Friday, January 29, 2010

No Posts?

I've have been busy sorting a few things out for my son over the last couple of days and I have been thinking "Well what action have I taken toward my goals?  What can I record?".  A bit of background.  My son has been sick since, well, last week really.  It got extremely bad on Monday, to the point where he couldn't get off the couch.  Monday and Tuesday were spent laying low as he really didn't want me out of his sights.  So then, when he couldn't go to school on Wednesday we set off on a path of discovery to attempt to get some answers a) about his health and b) about some issues that had been on his mind about school.
So that's what I've been busy doing.  Spent a lot of time lying with my son doing what I normally would call 'nothing'.  Then, I saw it from a different perspective.  One of my goals this year is to spend positive time with family and friends.  I have just spent 5 full days on this goal.  In the past, I probably would have cussed and been unhappy at spending 5 days not really being able to work or do anything that I would normally do.  With a change on perspective that this challenge has bought about for me, I have found I have really embraced this time with my son and been more loving (which is of course what he needs to heal) with him and far more patient than I ever thought I was.  So, although I can't record this in my journal with a photo (even though I have plenty of doctor's receipts and an x-ray to include) I still have been diligently and lovingly been working towards my goals.  Does this ring any bells with you?

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

A Wonderful Message

With the writer's permission, I wanted to share with you an email that arrived in my inbox a few days ago.  It is words like this that make my blog worthwhile and inspires me to keep writing.  Thank you so very much for your kind words and feedback.

Hi Jill,
I visited you blog and you have inspied me to take my goals to the next level.. In the past my vision boards have been highlighted with material posessions and I have come along way since then. Discovering the motive behind wanting these things and the happiness I thought they would bring was not the kind of happiness I was seeking. I have read some amazing books over the past 3 months and have been awakening in an amazing way. Before the new year I decided that my Goals for 2010 are focusing on my spiritual journey, financial stability, fun and loving relationships with my boys, family and friends, and finally building a successful coaching business. I love the idea of lifescrap 365 as I have begun writing a journal already this year, and the fun and recognition on a daily basis to stay focused and positive on goals. It has all inspired me and I will start today to create my vision board..

I am grateful for your inspiring blogs and emails, its fantastic and helpful reminder of the value and importance of moving forward and why we do what we do.

It was a challenge

You know, since I set my goals in the first week of January, I have found it challenging to do any action towards one.  And it's an easy one(well now I can say that!).  I have made a dvd which only runs for 5 minutes.  It has inspirational pictures and affirmations and the idea behind it is if you watch it every day for so many days (can't remember how many) then the affirmations will integrate in your life.  You know instead of you saying to yourself 'Gee I really need to paint those walls" (as an example), you can repeat your affirmation "I have the perfect living space".
Anyway, I just couldn't put this goal into practice.  I was watching it every morning near the end of last year and with holidays, it seemed to go out the window(sometimes understandably when I had no way to watch it). 
Well, I am proud to say, I have managed to watch it this morning.  It already seems a little bit easier for me to be able to watch it tomorrow, and the next morning, and so on.  I had to work out the easiest way to incorporate it into my day.  I have put it with my computer so when I turn it on every day it is there to remind me it would be great if I watched it. 
Do you have a goal you haven't been able to make a start on?  What could you do to make this goal easier to crack?

Monday, January 25, 2010

Vision board Up


Well, yesterday saw the completion of my visionboard.  Can't stop looking at it.  Not a fantastic photo I know.  This sits on my wall right in front of my computer. 
Many things came to light over the period of creating my vision board.
I have decided to join a new gym this year.  The gym I was going to (although hadn't actually 'gone to' for a fair few months) has gone unisex.  I found the atmosphere there had changed since the new owners had taken over and that is why I had stopped going (or that is what I told myself anyway).  There were other reasons too, so now I am on a mission to find a ladies only gym with hours that suit and a speedy yet effective program or a 'new' 24 hour gym.  Will weigh up the pros and cons.
I also decided this year might be a great year to update my car.  I have already done some research and am excited about the prospects. 
And last night, I spent a wonderful few hours with a friend.  We went out for mexican and had some great laughs.  It really was a fun time.  I am very grateful for the fun times with my friends.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

My goals

So I'm thinking, if I am going to publish to the world the action I'm taking each day towards my goals, the world needs to know what my goals are really.
So, world, here they are:
I commit to making healthy food and exercise choices every day in 2010.
I commit to enjoying every mouthful of food in 2010.
I commit to spending valuable positive time with my family and/or friends in 2010.
I commit to attending a networking event at least once a month in 2010.
I commit to writing, trialling and promoting a minimum of 1 new program for my clients in 2010.


Today, as I have had an hour or so where my son has been at a friend's house, I have taken a few creative steps towards my visionboard.  I have had my goals written down since early January.  And have had the picture in my mind of what it was going to look like finished.  I find it challenging to scrapbook with my son around.  He's a fantastic kid.  He is very creative himself, so when we get creative together we tend to do things that are more suitable for him and I together.  Scrapbooking (which is how I create my visionboard) is not really one of his interests.

I'm loving the colours of my new visionboard.  They are vibrant (like my year is going to be!). Pinks, lime greens and chocolate browns(photo below). 


Wednesday, January 20, 2010

So What Are The Ins and Outs of This Challenge?

Keeping in with my theme of having fun, you will sometimes find my blogs as an attempt at humour; other times you will find it's business as usual.  So as one of the project managers for Two Friends and a Light Bulb here goes my own personal recount of life scraps 365 to help inspire you to project manage your life this year as well.
Step One:  Work out what the heck you want to project manage about your life this year?  Do you want to keep a creative record of your year? Do you want to keep a record of what you did to achieve your goals or perhaps your husband has left you for a nympho bimbo and finally you are free.
Step Two:  Work out how much of your life is going to be project managed this year.  Do you want to take photos everyday and do loads of journalling and spend at least two hours every day on it?  Do you have 5 minutes a week to spend documenting your life and no camera?  Or is it somewhere in between?  Write down what you commit to doing and keep it close by at all times with your project.
Step Three:  Now get to it.  Make a list of what supplies you need.  Do you need to put a notepad in your handbag?  Do you need to find out how to use the camera function on your phone?  Work out whatever it will take to project manage your life this year.
Step Four: Before you start, remember this.  It has to be fun.  F-U-N!  And look at life outside the square.  If you didn't take a phote, include a receipt or a ticket stub.  What about a drawing or sketch?  A doodle that you did on the phone, a note from the hubby or kids.  A bus or train ticket, a to-do list or grocery list, etc.  You get the idea?

Some other things to also contemplate:
This is about being successful.  Sometimes with goals you can get off track.  When you do, just get back on track as soon as you can.  Better than throwing in the towel and saying it's all too hard.  If you need extra motivation, a coach is particularly great to use at this time.
If something happens and you miss a commitment, berating yourself is not going to help.  As above, get back on track. 
If something changes in your life and the commitment is too little or too much, it is better to revisit and change your commitment than to drop it all together.
Ask yourself, is this fun?  When the answer is no, change what you are doing.  Make a list of what you think would make this more fun.  That is why Mel and I have chosen to work on this together.
Having your own coach is of course the best and fastest way to achieve your goals.  If any of the above scenarios happen over the period of this year, it is seriously worth considering getting yourself a coach.

So add me to your favourites, comment on my blog every time you visit, let me know if you are in or if you would like to be in at some stage or whatever, feel free to share.  And if you think your family or friends would like to project manage their lives too, please share this link with them. 

So what are you waiting for?  Get out there and start project managing your life.  You only get one crack at it, it might as well be fun and the best it can be!

A New Way to Achieve Your Goals

Welcome to Inspire, Motivate, Create, Achieve.  It took roughly 5 mins from the beginning of a conversation with my dear friend Mel for this idea to mutate from discussing fabric rosetters to embarking on a journey of a different kind this year.  Mel mentioned an idea she had heard about by Becky Higgins (http://www.beckyhiggins.com/projectlife/).

So what's it about?  It's about having focus on making your life more about what YOU want it to look like each and every day.  It's about focusing on your goals everyday; about keeping an eye out for the action you take each and every day towards achieving what you want in life.
 
We have a blog for the challenge; here is the link http://lifescrap365.blogspot.com/ .  What I chose for myself is to record daily the action I have taken towards my goals this year.  It may be in the form of a photo, it may be in the form of something else.  It's all about recognising what I do on a daily basis to work towards my goals.

A lot of the time we focus on what we didn't do or we get to the end of the year and say 'Well I didn't balance work with home life very well this year'.  It may well be that where possible you did.  Your mind plays tricks on you sometimes and only points out the negative things that you do.  So by keeping an eye out for what I do each day towards my goals it helps me think about my goals and it keeps me focused on the positives.

There are other positive affects as well:
It may help to identify and eliminate things that work against us achieving our goals on a daily basis.
It may help us to see lots of things from a different perspective not just our action towards our goals.
It will help us keep on track with our goals as there will be some thought each day about what our goals are and what we are doing towards them.
Ultimately, this will help us to achieve our goals and maybe even help us to achieve them earlier than expected.