off at 7:00 AM. This is when I change and head for the gym. The group classes start at 7:30 AM. I aim to attend five each week. I am so pleased that I have been able to stick to the routine for most of the days unless I was traveling.

Weight Management

I gave up on losing weight for the past three years. No matter what I did, my weight was not moving. Thinking I can’t lose the middle age mid-section, I had made my peace with my bulging tummy.

But during travels, it got ridiculously big. So much so that I started feeling disgusted. This year, I accepted that I am addicted to sugar and I will always need to be on some sort of program to keep it under check. I joined Weight Watchers again (I am a life member) and beginning to lose weight a bit by bit.

Intermittent Fasting

I resisted intermittent fasting for 3 years, thinking I can’t do it. This year, I started having breakfast at midday rather than at 9:30 AM. I was one of those who thought breakfast was the most important meal of the day and that one ought to have a good breakfast each morning.

Not true. I could easily stretch the breakfast till mid-day. That helped me skip a meal a day. Now I can fast for 16 hours and eat only in an 8-hour window. I am getting used to staying a little hungry and don’t reach for food at the first sign of hunger.

Speaking To A Camera

I thought I will never be comfortable talking to a camera. This year I recorded the ‘Write Your Book In 30 Days’ course in two days flat. Later in the year, I did a course on public speaking. Now I am much more comfortable in front of the camera.

Meditation

I thought I was done with meditation. It was useful when my life was chaotic and stressful. I learned active meditation and found that I can tap into inspiration and intuition any time I want with 5-minute meditation exercises.

Shitty Drafts

I was taught to write shitty drafts for books and polish them later with several edits. This year I learned, it saves a lot of time to write once and to write a good first draft. I have given up writing shitty drafts anymore. This year, during NaNoWriMo, I published my novel on Medium as I wrote it. You can read it here.

Cyclic Writing

I used to think my work has to go through several edits before publishing. I learned Dean Wesley Smith’s method of cyclic writing and applied it to my writing. It worked like magic.

Dean has written over 200 novels and 100 short stories. He has won several awards as well. He hates rewriting. His process is, which he calls ‘cycling,’ to write 500–600 words, read and edit them, and then write the next 500 words.

I realized I follow this process when I write articles on Medium. I now have adopted it as my primary process, both for fiction and non-fiction.

What have you changed your mind about this year?