positivity – claire george

Welcome back everyone! I’m pumped to be back in your inboxes and on your screens. Woot woot, the New Year and so much new excitement ahead of us.

Was great to have a break, spend less time looking at the clock and more time doing some of the things I love (like cleaning out the cupboards…totally..more on that in a future post), spending time with my family and friends. And of course, a great time to do a little reflection on what is important.

So, I’m going to get on my soap box a little bit here. Is anyone else sick of all the people going on about totally revolutionising their lives. Quitting their dull corporate job to follow their lives passion and make millions while they are at it. Sell their city house for a coastal retreat, so they can practice yoga and drink green smoothies all day. Do we really need to completely up-end our lives to be happy?

Now, don’t get me wrong. I am super envious of the people who I know in life who are truly passionate about something. Who recognised they were in the wrong job or with the wrong people and had the bravery and tenacity to jump into the unknown like a fearless warrior ready to unleash on life. You go girls.

But, for the majority of us, we don’t actually need to make significant, crazy, leaps of faith in order to achieve what we want. For many of us, we feel comfortable with the choices we made…although we might be a bit confused as to why we are not jumping out of bed each morning with boundless energy and enthusiasm for those choices.

So maybe what we need, is not a complete overhaul, but just some tweaks around the edges. Some filing of the sharp corners.

For me, there are a few things I try to be conscious of each day, which help me to feel like I am following the right path and am in the right place for me. And whilst I certainly don’t jump out of bed…it is more like a slow motion fall/clamber followed by a struggle to the teapot for a green tea hoping not to wake up the kids on my way through…I’m pretty happy with where I’m at right now.

Want to find your inner mojo? Here’s my top tips…

1) Understanding your strengths…and looking for opportunities to use this no matter what your job is. I love doing questionnaires, so highly recommend the VIA Strengths survey. It’s free and gives you some real insights about the kind of things that light the fire in your belly.

2) Look after your wellbeing. The most important thing is consistency. I love my life so much more on the days that I get up first thing in the morning and exercise. Job done. It’s amazing what a cascading effect it has on the rest of my day…I am far more like to eat well, be patient, be resilient. This one thing which essentially is so simple…and doesn’t involve an organic juice revolution (although I have been known to enjoy the occasional green smoothie…don’t judge me)…is a key part of my everyday happiness.

3) Have fun. What makes you laugh? I hate it when people are too serious. I find that people at work are generally pretty serious. It is like you are not allowed to have fun and work at the same time. But in my world, these things go hand in hand. My favourite days are those which involve a little bit of silliness and laughter. They can make a dull project shine like the sun.

4) Reflect on your direction. Take time to reflect on where you are at and where you want to be. Whether you are disciplined enough to meditate every day, or once a week you grab a cup of tea and a list. Or maybe once a month you pull together a vision board. Whatever is your thing, it doesn’t matter, as long as you take time to reflect on what you want the future you to look like and to think about the little fairy steps you take every day to get there. Again, this is NOT necessarily about huge life changing goals, but simply taking time out of the busyness of every day life to reflect on where you are at.

And I’ll leave you with a great quote from my Lorna Jane (yep…love her)…lets get this 2015 party started!

“You don’t have to live an extraordinary life, you just have to live your ordinary life in an extraordinary way”

P.S I reserve the right to change my mind at any point, and may in the future be raving about the joys of giving up your corporate career, living in a caravan and home schooling your children…I’m sure it would be amazing…

As per usual, I trotted out for my morning walk with the dog and although the birds chirping and breeze blowing were lovely and calming…my legs weren’t really pumping and my mind was wandering elsewhere. So I decided to put on some tunes, digging around on the smartphone for some suitably energising beats, soon I found myself picking up the pace to keep up with the music. Next thing I’m pumping up the hill like nobody’s business and when I reach the top (after a quick recky to ensure no one was watching), I actually started to dance around the top of the mountain. It was fabulous, I felt strong and energised and READY!!! As I made the descent down the hill, my mind was buzzing, ideas flowing and I returned back home invigorated and in a completely different mindset than when I left.

And it reminded me the power music has to impact my mood, and it is a little trick that I had forgotten about. Sure, a bit of calming background music can help set the scene when you need to concentrate. But on those days when you are feeling less than motivated, perhaps when things don’t seem to be going your way and quite frankly you feel like job #1 Is pushing S&%T up a hill…yet again.

Now is the time to pull out your POWER PLAYLIST, pump up the volume and start dancing around like no one is watching (except, of course, if you are in the office and clearly people ARE watching. Then you might need headphones and some subtle chair dancing to complete this task).

Some days I imagine my life as a scene in a movie because crap stuff happens in movies all the time, but a few well placed songs and we are back on track. Cue the montage, the snippets of scenes where the person starts the healing process, working out, getting jobs done..whatever the solution requires. And over the top is a fist pumping, “hell yeah” tune which makes it all look so easy (think “Rocky” training scenes, running up stairs never looked so much fun!). So I try to put this perspective on my life, pump up my power playlist and imagine the montage…Claire working on her blog, Claire exercising, Claire kicking butt at work and Claire the super mum…and all of a sudden, I feel like that person, the person in my movie who has got it all under control. (yes…folks…she really has gone mad this time)

Here’s a few tracks that often make it onto my movie soundrack (clearly it is going to be a Disney style 80’s flashback movie)…what’s on yours?

I get knocked down, but I get up again – Tubthumping

This is who I am – Vanessa Amarosi

Stronger – Kelly Clarkson

Fighter – Christina Aguilera

Brave – Sara Bareilles

Eye of the Tiger – Survivor