I remember sitting in my dorm at F.I.T. (The Fashion Institute of Technology) watching my roommates running around being productive as I sat on my bed watching TV and all I could think is why am I not as motivated as they are!?! From there I would make lists, write out calendars with all my goals on it, make meal plans and then I would feel like I failed when I didn’t accomplish everything (talk about being a perfectionist!). I would continue to do this for many years often feeling defeated.

Then a couple years later in the fall one of my favorite workout company’s Tone It Up! was doing a fall cardio challenge, 100 miles in 13 weeks. I had to do around 8 miles per week and for the first time, I had accomplished my fitness goal. I still remember how excited I was as I finished the challenge.

So what made this goal different from the others I had set for myself? Well, it wasn’t as rigid as the other goals. I noticed when I was making myself do something every day or on specific days it would be too rigid and if I missed a day I would feel like I failed. This was more flexible, it didn’t matter which days I ran or how long I ran each time as long as at the end of the week I accomplish the 8 miles.

Once I figured this out I started to write my blog posts this way. I love to come home at the end of my day and watch TV. However, I started to feel very guilty about spending this time watching TV.  I realized that I have been doing this for most of my life. I would always do homework while watching TV or listening to the radio. It was a mix of being productive while being relaxed. I needed to be in a relaxed setting to do my work. Now I will have the TV or radio on in the background as I write my posts. This way I am still being productive, but I am not stressing about it. There are no hard deadlines or specific days I have to write, I can write when I feel like it. When I realized that this was the best way to work for me it freed my guilt of watching tv.

A new challenge I am going to start is a 10 minute a week plank challenge for 1 month. I will write updates each week under my fitness category. It doesn’t matter which days I do it but at the end of each week, I need to accomplish 10 minutes worth of planks. I challenge you to think about something you would like to feel productive at and change your approach to how you go about accomplishing it.

XO,

Ellie Curry