Friday with Heidi: Getting it down on paper…

“When you write down your ideas you automatically focus your full attention on them. Few if any of us can write one thought and think another at the same time. Thus a pencil and paper make excellent concentration tools.” – Michael Leboeuf

The recurring theme this week has been to get things down on paper.

It all started on Monday when our elder daughter sent me a series of highly excitable voice messages from Australia about her next great plan. To say she was excited about her new idea would be an understatement. She was already living, breathing, experiencing every wonderful minute of her new life in her imagination.

And whilst I love some emotive visualisation for target setting and achieving them, I do think that sometimes the emotion can blur the edges and so I suggested that she write down all these wonderful pros and then the cons of the the new idea to give her a more rounded approach.

Whether she did or not I don’t know but I like it. It always works when you can see things in black and white in front of you.

Later in the week I was between Fit Camp sessions and I had 20 minutes or so to kill. I decided to undertake an exercise that I read in a Brian Tracy book many years ago. He talks about how to be creative when you have a challenge in your life. His recommendation is for you to get a plain piece of paper, write the challenge at the top and then to and write down 21 ways that you could look to solve that challenge. Don’t stop short at 17, you need to make 21.

He says 10 is easy, 15 tricky and 21 a challenge in itself. But it trains you to think creatively, to think beyond the problem and to see new ways to what might seem like a weighty situation.

So I came up with my 21, sure enough, at 17 I was stalling, but I did get the 21 out of my head and down on paper. Perfect. Now I have a range of ways to tackle one challenge.

Finally, I met with a networking colleague this week who helps business owners and sales teams to to get their ducks in a row. She asked me about Fit Camp and what we offered and who we helped and started drawing it out on a piece of paper. Within a few minutes she showed me a view of my business that I’d not seen before.

Seeing it quite clearly written down gave me the chance to go ‘oh that’s OK then, I can do that‘ rather than churning over in my head what I had to do and by when. It was very liberating.

When clients are struggling I suggest they keep a food diary. It’s a perfect way to really know what you’re eating. So many times we eat without being aware. I’ve eaten an unknown amount of prunes whilst writing this. It could have been 10 who knows? If you keep a food diary it’s a reminder and a tracker so you can spot for patterns.

If I meet with people with repeating thoughts of how bad things are I suggest using the tried and tested method of the gratitude journal. It works wonders. Every night before you go to bed write down 3 things that you’ve been grateful for that day.

Mine may include the weather, my health and my family. But I’ve been known to be very chuffed for emails I’ve received, coffee I’ve been served or sunsets. Being grateful puts us into a much happier place that allows us to see more of the good things in our lives than just dwelling on the problems. Writing it down means you can look back 6 months later and see how many things you’ve been thankful for.

So this week grab some paper and a pen, a notebook or a journal and get scribbling.

• Keep a food diary for managing your weight.
• Keep a gratitude journal for managing your mood.
• Write 21 ways to solve a challenge.
• Sketch out your life, your free time, your career, your finances and see how different it looks in the flesh.
• Then read this blog as to why it’s such a good idea to write your ideas down.

Let me know how you get on!

FastTrack Fit Camp News!

We have changes at FastTrack Fit Camp that I am delighted to share with you.

With effect from 2 October our 20.00 Tuesday and Thursday evening sessions at the Nine Mile Ride venue are moving to Evendons Primary School. The time has changed too and we’re now starting at 19.30-20.15. This brings the session back closer into Wokingham and back to a school playground which I like using. If you’d like to come along and join us as part of a trial to see if it suits you, please drop Nia an email at admin@fasttrack-fitcamp.co.uk and she’ll get you started.

Fit Camp Friday is up and running. Following feedback from our members we’ve added a Friday night session back into our timetable. It runs at Emmbrook Infant School between 18.00-18.45 each week. It’s in a trial phase and for now we’re allowing non-members to come on a pay-as-you-go basis. This is likely to change in the new year but for now, if you’d like to join us there each week it’s £7 per person. All you need to do is turn up with your mat and water.

Family Charity Camp. Our October family charity camp is on Sunday 7 October at Bearwood Recreation Ground, Winnersh. We’re working on conjunction with the Guide Dogs for the Blind and their awareness week. Join us at 9am where all proceeds go to charity. We’ve even got a Guide Dog puppy coming along as a guest!

Fit Camp Weekender. Our last Weekender event of the year is from 12-14 October in Monmouthshire. We have a few spaces left and we’d love to welcome you to one of our memorable weekends of rejuvenating exercise, foods and workshops. If you fancy carving out some time out for you, please ask for more details,  I am more than happy to talk about it with you.

I’m also all upto date with my Hashimoto’s Blog, there are three weeks worth here. I hope not to get that behind again!