Tag: goals

I am wrong!

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Hard words to say but there it is in black and white.

I set about accomplishing several goals this year. 

1. Read 10 books – On #5 and #6 right now

2. Spending more time with friends, less on Facebook. Check

3. Lose 50 pounds. I have lost 40.

4. Give 10 effective speeches. I have given 6. 

4. Get more sleep aka stop snoozing

I have made zero progress on this goal until today. I have been trying to decipher why I needed to get more sleep “just five more minutes” because the goals above are not easy and with modesty, I am getting them done, no problem, even shouted a healthy, Jed Bartlettesque “What’s next?” to those goals but the sleep thing was really stumping me. I turned to the internet for answers including twitter and facebook and finally realized. 

It is like everything else on my list, it requires intention and discipline so I am proud to say I woke up today and did not snooze and as a result had time to do dishes, make breakfast and write a blog post. Definitely a successful morning already which sets me up to have a great day.

So I hereby declare to my husband and certain others who have been chorusing for years, you were right and I was wrong. I choose not to snooze. Today. and Tomorrow. So it might take a bit to form a habit but that is okay too, I plan to give myself some grace and work on it each day. That’s how I am working on everything else. 

What are you working on? What are your stumbling blocks? Can I help?

Email me at jennifermckennasays@gmail.com and let’s chat about it!

Are you really too busy?

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Seems like a simple thing.. and it is but a lot of us get caught in the trap of being busy, we say it all the time. I am busy, I can’t make it I am busy.. oh I would love to, but if I weren’t busy…. You get it.

But ask yourself, what are you too busy doing? Are you busy following the dreams that matter to you? Are you saying you are too busy to avoid a confrontation?

You know, we all have the same 24 hours. Some are working two jobs, some are new mothers, some are mothers of 2, and you don’t have to be a mom to be busy. You can be single and be busy with pursuing your career. You can’t exactly say,”I really don’t want to spend time with you, and our friendship isn’t strong enough to support one on one time”, but due to the niceties of society that we are all conditioned to support, we don’t say that, because, A) its rude B) we don’t want to admit we have failed that friendship by pretending its something its not but are unwilling to move on. We all make time for the things that matter. I am guilty of this problem which is why I am posting about it, I struggle with making time for the things that matter, but sometimes I just sit and watch netflix because that is what I really WANT to do.

I want you to think about it the next time someone asks you to do something. If you don’t want to do the activity, pick another activity and suggest it. If you are already committed for that time, suggest another time, Committed is a very different word than busy. Busy is flabby and unspecific. 

If you don’t want to spend time with the person think about why.. and then decide if its time to tell them (hard truth time!) or to just say you are busy. I don’t expect that one post can change the behavior of an entire culture, I just think its worth examining what you are “busy” doing.

What’s the point? Life is short, spend it with people you care about.

In the journey to a goal, you have only to take the first step

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So I went to an event last night all about getting unstuck and moving towards your individual level of awesomeness. Be that as co-worker, mother, daughter, friend, wife, etc. It’s amazing to me how inspired I got listening to the speaker who I have read his words and follow his blog and so am familiar with his work and yet there were still things that surprised me.

As I was waiting in line to talk to him and have him sign my book, I had a great idea. I am big into foot pictures and take them often, (if you know me personally this isn’t a shock) but it occurs to me anyone reading this probably doesn’t know me personally. What you might not know is why.

It started in 1999. I had just lost my job and had planned a trip to London which as a lifelong Anglophile was pretty exciting. The first day there I was excited but also really cranky, because while I had been looking forward to it forever, there was jet lag, and other travelers and the tube was not fun to navigate and on and on and I realized I was in the land where Shakespeare wrote things and where Churchill walked and wanted to capture my feet on those self-same cobblestones and it instantly lifted my foul mood.

I have inserted a photo here that shows me and the author taking that first step, its of a theatre in Austin, Texas where I live and I have seen many plays in that theatre. This is a symbol of the steps I am taking to pursue my dream. The important thing is not his feet, although that was cool, the important thing to notice are my feet, I am taking a step forward, and no longer stuck. I am moving.

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What step will you take? What can you do today to work on what matters?

http://www.thestartbook.com

Lost weight, gained perspective

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Since January 1st, I am proud to say, I have lost 38 pounds. That looks so weird in black and white and yet it is 100% true. I never thought that would happen.

Let’s review my goals for the year, shall we?

More coffee, and face to face with friends, less Facebook. I am spending lots of face to face time with friends, still struggle with the less Facebook piece.

Read 10 books – I have now read 4

Lose 50 pounds. I HAVE LOST 38 POUNDS. Besides that, I feel great, rested and healthy.

So I have 12 more to go, I am really excited when the day comes to tell you I have lost 51 pounds because that is what it is all about. Making goal, Meeting that goal and beating it.

What are you working on? What kind of help do you need? How will you change one thing today to make a difference in tomorrow’s results?

Creativity? Piece of cake!

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My cakeballs are important. I don’t make them often, and especially now that we are doing paleo 95.4% of the time cake balls are usually not on the menu. So it is special when I make them and my husband is always telling me how good they are. I love that man.

 I was reminiscing about when I was taught how to make them. I was a newly engaged lady and in preparing to be a wife I thought, well I am 34 and probably should learn to cook. I did learn a few things about roasting a chicken and cooking some casseroles but the one that stuck the most was the cake balls. For those who don’t know, they are little drops of heaven covered in icing and sprinkles. Utterly decadent and sweet, my favourite thing about them is that you can eat just one and feel satisfied. Unlike a slice of cake or pie, you don’t feel guilty after just one.. however after 6 or 7, well you are on your own.

I remember thinking at the time, I am not creative so this is going to be hard. You know what I discovered? That I, through my own thoughtless words had perpetuated my lack of creativity and it was just recently that I discovered this. I am in fact very creative, its something that makes me a good storyteller, speaker and coach. No one has ever told me that I was not creative, I decided that on my own and continued to believe this falsehood. No more. Just the other day, someone asked me, “Are you creative?” and my knee jerk response was to say, No. but I stopped myself and said,

“Yes, I am very creative”

What lie have you told yourself over and over? What truth do you need to embrace?

This is a question I have asked myself and others since reading Jon Acuff’s book START. This book is all about questioning the beliefs you have about yourself over which cause you to get in the way of your own success.

What truth do you need to embrace about yourself? It’s time to START

 http://www.thestartbook.com/?ectid=ja.lt.jm8

The words you use matter…

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As a person, the words you use matter. As a writer, they matter even more. I am still working on getting comfortable with the label of writer. I prefer speaking, but to speak, I must write first.

However whether you are a writer or not, if you say you are on a diet, means that you are expecting to achieve a result and then go off the diet. If you adopt a lifestyle change (oft quoted by my cousin the personal trainer) your commitment level is that much stronger.

If you say you “want” to read more books or “going to try” to learn a language  you won’t do it because before you start, you are already using passive language. Now I am all for having a realistic view of your goals but what does it hurt to say things in the affirmative? In fact, it helps you meet those goals.

I will learn to speak fluent French. I will read 10 books this year. I will lose 50 pounds this year.

These are examples of how to talk about what you will accomplish.

Now you can not Tony Robbins yourself into a positive bank balance when its at 0 but there are things we say every day that contribute to our success or our failure, so kick out the negative thoughts in your head and make room for the positive thoughts and notions that push you toward your goals today.  I have attached two photos of me from Jan and February as a before and after. I have lost as of today 32 pounds. Please let me know what it is you are GOING to accomplish and if you feel like you need help to accomplish it, I would love to hear about it and encourage you in your goals- Write me at jennifermckennasays@gmail.com

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If at first you don’t succeed, try try again..

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I have heard this advice on and off for most of my life and it is good advice if not hard to swallow on the heels of yet another disappointment.

But when you don’t succeed over and over and over again, its hard to slap on a happy face and Tony Robbins yourself into a good frame of mind. With this post, I am aiming to do just that. I am trying to talk myself into doing what I know I must.

I am speaking about my weight loss in the last few weeks, or to put it more accurately, my lack of weight loss. I am doing the same things, but not getting any results. It would be different if I was chowing down on Haagen Daz  or even eating mashed potatoes at every turn but I am following paleo down to the letter and I have remained the exact same weight for three consecutive weeks and its making me ornery and a whole lot less motivated to “stay the course”

I weigh 255 pounds which is 30 pounds less than I weighed at the end of 2012, so in that sense I am experiencing real progress and should be happy. However, comparing a bad score to a better one doesn’t make the better one great, it just makes it better.

But enough of this melancholy michegas, I have a job, I am loved, I can walk, I can talk and I can read and I can write. I have to think about all the things I have and have accomplished this year. To review my goals were these. 

1. More face to face. Less Facebook- I have had no less than 5 face to face coffee, tea and lunch encounters. Still working on less Facebook. The lure of other people is strong.

2. Read 10 books. I have actually read 2 and am close to finishing a third tonight.

3. Give 10 effective speeches. I have given two and will give a third this Saturday

4. Lose 50 pounds. I have lost 30 and that is nothing to sneeze at..

So at the quartermark, I have accomplished some things and still working on others.

How about you? What are you working on? Who do you count on for support?

What are you waiting for?

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What are you waiting for?

Hello dear readers!

I want to tell you today that it’s never too late.

Colonel Sanders fried his first chicken at 67.

Leonardo Da Vinci painted a masterpiece at 78.

Margaret Chase Smith was the first woman nominee for president at 31.

Elizabeth Blackwell started a hospital for Women and Children when she was 53.

Anna Mary Robertson “Grandma” Moses sold her first painting when she was 78.

Keep in mind, you don’t hear stories about all the failures and false starts, all you know about is the finish line. The road there is largely winding and full of pitfalls, mistakes, and extremely hard work, but you never get the end result of Awesome if you never started at all, right?

It’s time to START. This link is for a website all about being Awesome and the road map to get there. It’s written by a guy who is married and has two kids and had a dream to help other people.

My dream is to help him help other people so I am linking this to my blog to get the word out about his book to help as many people as possible access their inner Awesome.

I don’t know about you, but I think the world could stand to be just a little more awesome!

What are you waiting for?

Patience. Not just an opera

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Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet-Jean-Jacques Rousseau

I tend to rely on quotes for inspiration. Today is no different. As some of you may know, my husband and I decided to adopt a paleo lifestyle (not a diet) at the first of the year and one of the side benefits of this change has been pretty significant weight loss, until now.

Two weeks have gone by and we have not lost weight but gained weight. I noticed that on the whiteboard where we track our weight, my husband had placed a sad face next to his weight gain and I erased it saying, “Don’t think of it like that. Weight loss is supposed to be a side benefit, the main goal is to be in better health” Easy to say, hard to believe.

Patience is necessary for this, because we are only allowed to cheat one meal per week, so you have to constantly turn down Girl Scout cookies, Worlds Finest Chocolate and other temptations wafting about the office. So while I am frustrated by this weight gain, I realize its not a setback but a guidepost in this journey to better health and in a few weeks, when the weight loss has picked up and we are noticing a lack of tightness in our clothing and an extra energy in my step, I will remember the bitter along with the sweet fruits of the patience I have developed.

What is testing your patience in your life, what can you focus on instead?