Here’s a scenario.

A single mother, a business women, has stacks and stacks of paper and files on her office desk. She’s functioned this way for years, running several locations, and a large number of staff. Her employees swear she can’t find anything, but she knows exactly where each and every piece of paper is in that pile. Her daughter, who has spent years of dealing with clutter in the home and office, is the complete opposite. She is a freelancer, entrepreneur, running multiple businesses at once (like most entrepreneurs). Her desk is neat and organized. Her files in order (most of them) and projects each in their own clear plastic folder so she can easily see the project especially when she has multiple projects going on at once. And if it’s not neat and organized, right before a new project starts, it’s a whirlwind of activity, filing, data entry and more.

If you can’t guess, these two polar opposites in approaching work are myself and my mother. We are polar opposites on how we approach our daily work life.

That’s not to say we don’t have our moments where we function like the other one. As I look around my living room right now, it is far more cluttered than I like. Which likely means I will annoy my household on a cleaning and organizing spree this weekend. It’s ok, they’re used to it. I do enjoy my Sundays of going through any of the magazines that have built up over time.

The question came up as to why I function better with a structured, less cluttered, organized space. I’ve decided it’s because I function better with organization, clearly defined spaces and storage for items and projects. I like to be able to find things and because I do so many different things (i.e., not all related to the same line of business), I can’t rely on my semi-photographic memory to let me remember exactly where in a pile of papers a particular item is. I can rely on my memory if I’ve placed the self defense projects in one place and the writing projects in another, if even they sometimes do overlap.

A friend of mine, who prefers keeping her files piled so she can easily get to them said she knows exactly where everything is. A to be filed pile, to do, working, invoices, etc. I realized. I have those too. Mine are off my desk though, behind me in a vertical filing structure so that I can easily reach them and switch between ‘hats’ – or lines of business.

Hmm, maybe we just approach organization differently. I use several tools to declutter my desk/office space:

1. Clear project folders
2. A defined snail mail box
3. Franklin Day Planner
4. Google Calendar
5. iPad & iPhone to sync notes, etc.
6. Gmail – can get my email anywhere
7. Task lists – I used to use paper ones and now I found electronic post it notes for my screen. Been working GREAT.

Post up some of the ways you stay organized, perhaps you’ll find some new ways to try to keep yourself on track and focused on your goals. I know I need to figure out a better way to keep track of invoices, receipts, etc., so if you have any ideas there, share!

Photo from: Interior Design Ideas For a Home Office … designofficeinterior.com

Stay tuned to see how we fix this issue in a GREEN way!

This blog is part of the Ultimate Black Belt Test Program (www.UltimateBlackBeltTest.com), which is an undertaking of The 100. (www.The100.us), and find more about Stacia’s projects at (flavors.me/staciakelly).

If you are just starting out, hire a coach. The accountability factor is huge. Yes, you’re paying this person (usually, I train my mother for free, doesn’t mean she listens to me, all the time,….she’s my Mom!), but they’re vested in your goals and helping you achieve them. However, they are NOT going to do things for you. They’ll guide you, check in on you….and the best coaches, will teaching you to stand on your own two feet. Yes, that’s nutritional coaches or personal trainers and even your business coaches. For my clients, I run a year long Personal Enrichment Program – we pick out their yearly goals and work on them all year long as a team (usually a team of 10 or so).

Another method to help you succeed, enlist a friend to join you on your quest. When I’d gotten out of the habit of going to the gym, I recruited one of the other Mom’s in the neighborhood. We’d put the kids on the bus and head directly to the gym. It took a few months, but I’d even go when she had to head into work or school to volunteer for the day. I’d started making friends at the gym, ones who would give me grief (and still do) if I miss a day.

I’ve seen a number of people decide they were going to do a bodybuilding show or run a 5/10K to give them a goal to focus on rather than just a number on the scale. Participating in these types of events keep you accountable each and every day.

Make it Public! Whatever your goals are, make them public. If you keep them secret, it’s so much easier to fool only yourself. Tell your family, tell your friends, heck, tell FaceBook and Twitter. People love reading about your successes and it’s such a great feeling when you get a “grats” or “job well done”. Plus, you’ll find an amazing amount of people who have the same goal you’re working on. These people can help keep you accountable and focused as well.

Create a plan. My daily workouts go on my day planner and into Google Calendar. I do not deviate from my schedule unless absolutely necessary. Yes, it means I’m up late at night working on books, planning or projects, but I’d rather train in the morning and jump start my energy levels. I also use my calendars to track exactly what I worked on at the gym or martial arts class so I can see my progress at the end of the week/month/year. When I’m trying to lean down, I use this same calendar to track my meals and water intake. I have found that I do better with things written down rather than using an app to track. Other people have much better success at using web-based or smart phone apps.

My favorite smart phone/iPad app for tracking nutrition, at the moment is Calorie Counter. I don’t use it to its fullest capacity, but it’s kind of fun to watch my Mother, who’s just gotten her first smartphone, tap away entering calories and exercises. It’s keeping her accountable! I love it for the Restaurant feature. I can check out which meals are REALLY bad for me. Somehow, I’m always surprised at the results.

Since I like writing things down, and I do teach, I created a year long journal for my clients and students to use. For my martial arts students, I created ‘focus’ – it allows them to track their martial arts goals. For my PEP team, I created ‘achieve’ so they could focus on their goals and keep track of them….plus I added in a few challenges to stimulate their thoughts while they were working on their goals.

DO NOT step on the SCALE every day, unless you are bodybuilding or trying to determine how your body reacts to certain meals. I’m assuming that most of you reading this eBook are trying to reset your nutritional habits, and that usually means, weight loss. So, weigh yourself. Once a week. And then, let it go. Focus on doing what you need to do. Watching the numbers on the scale can and does make us neurotic. I can be just as bad as anyone else. I’m horrible about it, so I know, I’m telling you not to do it, and every one of you is going to do it anyway and freak out over the numbers. Relax, you’re human, and you’re you. Go back, look at what you did the day before, what you ate, did you workout, were you stressed out? All of those items and more are going to play into your weight. Drink more water!

Another key, make sure you’re getting enough sleep for your body. I used to need 8 hours of sleep, now, my body is much happier with about 7, but I can function for days on less, but it will catch up with me either on the scale or the circles under my eyes.

There is also a method of cycling your sleep, polyphasic sleep, so you can take naps six times a day for 20-30 minutes at a time. On this schedule, you’re only sleep 2-3 hours per day. People claim everything from feeling more energetic, getting more done to the flip side of it not working at all, constantly hungry (because they’re up more hours), and inflexibility because you must maintain a specific schedule for this system to work. I haven’t tried this method, but I do know 20-minute power naps are great to reenergize and refuel. I’m not sure how this will affect your weight and nutrition, but wanted to put it out there in case some of you wanted to follow up with more research.

In summary:

1. Hire a coach
2. Enlist a friend
3. Set some goals
4. Make it public
5. Create a plan
6. Get enough sleep
7. Drink water!

As I said before, these are just a few of my favorite ways to help myself achieve my goals. If you’d like to share some of your own, comment below and let us know!

Join me as I embark on the next journey of a lifetime – the Personal Enrichment Program!  If you don’t know me, my name is Stacia Kelly, and I’m the co-owner of Studio 13.  I’m continuing my journey on the Ultimate Black Belt Test.  I’ve spent the last year improving myself and working to help improve others as I’ve participated with the Ultimate Black Belt Test Team 8, which started on January 1st, 2011.

As another year approaches, for 2012, for one of my projects and in conjunction with several of my teammates, I am looking to put together a small team of  “student members” to join me in this journey.

What does that mean? Well, that means that I’m looking for people to look at their life and say “I want massive change/improvement.” Regardless where that person is right now in their life, they want to take some serious action to improve physically and mentally. You do NOT need to be in shape. You do NOT need to be a martial artist. All you need is the desire to make a change within. How do you know if that’s you? Here are some questions to think about…

1. Are you tired of where you are physically? Mentally?
2. Are you looking for that “thing” to kick your rear in gear and get you living life more fully?
3. Do you have weight you want to lose?
4. Do you feel you’re not living up to your potential?
5. Are you stuck in life’s rut and want to climb out?

I love doing what I do – teaching the life-changing benefits of martial arts. But what I love even more is seeing people grow. Seeing someone go from point “A” to point “B” and become a different person.  Seeing someone make such a huge change that their eyes light up, they walk taller, they look people in the eyes, they have more pep in their step, and their confidence explodes.

Check out our YouTube Channel to see some of the things I’m tackling with our team.

As a member of this program, we will sit down and set up a series of goals for you for 2012. Physical, mental, emotional, social, financial, etc., whatever it is that you want to accomplish, and you feel you can do it in a year, we will put it on the list. We’ll make a plan. We’ll help hold you accountable.  We’ll give you information to help educate you about what it’s going to take to reach your goals. Workout plans, nutrition information, etc. will be available. But the most important thing will be the team accountability. Developing the relationships with those going thru it with you will be the most beneficial thing we can give you.

So how does it work? If you’re the type of person who needs a list of what you’re going to “get” in the program, here you go…

• Accountability: To the other team members, coach, and anyone who knows you’re embarking on this journey. The more people know what you’re doing, the harder it is to quit. The more people see what you’re doing, the better chance to inspire them to take action in their own lives. Everything will be posted on this website so people can track your journey (pictures, videos, goals, progress, etc.).
• Education: About nutrition, fitness, anger management, diabetes, and all sorts of other topics.
• Motivation: From your team and coach to keep you pressing towards your goals
• A “Team”: when was the last time you were part of a team that was working together to improve? The team will be there to support you and keep you accountable, motivate you, etc. And, we’ll be joined by other teams working around the country as well.
• Monthly Events: we will meet once a month, look over our goals and progress (or lack of), discuss specific topics to help you on your journey, and bring in guest speakers who are experts in a specific topic. We will also go through a physical workout to help push you to a new level.
• Website: we will have a website dedicated to this journey. This is where you will journal (once a week will be required), track progress, watch each other’s progress and journaling, upload photos and videos, etc. This will be the “hub” where you (and the rest of the world) can see how we’re all doing. This is an incredibly important part of the process.
• A “Plan:” If you need help with workout plans, nutrition guides, etc. we can provide you with that. If you have a gym membership, great – USE IT! If you’re a student of our school (The Training Academy) – then MAKE IT TO EVERY ONE OF YOUR CLASSES! Use the gym equipment we have.  If you have nothing at all to workout with, we will create a plan to make it work. If you haven’t worked out in 20 years – awesome! You’re about to change your life!

What this journey is NOT…

• This is not another workout program. We will not be having you come in and workout or train every week.  The cost of the program is so cheap that it cannot allow for special classes (other than the once a month meeting).
• This is NOT a program for someone who is going to quit. This is for the serious person who wants to take serious action; the person who can push thru the “I want to quit” thoughts that we all get once in a while
• This is not the latest-and-greatest set of workout DVD’s that you buy on late night TV. This is a personal coaching program that will give you the accountability, guidance, and support that you need to reach your goals (as long as you’re doing your part).
• This is not a program of excuses…let me explain.  How many times have you heard (or said yourself)…
  • I can’t afford it (a gym membership, eating healthy, buying a home workout program)
  • I don’t have time (to workout, prepare your meals, spend time with your kids, read a book)
  • That’s just not for me
  • That’s just the way I am
  • That’s the way I was raised
  • I just can’t lose weight – I’ve tried everything
  • It’s too hard
  • I don’t want to

I’m sure you’ve heard it and said it yourself (me too). This is a time for excuses to be GONE! There’s always a solution if you have the right attitude. You can learn the skills if you have the right mind-set. There’s to be NO grumbling and complaining as a member of this team. No one is forcing you to do it, so don’t bring the team down by having a bad attitude. There’s NO gossiping, no trash-talking. This is a team of people committed to massive improvement, and negative attitudes have no place in it.

I once heard…“who you spend time with is who you become.” This is so very true. Whatever type of person you want to become, you had better spend time with people like that. Here’s your chance. This program is NOT about what you “get” – it’s about what you “give.” If you get a gym membership but don’t use it, it’s worthless. If you join the library but don’t read any books, it’s worthless. This program is the same. If you play FULL OUT, and discipline yourself to do what you know you’re supposed to do, then it’s worth at least 10 times what you’re going to pay.

Tuition

The cost of this program is very straight forward – it’s $500 for the entire program paid up front – Installment options: 3 month plan $550: $184 down payment and 2 more monthly installments of $183;  6 Month plan $600: $100 down payment and 5 monthly installments of $100 – no refunds if you decide to quit early. When you pay, you’re on the team (cash, check, credit card, auto pay from your account are your options).

Option 1: One Year Payment

Option 2: 3 Monthly Installments

Option 3: 6 Monthly Installments

The journey starts immediately, although it “officially” starts January 1st, 2012. I will be getting a head start, and you are welcome to join me. The journey ends December 31st, 2012. This is an extremely affordable program, and I want it that way because this program is not about the money – it’s about changing lives. On the other hand, it’s a complete waste of money if you don’t play full out. Think about how much money is spent on inessentials (soda, coffee, eating out, movies, etc.). This is literally $1.37 a day! To change your life?! That’s nothing.  You can’t even buy a large cup of coffee for that.

How to Get Started

If, at this point, you’re ready to take the “leap,” then contact me and I’ll get you started. If you’re not sure yet, think about it, read everything you can on www.ultimateblackbelttest.com. This will give you an idea of what you’ll be doing.

As a “student member,” you don’t need to complete all the requirements of the official UBBT – that’s my job. Your job is to sit down with me and discuss what you want to accomplish if you were to put 100% into this journey. For those unsure, I will be launching our Personal Enrichment website soon with more information, but I’m going to assume the 10 spots will be filled by then, so wait at your own risk.

If you have questions, email or call me – staciakelly@gmail.com or 703-597-2951.

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• Living Heroes – a thoughful journey… (studio13bymbsworks.com)
• Don’t forget to change up your training cycle…. (studio13bymbsworks.com)
• Energy Focus: Meditations & More (studio13bymbsworks.com)