The Journey to Magnificence: Week Thirty-Two

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Welcome to The Journey to Magnificence! This is week thirty-two: September 16 – 22, 2018.

I have so many things I want to do, and it feels like not enough time to do them. Soon I’ll need to take a weekend (or two) to fully map out what’s going on in my life and how they need to be prioritized.

Definitely sounds easier than it’s going to be!

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What I Said I’d Do

Complete Module 7 of the 30 Days or Less to VA Success Course
Complete Module 1 of the #GoalSlaying in 6 Steps Course

What I Actually Worked On

Completed Module 7 of the 30 Days or Less to VA Success Course
Got through half of Module 1 of the #GoalSlaying in 6 Steps Course

Sunday, Day 218 – Starting the Lifehack Planner 🙂

Back at the beginning of August, Demir and Carey Bentley of Lifehack Bootcamp hosted the 2018 Lifehack Summit. During the summit they gave away a bunch of their Lifehack Planners – all we had to do was pay for shipping!

My planner arrived sometime last week and I’ve been carrying it around with me but didn’t really open it up to start using it until today.

It’s designed to start on Sunday and take you through your week to meet your “champagne moment” which is when you get done the thing that would make you excited enough to pop a bottle of champagne.

I’ve been using their idea of a champagne moment since I started their Focus & Control Time Mastery course, but seeing it laid out in the planner makes it more real.

A lot of my champagne moments are up in the “What I Said I’d Do” section, and next week’s CMs are in the “What’s Next” section down at the bottom of every one of these posts.

At first glance they don’t really seem like they’re worthy of popping open some champagne, but if you think about it, why wouldn’t they be?

A lot of my “CMs” are working on courses and getting things done on my blog. I’ve made a CM something that I’d been putting off: writing a six-email welcome sequence for new subscribers.

Speaking of which…

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I’m also considering using the Lifehack Planner to “champagne moment” my day job as well.

Now I don’t actually go out and get champagne after finishing these.

But in the past, I haven’t actually rewarded myself for finishing – and that’s something the Planner has us do.

This week’s reward is some Starbucks coffee 🙂

Monday, Day 219 – Travel Talk

This morning I started using the time-keeping app called Toggl. It’s actually pretty handy at figuring out how much time I actually spend on things! What’s even better is that it’ll be a useful tool for when I dive deeper into being a virtual assistant.

I had dinner tonight with my favorite cousin again 🙂

We spent most of the evening talking about travel since we both love to do it and we’ve even traveled together to Europe. It’s always nice to find something in common like that with a family member – and even cooler that we did travel together a few years ago!

Actually this December, it will be 4 years since we went to Britain together.

Time has flown for sure.

And now I’m planning for future trips, with the idea to use mostly points and miles to book flights and hotels. Nothing like traveling for cheap if you can hack it!

Tuesday, Day 220 – A Case for Bad Traffic

Every week I go to the chiropractor, and every other week (on average) I get a massage – which keeps me there longer. No matter when I leave, I always seem to hit the worst of the traffic going home.

This is pretty annoying, but today I want to think about reasons TO sit in traffic.

If I leave the radio off, this gives me plenty of time to think.

Have you ever wondered why people turn the radio down when they’re trying to read road signs or follow directions? It’s because the radio splits our focus and doesn’t give us a lot of bandwidth to actually THINK.

The radio in our 18-year old SUV died way back in January, so I’ve had a lot of time getting used to driving in silence. Even when I started driving our sedan to work (better gas mileage) I left the radio off.

It made me feel better.

I wasn’t constantly bombarded with radio ads and I had time to just THINK. Sometimes I came up with some really good ideas from all that silent driving.

So on your way to work today, think about just turning the radio off and thinking.

You might be surprised how much you enjoy it.

Wednesday, Day 221 – Sherlock Day? 23 Years With Diabetes?? What Do I Title This???

221 is one of my favorite numbers, and it’s all because of Sherlock.

So today is kind of Sherlock day! At least when it comes to how many days I’ve been doing this daily summary thing.

But more importantly, today is also my “diaversary.”

23 years ago today, I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and launched on a journey of blood, sweat, and tears (literally).

I’ve made amazing friends by having type 1. I’m able to educate people about it, and it baffles me when I hear about other diabetics keeping their condition secret – as if that will save them in a crisis.

Today at work a few of us went to fire extinguisher training at the local fire department headquarters, and during the training, the instructor started asking us about evacuation plans, and to consider people with medical needs.

The two ladies next to me tried to muffle their snickers, and I snickered too – I told the instructor, “They’re laughing because I have type 1 diabetes.”

And I didn’t mean it in the way that they were making fun of me – I was laughing too!

The instructor had no idea that literally everyone in our office knows that I have type 1 diabetes.

And he thanked me for being open about it.

Not being open about it is what doesn’t make sense to me.

It’s a serious medical condition that people need to be aware of in an emergency or a crisis.

This is one thing I’ve learned by having diabetes: being open about our struggles, our issues, and our sicknesses is part of what helps us overcome them.

It’s the same with mental health issues.

If no one knows we’re depressed, anxious, or suicidal, how can we get help?

There is no shame in asking for help, and no shame in being open about our struggles. The people who matter in your life won’t think less of you for it.

Thursday, Day 222 – The Best Phlebotomist

For being a type 1 diabetic, you’d think I’m okay with needles.

For the most part, I am. But not when they’re meant for blood draws or IVs. I had a bad experience with a blood draw as a kid and have been super anxious about blood draws ever since. My pediatric endocrinologist had to fight to make me do a blood draw, and he usually lost.

(He’s retired now.)

But I have to adult now, and part of adulting is doing a blood draw when your doctor tells you to.

Even if you are super anxious about them.

The lab I went to doesn’t allow numbing cream (which is a bummer, considering the best experience I’ve ever had with an IV being stuck in my arm had numbing cream involved.

I’m pretty open about how I feel about these kinds of needles.

I told the phlebotomist that I have really bad anxiety and that I’d be doing 4-7-8 breathing to keep my heart rate down.

This is a breathing technique my doctor taught me that has reduced my stress and anxiety levels in moments of high stress and anxiety—so it works!

Breathe in through your nose for a count of four, hold for a count of seven, and exhale through your mouth for a count of eight – loud enough to hear it.

This phlebotomist is a master at her job.

Anxiety around blood draws is real for me, and it’s why I’ll never be a blood donor. Thankfully, this experience was one of the best I’ve had (without numbing cream)!

Friday & Saturday, Days 223 & 224- Double Dollop of Meh

I am in a weird funk. Beyond Sunday, I ended up not really using the planner I talked about on Monday, the Lifehack Planner.

I did, however, see someone post about copying the layout over to her bullet journal, which I think is the next thing for me to try.

One big thing I got done is making my own version of the time tracker in the Focus & Control Time Mastery Course, chunked into 15-minute increments instead of 30-minutes, and only lasting four weeks instead of eight.

I’m hoping this adjustment will help me keep on track with using it; over the last eight weeks, I’ve missed tracking nine days!

On the other hand, I finished the tenth book in my September challenge to read 10+ books in 30 days, and now I’m almost done with book #11!

What’s Next?

As for the reward I set for myself last week, I’ll not be giving it to myself. I only got 75% through my Champagne moment. Next week, though…is gonna be long and hard.

Finish Module 1 of #GoalSlaying in 6 Steps
Survive my company’s conference (that I’ve been co-organizing for the last four months)

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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About the author

Colleen

Life coach, author, podcast host, cat mom, wife, Ravenclaw, and semi-compulsive hiker living in the Montana Rockies.