Hey there Mamas! Happy New Year! I hope you all got a chance to unplug and disconnect and enjoy the simpler things in life over the holidays. My 3 kids were home from Christmas Eve through New Year’s and my husband and I really optimized on our spent as a family. I planned out one major activity per day to occupy my 2 year old twins and 1 year old, because we know if you tire them out before noon, they actually NAP, which means, we may be able to sneak in snooze. That is always the goal, right?
We went to the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City where they enjoyed a new Dino Train exhibit, built towers out of large foam blocks, saw bees in a beehive, and met a real reindeer. We explored different parks in our neighborhood and the three of them cannot of swings and slides and even named a clubhouse the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. We baked a ton – cookies and cupcakes. The kids really enjoyed getting their hands dirty, cracking eggs and whisking flour. We built a gingerbread house. And the biggest achievement was our second bootcamp for potty training which was a success, honing in on their morning routine, and table manners. I will do podcast episodes on all of these because I think there is enough interest for these topics.
For now, I want to talk about the cliched new year’s resolutions and how goal-setting can be made easy with a toolkit. I’m going to give you 3 things to implement into your life which are simple and you can stick to throughout the year. I’m doing this right along with you!
1. Meditate
There are many different forms of meditation through yoga, breathing techniques, guided ones through apps or in person.
According to an article on Psych Central, Meditating for just eight weeks has been shown to alter the brain’s gray matter, which may be at least part of the reason why practitioners experience significant improvements in memory, sense of self, empathy, and stress, according to a new study led by Harvard researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).
“Although the practice of meditation is associated with a sense of peacefulness and physical relaxation, practitioners have long claimed that meditation also provides cognitive and psychological benefits that persist throughout the day,” said senior author Dr. Sara Lazar of the MGH Neuroimaging Research Program and a Harvard Medical School instructor in psychology.
“This study demonstrates that changes in brain structure may underlie some of these reported improvements and that people are not just feeling better because they are spending time relaxing.”
I am personally trying my own version of transcendental meditation where you recite a special mantra in your mind. You can research more about ™ online. I’m starting with 5 minutes morning and night and will increase to 15 minutes and longer as I feel comfortable. So many succeessful people swear by meditation from Oprah to Seinfeld, so make it a point to give it an earnest effort in 2020.
2. Goal-setting
I recently interviewed Samantha Ettus who is a CEO, speaker, and author of the Pie Life: A Guilt Free Recipe for Success and Satisfaction.
She says,
The Pie Life is the ultimate self-improvement playbook for women who work. Now is the time for you to banish the guilt and start living a life you love! Having worked with thousands of women over the past two decades, bestselling author Samantha Ettus shares the secrets for how you can sustain a thriving personal and professional life at the same time. She believes our life can be cut into 7 slices: Career, Health, Relationship, Children, Community, Friends and Hobbies. Write out one goal you have for each of these slices that you can strive for each month. She explains that we can never truly have a work-life balance because that would mean each slice is equal, and that we have to adapt to our circumstances. When you have a newborn, your children slice is going to take up most of your time and energy, but when they’re 5, you are out of the weeds andd can make strides in your career. So just keep it realistic based on your situation. I bought the passion planner and am documenting my notes there and I have the 5 Minute Journal as my gratitude journal where I jot things down at night. I am also writing my own affirmations. For instance, when I got through potty training, I gave myself a gold star too. That was a big win for me, and I wrote it down and said congrats Kanika. It was a shit show – but you got through it. You did it!
I also want to share an article I read by Zeina Muna. She’s part of a tribe I belong to called HeyMama and is the Business Development Director of iFundWomen, a crowdfunding platform for female entrepreneurs.
- Set “SMART” Goals: SMART goals are a crucial step in creating effective goals and milestones as they make sure that the goals you are setting have specific criteria – criteria which are easily remembered by using the acronym SMART. Each goal that you set for yourself needs to account for each one of these criteria.
For example: “I want to have a bigger social media presence” is a goal, but it is not SMART. A SMART Goal is: “I want to grow my Instagram account (specific) by 2,000 new instagram followers (measurable) by posting more frequently and engaging with new accounts (achievable), because my ideal client mainly uses Instagram (relevant), over the course of one year (time-bound).”
3. Drink more water
The body is about 60% water, give or take.
You are constantly losing water from your body, primarily via urine and sweat. To prevent dehydration, you need to drink adequate amounts of water.
There are many different opinions on how much water you should be drinking every day.
Health authorities commonly recommend eight 8-ounce glasses, which equals about 2 liters, or half a gallon. This is called the 8×8 rule and is very easy to remember.
However, some health gurus believe that you need to sip on water constantly throughout the day, even when you’re not thirsty.
Do what works for you. I have a 3 liter jug that I fill up and aim to finish each day and I actually heat up the water and have that instead of tea sometimes because it feels so soothing.
4. Focus on your mental and physical health
Seek a therapist of mindfulness coach to talk things out and create a simple spreadsheet to track your workouts each week. If you can only make it to a class 2x a week, that’s fine. Walk when you can, take the stairs, and keep it moving.
5. Have a squad
Having a team in your corner is important both personally and professionally. For me, it’s BNI. Business Networking International. Established by Dr. Ivan Misner in 1985, BNI is the world’s largest business referral network. … Our proven approach provides members a structured, positive and professional referral program that enables them to sharpen their business skills, develop meaningful, long-term relationships, and experience business growth. There are nearly 10,000 chapters around the word with over 200,000 members. 11.4 referrals have been passed and members have earned $16B in closed business. I am the President of Activate 58, a chapter in New York, and I feel so lucky to have my mentors, Directors Jackie Frank and Al D’Angelo backing me up and my team of members in the dream team. To learn more, visit www.bni.com and check out my chapter bnichapter58.com.
I also love my ladies who are HeyMamas. I recently had founders Katya Libin and Amri Kibbler on the show and they shared their journey of how they started as a small community of professional moms in New York and now have groups around the nation and soon internationally. One thing they told me they do is “Oh Shit Girl” affirmations. Pretend you’re getting together with your friends a year from now and say the sky high things you want. You say want they want to realize like “oh shit girl, you just published your first book, or bought a new house, or gave birth!” You say what you want and somehow the universe gives you what you want and I truly believe in that.
Zero in on your 2020 vision for 2020. You have got this!
As always, write to me at thatstotalmomsense@gmail.com and let me know if there any topics you’d like me to cover. It’s been less than a year since I launched my podcast and I can’t tell you how lucky I feel to have you in my tribe. Love and Light.
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