2018s
Look what I found on my run this morning in Ankeny, IA… Do I spy a backyard rink 👀🏒… Looks like a nice setup 👍
This girl braved the cold with me this morning for a little exercise and got a well-deserved treat for her hard work… 🚴♀️🏃♂️
Not a bad afternoon for a fire and skating… 🏒
A little Christmas day running on what seems like just a sheet of ice outside while the kids were busy with their new things… 🏃♂️
I can appreciate the Post Office workers working non stop before Christmas as I saw them driving around really early today on my run. But I am pretty sure they just threw these boxes on our front steps…
Can’t believe how warm it has been, last Sunday I had to get outside… In shorts of course 👍🏃♂️
The one nice thing about running at night in the winter is you get to check out everyone’s Christmas Lights… 🏃♂️
After school skating tonight for the big kids while we were getting dinner ready… #hockey #backyardrink
Had to take advantage of the sun today and find some snowy trails to run along… 🏃♂️
This girl is so ready to get out on the ice… But today was just picture day. 🏒
One Decision
When you stop and think about it, one decision is all it takes. The list of what that decision might have been or could be a number of different things. For example, your job, family, friends, or finances to name a few common ones.
"You're always only one decision away from a totally different life"
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I really like that quote as it does ring true for myself and probably many of you. Well, at least the thought that a decision we made previously might have led us down a different path which then causes us to stop and think. However, other times it is something small that came and went. In fact, every day you are faced with some sort of decision that will lead you to the path you are today and not to the path you maybe could be on.
One of the reasons I like that quote above is circling back to the life you want. You might think things haven’t turned out like you had hoped it would or you wish you would have done something different in your past. I am as guilty as the next person and I keep going back to things I maybe should have done or shouldn't have done. I am trying to get away from that as it isn't really healthy as you never really know what would have happened because you might have still chosen a different path again and been worse off.
Small Steps Forward
If you think about that quote again and think of it as making life choices to move towards a goal you would like. What is a small step you could take to move yourself to where you would like to be? You just need to start changing habits or creating habits that will move you to your life goal. That is the best place to start instead of thinking about what you might have missed out on because of the choices you made.
While writing this I was reminded of a video Anthony Ongaro at Break the Twitch published which ties in nicely with this topic and is called One Small Change That Creates Massive Results. Check it out and follow his work for more great nuggets of information.
How has it worked for me?
For me personally, I tried to do this last year and I will say for 9 months of this year I failed at the approach of small steps as I was taking too many small steps in too many different areas of my life which resulted in ZERO changes. However, about 2 months ago I spent some time really thinking about what I wanted my future to look like. Not necessarily the big dream future as I have always tried to think about it previously but just looking out a couple months to a year for things like family vacations, job, and fitness.
Second attempt
Fitness and vacation goals were easy to think about but the execution in those required focus on a day in and day out basis. This is where breaking those things down into little bits I could tackle has really paid dividends. Really it was making small decisions of prioritizing if I wanted to move to my goals of vacation and fitness or put my resources (time/money) into something else.
*It takes small steps to reach the top or your goal. Take your time step by step.*
For careers, this is a more difficult task as it isn't something that can be changed instantly as you are more than likely not going to quit your job today and hope for the best. For me this probably too a lot more energy thinking about as I know what I am doing today isn’t necessarily what I want to be doing in 5-10 years from now. So instead of just trying to shoot for the stars now, I had to think about what is either holding me in my current role or preventing me from getting into another role or a similar role at another company. The answer was easier than I thought but one that is oftentimes hard to feel like you can accomplish… Money and Experience!
This is where starting to take small steps today like saving more money as changes in careers might have you moving from a higher salary to a lower one initially. So making sure you can have more in the bank and in turn live off less will help make that move more achievable when the opportunity presents itself.
Gaining more experience can be more challenging depending on if you are changing careers or just wanting a similar role at another company. Either way, you probably need to get more experience or else you would already be in that new role. In both cases this can come from volunteering, experimenting on your own time, or trying to see if you can gain more skills for your next role in your current role.
As you can see from a career standpoint, it is definitely a bigger hill to climb but the process of taking small steps towards and the end goal of what you want is how you have to ultimately start it.
Final thoughts
What keeps me moving is making sure I make decisions based on what I value or believe in as well as trying to stay positive. Knowing whatever decision I make I will own and do my best to keep the ball moving towards my goal based on my values. I know if I do that I will less likely keep wondering what if as I will have better reasons and purpose behind the path I choose.
After the long weekend this girl needed to get outside so she joined me for some of my run tonight… #running #laineylouthedoodle . . . . . #nightrun #instarunners #runnersofinstagram #run #goldendoodle #goldendoodlesofinstagram @laineylouthedoodle #s2t
Early morning trail run as we have lots of kid activities today… â¹ï¸ð¯ð #running . . . . . Thanks to @mojitosandmunchkins for working with @knuckle.lights and getting me hooked up as they definitely keep me safe in the early morning hours. . #trailrunning #runnersofinstagram #run #snowrunning #instarunners #myviewrunning #kidsactivities #morningrun #morning #s2t
This might be a little unpopular to some of my Minnesota friends but I am looking forward to the next drop in temperature as I have some kids ready to get out there 🏒🥅🧊
Floodgates of Unnecessary Purchases
Have you ever been gearing up for a trip and fell into the trap of buying a lot of things because of that upcoming “trip”?
Earlier this year I went on a 2-week business trip to Germany and the above scenario happened to me in the weeks preceding me leaving the US. It started with the question of how can I pack most efficiently as I didn’t want to check baggage through since I wanted to be somewhat mobile on the weekend. So as I was looking over my typical packing, which is normally pretty minimal as for a week travel in the US I use my Kelty Versant Duffel.
However, knowing I was going to be gone longer and over the weekend, I knew I would use a little bigger bag but really wanted to try to squeeze everything into a small carry-on suitcase order to make travel from hotel to hotel much easier. So I decided to update my list a little bit before I knew it I was looking at my things and thinking there was probably something better than I could buy instead of taking similar items that I currently own.
The Problem Started Brewing
While packing my clothes I got this idea that if I bought some pants that would be comfortable enough to wear walking around but still look nice enough to wear to work a couple days over the trip that would be money worthwhile. So what did I do, what everyone does when they want something by heading to Amazon. However, it didn’t stop there…
I wanted to work out so I was going to take some running shoes, however, the ones I had wouldn’t work for casual at work and running as they are bright yellow and pretty worn at this point. Speaking of shoes though, maybe I should just get some new casual / dress shoes so I might not have to bring my actual dress shoes. Don’t you think some new socks are in order too? Also, I didn’t want to take my two phones along (long story), so I needed to buy a new phone workout band for the time I was away. Finally, I needed a different phone charger as the long cord just wouldn’t cut it as I didn’t want all that excess cord in my pocket when it was charging on the go. Before I knew it I had a list of “Needs” that probably totaled more than $400 and in 2 days boxes started showing up from Amazon.
You see what just happened there, it was so easy for my mind to justify purchasing and elevated things from a “Want” to a “Need” prior to my work trip. Once I had my mindset on packing light, I opened the floodgates of unnecessary purchases and I ended up with things I typically wouldn’t have bought myself till it was absolutely necessary.
Backpedaling to my Frugal Self
In the end, I came to my senses before it was too late and started to backpedal on what was really a need for this trip. Thankfully all of the items I had purchased had free returns. I did still end up keeping some of them and I feel good about it to this day as I know I have used them every week since.
Ok, two more plugs as I am still running in those Asics shoes above and the prAna pants are amazing too. I can get by wearing them to work because they look good depending on what shirt I wear.
When was the last time you were getting ready for something like a big trip and you all of a sudden let the floodgates of purchases happen?
Glow of the sunrise… ððââï¸#running . . . . #running #runnersofinstagram #instarunners #sunrise #morningrun #morning #myviewrunning #run #s2t
Starting flooding the rink last night and had a visitor passing by ð¦ #backyardrink
Completed my annual self made “Turkey Trot” through the streets of my youth… #running . . . . #instarunners #runnersofinstagram #run #thanksgivingð¦ #myviewrunning #sunrise #morning #morningrun #s2t
Cold morning today as the temps were in single digits (5°F). I was wondering why my eyes were frozen… #running . . . . #instarunners #morningrun #winterrunning #runnersofinstagram #run #myviewrunning #morning #s2t
No lights needed this morning after the little bit of fresh snow last night… #running . . . . #runnersofinstagram #run #snow #morningrun #morning #darksky #instarunners #myviewrunning #winterrunning #frozenlake #s2t
