Well last week got kind of crazy for me and I didn't have much time to write about how I was progressing with the 1% project. It gets easy to get caught up in the pattern of saying to yourself "I'll just wait til tomorrow to write." Well waiting one day turns into a whole week and before you know it you haven't spent time writing about the important progress or challenges you have faced with your 1% Project. This is something I need to work on in my personal life. Not putting things off until later, but instead, tackling the issues and tasks as they arise. Time to add that to my 1% Project list!
Last week I took great steps towards my goal of being able to better talk with many different types of people and not be nervous. I had the luck last week to interview for a number of positions with a internet retailing giant. This interview didn't involve me just meeting with one person, but 4 people all in one day. Normally I would have been so nervous that I wouldn't sleep the night before, but the night before my big interview I slept like a baby knowing that I have been making 1% improvements on my social skills. I got dressed in my new suit the next morning, hoping for some good karma from the fact that I had purchased a brand new suit and top for this interview (all on a budget of course!). I figured new chapter of my life, new suit, new attitude. I am pleased to say that all of the positive energy I was putting out to the universe seemed to have worked. I walked into my first interview feeling confident and excited to start the process. While I may have experienced a small case of the nerves at times, for the most part I remained calm and my usually friendly self. By the time I left that day I felt really good about all of my interviews and proud of myself for how I acted that day!
The rest of the week I spent continuing my efforts on talking to people in public situations and doing things that make me happy especially because it was Memorial Day Weekend and I spent the long weekend at the place that makes the happiest in the whole world....my beach!
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Monday, May 21, 2012
The 1% Project: Days 4 and 5
Not gonna lie, these were not my most productive 1% Project days. I was so caught up with the festivities surrounding my graduation from Villanova's MBA program that I didn't focus on my 1% Project. I tried to be more talkative and make positive connections, but that is probably about the extent of what I did. Sometimes I find it hard to remain dedicated to this project and I simply got distracted by all the events that were surrounding the weekend. I don't think this project should only take place from Monday to Friday, it should be a 7 day a week type of thing. I'm going to work very hard next weekend to make sure that I maintain my focus so I can successfully complete this project without slacking.
I know that the book says that everyone slips. Apparently the people that slip for a little bit in the beginning are often the most successful. I sure hope this is true because I really want to make this work. I know it will help make me a stronger, more well rounded and overall a better person. So now its time to regain my focus and continue on this journey...who's with me??
I know that the book says that everyone slips. Apparently the people that slip for a little bit in the beginning are often the most successful. I sure hope this is true because I really want to make this work. I know it will help make me a stronger, more well rounded and overall a better person. So now its time to regain my focus and continue on this journey...who's with me??
Friday, May 18, 2012
The 1% Project: Day 3
No one likes a party pooper... no one! Well recently I've been one heck of a party pooper, so as part of my 1% project I decided it's about time I became a happier person. I've had some life changing things happen to me recently that for a long time I just couldn't seem to get over, but after 3 months I think it's about time to move on. There's no need for me to dwell on the past and what went wrong, when I have such a bright future to look forward to.
I did something I've never done before the other night...I went to have my palm read. I always said that people that claimed to be psychic were full of it, and people that went to them were just wasting their money. But since I'm giving this whole try new things experience a shot, I figured I'd give going to a psychic a whirl. Leave it to me to pick a time when there was a line to go to the psychic, when most of the time there is absolutely no one there. So I waited outside the building, which just happens to be on one of the busiest streets in Ardmore, feeling more than a little silly and embarrassed and saying prayers that no one saw me standing there! When it was finally my turn I went inside to greet a young, normally dressed, pretty woman. Not at all the dumpy looking woman dressed in gypsy clothes with crazy eyes I expected. She told me to open my palm and make two wishes and to tell her one. So I told her my one wish and instead of immediately jumping into the wish as I expected she would do, she began to tell me things about my personality and life that no one else knows. My doubts about her slowly started to dissipate and I become more open to what she was saying. After going through many different aspects of my life, she told me that in order for the positive changes that I am looking for in my life to start happening, I need to get rid of the negative energy that is surrounding me. Clearly I must have been the poster child for negative energy at the time because as she was telling me about the negative energy surrounding me, she had a look of concern on her face like she was scared for my life. She even went as far as to say that instead of paying her to help remove my negative energy, I could watch her son for her. This woman isn't that busy with her psychic business that she would need a babysitter, trust me. Moral of this story...it was time for me to get rid of the proverbial black cloud that seems to follow me around.
I know my whole black cloud removal process is going to take time, but luckily for me I knew someone who specializes in negative energy removal... my sister. So my 1% solution to my negative energy removal began last night. My sister has been blessed with the gift of being able to not only read people's energy, but remove their negative energy. Last night I had my sister perform a Reiki treatment on me to try and align my chakras which is supposed to help make me a more positive person. I'm not going to lie, I was absolutely skeptical if I would feel anything, or if this process would work at all. She said that I had a ton of negative energy radiating from both my heart and head, which makes sense as I recently experienced heartbreak and I have a tendency to over think everything. As she moved up and down my chakras I could really feel the energy changing in my body. She taught me techniques on how to meditate in order to draw positive energy in and release the negative energy that has consumed my body. I'm far from being an expert at this but this is where my 1% project comes in...if I can get just 1% better at meditating every day and drawing positive energy in I'll become a more positive person!
I'm so looking forward to being a more positive person and having a happy outlook on life, it's about darn time I was happy and positive!
I did something I've never done before the other night...I went to have my palm read. I always said that people that claimed to be psychic were full of it, and people that went to them were just wasting their money. But since I'm giving this whole try new things experience a shot, I figured I'd give going to a psychic a whirl. Leave it to me to pick a time when there was a line to go to the psychic, when most of the time there is absolutely no one there. So I waited outside the building, which just happens to be on one of the busiest streets in Ardmore, feeling more than a little silly and embarrassed and saying prayers that no one saw me standing there! When it was finally my turn I went inside to greet a young, normally dressed, pretty woman. Not at all the dumpy looking woman dressed in gypsy clothes with crazy eyes I expected. She told me to open my palm and make two wishes and to tell her one. So I told her my one wish and instead of immediately jumping into the wish as I expected she would do, she began to tell me things about my personality and life that no one else knows. My doubts about her slowly started to dissipate and I become more open to what she was saying. After going through many different aspects of my life, she told me that in order for the positive changes that I am looking for in my life to start happening, I need to get rid of the negative energy that is surrounding me. Clearly I must have been the poster child for negative energy at the time because as she was telling me about the negative energy surrounding me, she had a look of concern on her face like she was scared for my life. She even went as far as to say that instead of paying her to help remove my negative energy, I could watch her son for her. This woman isn't that busy with her psychic business that she would need a babysitter, trust me. Moral of this story...it was time for me to get rid of the proverbial black cloud that seems to follow me around.
I know my whole black cloud removal process is going to take time, but luckily for me I knew someone who specializes in negative energy removal... my sister. So my 1% solution to my negative energy removal began last night. My sister has been blessed with the gift of being able to not only read people's energy, but remove their negative energy. Last night I had my sister perform a Reiki treatment on me to try and align my chakras which is supposed to help make me a more positive person. I'm not going to lie, I was absolutely skeptical if I would feel anything, or if this process would work at all. She said that I had a ton of negative energy radiating from both my heart and head, which makes sense as I recently experienced heartbreak and I have a tendency to over think everything. As she moved up and down my chakras I could really feel the energy changing in my body. She taught me techniques on how to meditate in order to draw positive energy in and release the negative energy that has consumed my body. I'm far from being an expert at this but this is where my 1% project comes in...if I can get just 1% better at meditating every day and drawing positive energy in I'll become a more positive person!
I'm so looking forward to being a more positive person and having a happy outlook on life, it's about darn time I was happy and positive!
Thursday, May 17, 2012
The 1% Project: Day 2
I have an incredible ability to organize other people. I can clean up someone's house, organize their office, color coordinate their binders, and alphabetize their bookshelf, but when it comes to my personal life I have the tendency to be more like Pig Pen than Martha Stewart. Don't get me wrong, I am very organized in business situations. Nothing gives me more pleasure than creating a database binder complete with dividers and a color coded index, or getting a new desk organizer for all my pens and pencils. In fact, I've been made fun of on numerous occasions for my obsession with organization. For some reason, when it comes to my clothes, my shoes, my purse, and my house in general, my organization obsession just doesn't carry over.
This brings me to my next 1% Project Goal, to be more organized in my personal life. I'm hoping that if I can create a clutter free zone in my home life and surroundings, the rest of my personal life will fall into place. I know this organization will not take place over night, but I need to take small steps and create habits that will keep me organized for the rest of my life. Today I took my 1% step towards organization. The first thing I did when I woke up this morning was to grab my handy dandy giant carry all bag I use to haul all my junk around and dump everything out on my bed. It's amazing the junk I found in the bottom of my bag. I found old gum wrappers, money encrusted in sand and gum, old receipts, broken pens, even moldy cranberries. How gross is all of that? Clearly it was time for me to clean out my bag, no matter how small of a step cleaning out the bag was, I feel like I took a step towards not being a member of hoardahaulics anonymous. It felt really good when I was finished to turn a bag where once I had no idea where anything was, to a bag where I now know where everything is down to my pens.
Now it's time organize more and more of my life so I can officially resign from my post of the president hoardahaulics anonymous.
This brings me to my next 1% Project Goal, to be more organized in my personal life. I'm hoping that if I can create a clutter free zone in my home life and surroundings, the rest of my personal life will fall into place. I know this organization will not take place over night, but I need to take small steps and create habits that will keep me organized for the rest of my life. Today I took my 1% step towards organization. The first thing I did when I woke up this morning was to grab my handy dandy giant carry all bag I use to haul all my junk around and dump everything out on my bed. It's amazing the junk I found in the bottom of my bag. I found old gum wrappers, money encrusted in sand and gum, old receipts, broken pens, even moldy cranberries. How gross is all of that? Clearly it was time for me to clean out my bag, no matter how small of a step cleaning out the bag was, I feel like I took a step towards not being a member of hoardahaulics anonymous. It felt really good when I was finished to turn a bag where once I had no idea where anything was, to a bag where I now know where everything is down to my pens.
Now it's time organize more and more of my life so I can officially resign from my post of the president hoardahaulics anonymous.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
The 1% Project: Day 1
So yesterday began Day 1 of my 1% Project. It's amazing how changing your mindset even a little bit can have big effect on your outlook on life. I now have this excited energy because I believe that if I can make these small changes in my life, I really can have the future that I am striving for.
I have a few main "New Year's Eve" type goals that the book discourages, so in order to make them more manageable I have broken them down into much smaller, more realistic things that I can make improvements upon every day. My first "New Year's Eve" type goal is to eventually become so comfortable with public speaking that I can speak in front of a conference of hundreds of people. Clearly, I am not going to do this overnight, so I needed to think of something small I could do every day that could help me become more comfortable speaking in front of strangers. So it hit me, why not strike up conversations with strangers? Instead of giving someone a one word answer, why not engage them in a short conversation? I may learn something interesting, or brighten up someone's day just by taking the time to talk to them, right? Well, I did this twice yesterday and I'm happy I did. I'm not going to lie, it was a little uncomfortable at first since I've historically been the type of person who is deathly shy and usually gives one word answers. I believe though with practice, this will get easier and instead of having small panic attacks about talking to new people, it will just come naturally. I'm excited to see what I will learn and what great new people I will meet.
Ok that's all for now. Time to strike up conversations and meet new people :)
I have a few main "New Year's Eve" type goals that the book discourages, so in order to make them more manageable I have broken them down into much smaller, more realistic things that I can make improvements upon every day. My first "New Year's Eve" type goal is to eventually become so comfortable with public speaking that I can speak in front of a conference of hundreds of people. Clearly, I am not going to do this overnight, so I needed to think of something small I could do every day that could help me become more comfortable speaking in front of strangers. So it hit me, why not strike up conversations with strangers? Instead of giving someone a one word answer, why not engage them in a short conversation? I may learn something interesting, or brighten up someone's day just by taking the time to talk to them, right? Well, I did this twice yesterday and I'm happy I did. I'm not going to lie, it was a little uncomfortable at first since I've historically been the type of person who is deathly shy and usually gives one word answers. I believe though with practice, this will get easier and instead of having small panic attacks about talking to new people, it will just come naturally. I'm excited to see what I will learn and what great new people I will meet.
Ok that's all for now. Time to strike up conversations and meet new people :)
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
The 1% Project: Overview
On recent quest for self improvement I stumbled upon a book entitled The 1% Solution: How to Make Your Next 30 Days The Best Ever by Tom Connellan. Honestly, I was skeptical at first about how different a person could become in 30 days and how much of a difference a measly 1% could make in a person's life. However, now that I'm about 75% of the way through the book, I have never been so inspired to try and make a difference in my life.
The book talks about how making small changes in your life can have big results. "We can all be 1% better at 100s of things," the book says. I'm not sure that right now I have the ability or the time to be better at 100s of things, but there are a few key areas of my life where making 1% improvements could have a big impact. You see, these 1% improvements compound and while you started out 1% better at something, before you know it you may be 50% better at something, you just have to keep practicing!
For too long, I've been stuck in the mindset that I wasn't good enough, or talented enough, or smart enough to achieve my goals. I was willing to take a backseat in my own life and just let things happen to me, but no more! It's time I go for what I want and make the 1% solution start for me!!
The book talks about how making small changes in your life can have big results. "We can all be 1% better at 100s of things," the book says. I'm not sure that right now I have the ability or the time to be better at 100s of things, but there are a few key areas of my life where making 1% improvements could have a big impact. You see, these 1% improvements compound and while you started out 1% better at something, before you know it you may be 50% better at something, you just have to keep practicing!
For too long, I've been stuck in the mindset that I wasn't good enough, or talented enough, or smart enough to achieve my goals. I was willing to take a backseat in my own life and just let things happen to me, but no more! It's time I go for what I want and make the 1% solution start for me!!
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