Daily Affirmations

Here are my daily affirmations.  I have them written out on a huge poster paper, which is taped on my hall wall.  I say them aloud sometime between getting up and leaving the house.  I'm not totally consistent about doing it every day, but the poster is always there whenever I need a reminder.  :-)

-Today I create my ideal future.
-Today I do what I love.
-Today I choose to be happy.
-Today I challenge myself.
-Today I take action to make my dreams come true.
-Today I enrich the Universe with my love.
-Today I clarify what I want & I make it known.
-Today I attract love and wealth into my life.
-Today I experience the abundance in my life.
-Today I live up to my full potential.
-Today I do what needs to be done when it needs to be done!

Opportunity in Every Moment

"People wait for opportunity to come along...yet it is there every morning." - Attributed to Dennis the Menace


I would change this quote to say that opportunity is there in every moment.  Every moment, you have a choice.  Are you going to choose to do what you know needs to be done?  Or are you going to choose to sit in front of the TV longer?  Are you going to choose to create the life you want?  Or are you going to choose to wait on the sidelines?


Are you going to choose to be happy?  Or are you going to choose to wallow in self-doubt, self-pity, or depression?  Yes, in some moments, it's a lot harder to choose the happiness - sometimes, you may continue to choose sadness.  And that's ok, because in the next moment, you get to make another choice, a different choice if you want.  Where you are right now and who you are right now is exactly that - right now.  In the next moment, you can choose to be someone else, a different version of yourself.  Who do you want that different version to be?  Who are you going to be in this moment?


Are you going to continue reading this blog?  Or are you going to take this opportunity to choose to do something else?  What would your ideal self do in this moment?  What opportunity would your ideal self jump on in this moment?


Don't pass the opportunities by - even if they are dressed in work clothes.  Some people wait for the opportunities to come - others see the opportunity in every moment.

Goal Dichotomies & Opposites

As mentioned, I've been taking yesterday and today as a personal retreat to work on my intentions and goals for 2011.  Something interesting that has been coming up a lot for me this weekend is that my goals are occurring as dichotomies or opposites.  As you may notice (I certainly did as I was writing this!), one side of each dichotomy comes more easily to me, while the other side tends to be a bit harder for me - it takes more effort or conscious thought to really integrate it into my life.

Movement vs. Stillness

I have quite a few 2011 goals that revolve around movement.  I want to do a little bit of moving every morning/evening to stretch and strengthen my body (another dichotomy!) as well as taking movement breaks throughout the day.  I also want to have at least five physart adventures every month, where physart = my all-encompassing word for physical art forms, aka dancing (ballet, belly, tango, everything!), acroyoga, cirque (acrobatics, aerial work, etc), parkour, rock climbing, capoeira, etc.  Through my physart adventures, I want to learn new physical skills as well as experience being in the flow - being mentally, emotionally, and physically present and flowing in the movement (good blues dancing is great for that!)

As much as I want to move in 2011, I also want to take time daily to breathe and meditate, to be in stillness.  Being truly still is much harder for me than being in motion.  I used to get annoyed trying to do yoga videos because they would stay in the same pose forever, and I wanted to be moving (I have since found more ashtanga style yoga videos that come a lot more easily to me). I might be physically still a good part of the day because of working & being at my computer, but to be really mentally, emotionally, and physically still is a skill that I would like to cultivate in 2011.

Introspection vs. Interaction

These past two days have been wonderful - I'm so glad that I'm taking the time to read, think, journal, and introspect about myself, my life, where I've been, where I'm going, etc.  One of my New Year resolutions / goals / intentions / whatever you want to call them is to continue with the introspection, both by journaling on a daily basis (even if it's just a sentence or two) and by setting aside time throughout the year to review my path and my processes, to see if what I've been doing is really getting me closer to where I want to be, and to alter my course if my actions have not been moving me forward or if my goals and my direction has changed.

While I love to introspect, I also want to interact!  I am an introvert and I do enjoy being by myself, but I also need to remember that I enjoy interaction too!  I have a tendency to hermit myself away when I'm stressed or overwhelmed.  So one of my 2011 goals is to interact more!  I'm not quite sure yet how that will manifest exactly - although I am getting clearer on how one-on-one or very small group interactions enliven me, as well as teaching to small-medium size groups.  I do sometimes enjoy larger parties where I can see more friends all at the same time, but I often leave those parties feeling socially & emotionally tired and wishing that I had had more time to really talk with each person.

Input vs. Output

I love input!  Learning new information, reading books, watching online courses (yay for MIT OCW and AcademicEarth)!  I am a perpetual student, whether I'm in school or not.  My main strength from Now, Discover Your Strengths and StrengthsFinder2.0 is input - "You are inquisitive.  Whatever you collect, you collect it because it interests you.  And yours is the kind of mind that finds so many things interesting."  Because I like learning about so many different areas and I'm always finding new things that I want to learn, I'm not going to make goals such as "Learn French (and Spanish, and Chinese, and...)" or "Study algorithms (and artificial intelligence, and discrete math, and...)".  Instead my input goals include reading & learning every day - and then every day, I can choose what I want to read and learn about!

Input is like air for me - necessary and vital.  Output, on the other hand, is not something that I need on a daily basis, but I still think that it is necessary for my life.  I'm working on figuring out how to incorporate output more regularly in my life.  I have so much knowledge inside of me, and I love helping people so gotta get it to come out!  Possible ways to output that I've thought of: writing, teaching in person, making videos.  Writing is something that does not come all that easily to me - while what eventually comes out is usually good, the process of getting it out of my head and onto paper/screen can be long and stressful.  However, I feel like the more I write, the easier it will be - so in 2011, my plan is to journal daily (as mentioned under introspection) and to write blog posts/articles both for my store and for various other side businesses I want to start.  I also plan to share my knowledge about pregnancy/breastfeeding/babies in videos for the store as well as possibly incorporating videos into my side business ideas.  The other key way that I output (which I'm not doing in my life now) is tutoring, teaching, and coaching - sharing my knowledge in one-on-one or small group situations (as mentioned under interaction).  Still pondering how to get more of that in my life...

Dreams vs. Actions

In 2011, I want to dream big and play big!  I want to take the time to focus on my dreams and my goals.  Moving without direction will get you some place, but probably not the place you want to go!  I have big dreams to help more people, both with my store (helping moms & babies) and through other means (working on side businesses, helping friends, etc).  I also want to move closer to my main dream of becoming a mom myself.  Each month this year, I will take time to refocus on my vision for my life and my business(es) - through vision boarding, journaling, and the like.  I will also share my vision with my employees (for my store) and with my friends (for personal dreams).  (I already had a great meeting last week with my employees to refocus on our greater purpose for the store - and I'm making plans to have a few friend meetings soon to share personal visions!)
As great as dreams and visions are, they don't happen magically with a snap of your fingers.  You have to take action to get where you want to go.  Dreaming and thinking up ideas is easy for me - putting them into action is a little bit more difficult.  However, the dreaming and the acting go together for me - when I'm 'high' on an idea, I'm ready to take massive action to make it happen.  So taking time to dream will mean more energy to take action - I just have to make sure that I start taking action early on in the dreaming so I don't just get stuck in thinking and wishing.

Intensity vs. Consistency

Over my personal retreat this weekend, I've been watching videos and webinars about goal-setting.  One that I really liked was by Brian Johnson from Philosopher's Notes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxzMHXZRW3w).  However, I have one big personal disagreement with the video.  Brian places consistency over intensity.  I, on the other hand, like intensity over consistency (although not to the exclusion of consistency).  Maybe because I'm a scanner, I prefer to delve into different interests and have variety throughout my week (as well as my months and years!).  I don't like having a set routine every day, and having to do something every day, even if it's something that I enjoy, makes me feel confined and stressed.  So rather than having daily goals that I know I'm not going to do consistently such as "Write one article or blog post every day" or "Exercise for at least 30 minutes every day", my goals have more action items with a longer time frame.  By saying "I will write over 350 articles / blog posts in 2011", I allow myself to go intense when I get into the right mood, writing a few (or ten) articles at a time, while still averaging about one per day.  Same thing with setting a goal of "going on at least five physart adventures every month" - one month, I may do all of my adventures in one week, and the next month, I might do one per week.  In the YouTube video, Brian Johnson mentions that when he studied fitness, consistency won out over intensity - however, newer ideas like Timothy Ferriss's The 4-Hour Body are challenging that idea.  Moderation in everything, especially moderation! :-)
In spite of all I just said about intensity before consistency, I actually do really like consistency in some areas of my life, specifically my home life and my relationships.  The comfort of knowing that nothing is changing at home and with my family and friends (no drama, no intensity) allows me the freedom to go out and be intense in the world!  So while they aren't goals per se, I want to continue that consistency in my life of having supportive friends and family.  I'm also making some daily goals, as I've mentioned above.  But all of my daily goals are either short enough or vague enough that I can actually accomplish them every day without feeling trapped.  Every day, I will move and be still.  Every day, I will introspect and interact.  Every day, I will input and output.  Every day, I will dream and act.  Every day, I will be intense and consistent.

I have a few other dichotomies that I've been thinking about, and that I might write more about later (parts of myself vs my whole self, technology vs. nature, flexibility vs. strength, status quo vs. experimenting), but for now, it's time to go out and get some input, motion, and interaction.  :-)

Dream Bigger and Play Bigger in 2011!

Today is 1/1/11.  Today is the first day of a new year.  Will today be the first day of your new life?  What will you do today to dream big and play big?  :-)

While you can certainly choose to start living your life bigger at any moment, the popularity of New Years resolutions and goals make today a perfect time to start.  So set some time aside today to figure out your big dreams and make your plans to play big this 2011.  I'm taking both today and tomorrow as a personal retreat to realign with my greater purpose and to set both outcome goals and process goals for the new year.

What's the difference between outcome goals and process goals you ask?  Well, outcome goals are where you dream big.  Outcome goals are about the end results that you want in your life, such as "I make a six-figure income", "I weigh my ideal weight", "I am close with my family and friends", "I am happy", etc.  Process goals are where you play big.  Process goals are the hows of getting to your dreams or your outcome goals, such as "I make at least 25 sales calls a week", "I exercise for 30 minutes at least four days a week", "I schedule get-togethers with my friends every week", etc.

Process goals are what you have control over on a day-to-day basis.  You can't magically decide in a moment to all of a sudden lose 15 pounds, but you can decide in a moment to get up out of your chair and do some squats.  Your process goals are not just intermediate steps to your bigger vision - they are action items that you can choose (or not choose) to do.  So if one of your outcome goals is "I earn $200,000 this year", your process goals would not include "I sell over 5,000 widgets each month" because selling 5,000 widgets is not an actionable task that you can make an immediate choice to do.  Instead, your process goals would be actions like "I hand out over 30,000 brochures to qualified prospects every month" or "I suggest at least one upsell item to every customer I talk with".

You may be thinking, "Well, that distinction between outcome & process goals is great - but I have no idea how to get to my dreams.  I don't know what actions to take so I can't set process goals."  Don't worry!  You don't need to see the whole path to take the first step.  I know that it may be overwhelming or disconcerting to start toward a huge dream when you don't know how you're going to get there.  Or you may have a dream or an outcome goal that no matter what processes you put in place, you're still not guaranteed to reach your dream, such as "I meet the man of my dreams".  I'm one of those types of people who likes to plan - and it's really hard to plan when you don't know how the heck to get what you want.

Even if you don't know each and every action step to your dream, you can still start taking some steps.  If you don't know how to get to your outcome goal, make a process goal to ask several knowledgeable people about what you can do to reach your specific dream.  Or if you don't know which action items will get you what you want, make a process goal to start down a path even if you don't think it's the best way to go.  For example, if you're trying to find the perfect guy, decide to go out to a book club even if you don't think there will be many men there.  By starting to take action, your mind will be primed to be looking for opportunities.  Remember, life is just one big journey of learning and adjusting course.  If you try one process path and it doesn't work out, then just switch paths and try another way.  You may even end up changing your outcome goals too as you refine what it is that you really desire in this life!

So if you haven't already started jotting down some goals while you were reading this post, grab a piece of paper or open up a new document file, and write down at least three outcome goals that would make your life better.  Then under each of your outcome goals, write down several process goals or actionable items that you can choose to do to move forward toward your dreams.  Don't be afraid to dream BIG and play BIG!  The only way you're going to live a bigger and better life in 2011 is to dream bigger and play bigger than you are now.

Are you still reading this post?  Go write your goals! :-)  I'm off to go write mine!

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If your goals include making more money (and whose goals don't include that?!), I would highly recommend Fabienne Fredrickson's Mindset Retreat program.  Fabienne's programs are usually focused on helping solo entrepreneurs, but frankly this money mindset program is great for anyone and everyone!  Whether you work in a cubicle or you own a business, you probably have fears and self-imposed barriers that are holding you back from where you really want to be.  In the Mindset Retreat DVDs, Fabienne really delves into what's keeping you from dreaming bigger and playing bigger.  I've learned so much already (and I'm only on day one of three!)  I'll often play different bits of the CDs as I'm getting ready in the morning to move into the "dream big, play big" mindset and start my day off right.  So if you're ready to dream big and play big in 2011, check out Fabienne's Inner Game of Abundance Mindset Retreat program.  And let me know what your big dreams are and what you're doing to play big in 2011!