Rolling with the punches!

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my beautiful and amazing sisterJ!

Now today’s theme: Rolling with the punches.

How do you respond to obstacles?  I have been working on trying to stay open minded and flexible, but it’s not always easy!  At work today I faced a common challenge of booking a flight for a higher price than it was just a few days back.  With my colleague we looked at our options, and by simply changing one travel time, we were able to find a flight that was the same as the original price (thank goodness!)J.  I know this isn't what we would generally consider an obstacle, but when you are working within a budget..it is!

In terms of rowing…I headed to the rowing club after work as usual, only to find out that the erg room door was locked and there was another team already waiting to use the limited ergs available for training!  Well at least I didn’t have to sit through too much traffic to get there:S

This is definitely a limiting factor!  I could either:

a)      Get frustrated and upset and not do my tests out of spite

b)      Find a local gym with ergs I could train out of (realistic option but I already spent money on membership for the current rowing club I train at)

c)       Return home, get some batteries for my personal erg machine, and start warming up to do my tests

I went with option (c): put on some great erg music and got started! 

However, I knew I could use some extra motivation before attempting these tests from home (in a small apartment with the temptation of a couch and tv right next me).  So before my warm up I searched for something I knew could help…my “Visualization Board".  I made this last year with my team at work – it was a team building activity.  As a team we shared our goals for 2011 and spent time making our own posters with images and words that would help us stay focused on successfully accomplishing these goals.

There's a show I find quite funny called “Happy Endings”, and there's one episode (Season 2, Episode 4, on CityTv) where they bring in the “Visualization Board" idea.  Although there is some (a lot!) influence from one character to try and make another's dreams come true, I still encourage you to make one.

It could include anything from personal goals to work goals, and even have images of what you are working towards in the short term to what you are working on in the long term.

Who knows, they may start coming true;)

(Below is an example from the internet, it's not mine)