Meet yourself where you are.. now and later..

Hello friends,

I come to you once again to say.. meet yourself where you are. I have said this before, but its so important I thought it bore repetition. For example, I want to give a Ted Talk by this time next year.

That is scary saying out loud and then here I go putting it in black and white but there you go.

I can hear you saying, that sounds great Jennifer and you are awesome and all but how do you plan to do it?

Great question and I am glad you asked.

1. Don’t reinvent the wheel, if someone has already done it, read about what they did and if possible get an audience with them to find out the nuts and bolts

2. Do your own research. For instance, did you know that Ted speakers do not get paid, the prestige is what you are after and of course the opportunity to go viral for all the right reasons.

3. Work backwards. Some of the best advice I have ever gotten is from a noted director who said to me, when I asked him (quite the upstart am I) “What is your best advice for directing a play?” He said plan your schedule backwards, Opening Night is August 22nd. work backwards from there.

4. Be patient and curious about what you discover along the way to your goal. You may find that your goal changes or leads you to a new goal. Case in point, Healthy living for me has led to 5K pursuit I never even thought was in my reality and now I have done three of them.

5. Get accountability partners or someone you trust to help you stay the course or work on your goal.

Sometimes that can be you… Let me explain, there is no time. Let me sum up-

You can write a letter to yourself and have it delivered in the future- It’s kind of awesome to think that the motivated you of today can help propel future you forward!

http://www.futureme.org/

Think about it!

 

Last place is asleep…

This morning I had a breakthrough in my workout routine. It should be noted this has been followed by two weeks of inconsistent working  making lots of excuses for it. That’s okay, I am giving myself grace for the past, but its important to note that sometimes just showing up and making the effort is worth mentioning.

I have a 5K I am walking/running on 3/30/2014 and the last time I did one of these it was in January. However, as my loving and math centric husband pointed out, every time you work out and do 3.2 miles or more, you have done a 5K. (I love that man) He has vision and can see what I could not which is that I am accomplishing my goal each time I work out. I couldn’t see that because I am so focused on getting up to 4 miles, or 1 mile in less than 20 minutes.. I am gaining on each of those goals but could not see that I have already accomplished so much. So, today, I got to minute 2 of the running, (for those not keeping score I have been alternating walking 2 minutes and running 2 minutes for about a month now. I said, “I think I can for run for another minute.” and then I did.

I went back and looked and its been walking the whole time to running 30 seconds, walking 30 seconds and then a minute and then two and now three. So, I am feeling very accomplished at the moment and I think its important to take stock of that.

I also want to remind myself when I DO NOT have a good day working out, its just one day closer to meeting another goal down the road and that road is filled with baby step after baby step of getting up, working out and getting up and showing up because remember, Last place is asleep, even if you just show up and suit up, you are doing better than someone who didn’t show up at all.

Where do you need to show up today?

From XL to L in 6 months- Yes, you read that right!

I am SO excited to be wearing the shirt my husband had made for me with my slogan

“Nobody has a voice like Kermit, just like nobody has a voice like you”

as created in my 10th speech (detailed here)

https://jenniferhastonsays.wordpress.com/2012/11/)

Jeremy originally bought it from CafePress in a Large thinking it would fit me but realized after it arrived it was too small, but due to CafePress being super amazing , they let him keep it and then sent him the 2X which I happily tore into on Christmas morning and have been wearing for months with the duplicate in the back of my drawer waiting, waiting, I tried it on this morning and OH MY GOD, ladies and germs it fits!

Thanks to Paleo and all the wonderful changes my husband and I have been implementing I have never looked or felt better. I am still working towards my ideal weight but more important than the weight loss is the increased confidence and overall happiness!

See for yourselfImage

What do you do when what you want doesn’t happen?

As many of you know, I was up for a part in a play I adore and was doing everything I could to get picked. I was not picked and while I am upset ( I am human after all! ) I am excited to see what is next on the agenda that I am meant to do because this did not pan out.

Key takeaways from the experience?

1. Be Prepared. I practiced and practiced and practiced and received coaching from people I respect ( you know who you are) and felt extremely prepared, more so than for any audition I have ever had before. Yep, after almost 15 years of acting I just wrote that. Staggering.

2. Think Positive. I used to say Prepare for the Worst, Expect the Best and Adapt to the Outcome but that is such a defeatist attitude.. From now on, let’s just prepare for the best and adapt to the outcome whether its what you want or not.

3. Working hard is important but its not everything. – Sometimes you can do everything right and work as hard as you can but someone else or other factors make the final decision so in that case are you going to gnash your teeth and wear your hair shirt? No. Just work as hard as you can. That way if it doesn’t work out the way you want it to, you can console yourself with the knowledge that you did all you could do to affect a positive outcome.

If nothing else, I had the chance to act and work with others for a night even if it wasn’t for a full run. I often have to remind myself as an actor it’s not my job to get the gig. It’s my job to audition, audition and then audition some more.

What are you working on? What is your dream? Tell me about it? I would love to encourage you on your journey!