Have you heard of Rachel Hollis? Rachel is the best selling author of Girl Wash Your Face and Girl Stop Apologizing. Rachel and her husband have a podcast called Rise and started a challenge called #last90days. The premise is that it takes 21 days to make a habit, but 90 days to change your life. Rachel and Dave chose the last 90 days of the year for this challenge for several reasons. First, it is the most stressful time of year, and we tend to turn to bad habits. Second, the holidays are upon us, and often we have to deal with extended family, and if that family is what Rachel and Dave label “toxic,” it can bring out the worst version of ourselves. Finally, due to the hustle and bustle of the holidays, we tend to neglect our health by skipping out on exercise and making poor food choices. I am guilty of all of the above, so I decided to join their challenge.
What does the challenge entail? First, Rachel and Dave want you to complete what they call the Five to Thrive. These are five things we commit to doing each day.
- Get up an hour earlier each day.
- Write down 3 things I am grateful for each day.
- Drink half my body weight in ounces of water a day.
- Move at least 30 mins per day.
- Give up one type of food.
By committing to these five things, we are being intentional about taking care of ourselves and working on our goals for the next 90 days. These five goals bleed over to other goals we are working on, and we end up starting the new year with a bang.
Here is how the Five to Thrive is working for me.
I wake up an hour earlier each morning and write my to-do list for the day. I break it down into three categories – Must-Dos – Should Dos and Would Like To-Dos. I tackle the Must-Dos first and work on those until it is time for me to get ready for the office. Depending on the day, I either get my exercise done in the morning, at lunch, or after work. Some days it is strength training, some days running and other days it is simply walking at lunch to get my 10,000 steps in for the day. It does not have to be a hardcore workout. Any movement for 30 mins counts! I drink my water throughout the day. This one is quite easy for me, as I love water, and it is the only thing I drink besides coffee and tea.
I tend to write what I am grateful for during the workday. These must be very specific and can’t be as general as “I am grateful for my family” or “I am grateful for my job.” For instance, yesterday, I wrote down that I was grateful that I have a boss that understands work/life balance. The last of the Five to Thrive is the hardest for me. I gave up chocolate candy. I LOVE chocolate, and with the holidays coming, I tend to buy it and dip my hand in the bag way too many times. Hopefully, this will keep me from purchasing peanut butter cups or candy cane Hershey kisses!
I can already see it working in my life. By committing to the Five to Thrive, it has given me the energy and the determination to tackle the other goals I have set for myself for the last 90 days of the year. Growing this blog is a massive goal of mine. I have committed to a certain number of posts a month, restarting my newsletters, hiring a Pinterest manager, committed to at least an hour a week of learning, and more. I have mapped out a new training plan for my 2020 races, recommitted to clean eating, and committed to losing ten pounds by the new year. My environment is another area I need to focus on. My house needs purging and organization. I feel so much better when the clutter is gone.
Looking back at 2019, are you happy with all that you have done? Are there goals on your list that you have not quite accomplished? Don’t wait until 2020. By this point in the year, many people decide to wait until the new year to work on their goals. Don’t be one of these people. Drop me a comment and let me know how you plan to finish 2019. Let’s stay motivated together.
