Have you ever tried to create the perfect habit… and ended up never getting started?

For a long time I wanted to add some strength training back into my life.

I know it’s important, I feel better when I do it, it feels good to feel stronger.

And yet for a long time I didn’t do it.

And then felt bad about not doing it.

And still didn’t do it.

I love spending time on my own close to home. Reading, journalling in a cafe, doing a puzzle. Nesting and resting and being in my own space.

I also love going further afield. Taking a break from the norm, mixing it up and stepping out of my everyday life - a change of scene.

Sometimes it’s just me.

Sometime it really helps to have a like minded companion. Enter my friend - and adventure buddy - Penny.

Who are your champions?

The people who will wholeheartedly celebrate your successes?

Who you get to shine with?

Who see the future version of you that you’re becoming, even when you can’t see it yourself?

Many years ago someone asked me who I got to be unapologetically successful with, and it really stuck with me.

When I was little I used to love to move my room around.

I had all the same stuff, but in a different place.

It gave me a real sense of satisfaction, and made everything feel better.

So it’s been a complete joy to realise that I can do the same thing with time!

Ah January.

A time of setting out your intentions for the year ahead.

For thinking about what you want to be different this year.

For taking time to focus on where you want to spend your time and energy.

It’s a super useful thing to do - we have to dream before we can work out how to make it happen. It’s a gift to give ourselves the time to reflect before we get sucked into the year.

And yet, if we’re not careful we can set the wrong types of goals. Ones stuck in the language of ‘should’ and need’.

Who are your energisers?

The people who you love to spend time with?

The friends who leave you feeling lit up after being in their company?

Where there is a natural reciprocity - of sharing and listening, of give and take, of uplifting and supporting?

I’m just back from a walk and talk with coffee in the park with someone who I feel this way about.

She’s a relatively new friend, from a short overlap in a volunteering role, and we meet up every few months.

We spent the whole time chatting away about everything and anything. I feel happy and connected and energised, and ready to take that into the rest of my day.

What a gift.

I never thought I’d be a person who wrote Morning Pages.

I had always heard about people doing them and thought it wasn’t for me. 3 pages of A4 felt an awful lot, and I didn’t think I had the time.

Even after I bought The Artist’s Way it sat on my bookshelf for at least 2 years. Committing to the whole 12 week plan felt overwhelming.

And yet….

Since September 22nd last year, I’ve filled 7 note books with my (pretty illegible) handwriting.

Every morning for the last 369 days I’ve woken up, opened my notebook, and emptied my head.

Sometimes it’s simply a list of things I’m doing that day, and what I want to remember.

Sometimes there’s a thought in my head that needs to come up.

Some days I’m full of inspiration, other days I write about what the dog is doing at the end of the bed.

And now I can’t imagine missing a day.

Does it feel like you need to have a detailed plan when you’re at the start of a new adventure?

Perhaps a switch of career, or a new job, or a sabbatical, maybe even a gap year.

So you don’t have to sit with the uncertainty.

And so other people don’t worry about you?

When we think about what we want to create in our lives, and how we can get there, it can be super tempting to try and create a straight line between here and there.

If we can’t see all the steps it can feel like we’re not going to make it.

And so our brain really wants to decide on on a plan, and stick to it.

To create it all before we start.

It’s a really common way to help us feel safe and in control. And yet…it’s impossible to do.

What makes you more productive?

Clue - it’s not going to be the same as everyone else.

Or the person you want to be.

Or even the person you used to be.

And maybe it looks completely different to what you think it should be?

“Where do you get your ideas from?”

I was asked this recently, and I replied that I see ideas everywhere.

I’ll notice something - a visual, a sentence in a book, a view, a part of a conversation - and an idea forms in my brain. Sometimes it’s just a fragment, and sometimes it seems to download, fully formed.

And I then realised that wasn’t the whole story.

When I reflected on it further I realised that I’ve been increasing my capacity to have ideas over time. I’ve been building a habit.

It’s a practice, not a gift.