Everyone's got their own little way to motivate themselves.

Whenever I was saving up for something as a kid - usually a Nintendo or something equally geeky - I'd draw a keep a little graph of how much I was putting away. It looked like a thermometer. I think I was basing it on those things they do for the Good Friday appeal. With every $5, I'd inch closer to the top where I'd written "OMFG SUPER NINTENDO" and put a broken star outline around it.

I'm a bit more complex these days. Though not a lot.

Now, I set myself little silent challenges. It all started when I was living the UK. I'd make myself a little resolution - buy seven new pairs of trendy undies (one for each day of the week) is one I remember - and then go about the business of doing such. Over there, it was mainly to complete a rich tapestry of 'check out how much I've changed!' to all the people I left behind in Australia.

It's advanced a bit more since then. They're now just for me, and I give them names to help solidify what I'm doing. It's kinda gay, but talking about them - blogging included - holds me accountable for actually completing them. So! Help make me a better person by listening - here's the challenges I have going on right now:

The $500 challenge
My credit card spending got a bit out of control at the end of last year. I wasn't working full time, but I was convincing myself I desperately needed to party for three days straight and buy a 42" LCD TV. (And a Nintendo Wii, funnily enough - 20 years later and my money woes come right back to Nintendo.) I chalked up almost $6,000 debt on my Visa before I put the brakes on. And I still had credit limit to spare, which speaks volumes about the Commonwealth Bank's ability to veto people's credit.

I soon started a full time job, and with my new salary I decided I'd put $500 of every pay against the card. That was back around Feburary. Now, six months later, I'm putting away $500 a week thanks to my new rad job - and my credit card is sitting at $1,500. Basically, it's almost nothing.
Current status: Three more whacks to go.

The eating challenge
I loathe to call it a diet because it's not really, but little Joshy here wasn't so little a few months ago. Looking back over photos from the last year, you can really tell in my cheeks when I've started 'bulking up'. While I never weighed myself when I was at my heaviest, I did about three months ago and found I weighed over 100 kilos. Time to shed.

So, I've been eating better. I used to have a full breakfast, go in to work, have a scone at morning tea, eat a shitload for lunch, top that off with a couple of chocolate bars (seriously, 7-11 should not be allowed to have those two for $3 offers) and go home to dinner from my generous-portion Mum. Now, I eat a small breakfast, yoghurt at morning tea if I need it, a proper-portioned lunch (though I still pretty much eat what I want, just not as much), eat proper-sized frozen meals and have cut out most of my daily cups of tea.
Current status: 93 kilos as per this morning, maybe three to eight kilos to go.

The blogging challenge
Notice me blogging with a bit of regularlity? No? Yeah, the blogging challenge isn't going as well. I'm gunning for an entry each day, but if it levels out to seven or so a week then I'll be happy. Because, let's face it, I've never got anything to say on Mondays (and most Tuesdays) that's worth reading.

But keep the blog churning is good for me - it keeps my mind actively thinking about topics, which translates into better pitches for editors, which leads to more work. It also exposes me to a wider audience, and I've been on a bit of a blogroll ramage lately, asking other bloggers to chuck me on their blogrolls - and it's paid off. I get about 100 people a day through here, which is awesome. Still need to pick up my game with the frequency though.
Current status: Watch this space.