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.
I’m one of the people that has a stack of books to be read. I’m constantly updating my good reads “to read” shelf. But I’m happy to report that this year I made a HUGE dent in my reading goals.
Links to books (all are Chapters Indigo, but you could check amazon or any local book retailer)
I’ve mentioned many times (check here, here and here) that I’m all about goal setting, productivity and self development. I also have a thing for life hacks that offer consistent ways to improve in different areas of my life.
From my research (read: heavy google searching), Project50 is along the lines of 75hard but closer to 75Soft. Essentially a way to kick start your daily routines and create long lasting habits and rituals.
I should say, most of these things I already do daily, but there is no harm in calling out and trying harder. If you are interested in getting started, check out the IG linked above and also set 7 rules for yourself. The catch, if you miss any daily habit, you begin again from day 1. Check out my rules below & good luck!
Rules:
Wake up by 6:45am
Sleep a minimum 6 hours
Complete a morning routine (without distractions)
Mediate
Journal
Affirmations
AM Hygiene
List to a Podcast episode
Weekly nature walks & forrest baths
Plan your days in detail
Exercise for 45 min
Cardio (20 min run, 3km or 4km run, Pilates or 5000 step walk)
I was recently scrolling through TikTok and some someone post about what the biggest lesson that they learned this year. Without even watching the full post – I immediately thought about mine…(goes to show how mindless show intense my multi tasking is!)
I figured it would make a great blogmas post…
The biggest lesson I learned this year was maintaining consistency with my self growth practices.
Now as I’m saying that I realize it sounds very simplistic. But I realized not being consistent actually creates bad habits. Or rather, being consistent creates good habits. And for me those habits are helping me grow and develop.
So here’s the kicker: I find myself only being consistent with my self growth and development rituals (quality journaling, outdoors walks, forrest baths, deep meditation, creating content, making art, reading, learning) when I’m needing to change* something. And then, as soon as I achieve* that something I for some reason decide to de-prioritize those rituals.
Maybe that de-prioritization comes naturally because that thing I achieved takes up more of my time. But I’ve realized that I can’t let it. I need to be consistent with my rituals because they are the only thing that will support me in the long run.
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.
I was listening to a podcast the other day, and the speaker was talking about a morning ritual she did for several years and found that it elevated her mental well being consistently, filled her cup and she personally attested that this process created more abundance in her life. Essentially is all about speaking to yourself with love, kindness & grace – like one would a plant.
How it works:
Stand in front of the mirror & look yourself deep in the eyes.
Say your full name and celebrate you! This means you need to say 7 things that you did yesterday, last year or within your entire life that you are proud of.
Next, say your full name again and release the shackles. You want to say 7 things you forgive about yourself. They may be the same things everyday but the need here is to free yourself of shame, blame, regret, guild and anger.
Finally, say your full name and commit to yourself. Again here, before you make promises to other people, you need to make promises to yourself!
