Four Mistakes I Made This Year
By: Cher Ewing
I’m all for celebrating successes, for relishing what’s working, for gargling the fine wine of glorious triumph.
Don’t let me stop you frolicking in the Yes’s. (In fact, I’d encourage you to do it even more than you’re doing now.)
But there’s wisdom in the No’s, in the “whoops”, in the “dang it … I fell for that again” as well.
Here are four mistakes that I made this year … and what I’ve been learning along the way.
- Placing exercise on the back burner
I have been so busy building a business, working with clients and planning conferences; I placed my “Fitness” regimen on the back burner. I am enjoying all the new opportunities, the new clients I’m coaching, planning the National LAP-BAND Conferences.
Throughout all of this I was sluggish, worn out and just plain tired. Then it hit me I haven’t been working out. I remembered back to when I was working out regularly how energized I was.
So I made the commitment to exercise back in September and to my delight lost 20 pounds, I’m full of energy and my creative process is back in full force.
Have you placed your exercise regimen on the back burner? What can you do to make it a priority?
- Making up stories of why not
Time and time again, my courage has failed me; this is what happens. I want to do something bold. And then immediately, like an old fashioned ticker-tape, I get a steady streaming message of reasons why I shouldn’t, why there are other easier things to do, why it wouldn’t work anyway.
When I’ve wimped out and not done it … nothing bad happened and nothing spectacular did either. When I summoned my courage, took a breath and stepped into the unknown and made the bold request … sometimes nothing happened and sometimes, fantastically, something did.
What’s the story you’ve got going on about what you can’t do?
- Forgetting to eat
Trust me this is a new concept for me, I’ve never forgotten to eat in my life. I have my protein shake in the morning with my 20 oz glass of water, do my work out then go into my office and start working. I’m coaching with clients, exchanging emails with colleagues, booking guest for “The Band Banter” Talk Show and the list goes on and on.
Then I get this ginormous headache about three in the afternoon and it dawns on my I have not had anything to eat since seven in the morning. Food is fuel; it’s what keeps us going. I now set my alarm at noon so I can take a break to eat. I know that sounds crazy, it’s crazy to me. We have to “Eat to Live; not Live to Eat”.
Have you started skipping meals? What can you do to ensure you get daily nourishment?
- Stopped breathing
Busy! This year’s been crazy-busy. I like to think that I’m not one to think that busy is some sort of perverse badge of honor, some mark of “look how important I am”, I’ve barely got time to put on makeup.
Except, I get seduced by that story of Busy = Important too. And as I’ve rushed here and there, worked on weekends, stretched myself thin, I’ve noticed this: The faster I run, the less I breathe.
When I remember to take a breath, when I stop thinking this is All Very Very Important, things get a little calmer, a little less stressful, a little easier.
What have you promoted to Extremely Important? How much value do you place in being Busy?
What mistakes did you make in 2008?
Let me know in the comment section of the blog.
I’d love to hear what you’ve been learning!
Cher Ewing,CC
www.bandedtogether.net
cher@bandedtogether.net
