Fitness motivation image courtesy of Elf-Moondance and Pixabay.
By Gladys A.
For those of us who have struggled with physical fitness for a long time, it can be hard to stay motivated and find balance. We understand the importance of being healthy, but it can be difficult to stay positive and start moving – or keep going – when we don’t see results right away. Fortunately, there are many strategies we can use to help us stay on track and achieve our goals.
Small Lifestyle Changes for Big Results
By making small changes in our lifestyle, such as creating a regular exercise routine, eating healthier foods, and taking time out for ourselves, we can create an environment that supports our physical health and well-being. With the right combination of dedication and positivity, anyone can take control of their physical fitness journey!
Exercise Is Essential
Exercise is essential for a healthy lifestyle – but that doesn’t mean you have to start big. Exercise helps to reduce stress, improve mental and physical health, and even boost creativity. For those just beginning their journey of getting into shape, it’s important to find exercises that are easy and achievable.
Beginner Exercises
Regular exercise can be made more enjoyable if you choose the right beginner exercises. Exercise doesn’t have to be brutal to be beneficial – you just need to do it and go for consistency – especially when you’re getting started.
Achieve a Sense of Balance
Mental health and fitness are closely connected. When we take care of our physical health, it helps us to stay mentally healthy and vice versa. To achieve a balance between the two, it is important to understand how our physical and mental health are linked.
Enhanced Physical and Mental Well-Being
Exercise can be beneficial for both our physical and mental wellbeing. It can help us to reduce stress levels, increase self-confidence and improve our overall mood. On the other hand, poor mental health can lead to a lack of motivation or energy which can make it difficult to stay active.
“By understanding the connection between fitness and mental health, we can create an effective plan that will help us maintain both aspects of our wellbeing in balance. – Gladys A. @ Intrinsic Vicissitude
Finding the Motivation to Start Exercising
Exercising is an important part of staying healthy and feeling good. But sometimes it can be hard to get or stay motivated to exercise, especially when you are busy or feeling tired. That’s why it’s important to find ways to motivate yourself to exercise, so that you can stay active and reap the benefits of physical activity. Whether it’s setting goals, trying different activities, or finding an accountability partner, there are many ways to help keep yourself motivated and make exercise a regular part of your routine.
One of the social media groups I’m in does self-care Sunday every weekend, and there are a lot of posts about taking time for yourself, bubble baths, and buying something you really want as a way to be kind to yourself – and those are all great ideas – but organizing things around your home can also be a form of self-care.
When you declutter your living space, it reduces the stress you feel, and that makes it a form of self-care when you declutter.
Organizing and working on things around the house may not feel like taking care of yourself right off the bat, but if you think of the satisfaction you get when completing a task that makes your environment more beautiful, you can start to see the self care in performing routine tasks.
Managing stress and self care is a holistic process, in the sense that if one part of your life is out of balance, it’s a sign that everything is. People can typically understand your psychological state by looking at your physical environment.
Self-Care for Everyone
Personal self-care is the foundation we all build upon when we want to level-up in life. Without practicing self care, especially the kind of emotional self care that’s bolstered by tidying and beautifying our surroundings, we can end up stuck, fighting the same battles over and over.
This interesting TED talk on self care discusses why taking care of yourself first isn’t selfish.
Now, if you absolutely hate organizing, tidying up, or cleaning the house, by all means, you should hit the spa for a facial or massage, but keep in mind that self care is more than just pampering yourself, and if organizing benefits you, then it’s self care, too.
Storage for Small Spaces
Getting back to the organizing aspect of self care and self-wellness, if you’re working with a small space it can be hard to keep things organized, so you may need to get or make some storage solutions for small spaces.
Self care, wellness, and positivity can be enhanced by having a place to put all your things and having those things in their places when you need to get them.
These solutions for storage can include plastic bins that stack neatly in your closet, cardboard boxes that hold items in an organized way in your dresser drawers. Storage solutions can even be decorative, like cute baskets filled with small items on a wall shelf that matches the decor in your home.
Closet Storage Solutions
There are a lot of companies that will design custom closets that are suited to your personal organizing needs, and there are also closet solutions available in hardware stores and online venues.
If you’re working with a smaller space, you may be able to apply some no-closet solutions for storage, such as hanging shoe racks, over-the-door hooks, corner shelves, and curio cabinets.
I actually have a shelf that’s kind of rickety and clunky in my closet, but it helps me keep my things organized and gives me a place to keep seasonal items packed neatly out of the way.
Learning self-care helps you rewire your brain and the magic of tidying up is, strangely enough, an important part of healthy self care.
Thank you for visiting Intrinsic Vicissitude! Please enjoy browsing around the site for more tips on organizing and self care, or visit the Intrinsic Vicissitude Facebook page to join the conversation there.
Setting positive goals can be challenging, because if you are going to spend the time setting goals, you also want them to achievable goals – and the SMART goals framework offers a way to increase your chances of success.
The acronym, SMART, stands for the elements that are combined to make this type of goal setting effective.
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-based
Using the SMART goal setting strategy, as described by Indeed, helps you avoid the risk of setting vague goals that are likely to fail.
What Exactly Are SMART Goals?
SMART objectives follow a simple framework, or process, of development. The word behind each letter of the acronym, SMART, gives a hint about what to do and what to consider when setting new goals.
Specific Goals
When you make goals specific, it gives you a target to aim for when planning ways to achieve your goals. For example, if you want to lose weight, you wouldn’t make the goal ‘to lose weight’ – you would make the goal for a specific number of pounds to lose or a specific number of inches to trim off your waist.
This is because it’s easy to say you want to do something, but that’s too general. Saying you want to achieve a specific thing, such as losing twenty pounds or fifty pounds, gives you a firm goal.
Measurable Goals
Making a goal measurable means defining how you will know you have achieved your goal. Using the weight loss example again, if your goal is too broad, such as just to lose weight but no specific amount, you not only have no way of knowing when you’ve achieved it, you also have no way to measure it.
However, if you set a goal of losing ten pounds, and check your starting weight, then when the scale reads ten pounds lighter, you’ll know you have achieved your specific, and measurable, goal.
Achievable Goals
Setting attainable goals means you are more likely to succeed if you choose a goal that’s do-able. For example, you may want to lose a hundred pounds, and of course that’s do-able – under certain circumstances and time frames.
A more achievable goal, using the weight loss example, would be calculated using the amount of weight a doctor says you can safely lose per week, and dividing a hundred by that number. Then, you would check the calendar to see the soonest date you could safely expect to lose that amount of weight.
Relevant Goals
Setting relevant, clear goals means choosing goals that align with your beliefs and desired lifestyle. This means knowing yourself well enough to set goals that mean something to you and that you’re willing to work to achieve.
For example, if you’re considering something that takes years to achieve, such as earning a college degree, then you would set each smaller goal, or mini goal, based on what you need to do to get your college degree. Passing each course that’s required to get your degree would be one of your achievable, relevant mini goals.
Timely Goals
Putting time limits, or deadlines, on your goals is about motivating yourself and about helping you stay on track to succeed in achieving your goals. Make the time-based goals ambitious, to keep yourself energized and under a bit of pressure. This is where setting long-term goals that are broken up into short-term goals really comes into play.
Using the weight loss example again, if you want to lose a hundred pounds, that would be a long-term goal because you couldn’t do it safely in a short time period. But you could make it a goal to lose that in a year and then break the goal into increments of ten pounds a month or every two months, and each short term goal would also have a deadline.
4 Easy SMART Goal Setting Tips
Be kind to yourself: One of my favorite goal setting tips is to be kind to yourself.
Set goals that change your life: Realize that the goals you’re setting, if you set high enough goals, can change your life, or at the very least be part of rewriting your life story.
Set both long-term and short-term goals: Don’t be afraid to set big goals, just be sure to break the big ones into achievable smaller goals.
Build success into your life story: Each smaller goal you achieve builds success into your story, and each success increases the likelihood of succeeding in your biggest goals.
What Is My Goal in Life?
When you’re setting life goals, keep in mind that it’s really rare for anyone to have a single goal in life. Because human beings are complex and multi-faceted, it’s typical to have goals that speak to different parts of life. Some common types of goals that make up a person’s life goals are personal goals and professional goals.
Personal goals: Personal goals are the goals that
Professional goals: Professional goals are the goals that
Using the SMART process for setting goals can help you establish positive goals in life, and following it can help you succeed in achieving both long-term and short-term goals.
Examples of Short Term Goals
Short-term goals could be described as daily goals, weekly goals, or monthly goals. These mini goals are like stepping stones on a path that can lead to success in the achievement of your long-term goals.
Daily goals: An example of a daily goal, still using the example of someone who wants to lose weight, could be staying under a calorie limit, drinking the required amount of water, or a specific amount of time spent exercising.
Weekly goals: Applying the weight loss approach to weekly goals, an example could be lifting weights three times a week and doing yoga stretches or aerobic activity twice in a week’s time.
Monthly goals: An example that applies weight loss to the setting of monthly goals could be the specific amount of weight you can reasonably and safely lose in a month.
Note that these are all goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based for a person whose goal is to lose weight. The process applies, however, to setting goals for anything in life, not just weight loss.
Examples of Long-Term Goals
Long-term goals are those that take a year to several years to achieve. Think of these long-term goals as being closer to a goal of life than your short-term goals are. But – set your long-term goals using the same framework. Be specific about what you want, and establish a framework that’s realistic and time-based for achieving it.
One-year goals: One-year gals are long-term goals you can realistically achieve in a year. Using the weight loss example, losing a hundred pounds would be a one-year goal if you set up smaller goals of losing two pounds per week.
Five-year goals: Five year goals are those that realistically take about five years to achieve. Using the college and professional life example, You could set a goal of earning a Bachelor’s degree and being one year into your professional career as a five-year goal.
Ten-year goals: It’s okay to think big when setting your ten-year goals. Just really think about what you want and where you want to be at the end of ten years, and kind of work your way backward, thinking about the steps you need to take to get thee. Set plenty of achievable short-term goals and make sure to stay focused on achieving each short-term goal.
Setting goals for success is the first thing you need to do to if you want to reach a goal that’s big and significant. Have confidence in yourself, and be willing to focus and work to get where you want to be. If you can dream it, you can achieve it!
By: Laure Justice
Thanks for visiting Intrinsic Vicissitude! Browse around the site to check out some of the other information on setting goals and rewriting your life story.
I didn’t get my 2021 goals written down yet, but I did go ahead and get started on them. In short, my goals for 2021, at least for the first couple months, is to do something positive for myself everyday, and to work on cleaning and organizing around the house.
Combining Goals
If you’re feeling like you’re ‘in deep’ and like there’s no way you can manage everything you want to achieve in 2021, look for places where you can combine goals, and get more than one thing done at once.
I’ll share my example from today to give you an idea what I mean:
One thing I did today that pulled double duty was steam cleaning the upholstered living room furniture. (My son helped and may even have done the harder parts.)
It pulled double duty because it turned out to be a lot of exercise, and because it made the room look better. Plus, the furniture has a bright, lemony fragrance now.
Look for the Positive in Simple Tasks
Don’t let yourself feel dragged down by the chores that make up your everyday routine. Things like cooking and cleaning are no fun if hate them, but if you can adjust your thinking to see them as a way to make life nicer for the people you love, and for yourself, then it’s possible to make chores much more enjoyable.
I’ll also share an example of this from my day:
I also made a fairly labor intensive evening meal, biscuits and gravy with home fries. (I know… there goes my extra exercise.) And, while the food was cooking, I worked on cleaning and organizing the kitchen, so it looked a bit better after I made dinner than it did before.
Instead of looking at making a labor intensive meal as a chore, I thought of it as an honor, because I was spending my time preparing a meal my sons enjoy, and that nourishes their bodies and their spirits. Sure, it was a little heavy on the starches, but it’s not something we have often.
Thanks for visiting Intrinsic Vicissitude. Browse around the site for more information about goal setting and positivity – and please stop back soon for updates.
Well, 2020 has been quite a year, and while it’s never good to wish your life away, it’s kind of nice seeing 2020 move into the rearview mirror; so as part of my goodbye to the year, I thought I would do a recap on my new year’s resolutions article from last year.
New Years Resolutions Party Dogs Image by markito from Pixabay
New Year’s Resolutions or Goals for the New Year?
In a way, New Year’s resolutions and goals for the new year are the same thing, but at the same time, they’re different because goal setting involves several steps that increase the likelihood of follow-through.
Examples of New Year’s Resolutions
To shine some light on the difference, I thought I would drop a few common New Year’s Resolutions here before going deeper into the goal setting for the new year aspect.
Lose weight
Be more organized
Keep the house cleaner
These are all things that would benefit your lifestyle if you achieve them, if they’re issues for you, however, when stated as resolutions, they’re more like wishes – and wishes kind of float away in the wind like dandelion seeds when they aren’t backed by anything.
It can be more effective to think of your new year’s resolutions as long-term goals, and then back them up with goal-setting sessions that list the short-term goals you need to achieve in order to make the long term goals work.
Goal Setting Ideas for Weight Loss
It’s easy to know how much weight you want to lose, and it’s common sense to know the way to do it is to eat less and exercise more – however – it isn’t that easy. If it were that easy, everyone who wants to be thin would aleady be thin.
To use goal setting strategies to help you succeed in this type of resolution or long-term goal, think of specific things you can realistically do each day to get to where you want to be.
Set Smaller Realistic Goals
For example, exercise: You know you need to exercise, and say you’ve picked running or weight lifting as your chosen physical activity. If you jump right in and work out intensely for an hour or two at a time, you’re likely to quit the first day, or at least within the first week.
So, instead of choosing to work out intensely, consider what types of exercise you can realistically – and safely – do – such as walking for ten or twenty minutes a day with a goal of increasing the number of steps you take each week.
Commit Your Goals to Writing
Put these smaller goals in writing – add the details to your calendar or planner. I’ve often heard people say to tell your friends or family, so others can hold you to it. For me that doesn’t work, though writing them down does seem to help. I’ve found that the people who SAY they want to help are often the people who really don’t want to see success.
Set a Date to Revisit Goals
Make a date with yourself a few weeks out to revisit your goals and measure your success. If that date comes, and you aren’t where you wanted to be, refresh your goals, and move the dates out to achieve them. Then, start over or pick up from where you are.
Life is an ongoing process, so if you haven’t achieved the goals you set during your new year’s goal setting session, don’t be hard on yourself. Adjust, pat yourself on the back for anything you have achieved, and move forward.
In closing, I want to thank everyone who has visited intrinsic Vicissitude in 2020. It’s meant a lot to me to see all the visitors stopping by for a little boost of positivity. Please stop back often in 2021, and feel free to visit the Intrinsic Vicissitude Facebook page to join in the conversation and positivity.
Taking certain nutritional supplements for muscle building is not absolutely necessary; you can do without them, however, some of them really do have their advantages. They can give you an added physical and mental edge.
They help to enhance performance and can help in the muscle-building process. Although some are a waste of your time money and effort, there are a few that do actually perform.
Supplements help to fulfil the missing link that may occur during an intense muscle-building phase.
You do need some supplements for greater muscle growth.
Here are the supplements I’d recommend for Muscle-building.
Creatine: A great supplement that always produces positive health and muscle-building benefits. Helps to fill the muscles with fluid making you stronger and able to lift heavier and recover faster. Good bodyweight gains achieved with this, which allows you to lift more for better muscle growth stimulation.
Protein Powders: Whey protein isolate is the best fast acting protein to aid in repair and growth of muscle tissue after an intense training session. Casein Protein is a slow digesting protein best taken just before bed to supply the body with a continuous flow of amino acids for repair and growth through the night while you sleep.
Weight Gainers: A high calorie supplement is a good idea if you consider yourself as being under weight. High calories are needed for muscle endurance and optimum performance and effective muscle repair.
You’ll want to stay healthy while you’re on a muscle-building quest so I’d also recommend:
A good multi-vitamin/mineral supplement:
To offset any nutrient deficits that may occur during an intense training program. Vitamins and minerals are essential for good health and well being.
Vitamin C: A great immunity booster and free radical destroyer.
Vitamin E: Great for Cell integrity and vitality.
EFAs: Essential Fatty Acids: Great for overall health and helps promote the body’s production of Testosterone – the muscle builder.
Note: You should always check with your GP or other health professional before taking any nutritional supplements.
Along with the supplements there are other elements that you need for muscle-growth:
A sound workout routine that induces muscle growth and does not over-train the muscles. A good healthy high calorie diet. Eat six smaller meals instead of 3 large meals.
Sufficient rest and recovery time. Your muscles have to be fully recovered.
Discipline Commitment and Consistency.
A few supplements like the above.
The bodybuilding supplement industry is big business. You really don’t need all those “miracle” muscle-building supplements that come onto the market, but once in a while they do actually bring about a supplement that actually does what it’s reported to do.
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Author Bio Darren O Connell – has over 20 years experience in Muscle Growth, Health, Fitness, Fat loss and Nutrition – http://www.explosivemusclegrowth.com
Hi, Thanks for visiting Intrinsic Vicissitude! I wanted to share this article to bring in the expertise of a fitness professional to give you information I couldn’t provide from my personal experience. Of course, for more information, visit Mr. O Connell’s website, and be sure to talk with your own physician, nutritionist, or personal trainer to learn more about your body’s specific nutritional needs and supplements to try. – Laure
It takes courage to be vulnerable especially in the workplace! It can be very difficult and stressful to be “seen” by others when faced with challenging issues. By exposing ourselves to others to voice our opinion, we open ourselves up to possible ridicule. HOWEVER more importantly it can open the door to innovation and willingness to look at situations differently.
The question then is when is it appropriate to show our vulnerability? Every situation is different so it is hard to define best practices when dealing with potential difficult conversations with coworkers, bosses, and/or other stakeholders. Hopefully the work environment is such that there is psychological safety, trust, and integrity. Without these three elements plus both parties having high emotional intelligence, these interactions could be very confrontational to the point that relationships are irreparable and the workplace becomes toxic.
To guard against this, try to put yourself in the other person’s shoes. Some see this as being a time waster because they feel the other person will not budge on their opinion, is needy or whiny, or always has to win. Stick with the facts when you do your analysis of the situation and determine what the best outcome is that you could hope for. You also have to set boundaries for yourself and also consider the other person’s. In other words, take the time to make a plan just like you would if this was a project. Anticipate what the sunk cost would be if this does not come to a successful conclusion as well as what safeguards can be put in place so that both parties are respectful of each other.
Another thing to consider is: do we put ourselves in situations where we are more vulnerable than at other times? Naturally this can occur when meeting or presenting to senior level leaders in the company but we also have to identify those people we feel intimidated by for a variety of reasons. Why does our confidence drop when we interact with these people? What traits do they possess that make us feel insecure? Are they really doing anything differently than how others behave or are we just perceiving them in a different way?
There are definitely pros and cons to being vulnerable but we all have different tolerance levels. What we need to consider is not only how we feel but how do we project our thoughts to others and in turn do we make them feel vulnerable. This is just another part of our career journey in that we can’t have a meaningful connection with someone if one or both of us feel like we have hit a dead-end road.
Someone I loved once told me that wishes are important, even sacred, because every time we’re given an opportunity to make a wish, we’re also given the opportunity to make it come true.
The catch (there’s always a catch, right?) is that what it takes to make a wish come true may be a higher price than you’re willing to pay.
Are you willing to do what it takes to make your wishes come true?
So, when making a wish, you should think about what you really want and decide if you’re really willing to do what it takes to make your wish come true.
It’s kind of common thinking to believe that you make a wish, then wait, and if you don’t get what you wished for, then wishes are lame – but – that isn’t how life works most of the time! If it was how life works, we would all be thin, rich, and happy.
Birthday Wishes on Candles
I’m thinking about wishes and how important a wish can be because today’s my birthday and birthdays are kind of the ultimate ‘wish days’ with candles on cakes and all that.
I like to pause and reflect on my life and the things I most want to change and, of course, what I’m willing to make happen before making a birthday wish – or any wish.
So, I really just wanted to say, to anyone who reads this – don’t waste your wishes on empty dreams – choose a wish you’re willing to work for, and when you get your wish, it will be all the sweeter for the effort you’ve invested.
Brief History of Birthday Candle Wishes
Wondering where the idea to wish on birthday cake candles came from?
The history of wishing on birthday candles goes back to Greek mythology – in which it was thought that the smoke from the extinguished flames carried a person’s wishes up to the gods.
Necklace Wishes
Necklace wishes are the wishes you get to make when the clasp of a necklace moves to the front and touches the pendant in the front.
Wishing on a dandelion is something many children learn when playing in the yard or a park.
To wish on a dandelion, choose a puffy, white dandelion that has lost all of its yellow petals.
Close your eyes and make a wish while taking a deep breath, then blow as hard as possible on the fluffy white seed pods.
Open your eyes, and see if all the puffy white seed pods are gone.
According to the legend, if you blew all the seeds into the air in one breath, your wish is supposed to come true and if there are still seeds attached to the stem, then you’ll have to try to wish again some other time because it isn’t going to come true.
So, to wind up this post, and what I hope is a message of hope, wishing on things with no plan to apply effort is just a form of superstition.
The power behind a wish lies with you – so choose your wishes carefully and wish for things that are worth the effort to work for – and may all your wishes come true.
