Congratulations to Julie, Kris Tina and Finchy of Team Extraordinary for completing the 100 KM OXFAM TRAIL WALK in 37 HOURS & 20 MINUTES 

BRILLIANT!!! So proud of you and all high achievers who can not only achieve a high ideal goal for themselves but help others whilst doing it and are equally concerned with maintaining a balanced lifestyle.

Now none of us are super powered and something has to give, the greats never allow the important things in life to slide out of view for too long.  Setting and maintaining life balance goals while striving for an extreme goal is often the thing that will help get all you high achievers over the finish line.  High achievers are prepared to give more than most would give for that same goal and often more than we believe we can give ourselves,  but know we do not need to be so committed as to give up everything.  
That is why we need other achievable, believable, and workable goals while we are after climbing whatever is our 'Mt Everest.'  

Balance is the Key to reaching the extreme goal.

Yesterday while friends were completing the Oxfam Trail Walk,  I was deeply engrossed in rewriting a section of my novel and it was going well.  A character was developing. I had a pronominal urge to write and did not want to stop writing lest the great ideas stop flowing as freely and as well as they were coming.

I went four hours beyond the time I had planned to exercise as I knew my novel, which is for me a very important goal, would suffer if I left it at that stage.
I kept postponing the deadline to stop writing and get some exercise.
I have wanted to write this novel since I was thirteen years old.  That is 52 years of postponing something I had wanted to do.  My mother held this same goal and died before realizing it.  I turn 65 this year.  Every year from now on increases my risk of dementia and never having the brain capacity to write my novel.  I MUST write my novel this year.   Maybe this is why they say seniors need less sleep than younger people, lol :-) maybe a lot of us are perusing an extreme goal as we know time is running out for us and it is now or never.  Our goal means we have to make cuts some where and sleep is one of the things we may need to cut back on (within pre set sane living limits) in order to achieve the goal. 

My husband Reg had an important for him date with the TV to watch his favorite fishing program at 4.30pm

At 3.30, with the chapter I was writing unfinished, I saved what I had done, turned off the computer and Reg and i got out into nature and had fun exercising.

I was back in time for Reg to watch his TV show, for me to get dinner before the early TV that I watch and I began my paid writing jobs which then took me though until Reg went to bed around 9.30. 

Now a part of me told me I should, if weight loss and increased fitness was a goal, hop on the exercise bike and have a hard 30 minute work out.  I chose not to.  Currently my goal is my novel as a priority over increased fitness and any dramatic weight loss.   The health issues I have at the moment of skin cancers, infections all have nothing to do with my weight and frankly writing my novel keeps me happy and my mind not occupied with worrying about the current infection nor the next operation I will have when I get that infection corrected.

I had done the amount of exercise I have set myself as my minimum for the day ` even though it was inconvenient to do it then and not something I  desired to do.   I consider that I achieves BALANCE in my life.    It was my choice to go back to my novel and complete the good work I had begun earlier in the day though that wonderful flow of words I had known then had left me, I was able to arrange and edit those words if not add to them till I had a great story from my day's writing.

I knocked off work in time to get 8 hours in bed that night.  Brilliant for me.
I did not over ` or under eat for the day.  I eat a lot more than the 1200 calories suggested on the Michelle Bridges 12 week body transformation program, what I ate was all healthy and I do aim for a calorie deficit as I am overweight, and I achieved that.

So I am proud of my moderate effort towards fitness although it was a pathetic physical effort compared to most of my friends who do the 12WBT. 
I am proud I had a day of balance in my life, I even offered to pop over and help a depressed friend with her housework though I was quite happy that she declined as I did not really have the time.  I manage my concern about things like a loved one's depression by maintaining my own peace of mind and while letting others know I care and am there for them, I strive to cushion myself so my own happiness if not going to be extremely affected by the behavior of others.    This to me is FITNESS.

What is fitness to you?

In the last few days a few people did a 100 kilometer walk over about 36 hours.  At the half way mark there were bandaged feet being shown in photos by some.  I am sure this is no more extreme than my taking a year to write a novel requiring long sessions at a time in sedentary behavior because once you begin to edit a passage you must not stop or you might miss picking up someplace where you have repeated yourself.

With every desire to be great at something there difficult to do, needs to be some extreme form of behavior to achieve it.  

I can see and understand this. 

My ability and chose to cut my sleep  from 8 hours to 5 hours in order to achieve a creative goal I could otherwise not achieve is no different from a mental exercise perspective than someone choosing to run a marathon or to do the Oxfam 100 kilometer walk.  

None of these activities in my opinion have a great deal to do with fitness other than you need to be fit enough and have trained for the event in order to do them.   
They are, by their very extreme nature, contradictory to gaining fitness if pursued to extremes.
There are  warning signs, when the body is telling you to slow down and rest to be observed.

I have always felt that extreme exercise or behavior  to the point where injury is likely to occur is exactly the same mentality -self abuse- as failure to do any exercise or to seek your creative goals like writing that novel you always wanted to do but could not make the time to do.

Yes extremes of behaviour is what many of us need to go to in order to achieve our goals as we will not achieve them in a 'normal'  or 'average' existence

Set an ideal or optimum training plan which includes having a balanced lifestyle to guide you while you peruse an extreme goal.

As a writer I need to see a physio therapist to help me manage and avoid repetition strain injuries from a life of creativity.  An athlete similarly needs to prevent as many muscle injuries and manage those they have.   We all need to maintain life around us and while understanding that our world may not fall apart if the roses miss a pruning or the washing is used straight from the wash basket and never made it to being put away in the cupboard, it helps to remember that relationships need work all the time and it is easier to maintain something in a healthy state than to build a new one.  That applies to pretty much everything in life.

Yes this is a bit of a waffle I know. 

It comes from my congratulating those who achieve the amazing extreme event of Oxfam for their accomplishment of hiking 100 kilometers in around 36 hours and my realizing that to me that is 'too extreme' while knowing that would look at the hours I set writing a novel as being 'way too extreme.'  

The thrill they must feel from their accomplishment will be with them for a lifetime as will the thrill of accomplishment I am going to feel when I complete this novel to a standard that I am proud of.   

The Oxfam walkers were prepared to make some sacrifice for their goal and I too have made sacrifices for mine.   But I am keeping life's balance in mind and I am not prepared to make an extreme sacrifice of health or family relationships nor total poverty so I have to apply the brakes (set minimal as well as optimal standards of behaviour I MUST follow each day) while I pursue my path to an extreme goal.
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Will you be sending yourself a Happy Valentines Day message this year?

Will you be allowing your inner self to shine and sparkle and come out from the backdrop of work, duty and commitments?

I hope today will be a day when you share the love with yourself as well as others and like me will make some plans to work out how you be the person you seek to become - NOW.   

My Creativity, Fitness and Rest, Balance Goals.
Since I committed and picked up the pen and began wearing out keyboards last August I have had some fantastic weeks where I have been able to complete the work I desire to do but have had more weeks where I have been unable to get to the nonfiction writing.  I found that very frustrating.

At one point I thought the struggle to combine a goal to have enough creative time, exercise time, sleep and complete my part time work and full time carer duties was going to be an impossible ask and I was ready to shelve my novel in the interest of feeling I had my life in balance, even if that meant I was giving up the goal I have had for over half a century.

I almost threw my dream of writing my novel away because I could not find the time to do it.

Common-sense or lack of it prevailed and I am back in the fight to find the balance I need to manage all the things I want to so successfully.

In striving to write my novel I was not being as active as I need to be to manage my weight and I was not sleeping enough, another thing that has always added to weight gain for me as this affects my metabolism badly.  I took a look at my own heading for this blog, 'Don't diet, change your lifestyle,' and I realized that this message was saying how important it is to be creatively fulfilled as a person as frustrations and disappointments play a huge role in triggering overeating.  I knew I needed to write my novel.

So for the last week or so my novel has once again become high priority and I am working out my activity and exercise plan to fit in around my prime writing opportunity times.  

Non novel writing times can become the fitness opportunities.    I don't watch a lot of TV, I chose the one hour show, the Mentalist to watch last night and I used stretch resistance bands as exercise during that time.    I was happy with that :-).  I was not so happy that I then got 'lost' in my novel and when I looked up it was 2.30 am.  I was however able to sleep for 7 hours so with a good night of rest behind me, I begin today with a plan to somehow achieve a fitness, creativity and rest balance in my life.

I will do some additional exercise today, I am working on developing my own suitable for seniors like myself' program rather than following a program that includes running unless it is on a cushioned smooth surface like firm sand, I will be avoiding sit ups and bends from the waist none of which I should be doing with osteoporosis.  I will be adding push ups, and working from an exercises for seniors guidebook,  I plan to make the weight work outs to help protect my bones and brisk walking a big part of my minimal equipment work suited to our touring lifestyle, plan..   Plus I will be making new commitments in my BodyMedia fIT program Manager and goals.

This is my Valentines day, Goal Setting and action program designed for me.

 My 5 Kilometer Jogging track can start at this footbridge over the Goulburn River at Shepparton or at the Bridge at Mooroopna opposite Kidstown. Good parking at both locations and about a 7 kilometer round trip into Mooroopna from my home if I want to leg it all the way.  I could continue this trip even further by walk jogging around the large lake in Shepparton.  I am going to love Springtime in Shepparton and my new fitness schedule :-).

Well I had a beautiful day today. I had slacked off a lot and slipped into workahloic ways, overwork, under activity and overeating.  I knew that this 100 days to Christmas date was the absolute deadline for me to shape up and take responsibility to walk away from my work for part of each day, have fun outdoors with Reg again and today was the day. I enjoyed it so much.

Reg took me out for a walk along the waterways of Shepparton. I ended up jogging for 1.1 kilometres on the pathways.  Then we visited my daughter and grandchildren who lives in the region. I wanted to show her the fantastic gift sent to me by my fellow writer friend, Carol Willis.  With a sedentary love like writing I have to make an effort to be active to offset the hours of inactivity spent writing.  

It is 100 days until Christmas and I knew I wanted to make some goals but I was unsure what these would be.  Today enjoying myself, running beside the river I decided.  In 100 days’ time, even with an operation somewhere around the middle to the end of October in there, I will be running 5 kilometres along the riverside tracks between Shepparton and Mooroopna.   The distance from my home to the Aquamoves Gym, beside the Goulburn River in Shepparton is close to 12 kilometres return via the river side track. I should be ready to part walk part run that distance, by December 25th 2010. 

Now I do not actually want to be able to run 5 kilometres on hard pathways that is not a goal of mine.  My actual goal is a fitness one. I want to be and remain healthy, free from lifestyle disease.  This ability to run 5 kilometres or to part run part walk 10 kilometres is my measurement of having achieved this fitness level.

As it is springtime, September being the wettest month of the year here in Victoria, I will head out and train on the fine days, rather than stipulating that I will train three days a week. 

I will alternate short sprints for longer runs when I am able to get outside to be active each day.  Lots of lovely gardening weather coming up too and my Wii Fit Plus, Biggest Loser, full body workouts to be done alternating with using my own weights.  Note there is no gym membership planned.   After a look though my bank statements for the last 18  months I have decided I do not need to spend any more money on learning to be fit, or for the equipment or motivation to do it, I simply need to DO IT.

Firstly, to achieve my preset goals, I need to to have a clear highly focused image of what my goals are. 
To just say, 'I want something', and not make the goal clear, specific, measurable and to know it is achievable is to have 'pipe dreams that will not happen.  The realistic dream or goal I make must be one I want for myself, not something i think others expect or want from me. 

I usually set  5 year, 1 year, 12-week  one month, and one week goals.  These can cover several areas of my life. 

Now with my action plan in front of  me, I sit down and write out my ‘To Do List’ or as some younger friends have taught me, lol, the JFDI list. .

While there may be chores like, ‘do the washing, tidy the house/caravan’ in there, and for me, long hours of creative sedentary reading, writing work, I strive to make half the items on the ‘to do list’, be items from my your action plan.

If I can do this every day, I lead a balanced lifestyle and I achieve, the goals I set myself through working towards them consistently, not in extremes of one behaviour or the other, I can slip back into if I do not strive for this consistency of a balanced healthy lifestyle according to my action plan, on a daily basis.

I wrote out my one-month, three month, six month and twelve month goals last night and how I intended to achieve them. So this morning’s motivational thought for the day, appealed to me

"It is our choices...that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities" - J. K. Rowling

Tips for setting and achieving your goal.

You goal must be something you desire. Drinking 8 glasses of water is an action not a goal unless water was a hard to achieve commodity and you crave drinking 8 glasses.

Please try to find goals that excite you, things you would want to make an effort to achieve.

Would you work hard to achieve something that is easy to do that you do not actually want to do? 

Know what a Goal Is, do not mistake an action for a goal. I love drinking, water. It comes easy. If you do not like drinking it, it might be a part of your action plan but it is a very weak goal. 

This confusion about what a goal is, accounts for why so many people struggle to achieve goals. So it will help you to read up on how to set goals, not from people who are not achieving them, but from the experts.  There are many experts in this field.


Your Goal needs to be specific. Losing weight or running is not a specific goal, How much weight and in what time frame, How far, fast or for how long do you want to be able to run and when do you plan to be able to do this? Be very clear about what it is you want to achieve,

Your goal must be believable to you. Yes I believe I can achieve goal weight. No I do not believe I could ~ or should run a marathon.  I set my 12 months goal to passing my next bone density scan with at the very least no further deterioration and hopefully a drug free, all natural with diet and exercise, improvement in my bone density, I believe this can be achieved.

The Goal must be achievable. I cannot expect to achieve the looks and weight I was at age 21, lol, J, I’ll settle for feeling 21, J ~ when better than that, I’ll be a healthy and fit feeling 21 again J. I have already achieved greater health and fitness than I ever had before in my life. At 63 I am my fitness exceeds anything I knew in my youth.

You must know how you are going to achieve your goal.

You must have an action plan so you can see how it will be, achieved.

You must have a To Do List.  Write in your diary, ahead of time, those actions you will be doing to achieve the goal you set. These are appointments with yourself, appointments you commit and promise yourself that you are not going to break, short of serious emergencies.  If you do not do this step, you know you will falter, you will have times when ‘you can’t be bothered or make excuses that you are too busy, so write those to do list actions into your diary now. If someone wants you to do something else during that time, you cannot ‘you have an appointment’.

The most important appointment you could have. is the one that takes you to your goal, your realistic dream for you.   I am about to keep my appointment with the swimming pool beside me J.

 

Have a beautiful and active day. 

Cleaverville Beach, what a beautiful place to work toward two special goals.

Short term goal to get to an 80cm waist, only 2 cm to go.

Long term goal to have lived longer than all previous generations of females in my family, broken free of an ill health cycle and proved that healthy life style can be stronger than genes. 

From a health statistic point of view, 80 cm and under is supposed to place me at a stage where my size ceases to be a risk factor for my health, so this is an important mile stone for me to achieve and I see now that it will be possible to achieve this goal by my 63rd birthday and I will have achieved a 10 cm reduction in my waist size in three months.   Not quite there yet...counting down the days and being conscious to eat according to my appetite, not in excess of it and to be active and exercise each day.  Fingers crossed and very hopeful of making my short term goal waist size by the desired date, my birthday.  Will let you know if I ‘make it’, soon. J