Jan 092017
 

My next focus for my NYRs is Work. Work is something that the majority of people do for most of their lives and sadly for a lot of people is also an activity that most do not like – yet they continue out of necessity or lack of options (known or unknown).

Luckily for me, 2016 brought about the opportunity for me to quit my full-time work. I admit that while I did not particularly like what I was doing or where I was doing it, I did not hate it and could have continued it. It was naivety, impatience and a dream that pushed me to step away from stability, security and sanity! πŸ˜›

However, when I look back over the challenges that resulted from this decision, I do not regret it for a minute. When I hear my friends speak about the environment and situation of staying, I feel so glad and relieved that I stepped away when I did.

With that said, I still do have some ‘work’ goals. I have just paused now as I do not think that I have actually written much at all here on what my new work is. I have spent so much time building the business site that I think I have kept them quite separate…. So, here’s a brief.

I decided to start my own business called The OSH Network in talent development and wellness training. These are fancy buzz words to say it is a business for wellness yoga, mindfulness/meditation training and life coaching. I determined that these elements go together in creating a whole, happy and healthy lifestyle that people desire to achieve. Therefore, the business idea is to work with those who really want to actively improve their lives to reach its greatest potential for themselves, their families and their communities. My belief in the power of humans and humanity with the help of the Lord God and Universe is what drives me to do what I can to help individuals to contribute to a better world.

So, I launched the business in August of 2016 and spent a lot of effort in marketing myself through networking, etc. However, I quickly learned this is not my forte and so I have redefined the yoga aspect slightly to focus more on wellness (therapeutic) yoga in addressing anxiety, stress and depression along with alignment and health. We shall see how this goes.

Therefore, my goals in this area are:

  • generate a client base in any of the three service areas to the point of having a 3-month waiting list through online marketing and word-of-mouth (this may mean a few more networking events…;) ).
  • develop wellness retreats either here to an external destination or elsewhere depending on our future location (more on this later) for those who need an escape to cope with their wellness needs.
  • study more nutrition and psychology to offer the best services I can
  • eventually turn the business into a ‘lifestyle’ business (still defining this)

So, I have not broken these down into short, medium or long term goals as I am not yet certain of the how in achieving them yet. When I do, I’ll try to pinpoint more specifically timeframes. πŸ™‚

In addition to the wellness business, I am calling myself a writer. I think now that I have a regular ‘column’ with an online magazine (a bit of a delay in December), I can finally say “Yes” to being a writer. πŸ˜‰

Therefore, my goal by March (3-months) is to write my first Kindle book to self-publish using the theme of The Universal Asian. I had this blog before but let it go defunct as it was hard to keep up with the stories in an interesting way. However, I think there are enough stories to tell to make a series of short books that will hopefully be entertaining and sell. πŸ˜€ Stay tuned for that.

By June (6-months), I am planning on having my first memoir/autobiography completed to either self-publish or send to publishers.

By September (9-months), I hope to have at least three Kindle books published with my first novel in the works for publishing.

By the end of the year (12-months), my dream is to have a signed book contract and perhaps even the beginnings of a book tour option…- this might be a little soon as I am not sure how long these things take.

These are my writing goals. I am trying to get more freelance work doing writing bits and am going to look for another place to get paid for my writing – in my extra time, of course! πŸ˜›

So, this is my NYRs regarding work. I really do not think of any of it as work since I enjoy these kinds of activities. I definitely want to make an income, but at the same time I truly want to enjoy what I do. Therefore, if I do not make an income or find that this is not enjoyable, I’ll adjust and forge a new path if needed. πŸ˜€

I am sure that I am missing some other bits here regarding ‘work’, but for now, you get the gist!

Tomorrow, we will look at 3. Finances! That should be an interesting one!!! πŸ˜€

~T πŸ˜€

Jan 082017
 

As promised, here I am with my NYRs for 2017. I am starting with Health because it tends to be the easiest resolution for us to make, break and focus upon.

In general, we are fairly healthy. I keep active, exercise pretty regularly and we eat a decent Paleo-ish diet. Still, it is easy to yo-yo back and forth during down times, holidays or when I think I am doing great and then become lax.

Yesterday, I posted about my workouts for last week and will continue to maintain that as long as I can. As I said, it is a good way for me to keep track for myself as well.

In the Health category, I am breaking it down between exercise and diet. So, let us start with exercise:

*3 month goal = to have a six-pack stomach.
Yes, I know that women are probably healthier with a little bit of roll or pudge to their tummies. I also do not judge anyone in any way regarding bellies. This is a personal goal for myself to see if I can do it and what it would look like. That is all. Once I have achieved the six pack, I will most likely just try to maintain a four-pack, which I think is sufficient. πŸ˜‰

*6 month goal = to do between 5-10 pull ups.
At the moment, I can do zero. I can barely lift my body from deadweight up a few centimeters. Despite my arm strength in certain muscles, I am severely lacking in triceps and whatever other muscles are used to do a pull-up. Therefore, with a bit of focus, patience and work, I am hoping that within six months I can do 5-10 pull ups. πŸ˜›

*9 month goal = to run 10km under an hour.
Now, I think this is probably quite slow of a run, but at the moment I can do around 10-12 minutes of running in one stretch before I get bored. Yes, bored. I am fairly certain that I could probably run longer, but my mind drifts and I would rather enjoy what I am reading or listening to while I exercise so I end up walking. Although I have joined the MRTTAD running group, I mostly walk because it is easier to socialize and well, my competitive nature kicks in so I either feel bad about not being as good or arrogant about being better. Neither of which I desire to foster in my psyche. Therefore, I walk. Still, I have determined to train on the treadmill as it allows me to address my boredom issues and I think that I will be able to build up my stamina better this way. I used to be able to do 45 minutes with about 30 minutes of running. I am not sure that I ever made it to 10km, but in any case, this is my goal.

*12 month goal = 90 minute yoga practice plus 30 minutes meditation every day
I know…it may seem strange to have this goal considering the fact that my current claimed profession is a yoga instructor. I mean, how does one become a yoga instructor and have a year goal to be able to do 90-minutes every day??? πŸ˜‰ The truth is that I am human! I do not always want to get on the mat. For the past week I have definitely been more disciplined and been on the mat at least four times with meditation included. However, I need to build up my practice stamina. At the moment, I can do about 30 minutes of yoga following my Vijnana Yoga Manual from my training. Probably, I could stretch that out a bit more, but I don’t. I am also building my meditation to now about 20 minutes straight where my legs fall asleep around 15 minutes in. Of course, more practice will make this easier. I was up to a 45 minute sit before, so the meditation should not be difficult. The key here is EVERY DAY! On top of working out at the gym, it is a little difficult to make sure I also have 2 hours set aside to do this. Therefore, to reach this goal, I imagine I shall have to adjust my schedule more and other things will give….But, this is my goal by the end of the year!

As for diet, I do not mean dieting to lose weight. I am sure if you know me, you already knew this. Diet means what I eat each day – just to make it clear. I do not have quarterly goals per se because that might put focus on weight loss or even suggest that these changes cannot be made overnight, but really for me they can since we already are a leg up in how we are eating.

We did decide to make January – Drynuary. This means staying away from alcohol for the month. It was really M who determined this as he initially said to cut back to just once a week. When he asked if I thought I could go the whole month without it, I said “Sure, no problem at all.” To his surprise he said he would try it. πŸ˜€ What I have noticed in the eight short days that we have been ‘dry’ is how much thought and activity is centered around drinking. Our culture, especially as expats, is heavily focused on food and drink to satisfy, bring joy/happiness and distract us from the lives that we lead. In a way this is extremely sad to realize and accept.

So, our one month goal is to stay away from alcohol. Beyond that I am not sure for M, but for me, I had already decided to avoid it for the most part as my body just does not react well to it anymore. This is not to say I will not have a glass or two when out and about, but no more binge nights in my future. πŸ˜›

Also, I would really like to work out how to have a more alkaline diet for M’s acid reflux issues as well as investigating what a more balanced Ph level in the body does. In fact, I am considering taking an online nutrition course this month or next (need to research it a bit) just to have a better knowledge of these topics.

Well, this turned into a long post, but I believe that these NYRs that we make should have depth and quality to them rather than fleeting claims to improve ourselves only to laughingly fail a week or month later.

We will be moving on to 2. Work goals tomorrow. Stay tuned!

~T πŸ˜€

Jan 062017
 

Starting on Sunday, I am going to write about the six major areas of life that affect our well-being, wholeness and happiness.

These six areas are:

  1. Health
  2. Work
  3. Finances
  4. Relationships
  5. Family
  6. Personal

For the next week, I will focus on sharing my goals/resolutions in these areas in the next year or even shorter-term depending on the goal itself.

While most of my life I have avoided using the wordΒ resolutions because I feel it is a cliche and a bit a minomer since resolve requires a willingness to change or take action, but very few people make realistic goals to achieve long-lasting and true change. However, I have come around a bit for myself as IΒ do intend to have long-lasting and true change to reach the goals that I have set for the next 3, 6, 9 and 12 months.

If I am going to work in an industry that requires healthy life habits, it is imperative that I model them as well, no? So, I begin here on this site. If you follow my business blog, The OSH Network, then you may see some overlap. Hopefully, you will not get too bored. πŸ˜€

Stay tuned!

~T πŸ˜€

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