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Achieve Your Best Life

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habits

Of Ladders and Rocks!

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Of Ladders and Rocks!

Does life sometimes feel like a perpetual merry-go-round?  Either we can’t get on or we can’t get off!  There’s always far too much to do than there is time available to do it and even when we manage to catch a passing chair and get cracking with our to do list, it’s a race to fit in as much stuff as possible before we fall off again!  Sometimes it feels like it’s never-ending!

To add insult to injury, while we’re trying to control our day-to-day activities, we never really seem to get ahead with the things that really matter to us, or the things that will really make a difference to our long-term future, and so we keep catching the ride, and then watch ourselves merrily go around in circles!

Does that sound familiar?  I must admit that my life can descend into this kind of merry-go-round chaos on occasion.  It’s characterised by times when I’ve taken on too much either because the project sounded so interesting I just couldn’t walk away or because I was just too embarrassed to offend and didn’t say no when I knew that I should have. [Read more…] about Of Ladders and Rocks!

Beat Temptation and Achieve Your Goals!

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beat temptation

I absolutely adore chocolate, which as anyone who knows me will know is an understatement!  It’s my biggest temptation, the one thing that can see me tumble from the diet/healthy eating wagon if I’m feeling even just a little bit wobbly.  So you could say for me that chocolate poses a major temptation to achieving my health goals.

I know for certain that I’m not alone in feeling this way, we all have our pet temptations, things that will tempt us away from the unfamiliar or challenging goal path we are trying to negotiate.  But, as we know, overcoming our temptations can be a difficult task.  However, keeping on the straight and narrow will have the effect of strengthening our resolve to continue, whereas slipping away from our planned path tends to make us feel guilty and sometimes also a bit devil-may-care, resulting in us giving up on our goals altogether.

We think of temptation as something observable: that (delicious) bar of chocolate; that extra half an hour in bed so it’s too late for our morning jog; that extra cigarette, but, it’s the less tangible things that can really mess up our attempts to improve our lives. [Read more…] about Beat Temptation and Achieve Your Goals!

Do You Need Motivation?

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do you need motivation

Motivation, or lack of, to be more precise, is cited as a major cause of our inability to reach our goals.  We all feel that we need to be motivated to lose the weight, take the exercise, write the book, save the money etc.  But is this really the case?  Do we need a healthy dose of motivation in order to achieve any of these things?

The difficulty with a lack of motivation is that it can be wrapped in many different guises, and so we just assume that we’re not motivated, rather than thinking that there may be another reason for our lethargy.

Sometimes we just feel overwhelmed with the things we think we have to do and consequently, we fail to make a conscious decision on what we should progress and instead fall into the trap of doing nothing.  Ironically this is also a decision.  We have decided, albeit unconsciously, to do nothing.  Consequently the feeling of overwhelm not only continues, but is further compounded by guilt!

We often feel the pain of failing to make a conscious decision and then bemoan our  inability to move beyond the ‘something’ that is holding us back from taking action.  But what is this ‘something’?  Sometimes we’re not even sure that we know what’s causing the road block.  Maybe it’s tiredness, laziness, resentment (why should I do it, no one else is doing anything), boredom or overwhelm, as described above.  But, there could be many other emotions rattling around our heads, never really making themselves distinct enough for us to deal with directly.  They become a fusion of negative thoughts which ultimately result in inertia. [Read more…] about Do You Need Motivation?

From Funk To Action: A Case Study!

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penholderI’ve woken up this morning in the doldrums, this is at best inconvenient (I have a blog to write today and a myriad of domestic chores to finish before the working week descends once again), at worst it could potentially leave me moping, lethargic and unproductive all day.  My only salvation is that I hate to let people down, and, although for the most part I can probably pass up the domestic chores without it causing too much damage (although it will result in lots of rushing around to catch up as the week progresses), I cannot avoid addressing the issue of writing the blog.  This is a *good thing* I tell myself…

So today will be about tricking, cajoling and generally compelling myself to complete the work.  This won’t be easy, but it will get the work done and I also know that by the time I finish, I will be feeling much better!  What I don’t fully understand is why I feel like this in the first place, although I guess we can’t be upbeat, enthusiastic and raring with energy 365 days a year…I just wish we could!

So, with Wayne Dyer’s words ringing in my ears… “Be miserable.  Or motivate yourself.  Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.”  it’s time to get to work.

First port of call is to sit down at the computer, open the page, and start typing.  Unfortunately for my readers, today it’s the trials and tribulations of a would-be writer, but hopefully I’ll be forgiven for baring my oh-so-human weaknesses. [Read more…] about From Funk To Action: A Case Study!

Are Groundhog Days Holding You Back?

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Are Groundhog Days Holding You Back?

Some time ago, I blogged about the importance of persistence in the battle to achieve our goals.  One of the things that I mentioned in that blog was that I, like everyone else, often succumb to my old bad habits or old ways of doing things at the expense of maintaining my new good habits.  I will have seen progress whilst instigating these new good habits, but, for whatever reason, I fall off the wagon and slowly, or sometimes quickly, drift back to my old ways.

I also went on to tell you that these days, I am much better at getting back on the wagon sooner, so, even though there may have been some ‘damage’, this can be limited by my ability to get back to my new good habits sooner rather than later.

And this is where I found myself recently.  In the last few months I’ve fallen off the weight control/healthy eating wagon.  Consequently I’ve gained some weight, lost some (read ‘a lot of’) muscle tone and am generally feeling more lethargic.  My clothes are tighter.  It then dawned on me that it was time to face the situation and get back on that wagon.

So, in the last few days, I have re-subscribed to myFitnessPal, which is the app I use on my phone to keep track of my food and exercise calories.  I’ve also been out for a few long walks and have been careful about what food I’ve allowed to pass my lips.  Everything has been recorded in the app. [Read more…] about Are Groundhog Days Holding You Back?