Recently I was fortunate to take a trip to the Bahamas.  The trip had been planned for months but inevitably, there was much rushing around at the last minute to take care of everything that needed taking care of in order for me to be away for a week.  In the old days, I would try to do everything, running myself down in the process and arrive on my holiday completely exhausted.  I’m getting better at discerning what the priorities really are before I go away and this past month I got even better! 

Because we are in the 100 Day Challenge right now, doing my 100 Day activity (writing) every day became unmanageable.  After a few days of completely forgetting to do the challenge (and then beating myself up for forgetting) it occurred to me that perhaps I needed a different approach.  Perhaps I could take a break.  Hhmmm…take a break from a commitment….what would people say, what would the other participants think, what would become of my challenge if I took a break???  The idea was intriguing enough that I decided to experiment.  I gave myself permission to put the 100 Day Challenge on a short 5 day break with the intention of returning to the challenge once I had departed for my holiday. 

What relief!!  It may not seem like a big deal to you but the 100 Day Challenge is a commitment that I make to myself and to my community of clients and followers.  It’s important to me that I do my best to stick with it so that I can inspire others to do the same.  Taking a break seemed to go against all the rules!  And…it worked.  It actually gave me more time – not just because there was one less thing on my to do list, but because all the energy I invested in beating myself up for missing a day or in trying to figure out a better system was also freed up.  So often, it’s not the number of things on our to do list that drains our energy, it’s the amount of energy we spend thinking about and resisting the items on the to do list. 

Can you give yourself a break from your challenges?  Just for a few minutes or maybe a day or two?  What new perspective could you bring to your challenges if you had a break?  Can you give yourself a break from thinking about your challenges – just for a little while?  Give your mind the space to explore something delightful or intriguing and notice if that doesn’t change your day, just a little bit!  What do you think?  Share your thoughts here!

Joyfully,

Deb

We are just over two weeks into the 100 Day Challenge and I think I need a course correction!  The challenge I set out for myself was to write everyday for a minimum of 10 minutes.  The writing had to be non work related writing because I spend so much of my time writing for my website, newsletter, blog, clients, etc. 

I didn’t realize how hard this was going to be for me and I am finding that the writing gets left until the end of my day which is when I am tired, uninspired and wanting to go to bed.  Hhmm, not as much fun as I anticipated!  Time for an adjustment.

This is an important point about the 100 Day Challenge…just because you started out with a great idea and a plan doesn’t mean that you can’t adjust the idea and the plan as you go along.  This is true about so many parts of our lives (not just the 100 Day Challenge).  Sometimes we will set a goal or get an idea in our mind that things have to be exactly the way we first set them out to be and when it doesn’t seem to be working out the way we thought, we will abandon the idea or give up on the goal.  While giving up may relieve some of the initial pressure, we will often end up feeling bad or disappointed that we didn’t achieve our goal. 

When my clients reach this giving up stage, it gives us the opportunity to rekindle the original desire for the goal and then make some adjustments (or course correct) so that they can move forward with a more manageable goal or plan. 

As for me, I am going to change my challenge slightly by adjusting the kind of writing from non work related to having 2 -3 days out of the week being work related writing and the rest of the week will be for the stories, poems, etc that I have been playing with.  This way, I can use the days of the week where I have more space in my schedule for the non work writing which will make it less of an obligation and put the joy back in my challenge. 

How about you?  What do you do when your goals prove to be a bit too challenging?  Have you had to make any adjustments to your 100 Day Challenge yet?  Feel free to share your experiences here so that we can all learn together!

Joyfully,

Deb

It has become a tradition at Get It Dunn that every February marks the start of the 100 Day Challenge.  It’s a free program that is offered for the clients, newsletter subscribers, Facebook fans and Twitter followers of Get It Dunn.  Participants are encouraged to choose an activity that will improve their life in some way, either by adding something new or letting go of something that doesn’t serve them well anymore.  The challenge is to do that activity every day for 100 Days…in a row….no breaks…no weekends off….every single day!  This can sound intimidating and it’s supposed to – it’s a challenge!  It takes dedication, commitment and a strong desire to change your life and the 100 Day Challenge provides the environment for learning how to make a change in small, manageable steps.  When participants look back at the end of the challenge, they can not only see what they have accomplished but they are also amazed to reflect on what they have learned about themselves. 

Over the last four years Challengers have written e-books and books, improved their health, increased their upper body strength, cut sugar out of their diet, added fruit to their diet, walked for miles, trained for marathons, cleared clutter out of their home, developed a new hobby, created works of art, rid their lives and homes of tolerations, created a culture of gratitude, got more rest and cultivated a meditation practice – to mention a few!  We usually end the challenge with less participants than we start with and I know that regardless of how long people last in the challenge, they always find it a valuable experience. 

Just before we kicked off the 100 Day Challenge, I was meeting with my mastermind group and I was challenging the members to participate.  One of the participants was hesitant not because she didn’t think she could do it but because doing one activity for 100 Days would cause her to lose interest.  She is a person who loves variety and has a gift for taking things from concept to implementation very quickly.  So, we devised a way for her to participate in the structure of the challenge but still in a way that aligned with her authenticity.  She has decided to do a number of time sensitive projects – 72 hour challenges – within the 100 Day Challenge all of which will lead to the accomplishment of a larger goal in her business.  Another mastermind colleague has decided to join us and has made the public declaration on her blog (http://marketingsoapbox.com/) so that she will be even more accountable for doing her challenge every day.  Check out her blog as she mentions a few other ways to structure your challenge that may be of interest to you. 

However you choose to participate, I welcome you to the challenge with open arms (or open blog..!) and hope that you will enjoy being a part of this awesome community of people who like to play bigger!  It’s not too late to join the challenge and if you want to be included in the reminder/support emails, head over to my sign up page  (http://www.getitdunn.ca/2012/02/06/100-day-challenge/) and you’ll be added to the list.  Just one of the ways that you can be sure to get through the challenge with more joy! 

Any questions or comments?  Leave them here and remember to check back often to read about how we are doing throughout the challenge!

Joyfully,

Deb

My birthday is on Sunday May 15th and as usual, I am planning to celebrate.  I love to celebrate my birthday and I also love to share the fact that it is my birthday with anyone who will listen!  I believe that celebrating is important and that we don’t do it enough. 

I am constantly reminding my clients to celebrate.  My clients are amazing, dedicated and continually moving forward toward their goals. As they reach their milestones I will gently remind them that they need to celebrate because they are usually wanting to keep going.  When we don’t stop to acknowledge what we have accomplished, after a while, our spirit gets tired and we will start to struggle.  It’s important to recognize what we have done whether it’s “big” or “small” because by recognizing our progress, we will be renewed and ready to keep going. 

As we come to the end of the 100 Day Challenge, this idea is especially appropriate.  Whether you have done the entire 100 days or only did the first week I want you to take a few minutes to reflect and give yourself credit for what you accomplished.  I want to congratulate you for taking up the challenge.  I don’t care if you didn’t make it past the first 3 days – you deserve to be celebrated for having the courage to sign up in the firs place! 

The more you acknowledge what you have done, the more likely you will be to step up and challenge yourself again.  I would love to hear about how you celebrate, what you learned, or what you think about the 100 Day Challenge.  Leave your comments here so that we can all celebrate with you.  Celebrate your talents, celebrate your accomplishments…celebrate your life! 

Joyfully,

Deb

For the past several weeks in my yoga class we have been learning to do handstands.  Last night, while attempting a handstand, I fell on my head!  I’m okay and I wasn’t hurt and what was even more amazing to me was that I wasn’t afraid.  As my arms were giving way and my balance was crumbling, there was no fear about falling.  I just fell.  Then I got up. 

I am often afraid in yoga when our teacher moves us into new poses or more intense versions of a pose.  My first thoughts are usually “no way,”  or  “I won’t be able to do that,” or “you have GOT to be insane to think that I will be able to get my body into that position” or in the case of doing handstands, plain old fear of falling on my head.  Most of the time there are more doubts than fears but every time I attempt any of the poses that bring up these feelings, I have been amazed at what I can do.  That’s because my body doesn’t know that it’s supposed to be afraid.  My body doesn’t know that it has limits.  My mind is what imposes the fears and the limits.

One of the beauties of doing yoga is that it is a practice.  Continually coming to the yoga mat and moving through the fears, doubts and limits has taught me to think differently about what I can or can’t do.  It has helped me to train my mind.  Instead of thinking “no way” or “I won’t be able to do that” I am now thinking “I wonder what would happen if I tried that.”  If something particularly fearful comes up (like handstands) I recognize the fear and gently say to myself “just try it and see how far you get.”  I didn’t get into the full handstand and for the first time I wasn’t afraid to try – more succinctly, I wasn’t afraid to fall.  Because I have been coming back to this pose over and over and over again, I have built up a trust and openness and even though I fell, I am not afraid to try again. 

This yoga example is also why I offer the 100 Day Challenge every year.  It is a chance to do something over and over and over for 100 days.  The opportunity to learn about yourself in these 100 days is so valuable.  The opportunity to learn about practicing something is priceless.  As you show up, day after day, eventually something will shift and you won’t be afraid to fall anymore! 

When have you been afraid?  What have you done or not done when the fears threaten to shut you down?  What have you learned from the 100 Day Challenge or any other practice that has supported you in getting up again?

Joyfully,

Deb

I can be a pretty impatient person – when I get an idea I want to put it into action right away but so often that isn’t really feasible (especially if I want to keep my marriage intact or not alienate all my friends!).  What the 100 Day Challenge keeps teaching me is the power of taking small steps everyday.  If you have been reading the blog posts about the Challenge, you might remember that I have had to revise my challenge slightly due to some back problems.  It was frustrating not to be able to go at my usual pace and I feared that I wouldn’t really be accomplishing anything.  To my great surprise and delight, I discovered that I had been accomplishing something.