Inspired Forward

Cut Through the Confusion and Chaos to Live a Well-Organized Life

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The Journey to Magnificence: Week Forty-Nine

Welcome to The Journey to Magnificence! This is week forty-nine: January 13-19, 2019.

Well, the day this post is published (January 21, 2019) is the first day of Work Your Way 2019. You should still be able to sign up for it or, if you’re coming to this later, sign up for the wait list for the next event and launch.

This event is the second iteration of the Work-At-Home School, which is what got me back into this blog and has pushed me so far forward it’s insane. I highly, highly recommend you attend!

Week forty-nine ended up turning my "champagne moment" on its head because VA pitching pays off! Stepping outside of the comfort zone really helps.

What I Said I’d Do

  • Finish the General Transcription Theory & Practice Course
  • Reach 75,000 words in my novel (short by 6312 words) <— this probably won’t mean I’m done writing; there’s a lot of work yet to do and sections to tie together. I should also do a plot outline but I’m very pressed for time this coming week and need to focus on only a few things.

What I Actually Worked On

  • Pitched to some potential VA clients and ended up with some yeses…meaning my original plan for the week went out the window, much to my surprise! Totally okay with this, though. I’m taking each day and week as it comes 🙂

Days 337 – 343

Despite not getting as far into the Transcription course as I’d like, it turns out that there isn’t a time limit like I thought and I have all the time I need to finish level one.

As of this writing, I still need 4,267 words to meet 75,000 for my novel, but that’s not going to be difficult to meet. I had thoughts, actually, of increasing the goal up to 100,000 (twice the word count from November alone!) but with all my other goals this year that’s just putting more work on myself that I don’t need before outlining the full plot.

I’ve been working from a general idea and have a lot of interesting scenes that I need to figure out how to fit into an overarching plotline…

As for progress on my other goals for the year—I’ve now gone to both of the rock climbing gyms in my area and decided I like the one that’s farther away.

Go figure.

I’m pleasantly surprised by how well things are going at the moment. I’m going to enjoy them and decide to ignore all the anxious feelings that arise whenever I try something new.

Because that happens to all of us—the “something new” is also a chance for new failure.

But, as Ginni Rometty says, “Growth and comfort do not coexist.” I wrote about this in my guest post for Refactor Daily, which should be publishing this week.

There are plenty of daily opportunities to step outside our comfort zones and try new things.

What new thing do you want to try but haven’t yet, because you’re afraid of failure?

What’s Next?

  • Book outline and word-count goal
  • Start new VA work!
  • Make progress in the Transcription course
  • Write a guest post draft for a fellow blogger 🙂

Week forty-nine ended up turning my "champagne moment" on its head because VA pitching pays off! Stepping outside of the comfort zone really helps.

The Journey to Magnificence is a series of weekly summaries of my journey through courses and resources provided by or found through the Work at Home School, hosted and delivered by Caitlin Pyle.

If you missed a post or found this one first, the others can be found here:

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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.

Week forty-eight had me mostly hitting my targets, except for my book word count. But I did submit a guest post, and started the Living Well Planner!

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

[Read more…]

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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.

Ron Parnaso of Refactor Daily shares three clever steps to take you through a year-end review—which could be more impactful than setting resolutions.

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!

[Read more…]

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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 😉

Week forty-seven brought a new year, hitting the ground running with new goals, and the birth of a new online course idea for type 1 diabetics!

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

[Read more…]