Inspired Forward

January 14, 2019 by Colleen Mitchell

The Journey to Magnificence: Week Forty-Eight

Welcome to The Journey to Magnificence! This is week forty-eight: January 6-12, 2019.

This week went swimmingly for pretty much everything…except for my word-count goal. It was a classic case of biting off more than I could chew and prioritizing other things that probably shouldn’t have been prioritized over book writing.

Live and learn! Tomorrow is a new day.

What I Said I’d Do

Try one of the local rock climbing gyms
Publish the first guest post ever on Inspired Forward
Submit my first guest post of the year—to Ron of Refactor Daily 🙂
Start filling out the Living Well Planner! I’m so excited about this!
Try one new low-carb recipe to add to my mix of staple lunches this year
Add 7,900 words to my novel

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January 10, 2019 by Colleen Mitchell

What Will Your Miracle Morning Look Like?

It’s possible you’ve heard (from me or another source) about this book called The Miracle Morning.

This book does exactly what it sounds like: it gives you the framework to make your mornings the secret ingredient that makes your day, your year, and your life the best you could possibly imagine. It doesn’t even matter if you’re not a morning person (or wake up at noon—it just means you do your “miracle morning” right after waking up, whenever that might be).

While the book should definitely be your go-to resource for all things MM, I want to give you a glimpse at what it looks like for me.

Everyone’s Miracle Morning will look different, take different amounts of time, and bring different results.

But they all have one thing in common—they make our days awesome.

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January 8, 2019 by Colleen Mitchell

Why You Should Do a Year-End Review Instead

This special guest post is written by Ron Parnaso of Refactor Daily. Thank you, Ron! Please make sure to check out his bio at the bottom.

Each New Year’s we look forward with hope and focus on making the following year better than the last. Although this decision can be done at any time, starting on the first day of the year lends your resolution community support and gravitas. That said, only 9.2% of New Year’s resolutions are successful! The solution to making 2019 your best year yet might not lie with A New Year’s Resolution, but instead with a Year-End Review.

New Year’s Resolutions Lack Congruency.

New Year’s resolutions often sound similar to these sorts of goals:

Eat healthier
Get more exercise
Save money

While there is nothing wrong with any of these resolutions, they lack congruence with existing thoughts and actions. Achieving a new goal without creating new habits simply isn’t possible—you can’t expect new results if you’re repeating the same old behaviors. Luckily, a Year-End Review does not require building new habits or systems. Instead, it builds upon what you are already doing—and allows you to see which actions you should do less often!

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January 7, 2019 by Colleen Mitchell

The Journey to Magnificence: Week Forty-Seven

Welcome to The Journey to Magnificence! This is week forty-seven: December 30, 2018 – January 5, 2019.

It’s here! The start of 2019, the last year of this decade. I like years that end in -9 because they offer us a last chance to fit the accomplishment of some goals into the current decade. Come 2020, it’ll be a whole new ballgame 😉

What I Said I’d Do

2019 arrives, and my 2019 goals kick off!
Evaluate the week as it goes, and take my time with things.
Start filling out the Living Well Planner (if it arrives before the end of the week).—Just kidding; doesn’t arrive until Tuesday the 8th
Skiing again with my dad 🙂 —thwarted by sickness

What I Actually Worked On

I took each day as it came, not freaking out about moving to-do list items from day to day.
A new guest post reciprocation opportunity showed up right before the new year!
Participated in Kathryn Calhoun’s 5-Day Get January Clients Challenge…which resulted in the next bullet point:
I’m serious about creating an online course for type 1 diabetics (and insulin-dependent type 2s) to get off the blood sugar roller coaster! Find out more at the landing page here. <– and if you know someone who would benefit, please share!
I began reading my new-to-me study Bible.
Started logging food again

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January 3, 2019 by Colleen Mitchell

January’s Challenge: NaNoEdMo

As Dumbledore says, “Another year, gone!” And so is December, during which I strove to declutter our house.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, that process is still ongoing. I’m proud, though, of the progress we made last month. We got rid of a lot of things and cultivated a new mindset. Minimalism is now one of my happy places, and we don’t need so much stuff.

Okay, it’s mostly me having that mindset change. Husband is already frugal and of minimal belongings.

In any case, decluttering is not for the faint of heart.

If you’re attached to your things, or start feeling heart palpitations whenever you think about getting rid of the ugly painting your mother-in-law gave you, but you’ve never let see the light of day, you might want to invest in some decluttering books and resources to help you do it.

The most practical of the decluttering books that I read is Unstuff Your Life, written by a man who literally does this for a living. He goes into his clients’ homes to help them get rid of all the stuff they previously have been unable to release.

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