Inspiration sometimes comes from the most unlikely sources, having traveled the most unlikely route.  I found out about Rachel Hollis, motivational speaker, media entrepreneur and New York Times best selling author, after saying yes to the opportunity to start an Arbonne business.  Something I never thought I would ever do.  Something that, when I did decide to do it,  I didn’t take seriously, didn’t think much of it, and really just figured it would be something I just did on the side. 

One night, at a manager’s meeting, a YouTube video was played, of this woman, Rachel Hollis, describing some of the philosophies she talks about in her book. “Girl, Wash Your Face”.  And it spoke to me on a level I didn’t even know I had.  I felt a really deep connection to what she was saying.  You can watch it yourself here. Go ahead. It’s only 3 minutes. I’ll wait.

I started following her on social media.  Discovered she and her husband did a livestream Facebook “show” every weekday morning.  Talking about all kinds of random things, but also great motivational stuff, including many of the points she discussed in the book. Trust me on this one. You need these people in your Facebook feed. Seriously. The randomness of their discussions and how some topics just happen authentically is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. They go into it with a plan. Ish. And then…well, we all know how that goes.  

So then I knew: I had to read this book.  And wow.  Just.  Wow.  It was like my best girl friends were all  giving me tough love, but through great story-telling.  It’s all the things I wished someone had told me when I was in my early 20s, and I highly recommend if you haven’t read it, you grab it: at your local library for free, or anywhere books are sold, because honestly, you’re going to want to have it to pop open whenever you need a bit of inspo from your good pal Rach.

And I kept watching the livestream, whenever I could.  And there is just something about the way this woman speaks that really gets straight through to me.  After I get done hearing what she has to say, I am convinced I can do anything, be anything, have anything. 

What’s this *Last 90 Days* thing, anyway?

In September, they started talking about the Last 90 Days that would begin on October 1^st.  Something they came up with in order to keep themselves moving towards their goals and dreams through the last quarter of the year.  To finish the year as strongly as they began it.  To not mail it in and give a bunch of BS excuses.  Sounded pretty great to me.  Part of this included a journaling process, as well as following a checklist they call “Five to Thrive”.  The Five to Thrive are: begin your day with gratitude, drink at least half your body weight in ounces of water, give up one food group you know isn’t good for you, move your body for 30 minutes, and spend an hour every day doing something just for yourself. 

In addition to the Five to Thrive, the Last 90 Days included doing the a journaling practice.  Again, journaling is something I never thought I’d do. Just not my thing. Reminds me of a diary. Dear Diary… yeah, did that in my teen years and while it fine for then, now? I’m a grown-ass woman, why on earth would I need to write in a diary every day? Well, this isn’t just any old journaling process.

There is an entire podcast describing the process. There are several YouTube videos describing the process, you can find one here and another one here.  In a nutshell, you start your day listing 5 things you are grateful for, then you list your 10 dreams, but you write them as if they’ve already come true, and then the one thing you are going to do to actually make one of those dreams a reality. Sounded not only totally legit, but something I could most likely commit to, something I could gain some real benefit from and something I’d like to give a shot.

Last 90 Days 2018

So I grabbed a notebook and got it ready to go.  Just a regular little steno notebook, a page for each day, one side for gratitude, the other for dreams, and my **one thing** at the bottom. Started right in.  First thing in the morning, when it’s still quiet, before looking at social media, the only outside world exposure being the morning radio show I listen to on my ride in to work (silly, foolish humor, nothing too serious on the news brief), I use the benefit of a well-rested and at peace mind to do that journal work.  And I fell head over heels in love with the process right away. 

Today I am grateful for…

Starting with gratitude, most days it comes fairly easily.  Gratitude is all about the little things.  Sometimes it’s a really big thing.  But most days, it’s the little things.  And I like to do mine with at least 2 or 3 things from the day or night before, a thing from that very moment in time, and a thing I’m looking forward to that day or night.  A fun chat exchange with my soul sisters, a sweet check in with my husband, the color of the sky that morning, the sound of the birds chirping, a favorite song on the radio, zumba class… you get the idea.

The Ten Dreams I’ve Made Come True

Now about that dream weaving.  See, friends, here’s the thing.  I’ve never considered myself a dreamer.  Quite the opposite, actually.  Pragmatic, logical, sensible, realistic and safe.  No risk-taking.  To a fault, as a matter of fact.  I left the dreaming to my husband.  That was in his wheelhouse,  not mine.  But somehow, through watching Rachel and Dave’s live streams, and choosing to give this side hustle a go, I was able to start dreaming.  And it was definitely a work in progress.  

It still is, and I’ve come to learn, always will be.  Started with some career goals, some personal health goals, some marriage goals, and some business goals.  And as time has gone on, and I’ve written those dreams down as if they’ve already happened, there was a switch that flipped.  Looking at some of those career goals, I realized they really weren’t dreams anymore.  I replaced them with other things that are actual dreams.  Things I really and truly need to make come true.

The One Goal I’m Going To Accomplish First

And the *one thing* I decided I was going to go all in on, friends…well, you’re in it!  Building this blog site, working on it, little by little, bit by bit.  It was a crazy-overwhelming thing to start doing.  I joined an on-line course for free (that one of my best soul sisters saw, thought of me and tagged me in).  And I went through the whole thing, and got seriously overwhelmed even more. 

So I went back through each lesson, one by one, and finally, at last, I was at THE point.  I was ready to press that super-scary LAUNCH button.  I decided I would do a “soft” launch, where it was public, but I would only send my link to me very best soul sisters and a few of my Arbonne sisterpreneurs for feedback.  And yes, some extra courage and confidence to put it out into the world.  There’s a saying, if you don’t have confidence in yourself, borrow someone else’s!  Very well-received, I moved on to putting it out into the world, sharing it on my social , creating Facebook and Pinterest pages for it.  And I kinda kept writing posts here and there.

I had my little steno notebook, I filled it in every single day and I loved doing it. I took it with me every single day to work. I took it out every single weekend day when I was at home. I took it with me on vacation. It became my non-negotiable. I HAD to begin my day with this practice. It was amazing and I felt amazing doing it.

The Start Today Journal brand

And back at this point in time, they were about to launch their very own branded journal, called the Start Today Journal.  (Marketing geniuses, these people!) Available in limited quantity covers, a few designs to choose from, complete with an introductory chapter to guide you through the journal process.  And although entrepreneurs and marketing their new product, Rachel and Dave were adamantly insisting that you did not need one of those to do this practice.  That it was important to do the practice in any way you could, and still offering the information on how to do it for free. 

And still nurturing this Last 90 Days community through the journaling practice and through various themes for each week to give everyone the tools to finish the year strong and that much closer to achieving those goals and making those dreams come true, including emails with deeper dives into each week’s focus, inspiration for ways in which to achieve it and encouragement along the way.

They were also promoting Rachel’s next book, Girl Stop Apologizing.  Oh yeah, you KNOW I got that pre-ordered STAT.  I also realized that it would be released and shipped while I was on one of my trips to Key West.  So of course, I ordered another copy to be shipped to me down there, knowing I’d most likely be purchasing multiple copies to gift as many of my sister-friends with Rach’s words of wisdom.

I also decided right then and there, 2 weeks in, that I was going to get one of those journals, as a Christmas gift for myself, to start on New Year’s Day.  That the hard cover, 100 page journal would be the perfect tool for me to write the rest of my story.  To help guide me through making my dreams come true.

I chose the cover with this quote on it, because again, my good pal Rach speaks to my soul. So order placed, for one of the best gifts I would ever give myself, to start writing the rest of my life story through a place of gratitude and dreaming great, big scary dreams.

And in the meantime, me and my little steno notebook continued to work. And oh, my gosh, how much I’ve loved doing it!  Starting my day writing down things I’m grateful for is one of my favorite things.  It gives me a chance to really reflect on the day before, as well as gearing my subconscious to look for the little things throughout that day. I was more and more convinced that ordering myself that beautiful hard-covered journal was THE right thing to do. Going through this process showed me that I could, in fact, finish the last 90 days of the year as strongly (or maybe even stronger) than I started it!

Riding the wave into 2019

And I wasn’t wrong. Still madly, deeply in love with this process, seeing how my dreams actually evolved and changed the more I thought about them. Becoming more specific. Becoming more tangible. Becoming bigger. Becoming better. As was I. The gratitude practice pulled me out of some dark days and really kept positivity at the the forefront of my brain, rather than wallowing in sorrow that wasn’t really anything worth wallowing in.

Can we also talk about that quote? I refuse to live as half of myself because other people can’t handle all of me. I am not a fake person. I speak my truth, regardless of the cost, and believe me, friends, when I tell you, the costs have been fairly high. And guess what? The cost of not being my true, authentic self is way higher. The thought of not acting upon something I know isn’t right just isn’t in my wiring. Has it caused me other problems? Sure. But how would I feel if I had stayed quiet and just kept my head down and my mouth shut? Tormented inside. That’s no way to live.

I also loved writing quotes that sang to my soul on post-its to stick inside, as reminders of what was truly important to me. What could really light my heart on fire and make me really reach for those stretch goals. To keep me going even when I didn’t think I could.

Girl Stop Apologizing was then released out into the world…

I crazily and constantly checked my delivery notifications, tracking numbers, all the things….

Ok, so I *may* have run into Target to grab a copy, because I had that flight to Key West coming up, they had it in stock, and I didn’t want to wait for either of the other 2 copies that I ordered to arrive in the mail…I wanted it for my flight and my vacation.

Reading Girl Stop Apologizing also made me realize what I really, really wanted.  Reading that book, while on vacation, sitting in the sunshine, on the beach brought clarity I can barely explain. THIS is what I want for the rest of our lives together. And I do not want to work a job where I have to compromise who I am in order to keep the peace. I want to move on, hopefully still utilize the education I paid a crap-ton of money for and worked so hard to get, and have that life by design I so desperately dream of.

I quickly realized my blog still wasn’t exactly what I wanted it to be.  (And by the way, still isn’t…but it’s all good…I got a plan…) There was still so much I didn’t know how to do.  So much more I wanted it to be.  So then I remembered Rachel’s words about achieving great, big crazy goals.  It’s just like how to eat an elephant: one bite at a time. 

And I remembered her talking about following a roadmap to achieve your goal in Girl Stop Apologizing.  So I started back at the very beginning.  And I just kept plugging along.  If I didn’t know how to do something, I typed it into Google, searched for on-line groups to help, whatever it took to get on to the next step.  Writing that *one thing* down each step of the way.  And don’t get me wrong.  There have been days, weeks, even months, where I’ve written the same thing, day after day. 

And that’s ok.  Totally fine.  Like I said, I know this is all a work in progress.  The journaling process keeps me on track.  The journaling practice reminds me of what I want.  The journaling practice makes me bear down, focus and get things done.  As did reading Girl Stop Apologizing.

And in the meantime, still filling in the journal every day. Finished up my first cover and started the next, this super cute #GOALS #GOALS #GOALS cover.

Still loving how transformative the process can be. How your dreams can evolve and take different shape over time. How you can really start to imagine what you really want and how you’re going to make it happen.

Last 90 Days 2019

So when they announced they were releasing Last 90 Days Journals for 2019, I knew I needed one of those.  I counted the days I had left in the journal I was completing at the time, and as timing would have it, I would be due to start a brand new journal on October 1^st, the beginning of the Last 90 Days! How perfect!!  And, those phenomenal Hollis humans and their people came up with a beautiful cover for it, so even more perfect!

The Last 90 Days Journals were the same as the others, with the exception of including check boxes for the Five to Thrive.  Remember, one of the Five to Thrive is to give up one food category you know you shouldn’t be eating.  In 2018, I was well into my clean eating lifestyle, so it was easy to just check that box, focus on the other four.

But for 2019, I decided to really challenge myself.  Still clean eating, I decided I wanted to give up my very worst habit: procrastination.  I am the worst.  If it can be put off, I do.  Even if it can’t be put off, I find a way to put it off.  I told you, I’m the worst.  So, at the bottom of the page each day, I decided to “call my shot”.  I would list at least one thing that I absolutely HAD to get done before going to bed that night.  Could be something stupid and small like laundry or unloading the dishwasher.  But those things are so easy to put off “till I felt like it”…only go then be so angry with myself for it.  Writing it down made it real.  Held me accountable. 

And so, although not 100 percent perfect, I was better about not procrastinating than I ever had been before.  The trick was to not overwhelm myself with a ton of things; just one or two.  But a really interesting thing happened.  Once the momentum of completing the things I listed in my journal for that day started, it was easy to ride that wave and keep ticking away at other things that needed tending to. 

The power of habit-stacking

Something else amazing happened. It also became a matter of “habit stacking”. Another of my terrible habits: in order for your girl to get all her water intake, she needs a glass brought up to bed with her, to start drinking as soon as she gets up in the morning. Problem was, I had the awful habit of leaving it up on bathroom vanity, rather than simply bringing it down into the kitchen with me. Through my working on changing my propensity for procrastination, I managed to get my head right and decide to take the stupid glass back downstairs where it belonged. Wow. Look at me, adulting all over the place…

And once again, I took my journal with me every single day into work. Took it out of my work bag to start every single weekend day. Took it with us on vacation to Punta Cana. Seriously, nothing like expressing gratitude for palm trees, beautiful seas and ocean breezes on the daily for a while, and put down in writing so you have it forever and ever!

As I made my way through The Last 90 Days of 2019, I decided to flip through a notepad of inspirational quotes gifted to me by another sweet BFF for my birthday, find one that really resonated with me in that moment, and write it at the top of the page.  A mantra of the day, if you will. Another fantastic way to start the day.  Then I decided to create some really pretty graphics on Canva that I could put on my Instagram and Facebook stories every day.  And then, only a few weeks ago, unrealized, I’m creating those graphics, I should have my logo on them! Duh! I’m not as smart as you all think I am… 

Progress over perfection

But that’s what this is all about.  The creative process is exactly that: a process.  It’s not a destination.  It’s about ebb and flow, and as my pal Rach says, being willing to suck at something for as long as it takes until you don’t any more.  So that’s where I am right now.  Embracing the suck.  It’s not perfect.  But it’s mine.  I created it, I put it out there, and I’m working to make it better all the time.  Kinda like the work I do on myself every single day.

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And so, friends, here I sit, almost three weeks into 2020, having started filling in my FOURTH Start Today Journal on New Years’ Day.  It’s my favorite part of the day.  Starting my day this way has altered my mindset in ways I never imagined possible.  It starts my day with positivity, dream weaving and intentionality.  It reminds me of my blessings and my purpose.  It reminds me to do the work to do life as the best version of myself possible and to live a life by design.  And I cannot recommend it enough. Do you use a journaling practice?  I’d love to hear about it!!!