Week 3: filled with motivation and a PLAN!

Okay, friends, I've got to get going and get organized with this 8 week Faithful, Fit and Fabulous program! I did great in week 1. Too great! But week two was a little more cloudy and unclear! lol But I did get some things done which I shared below. (enjoy) But on to another week. Week 3!! A week filled with a clear concrete "life plan" and "weekly goal." One goal, one (amazing) reward. Let me show you what I have in the works!

Create a Life Plan (part of week 2)

"A life plan consists of a paragrph detailing your ideal way of life and weekly goals to achieve it. It's fun and functional. ...Rather than a rigid dictation of must-dos, it's more of a flexible and fabulous rubber band."

My Life Paragraph:
I am solid in my foundation and that foundation is filled with joy and peace. I am always striving to improve myself and becoming a little better each day. While remembering who I am, I connect with people both in fun and spiritual ways. I have simple systems of organization that work well for me. I enjoy creating healthy masterpieces and have lots of yummy recipes to try. (the last sentence is a GOAL!)

I think that might be my life paragraph....for now! :) It will stay the same throughout the rest of the 8 weeks, helping me stay focus and simply remembering my goals!

My Weekly Goal:

I will organized the pantry and create a system that is maintain-able, quickly acessable, and easily understood (and easy to look at)!!

(That's it! Just the pantry this week! I'm excited! It's been one of "those projects" weighing on my mind! I'm excited to check it off my list!)

My Reward:

(why is this so hard!? lol) After each day I work on the pantry, I will take a warm bubble bath! Wahoo!!

PS (a note for me) Things I have learned about ME and setting/accomplish goals: sometimes I love BIG projects (week 1) but I usually get a little burnt out afterward and enjoy a break (week 2). When I am burnt out, I need to embrace it and choose a ONE simple goal, WITH a reward and slowly inch my way to accomplishing it all the while remembering that I will get back to another big project soon. No need to push myself until miserable. Clear goals work best. Don't be afraid to be "do-able." Motivation is key. Follow the promptings of the spirit - Heavenly Father knows me better than I know myself!

I'm SO excited for week 3!!!! OH and I'm 14 weeks in my pregnancy (so many "weeks" to keep track of!) and I'm suddenly (at least the last 3 days), a LOT less fatigued!!!! It feels amazing to feel awake and alert!!! Wahoo!

A little BIG update, for ya!

So, people, you'll never believe it! Neither can I!

But I lost all motivation and even desire to accomplish any freezer meal/"food" goals. Haha!

One reason I've been unmotivated is because I've just been a little pooped er tired this last week.

Slightly random and slightly NOT random because....

Yep, you read it right!!!! We are PREGGERS!!!! Hooray!

We are so excited!!

I was nauseated for a week and a half! Not bad, really!

And this week, I'm tired after a few nights of 10+ hours of sleep, which is really unmotivating when it comes to accomplishing GOALS!! oi! :)

We are due April 2, 2013 which makes me 3 months preggers and 13.5 weeks!

Trav's excited.

I'm excited.

and Brynlie thinks she and daddy have babies in their tummies too!!!

So as far as becoming a little more "fabulous," I decided to take the author of Faithful, Fit and Fabulous's advice and use my plan B. My plan B involves not doing ANY freezer related things right now and focusing on smaller steps in another area! haha! I have started organizing a few things and it feels good. Apparently I'm not a professional goal-setter-accomplisher....yet! But I am still moving forward and learning from experiences. What worked last week was do-able chunks and CLEAR set goals for each day. ...And do-able chunks....small chunks wins the race, right!! ;)

See how this closet looks like it's going to eat you!? This is NOT a picture from Google, this is my closet! And this closet needs help!

So this afternoon, this was one of my do-able projects in my plan B. Yay for not giving up!! And it felt so good to DO something! I finished the cleaning out closet project but the details and before and after pics I'll show tomorrow, or just later!

 



The closet better watch out!! Grrrr! :)

establishing holy habits: week 1

It's Monday! Yay! I'm so excited to really get started on this journey to become a little more faithful, fit and fabulous!

The first thing that Connie covers is "establishing holy habits." There are three holy habits: prayer, scriptures, and personal promptings. Referring to these three holy habits, she says, "We know what they are, we know they're effective, and yet we get casual. ...Although we may understand why prayer, scripture study, and personal promptings are essential, sometimes we aren't consistent. Why is that?"

She talks in depth about why we are inconsistent including: busyness, not trusting His promises, changes in routine, distractions, and everything else. She continues to inspire me through her relate-ability and "juicy" ideas to be more consistent with these three holy habits.

So, week 1: choose one goal from these holy habits and do it!!  (Ex: pray from the heart, read scriptures with a question in mind, or keep a promptings journal.)

When I first started 8 weeks ago, I chose a goal to spice up my daily scripture reading. I love the scriptures but it's hard to feel excited about reading ALL the time. I wanted to feel EXCITED to read. So my specific goal was after I read for 15ish minutes, I had to draw a picture to sum up what I read. (He he!) Secretly I love to draw and never really give myself time or a reason to. So this was really fun for me. I noticed how the little extra brain power to turn thoughts into a picture REALLY spiced up my reading and helped me remember what I read! (double “yay”) This lasted three days. Not sure why and I really should randomly do it again, for fun!!

But now that 8 weeks has past, something in Connie's explanation sticks out more than spicing up my scripture reading. She says that this goal during week 1 can be starting a habit OR it can be a one-time project. hmmm...

I'm in Young Women's and as leaders we can also work towards getting a (or another) Young Womanhood Recognition. At the first of the year I challenged myself to get mine this year. It’s September and I have done a third of what I need to. So this last week, I went through what I have left and categorized them into "one-day", "a few days", "two weeks", "three weeks", and a "month," projects. It turns out I have roughly 10 "one day" projects and if I do them all in a week, I can finish the rest of the bigger projects by November 7th, which is YW in excellence where they celebrate the girls but also those who have gotten their recognition!

So that's my goal this week. I want to do all 10 "one day" projects during Brynlie's naps and for my scripture reading. To keep me accountable and to push me to do it even when things get busy, I'm going to drop you a line (...er post) about how each day is going. Something short and sweet. Then at the end of the week, I'll give you my “post-it note” filled with my synopsis (wahoo.) and my new goal for next week!!!

Does this sound like something you want to try for a week too!? I'm mean, not necessarily working on Personal Progress, :) but establishing or spicing up one of these holy habits!!! Do IT!!! When I feel spiritually charged, I feel much more likely to accomplish great things! So if something has caught your eye, do it, do it, do it!!! You won’t be alone!

So here it goes!! AHH!! I'm publishing this and heading off to start my Personal Progress! Such a fitting title to a goal to become more faithful, fit, and fabulous!!! Ha Ha! Love it! 

Have a fabulous Monday! Love the encouragement of productive Mondays!!

Faithful, Fit, & Fabulous!

Hello! I have some amazing ideas for this crazy blog. (eek!) Most of these ideas are fabulous but yet still percolating, so let me tell you about my first and biggest idea for this here blog!

I am on an 8 week journey to become a little more "Faithful, Fit, and Fabulous"!!! Um, ya! It's going to be amazing! Do you know the author Connie E. Sokol? Well she is faithful. She is fit. She is also fabulous! And she wrote a freaking amazing book about how to become all those things! In 8 weeks! She's LDS and her program involves letting Heavenly Father in on all you're doing and allowing HIM to mold you into something a little more faithful, fit, and fabulous!

According to Connie, there are 8 areas we find stress in if those areas are not doing 80% or better. For example, motherhood, finances, relationships, fitness, and organization. But, man, that's a lot of areas to be doing great at, hence why we women can get overwhelmed with all our responsibilities! Therefore, one of Connie's points is something that President Faust once said, "have it sequentially." That is, timing. So she created a program with one goal in all these areas (plus 2 more) one week at a time. She talks about how we could probably handle more than one goal a week, but only for "like 2 weeks" until life happens and you begin to say, "pass the pan of brownies."

She's hilarious and so inspiring! I first discovered her while listening to a program on the Mormon Channel called Everything Creative. She was so awesome that I bought her book on Amazon like the next day! (Which is crazy for me because I have serious issues with spending money on myself....I just feel guilty, ya know!?) But yes, I received it in the mail and started reading immediately. I set my first goal and did it for 3 days, then life happened (sooner than her 2 week alert :)) and I continued to think about it and hope to apply it and then suddenly 8 weeks passed! ha ha! I came to the conclusion that I need a real place to be accountable to.

So that's my first big idea with this blog is reporting on my progress in this 8 week program of faithfulness, fitness, and some serious fabulousness!!! Connie, has "post-it" sheets to fill out each week and that's what I will write on this blog!! If this sounds awesome, stay tuned for Monday (ish) when I'll share what I'll be doing the first week! If half way through, or something like that, you think it's awesome enough to join in, then by all means JOIN IN! Eek! If not, just let me be accountable to you! I need you! Ha Ha!!

Anyone heard of her? She's also a motivational speaker, has anyone had the priviledge off hearing her speak!!?