Wow! ShivRaj, you are an inspiration. I've been a lurker for quite sometime on these forums... always soaking in the posts, reading, feeling charged & driven temporarily (probably whenever i could relate to the posts) but nothing concrete, no improvement would ever come off it because i seldom took action.
I had posted once in Feb'08 about my issues, but despite really good feedback from quite a few people, i've still not made much progress (nothing tangible anyway). Then i set & posted goals for July & failed! Instead of getting on with it (by implementing punitive measures or using an alternative strategy to put things behind me)... i chose to punish myself by losing faith in myself... that's why i stopped posting altogether (i hate listing out my issues, have others try help me out, and then not being able to improve well enough... feel terribly guilty, almost tormented ...i feel like i'm letting others down, letting myself down... feel so dishonest).
Your post was a shot in the arm, now i'm simply gonna set goals in terms of targets/objectives & set up some punitive measures in case i'm not able to meet them (nothing as dramatic as shaving my head, but certainly something unpleasant)... at least this way, i'll not feel dishonest, because i'll dutifully carry out the punitive measures in case i screw up.
I know that this surely seems quite a negative methodology to subscribe to
but i feel this is what i really need right now (the old carrot/stick model)
Consequences for every action... compliance/non-compliance entirely upto me.
Thanks a ton, Shivraj. All the best for your Goals!