Creating Lena » Goals and Challenges

I’m Getting Fit – A Sixty Day Challenge

Helena — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:05:19 +0000

Well, this ought to be interesting. I just had a cool conversation with my accountability partner, and we decided that sixty days from today – April 2, 2012 – we would go and get new pictures taken for business purposes. I haven’t had a professional picture done in years because I’ve always been convinced that cameras don’t like me.

So, in the interests of giving myself the best possible advantage in front of that camera I’m embarking on a 60 day challenge to get fit, lose some weight and inches, and really step up my game when it comes to taking care of myself.

I am getting better at taking care of myself, but still catch myself sliding back toward old habits when things get a little stressful. It’s just so easy to get sucked into staying inside my comfort zone even when I know I need to be pushing my boundaries and learning how to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Over the next two months, I’ll be blogging about building up not only my fitness levels, but my confidence as well. I’ve dedicated this year to rebuilding my self-esteem, something that has been lacking in my life for the last several years. Between divorce and illness it’s so easy to lose track of yourself and to just let go of everything.

Self-care is an important part of getting back to myself and stepping up my game. I got off to a slow start in January, but I think that was meant to be, to show me what exactly I was supposed to be doing this year. I had an idea but it wasn’t developed enough at the time for me to hit the ground with the speed and confidence I had intended.

If you’d like to follow along, or maybe even join me, stay tuned. Besides talking about just getting fit, I’ll also be sharing on topics such as building your self-confidence, creating self-care rituals, and talking about the mountain of self help books I’ve lined up to read this year.

Because when you get right down to it, it’s not just about getting fit to have a picture taken. It’s about become a better me … in body, mind AND spirit.

I look forward to sharing the journey with you.

Starting My New Year Right

Helena — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 04:58:17 +0000

Happy New Year!

I hope your 2012 is off to a great start, and that you are ready to achieve all the goals you have set for yourself. I have two pages of goals to work on throughout the year — and a big piece of poster board with them all written out where I can see them every day.

I am stepping up my game for the new year and taking my life and my business to the next level. It’s been a long time coming, and I’m feeling really excited and confident about the coming year.

While I have goals for all areas of my life, the most important ones for me this year are those that focus on getting myself healthy and fit. I want this to be the year that I lose weight (at least 60 pounds) and get fit enough to run in a 5k race and finish it.

You all know how much I love my baby steps, so break it all down my goals are:

1. Drop at least 1.5 to 2 lbs per week

2. Exercise at least 30 minutes every day

3. Practice clean eating

4. Work at getting at least 6 hours of sleep every night.

That’s probably not going to happen tonight since it’s almost midnight and I still have yet to post this. :) Yep, slow again.

Second on my list for starting the new year right is to focus on my writing and publishing this year. I always end up putting my own writing to the end of the list while I flit around from project to project, never really finishing anything. So last night I spent my New Year’s Eve creating a content plan and writing out exactly what I want to accomplish this year.

I’ll have more on that as the days progress. For now, I’ll leave it at that and just wish you a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year.

Thanks for being here!

New Month, New Challenges

Helena — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 02:40:27 +0000

So, September kinda blew by in a hurry. It seems like just yesterday it was still summer and sunny, and now today it’s barely above freezing here.

While I’m sad to see September go from a warm weather point of view, I’m not so sad from a work standpoint. I’m ready to leave it behind and embark on new challenges this month.

On the schedule for the month of October so far is a branding challenge that’s being hosted by Tiffany Dow. I’m really excited about this because I know I’ve needed a brand for awhile now, but haven’t really known how to go about it. Part of the problem with being so introverted is that I find it really hard to relate to people. I can write a blue streak, but actually having a conversation and relating to people is really hard for me and it’s something I want to improve on. So that’s the first challenge, and the really big one that I’ll be focusing on.

The next challenges are all writing-related. First up is Nablopomo again. I’m determined to make it through a month posting every day. The topic this month is “Between” and I have a few ideas on how to explore that since I feel like I’m between phases in my life right now. The past few months have been a sort of transition phase for me, both mentally and physically, and I feel like I’m getting close to coming out of that in the next little while.

The second challenge is another blogging challenge that’s being hosted by one of the Facebook groups I hang out on. I figure if I have two commitments to keep regarding daily blogging then I will be more likely to stay focused. And face it, we all know I need all the focus help I can get. :)

The rest of my challenges this month are all self-inflicted:

1. To write at least 1 new page of PLR every day. I got the new store up last month, but didn’t get any new content added so that needs to be remedied.

2. To eat more healthfully and get my blood glucose numbers down by the time I have to go for blood work at the end of the month. My 30-day average is 10.8 right now, and while I’d like to get it to 7.0 that’s probably unrealistic. So if I can get it down to between 8.0 and 8.5 in a month, I’ll be very happy. :)

3. To make it to the gym at least three days a week.

4. Finally, to do my absolute best to not have any “I don’t wanna talk” days in October. Last month was really bad for that, and I got into such a hermit-state that I didn’t want to talk to anyone for about the last two weeks.

I still have to work out a schedule to get all my work done and fit in the trips to the gym as well. But that’s how my month is shaping up so far.

What’s on your plate this month?

Happy New Year! Goals, Giveaways, and more for 2011

Helena — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 19:54:26 +0000

Happy New Year!

I had this whole big post all planned out for today, but after letting it simmer overnight it just didn’t feel right, so it’s on the back burner percolating away until I figure out what’s missing.

Instead, I want to wish you a very happy and most prosperous 2011!

Did you make any resolutions or set any goals for the coming year?

I don’t do resolutions any more, but I do write out a list of everything I want to accomplish over the course of the year. I spent most of yesterday doing this and when I was done, the list was 4 pages long!

I won’t bore you with all the details; a lot of it is really personal stuff, and I’m still struggling with the whole idea of sharing my whole life online. What I will say is that in addition to the standard business, money and get healthy type stuff, I was really surprised at how many travel items are on my list for this year. I’ve never been much of a traveler, but according to my list I’m going to be doing a lot of cross-Canada trips this year if I’m going to achieve everything I set out to do.

In terms of bloggiing, my goal is to be more consistent and disciplined. I have set myself a goal to do 200 posts on each of the main blogs, starting today. If I can do more than that I will, but 200 is the minimum I want on each site. I’ve also got a schedule set up for writing and posting, and will be working very hard at keeping to that schedule. (Me and schedules don’t get along very well, so this will be an adventure.) My ultimate writing goal is still to reach 10,000 words a day.

For my business I’m in the second year of a five year plan. That means more info-products, more niche sites, and a renewed focus on newsletter publishing. I have been really lazy over the last couple of years when it comes to getting newsletters done and that has to change. I’ll be posting more about my business goals and progress throughout the year on The Introverted Marketer.

Fitness is the biggie for me this year. Since I starting going to the wellness centre several days a week I have been feeling so much better. I’m restarting my goal of competing in a sprint triathlon and completing it this summer. I had planned on this for last year, but at the time my heart was not in any shape to be put through that. I’ve started a new blog at I AM Getting Fit.com to keep track of my training, weight loss, and other fitness topics.

So what can you expect from me in 2011?

And on Day 2

Helena — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 03:45:58 +0000

Did we write?

Of course not! I find that I am at my best for fiction and creative stuff first thing in the morning, and I had an early morning appointment so my work day didn’t even start until almost 11 a.m. So working on my novel was pretty much a wash today, right along with going to the gym. I did come up with a title for the book though, so that’s a baby baby step in the right direction. Graspin’ for straws here ain’t I? :)

On the work front, I did get a fair amount of technical stuff done this afternoon. My Christmas site is up and running again, although I’ve decided now I don’t like the theme so that’s on the list to change tomorrow. And I got some more articles written for my PLR site. There’s still a few more to add to the pack before the next one is ready.

I’m pretty slow when it comes to writing articles because I have real problems turning off the inner editor. Lately I’ve been using the 10 minute method that Ed Dale taught in the Challenge this past summer, and that helps but I’m still way too tempted to stop and fix things up as I go. So today I tried writing my articles with the monitor off, and let me tell ya… it really worked! I shut the monitor off, set the timer and just started typing.

Ten minutes later… 716 words, and I still had more to say. If I had tried that with the monitor on, I probably would’ve been lucky to get 300-400 words down because I’d be forever going back and fixing up my spelling or changing things around as I go.

Now, mind you, it may all be gibberish when I go back to edit it in the morning but the quick peek I snuck as I was saving the draft didn’t look like it was totally covered in spelling mistakes. If it turns out okay, then I’m going to work my way up to where I’m doing a minimum of five ten-minute sessions every day, and that, theoretically, means I would have a new mini-pack of articles for sale every day. And that’s a very exciting prospect. :)

The word count for today is Fiction: 0, Non-fiction: 1498

Seems like I might have to work up a bit of steam here to hit 10,000 words a day. :)

Oh well, we’ll try again tomorrow. I’m outta here for the night.

The Insanity Begins

Helena — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 04:16:58 +0000

It’s that time of year again…. time for me to step beyond the boundaries of “must research and write only the facts” and pretend that I actually have an imagination, and that I know what to do with it. :) Yes, it’s day one of National Novel Writing Month, and I am determined to write my 50,000 words of semi-coherent characters and conversation over the next 30 days. Who knows… at the end of it I may even have something that doesn’t beg to be deleted on December 1st.

I’m not sure why I do this to myself every year. I’m not a fiction writer, and I know it. Stick the word “challenge” in front of me, and I’m there even if I have no hope in hell of ever completing it. But I do, and I love it. It’s something I do just for me, that gives me pleasure (along with the fits of temper when things don’t flow just right) and stretches my creativity way beyond the comfort zone I’m used to.

And so the insanity begins again… balancing the need to write fiction and non-fiction together on the same day, every day. The goal is 2000 words of fiction and 8000 of non-fiction, ie. work (just so no one thinks I’m slackin’ off on the job here). Have I mentioned lately that I’m the queen of unreasonable goals? :)

Dealing with Self Sabotage

Helena — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 03:43:04 +0000

I’m gonna make this really short and sweet tonight. I’m dealing with some pretty huge issues of self sabotage right now and since it has to do with business and marketing, I wrote about it over on my other blog. Instead of reposting the whole thing here, I’ll just link to it:

Productivity Challenge – Battling Self Sabotage

Must Be More Productive

Must Be More Productive

Helena — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 03:17:03 +0000

I’m definitely not getting enough work done these days. It’s just way too easy to drop everything and go spend the afternoons playing in the pool and put the work on the back burner until later in the day. Only later in the day never really seems to happen. So, in order to pay for my gym and swim habits, I’ve just posted a new productivity challenge over on my marketing blog.

No related posts.

March Brings Change

Helena — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:37:09 +0000

Change of seasons, change of mindset … it’s funny how that seems to work, at least for me.

My goal to get off disability took one step closer to becoming reality yesterday.

I had a meeting with a business coach yesterday. It was the first time I’d ever talked to anyone outside my circle of friends online about what I actually want to accomplish. I was really amazed at just how far one meeting went to change my mindset from a “just trying to make money at home” to feeling like a real business person.

So to celebrate afterward I took a walk along the river. It was such a gorgeous day, and warm too… I didn’t want to come back home!

I found an awesome fallen tree trunk to sit on, that jutted out far enough that I could take pictures of the river in both directions…

This is the view of the Hunter Street Bridge, looking north…

And this is the view looking south…

And now today, I’m back inside and getting back to work.

I guess for today I’ll have to confine myself to looking at everyone else’s pictures of the great outdoors. Thank goodness for Watery Wednesday and Outdoor Wednesday so I can get my fix even when I can’t get outside myself. :)

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Monday Morning Outlook

Helena — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:45:00 +0000

This started out yesterday as a “week in review” type post, but I kinda got sidetracked. (Story of my blogging life, it seems :))

There are times when I really wonder if I should be posting a week in review, because I don’t always get a lot done in a week. And this was one of those weeks. But then I thought that this is really when I do need to set out in writing what I have done so that a) I can see exactly how much or how little I have accomplished, and b) it will serve as a good incentive to do more next week.

One thing I’ve found that helps me in getting more done every day is to set myself a challenge for the day. It’s a tool I borrowed and adapted from a post by Robert Plank some time ago. Sometimes I make it, and sometimes I don’t but it really helps to have a focus for the day and to set my priorities. It’s way too easy for me to get sidetracked and end up doing a lot of little things, without actually finishing any one major project. This week I met two challenges, and have five more that need finishing up.

The two challenges that I did finish were:

1. Set up Lena’s Creations store and add four different designs of Christmas cards featuring my own photography. This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time now, and I’m really pleased that I’ve finally taken the first steps to getting it done.

2. Made an original video and posted it on youtube. It’s a short affirmation video and it’s also posted on The Acorn Stash blog. At the risk of sounding pathetically whiny, it hasn’t had very many views yet so if you could check it out and rate and/or comment I would be eternally grateful to you. :)

To keep me accountable this week, I’m posting my challenges here:

1. New products to be added to the Cafe Press Store
2. A new video
3. New content to be added to the Thoughts of Christmas blog.
4. A new issue of The Acorn Stash
5. A new issue of The Ritchie Report
6. New content on all of the blogs
7. A new Friday Special
8. Take some new pictures

I plan to write my little fingers off this week creating content. If I have to post my results here every day, then I figure that will go a long ways to keeping me on target. Then maybe my “week in review” post next Sunday won’t look so pathetic.

On the personal front, I’m still plugging away at my novel for NaNoWriMo. I’m way behind with only about 7000 words written so far, but I’m having fun with it. I went to a write-in on Thursday night and met a few of the other local authors who are participating. That was a really big step for my hermit self.

Oh, and I decided that I would set my fitness goal for next year to participate in a sprint triathlon. So I’ve been researching training tips and clean eating habits in order to get myself ready for that.

And that’s it for me this week. How was your week? Did you get everything done that you wanted to last week? What do you plan to accomplish this week? Leave a comment and let me know!

Have a great week!
Thanks for being here,