Tag: Kaizen

Just Another Manic Tuesday!

Just Another Manic Tuesday!

Good morning, Beautiful Creatives! Okay, so maybe it is not quite a manic Tuesday, but the Manic Monday song ran through my head as I was trying to figure out what to title this post…so there ya go! 🙂 My day of taking micro baby 

Starting Anew!

Starting Anew!

Good morning, Beautiful Creatives! I have decided that I may be the world’s worst blogger. I never seem to get around to updating my blog, so, instead of dwelling on that, I’ve decided that this morning I will start anew! I have been asking myself, 

A Tired Tuesday Evening!

A Tired Tuesday Evening!

Good evening!

I think my body is still trying to recuperate from being so sick this last week, because for some reason I am really achy and if I were to close my eyes right now, I would be out like a light!! So, I am going to keep this short! 😉

I wanted to make sure I posted my Kaizen activities for today:

  1. Got up on time
  2. Brushed my teeth
  3. Walked 2 blocks from parking lot to my office
  4. Walked up 3 flights of stairs
  5. Had a healthy breakfast
  6. Tracked my breakfast
  7. Walked down 5 flights of stairs
  8. Walked 2 blocks to lunch and then back again
  9. Had grilled chicken instead of beef at lunch
  10. Requested extra veggies with my lunch
  11. Walked 2 more blocks to get from office to parking lot
  12. Drank about 2 liters of water today
  13. Had some extra vegetables with dinner tonight
  14. Ate an orange for dessert
  15. Started reading a health/nutrition book this evening
  16. Doing kegals while blogging! 😉
  17. Brushed my teeth again
  18. Flossed
  19. Will do a stress relieving meditation before bed
  20. Took some time to stretch before bed

Today was a day about hope, love and gratitude. There have been a lot of stressful things going on in my life, at both work and at home. Today was a day that I chose to change my perspective and focus on all of the blessings that come my way everyday!! There are a lot of things and changes going on at work right now that we are hoping will really help make our jobs more enjoyable, and less stressful. My home is clean, and my husband loves me like crazy, and I love him right back! We have every need taken care of, plus some for helping others with. We are blessed!

We are blessed! We are blessed!
and today, I am just soooo thankful!!!

Before I go for the evening, I wanted to remind you that tomorrow is our Chunky Dunker’s Club meeting!!! I will try and post by 6:30 tomorrow evening! Don’t forget to hop on so I can hear how everyone is doing!! I am excited to weigh in the morning and let you all know how I am doing too!! 20 pounds is the goal!!!! YEAH!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉

Sick As A Dog!

Sick As A Dog!

Good morning! Ok, so I am realizing no matter how much you try to take care of yourself, when your body decides to get sick you have no choice but to pay attention!!! So, today I am down and out with a REALLY bad bug!! 

The Chunky Dunker’s Club, Week 4

The Chunky Dunker’s Club, Week 4

Good evening! Welcome to week 4, of the Chunky Dunker’s Club!!! Can you believe it has been FOUR weeks already?? Every week I post a new Chunky Dunker’s article ever Wednesday evening, and you have the opportunity to comment, and cheer each other as you 

30-Day Makeover, Day 2!

30-Day Makeover, Day 2!

Welcome back!

As you may remember we are going through the 30-Day Life Makeover, and yesterday we came up with our dream list that contained everything and anything that you wanted to do, be, have, learn, etc. How did that go? Were there any things that showed up on your list that surprised you?? Did you find the list easy to come up with?

What I would like for you to do next, is to go through your list, and choose the top 5 things that NEED your attentions RIGHT NOW (and for the next 3 months)!!! If 5 is too overwhelming, choose 4, or 3, or 2, or even 1 – just to get the ball rolling. You don’t have to know how you are going to accomplish these top 5 things, but you KNOW that they NEED your attention!!

Your list will look different than mine, but here are my Top 5:

  1. I need to lose 100 pounds, and gain energy, flexibility, stamina, and vivaciousness.
  2. I need a happy, passionate, and trust-filled relationship with my husband, where we both feel like we are being supported and nurtured equally; or I need to leave and find all of that with myself.
  3. I need to have a home that greets me when I come home every day from work, and reflects who I am as a creative, passionate, glamorous woman who absolutely radiates joie de vivre.
  4. I need to have my finances in such a way that all of my bad debt has been eliminated, I have at least 6 months of income stashed away for any emergencies, I have a versatile stock portfolio that will continue to grow no matter what the economy, and I need to be living within my means so as to have money left over to enjoy the good things in life – people, and experiences.
  5. I need to have a career that is honoring to my authentic self; one that is creative, artistic, challenging, fun, and filled with laughter, great people, and one that I am more in control of.

So my short version would be:

  1. Health
  2. Marriage
  3. Home
  4. Finances
  5. Self-employment

Now, when you come up with your top 5, make sure you ABSOLUTELY LOVE your list, because this is going to be a b tool in helping you manage your time for the next 3 months. From now on, this list will be known as your ABSOLUTE “YES” LIST!!!

An Absolute “Yes” List is the list that you will use to decide what you want to be doing at any given moment for the next 3 months, and will help you carve out minutes or even hours out of your week to accomplish what you want.

For example:

Say I just got home from a long day of work, and I really feel like I need to relax, so I plop down on the couch and settle in for a nice long television watching spree. At the end of the night I say to myself, “Oh man – I didn’t get anything done, where has my day gone???”

What would have happened if I would have called on my Absolute “Yes” List?

Same scenario:

Say I just got home from a long day of work, and I really feel like I need to relax, and I ask myself what could I be doing that would be both honoring to my Absolute “Yes” List , and still help me relax? My mind answers my saying, “How about taking a mini walk to unwind (health),  asking my sweetie if he would mind helping me cook dinner with his mad-fantastic cooking skills in the kitchen (marriage), crank up some playful music (home)”, etc, etc. Do you see what I mean??

Now, I am not saying that you have to be “On” all the time, no, girls – we definitely need our downtime, and there are days when a long sit with the tele is the only thing that will hit the spot, but where will that get you if that is your norm?? I know where it has gotten me! And holy crap – I need to go smack my younger self and say,

“Snap out of it – GIRL, you have OPTIONS!!! THIS IS YOUR LIFE WE ARE TALKING ABOUT!!!!”

An Absolute “Yes” List is also something that is VERY helpful for someone like me, where I have challenges standing up for myself and saying “no”. I must confess that saying “no” has been a weakness for me – I swear it is genetic!!!! 😉 I am sure there are a few of you out there who have those same “genes” too. So this is how the Absolute “Yes” List helps me.

When someone asks me to do ANYTHING, I usually say “Yes” without actually thinking about what I want. Do I feel like babysitting a bunch of 4 year old banshees, while all of the other women go get pedicures???? Probably not, but I would say “Yes” and then be kicking myself about it the whole time I was watching those adorable, snot-nosed little tricycle-motors!!! However learning to say “no” is really a gift for both you and the asker, because your friend wouldn’t want to have you resentful towards her because you were the one who said “yes”; and by saying “no” to something you don’t want to do will reinforce to you that your TIME is valuable aka YOU ARE VALUABLE!!!

This is where your homework assignment of bringing some 3 x 5 cards, a mini notebook, a journal, or a pad of paper comes into play. For the next 29 days, including today, I want you to write on one side of a card/sheet of paper your Absolute “Yes” List, and on the other side of the paper, I want you to write the day’s date, and write down EVERY SINGLE accomplishment, action, step that you took towards accomplishing those goals. It could be BIG or little! (I have posted a pic of a sample daily card up above!)

This is called Kaizen!!! Kaizen is a Japanese word that means continuous improvement. No matter how small the action you take to continuously improve yourself, the next day you take the same small step, and the next the same small step, pretty soon you will have created a whole new future for yourself by compounding your small steps, into what will appear to be LEAPS and BOUNDS!!!

YOU CAN DO THIS!!!

I recommend reviewing your Absolute “Yes” List at least once every 3 months, because as you grow/learn/change, your list will grow/learn/change too!

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me in the comments section above, I do check my e-mails throughout the day. I look forward to being of service!

I look forward to seeing you tomorrow for Day 3 of my 30-Day Life Makeover!

Have a FABULOUS evening!!