Mastering My Goals and Dreams

I weighed in last night up another pound.  Last week was more because of TOM but I believe this week's gain is because I'm not burning as many calories doing NROLFW as I've done with previous workouts.  So, even though I had another 5 lifting workouts on the schedule I've opted to discontinue NROLFW, at least until I can get heavier dumbbells.

Boy, did we freeze on Halloween!  It kept alternating between rain, freezing rain, and snow.  We walked about 1.5 hours in that mess and my feet were frozen long before we got home.  Austin got a pretty good haul of candy despite the weather.

Posing after Yoga Saturday Morning

Week of Workouts

Friday and Monday were NROLFW Stage 1 Workout A.  Both days I did 75 squats, pushups, & rows, 60 reverse crunches, and 48 lunges

Saturday I did BeFit's Yoga Transformation Strength and Energy workout.

Tuesday I completed David Carradine's Shaolin Cardio Kickboxing workout.  It wasn't as intense as I'm used to with kickboxing but it was still therapeutic!

This morning instead of NROLFW I did Kelly Coffey-Meyer's 30 Minutes to Fitness Lift in Full Throttle Workout One - Olympic Lifting.  OMG I don't know how many squats I did but had to squat with just about every move!  This was definitely more my style than NROLFW.  In the shower I thought for sure my legs would be jello!

Staying on Track for the Holidays

This was the topic at the Weight Watchers meeting last night.  We had to come up with the What (our goal to accomplish by the end of the year), as well as the Where, When, How, and Who can help us achieve this goal.

Last year between November 5th and January 2nd I lost over 9 lbs.  The win I want to have this holiday season is to reach my goal weight (whatever actual number that ends up being) by the end of the year (January 6th weigh in).  If I can lose about the same this year as I did last year I will be in that goal window (130s)!

The places that will be the most important to me this season are the Weight Watchers meetings, this blog, online resources, my own home, and my family's homes we'll be visiting.  Since I won't know when we'll be heading to Ohio until after Thanksgiving I don't know how many days could be considered risky.  As of now we have no plans to attend any other holiday parties.

To help me achieve my holiday win I must make a decision on what program I will be doing.  This may be what I end up going with...

Building an Exceptional Life

I'm glad I held off on posting the second part of the first step of building an exceptional life since it sort of ties in to the Weight Watchers meeting topic - fine-tuning your goals.  A general direction (i.e. helping others to improve their overall health and wellness) isn't the end game.  The vision is there but I need to break it down into smaller goals with clearly defined milestones to measure my progress and keep me on track.  This is where I often struggle.

My Goals & Dreams

I had just written out my goals in September during Mindy Wender's 21 Days to Thrive.  If there were no limitations I would....

• Travel the world.
• Pay off all my bills, having just a little debut to maintain good credit.
• Buy a new blue Ford Fusion.
• Build my dream home and live there.
• Be financially fit.
• Finance Austin's education.
• Have restorative sleep.
• Be healthy fit (not buff, skinny, etc.)
• Host a monthly get-together with friends.
• Volunteer regularly.
• Hold monthly fit clubs.
• Have a social life.
• Have something special we do as a family every month.
• Find a church again and attend weekly.
• Obtain group personal training and wellness coaching certifications.
• Bring Benny's mother here and have her and my mom nearby so we can keep an eye on them.

The Devil's in the Details

What does success look like? How will things change moment to moment?  What emotions would I be feeling living my dreams?  What do I smell, see, hear, feel, & taste?  These are all the things I must think about with these goals.  I need to also make a new vision board with these detailed goals.  For those who already have vision boards do you prefer a physical or online one?

Linking up with

Discovering Cassi

I've started reading Jillian Michaels' Unlimited: How to Build an Exceptional Life as a part of my personal development.  There are series of questions to answer and reflect upon with each chapter - "Working it Out".  You can download a PDF copy of the questions if you prefer or record your answers electronically like I do with this blog.

The first set of questions are designed to discover who you are.  You're supposed to use your heart, not your head, to answer the questions.  Be honest with yourself; don't just write what should be.  So who am I?

Professionally I prefer a more casual work environment.  The politics of a small business can be bad but it can be horrendous in a corporate environment.  As an example, when I was a contractor at HP our role as Inside Sales Associates was a joke.  We were treated like stepchildren in the attic.  Our hands were constantly being tied, preventing us from truly supporting our sales teams.

A start-up could only be adventurous as a side job for me, nothing that I would be in 100%.  I have to have the stability of something more established.  My main job must be something that can support my family from day one.

Image Courtesy of David Castillo Dominici | FreeDigitalPhotos.net

In the past I have enjoyed giving back to the community in various ways - being a Child Advocate, volunteering at various events in Indianapolis, participating in various outreaches through church, etc.  My most recent was volunteering at Austin's elementary school, serving on the Parent Teacher Connection (their equivalent of PTO/PTA).  Since Austin moved on to middle school I haven't done any volunteering.  In some ways I miss it but other ways I don't.  I would like to start doing something again but I don't know what.  Benny still doesn't understand the concept of volunteering.

Over the years I've had many hobbies and interests that I'm no longer doing, mostly with arts and crafts.  I have paint that's dried up or separated sitting in a drawer.  My scrapbooking supplies are sitting in a backpack in the front room (along with a ton of other things for which we don't have a place).  I just haven't felt consistently creative or artistic in several years.

On an ideal day I'd wake up after the sunrise so the sunlight bathes me while exercising.  I'd eat a nice breakfast or brunch before taking on the day.  Everything that needed to be accomplished would be taken care of.  We'd have a family outing or something enjoyable together and come home for dinner and movie (unless that was part of the outing).  My sleep would be restorative.  Stress would be kept at a minimum.

Image Courtesy of David Castillo Dominici | FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Sometimes I prefer the independence of working alone and other times I prefer working as a part of a team.  It would depend on the project as well as the people.  I've been burned too many times in the past where team members failed to do their part so I ended up having to scramble and do everything last minute alone or maybe with one other person.  Event planning is definitely something better suited for a team environment.  I never had problems with the core team we built for planning the winter carnival at Austin's elementary school.  I think that was the best team experience I ever had.

I've been wondering aimlessly for so long that I wasn't really passionate about anything specific.  I had always known I was meant to help people but nothing beyond that.  My volunteer work was widespread, never focused on any one type of event, organization, or anything.  Until I started eating healthier and exercising I really had nothing to work with.  This new-found passion to help those 40+ to improve their overall health and wellness has been a great wake up call for me. 

I have NEVER wanted to try skydiving, hang gliding, or something else crazy.  Hills in the car bother me.  I can't do the teacup ride at the fair either.  Both make me nauseous with a headache!  I must stay grounded.

All my schooling has been business or language oriented.  So, to go along with this new-found passion, I would like to get my group exercise and wellness coaching certification from NETAfit as recommended by Sheila at The Frugal Exerciser.

Now that this first chapter is done it's time to move on to chapter two and working on what it means to master the dream.

Would you like to join me in building an exceptional life?  Pick up a copy of Unlimited at your library or on Amazon (available as paperback or hardcover as well as for the Kindle).