Secret OWL Society: Hello March Printable + My Review of February

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:: My February Review ::

HEALTH

I amped up "taking 100% responsibility" for my health by doing more research into taking an even more personalized approach to health and fitness after I stumbled across a Youtube video about the meal plans and training regimens that are specific to different body types: mesomorphs, endomorphs, and ectomorphs.

Pic: My attempt at making sauerkraut. It wasn't successful. LOL. But I'll try again.

As I watched the video, everything started to click and knowing how I need to eat and exercise as an endomorph body type has been pivotal. I feel a lot more satisfied after eating and I'm getting better results with my exercise. As an endomorph, I need to eat mostly protein and veggies, avoid white starch and sugar like the plague and do high-intensity interval training (HIIT). I've now graduated from walking for exercise to now alternating between doing either 40 minutes of yoga or 30-40 minutes of HIIT. The Health section of my Ultimate Life Binder has been growing as I've added grocery list printables and information I've found on Pinterest about the endomorph body type.

I've come to really enjoy using Fitness Blender on Youtube. They have nearly 4 million subscribers for their workout videos! It seems that people love them because they keep their videos free of distracting music and they just walk you through the exercise without yelling at you for "motivation." Haha. Oh, and they wear normal, modest workout clothes.

I also started checking in daily with an exercise accountability partner via Facebook messenger and we report our fitness activity to each other.

TAKE-AWAY QUESTIONS

Do I know what type of meal plan and exercise works best for me and my body type?
Do I know someone who takes health and fitness seriously who can be my accountability partner?

CAREER

So here's a little story for you. At the beginning of February, I had a little blogger mastermind get-together with my friend Holly. We talked about everything we wanted to start doing for our blog...and the things we were stalling on - creating our courses! Holly had been working on a course about grant writing and I wanted to create a course about how to create passive income with printables.

"Right!" I said. "Let's make a pact right now that we are both going to finish our courses THIS MONTH, or we owe the other person $100."

Pic: My course creation set-up

And so, now that we both had some skin in the game, we set to work overcoming the resistance. What is the resistance? It's that thorny feeling that makes you put off doing what you know you need to do. I had been wanting to create a course on how I make money selling printables on Etsy for a year and I kept putting it off. I can't really explain why. I think when it comes to creating and offering our best to the world from our zone of genius...we meet resistance. If you want to hear me talk about my course-creation resistance (amongst other entrepreneurial-journey-things), listen to my interview on the She Means Business Podcast with Carrie Green here. :)

But we need to take that resistance as a sign that we are on the right track and that our best life is on the other side.

So, yes, I had to wrestle with myself at times and force myself to sit down and do the work, but the more I focused on it, the easier it became and by the end of the month, Holly and I were celebrating! We both achieved our goals...and didn't have to dish out $100 to the other person. :)

Pic: The view from where we held our mastermind meet up.

This experience gave me an idea for something that I want to carry forward: The $100 Mastermind. The concept is for at least two people to meet once a month and have a discussion around identifying the ONE THING that would make the BIGGEST DIFFERENCE if completed that month. It has to be 100% in your power to achieve it; you just have to overcome the resistance...or forfeit $100 to the other person. Maybe you should try it. It worked wonders for Holly and me. My course is now live and is doing extremely well!

Let me tell you, the most rewarding feeling has been knowing that I DID IT. I have the power to create something out of nothing that gives value to other people. I have the power to overcome the resistance. I have the power to be 10x more productive than I was the month before.

Holly and I are meeting again this Saturday to set the next goal and $100 bet. :)

TAKE-AWAY QUESTIONS

What one goal would make the biggest difference in my career if I achieved it this month?
Who can lock arms with me in a $100 Mastermind so that I can break free of the resistance and lift my life to another level?

PERSONAL GROWTH

This month, I was pushed outside of my comfort zone by being interviewed on two huge online summits. One was for the launch of Carrie's book She Means Business! Her book includes my story as an entrepreneur so I've been having fun going along for the ride of being able to share how I went from working in a little cafe knowing hardly anything about the internet biz world to now owning a successful online business. People really loved the online summit - which Carrie actually called an Online Extravaganza! :) - and I got to be interviewed by Carrie along with author Gabrielle Bernstein, Carrie's sister Samantha from Little Green, and Nikki Elledge Brown from Naptime Empires. Wow!!!

Pic: A snapshot of the bonus page for the book.

Pic: Carrie's book!

TAKE-AWAY QUESTIONS:

How did I push myself outside of my comfort zone last month?
How am I going to push myself outside of my comfort zone just a little bit more this month?

Well, to wrap up this review of February, I'd like to end with something that I shared with a friend who asked me if I ever had a job I disliked. Here's what I said:

Yes, when I was a waitress and then when I was operating a coffee shop. At the coffee shop, I starting to immerse myself in personal development. I listened to Jim Rohn, Les Brown, Tony Robbins. I particularly remember listening to the audiobook of Jack Canfield's book Success Principles. I got a subscription to audible.com and listened to personal development audio books whenever I was driving or not directly taking care of customers.

I started to feel a lot better because I knew that where I was physically was temporary and I was outgrowing it mentally every day. I got excited and would spend my nights working on my personal projects whereas before I'd just come home and plop down to sleep. I've done everything from cleaning public restrooms to babysitting baby twins 24 hours a day, but I was always plugged into personal development and I was always working on my side passion/gig whenever I wasn't working to pay bills. And eventually, the side gig got big enough to where I was able to quit everything that I knew was temporary.

10 years ago I quit waitressing. 8 years ago I quit janitorial work at my college (I also quit college). 4 years ago I quit running the coffee shop. 3 years ago I quit being a nanny. 2 years ago I quit cleaning other people's homes. And when I say "quit," I really mean "outgrew." There's a quote that says, "You pay your bills from 9-5. You make your fortune after 5." It's true!

I absorb personal development more than ever. I was just listening to Les Brown this morning.

The days can be long, but the years are short. Never give up.

6 comments:

AmyMarch 9, 2017 at 8:10 AM
Is there an entire series for the Hello Month and Hello Mid Month printables? There are a few months I can't find...
UnknownMarch 9, 2017 at 9:35 AM
Thank you for sharing your inspiring stories! I am going to try the $100 Mastermind challenge.
AnonymousMarch 9, 2017 at 10:54 AM
I could listen to Les Brown all day! Thanks for sharing :)