In this post, we discuss prioritization and focus. Separately or together, these two tools can reduce stress, increase the feeling of accomplishment and improve personal success rates. It may be helpful to have a piece of paper or journal to write down your thoughts. {read more}
Can you think of one instance in which a second chance would have been great? An interview? A relationship? A career choice? Thinking about these moments, name the top three things you would change before going into the second chance. Preparedness? Deodorant? Self-reflection? Word choice? {read more}
Yesterday, I welcomed the happy distraction of watching Super Bowl LV. The 20-21 football season was especially strange. For instance, the players have been under such different circumstances. In addition, games have been cancelled due to positive COVID tests. Most interesting (imo), stadiums have been much quieter creating a whole different playing environment. This year, even the advertisements were different.
My knowledge of football is fairly limited but I do appreciate all sports! For example, the basic rules of the game make sense to me. Some of the current players sound familiar. That being said, I’ve never had a team I felt I could connect with. Perhaps this is because every hard hit or potential injury has me worried as though the player is my own child? Either way I appreciate the game and the athleticism it takes to even play, let alone win.
While watching last nights game, I thought to myself, “Is this even the Super Bowl?!” It seemed to me that Kanas City didn’t even show up?!
Learning about each team and reading through the interesting rumor-mill, I found in general most opinions deemed Kanas City players arrogant and overly confident. While the Buccs were considered to be the underdog and more humble but also ready to win.
During the game, I asked, “What makes Tom Brady so special, what is his deal?” My friend replied immediately, “He isn’t even that great an athlete, he is just really smart and knows strategy.”
After the final result was official, I did some research on Brady and found that he attributes much of his success to his lovely wife, Gisele. Gisele has been reported to influence her husband to do pre-game rituals. Brady reports that Gisele has helped him focus on the ‘power of intention’ and ‘believing that things are really going to happen.
The more I read about Tom Brady, a theme certainly popped out – he is EXTREMELY consistent. His schedule and habits are health centered and focused on keeping his body in prime condition. Not only does his consistency surround keeping his physical body in proper condition, but his desire and drive to win have not waned.
His drive to win keeps him down a narrow road of meticulous habits: a strict diet, measured family time and meditation. Brady gathers knowledge and finds the best way to apply it to his life. Some of the articles I read called it an ‘obsession’, I would call it WISE.
Often I can be heard joking that I too am a G.O.A.T (greatest of all time). Partially because my birthday falls into the Capricorn astrological sign, but mostly because I strive to be the very best I can. Over time, I have also been called out for being ‘obsessed’, ‘picky’, ‘annoying’, and ‘meticulous’ over the food I choose to eat or the products I use.
What I learned from reading about Brady is that being this aware of what works for yourself and applying those learnings IS what it takes to START the journey of being great. Followed by consistency and follow-through, adjustments where necessary and the humble awareness that the work still has to be put in. In addition, the credit he gives to his wife and family should be recognized! And lastly, his listening to his wife about intention setting and ‘willing’ the outcome.
With these four things, it comes as no surprise this GOAT brought his new team a Super Bowl win!
Truly taking the time to learn what is happening with your specific body, mind or situation and adjusting your life with these learnings is the foundation. Knowing that what works for even 90% up the population may not be the right fit for you. Remember the post on being fueled and aflame? If you aren’t feeling your best, figure out why!
Once you have figured out what works for you, DO IT and do it regularly. Set principles to live your life on, set a schedule or a yes/no on certain foods and do not veer from those choices.
This step is so important and one I see many either want to skip, thinking if all the other steps are completed, magically they will see improvements. At its most simple this concept is fairly obvious: if you want to lift more weight at the gym, practice is necessary. Going and actually doing will be required for improvements and greatness!
It really stood out to me how much Brady commented about listening to his wife. She clearly has her husbands best interest and success in mind. His desire and willingness to listen to her regarding intention setting elated me! Perhaps you do not yet have a support system or family members you feel are rooting for you. Instead show up for yourself. Set your intentions for your goals, your work, your day!
Would love to hear from you in the comments! Did you watch the super bowl? Are you a Brady fan? Was the outcome what you were expecting?
Squirrel A lesson in self-realization and the need to embrace perceived flaws. There is only one person in my life whom, I can heartily say, can be as easily distracted as me. The realization of my distracted tendency came only after I met this person. They {read more}
Happy February 1st! Are you excited to embark on the second month of 2021, fresh faced and bright eyed?! This weekend I wrote out February goals and revisited my 2021 kick-off. After making changes to my vision board, I’ve found there a benefit to make {read more}
As we end January 2021, it seemed fitting to make a late 90’s “Friends” Reference…
But seriously, let’s check in! How are you doing? Many of us started the year off with so much hopeful anticipation, it is hard to believe we the first full month is almost behind us! The month has had it’s own ups and downs with the current situations in the world. We may address those one day, for now we will go back to thinking on an individual level – how did you do this month? Even if you didn’t write down goals, how are you feeling about your year?
Did you make progress in all of your focus areas? or decide to switch around any short term actions? What have you learned about your personal will-power, tenacity or inner motivations? Are there any items you took off your list completely? or any you realized are no longer something you truly wanted to work on?
After doing the mid-month check-in, I adjusted some of my goals and daily habits to better fit my schedule and the remainder of the month! Unplanned but positive activities came up and filled up time as well, so I wanted to be sure to make note of those. The important thing is to look back over the month. Recognize where any and all progress was made and make note of the things that made you smile!
If you are doing this check-in along with me, here are the steps I took to reflect:
Here are my original posts related to setting yearly goals and setting a purpose!
Starting off the month, I was not feeling overly strong in mindfulness and mid-month felt I needed a strong attitude adjustment. At that point, I shifted how I was approaching my morning quiet time, and gave myself more space between waking up and logging on for the day. This gave me just enough change to feel a difference and allow myself to approach my day versus letting the day carry me through.
Looking over the month, I did not workout or get outside as much as I really wanted, this had to due with weather, motivation and not feeling well for a short bit in there. I do however, buy a few things to do an at home workout and wrote up a workout I can follow with minimal equipment!
Another shift I made in this area was doing daily, shorter (15-30 minute) yoga practices instead of the hour long 2x per week. Purposefully doing a daily practice also helped with my first focus area of mindfulness!
Career & Hustle
To (most likely) no surprise to those that know me, I completed the Career and Hustle Focus Area and made time to mentor two people as they prep for their Year-End Reviews with their managers. (One of my favorite things is seeing others succeed and grow to their full potential.)
In addition, I wanted to put more focus on my hobbies to gain a strong work/life balance and enjoy life a bit more, it is easy for me to work ‘too’ much, which leads us to our last planned focus area…
On the sheet of paper above, you will see I wrote ‘complete, sorta’ next to the Hobbies Focus area… I didn’t take a class as planned and I didn’t do the new activity I had in mind, however I did work on my photography skills and also tried out a new kitchen gadget with a friend… hence the ‘SORTA’ part of the comment.
Next month I may expand my thoughts on this section, especially as it warms up more and more. There are a handful of things I enjoy doing but feel like chores right now that either require my intense focus or require more screen time (like sewing new pillow covers and taking a virtual class) – because they are not the most appealing I would rather wait until organic motivation comes over me to complete them!
This reflection brought me to think about what I did do – since I didn’t meet all of the goals I had outlined in my focus areas, I thought to myself, how did I spent that time instead and was it worthwhile? Thinking this through, I added a 5th section of ‘unplanned’ and happy I did them activities, which include:
In a way these add up to the other focus areas and certainly have been fun, made my life more enjoyable and are helping with overall productivity being that I spend so much time in my home-office.
How was January 2021 for you? Comment down below or send me a message! Can’t wait to hear!!
… would smell just as sweet. William Shakespeare Sweet and soft… still thorny This frequently paraphrased quote (maybe I hear it more than others) comes from an excerpt of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”. The common interpretation is: something is not changed by the name it {read more}
Yesterday Dreams Came True! Yesterday was a big day here in the States. Our new President and Vice President were sworn in to office! Inauguration Day is such a big event for so so many reasons and a beautiful day it was today with sunny {read more}
Alllright be honest what word came to mind after the … ?
Sweet? Good? Blah? Don’t even want to talk about it??
Our lives are made up of lots of days, (according to google women live on average to be about 78 years old which is 28,470 days). Measuring life in days really can change the perspective… thank goodness we get a chance to start all over again everyday. And the other good news is we have the opportunity to influence how most of our days are spent!
The goal of today’s post is for each of us to identify the elements we need to keep ourselves ‘on’ and make sure these elements are sprinkled in everyday. What does this have to do with a pilot light you ask? Let’s dive into some story time!
Have you ever heard of the cold shower trend? Simply put: people take cold showers to force themselves to feel uncomfortable intending to build up tenacity, mental toughness and overcome fears?
I did not participate in this trend very long, however I will say I can see why it was so effective! One day (not a planned cold shower day) my shower water was not warming up… having no idea why this might happen, I called my cousin who proceeded to teach me what a pilot light is and its importance. I never became brave enough to light it myself but quickly learned the importance of such a small flame. The pilot light’s purpose is simple:
Now is the time to ask yourself – is your pilot light burning and if you needed additional energy would it be available now?
Reflecting on what ignites you: activities you find to be enjoyable, calming, empowering or energizing.
Think back to the last time you had a full day filled with ‘goodness’. A day you can remember smiling or laughing until you cry. Or maybe even a day of sadness but that brought you closer to your friends and family.
Write down a list of about 10 things that stand out to you when you think of the good days. If one of your days includes a once in a lifetime celebration or event – think about what made it good – the music? the people? the outfit? the pictures? Even though we might not be able to recreate a specific event over again, we can still take from the elements that made it amazing!
My list includes (in no particular order):
Obviously I wrote 11 instead of ten… 11 is a lucky number though so we will go with it! It isn’t every day that I get to spend by the water or hike a mountain, and at this point even see friends which is why this list is even more important now.
Each day I have started making sure I do at least one activity on the list and keep the activities balanced over time. While work is on my list (which I realize might be rare), going too long without a good workout or without reading or listening to something educational causes issues. Tending to either get into my head wayyyy too much or my little pilot light goes out all together.
What is on your list? Any activities you can add to your schedule TODAY? Can you plan a few for a future ‘today’? Are there one or 2 which you could do everyday?
One last note before we end today’s blog – being present in the moment while doing these activities, even as simple as sipping coffee and enjoying the taste and temperature can make a difference. I noticed the biggest difference on how I was approaching my yoga practice – if I stayed in the moment in each posture versus thinking of it as a way to check something off a ‘to-do’ list, my overall day felt more meaningful.
Lastly – I want to know if anyone else has work on their list! Comment down below <3
Please note today’s post is the first to include a bit of ‘story time’ with background on how I arrived on the self improvement journey. <3 New Year! New me? Made it to day 14 of the new year! A bit of research {read more}