Southern Slim-Down

I’ve wanted to do the accent video thing for a while, and I think I’ll do it tonight.  All the new ones cropping up today have inspired me!  But what book shall I read?  Hmm …

Did five miles this morning.  Felt pretty good, though my legs did feel a bit heavy in mile four.  Convinced myself to make a banana/berry/flax smoothie for breakfast in addition to the half of a Kashi bar I had before my run.  Gotta eat!

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The Inner Critic Let me introduce you to someone. Her name is the critic, and if you are a knowledge worker or creative you know her quite well. She is the one that pipes up and tells you that you aren’t very good at something and because of that you should give up on everything.

Sound familiar?

The inner critic is something that we all experience and can lead talented and creative individuals to give up on their ideas without even trying them.

Personally, I have been visited by the critic too many times to count. And many of those times she has stopped me dead in my tracks on some idea about a website, article, or piece of software that I would like to create. Remember, the critic is sneaky; not only will she try to stop you dead in your tracks and force you to give up, she will sneak her way into your plans and and todo lists in the form of non-clarified next actions, forcing you to procrastinate on your goals and dreams.

Luckily there are some ways that you can battle the Inner Critic and take over.

1. Define exactly what you want to accomplish – also what you don’t want to accomplish
   There is nothing worse than having a project or goal that is poorly defined. The Inner Critic loves this kind of “amorphous blog of undoability” and with it tells you that, “you don’t even really know what you want in ‘life/project x/goal x’, therefore you might as well give up”.Instead, identify exactly what being done looks like and also what is outside of the scope of what you are trying to accomplish. This will ease your mind and allow you to accept that you can actually get something done.
2. Share your thoughts with others
   One of the fastest ways to shut down the Inner Critic is to run your ideas and dreams by others. There is something about getting out of your own head; it allows you to more clearly see what you are trying to accomplish as you get instant feedback from a third-party.This type of response can prove to you that you ideas are actually good and that you can do something with them.
3. Make constant progress
   There is nothing that the Inner Critic hates more than you actually progressing on your dream projects and goals. This type of action turns into a snowball effect where you can’t help but finish what you have started.If what you are doing is something creative, make sure to allot a certain amount of time per day to the task. No matter what give yourself this time and move forward on your project.
4. Write, journal, diary, mindmap
   This sort of goes back to the idea of getting things out of your head. A plan that isn’t defined or at least out of your head is doomed to fail. Writing things down can help you clarify what you are trying to accomplish and can subsequently help you find what you need to do next.Also, writing every once in a while about your fears of what you are doing (or not doing) will help keep the Inner Critic at bay and allow you to concentrate on the tasks at hand.
5. Iterate
   If you can’t seem to accomplish your tasks or keep thinking that you don’t have the skills to do so, then split them up even further, accomplish a small portion, and then come back to the next part later. Also, instead of making something perfect right-off-the-bat, make it good and then come back to it again and make it better. Keep doing this until you have accomplished what you were set out to do.Iterating in the manner can help you stave off procrastination and fear as you finish your project in smaller increments and with less stress.

The Inner Critic can take hold of your internal talk and make you think that you are not good enough. Just remember that it has nothing to do with being “not good enough” and everything to do with not giving yourself the support that you need to move towards accomplish what you need and want to get done in your life. Use these 5 tricks to shut down the Inner Critic at first blush and move towards getting things done.

The schedule called for 6 miles today, and I did 3.  But I’m really, really, REALLY happy.  Know why?  ’Cause I did 3 miles without walk breaks!  Back in the day, when I had just progressed to over 2 continuous miles, it came to my attention that my right foot would go numb somewhere between 2 and 2.5 miles.  I was forced to incorporate walk breaks at that point.  Recently I’ve wanted to see if I would have the same problem, but I would poop out around 2 miles.  

This morning I really found my stride in the first mile.  I was actually smiling!  It wasn’t this huge struggle to put one foot in front of the other.  So I decided to try for three miles, and I did it!  No foot numbness, but I don’t know that it won’t return if I run without breaks for several days.  We’ll just have to see.

beckyc:

but not right now.

So I just bought a 1TB external hard drive for my PC, and I went to the control panel to back it up, it’s currently backing up. My computer’s been super slow so I just want everything on the external and just keep programs on the hard drive.

So my question- does the backup do that for me or do I manually have to move everything manually to access my stuff on the hard drive?

Be careful!  If you’re using a back-up program, it’s only going to copy whatever folders or drives you tell it to monitor, and if you delete stuff, it’s not going to copy it over next time the program runs, and may end up writing over the old files with the new (reduced) back-up.  If you want to simply store the files on the external drive, just drag them over to it.

I want to lose weight.  Eat less and move more.

I also want to be healthy. Eat less crap and more real food.

I want abs.  Eat VERY clean and lift heavy, like Saint.

I want to build muscle and get bigger. Lift heavy, eat enough protein, and increase your calorie intake.

I want results. Track everything. “That which is measured gets improved.”

Do I need a gym membership? Nope.

I don’t have time to work out. Yes, you do.

I don’t like eating [specific healthy food]. Don’t eat it.  Double up on [specific healthy food you DO like].

I don’t like [specific physical activity].  Then don’t do it.

I do enjoy [specific physical activity].  Good, do more of that.

Should I take [expensive supplement]? No. Spend the money you save on healthier food options.

It hurts when I do [specific exercise].  Fix your form or do a different exercise that works the same muscles.

I’m not motivated today.  Now you are.

How else can I help?