Tag: Goal Setting

My New Word of The Year and 2021 Goals

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I know what you’re thinking (maybe). “Why is she telling us her word of the year and her goals for 2021? It’s already nearly the middle of February.” You’re not wrong with those observations buuuut I think it’s so important for me to share my word of the year and goals with my blog. My Instagram peeps had a chance to know this information and you all didn’t and I don’t think that’s fair. Also, sharing these on my blog gives me another way to hold myself accountable and document my year. I plan on doing quarterly check-ins on my blog like I used to, and if you all never know the orginal goals, how can I check-in on them on the blog? I can’t! So that’s why this post just had to be posted, okay? Besides, that my word of the year has changed…I haven’t told Instagram yet so this is a themusingsofmara.com exclusive!

My word of the year this year was Discipline like it was the year before. However, a month into 2021 this word just doesn’t fit what I need for this year. Don’t get me wrong…I DO need discipline this year and ALL years, but that word just isn’t speaking to me anymore. I realized I didn’t even put it on my vision board (accidentally but that says something). I’ve decided to change my word of the year to EXECUTE. This year, I need to stop putting all my energy into planning things that I never execute. The only way I can thrive as a creator and person in general is to just do the damn thing. I can plan as many blog posts as I want but if I don’t type anything on wordpress, what good does that do. I can meal plan all I want but if I don’t meal prep, track my food, and focus on nutrition what good does that do? I need to EXECUTE. That’s why I changed my word of the year and I’m so happy I did!

My 2021 Goals need me to execute. I’m going to share a few of the goals I have and so you all my vision board for this year.

  • Eat more nutritious food.
  • Do more things that make my happy.
  • Workout 6x a week, Lift Weights 4x a week.
  • Find my post-grad job.
  • Pass the BAR EXAM.
  • Get my driver’s license and a car.
  • Monetize my blog.
  • Do more yoga.
  • Be consistent on my blog, Instagram, and my podcast.
  • Get 10K Instagram followers.
  • Go to the Beach.

These are my main goals for this year. If I can even do ½ of these, I feel that I will have a great 2021! I will update you all in at the end of March and let you know how much progress I’ve made on these goals by then. I will also do that at the end of the other quarters of the year. I’m excited to see what all I’m able to accomplish this year. P.S. I may or may not have done one of these things already. You’ll find out soon!

What are some of your 2021 goals? Let me know in the comments! I miss chatting with you all.

An Easy Guide For Your Mid-Year Check-In & Goal Setting Session

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As of yesterday we are officially HALF-WAY through 2020. I’m sure we can all agree the past 6 months has been f*cking WILD. I’m not going to get into it because quite frankly I’m tired of it and don’t feel like discussing it but y’all know what I’m talking about. I feel like 2020 has lasted a lifetime and still passed in a blink of an eye at the same time. Okay so I lied, I’m going to talk about it. Covid-19 has shifted stuff significantly. Speaking for myself, I have not accomplished as much as I wanted by now in certain areas of my life, but I have accomplished many things in other areas of my life. It’s important to look at both our wins and where we may have fallen short so far (although, extend yourself grace…we are literally in a global pandemic).

The best way to do this? A Mid-Year Goal Check-In! I know, it might sound daunting but honestly, I did it a few days ago and it made me feel really proud of all I’ve been able to do and hopeful for other things I want to do before the year is over. In this post I will be sharing the essential steps to complete your mid-year check in and important questions you need to ask yourself.

Look at the goals you set for yourself at the beginning of the year

The first step is the most necessary. You can’t see how much progress you’ve made on achieving your goals if you don’t see what you set out to do. Be very mindful to not judge yourself during this step. It’s okay if you didn’t achieve all of your goals, that’s why we’re doing this check-in! Some of this stuff may not even resonate with you anymore (which is also okay). The point is, you have to look at them.

Track your wins from your list of goals

Did you accomplish some thing(s) on the list? Wooohoo! Write them down and cross them off (or put a check next to them, depending on your style) and sit with those wins for a minute or so. Clap for yourself because you did that and you should be proud at your ability to keep promises to yourself.

Track other wins that maybe you didn’t set out to do, but did anyways

I had many wins this year that I necessarily didn’t some in to the year thinking about doing or plan for but I’m still happy about them nonetheless. You need to recognize these as well because more than likely you worked towards them (even if they weren’t on your list) and it’s important to recognize all of your wins. Maybe between the last step and this step you realize you never celebrated any of your wins and kept quiet about them. Change that! Celebrating and expressing gratitude for your wins puts you in the mindset of achieving more wins.

Take inventory of what’s left

What is no longer realistic to accomplish in a 6-month timeframe? Change your deadlines on those. Make them smaller tasks so that you can at least work towards the overall goal this year. I’m not encouraging a limiting beliefs but some things just aren’t realistic. For example, if one of your goals was to lose 80lbs you could probably do it but not in a safe way. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself and compromise your wellbeing for a deadline.

Re-do your list

What is realistic to accomplish? What steps can you take to make sure you meet this goal by the end of the year? These two questions are important to put the rest of the year into perspective and still accomplish some of your goals or new goals that may be important to you now that we are halfway through the year. Make your list super cute and put it somewhere you can see it every day to motivate you.

*Bonus: Make a “before the year ends” Vision Board

This one is completely optional but I love a good vision board. Sometimes I like making new vision boards in the middle of the year if I’ve accomplished most of the other one OR I just have different things I want to visualize before the year the ends. It’s also completely okay to have more than one vision board. Vision Boards are just fun and I’m probably going to make a new one at some point in July.

It’s okay if you haven’t made as much progress on your goals as you would have liked. You can’t be too hard on yourself, especially this year. We are all trying to get through a global pandemic and keep our sanity (which is enough of a challenge of itself). Extend yourself some grace and do what you need to do. I’m someone who feels better when I have lists and things to work towards so goal-setting helps me keep sane.

Share this article with your favorite go-getter and leave a comment with what steps you are taking to complete your mid-year goal check-in.

 

 

 

3 Tips for Balancing Work/School Life with Your Other Goals

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A few weeks ago I hosted a Q&A on my instagram live and had my followers ask me questions. One of the questions I got asked how I balance law school, homework, fitness, and everything else. I loved the question so much I gave a short answer on my live and decided to write a post about it. Here are some ways I achieve a balanced life when I’m busy as hell.

Get Clear on Your Priorities and Dedicate Your Time Accordingly

You can’t achieve balance if you aren’t crystal clear on exactly what it is you’re prioritizing. Once you know what your priorities are, you will have an idea of where most of your time should be going and how much time to dedicate to less important things. One way I get clear on my priorities is when I set goals as if anything is possible. By setting goals, you understand what it is you truly desire. This allows you to move forward in prioritizing your time and balancing your many aspirations.

Be Realistic

I’m not sure about your reader but when I was in high school I learned about something called SMART goals. The R is smart goals stands for realistic and I feel that this is such an important part of goal setting and achieving balance between all aspects of our lives. While I do believe that we can do all we set our minds to, we also need to be semi-realistic when striving for balance in our work/school life. For example: if I want to achieve a school/life balance, I cannot set goals that would take much more time and dedication to achieve. For example: if I’m trying to make sure my grades are at least average or slightly above average (shout out to the law school curve), I can’t make one of my goals to be a nationally recognized body builder in the next 3 months who also goes out every weekend. Getting good grades takes many many hours of studying, being a Nationally ranked body builder takes many many hours of training and hyper focusing on nutrition, and going out every weekend takes energy and uses time that could be used for studying or bodybuilding. All three of these goals can be achieved in a lifetime but in 3 months (based on my experience in law school only since I’ve never been a bodybuilder much less a national recognized one) they are almost impossible to achieve all at the same time.

Use Your Planner

My planner is one of the most important tools I have for keeping achieving balanced in my life. I personally like the write things done because the power of writing things down has been long documented. Anyone who knows me or has been reading my blog for a while knows that I live for my passion planner. However, for my friends who do not love the paper planner life, I also live for my google calendar (simply for the fact that it’s easier to edit when things come up and I have to make last minute changes

Being a busy bee can be stressful but that doesn’t mean you can’t live a balanced life. If you’re clear on your priorities, are realistic with what you can accomplish, and use some sort of planning system, you can do what you need to do to handle your business.

Did you find any of these tips helpful? Which one(s) do you plan on using in your life moving forward? Are there any other tips you have for maintaining work/school life balance? Leave a comment below!

Share this article with a busy person in your life who may benefit from these tips!

How I Chose My Word of the Year for 2019

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We are almost a week into the NEW Year and it has been interesting already! While the practice of making New Year’s Resolutions is common, that doesn’t mean that it is the most effective method of achieving your New Year’s goals. I personally haven’t really been in the practice of making New Year’s Resolutions for the last two years. When I have made New Year’s resolutions in the past, it often discourages me from trying at all if I don’t move towards them quickly enough. In the last few years I have chose a word of the year that guides all of actions towards reaching the goals I hope to accomplish in the New Year.

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My word for last year was DISCIPLINE. I chose the word Discipline because that is what was lacking from my reaching some of my goals in 2017, especially in regards to weight loss. I hired a trainer, I meal prepped more, I went to the gym more often, even when I didn’t feel like going. I also was more disciplined in putting out content for my blog (before my Nana passed away, and I started law school). After a few a set-backs, I stopped really embracing the word discipline because I was really just trying to…get over the sadness from different things that happened earlier in the year. I realized that at times I was disciplined but at other times I wasn’t. That led to me choosing my word for 2019.

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My word for 2019 is CONSISTENCY. This is what was lacking from my life last year in many areas from health + fitness to blogging to even studying for school. Similar to the reason I chose the word discipline last year, I need to consistently do things (even when I’d rather not) in order to reach the goals I’ve set out for this year. The times I did manage to remained disciplined, I lost a decent amount of weight, I got into law school, and I posted some quality content. (Read my favorite posts from last year HERE). By being consistent this year, I know I will be better off when the countdown for 2020 happens.

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This doesn’t have to be the way you choose your word. What’s important is that YOUR WORD is chosen by YOU after reflecting on your principles, values, and goals for this year. Once you do this you can take out the sense of overwhelm with long lists and just ask yourself “does this action align with my guiding word for this year or bring me closer to my goals?” If it doesn’t, you know you might need to make a better decision. It won’t be easy at first, but it might be easier for you than keeping a laundry list of resolutions.

So get out there, reflect, and choose your guiding word for 2018!

Did you have a word or two in mind when you read this? Leave your word(s) in the comments and tell me why you chose it!

2 Must Have Apps to Increase Your Productivity

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We live in a time when everybody Like most millennials and those in generation z, I use my phone for a majority of my daily tasks. Whether it’s planning out my studying, outlining, and readings or my Instagram content, there is always something to be done on my phone. While I’m more of a paper planner and I’m trying to spend less time on my phone, there are times when my phone just makes certain things easier and thus makes me more productive. I’m currently obsessed with how much these two apps have helped me since I started law school and still trying to manage my blog/Instagram content. I figured I have to share them with my fellow millennials, generation z, and whoever else stumbles across this post.

Trello

Trello is amazing! It basically is a to-do list app with so much more! I like to use it by making a board for each to-do list I need for the week. For example, I have a board for my weekly school readings, another board for my outlining process, and whatever school related things I need to do. I also have a board where I plan out my Instagram posts, another board for my Instagram stories, polls, and questions. There are other boards I have but these are the main ones that help me out the most. What I love about Trello is that it serves as a to-do list but each task also has its one page where you can add a description, check-lists, a time that it should be done by, and more. This app has literally been a game changer for me. I can talk about it forever but download it yourself and give it try!

Tide

I’ve talked about Tide before on my post about self-care when I’m broke, but I still feel the need to sing the praises of it from the mountain top. If you’re like me, you can’t study in public places if there is too much commotion going on (and by commotion I literally just mean the typical noises you would hear in a public place), Tide is the perfect app for you! Somehow in undergrad I was able to “study” and “read” and listen to music but those days have passed me by. I love Tide because it gives me different options of what I want to listen to in order to block out other noise. If I want to pretend I’m studying on the beach I can select the ocean option. If I want to pretend it’s one of the 10 days it rains in Vegas I can select the rain option. My personal favorite is the Focus option. It’s the one I use most often when I’m studying and it really does help me focus, get in the zone, and knock out a lot of assignments/readings.

These two apps have helped me soooo much since I started school and I wish I would have had them back in undergrad. I’m certain I would have gotten way more out of my 24 hours a day back then. They both are free and I can see them being useful for students, working people, creatives, and everyone alike. Go download them now!

Do you have any apps that help you increase your productivity? I’m open for more suggestions. Leave a comment and let me know!

 

Goal Check: End of the 3nd Quarter of the Year (July-Sept)

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September ended last weekend and thus the 3rd quarter of the year came to an end.  Wow, this year is flying by. This will probably be the check-in that I have accomplished the least buuut for the sake of transparency I will still be talking about the progress I’ve made towards my goals over the last 3 months. I’m hoping this will give me the reality check I need to accomplish some goals before the year is over!

 

Save $2,000 in a savings account

I actually am on track to have $1,000 in my savings account by the end of this year. While it’s not the $2,000 that I originally set out for this year, it’s still better than $0. I may save more than that if possible but I’ll have to see. I also recently paid off my credit card debt which is the reason the $2,000 savings goal may not be on the horizon.

 

Lose fat & gain muscle:

My health and fitness journey has taken quite the turn this quarter. I gained back 3 or so pounds since my Quarter 2 check-in. Most of my weight gain was in August due to adjusting to school and lack of preparation in regards to food. I also slacked on my gym hustle so gaining back a few pounds wasn’t surprising. I’m making some changes for the last 3 months to shake up my weight loss journey and hopefully hit one of my milestone goals by the end of Quarter 4. I made an appointment to see a dietician at my school and I’m the process of looking for a new trainer to push me to the next level. I’m positive I will have some great updates in regards to weight loss come December!

 

Take my blog to the next level:

Here’s a secret: I’ve already written and scheduled the next few weeks of content for my blog and this will finally start the catalyst of taking my blog to the next level. Planning ahead has made everything so much easier. I’m still working on engagement on Instagram but I have some ideas brewing away that I think will help me with that. Keep your eyes peeled for what’s to come!

 

Read one new book every month:

I read two new books this quarter. The first one was during my vacation in the DR, I read “We’re Going To Need More Wine” by Gabrielle Union and I can’t recommend this book enough! I really loved the way Gabrielle Union writes and tells stories about her personal life. It was honest, intimate, and one of the best books I have read this year. The second book I read was “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck” by Mark Manson. I’ll be reviewing this on my blog at some point in time in the future. That being said, I doubt I will have any time to read for pleasure until winter break due to being in school. It was fun while it lasted. *cries*

 

Get my driver’s license and a car:

I definitely still haven’t made any significant progress on either of these things. To be honest, I will probably have to wait until after my law school finals to have the time and energy to take either the written exam or driving test. My weeks are focused on reading for school so I doubt I’ll be able to accomplish this until late December.

 

As I mentioned earlier, this has probably been my worse quarter in regards to some of my goals, especially my fitness ones. However, I know that most things aren’t linear and sometimes we go downhill a bit before we can climb back up and do what we set out to do. I’m going to focus on killing it in law school, saving up some money, and beasting at my fitness goals for the last quarter of the year and I encourage all of you to work towards you goals as well this last 3 months of 2018!

 

What’s an area of your life you’re looking to improve before 2019? What’s one final quarter 4 goal that you have? Leave me a comment and let’s talk about it!

Goal Check: End of the 2nd Quarter of the Year (Apr-June)

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The month of June end a little bit ago which means that we are now 1/2 way through the year. Just as I checked in with myself and my goals at the end of quarter one, I will be seeing where I’m at now that quarter 2 is over. Now is the perfect time to reflect on what has worked this first half of the year and what needs to change. Y’all know I’m always trying to 100 dif things so I’m just going to focus on the main goals I have.

  • Travel out of the country:

I am officially going out of the country for the first time since after my EuroTrip when I graduated high school (not including Tijuana). I’m going to the Dominican Republic for about a week later this month! I will definitely be writing about this experience once I get back and having time to settle so make sure you keep your eyes peeled for that!

  • Save $2,000 in a savings account

Okay so I’m not ashamed to say I suuuuuck at saving money but that’s mostly because I spend all my money on doing hoodrat shit with friends, and having a trainer! Lmao. Once I start school I want to be more conscious on being financially literate and establishing savings account. I think for the rest of the Summer I’m going to save a little bit of each check. If you have any tips for saving money let me know!

  • Lose fat & gain muscle:

I’ve made some decent progress on this goal since my quarter 1 check-in. Honestly, all things considered with my grandmother passing away back in April, I’m proud of myself for not turning to food for comfort, which I would have done in the past. I have been killing it at the gym and follow my meal plan 80% of the time or so. I’ve only lost about 5ish lbs since April but I feel myself getting stronger and I lost some body fat %. I think I’m on track to hit my first major goal weight for the end of 2018

  • Take my blog to the next level:

My blog has NOT been a priority for me since April and I’m okay with it. I don’t have regrets about putting my blog on the back burner once my life got crazy. The gym became my outlet so all I have been doing is going to work and working out. I’m just getting back in the hang of writing and managing my instagram so we’ll see where I’m at once quarter 2 is over.

  • Read one book every month:

I have read 2 other books since quarter 1 ended, both which I enjoyed a lot. In April I read The Mastery of Love by don Miguel Ruiz and Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes. I recommend both to everybody. I want to write a review on both of them but we shall see how that goes.

  • Get my driver’s license and a car:

This hasn’t been a priority this quarter so no progress has been made on it. I’m going to have my license by the end of this summer. However, I’m not really sure about the car. We’ll see.

All things considered for how HARD life came at me in April, I’m proud of myself for at least staying on track with my health + fitness and doing everything I needed to do to go out of the country. I also read 2 out of the 3 books I wanted to read so that’s I’m happy about that to. I do want to get back on track with my blog but I still have 6 months to make it happen. Quarter 3 check-in I will have made some progress on that goal for sure. Overall, I’m happy and that’s what matters.

What are some goals you set for yourself at the beginning of the year? What goals have you made progress on? What goals could use improvement? Leave me a comment and let’s talk about it!

Goal Check: End of the First Quarter of the Year (Jan-Mar)

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The month of March just ended which means that we are 1/4 through 2018. Wow. Time is a flying by! Due to us being 3 months into the year, I decided to check-in on where I’m at with my goals. Now is the perfect time to reflect on what has worked this year and what hasn’t. There are 9 months left in the year which is more than enough time to learn from my errors and still accomplish my goals before the year is over. I have many, many different goals that have sprouted from 8 main ones so I’m going to just tap into some of those 8.

  1. Get my driver’s license and a car: i have not made any substantial progress on this goal besides looking at cars. This is first on this list but the list is in no particular order. This first 3 months I’ve been focusing on getting my health and fitness in order, applying to law school, and paying off my credit card. That brings me to my next goal.
  2. Pay off my credit card debit: So far I have paid a little over $600 into my credit card debt, which is about where I wanted to be by this time of the year. However, my goals regarding this have changed. I’m now more focused on saving money to go out of the country this summer. I will still be making payments on my credit card but not as aggressively as I was.
  3. Save $2,000 in a savings account: It has been hard to establish a savings account so far this year. I’ve noticed I’m really bad at it haha. I have a small amount. I also need to open another savings account because anything I have in this one is going towards my trip this Summer!
  4. Start Law School: This goal is happening! I was admitted into UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law at the beginning of last month. I will officially be going back to school in August which is why I’m taking a trip out of the country this summer.
  5. Lose fat & gain muscle: I’m making great progress on this goal. I hired a trainer in January. Even though he quit and I got a new trainer I had to get used to after taking a 2 week hiatus from the gym, I’ve still managed to lose about 15ish lbs. I can also feel myself getting stronger in every part of my body. I’m excited to see where I will be in the next 3 months from now!
  6. Take my blog to the next level: I like to believe I’m taking steps towards taking my blog to the next level. I created a bi-weekly newsletter (still working on sending out my first e-mail), I hosted my first GIVEAWAY (of many to come), and I’ve started posting more regularly, and I’ve upped my social media engagement. Hopefully in 3 months I will have really made some solid progress.
  7. Read one book every month: I’ve been slacking in regards to reading one book a month. I tried to read 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in January but I underestimated how dense and long that book was and I decided to read a little bit of it each month throughout the year. It also took me all of February and a little over half of March to finish The Autobiography of Malcolm X. I highly recommend this book. I wanted to at least finish 2 books by the end of March so I picked an easy ready for the last week of the month. I chose The Defining Decade. I have really enjoyed this book and will be reviewing in a post later this month. 
  8. Move out: so as I have officially gotten into school and given a full tuition scholarship, this has become the least important of my goals. I have to keep a 2.3 (which sounds easy but I’ve never been to law school so I wouldn’t know) GPA to keep my scholarship. My cousin has moved out of my room and this has made living at home much more bearable. I’m in the process of redecorating my room and giving it the personality I wanted it to have when I first moved back home. The only thing that makes me really want to still consider moving out is having company over when they come to town and visit. If I have any updates on this goal they will definitely be towards the end of the year.

All in all, I’ve very pleased with the progress I’ve made on achieving my goals this first few months of the year. I do have some areas that could use improvement (getting my license/car and staying on top of reading for fun). However, I have also had some major wins (YAY for getting into law school and getting a full tuition scholarship). I can’t wait to write this post at the end of the second quarter of the year and see how far I’ve come and what else I’ve done. I might have some different goals listed to reflect the changes in priorities I’ve had since getting into law school but the post will be similar in format. Here’s to working towards our goals all year long!

What are some goals you set for yourself at the beginning of the year? What goals have you made progress on? What goals could use improvement? Leave me a comment and let’s talk about it! 

 

How I Chose My Word for 2018

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Now that we are a week into the New Year, we should be well aware if our New Year’s Resolutions are realistic or overwhelming. Everyone is different and I understand that. I had every intention of accomplishing all of my New Year’s Resolutions last year and honestly I only accomplished 2 or 3 of them, which is still good. The one way I was able to accomplish what I did accomplish was by choosing a word of the year. While the practice of making New Year’s Resolutions is common, that doesn’t mean that it is the most effective of achieving your goals. Another method I used to reach my goals last year was choosing a word to guide me throughout my various goals of the year. No lists, no action plans, just one simple word I could keep in mind. I believe this was one thing that really helped me reach more of my goals and tasks then previous year.

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My word for last year was MANIFEST. I thought long and hard about which word I was going to choose before I made my final decision. I chose the word Manifest because I was guilty of over-planning and not taking enough actions related to my plans in 2016. I had launched my blog but wasn’t making it a priority, I had started taking classes for the LSAT but wasn’t actually sure if I wanted to take it or not, thus wasting my money, I had wanted to do a bunch of things I planned but didn’t do. The word manifest is defined on Merriam Webster’s dictionary as “to make evident or certain by showing or displaying.” I wanted to make all of my goals certain by displaying behaviors that would allow me to achieve them. So that’s what I did. I studied diligently for the LSAT and got a 160 (in the 80th percentile) which is wayyy better than I thought I’d do. I started posting on my blog more and learning skills to take it to the next level in the next year through webinars and reading articles. I fell short in the area of weight loss, but I did gain the knowledge to allow me to achieve those goals this year.  I also was able to come up with my word of this year by figuring out what I was lacking last year that made me fall short in a couple of areas.

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My word for 2018 is DISCIPLINE. After reflecting on what did and didn’t accomplish this in 2017, I realize that the thing that helped me do well on the LSAT and what I was lacking to reach the levels I wanted to for my blog and weight loss journey was all the same thing, DISCIPLINE. I can plan all I want but if I don’t have the discipline to do what I’ve planned or said I’m going to do then it won’t work out. I changed my phone screensaver to a quote I found on google that reads “discipline is doing what needs to be done, even if you don’t want to do it” and I feel that was one of my biggest weaknesses last year. I only did things when I wanted to do or when they were convenient and that is no way to take anything to the next level.

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This doesn’t have to be the way you choose your word. I was telling one of my coworkers about this practice and she chose the word Patience because she decided that would be a guiding principle that would help her the most in this upcoming year. What’s important is that YOUR WORD is chosen by YOU after reflecting on your principles, values, and goals for this year. Once you do this you can take out the sense of overwhelm with long lists and just ask yourself “does this action align with my guiding word for this year or bring me closer to my goals?” If it doesn’t, you know you might need to make a better decision. It won’t be easy at first, but it might be easier for you than keeping a laundry list of resolutions and things you don’t want to do this year.

So get out there, reflect, and choose your guiding word for 2018!

Did you have a word or two in mind when you read this? Leave your word(s) in the comments and tell me why you chose it!

 

 

My First Time Running A 5K

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When I was in college one of the annual events my sorority would do was the Breast Cancer 5K walk/run and we always walked it as a group that would eventually spilt up into smaller groups due to different paces of we all walked. I always wanted to try to run it but I was never in good shape enough shape (so I thought) until maybe my last semester of college when the 5K had already passed. I also have a sorority sister who was runs 5K, 10K, Half Marathons, and everything else. Seeing her train for these and reach her goals inspired me even more and this year I added “run an entire 5K” to my bucketlist. 


My first 5K was pretty cool! The 5K I chose was the Sugar Rush. When I was picking a 5K to run in December (because the LSAT would have my attention until Dec 2nd) it was between this one and the Resolution 5K. Sugar Rush just happened to be really close to where I live and I was familiar with the location so I went with that one. I’m glad I did! While I didn’t run the whole thing (I definitely walked/jogged more than I ran), I never stopped moving and I can say that is a big step up for where I have been health and fitness wise throughout these past years. 


The Sugar Rush 5K was cute because some enthusiastic runners dressed up as different candy-themed costumes. Lowkey, they were #RunningGoals. I decided if I do this one next year I want to dress up too. The thing I loved about the pre-race and post-race is that everybody was in such a good mood. I mean I know exercise creates endorphins but still…I haven’t that many people happy all at once as far back as I can remember. I even made a new friend after the race. Eveybody was just there to handle their 5K and enjoy themselves.


I originally wanted to run with someone but I have this thing about not liking to run or hike in partners/groups when I’m out of shape. I hate feeling like people have to wait on me when I need a break. That being said, I ran it by myself. Running by myself was actually quite therapeutic. It allowed me to have me-time and engage with nature. One challenge of running by myself is I could have totally walked the whole thing if I wanted to and nobody would know. I’m a woman of integrity so I did run whenever I could but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted haha. The race was quite interesting because at each mile we were given a full-sized chocolate bar and water. I left with a Twix, Reeses, and collected my medal after crossing the finish line and being given chocolate covered pretzels, one mini-donut, a chewy bar, and a candy cane. I didn’t eat it all but instead saved some of it for my family. 


All and all, I’m happy I was able to do this 5K even if I didn’t run the entire thing. I now know that if I can do it without training, I will only get better as I train for next year. I have now made it a goal to run one 5k every month of 2018. I will be tracking my progress on instagram with my hashtag #MaraRunsMoreThanHerMouth so keep an eye out for my posts on there. 
What are some health + fitness goals you have for 2018? Let’s talk about em in the comments below!