So, as I mentioned in the last post, it's been a hectic & emotional year thus far. We've had a total of 4 deaths in the family in a 5 month period and to say it's been tough is an understatement. However, my motto is if we learn nothing from the lives that have ended either too soon or those we deem to have been well lived, we do ourselves a huge disservice. With this in mind, I took a look at my life and looked at what I was placing the most value on. A simple marker is where the most money goes. And the most time & effort. As I stood in an antiques shop negotiating the price for a chest of drawers I had a eureka moment. What did I need these drawers for anyway? To store the "stuff" I had accumulated & therefore now needed to house. What a vicious cycle we create for ourselves. So...I had spent all this money on "stuff", and now this "stuff" was forcing me to buy more "stuff". I decided to leave the chest (gorgeous as it was) and go back home to examine the stuff that so desperately needed these drawers.

I'm sure you're thinking - heck! I've never seen so many blog posts from this site in such a short space of time! Lol - change is afoot! Well, I was up at 5:13am this morning - no alarm either! Just me super excited and ready to get on with this challenge. A few girls have decided to jump on this ship and come along for the ride - I couldn't be happier! Whilst chatting to one of them, Segs from LotionsPotionsMe, I got thinking that perhaps I needed to really make this challenge even more suited to me. As good as the 11 areas that related to me were on the original challenge I found here, I felt there were other areas I could incorporate to make the 30 Days truly work for me and produce the results I want.

Having read through his workbook again, the major thing I see the author drum in is that it's all about coming out of your comfort zone. Theres no point in giving yourself a task that doesn't push you. That's not a challenge. Hence the cold water showers for 30 days. It takes discipline to do something you don't want to do but have to do - even though no one's making you do it. Make sense? Self discipline. There are things I definitely have to do if I want to achieve the goals I have set for myself. So I decided last night to go to bed early, and get up this morning on a mission to set out what I was going to achieve over the 30 days.


What do I need to give attention to?

1. My health & wellbeing
As a mum, the tendency is to put yourself at the bottom of the priority list when it comes to these areas. "I'll eat once he goes to bed.", "I'll exercise as soon as they are both in school & I have a bit of free time", "I've had this pain in my back but I think it's nothing, heck childbirth makes everything nothing!". And so on we go.


2. Hair & Skincare, Personal Grooming
Yes. Let's just say, from caterpillar eyebrows to gorrilla legs I know my husband must really love me. 3-step skin what? Wash off make-up before bed? Yes, honestly - this body is a wilderness.

3. Money Management
As a stay at home mum who has just bought a house - money sure isn't flying around. Infact as a working mum before buying a house money wasn't flying around! Yet somehow I managed to fritter the little I had on some unnecessary purchases. Time to reign in the madness and get financially fit because if I can't manage a few pounds, I sure can't manage a million.

4. Blog
Need I say more! Keep it updated :)

5. Business
I have dreams. Big ones. They need to become a reality.

6. Confidence
It might surprise you to know I'm not the most confident person around. I used to hate having my picture taken (self esteem issues!). Clearly snapped out of that. Now onto really feeling worthy - it's a sore spot but I have to be confident if I'm going to raise confident children.




7. My walk with God
Prayer, reading the Bible : always on the to-do list till trouble strikes! Then I'm on it like white on rice. Not after this.

8. Wardrobe
The jump from working full time to being at home full time has certainly got me in that weird zone where you want to look good but the outfit has got to be practical for chasing a 2 year old boy around. Oh and the school run.
9. Home Management
That last minute clean 30 minutes before guests arrive, stuffing things in closets and locking them so they shut will be a thing of the past! Yeah!

10. Time Management
I really believe if you can manage your time, you'll manage your money better too. Again, for me it seems to be symptomatic of motherhood & putting others needs first - because you kinda have to at a certain stage. However time must be found for me too.




So, those are the areas I wanted to give attention to, and from there I have my 15 habits for everyday (that escalated pretty fast!).

So there you have it! I'm ready and raring to go. Would you like to join me? Are there any tips / fantastic websites you could give me on any of the areas above to help me on my journey? Leave a comment below, I'd love to hear!

All new parents are ever eager to hear their child talk / see them walk / watch them run for the first time. I am yet to meet a parent who eagerly anticipates the day their child will disturb them mid long awaited steak dinner to announce "I need a poo poo." But this is the one thing our little princes and princesses are ever eager to do. Morayo-Hope is surely top of the leader board on that front. I feel like she has some kind of chip that activates as soon as I settle to any meal I've been eagerly anticipating. It doesn't matter the time of day or night. Doesn't matter if she's just successfully completed a session accompanied by her dad. I must still be invited to partake of my daily torture.

If you are a a follower of this blog you'd have noticed that we have been a bit awol! Between the house move and other things it's just been unbelievably hectic. However, I also couldn't believe that I went for almost 2 months without updating this, which is meant to be our little diary! So much has happened over the summer that is worthy of keeping on record! Apart from that I have ideas swimming around my head for different projects to the point where I sometimes feel I might explode! So......last week, I got frustrated enough to decide that I needed to get some discipline back in my life! I say back....not really sure I've ever really been that disciplined, haha! However, now I know that without discipline and routine I will never achieve the things I want to achieve!




I decided to google "30 Day discipline challenge" in the hope that I would get a lot of different ideas. In the end only one thing came up, and it seemed to be aimed at men of a particular demographic: young, single, body conscious etc...  I read up on it & decided that actually this might just be the sort of challenge I need! Having looked at the 12 areas I needed to discipline myself in, all bar one were relevant. I decided to get the workbook & get myself started! Deciding when to start is always tricky, the book says "Start Now!", but I tried to do the 1st of the 100 pushups and realised it wasn't happening! Something creaked and I could swear I saw a puff of dust where my bones have not known such exertion in so long.

So below are my main areas for my 30 Day Challenge:

1. Wake up daily by 5am - this will be painful, but I know it's necessary. I can never get anything of my own done whilst the kids are running around!

2. Exercise - the author requires 100 push ups, sit ups and body squats. As I could barely manage 1, I have joined the gym. I will be doing a class a day / swimming some lengths in the pool & building up to a reasonable amount over the 30 days. I'll see how many push ups etc I can manage by the end of it all! Haha!

3. Everyday my answers to questions must be yes / no.  No excuses or explanations. This is big for me as I am a waffler. I love to elaborate. In interviews I can normally see the interviewer wandering off mentally & planning their dinner for that night as I digress during an answer! Yes / No. Done.

4. Everyday do something to further my big goal. Self explanatory. Just get on with it!

Oh and there's something in there about taking a cold shower everyday for 30 days. We'll see about that. Maybe if someone sponsors me....hahah! There are 8 other areas, one doesn't apply to me so I'll substitute it.  You can check out the discipline challenge here. (I am not promoting this workbook for any financial gain on my part. simply sharing what i found online!)

In the meantime, we'll be filling in the gaps with regards to what we've been up to all summer! So, here it goes! I am starting on Monday 14th September and will complete it on 13th October. Let's see how it goes -eeeeeek!!!