I read the best article this month in the October Good Housekeeping Magazine.  Tory Johnson, with her TV career in peril, made the decision to lose weight. 

After many years of fad diets and emotions between denial and acceptance, she finally felt a new emotion:  determination.  And a tiny tinge of excitement.  “This time will be different” she promises herself.

Because for the first time she made the psychological shift. “ I was ready to stop playing games with myself” she said.

Now 62 pounds lighter, she shares her secret.

“What is your secret?” asked one of her good friends.  Tory can relate to her friends eagerness for answers, but knows that she will be disappointed to learn there isn’t a big secret, just a lot of discipline and hard work.  While Tory gave up many of her favorite foods, her friend acknowledges that she isn’t willing to give up her glass of white wine at night or her margaritas when she’s out with girlfriends.

Yes, it’s hard to give up some of my favorite foods, she says.  But it’s so doable.  She isn’t finished with her journey – she doesn’t think she ever will be.  But losing this weight has given her “an inner strength that is now part of who I am.”

So, what does losing weight have to do with organization?  In my opinion, everything.

To be successful in any endeavor, we can’t wing it.  We have to have the focus to plan, make goals and follow through.  Which is what being organized is.

It isn’t rocket science, it’s just disciplining yourself. 

Action Plan    

 Here are some tips Tory shares:

1. How fed up are you really? Whether you are trying to lose weight, find time to write a book or any other project, you have to get to the point where you are ready to make it work.
2. What are you willing to give up?  If you cheat at every turn of your plan it won’t work.  You have to accept it as an all-or-nothing deal.
3. What’s your plan?  You have to spell our clear, concise rules for yourself to eliminate ambiguity.
4. Can you have accountability?  You have to establish a system (which means you have to be organized) that works for you.

She also found helpful tips to keep her on her path.  She put a fresh coat of nail polish on her nails so her hands couldn’t reach for food!  She kept all bad foods (for her) out of her home.  She found food like pickles and carrots that would take time to chew and she enjoyed.  She also kept pitchers of water nearby with orange or lemon slices in it which tasted so much better than plain water.  If she was hungry, she would do something that would take her mind off of food.

Yes, to make changes in our life, we have to have discipline in our life.  And whenever it becomes too hard for you, we have a God who is always there to help us. 

Manna from Heaven

“All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”  Hebrews 12:11

“…discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.”  I Timothy 4:7-8