Whoa.. . is it just me, or did February go by in a blink of an eye? Of course this brings us to March. March is not a month I particularly enjoy, but I am making the best of it. Spring should be arriving in a few weeks and hopefully, we can see the end of the tunnel as far as winter goes around here.
A new month, brings new goals (or an attempt to complete ones from the prior month) and to review what we were able to accomplish in the prior month. In February, I had some pretty lofty goals. I was a bit concerned that I overextended myself, I had a 10 day vacation thrown in there, so I really had to be focused to get my stuff done. I don’t know about you, but the older I get, the more distracted I become. Some tasks take me twice as long as they did before. I am going to have to do some research on that and get back to you. Perhaps, a great idea for a new blog post. 🙂 In any event, in February, my goals were:
- Launch blog
- Finish Transform 20
- Set up my next online health and fitness group
- Read one personal development book and one book for pleasure
- Have a stress free trip to Disney with the boys
- Run 65 miles
- Organize kitchen cabinets
- Save additional money on top of what already goes into savings
I am happy to report, I accomplished all my goals except for the kitchen cabinets. This will get moved to March. I successfully launched the blog on February 14th. Is it perfect? No. Does it have everything it needs to run smoothly? No. However, the goal was to get the content out there and work on it as I go. There is no such thing as perfection, right? Everything is a work in progress. As you can see from earlier this week, I did finish Transform 20. I had great results and despite my intial reservations, I am glad I did it. What challenges us, makes us stronger. My online health and fitness group is up and running. As a side note, I have had some questions on that. Each month I run a free three week accountability group on Facebook. It is a place to go to log a workout and healthy meal. We support each other, build each up and no drama and judgment. If interested, send me a message and I will add you to the group.
Back to goals, I read one personal development book and one book for fun. My personal development book was the Go Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann. It was an interesting little read. The other book I read was The Good Sister by Jess Ryder. It was good. There were parts where is dragged, but I would give it a 3/5 stars. I achieved my running goal of 65 miles. I ran 3 races and it was a great month for running. Speaking of running, the reason the kids and I went down to Disney was so I could participate in the Princess race weekend. My goal was to have a stress free trip with my boys and I did! It was probably the best trip we have had down there, since they were little. More about that in a blog post to come. The last goal of saving money was met as well. Not a bad month.
This brings me to March. It is a pretty long month and there are no trips planned. This gives me time to concentrate on some organization projects. So, what are my goals for March? Here we go…
- Organize the kitchen cabinets
- Organize the linen closet
- Run 65 miles
- Become certified in a second nutrition program- Ultimate Portion Fix
- Implement a morning routine
- Read one personal development and one book for pleasure.
- GROW MY BLOG AUDIENCE. -For this goal I need YOUR help! I want to reach as many people as I can. If you would be so kind to share my blog, refer friends to my site, Facebook page, IG, etc. Once I get to 100 followers, I will be doing a give a away.
Now it is your turn. What are your March goals? I can’t wait to hear.
Seven weeks ago I introduced you to this guy.
On January 14th, I started the program, Transform 20. It was 20 minutes of intense exercise, 6 days a week. It was tough. It pushed me past my limits. I was sore most days. It made running a bit difficult at the beginning. However, all that hard work has paid off.
I am down 3lbs, AND 10.5 inches. I lost 2 inches around the bust, 1 inch on each arm, 1/2 inch off the waist and 3 inches off of each leg! I did this by showing up each day, eating 80/20 and plugging into my accountability group. Tomorrow the journey continues, as I continue to train for races and keep up my strength training. I am reigning in the nutrition just a little bit more, as in a month I will be back in Disney. 😉 Never doubt yourself. Put your blinders on and just get to work. You can do it! My inbox is always open if you are looking for that accountability partner. You just have to take the first step!
Oh and that running.. just this past week, my running has become stronger and faster!
I read and listen to a lot of personal development. I am always trying to grow my mind, my career, my business, etc. One of the things I have read over and over again, is successful people have a morning routine. It has been shown that having a morning routine sets the stage for prioritizing, more-effective time management and greater productivity. It helps eliminates the stress caused by chaotic mornings. I would read this over and over again, yet I still was not implementing it. Yes, I would wake up and work out, but that was it. I did that and then rush to get the kids off to school and then head to the office. It is something I just keep putting off. Then, I received a e-mail. I listen to the Rise Podcast by Rachel Hollis. Rachel is a New York Times best-selling author of Girl, Wash Your Face. If you have no read this book, I highly recommend it. She is a motivational speaker and helps women, in particular, become better versions of themselves. This week she has a new book coming out called Girl, Stop Apologizing. I pre-ordered the book and can’t wait to get on my hands on it. I am sure I will be done with it by the weekend. As a thank you for the pre-order, she sent out a worksheet and some tools on how to create an “empowering” morning routine. I am taking this as another sign that I need to implement my own morning routine ASAP. So starting today, I am starting a morning routine. It is going to look something like this.
- 4:45am – wake up & make coffee
- 5:00am -journal and write down my affirmations
- 5:15am- workout
- 6:00am-7:05am- get ready for work, drop off kids and head to the office.
- 8:00- pull into the parking and do a 5-7 mins of meditation before walking into the building.
Now this schedule may vary a little bit, in the the days I work from home, I get up a little later, but in general this is what I aiming for. I will report back at the end of the month and let you know how it goes. In the meantime, why don’t you give it a try. I would love to have an accountability partner.
Happy February! So… how did month 1 of 2019 go? Was it a productive month? Did you get half way through it and realize you have accomplished next to nothing on your list. Even if that is the case, it is okay! Each new month gives us a chance to start over. I have to admit, I did not get everything on my list done. If you recall, last month to keep myself accountable, I shared my goals for January. At the end of the month or the beginning or each new month, I review my goals, check off what I accomplished, move what needs to go on next month’s list or just remove it completely because it no longer is needed or serves me. Let’s see how I did.
My 3 big goals for January -lose 5lbs -launch blog- and clean bedroom closets. Well, I lost 4lbs and a rather happy with that. I got all 3 bedroom closets cleaned and organized. The one thing I did not do, but almost there, was to launch my blog. Yes, as you read this, I have been writing for a few months so you all would have some content to read. The launching of a blog is not as easy as one would think. So this goal has been moved to February and fingers crossed it will happen. The other goals on my list:
- Read 1 personal development book ☑ I read “The Rise” by Danette May
- Start my European vacation scrapbook ☑
- Run a race ☑ Chilly Willy 10k
- Run 50 miles ☑ 57.6
- Start Transform 20 ☑
- Stick to my cleaning eating plan ☑
- Buy new bedding ☑
- Pay of Nicholas’s cell phone ☑
- Add to savings ☑
Overall, January was a productive month. This blog not going live, bothers me a little, but here is to getting it done in February. Speaking of February, here are my goals.
- Launch blog
- Finish Transform 20
- Set up my next online health and fitness group
- Read one personal development book and one book for pleasure
- Have a stress free trip to Disney with the boys
- Run 65 miles
- Organize kitchen cabinets
- Save additional money on top of what already goes into savings.
I would love to her your goals for the month and how you did in January. Drop me a note and let me know.
I did something that changed by life. I became a marathoner! Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would run a 5K, never mind 26.2 miles. However, when I saw that it was the 25th anniversary of the Disney Marathon, I just had to run it. It was hard, humbling, tiring, exhilarating and fun all at the same time. At mile 16 my IT band started to give me trouble. I began to panic. I had 10.2 miles left to go. What was I going to do? My good friends, Maria and Maura were tracking me. They noticed I had slowed down a bit. They, along with my friends Erin, Kim and my sister Jen, reached out to me. They encouraged me to keep going. They were with me every step of the way until the finish line. In fact, Erin met me in Epcot, right before I crossed that finish line.
I remember running around Epcot, passing all the countries and thinking I was really going to do this. All the training miles, early morning workouts, blisters, chafing, blood, sweat and tears were worth it. As I rounded the corner, heading toward Spaceship Earth, I heard the song “How Far I’ll Go” from the movie Moana. I lost it. I knew how far I would go to accomplish my goal and I did just that. Crossing that finish line was amazing. Though I have no desire to run a full any time soon, I will never forget the feeling of accomplishment. It is true what they say
“Everything you ever wanted to know about yourself you can learn in 26.2 miles. – Lori Culnane
