A few days ago, I started reading a book by Gary John Bishop called "UnFu*k Yourself: Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Life." To say that I've been stuck is an understatement. I'm not going to throw out a ton of excuses.

What matters is this: I have bounced around with the same 10 pounds for more than six months now. I'm tired of it. 

One of the first things Bishop talks about in the book is willingness. It has stuck in my head since I read it and I've actually gone back a few times to the chapter because I feel like it is a core element to my success. 

So, I asked myself, what exactly am I willing to do? What am I unwilling to do? I spent some time jotting down some thoughts and I wanted to share them. 

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Bishop also talks about the importance of owning what we're not willing to do to meet our goals. I never thought about it that way, but I gave it a shot.
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After I wrote down these things, I felt at ease and in control for the first time in a while. Now that I know what I'm willing to do and not willing to do, I have a clearer sense of what needs to get done. I'm not going to have all the answers and I'm going to try to embrace uncertainty as I move forward.

What are you willing to do for yourself to meet your goals? What are you unwilling to do? The answers might surprise you! 

When it comes to goals, you've probably heard all about DREAMING BIG and don't limit yourself. Hell, I've said that in this very blog. The issue, though, is that I believe there's a difference between dreams and goals. We use the words interchangeably and maybe it's time to re-think it.

Over the past couple of days, we've written down a list of things we want to accomplish. Let's call those our dreams or our hopes. Today, we're going to start to move from daydreams to getting things done. And, that's where GOALS come in.

For me, goals are all about making a commitment to making my dreams come true. It's taking ACTION. 

After I wrote down my list of 50 dreams, I decided to narrow in on a few I wanted to address sooner rather than later. These became my goals for 2019.

Here's my list of 2019 goals: 

1. Complete my book manuscript
2. Get to "Onederland" (in other words, get out of the 200's on the scale)
3. Read more books
4. Weekly date night with Jon
5. Make more time for friends

 
Are there other things I want to do this year? Absolutely! But, these are the five things I've decided to commit to on a regular basis this year. 

But, looking at that list is still a bit overwhelming. I mean, finish my book draft? Lose 80+ pounds? Read more? Socialize more? HOW HOW HOW??

By being as specific as I can and then breaking it down into bite-size pieces (hard to resist the eating metaphors.)

Let's take a look at a couple of my goals. I've wanted to complete a book manuscript for 15 YEARS!! Just thinking about it has given me writer's block. It's a lot to process.

But this year, I've committed to writing a minimum of 500 words a day. That's it. 500 words. For me, that's a pretty easy number to reach. It doesn't seem like much. But, if I did that every day of 2019, I'll have 182,500 words down! That's probably two manuscripts' worth of material there. 

Have I written every day? No. But my goal is manageable enough that if I miss one day, then I can make it up pretty easily. Less is more in this case. It allows me to show myself some grace (which is a MAJOR challenge for me.) At 500 words a day, I should be able to finally get a crappy draft done, which will hopefully lead to bigger and better things in the future. 

I have to start somewhere. Why not small?

Because small often seem like not "enough."

My perfectionist, all-or-nothing self HATES the word "enough." It sounds like settling. 

I call bullshit. Bullshit on my thinking and bullshit on yours.

What is your "enough" when it comes to your goals for 2019? What's a small step you can take that is enough to get you farther than you ever have before when it comes to one of your dreams?

Will I finish all my goals in 2019? Who knows? But, I'm pushing aside the fear and doubt and moving toward it one tiny step at a time.

Today, take the goals you chose from yesterday and figure out the small steps you can take to get closer to it. Share it with me in the comments or send me a message. Whatever you want! 

You are enough! Doing a little bit of something every day is enough! Let's take the stigma out of "enough" once and for all.

See you tomorrow!

~Marie

Yesterday was all about getting all that clutter in your brain out so you can sort through it. I talked about doing a brain dump. This is just where I sit down and list all the things I want to accomplish or am dealing with in this busy brain. 

The planner my husband got for me for Christmas had a page specifically for goals. 50 of them, to be exact. My perfectionist self almost peed my pants with anxiety. But, I spent some time with it and was surprised at what I came up with in a short period of time. 

There are goals on there that are so far out in the distance, it can be hard to imagine it. Some of them I didn't even know I really had on my "bucket list" until I put it down on paper. You may notice some are very general: let go of past mistakes Yet, others are very specific, like "run a 5K fully."

I found once I got them down onto paper (or in a file, if you prefer), they were easier to manage. 

From this totally overwhelming list, I narrowed down three to five to start focusing on for this year. Will I get it done by December 31, 2019? Ah, don't jump ahead of me. We'll get to that later this week.

Tonight, I want you to look through your list and choose just a couple you might want to focus on first. Don't worry about timelines or anything. Just find something that is meaningful to you.

Tomorrow, we'll start looking at how to go for them!!

Until then, keep dreaming!

​~Marie

Welcome to day one of our goal setting week!

Today we're going to take a big picture view of setting goals, because I feel like in order to really get to the core of our goals, we need to understand how they work.

Every January, we have big dreams for our lives. And, if you're anything like me, those dreams fade before I even turn the calendar to Feb. 1. The good news (if you can call it that) is we're not alone. Approximately 92 percent of people who make resolutions see them all the way through. So, that means only 8 percent of us stick with our goals in any given year. Author Jon Acuff puts it another way in his book "Finish." We have the same chance of ever getting accepted into the Julliard school of performing arts in our lifetime as we do fulfilling our resolutions.

What's the deal with that? 

I wish I had THE answer for you. I know for me, there have been a variety of reasons I've fallen short of my dreams. Most of them boil down to two main issues:

FEAR and PERFECTIONISM.

These lovely things go together like peanut butter and jelly. Fear of failure ties in so well with my perfectionism. 

If you can relate, then I want to let you know I understand and want to help you figure out how to make this year better.

So, the first thing I did when thinking about my 2019 goals was this: a mental dump. It doesn't sound amazing, but trust me, it helps.

Write down all the things you'd love to accomplish. Do not limit yourself. There is no time limit or expense limit right now. You need to get all the clutter out of your head before you start sorting through it. 

So, today, set aside a few minutes to do a mental dump of what you'd like to accomplish. I don't care if it's weight related or not. Just write it down somewhere! Even if it seems like a crazy goal, write it down. No one is gonna see it but you, unless you decide to share. 

Then, tomorrow, be ready to make some treasure out of the clutter that's been clogging up your brain. 

See you tomorrow!

~Marie

It's the new year and you know what that means, right? Time to talk about setting some goals. That's great and all, but what if you're not even sure where to start? And, what if you've set goals before, only to see them slip away. Pretty discouraging, right?

If you're feeling lost about even starting on setting some goals, then you need to check in all next week. I've spent the past month or so doing some research about goals, including why most people drop their New Year's Resolutions within a few days or weeks of making them, what holds people back and how to even create manageable goals. I plan to share the best of what I've found, some of the goals I've set and how I plan on attacking them this year.
And, if you have any specific questions you'd like addressed next week, drop me a comment and let me know. We're here to work through this together! 

So, mark your calendar for Monday--finally something to look forward to on the first day of the work week. Consider it your first goal for 2019 (if you haven't made any already, that is!)

See you then!

~Marie

I'm starting to learn that my 5K training is a delicate balance of working on improving a number of factors: increasing speed, extending my endurance, slowing my breathing and avoiding injury. That's a lot of crap to juggle as I push this body forward each day.

When I started training months ago, my focus was strictly on time. And, yeah, that's still pretty important to me. The Disney Princess 5K run recommends a 16-min mile pace. So, that typically looms large in my muddled mind. 

However, after injuring myself over the summer by relentlessly pursuing perfection, I learned I need to dial it back, no matter how impatient I may be.

Every time the lessons come back to patience: with my body, my expectations, the scale. Ugh.

This week, I tweaked my left calf/shin. I ran two workouts in a row where I didn't stop once to walk. The accomplishment I felt was undeniable. But, yesterday I had to make a choice. Chase after that specific accomplishment once more or rest up and try again another day. I opted to pass on the run and see what today would bring.

Today's 20-minute 5K training session tempted me to try to run the whole thing, as I had previously. Instead, I chose to stick with my walk/run intervals, but allowing my body to dictate the run time and walk time. It turns out listening to my body is actually working. Go figure, right?

For only the second time, my overall pace was below 15 minutes. Am I excited? Damn straight I am! My heart rate was lower than the last time I did it, too. 

I'm taking care of my body and I truly believe it is now giving back and working to help me take care of myself. Yeah, it sounds weird. But, I'm kinda weird, so....

Today's workout takeaway: this is not a full-race pace for me. I couldn't complete a full 5K at this level. At least not now. For my next long run, slated for 2.5 miles on Monday, I plan to take the first 1.5 miles or so a little slower so I can pace myself for the long haul. The goal is to finish and to end it strong—not like I want to keel over and die!