It was a GREAT 20 days of blogmas! I am pretty impressed with my ability, consistency and ambition. I think it was the longest streak of blogging I’ve had in a long time. For January, I’ll be returning to more regular yet less frequent blog posts. Maybe, it will be twice a week and centered around a new theme – I haven’t confirmed my creative process yet! :P
<Admin reminder for myself> I’ve also yet to share all the posts on Pinterest so that will take some time in January also. So between editing titles (taking out the word “blogmas”), promoting on Pinterest (and twitter & instagram for that matter) I know I’ll be scaling back. </end reminder>
So here is my first post – post blogmas! It’s a multi day vlog showing my routines & habits. All things I want to continue focusing on in the new year. Whether that’s nature works, morning workouts, journaling, reading, meditating, doing well in my career – it’s a reminder that my Focus and Intention needs be all about consistency. So hopefully it inspires others out there who want to start (or stay on …like me) the journey of their personal development and self growth.
We are 18 days out from 2023. I hope between the get togethers, holiday meals and gift giving your are making time for YOU. As a mom of daughters, with a full fledge and progressive career with ambitions of growing my business – goal setting has always been my thing.
But with the new year I definitely try to be more intentional.
Below is the process I’ve developed over the years + sharing my vision board capturing visual cues of all the areas I’m setting goals in (wellness, learning, career promotion, financial abundance, family, friends and world travel).
Retrospective on the past year: I use the life audit wheel and do an audit of the areas of my life that went really well (10) and the areas that I felt I could have put more effort towards or that could have gone better (1 being the lowest on the scale)
Write in words what the life audit showed me: This is really about writing down what went well and what didnt. So now you have two representations of the past year.
Get clear on what you want to achieve: Now taking the written retrospective, write down all the things you want to achieve. Be as detailed as possible. And also make room to jot down the feeling you have when you think about these achievements. And most importantly, write down actionable steps to get where you want to be (full disclosure: this will take you more than one sitting)
Pinterest, pinterest, PINTEREST! You are gonna grab all images that show you achieving everything you clearly articulated in step 3.
Make you vision board: Now you are going to make a visual representation of what you wrote in 3. Before you make your vision board, make a gratitude list, meditate, light a candle, clense your crystals – just be in the most receiving space you can be in! Once you love what you’ve created (also: this could take a few tries) PRINT it out, save to all of your desktop wallpapers & make sure you look at it multipe times a day.
You’ll notice a pattern here, we think, write and visualize. Repeatedly. Why? Because the brain can’t tell the difference between something actually happening/how it feels when you achieve something vs when you just think about achieving it & feel the feelings. Once you brain believes you’ve achieved it, you’ll starting behaving in a way and taking actions in the direction of that achievement.
BONUS: Do future journalling – everyday of the new year, potentially as part of your morning journalling practice. This is where you write down everything of the day as it it’s already happened (ie: these will be the actionable steps you wrote down in 3 aboce). Again tricking your brain into thinking you’ve already achieved the accomplishment but on a daily basis.
On my every long quest for content creation, building my brand and sharing my ideas with the world; I became one of those 80s kid’s thinking they know what they are doing on TikTok.
Outside of that thought I’d share FiVE of my current FAVs:
obsessed with 2 workouts a day
only following successful fitness inspo journeys on every social
I just logged into my blog and saw that I have a dozen or so posts sitting in drafts! I know we are in the age of 150 characters and dizzy transition videos…but I love long form media just like I love my spring bound planner and books from the library. So I’ll keep blogging until the internet is taken off line LOL
Today was mothers day and I for some reason was feeling exhausted. So a little story time. I’m still recovering from this crazy thing that’s taken over the globe. Two areas I’m trying to get back to base level are my workouts and my mental concentration. I’m giving myself grace but lets just say that 2km is the most I can do and skipping journalling for scrolling mindlessly are what I’m trying to work through.
I’m trying a new thing with my workouts, including using a paper journal to write down my fitness routine. Staying optimistic but hoping that using a different strategy to track my workouts (ie: not digital) will keep me more honest and consistent with resistance training and challenging myself.
And I feel that holding power over my workouts, romanizing it and even disrupting my usual exercise regime (within a controlable “blast radius) makes me feel like I have a little moe control in my life given the current socio-economic-politico environment…
But it’s more than my workouts, I feel like I have control when I take the time to put on a cute outfit to have dinner with the fambam. Annnndd because I loved all the depth and texture of the outfit, I took a little more control by taking a whole bunch of pictures of me in said outfit #FashionBlogger :)
May sound a little cheesy but it’s all about that #MainCharacterEnergy – and we all need to acknowledge that energy in our own life now and then…
If you are feel like not yourself, that something is just off or need to change things up a bit because you feel like you are just being tossed around …consider taking control of what you can to feel more like yourself…and to start…here are some ways:
Your thoughts: Replace negative self talk with the action of writing down positive affirmations or statements about about yourself!
What you eat Eat When was the last time you ate healthy whole foods, drank a full glass of water or switched up your coffee with an herbal tea.
How we spend our spare time: Give you mind a break from work/Netflix/unproductive activities (scrolling, gossiping etc) and do something creative, active, journaling (ie: to do lists, gratitude, brain dump)
How you react to things: Before immediately giving someone or a situation your attention give yourself a moment to pause before immediately reacting, it might actually change how you respond.
What content you consume Put down your phone and pick up a book. Unfollow and mute accounts that don’t lift you up. Learn or study instead of mindlessly watching. Create more than you consume.
Who you spend time with Surround yourself that build you up and inspire you. And it’s OK to spend time on your own as much as you need.
How we treat others Don’t waste energy treating people badly. Use that energy to focus on improving your well being or hanging out with people who matter to you.
This reminds me of blogger me circa 2011
Boots – Amazon | Dress – Joe Fresh | Vest – M Boutique | Purse – Aldo
