On My Mind – 01 – Karen’s Point System

Years ago, when I was in my twenties and lived in New York City, I did Weight Watchers. There are many reasons I thought it was effective, but, by far, my favorite thing about it was that every single thing I ate had a numerical value attached to it. I am good with numbers. I liked having a number that helped me make decisions. I had 18 points a day and if I wanted a piece of chocolate, all I had to do was decide if the chocolate was worth four points. That was almost 20% of my daily points. If it was worth it, I’d eat it and if I thought it wasn’t, I wouldn’t. This is when I pretty much gave up pizza and muffins. Knowing how many points they were, there was never a time when I thought either of those two were worth it. Being able to look at food this way, as in I get something but I also give up something, made it easier for me to make a decision. In general, I think if we could all see the cost as well as the benefit easily, I think decision making becomes more fair and clearer. 

Anyhow, so I as I was thinking about 2018 and my goal to nourish myself better and my goal to get stronger and my goal to focus on self-care more, I decided maybe a point system can help me here, too. So I am going to try this out. We’ll see if it’s effective.

Here’s how I am breaking things out:

• Exercise
  • Minimum 10 minutes of Cardio  – 1 point
  • Minimum 10 minutes of Strength Training – 1 point
  • Minimum 10 minutes of Stretching – 1 point
  • Minimum 5 minutes on the muscle roller – 1 point
• Food
  • Each Meal that contains fat, fiber, protein – 1 point, up to 3 points
  • Caffeine-free day – 1 point
  • (Processed) Sugar-free day – 1 point
• Self-Care
  • Floss – 1 point
  • Skin Cream – 1 point
  • Face Wash – 1 point
  • 8-hours of sleep – 1 point
  • Journaling/Art – 1 point
  • Any Extra Care including: mask, bath, oils, etc. – 1 bonus point

This is where I will start. This might look overwhelming to most people and the list might not make sense to you, these are things I want to work on so they make sense to me. It’s a way to keep myself honest. I specifically decided not to have any negative points. This is not about what I won’t do but more about what I will do. This is my January plan and as I do it, I will come up with a plan for February so we’ll see what happens there. I leave for Sydney on the last day of January so it will be a good reflection point for me. 

If I am doing my math right, the maximum points possible for a day are: 15 (including the bonus point).  

I am not sure if this is crazy or brilliant or something in between. I will find out. I strongly believe that the key to success in being intentional and I believe this will help me stay intentional about my goals. And if it turns out this doesn’t work, then we’ll try something new.

On My Mind is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018 here.