Thriving Instead of Enduring: How To Transform What You Hate into Power

Slow and steady wins the race… The Tortoise outsmarts and out-paces the Hare. 

You’ll find new New Year’s resolutions here  — too much hard work at one of the bleakest times of the year. You’re stripping down the lights and glitter at the exact moments when the earth is its darkest, grayest and coldest.

There are a lot of hard challenges to face in January, without adding a whole new list of “resolutions” to your plate. For one thing, getting yourself out of bed on a cold January morning — and getting into a nice cold car. These facts of life must be overcome!

Without realizing what I was doing — I started implementing some strategies into my life to help me create new habits — or, resolutions if you will.

It happened like this – I started thinking about all the little things that make life harder —

(Actual Susiej post/photo from 2008)

• cold mornings
• finding time to work-out — and squeezing in just a 20-minute Hiit workout seems to disrupt my whole day
• all the time waiting around in the morning for the kids get ready so that I can get them to school and start my day — just wasted minutes (could I sleep a little longer instead?)
• the huge clean laundry pile that greets us every morning that I never have time to fold
• hitting the ground running so fast in the morning  that I never really have time to “get dressed.” Admittedly, a problem only for “work-at-home-people

There may have been more — but these were core issues that were really impacting me — over a year ago.

So, slowly, I started putting together a personal action plan to solve these problems:

If I rolled out of bed, with a single commitment to getting warm — how would my life change?

• The best way to get warm is to exercise — so what if I made a morning appointment with myself at 6:30 am to actually work out for 20 minutes? (HiiT Workouts, by the way — let you condense are 40-minute workout down to 10 – 20 minutes.)
• I’d be warm. Bonus. Bonus. Bonus
• My workout would be done and over — no more struggling trying to fit it in– and oops — not doing it
• If I actually did roll out at 6:30 — and not hit the snooze button —  I’d have time to not only work out — but also grab a quick shower!
• And no more mindless idle waiting for the kids to get their act together — I’m busy now — I have a mission.

And, when you’ve condensed your workout routine to a simple 20-minute one — it doesn’t seem overwhelming. It appears perfectly do-able.

For me, this system has been working beautifully. So beautifully in fact, that this past holiday season, when I pulled out last year’s “holiday dress” which I could barely zip last year, zipped right up  — with room to spare!

And, doing those two things (workout and shower before 7 am) early — before I’ve had a chance to think about them or talk myself out of doing them — I’ve  already gained time for a day that has really yet to start. I feel like I have “new time” in the afternoons. And seriously, at 6:30 am, there’s no better argument for getting up to exercise than the prospect of facing that cold, bleak world “warm from exercise” than cold.

The major difference is my workout routine over the year before was that I was consistent. I wasn’t working out harder — I just never missed a routine.  Why? Because I didn’t want to be “cold” when I went out to start the car. 

By the time spring and summer came around — my new morning workout habit was already ingrained. Now, I get up and workout without even thinking about it. That’s the best workout — one that it is so grained into your “routine” that you can’t fucntion without doing it.

Where do I find my Hitt routines? I look on Youtube! I have a list of favorites that I go back to again and again — and I pick, based upon the time I actually have. Big Kudos to all of these awesome amazing athletes who provide these workout routines! Check these out for inspiration:

1. Hiit Tabata: 25:43 Time
2. Hitt Yoga: 40:27
3. Abs Workout:10:28
4. Hiit Tabata: 25:40
5. Hitt Workout- Weights: 38:35
6. Hiit Yoga: 27:55
7. 12 Minute Legs: 12:36
8. Hiit Tabata: 22:30
9. Hiit Yoga: 17:58

So, if you have fallen off the wagon with your resolutions — or you have yet to make them — try this approach. Look for a problem to solve and turn it into something positive: