Slow and Steady

"Turtle turtle, where do you go?"

"Wherever I go it will be slow."

Patience is not always my forte, I like quick results. But these days I'm getting plenty of opportunity to practice not only patience but persistence, slow and steady movement toward my goals.

I want to lose 12 lbs. The first week I changed my food intake was great, I lost three pounds, that's one whole quarter of my goal! The second week? One pound. Not so impressive, but it's still a pound lost so I continue on my food journey and trust that I can do it again. One more pound is my goal. Slow and steady.

I want to incorporate exercise into my routine. I haven't exercised in years. I found a home workout that consists of a sequence of old-school exercises like jumping jacks, push-ups and burpees (thanks Tingle and Amy Gretchen!). For maximum results it's suggested that I repeat the sequence three to five times.

The first time I tried it I got through one repetition and less than half-way through a second before I surrendered and called it quits. The second time I worked out I got through the entire sequence twice. What did I change? I slowed down for the second repetition, realizing that I was more interested in completion than speed. Slow and steady got me through it.

I want to create revenue through meaningful work. I'm working on several products, potential income streams and behind-the-scenes updates to make it so. I have ambitious goals for January and I don't know if I'll meet them. What I do know is that I can persist with the next right action on each one. Slow and steady.

Sometimes sprinting, endorphins and exhilaration are necessary and the best way to get 'er done. Other times, slow and steady is the way to go. It's probably the surest strategy that'll get you to the finish line.

You (Yes You), Well Done!

She Donned Flowers, work in progress, 8"x8" on canvas

"The process of life's work planning can be defined, in a general sense, as creating a picture of the world you want to live in and then organizing your energies into building it. ... The true idealist is no dewy-eyed dreamer but a committed foot soldier in the cause of his vision."

~ Laurence G. Boldt, author of Zen and the Art of Making a Living

Slowly but surely, each day we rally our energies and build - work, health, relationships... Each one of us a committed foot soldier in the cause of our vision.

Let's give ourselves a collective pat on the back, shall we? I think it's well-deserved.

Camera Play: Fun with Blur

It's been full and heavy here lately, I thought I'd lighten it up a little.

Those of you who've seen some of my photos know that I tend to like the blurry shots just as much as the crisp ones. They started off unintentionally, serendipitous duds. Now they've grown on me.

They have a soft and dreamy quality that draws me in, as if they had stories to tell...

Work Transition Checkpoint: 10 Weeks In

my Frida-lined whiteboard waiting for action

Has it only been 10 weeks? Time is playing tricks on me, I feel like it's been much longer than that. Here's what's been going on...

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I just got back from a visit with my former colleagues at the office. I miss the peeps - the work not so much - but the peeps yes. Much.

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Disillusionment hit me one Tuesday night mid-December, about six weeks after my last day at work.

D. and I were looking at our finances and discussing some long term goals that would require, well, money, and it dawned on me that I would have no paycheck coming in anytime soon to help us out.

In that moment I felt I would be the entire reason we would never own a home, buy a new car or go to Paris. Never mind having or feeding a family! My heart broke and my faith in my ability to bring in any income without a government paycheck crumpled to depths I still cannot fathom.

Disillusionment sucks.

Luckily, after sufficient tears and self-flagellation, the moment passed quickly enough and I looked to see what it had to offer. A kick in the pants is what it offered. Motivation. Action baby! The Universe let me know that it was time to take this thing seriously and make it count.

How lucky for me it hit at the six-week mark, imagine how much time would've been lost had it waited six months.

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With disillusionment - or at least that first bout of it - out of the way I'm totally pumped. I'm cranking out bubble charts, notes and to-do lists. I'm getting specific with money targets and other business goals I want to achieve.

My goals for January are pretty ambitious, but I'm having a blast working on projects that make my soul sing. I can't wait to get up in the morning and start working on them. I'm getting. things. done.

That's pretty frickin' cool.

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I've been walloped a few times by what I call the Trifecta of Gremlins: guilt, inadequacy and fear. After a particularly difficult sucker-punch I picked myself up, took pen to paper (ok it was keyboard to screen), and countered with what I dubbed the Trifecta of Possibility: a list of skills, assets and potential revenue streams. Take THAT gremlins.

I might dedicate an entire post to this one.

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My morning routine so far: wake up, drink a glass of water, breakfast, coffee #1 + wool blanket + my Morning Pages, coffee #2 + maybe some reading or a bit of social networking, planning for the day, write or work on fun projects.

Yup. It's all good.

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Till the next checkpoint...

A Year Worth Celebrating

Warning: Due to the celebratory nature of this blog post there will be an abnormal amount of exclamation points (!). Punctuation police be warned.

A few people in my family will be hitting milestones this year - significant milestones that are cause for significant celebration thus making 2012 a happy year to come!

This got me thinking, what else would be worth celebrating in 2012? Why stop at these two milestones?

So I started a list.

Working quickly I wrote down real events like birthdays and anniversaries, but then, without setting out to, I started listing events I wanted to manifest that would be cause to celebrate.

a work in progress that didn't quite make it to the finish line

I like the message

All of a sudden my list became a mixture of affirmations, visualization and already-existing events worth celebrating. It's visioning and party-planning all wrapped into one! How cool is that?

Here's what I came up with:

• Mom & Dad's 50th wedding anniversary
• Mom's birthday - she's hitting a major milestone this year, whoop whoop!
• my birthday - this is the year, I want a party!
• my blogging anniversary - 6 years baby!
• my online shop's first sale
• my first workshop given
• my dating, "going steady" and wedding anniversaries with D.
• Summer
• other family birthdays
• my first $1000 earned outside the government
• my first $10000 earned outside the government
• D.'s birthday - the big 3-5 (hee!)
• a family gathering
• the arrival of our new niece
• the 5th Squam Art Workshops in New Hampshire and the friendships I've made because of it during the past four years
• friends and family meeting goals or setting off on new adventures - Cheers to that!
• the loss of the 12 extra pounds I've been carrying for the past year
• losing my first 3 lbs
• Cassie's birthday
• Sis' first marathon - NYC or not Sis, I think this is the year
• taking a plane for the first time in nearly 10 years - New Brunswick? New York? Paris?
• booking my first consultation client
• the launch of my e-book
• seeing an article of mine published in a magazine
• the Winter Solstice
• Christmas
• New Year's Eve

Wow. So many potential parties!

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What are YOU going to celebrate in 2012? In addition to what's already on the schedule, are there any events you'd like to manifest that would be cause to celebrate?