Cookies taste good. Soda tastes good, and has a sweet caffeine kick. Big greasy hamburgers, fries, and a sweet snack not only have a lot of energy lurking within they are plentiful, convenient and relatively inexpensive. In time and money it costs little to stop at a Wendy's and grab a meal. And you save even more time, because you don't feel bad eating it and doing several other things at the same time, because you don't really want to taste it anyway, you just want your hunger headache to go away. But it is only relatively inexpensive, because a consistent diet of this junk and a few months later you are feeling run down, overweight and you are probably not really saving time just trading it, you can have a few extra minutes now but what are you borrowing against? I fear the collateral being put up is healthy retirement years. Precious graduations and birthdays and giving your daughter away at her wedding and playing with your grandchildren years. Woah, if thats true, and it probably is, it really sucks. What a cruel joke. I only ran there because it was quick and I was hungry and I have so much to do and not enough time, and BAM you're overweight and tired all the time, so you can't motivate yourself to do much when you are awake so you have even less time.
Well, what the hell is the answer?! What is the cure? I know what it is. It is rather simple. A couple days ago I decided to cut back on not only the junk food but the excessive consumption of all food (except maybe pickles and carrots, and other nearly non-caloric stuff). On top of that I need to find my way back to the gym, and get back on a consistent Karate schedule. It is easy for me to say, well I have a new job with interesting problems to solve, a long commute, a new baby that needs daddy time, and many other things that I liked doing before all these changes came along. Something has to give! Right?
Of course something has to give, but it isn't any of those things that is important to me. And it certainly is NOT my health, that is a lesson I have watched unfold a few times, and I will learn from it if it kills me. No, what has to go is laziness. Inefficiencies, and wasted time. I have organized myself before to do more than I originally thought was possible. I just need to keep my priorities in mind and in order at all times. So the answer is, I am going to try and adopt a system, schedule myself out a little bit, make sure my chores are done before I go out to play. But also making sure that going out to play is still one of the high priority chores. I have been hearing much about a book: Getting Things Done. Well I ended up seeing it after reading about Yak Shaving in the first issue of Make, apparently one of the authors of Life Hacks Merlin Mann is a Getting Things Done nut, and it has intrigued me. I may have to grab the book and see if it holds any value.
In the mean time I will be periodically reviewing what it is I am doing and trying to keep myself focused on some primary health goals. Get my weight to 200 lbs. Go to Karate three times a week. Go to the gym five days a week. I know this will actually give me more time, because it will give me more energy, and allow me to focus that energy more directly. And hopefully it will keep me healthy enough to get to that hammock one day and thoroughly enjoy the journey getting there.