Writing – Page 3 – That Fitology Life

Topic 7: Best motivational blogs

This week we’ve looked at many things. We’ve looked at ways to stay motivated, motivational quotes, finding inspiration, gaining success with or without motivation, things that make me happy (and things to make you happy in 5 minutes!) and how to motivate yourself on off days.

To wrap this motivational themed week up, I am going to list my favourite motivational blogs (in no particular order):

http://motivationgrid.com/

http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/

http://tinybuddha.com/

http://everydaypowerblog.com/

http://www.positivityblog.com/

Thanks for staying for the ride! I hope you’ve all enjoyed this week’s content. I was lucky enough to have some time off work in which I could focus on getting the blog up to scratch post wise. After this week, I’ll aim to do one themed week per month. Remaining posts will be weekly on a Sunday, unless there’s a need to go bi-weekly.

If you have any feedback, tips, tricks, concerns or comments, please add them below.

Until then.

Social media update!

Sorry for the impromptu posting, but this is just an update on our new social media outlets:

Double Tap us on Instagram – look for thatfitologylife. We’re only new, so make sure you follow!

Stalk us on the Facey – look for thatfitologylife. All scheduled and direct push posts get automatically linked to this feed. The page is a work in progress 🙂

Read us in the blogosphere – go to thatfitologylife.com and make sure you follow our journey through social media and subscribe to the blog!

Topic 6: 6 Ways to stay motivated

One important thing about motivation, and one that we’ve discovered in our little motivation journey is that motivation is personal. Think about your own current goal, or what you are trying to achieve. For me personally, I have a specific fitness goal I need to achieve for a specific job I want to apply for. It’s the only thing that’s missing in my application process and the only thing holding me back.

Without having a plan and action, not only will my goal be unachievable (and I’ll likely fail quicker than I succeed), but I will lose the motivation I need to get me to the next step. The most important thing when setting and planning goals is to be real – because action isn’t something that happens on its own. Action and planning and success all require something really important – motivation.

Here are 6 ways to stay motivated when setting out on the path of achievement and success:

Remove your lack of commitment to a fuller application of your commitment. Begin by brainstorming your ideas, making a plan of action, using a storyboard, chart or other process to visually display how you can achieve that goal and then…
Stay consistent. Timeline and plot your short term goals and give them achievable timeframes.
Make yourself accountable. Use your most reliable checks and balances, your colleagues, your best friend, your family (your chess club) or the people who share the same mindset as you to make sure you stick to your goals. Set-up a social media page, blog, tracking system (if fitness oriented for example) to share your progress and allow you to get support when you need it.
Have a mentor. Think about when you sign up to a personal trainer. You train for half an hour in beast mode and come away sore and sweaty, but somehow when you try and replicate that same workout by yourself it takes you twice as long, and you’re nowhere near as tired. Get someone who will do the pushing and motivating for you if you aren’t strong enough to do it alone. There may be such a thing as willpower, but if you can’t manage yours, get someone else to do it for you.
Don’t stray from your goal. Don’t deviate, don’t change it up. Keep your eyes on the prize. Believe you can make it to the end.
Reward yourself when you reach a milestone. This doesn’t mean buying a double chocolate chip mud cake and eating it alone, in full, if your goals are weight loss or fitness related. It means making sure you reward yourself appropriately, so in this instance if you’ve dropped a dress size in weight, go and buy yourself some new leggings instead!

What do you do to stay motivated? Do you use the same techniques whether the goal is short term or long term? How do you plan to achieve a goal?

Topic 5: 50 motivational quotes to inspire you!

Quotes are interesting things. When you think about it they’re really just well executed words that when you read them you say, YES! This makes so much sense right now! They don’t have to come from famous people – often times you’ll hear people reminisce about a family member who has passed and they’ll quote that person in context.

I’ve collated a bunch of quotes from a variety of sources – here are 50 (yes only 50, I had to keep this post short!) to inspire and motivate you:

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” —Maya Angelou
“Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.” —Charles Swindoll
“If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more. If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough.” —Oprah Winfrey
“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” —Jimmy Dean
“Do or do not. There is no try.” —Yoda
“If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.”Vincent Van Gogh
“Successful people have fear, successful people have doubts, and successful people have worries. They just don’t let these feelings stop them.” Harv Eker
“If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” Tony Robbins
“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” Tony Robbins
“Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.” Winston Churchill
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” Gandhi
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” Theodore Roosevelt
“Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.” Napoleon Hill
“A year from now you may wish you had started today.” Karen Lamb
“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.” —Stephen Covey
“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” —Henry Ford
“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” —Steve Jobs
“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” —Ayn Rand
“Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.” —Dalai Lama
“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”Albert Einstein
“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” –Paulo Coelho
“Great people, no matter their field, have similar habits. Learn them and use them in your own quest for greatness.” –Paula Andress
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” (Anon)
“Don’t wait for a light to appear at the end of the tunnel Stride down there and light the bloody thing yourself.” – Dara Henderson
“Vision without action is just a dream, action without vision just passes the time, vision with action can change the world” – Nelson Mandela
“Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.” – John F. Kennedy
“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” – Henry David Thoreau
“Either you run the day or the day runs you.” – Jim Rohn
“When I thought I couldn’t go on, I forced myself to keep going. My success is based on persistence, not luck.” – Estee Lauder
“Action is the foundational key to all success.” – Pablo Picasso
“What’s money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.” —Bob Dylan
“Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless.” —Jamie Paolinetti
“When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.” —Helen Keller
“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Do what you can, where you are, with what you have.” Teddy Roosevelt
“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” Frederick Douglass
“What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.” Tim Ferriss
“The harder I work, the luckier I get.” Gary Player
“Even if you fall on your face, you’re still moving forward.” Victor Kiam
“The dreamers are the saviors of the world.” James Allen
“What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.” —Plutarch
“Nothing will work unless you do.” —Maya Angelou
“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than the ones you did. So, throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas A. Edison
“The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” – Michelangelo
“Nothing important was ever achieved without someone taking a chance.” – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
“By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands — your own.”–Mark Victor Hansen
“Give yourself an even greater challenge than the one you are trying to master and you will develop the powers necessary to overcome the original difficulty.”–William J. Bennett – The Book of Virtues
“Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal — a commitment to excellence — that will enable you to attain the success you seek.”–Mario Andretti

Topic 4: Can you have success without motivation and vice versa?

We often frame like-minded things together. Optimism, motivation, inspiration, creativity, tenacity, drive, ambition, discipline – it makes you think of that side of your brain that isn’t involved in the logical or methodical planning some of us have. I have that all too often – my analytical side of the brain feels like it is always switched on and my creative side of the brain feels like it’s only sometimes switched on, like when I take a decent photo (cos that’s about the only creative thing I can do).

So considering that you have all the right factors in place, let’s say hypothetically that you’re on the move, in the middle of an action to success, to reach a goal. Everything is set for a win, no matter how big or small, but for you it will be a win. Can you reach that end point without continued motivation? What about drive and discipline? Are they just buzz words or do they take over? Like is drive an element of motivation or can it survive on its own? At some point in your journey, has the path already been paved and you don’t need motivation anymore because the outcome will be the same even if your motivation wanes, so to speak?

I’ve been lurking around the blogosphere and the interwebs looking at other motivational blogs and the theme is similar across all of them. Positivity, optimism, motivation, success, productivity and entrepreneurship. That is what you’ll find in a large range of them – where topics are individuals at times and couple’s the next. Where drive and discipline often result in productivity and success. Which made me think, can you have success without motivation, or is success the grand result of motivation?

One huge attribute that separates successful entrepreneurs and the rest of us plebs is their ability to take risks, have a healthy fear of the unknown, planning and adaptability, excellent networks and networking abilities and the fact that they’re doing what they love. All of this combined plus a whole bunch of other buzz words is a combined effort at success. But it doesn’t necessarily mean you need all of these factors to succeed. Success isn’t a checklist, and what might be successful for you may not be my idea of success. Success isn’t measured by how much money you have or how much real estate you own – these things are simply a material effect of your success.

I think when you think about it in depth, you need to have motivation to have success. Because your version of happiness, your version of the successful outcome of something is personal to you and therefore, your motivation will be personal to you. I’ve lost 45kgs in total since I started my weight loss journey. To people that know me midway through it who didn’t know me at my largest, this doesn’t mean anything because they have nothing to compare it to, but to me, it’s a small child. So to that person, they will never personally understand my feeling of success because they still see me as someone who has to lose some more weight. See the difference?

Do you think success and motivation are as closely linked as I do? What are your thoughts?

Topic 3: Where to find inspiration?

So we’ve already been in a funk, had an off day or two and have done a bit of Googling to try and help ourselves feel more positive and optimistic. We’ve found a few posts at TFL (thatfitologylife) talking about motivation and making yourself happy and being positively progressive and we totally agree to all of that, however now we’re a bit stuck and in need of that inspiration.

Inspiration and motivation are two separate things even though they’re often used interchangeably. According to Merriam Webster, inspiration is defined by something that makes someone want to do something or that gives someone an idea about what to do or what to create: a force or influence that inspires someone. It’s the creativity and connectivity behind the desire to influence change, no matter how great or small.

Motivation on the other hand is more about the force or behaviour to act in a particular way. Think about a crime: what defines the purpose of the crime is the motivation/motive, the act essentially. Motivation is literally the desire to do things. It’s the crucial element in setting and attaining goals (Source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/motivation).

So where do we find inspiration? Well, that all depends. Personally, I am looking at a lot of independent women now in the fitness industry to gather my inspiration in my own personal journey to live a fitology life. I am inspired by women both younger and older than me, whether they be fitter or not, or smarter or not, or more wealthy than I…I don’t look at that and I don’t judge on those attributes. I am however, enlightened by their tenacity, their drive and their undivided attention to their own self development.

That being said, there are some schools of thought that argue inspiration is something you can’t reach for and that you have to let it come to you. I tend to agree – because the more I go out looking for ways to feel creative and inspirational, the less inspired I feel. Following some of these methods however, may help you find that light bulb moment in a moment of hazy clarity:

Write it down: write it all down. Good thoughts, bad thoughts, dreams, drawings, musings and observations. There are so many apps out there that have a journaling capability, but if that link to technology simply evades you, buy yourself a journal and carry it with you. You’ll one day read back on some of your musings and realise you can do something with that information. It also helps you look at how your brain works and what you lean towards when under different stressors.

Pin it: If, however you do like the technological link to your own creativity, then get onto Pinterest and make yourself a bunch of boards. I have heaps! I pin like mad. Of course, some of it I forget about and when I go through reviewing some of my older stuff I am pleasantly surprised that I pinned that image/article etc. This is one of the best ways to get your ideas down quickly because you’ll never see one thing you like entirely, but multiple things you like many items of. For example, I am looking now at renovating boards and pinning lots of images about colour selections. I have wooden cathedral ceilings and slate tiles floors, beautiful natural features of the house, so I am looking at ways to brighten the house and give it a slightly modern edge without taking away the aesthetics of what I have that I love about it.

Change your scenery: go somewhere different. If you work at home, go out to a coffee shop. If you live in the city, take a day at the beach or go to the country. Give yourself a new life experience by branching out of your comfort zone.

Find a new perspective: ask other people in the business what they do. Look at other men and women in your field of work and what they do after they retire from there. Look at the skills you have and try to match them in a different job type or location and see if that would be a suitable move for you. Just continue thinking about and looking at different ways to do what you are currently doing that you want to change. Are you a photographer? Try painting instead! Understanding the ‘other side of the fence’ will help you develop creativity and an understanding for why and how things are done a certain way.

The Huffington Post has some good ideas about it here.

Self-reflection and inner focus: focus on yourself. Take some extra time for yourself, stay a little longer at the gym, get up earlier for that walk…do whatever it is that you need to give yourself some alone time. Switch off from communications and multimedia and just watch the world around you.

Don’t over analyse: learn to brainstorm and write ideas down. Learn the exercise of thinking broadly and widely. Don’t be too critical on yourself during this process. No-one can see your brainstorming so let those ideas run wild!

Do something different: take a new class, find a new hobby or enrol in that short online course. Immerse yourself in that other thing that you love, that thing you do on the side. I sometimes think I will never be one of those people who has made a success out of doing ‘what I love’ because their jobs are easier than mine. I sometimes wish I chose a different vocation or had something else that I loved as much as I love my field of work – that would make it way easier for me to move around the world.

Follow relevant social media influencers and other online modules of inspiration: follow Facebook groups/pages, Pinterest users, blogs, Instagram accounts and attend meet and greets (where possible) of your favourite social media influencers. They’re where they are because they totally and utterly love what they do, whether its fitness, or makeup or doing reviews. Mix with entrepreneurs who have the achievements you’re aiming for, and talk (again where possible) with people in the field to learn from them. Being a social media influencer has become such an important job these days and has arguably changed the way marketing and human behaviours adapt to these changes.

Find inspiration in people and possibilities: find like-minded people to mix with and to learn from. Take that leap and join that club, apply for that job (you think you can’t do, but want to do) or even write a bucket list. The sources of inspiration here are totally endless and only stopped by your willingness to move forward and interact with the world around you.

Where do you find inspiration in this mass-connected globe?

Topic 2: Things that make me happy and 15 things to make you happy in 5 minutes!

I’ve been working on a planning and posting content schedule for my blog. I have notebooks everywhere with scrawled notes of what I would like to post about, but in reviewing those ideas for this week’s motivation series, I seem to be leaning toward a lot of ‘list’ type posts.

I like lists. I like list type posts because they’re easy to read. I also just really like lists (the same way I like stationary even though I have no use for stationary being that I am a tech-head).

Topic 2 for this week of motivational posts is going to be about happiness and how to make yourself happy, or, things that make me happy. I combined two list posts in one for this post and its simply fabulous.

That being said, let’s have a look at some generic ways to make yourself feel happy: 15 ways to feel happy in 5 minutes!

Go outside: fresh air, a cool breeze or the sun on your skin can give you new perspective.
Wear a statement piece of clothing or bold necklace.
Wear some bold lipstick – red is a winner for feeling confident!
Do a HIIT workout. 10-20 minutes is all you need to get the blood pumping and the endorphins on route through your body (and help reduce stress!)
Turn the music up and go for a drive! Open the windows, find some good road trip music and sing until you lose your voice!
Go have a small splurge! Buy yourself that Jaclyn Hill highlighter you’ve been knocking back for months (or that Kat Von D eyeshadow pallet your face drools over). Spoil yourself!
Make plans: book an appointment to get your hair done, or to go see a friend/movie/show. Or even enrol in a short course or gym class, just make a plan and stick to it!
Smile.
Have a piece of chocolate (or whatever your treat is).
Re-read a favourite book (or find a new book boyfriend!)
Cuddle with your dog or your cat. They feel your love and you feel their comfort. It’s wonderful.
Think positive: remember, fake it til you make it!
Have a drink. Any drink…. alcoholic, fresh juice, a fresh brew of coffee. Whatever it is that makes you go “mmm”.
Pay it forward. See someone struggling with something? See a mum negotiating holding toddler hands and doing the groceries all at once? See someone come up short for their coffee? Help them out. You’ll feel marvellously better.
Buy yourself your favourite flowers.

And in no particular order, here is my list of what makes me happy:

Rain: cold rain, warm rain, any rain. The smell of rain, the feel of rain. I just love it.
A good meal: a hearty meal that makes you say “mmm” until you finish your last bite.
Weight training: the sweat, the burn, the delayed onset muscle soreness, all of it.
My husband, my home, my animals.
A good coffee, not burnt and no lukewarm milk.
Reading a book you can’t put down and then when you finish it you want to read it again.
My solitude. Being an INTJ has its benefits.
I love the sound of weights racking onto a bar. The clang of metal is soothing.
Happy music: anything positive, forward or uplifting. I am not a sob story music person. I love EDM, I love a good, happy country song, or a good raise your hands in the air rock song. As long as it’s not mopey sad!
Take pictures. I love going out after the rain or when the seasons change and take photos of my farm.

What do you do to make yourself happy quickly? Alternately, what makes you happy all the time?

Topic 1: How to motivate yourself on off days

We all have off days, weeks, and even months. Sometimes you get into a funk and you can’t get out of it. Sometimes the funk is something you can’t easily get out of and so your life becomes a revolving door of Groundhog Day blues.

I feel this on a personal level right now, and based on my own experience, I know that finding that motivation and optimism to continue can sometimes be hard to muster. Off days can come from a variety of sources and cause great impact and stress on an individual, but only you alone have the power to turn an off day into an on day.

Here are ~~ten~~ eleven tips I’ve used to attempt to combat those off days – whether it be finding the motivation to go the gym, or go to that after work get together after a long week.

“Fake it til you make it” – A work psychologist introduced me to this phrase. Basically the premise is that if you act in a certain way even if you don’t feel like it, eventually the proposed happiness or feeling good will feel real. In more technical terms, this common catchphrase is taken from an idea called ‘Positive Feedback’, in which “A produces more of B which in turn produces more of A” (Source: Keesing, R.M. (1981). Cultural anthropology: A contemporary perspective (2nd ed.) p.149. Sydney: Holt, Rinehard & Winston, Inc.).
Set small achievable goals that will make you feel as if you are progressing. This is an excellent way to re-motivate yourself on an off day because you can reflect and look at what you have already achieved, and what is still left to achieve. Sometimes, this is enough to make you realise that you may actually be halfway to your goal, and may reinspire and reinvigorate you.
Go for a nap.
Go for a walk, or go to the gym (if this isn’t your ‘off’ activity): we’ve all heard this message before. I actually find if I miss too many days in the gym I get extremely upset and grouchy and everything bothers me. The feeling of release, sweat and working hard puts me in a zone, and allows me some quiet time, where I focus on my reps, sets, counts, weights and breathing. I forget about everything else, and focus entirely on that workout. Sometimes that 45 mins or hour away from the real world and real life problems gives you fresh eyes to look at your issue again. Plus, the chemical release of endorphins during and after a workout will put you in a much better mood than when you started!
Look at motivational posts, images, blogs or books: I use so many mediums for this. I love Pinterest and have a ‘motivation’ board. Looking back and reflecting on it when I’ve been at different points in my life has been interesting in my own personal development and to see where my mind was. I also listen to podcasts, The Moth and Invisibilia I binge on. The Moth is comedic but heartfelt and you listen to true stories of hope and optimism at times when people were really down. Invisibilia looks at the ‘invisible forces that shape our behaviour’ – both make me think long and hard about my own issue and realise there are other ways to tackle problems.
Give yourself positive affirmations: I know, sounds corny, but not only will it help you out of your funk but it will make you realise your problems aren’t your entire world.
Breakdown the issue or what is making you feel off, elementwise it, compartmentalise it, box it, link it and package it away. When I started going to the gym and doing weights, I kept saying to myself “it’s only 45 mins out of my day” – I looked at other activities I did that took 45 minutes and realised I had more than enough time to fit a gym session into my day. Breaking down my day like this and breaking down my time meant I could easier deal with not only my time management, but made me reflect on how I could deal with other issues.
Stop saying the negatives – “I can’t”, “I don’t have the time”, “I don’t have the money” – You can. Turn all your negatives into positives. When you feel your brain slipping that way and that inner voice of negativity pulling at your heart strings, stop it in the moment – you’ll very quickly reaffirm to yourself that you can, and it goes back to that notion of ‘Fake it til you make it’: keep saying you can and you will.
Write it down. Write down what is in your way, what is bothering you, what is annoying you and look at what you can do to change that. I find blogging helps me in this process. Again, this goes back to setting small achievable goals and moving forward.
Try something new or different. Look at your bucket list and tick off an easy item and see if that temporary side step off your days’ path will push your positivity. You might find you develop a new interest.
Last but not least: get your energy or motivation from someone who has the energy you don’t (at that time). You’ll often hear people say that they pick certain gym partners for the additional accountability or, husband and wife, boyfriend and girlfriend or best friend duo’s where one is more motivated than the other. My best friend in the world is my husband. Recently I applied for a job I really wanted and didn’t get it after a couple of months of testing and interviewing. I literally broke down that day and was like “That’s it, I am going to go work at the grocery store and pack shelves”. My husband snapped me out of it. He basically said to me that I shouldn’t let this setback get me down. Another job will come; another door will open. There is a lesson to learn in this experience and to not beat myself up. I was worthy, I was amazing, I was brilliant and I was so good at my job. After an evening of moping and watching Youtube videos in bed, I woke up refreshed. I told myself how right he was, how brilliant I was and continued on with my day.

Pushing positivity when you’re down is one of the hardest things to do, especially when it feels that you’re doing it for so long or that you’re not making any progress. For me, I use any of the above methods and remind myself how truly fabulous I am every single day. It may sound a little corny, true, but without a doubt I pull myself out of any and every funk I get into.

So, what are some of the things you do to get out of an off day?

Link to Invisibilia Podcast: http://www.npr.org/podcasts/510307/invisibilia

Link to The Moth podcast: https://www.themoth.org/

Link to a fabulous article by Pip @ meetmeatmikes.com – “10 ways to feel better when things have gone wrong.”

Do what you love: learning to deal with setbacks, positive planning and moving forward.

I’ve been thinking a lot about changing jobs – changing industry completely.

What happened?

I recently got word that the job I really wanted was not going to be offered to me. I literally felt my heart breaking, but again, I don’t think it was because I wanted the job so bad that I would go crazy if I didn’t get it – it’s because I dislike the one I currently have so much.

I went through all the same motions – why am I not good enough? How can someone be better than me? How can someone have the same experience? Well specifically in my instance, not many people can (as a civilian), so I kept wrapping my crazy brain nodes into eccentric fusion trying to think about where I went wrong. I am waiting to get the feedback and so until then, I will be exploding inside my own brain trying to analyse the interview and what I said (in attempted hindsight).

This takes its toll on me. I am a critically happy person, all of the time. I laugh, I make practical jokes, I have good, honest relationships with people and I generally find the positive in every situation. So when something bitch-slaps me hard enough that I start doubting myself, my footing becomes completely unstable and I stand like an unsure wobbly infant trying to take its first few steps.

How do I feel?

What I dislike about this whole experience is the way I beat myself up about a negative result, which under normal circumstances I would just take on board as constructive criticism. I deeply feel as if I am being rejected, or that I don’t live up to the requirements for the job, but whenever I get feedback I get positive feedback and so I spin myself into this centrifuge of self-doubt and sadness.

Is it possible that the negativity of being at this job I dislike was conveyed during my interview? Everyone said I would get it – everyone. I have the skill set and the expertise (and the Agency acumen as I used to work there until 4 months ago) – so why was I not chosen? The worst part about it is, had I got this job, I would’ve been gone from this one in about a fortnight, never having to return to see the awful person I share an office with ever again, or put up with her bullying and harassment and utter ineptitude and lack of ability. This was the perfect time to go.

Even thinking of staying where I am for the career opportunities is not enough to make me want to stay. I can get significantly promoted at this Agency in my discipline of work, moreso than the one I came from, but there is nowhere near enough fucks in the world that are enticing me to want to give this place even 5 more minutes of my time. Granted, I have been relieving as the supervisor and am excelling – but I can’t even get excited about working towards a promotion here.

What I have been thinking about…

For months I’ve been telling my husband I want to be like my favourite Youtubers. But I mean that term sort of loosely. I want to have passion about something that they do enough so that I can do it as my job every single day. The problem is, the thing I love most in this world is the job I do (which for civilians is a niche area to be in anyway), so I am automatically hit with a wall because my job is not offered in the private arena and they are very few and far between. Maybe some new positions will come up in other states and other agencies, but if I want them I might have to consider moving (which in itself isn’t too bad but that opens up its own can of worms).

Everything that I’ve been reading so far about changing careers is people who have something they love doing so much that their day job has been merely to supplement and provide the income needed for them to do other things.

So I started googling different terms like, how to change career, how to be a blogger, strategic communications, writing and working from home etc. etc and I came across entire blogs and web series about this. Again I started thinking about my blog and about what I was trying to convey and also thinking about if I were to change career, what would I change it to? I thought about my favourite Youtubers and what their channels were about. Some of them were fitness models and bodybuilders, some were home cooks, and other reviewers of makeup, women’s fashion, firearms etc. Whilst I like and have an interest in those things, I don’t know if I have enough of an interest in them to be able to talk obsessively about it and create the content for it. I don’t know if my extra-curricular hobbies are strong enough that I can turn a side passion into a primary passion. I also considered having a secondary blog covering more research based content on my actual field of work, but it just doesn’t grab me.

An article that really took my attention was one I found at careershifters.org. “How to Change Career When You Have No Idea What You’re Doing” and there were so many moments I whispered ‘yes’ to myself reading this, or found myself nodding. What really caught my eye was what the author says toward the end:

“And remember, this isn’t just about your career; it’s about your life.

It’s about how you feel every morning; it’s about how that rubs off on your health and your relationships; and, ultimately, it’s about the impact that you can make on the world through being alive in what you do.

The stakes are high.

But they’re higher still if you don’t do anything about it.

So, for goodness sake, don’t just read this article. Do something because of it. Please.”

What I’ve decided…

Well, to be honest, not much. If you think of a see-saw and picture yourself standing in the middle of a see-saw, with the left hand side being stay and the right hand side being go, I have placed my right leg to the right of the see-saw and we’ve shifted slightly downward facing right. This slight movement might not seem like much, but for me, it is a huge deal. So as we stand at this moment in time, I’m currently leaning more towards the go theory which I think we can dedicate an entire heading to.

The “Go” Theory

The “Go” Theory can be loosely identified as follows:

Whilst I have no concrete plan, I know that I don’t want to stay where I am and I don’t want to be in a constant state of despair.
I want to move forward. (this includes via a job promotion in my existing field)
I want to exemplify the characteristics of living a ‘fitology’ life – so to me, a fitology life is not just about being physically fit, but by being mentally sharp, emotionally acute, in the moment, positive, progressive and empowered. It’s almost like a personalised version of the concept of work/life balance.
I want to make decisions I have complete control over. I don’t want to be subject of other people’s ideology, system of belief, way of life/living. I also don’t want other people’s decision making ability to continue to affect my life. I won’t let myself feel down because of a lost job opportunity, a decision made against my recommendation or the effects of another person unto me. If I am going to feel like shit, I want to be the one that has put me in that position, not someone else who will walk away from the encounter completely emotionless. Make sense?
I also do not want to be a burden on anyone. I don’t want my husband to feel as if he needs to supplement me not working, and I most definitely do not want to be reliant on the government. I want to make money doing what I love. I want to make money and feel free and happy. If this means I find work still in my field but in an Agency that is more to my ideological guidelines, then so be it. Thankfully I have never been driven by money, but to be appropriately compensated for the work I do is all I ask as long as I am happy doing it.
I want to focus on what I believe in and stand for. I want to eat clean, live in a sustainable fashion (as much as possible), exercise and be fit, write, read and empower myself with knowledge and wisdom (and not leave too much of a carbon footprint whilst doing so).
I don’t want to deal with things that make me stress or upset. I don’t want to be stuck in traffic, or driving for long periods of time just to commute to and from work. I don’t want to pay for parking, I don’t want to pay exorbitant money for fuel, lunches, coffee in the morning. Yes, a lot of these items are choice purchases but I don’t want to put myself in a position to facilitate unnecessary spending.
I don’t want to just talk about it anymore. I want to do it.

Action and how to put this all in motion.

Wow, this is a long post. But basically, I have a semblance of a plan.

The obvious choice will be to continue to apply for jobs in my field so that I am interviewing and improving my interview based on feedback from recent knock backs. It still remains the love of my life, my academic achievements are based on this discipline and I love it, I truly do.

The second is to increase my blog content activity. I need to sit down and brain storm content headings and topics of interest, and research other lifestyle blogs for their methodology and find something that works for me. That way, if nothing new comes in 6 months’ time I can fall back on something else or even this.

After that the manner of priority is whichever choice is best at the time. So I need to start researching strategic communication and learning about the effect of positive branding and SEO so that I can make my blog and my content marketable. I also need to look deeper into researching and writing longer articles of value, potential collaborations, interviews and networking with other likeminded bloggers. I need to make sure that I am not stuck in a position like this again, where I feel that I am as limited as I am with the circumstance I am in.

I want to read more, ingest more, have greater knowledge and get involved in communities that feel the way I do about things. I don’t want to limit my potential. I want to start attending meetups, submit work for criticism and develop my own brand strategy.

I basically just want to get away from doing the same thing all the time – what’s that saying? If you do the same thing all the time you get the same result? Exactly. So if I keep responding to these setbacks the way I have been, I won’t ever develop. Somehow I feel that my lack of success lately has a lot to do with a lesson I need to learn that I obviously haven’t I’ve even brainstormed what it could be – I hope that whatever it is, I am getting closer day by day to the breakthrough.

Until next time.

P.S – I promise to ease up on the uber positiveness for the next few posts 🙂

Week 3 writers block..

Have you ever been too tired to post? I’ve re-written this blog post 4 times….well, this is the fourth time and I just can’t seem to get it to say what I want to. I just don’t have that excitement today.
But I keep thinking about the people I watch on YouTube and the blogs I read and one thing they all have is consistency, even when they’re too tired to blog. I tried writing about what we did this weekend to explain the tiredness but it all seemed so bland.

I then thought, how about I do a recipe post using tonight’s dinner? But then I realized I would have to take a photo and possibly edit it, and I really wasn’t too keen on that.

I then thought about talking about my two next projects, my home gym and my vegetable garden – but again, I have to take some before and after shots and not be on my iPad to do it so I can upload the pictures and place them in the post where I am referencing them, and that once again requires me taking a photo I don’t currently feel like taking.

I then thought, maybe I should write a post about what I did at gym today – again, I was plagued by the fact I took no images and undertook no pre-planning of this post yet again! Even though I’ve made the commitment to blog every Sunday…

/sigh

I guess if anything it has put in to perspective how important it can be to develop a posting schedule (which I already discussed, and even referred to earlier on in my blog, but found nothing I was keen on writing about). It also put into perspective how little I actually did this week that I enjoyed. I worked my ass off – didn’t get to all my gym sessions and caught up on necessary house work. Sometimes, I guess we can’t have it all yet somehow we lose sight of that because of necessities.

I found myself daydreaming way too much about what it would be like if I ever won the lottery – how I would win enough to pay my mortgages out, buy my parents and sister a home and then go on a long vacation to work out what to do with the rest of the money.
How I would spend my days Vlogging and blogging my travel adventures…

Wishful thinking, huh?

What did you do when stuck with writers block?
My featured image describes it all – so many options available yet you’re still stuck in that moment of expression.