Cardio Kung Fu challenge, day one...maybe...

So I’ve been trying to start this CKF challenge for several days now, with no success.  You see, I’m this weird mix of type A meets free spirit.  I love rules, as long there are no rules to encumber me.  So when I tell myself I’m going to start some kind of challenge (that type A part of me), I immediately revolt (the free spirit part of me).  For the last 6 days, I’ve started each day with the intention of starting the challenge and ended each day saying to myself “tomorrow I’m really going to start this thing.”  I started this morning knowing I wouldn’t be starting the challenge today so maybe today it will actually stick.  I’m not planning on it, but who knows.  In any event, I’m posting my before pictures and stats because I plan to start, wait for it…tomorrow.

Why the challenge in the first place you ask (you may not be asking but I’m going to pretend you are)?  Well, since leaving my full time job to focus on building this business, I’ve regained some of the stress weight I lost (which is good, I don’t mean to mislead anyone here, my BMI is still 23 and I’m well within the healthy weight range for a woman of my height and age) but I’ve done it in the wrong way.  I went from stress starving to stress eating, my treadmill has cob webs growing on it and though I’ve been prepping for my next CKF class (which starts this week, I’m totally stoked!!!) I haven’t been doing the workout all out.  I’ve been honing my class leader skills, which is good, but I haven’t been reaping all the benefits on CKF.  That changes today, at least the CKF workout part.  I’m not going to commit to the not-stress-eating part, not today anyway and if my track record is any indication, giving myself permission to stress eat will result in my not stress eating.  I’m a riddle, just ask my husband. 

Developing this business has been nothing but exciting.  I’m learning new things each day and growing in ways I never could have envisioned.  This is the right time for me because for once, things are falling into place.  I’ve been a frustrated entrepreneur for over 20 years but this is the first time any of my ideas have taken hold.  This, I’m convinced is due in large part to timing.  I needed to be in the right stage of my life and I’ve finally arrived there.  I developed my first fitness program way back in 1992 but it never took off because I needed the experiences I’ve had in the last 20 years to get to this place where things could take off.  There isn’t a day of the week that goes by without me doing something to build this business and I love it, that’s how I know it’s right.  But just because things are exciting and positive doesn’t mean there isn’t stress.  Good things bring on stress too, I have to remind myself of that because I’ve been hesitant to label it stress but I know I’m stress eating so it’s there.  The facts are, this business is exciting for me, it’s my calling and my passion.  I’m not going to quit, that’s a fact.  I’m also pre-hypertensive and have an irregular heartbeat and I need to manage my stress so I stay healthy, that’s also a fact.  I need to practice what I preach, so to speak, and practice CKF, thus the CKF challenge.

What exactly is this CKF challenge of which I speak you ask (again, you may not be asking but I’m going to pretend you are)?  For today, it’s doing the workout, plain and simple.  My educational focus is personal training, I have a base line knowledge of nutrition and bioenergetics but I don’t I’m not a dietician and I don’t pretend to have the next great diet for you.  I’ve learned from personal experience that when I eat a balanced diet and practice the principles of CKF, it does crazy good things to my body.  So that’s the start of the challenge for me, doing the workout today.  It’s a start at least and I believe we’re only failures when we stop trying, in business and in life in general.

So here are my statistics…for the first time ever.

  Before

Before

January 28, 2013

Weight: 144.8 Chest: 36.5 Waist: 30.5 Hips: 38.5 Thighs: 21.75 Arms: 11                                                                                                                     

Fitness Goal: CKF workout 5 times a week 

Lifestyle Goal: eat dinner at the dining room table with my son

my teeny, tiny office...

So I’m sitting here in my teeny, tiny office (it’s 26” X 50”, no joke) feeling very blessed today.  Since the first of the year, I’ve set the daily goal of completing at least three action items for Cardio Kung Fu so that when I look back next December, I can say “holy crap, look at all the things I accomplished over the past year” (truth be told, it will probably have more expletives because that’s just me but I’m censoring myself so as not to offend readers). 

One of the recurring to-dos on my list has been getting my teeny tiny office done, which had multiple steps.  I’m literally sitting in what used to be my husband’s closet (don’t worry, he’s not closetless, I gave up my old closet to him and we turned our spare bed room into a new FABULOUS closet) so there were holes to be patched, walls to be painted, shelves to be hung, a desk top to be cut to the right size ( 19” X 25 ½” with a little notch to accommodate the door frame, every inch of real estate matters in here…), my board of world domination to be hung (ok, it’s just a bulletin board but board of world domination sounds more awesome to me) and organizing of all the businessy stuff I’ve collected over the last several months and had stowed in various locations around our teeny, tiny house.    

See what I mean about the real estate?

Let me back up a step (figuratively not literally, note the afore mentioned office size).  It’s been a really rough couple of years, I got laid off from the job I thought I would retire from back in early 2011, I was unemployed for over a year, I had to start all over with a part-time retail job that brought part-time pay and retail hours with it, which was a huge change for me, and then I finally got a full-time office job that I guess I was excelling at from the feedback I got from my manager but that ate me alive (I had to work 55 hours a week to feel like I was just two inches below the water line with a cement block attached to my ankle).  I’ve had a passion for Kung Fu since the jr ninja and I started taking lessons three years ago and I’ve been working on developing Cardio Kung Fu for about the last 9 months but my efforts were seriously derailed with the full-time job that ate me alive.  55 hours a week in a really stressful environment took its toll on me physically, mentally and emotionally.  CKF had to be set aside due the laws of time and space (darned you Albert Einstein), the house was always a mess, and somehow the jr ninja made the B honor roll even though I felt I was in the running for Worst Mother Ever since my parenting became reactive rather than proactive because I simply wasn’t home much and when I was, I was so exhausted and stressed out I didn’t have enough in me to engage proactively.  I was in firefighter mode.  I was living on 4 hours of sleep that were constantly filled with work related nightmares, I lost 15 pounds from the stress, my heart rate slowed by 40%, and I was diagnosed with an irregular heart beat in December.  I was literally dying.  Something had to change.  With the blessing of my husband (that sounds wrong but I can’t think of a different way to say it and he will be the first one to tell you he can’t make me do anything I don’t want to) I went back to the part-time retail job and decided to get back to developing CKF with the thought that with the extra time, I could regain my health, get back to proactive parenting, clean the house, add more CKF classes, and look into licensing this awesome fitness program. 

Fast forward to this morning and here I sit, in my teeny tiny office writing this blog post.  My husband is traveling for business this week and he finished my desk top right before he left yesterday.  After I got the jr ninja to school this morning, I finished putting the last essential items in place and here I am, actually working in of my teeny tiny office for the first time ever and I have to admit, even though I’m not really the mushy-girly type, I’m feeling kind of mushy and girly about this.  I’ve been consistent with my goal of daily action steps and in some ways, I feel busier than I did a few short months ago, but it’s in a good way.  I’m learning that I’m in the zone and doing my best work when I’m focused on helping others and this little business I’m building from my teeny tiny office is going to be HUGE someday because it’s all about helping people achieve positive benefits in their lives, whether they are students or aspiring ninjas.  So keep watching, my best days are ahead of me, 2013 is gonna rock, I’m pretty sure.

my teeny tine office...

every ninja needs a shifu...

As I write this it 7:00 pm on Tuesday.  I meant to write this way earlier in the week but my part-time has me hoping this week.  Between the store and my attempt at world domination through Cardio Kung Fu, I’ve been working non-stop since 6:00 am this morning…except for a little after work detour to DSW for some SWEET boots, but more on those later. 

This is my first full real, not-holiday week in which I’m working on my goal of completing at least three tasks a day in my quest for the afore mentioned world domination. This week I’m participating in The Daily Whip’s Week Long Whip-a-Thon,  a business boot camp of sorts and the fact that I was originally only scheduled for three shifts seemed perfect so I could focus on what I’d be learning but true to my life, perfect never sticks.  By the time I left work Sunday (the first day of the work schedule at the store), I had been asked to add four hours to my five hour shift on Monday, and to add a seven hour shift today, one of my three days off to focus on my business, thus effectively screwing perfect. 

Am I a little off track with my plan for the week?  Yes.  Am I’m totally stoked and still getting things done?  YES, and it’s due in large part to focusing on forward action on a daily basis, and in larger part to the accountability of the Whip-a-Thon.   You see, I’m super great at thinking about all the stuff I should be doing and I can spend hours making lists, but thinking and lists will only get you so far.  Having the kind of accountability and organization I’m learning about this week will get me the rest of the way (you can learn more about what I’m learning at www.dailywhip.com ). 

So what’s the most important thing I’ve learned this week?  Every Ninja needs a Shifu.  Sometimes they are from China and dressed in a Kung Fu uniform, and sometimes they are wearing stilettos and cracking a whip.  But all the time, they teach us how to grow in different ways. 

 

Oh, and in case you were wondering, here's a picture of my new SWEET boots...

 

2013 has got to be better, right?

Let me start this with the requisite "happy new year" wish. 

There, now that I have that out of the way, let me get real.  As I write this, my life is mired in uncertainty and I'm filled with anxiety.  2 years ago I had a job that I thought I'd retire with, we had more than enough money coming in and while there was stress in my life, I felt pretty good about life in general.  Shortly thereafter, I was laid off from said job, thus the uncertainty and anxiety.  I don't have a technical education (somehow I ended up with a BA in English and a Master's in Leadership, not exactly what anybody is looking for these days...) so it's been a bitch finding something in this economy. To make matters more stressful, my husband has recently began traveling for business so I'm single-momming it much of the time, and yes, I'm pretty sure I made that word up.

My answer for 2013, I've settled into a part-time retail job that I love (yes, I've found there is no shame in the retail gig, I love my co-workers, I love the clothes I get to play with, I love our customers, the flexible hours work for my life) and I'm going to focus on building my fitness empire, one class at a time.  It's a roller coaster, and at my age, those mostly make me nauseous so not a day goes by that doubt doesn't creep in a little, but not a day goes by that I don't get the feeling that I'm doing exactly what I was put on this earth to do.  All the battles I've fought in my life have brought me exactly to where I am at exactly this moment and I'm not always convinced that I'm ready to do this but I am convinced that this is something I have to do... no. matter. what.

So I'm all in.  By New Year's Day 2014, I will be able to look back at a year of highs (and lows, I'm sure, I'm not Pollyanna), I will be able to look back at the most incredible year of my life...

no. matter. what.