Prog 4 You

Counting down toward another New Year, I resuscitate my abandoned list of Things to Do and run my eye over the so-called resolutions I cheerily, and – yes – resolutely, proclaim year after year. The list is in no way unique; indeed, it comprises the standard jumble of platitudes that are enumerated on anyone’s typical inventory: I resolve to follow a healthier diet, watch my weight, get enough sleep, do more good deeds, etc., etc., etc. As with the case of many such lists, mine mainly catalogues ways to rectify some bad habits. If I feel really brave, I add a few items that might, in the words of prayer, “forgive” some unintentional “trespasses.” Then I follow my usual scenario: I methodically write out my resolutions on a tidy lined index card, place it in my purse, and promptly forget I put it there.

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Here’s your seven-day planner for great awakenings:

Monday: You need rewards. How about sex? It’s the heavy artillery of morning motivators and the only trump card that beats the second-most-compelling reward for a hard-working guy: sleeping forever.

“If the biggest reward in your morning is sleeping in, you’ll do it,” says Joseph Rock, Psy. D., a Cleveland psychologist. Poor wakers need to find a reward that can compete with the thrill of the pillow. “Do whatever you like, as long as it gets you going,” Rock says. “Have a meal you like for breakfast, have ‘sex with your wife.” Have sex with your wife over breakfast if that’s what it takes. Just make sure to schedule something every day that’ll motivate you to crawl out from under the comforter. Make one breakfast a week doughnut day (just one, Homer).

That new box of Peanut Butter

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When I was growing up, a half dozen farms surrounded my family’s fruit orchards. Now all of those families have ceased farming except ours and one other. The neighborhood children have grown up and dispersed; few have anything to do with agriculture. “I wanted to farm like my grandfather and dad,” one of 4 neighbor’s sons once told me, “but not at the same prices they were getting 30 years ago!”

In the middle of America’s current agricultural crisis–in which less than one percent of the population works full time to grow our corn, wheat, fruits, and vegetables–it is proving difficult for many of the nation’s family farmers to survive, at least in their traditional role as food producers. The age-old remedies for disastrous farm prices–collective price-setting associations, national fraternal organizations like the Grange, and crop-sales cooperatives-have come up short, not that they were

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For most of my adult life I’ve had a sport to train for. Motivation was easy: On the days I wasn’t too enthused about working out, I could just think of volleyball. Imagining my opponents sweating and groveling their way to greatness was enough to get me moving. But this year, the women’s beach volleyball’s doubles and four-person tours were canceled for financial and orgarnizational reasons. For the first time in six years, I found myself without a summer tour.

Suddenly I faced a new challenge: making the most of this change. I thought about all the people I knew who had participated in sports in college. What did they do when it was over, when they had to get a “real” job and find the inspiration to stay fit? What could I do to stay positive and motivated?

I went through a two-month period

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