I’m a true introvert and love my solo time. It recharges me. So this weekend when my hubby went to Palm Springs I got a little excited! Shhh, don’t tell him that. Why? Because it meant that I was home alone, with my own schedule, doing exactly what I wanted while having some 1:1 play time and snuggles with my kiddos.
On Friday I invited a girlfriend over for dinner and wine. Yesterday me and the kids had burger + movie night at home and watched Home Alone. Tonight we’re inviting ourselves over to my mom’s house for dinner…she doesn’t know that yet!
One of the challenges with being home alone with the kids has been trying to fit in my workouts and daily tasks. If you’ve been following my recent journey, I joined a 90 day program that is all about endurance both physical and mental. Each day I’m given physical activities to do along with blasting cold showers in the morning, brrr….!
Yesterday was stair climbing day. We were supposed to go find a stadium, a building with lots of stairs or a hill that we could do on repeat.
Our assignment. Run up. Walk down. For 30 minutes.
Going out wasn’t gonna fly with the kids. I couldn’t very well take them somewhere and expect them to sit still at 4 and 6 years old while mommy kills herself going up and down over and over again.
I settled for the idea that we have 2 flights of stairs in our home and I could do them over and over again. The kids of course wanted to join in, so we all put on shorts and got started for our 30 minutes of stair climbing.
I tried to tell the kids it wasn’t a race, and they needed to pace themselves, but they didn’t listen and raced each other. My daughter got upset because my son was faster than she was, and I told her she’ll last longer so don’t worry about it.
About 3 minutes in, my son dropped off saying he was tired. Bless him, after having a soccer tournament earlier in the day, he was done!
My daughter kept going, but slowed down and said her legs were burning thinking something was wrong with her. I told her mine were burning too and that’s normal, it means you’re using your muscles.
At 7 minutes in, I was thrilled to be 1/4 of the way, then realized I still had a long way to go.
My internal dialogue flipped to excuses…maybe I don’t have to do the full 30 minutes, I did just get a root canal and I probably should take it easy.
…but I kept going.
Then halfway comes, wahoo! I’ve got this.
Then 5 minutes to go…oh this sucks. My legs are burning. The kids are fighting and crying. I remind myself that I’m building my follow through muscle, and I keep going and give my kids the 5 minutes left head’s up.
2 minutes left and it goes sideways. My Garmin watch buzzes saying you reached 8x your daily goal for climbing stairs….and I say to myself, I’m not an 8x kinda gal, I’m a 10x’er.
Oh geeze, that means 20 extra stories to go!
Alright, I’ve got this.
I hunker down and finish at 10x the daily goal.
At the end I got to celebrate not only the fact that I kept going when I didn’t feel like, but I surpassed my initial assignment for the day.
Maybe it wasn’t the best circumstance that I wasn’t able to find a more ideal location to do the stairs.
Maybe it wasn’t the best timing to do it with my kids while talking them down from racing and fighting to keep them from getting hurt.
Maybe it wasn’t the best timing with my legs still sore from getting my butt kicked at the gym two days before.
Maybe it wasn’t the best timing to get it done at dinner time when everyone was hungry and tired from the day.
I could go on with reasons why it wasn’t the best timing, just like how we can justify why it’s not the right timing to move forward in our businesses.
But when you move forward whether
… you feel ready or not
… you dread the work or not
… the stars feel aligned or not
When you move forward in spite of all that, you build momentum and it gets easier.
Easier to push through the discomfort.
Easier to see the finish line.
Easier to believe that you absolutely can do this!
And you will feel so much better about yourself.
When you follow through you build confidence.
When you build confidence you grow as a person. You think BIGGER. You dream BIGGER.
When you continue to follow through you take on the identify of a finisher and it becomes a habit, not a choice.
Like Jim Rohn said, If you say you can’t do something, you must to it NOW.
What does that mean exactly?
It means if you don’t think you can do something, it’s your opportunity for growth. Having a knowing that if you do it (take action towards your goal), you’re better for it. But if you don’t do it, you’ll shrink. You can only be doing one of two things. You’re either growing or you’re dying. You’ve got to be breaking through in order to grow and stay alive.
Sure it’s easier said than done. And sometimes it helps to see how others have been able to breakthrough.
And that’s what I have created for you. If you want to learn how others have found the grit, follow through and commitment to reach their BIG goals by leveraging their time online, then I want to personally invite you to join me for an interview series where you get to come behind the scenes of some of the most influential expert online. Check it out here.
