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?

A Key to Being Free

I saw this on Denis Waitley's Facebook page today:

"People waste most of their waking hours every day going through the motions, chatting idly, shuffling paper, putting off decisions, reacting, majoring in minors and concentrating on trivia. They spend their time in low priority tension relieving, rather than high priority goal-achieving activities." -- Denis Waitley

This speaks to me as this has been how things have felt lately. Going through the motions. Relieving tension rather than focusing on goal-achieving activities.

I think we all go through these phases. The trick, the key, is to realize we're in it and start taking actions on things that are important to us. Yes, the trivia does have to be taken care of and, let's face it, some days are just full of all kinds of emergency-type items we either have to take care of or delegate. Like the day last week where I ended up with a flat tire. Taking care of it had nothing to do with achieving long-term goals, but it had to be done.

If you are finding yourself in one of these phases, pick something, right now, that you will do ASAP. Don't wait until you feel like it. Stop yourself from any procrastinating and just do something about it. Writing this post is one of my actions. I'm now going to find the novel I started writing and haven't touched in a few weeks and start moving on it. And I'm going to eat that half of a grapefruit that's in the fridge that I keep putting off eating.

What about you? What actions are you going to take today?

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2014!

Happy New Year!

Today is the first day of a brand new year. Although, technically, it's not really any different from yesterday, there is something in us that tends to like celebrations and routine special days. So, today is a special day: the start of a new year.

What are your hopes and dreams for this coming year? I have various dreams I'm trying to turn into goals: have everything paid off, get books written and published (and making money!), physical goals related to weight, diet and fitness. I have had this book for years:

I have never made it through the entire year, but I'm inspired to give it a go. Today is about taking some time to figure out those dreams, resolutions, "most private aspirations", she writes. It's a little late in the day posting this, but it's never too late to sit down and right out all that you wish for. I will be doing this because while I have some clear "big" goals, it will be nice to sit down and wrte out everything I can think of.

When you've done, come back here and share whatever you are willing to share! Let this place be a place for your intentions to be made. :)

It's Monday!

With Christmas holidays, each day seems to be blending into the next! I need to keep reminding myself today that it's Monday. While I'm definitely in vacation mode, I had all last week off and know that I need to work on some things this week so that next week goes smoothly.

But today is also day 2 of week 1 for me. (See yesterday's post!) I realized that 6 months is 26 weeks. I'm on week 1 of accomplishing some health and fitness (and financial) goals. Where am I going with all of this? How am I going to get there? Those are questions on my mind today.

I have started journalling what I'm eating so that I have an idea of my habits right now. I don't have a clear idea of where I'm headed food-wise, although do have a rough idea of where I'm going fitness-wise. My intention had been to get on the treadmill this morning, but I have a nasty sinus headache that I've been bowing down to. I think I might just get on it anyhow, even if I just walk for 15 minutes instead of my intention to mix in some running. It'll be a start.

Let me ramble about food, then:

*I have realized that I really need to have menu plans, especially since I'm trying to change what we eat. My daughter's stomach issues have resumed and while it may be a virus, too, she appears to have hit a time to go wheat-free. With the concerns about the arsenic in rice products, it's not as simple as just substituting gluten-free (usually rice-based) products for the usual wheat ones. In any case, to go wheat/gluten-free, I can't just wing it: I need a plan, specific recipes I know I will be making, etc. This will require some research, including going back in this blog to find recipes I've tried. lol.

*When I think of my ideal food consumption, it is highly raw, but not entirely. It is soy-free, gluten-free, meat-free, dairy-free, low-grain, white sugar-free, processed food-free, high variety of fruits and vegetables. Just writing this right now, though, I live in the (at-the-moment) frozen Canadian prairies. The selection of fruits this time of year is pretty poor. I suppose I need to get a list of seasonal fruit and focus mostly on that. Frozen fruits are great for smoothies and such, too.

*I have lots of cookbooks to help me out with all this and there is a wealth of info and ideas online. Because my family is not necessarily interested in becoming vegetarian, paleo menu ideas have caught my eye.

I'm going for health here, as you can see, rather than trying to plan a diet that will make sure I lose the weight I want to lose. Although, it would be good for me to still have some broken-down goals for that, wouldn't it? Of course it would. Okay, I'll pick a "middle" number, 12 lbs, as the goal weight loss. That is just 2 lbs per month. Frankly, I might lose 3 lbs the first week just by dropping wheat. (!) I guess if I'm on or ahead of target right from the get-go, there won't be a problem with that! (Omg, am I prepared to drop wheat right away? No. I need a menu plan!)

Enough of my rambling. I am going to change into some exercise clothes, drink a glass of water and get those 15 minutes of treadmill in. Goal this week is to be able to run 1/4 km straight (0.155 miles). I think I've done that in the past, but not entirely sure. And with my treadmill, I'm not sure it will tell me something that specific so just now, I worked out how long I would have to run: I think I comfortably run at a pace of 4.4 mph on the treadmill. 0.155 miles / 4.4 mph = 2.2 minutes (2 minutes 12 seconds). Hm. I don't think I have run that long before. But that's the goal for Saturday! I will have to figure out how long I need to run if I run slower than that. Yikes, I'd better get to that treadmill ASAP! lol

Are You Waiting Until New Year's?

New Year's is just around the corner. In 3 days, actually. A typical time for people to make resolutions (that they usually don't keep; I'm not usually cynical, but this is reality!). Me, I'm taking a different tack and focusing on the next 6 months.

What can be accomplished in 6 months? In 6 months of focus?

These are the questions on my mind today. Actually, they started yesterday as I realized that yesterday marked exactly 6 months until my brother-in-law and his family head off to Hawaii for a week. My family is hoping to go, too, so we may very well be leaving in 6 months, minus a day, as well.

Kaanapali beach on Maui. Yes, this is where we are hopefully going!

 

6 months. Hawaii. Yes, this brings to mind definite physical and health goals! Financial goals, as well.

What would I like to be free of in those 6 months? Just off the top of my head:
*the extra 10-15 lbs I think I have
*body pain: knees, neck and shoulder area
*low fitness; weak muscles, especially in the derriere ;)
*glasses; I improved my eyesight a bit some years back by following natural vision improvement techniques, so I know I can improve it even more, perhaps even to the point of not needing my glasses at all
*fears of not having enough money to go; I would love be financially free!!!

So, what does that mean I would like to accomplish in the next 6 months?
*get down to what I perceive as my ideal weight (this will require a definite change in eating habits!)
*use yoga, Pain Free, massage, tackle trigger points, tapping, Healing Codes, exercise, etc. almost daily to have a happily functioning body.
*be able to run 5 km (that just seems like the number to achieve)
*use the natural vision improvement techniques faithfully!!!
*make more than enough extra money to pay for a nice trip (Air Miles are covering our flights at least). I'll need to set a $ amount for best results

I will need to sit down and do proper SMART goals (Specific Measurable Action-Oriented Reasonable Timely) for each of those desired accomplishments and start working out short-term goals to accomplish on the way to them. And perhaps create some trackers that I can post in my house (or on my computer screen? lol) that will be in my face and remind me! Regardless, I'm starting right away. I'm not waiting until January 1st to start resolutions. Today is as good of a day as any and if I wait, I'll have that much less time to achieve what I want.

What about you? Are you waiting until New Year's to work on some goal? Change a habit? Or will you begin now?

Which is more important: goals or well-being?

Today is Day 15 of my challenge. I have a confession to make:

I did not follow the challenge yesterday for Day 14.

Yesterday was the third day in a row of huge tonsils. No throat pain, just huge tonsils, making it hard to swallow and I could very often feel their pressure. I was also easily tired and had a bit of a snuffly nose. I ran two classes yesterday nonetheless, but by evening, I was spent: headache, exhausted, freezing even though I was wearing a long-sleeved shirt, sweater, slippers and wrapped in a thick blanket. I can't remember if I ate only raw in the morning, although I know I had a banana first thing. The rest of the day wasn't great in terms of food choices. But I do know I gave myself permission to not do the exercises and yoga.

My routine has been to do them at night once everything else is done. It's a good routine. Because it's routine, I don't even really have to think about it. "Oh, it's 9! Time to do my exercises." Last night, every time I unwrapped myself, I shivered, sometimes violently.

Some might say to suck it up and just go ahead. After all, I don't have to spend many minutes, just get the exercises done. I assessed the situation. I didn't want to not do the exercises just because I didn't feel like them, but really assessing the situation, I had to face facts:

*Being cold can make illness worse.
*I was only warm, despite layers of clothes, when wrapped up in a blanket.
*Doing the exercises I would be doing while wrapped in a blanket just doesn't work.
*Pushing yourself when you shouldn't doesn't make any sense. A goal shouldn't come before your well-being.

Goals are great, but sometimes, you do need to give yourself permission to take a day off. The trick is to see it as "This is just for today." It's an exception. It's not because you don't feel like it or because you have some excuse, it's because for that day, it really does seem like the better option.

I can report today that my tonsils are finally going down. And I have every intention of following the challenge today! Only 17 days left! And only 8 days until a fancy supper. Just a couple of pounds down can make that dress of mine look even better. ;)

Pre-Christmas Challenge

The other day, I celebrated my 100th day in a row of daily yoga! I had set a goal, was determined to reach it and did. No, I still haven't dropped the yoga: yesterday was day 102.

I feel the need for another goal, something other than the NaNoWriMo I'm also currently working on and whose writing habit I would like to keep up when it's done. Something physical. Christmas is in 31/32 days (we start on the 24th in my family) and that seems like a decent amount of time to make some sort of physical progress. But what do I want to do? That's what I'm here to babble about.

My yoga goal worked because, for whatever reason, there was this determination to do it. I knew yoga was something that would help me a lot with my ITBS (iliotibial band syndrome), even if it was for nothing more than 5 minutes some days. And it has helped tremendously. I'm now scared to stop doing yoga each day because of how much it has helped. But that determination was there and I'm not sure how to create that sort of determination, kwim?

I think we often set ourselves goals that sound good or are things we think we should do, but because we're not properly connected, properly determined, we don't do what we need to do to accomplish that goal. I had such strong determination to accomplish that goal that there were a few times we'd gotten home late, I'd gotten into bed and realized I hadn't done my yoga that day. Well, it was either start over or pull myself out of bed and get it done. I did the latter. That's the kind of determination I want on my next goal!

So, with that in mind, I'm thinking it's got to be about something I do rather than something I don't do. For example, "No more junk food." Well, I know myself. Maybe you're like me: You set that goal and you're busy or distracted and take something out of habit and before you realize what you're doing or remember your goal,  it's too late--that bite is in your mouth and down into your stomach.

One thought I had in the shower this morning was a weekly progression. Have it all written out, maybe with reminders in iCal or even my cell phone. It could be a food thing, which is something I do want to improve on because it's not been fantastic lately and I've been getting illness after illness. (Flu and pink eye at the same time a few weeks ago! :( ) It shows up in my one thumbnail. I tried to take a picture, but I can't get it to show up right. Whenever I get sick, it's like my thumbnail doesn't form quite right under the cuticle and as it grows out, there are these lines. They kind of look like Beau's lines, but aren't quite the same. It's like a form of splitting horizontally on the surface. Sometimes it's just a little thing a couple millimetres long; other times the line covers over half the width of the nail. When it gets to the point of being almost grown out, I always have to cut the nail short because it's just a mess. I had gone for sometime that I had only one little mark on that nail. I have signs of 4 periods of illness on that nail now. And for someone whose nails grow quickly, that's not good.

Excuse my Friday morning babbling. Back to what I was saying: I had the thought in the shower of having some sort of progression rather than 31 days of the same goal. So, week 1 would have a food and exercise goal (other than yoga); week 2 would bump it up a bit; and so on. I'm not sure it's wise to have a food and exercise goal, but at the same time, I'm thinking, "Hey, I managed to do 100 (102) days of yoga; surely I can manage two simple, yet progressive, goals?" And I know it all comes down to my determination. Am I determined to do this? Maybe once I figure out the goal I will be able to answer that question. ;)

Food goal ideas: raw mornings (at least, as much as I can handle), progressing to raw mornings and lunches, progressing to... Hm.

Exercise goals: My mind's all over the place with this one. I know there are some exercises that would very much benefit my ITBS. Part of my problem is my glutes are not up to snuff, which is kind of sad since I did figure skating years ago and pre-pregnancies, kind of liked my derrière. (lol. Did I just admit that?) With pregnancies, posture shifted, those muscles--gluteus maximus, gluteus minimus and gluteus medius--did not get properly used. I could see a simple first week goal of having an exercise sequence that I do before yoga.

Maybe that's as far as I should go for now? My first week? Get through the first week and keep that as the minimum I do? It might not seem like it would do much, such small goals like that for 30 days, but building the habit will help me much more than creating a more challenging goal that I can't stick to. I can have a minimum requirement--and then desired "add-ons", like 10 minutes on the treadmill or a strength training sequence I've found or 5 minutes of skipping rope... I just need to take the next step(s) right now. Especially with the craziness of Christmas preparation ahead!

What would my ideal be? Well... :D I would love to be 10 lbs down from where I am now by Christmas. I know at least 5 of those lbs are water that are the result of my food choices/sensitivities. So, really, I have at most 5 lbs of fat to lose. (And really, it could be I have 10 lbs of water retention to lose...) I would love for my glutes to be toned. There is no tone to them right now, let me be honest about this. I would love to just feel healthy and stronger.

Now to the important question: Am I determined to make this next step? Am I determined to start each day eating raw? Am I determined to do those glutes exercises each and every day for improvement with my ITBS and a more tone? *pause* Yes. Yes, I am. Let me get started right away! Let this be Day 1. Day 31 will be Dec. 23. I'm thinking I ought to share daily my progress--it would be a great way to make sure that I stick with this and keep thinking about it. I used my FB account for my yoga challenge; I don't feel much like sharing this challenge in FB. But I know that having the accountability in FB helped me stick with the yoga during the first month: I didn't want to have to admit to them that I'd missed a day and had to start over! This blog will be my accountability for this pre-Christmas challenge of mine. And if you would like to join me with your own challenge, please do--and share in the comments! :D

Just Do It

I started following Flylady years ago. Back when her list was very simple and the bulk of it was sending reminders instead of the bulk of it seeming to now be testimonials, especially about products. But I digress.

One thing she is very focused on is creating routines. I know when I let my life slip into a lack of strong routines, things don't work as well: I don't get as much done, I feel somewhat discombobulated half the time... So, I decided, along with some list buddies, to work on a new habit this month, something that would become routine.

Well, gosh darn it, it's really hard to do, especially when your life isn't routine! My new habit was to add to my already existing before-bed routine to lay out my clothes for the next day and spend 2 minutes on "hot spots" (FlyLady lingo for flat surfaces which collect needless items). This worked great for two days. And then I was out 3 evenings in a row, late, and getting home, doing the new routine was the last thing on my mind. Then I wasn't feeling well Tuesday evening, then didn't get upstairs to bed until late last night... Part of me is seeking excuses: "How am I supposed to establish a routine when my life is so non-routine?"

Another part of me finally answered back this morning:

"You do it anyhow."

Oy, is that not the truth? If we want change, we need to do what it takes, regardless of what is going on around us. I did pull out my clothes last night, but decided it was "too late" to do the 2-minute hot spot clearing. Because, you know, getting to bed a whole 2 minutes later is going to be a problem, right? Well, it seemed rational last night when I was tired. lol.

I don't know if Nike still uses this motto, but I grew up with it and it's going to be my motto for the next while. No more excuses about why some simple thing isn't getting done!

Pausing the Goal

I didn't post yesterday. I didn't do my Day 10 of the 10-Pound Shred yesterday either. Well, food-wise was good, but the exercise part didn't get done.

Why not?

I have a tendency to wake up between 4-5 am to then go sleep downstairs on the couch. Sounds like a strange habit, doesn't it? But, you see, my husband's alarm goes off at 5:45 am (even if he doesn't actually get up until 6:30-6:45) and I like to sleep later than that. (Until starting the 10-Pound Shred, I was sleeping until 6:30-7am.) Once the alarm goes off, the chances of me sleeping after that are slim to none. Add to that the earlier and earlier sunrise right now and there is a lot of light in our bedroom after 5am. If I wake up even a bit, that's it, I'm done. Downstairs in the family room, the thick blinds are shut, creating a nice dark space, there aren't any windows open, so I don't hear the traffic (although I do sometimes hear the hermit crabs moving around and making noise). And I usually fall back asleep, waking up with my alarm or shortly before.

Yesterday, I woke up as usual around 4:30 and I could just feel that I was exhausted. Not just tired and would like to sleep more, but that I needed to sleep more and would probably sleep past 6:15--the time my cell phone alarm was set for to try to fit in the workout. So, I turned my alarm off, went downstairs and fell asleep. And slept until nearly 7am.

I woke up thinking, "Well, I can always do the workout this evening since I'm home this evening." Followed by the thought, "It's not the end of the world if it gets done tomorrow."

Went through the day and felt a little off the whole day, but still fairly good. Started really getting tired late afternoon. After supper, my son and I took a 20-30-minute walk, we got home, I was feeling so tired I decided to have a short nap, even though it was nearly 7pm. I woke up around 7:30, rather out of it, and just knew I would not do the cardio workout scheduled. I was fine with that. And feeling even better about it as I fully woke up from my nap and could just feel my body's need for rest. I went to bed later on guilt-free (although with some difficulty falling asleep!).

What am I getting at? Sometimes it's okay to pause the goal. Sometimes we need to take a break. It's not failure, it's not a lack of sticking to something. Had it been a case of yesterday morning me feeling lazy and unmotivated and saying, "Ugh, I don't want to workout this morning!", that'd be one thing. But my body was telling me I needed to pause. I had feared that if I paused, I wouldn't get back with it today, but that fear was groundless: I had only about 5.5-6 hours of sleep last night, got myself up and did that cardio workout without any internal complaints.

There are a lot of people out there saying, "Stick with it! If you're going to do this, you have to go all out! Etc.!" regardless of the goal. Self-recrimination and guilt can build up when we don't do as we think we ought. But I really do believe we all need to listen to our authentic inner nudgings. That voice, that wisdom is so much more important than an external goal we have chosen. Sometimes the voice will tell us to work harder. Sometimes it will tell us to pause. And that's okay.