Three Months Left! How Will You Make the Most of Them?

Are you interested in joining me on a journey for the next 3 months? Only three months (minus a day; okay, today's almost over: minus two days) left of the year. At the same time, 3 months is a whole quarter of a year. With those three months being October, November and December, that's a full 92 days (okay, 90 now that today is almost over).

Imagine adding in a habit to do 10 minutes of meditation each day for the rest of the year. That's 900 minutes of meditation.

Imagine adding in a habit of 10 minutes of a mix of jumping jacks and burpees, or just going for a 10-minute run? Or 10 minutes of yoga?

How about reading inspirational things each day for even 5 minutes? Or starting each day with a few servings of fruit? Or having a salad each day?

Or working on a business idea for 30 minutes to an hour each day for the next 90 days?

90 days it's actually quite a lot of time.

I've been working on some goals of my own for the remainder of the year:
*finish the first course for my French "academy" website
*do what I can to transform my health like getting back into doing Egoscue (I've seen some great progress and now that I haven't been doing any for the past month, I'm seeing horrible regression), saying no to junk food, saying yes to better eating (I'm reading a couple of books at the moment; I'll share once I have an opinion!), more self-care
*get another business idea off the ground--more on that once the idea is better figured out in my mind

Those are my big 3. Check out the Pre-Training Action plan at http://www.100daychallenge.com/finish-strong-toolkit/?awt_l=L79hk&awt_m=3iedDmPsK9eUAyj . If you read this early enough, you might even have time to sign up if you want to get in on the 100-Day Challenge.

While I have my specific goals in mind, I also just have more of a mentality now of finishing this year on a high note and thinking more throughout the day on which behaviours will support me in that pursuit and which behaviours are hampering my progress.

So, are you going to do it? Are you going to make the most of this last quarter of the year?

Back on the 100-Day Challenge "Wagon"

Oy, where is the time going??? This week ended up being a bit of a write-off due to physical/health issues Tuesday through yesterday. Part of it was messed-up sleep affecting my ability to concentrate and even make decisions. Now that I'm coming out of it, I'm feeling less guilty about not focusing on my goals because I can see just how affected I was!

But at the end of this second week, that leaves me with fewer days to accomplish some big goals I have for the rest of this year, which include:

*walk/run 5 km (I had gotten up to 1.3 miles/just over 2 km on the treadmill, but I haven't done anything on the treadmill in a week, I think)
*get the rough draft of my teen novel done
*get my dairy-free ebook done
*100 blog/website posts!

I had not connected with my goals really at all this week. My energy levels and mental stamina were poor enough that they didn't matter to me a bit. And yet, first thing this morning, my mind is back on the goals and I really want to accomplish them.

One of my smaller goals is to work toward having one to two weeks' worth of gluten-free (and naturally, dairy-free, since I can't have dairy) lunch and supper menus that have been tried and enjoyed. My daughter and I both really like the stuffed peppers recipe from Raw Food: A Complete Guide for Every Meal of the Day but I don't know it's the kind of thing my husband and son will like, so we make it now and then for lunch. I made some yesterday. It's a super quick recipe. (I do have to modify it slightly since the recipe calls for hazelnuts--hazelnuts make my mouth itch!)

I've had a new gluten-free book for a little bit and had not yet tried anything from it. Part of it is that I can not for the life of me find the sorghum flour used in their flour blend. There's probably one store in particular I need to go to (Planet Organic), but I just haven't made my way there yet. In any case, the book is

Cooking for Your Gluten-Free Teen: Everyday Foods the Whole Family Will Love

They are conscious that many people eating gluten-free also have dairy issues, so many of the recipes specifically mention substituting a non-dairy product. I made the pizza for us yesterday, but just used the flour blend I had left over from a different book and used a reduced amount of soy parmesan (wasn't sure what it would do compared to regular parmesan) in the crust. It still worked out very well! And I had a happy teen when I picked her up from dance class and had a piece of pizza all ready in the vehicle for her to eat. She ate nearly the rest of her half (we split one pizza; I forgot to take a picture of the whole thing, but her side had "regular" cheese and mine had the Daiya) and had no feeling of unwellness afterward. She really wants to try the doughnuts; I will have to either find sorghum flour or make a new batch of the blend I use and try the recipe with that.

Before I head off to the treadmill, I may not have a picture of our whole pizza, but I do have a picture of some of my pieces:

A mix of mozza and cheddar Daiya, gluten- and dairy-free meat slices (no, didn't go veggie this time), gluten- and dairy-free crust. Italian seasoning sprinkled on top. Photo taken on a BlackBerry Torch; forgive me. ;)

92 Days Left in 2013!

I feel I am still going strong with my goals for the end of the year. My one goal of getting the rought draft of the teen novel I'm writing has had some progress made on it (although, I adimt it, I would love for it to be more). I'm getting more exercise in, challenging myself, eating better, and more. Having all of these different goals to work on, to strive to achieve, believing I can achieve them if I can keep going is actually working!

One thing is (almost) daily, I am checking in with the major and minor goals list, writing down what I've already accomplished (yes, I'm using the word accomplished when I write it down; sounds so much more motivating to me than done) and thinking of specific things I can do that day to work toward those goals. It's going pretty well!


Part of my staying motivated is reading from a motivational book. My choice at the moment is:

Having It All: Achieving Your Life's Goals and Dreams

I have read this book before and liked it so much, I have decided to read it again. It's funny how the second time through a book, different things can hit you in a different way! I suppose it's a lot like watching a movie a second time and picking up on things you hadn't noticed the first time.

My little trick at the moment is to always have a book (either that one or another one) by my side when I'm doing things on my laptop. Why? Because when a website is slow to load or the computer's just being plain slow--or Microsoft Word is opening painfully slow--instead of just sitting there impatiently waiting, I open up my book and read. Sometimes, just opening the book up seems to make the computer behave; other times, I manage to fit in half or even a whole page. It's been great, especially on days where, by the time I actually have time to sit and read something I'm so tired I fall asleep, I don't get any reading in. It actually works better, I think, for some books because then I get a small amount read and have time for my brain to process it, thinking about it instead of just racing through a book, enjoying it but not really remembering and digesting it.

96 Days Left in 2013!

This week has been so busy, it's hard to understand how there are still 96 days left to the year!

I am still plugging away at this. A couple of busy, and exhausting, days meant less done than I had hoped, but my mind is still really focused on accomplishing what I can, so I have definitely been getting things done--and avoiding such things as playing round after round of Candy Crush Saga.

If you are doing a challenge, or just want to hop on board, let me know! :)

98 Days Left!

There are 98 days left now--what are you doing with your time?

I watched a couple of motivational little blurb vidoes which has helped keep my motivation high, even though crazy busy days. One comment I saw by someone had something about achieving his five major goals. I created my own list of five major goals and then a list of "other goals" (the name "minor goals" made them feel insignificant, which they're not, so I changed the name). The one thing that makes this challenge different for me is that I might not work on every goal each day, but I'm refreshing my memory about the goal each day and am making progress on things. If I can keep this up, I will reach January 1st and be amazed, I know it!

One of my goals is to have a complete set of gluten-free supper menus in place so my daughter can maintain even better her desire to stay wheat/gluten-free. I managed to make a gluten-free meatless supper Monday night (a vegan stir fry) and last night, as well, substituting a gluten-free flour mix for the flour called for in the vegan scalloped potatoes recipe I have previously shared. I am determined to have a good variety of gluten-free supper menus that my family will at least somewhat enjoy!

Another goal of mine is to write an e-book. It's kind of funny because I was thinking about it before I saw Jenae over at Bring Joy is also working on an e-book--gluten-free vegan family-friendly eating. ("Yesss!" shouts my gluten-free menu-searching mind!) Knowing she's doing one is somehow a push for me to move forward on my idea. (On switching to dairy-free living, for those curious. Things like the different whys of going dairy-free, the things to be careful of and look out for, my favourite products and some recipes.)

I have a bunch of other goals, which I should probably start attending to now--although, writing regularly in my blogs is one of them. :)

What goals have you set yourself to work on/achieve by the end of this year?

99 Days Left!

Are you joining me on the 100-Day Challenge? Perhaps you've only heard about it today and need to start the 99-Day Challenge. :) Either way, there are 99 days left of the year. That's a lot of days to allow us to work toward significant goals so that we move into 2014 with a bang, proud of our accomplishments--rather than hitting January 1st and going, "Ugh, I didn't do anything I wanted last year! Here's my New Year's resolution... This challenge is, in a way, a pre-2014 resolution, an End-of-Year resolution.

I encourage you to pick something! Pick a goal. Something truly meaningful to you, not just, "Oh, I should really do this, that or the other." You know what happens to smoker who quit because they should quit? The usually end up back smoking. When they really want to quit and that's it, they're going to be done with it, the success rate is much higher.

What's your goal? Maybe you are afraid to think big. Think small then. Maybe you can't do push-ups and would like to be able to. Do a push-up a day. "What? That's hardly enough!" Oh? Well, if you do a push-up a day for 99 days, you will have done 99 push-ups before the year is out. That sounds pretty good to me! And if you can do 2 push-ups each day, or maybe 5, think of how many push-ups that adds up to in a short time!

I have read many times that accomplishing something is often about doing small things consistently, not doing an amazing thing once and then nothing for a long time. This challenge is about figuring out those daily, significant things that will make a difference in the long run. What is the one thing that, if you did it each day, would make a real difference in your life over the course of the next 99 days?

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits one-self, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.
Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.”

― William Hutchison Murray (often misattributed to Goethe)

100-Day Challenge!

There are 100 days left in the year, including today. Anybody up for a 100-day challenge? :D

I wish I'd known about the 100 days yesterday; I would have sat down and worked out some goals and such. I will have to do some thinking today, when I get the chance. (Busy, busy day!) Right now, my thoughts are along the lines of:

*health/food/fitness
*writing goals
*financial goals
*getting my kids involved in some way


I read a document about a paid program you can participate in. I won't be signing up for it ($147; hm) BUT one thing that stuck with me is it seemed to be tied with really setting hard goals, but also taking 10 minutes a day. I'm assuming 10 minutes a day to set the goals?

What would I like to accomplish by the end of the year? What would you like to accomplish by the end of the year?