Let’s Live the Dream – Join me in a Personal Challenge

15 September 2016

Hey everyone, I’m about to begin a new personal challenge and I thought you might like to find out more and even join in by setting your own personal challenge?

In a nutshell:

For 30 consecutive days I’m going to think, act and commit like I am exactly who and where I want to be in life. I’m going to step into the ideal version of me – the version I know I can be and see what happens. This isn’t all about doing more and working harder. This is, in part, about calming down and finding peace in the moment. It’s also about treating my health and wellness with respect – I want to prioritise this and see what difference it makes in my life.

I’ve shared my goals below and you can set your own!

Why am I doing this?

I’ve been giving myself a lot of grief lately by comparing my ‘current self’ – me right now – to my ideal ‘future self’ – the person I’m trying to become. My mind runs wild with ideas, plans and notions of what I should and could be doing and then I get overwhelmed and tired out…before I’ve even begun. Yes, it happens to me too!

I wrote about this over a year ago in IX7 and we even had Dan mock up a lovely little diagram to explain the notion. My idea was that when our ‘present reality’ overlaps with our ‘ideal future state’ – when who we are is who we want to be – we feel happy and content and satisfied. If not, we feel frustrated, annoyed and even down.

This is a dangerous idea, I know. There is a huge movement towards mindfulness, presence and ‘giving yourself a break’ but I can’t help but think we need a balance between ‘accepting who we are and what we have’ and ‘striving for who we think we can become’. For me, this isn’t all about ‘things’ and ‘achievements’. It’s as much about effort and states of mind.

Oprah says it all the time. Her mission is to be the highest possible expression of herself. I’d like that too – I want to see how far I can go: I want to become the highest possible expression of myself. I think we’re happiest when we’re growing; when we’re moving towards our goals in a positive and realistic way. This challenge, for me, is about trying to find and establish the balance between both: staying still and progressing / accepting and striving.

The plan:

I’ve decided, therefore, to bring this into focus by setting myself a new challenge. This will be a two-pronged mission: finding happiness and inner peace whilst satisfying my need for growth, expansion and progress.

Therefore, for the next 30 days (starting on Wed 21st Sept) I am going to behave as if I am the highest possible expression of myself and I have found the answer – the secret of life. I am going to be the person I know I can be.

Here is what I’ll be doing…

My challenge:

Spiritual:

Wake up at 7am every day and read 10 pages of a motivational book (staying in bed makes me depressed because I have a habit of running through everything that could go wrong…I’m training this out!).
Write out a new affirmation at the start of each week and recite it every morning for that week.
List three things I’m truly grateful for that morning and really take a moment to ‘feel’ that gratitude.
Every Sunday I’m going to spend some time working on my vision book and I’ll look at it every night before I go to sleep.
I’m going to write in my journal every night to get all my worries and woes out of my head and clear way for the good stuff!
I’ll continue to avoid the news, gossip and the likes.

Health:

I’m going to do a 30 day cleanse with Alice – I’m going to give up all dairy and gluten, I’m going to drink water every day and really cleanse my body. I need to do some research here but I know Alice will help me! It’s the Arbonne 30 Day Cleanse.
I’m going to exercise every day with a 30-minute brisk walk and three times a week I’ll go for a run or do some other form of physical activity.
I’m going to quit junk food (chocolate / crisps) for the 30 days!! Yikes!
I’m going to learn how to cook 4 new vegan meals – one per week.
I’m going to go to a gym and ask if I can lift weights / what’s involved.
I’m going to going spinning twice (thanks Maeve for the inspiration on that one!)
I’ll do one park run (thanks James for the idea!)
I’ll play one game of squash and go swimming once.

Social:

I’m going to arrange catch ups with five good friends and just switch off and have a good time!
I’m going to go horse riding at least once a week.
I’m going to switch off from all technology at 10pm and spend an hour relaxing before I go to sleep. (Zen music, candles, meditation maybe?)

Financial:

I’m going to go through all my bank accounts (business and personal) and find a way to cut 10% from my expenditure at the start of the month.
I’m going to continue to put 10% of all my earnings into separate savings accounts.

Dreams:

I’m going to complete chapter 1 and chapter 2 of my book in this 30 day period and I can’t wait.
I’m going to keep in touch with the DARETOGROW community via social media, and I’ll commit to sending one mailer per week at least.

How to get involved:

I’d love you to get involved! To take part, write out your list of commitments and if you’re feeling really bold share them on your Facebook page / blog / social feed. Invite other friends to take part and find a buddy to support you. You can share the link to this blog with them if it helps. Alice and I are doing this together and she has her own list of goals.

If you do post anything on social media, use the hashtag #DARETOGROW30 so we can all support each other.

My challenge begins Wed 21st Sept. Join me then if you’re up for it!