Wednesday 31 January 2018

Chapter 1 MMXVIII

Good morning, afternoon, evening! Greetings to all.
I know it has been a while since I last posted here and so I'm just going to say that and move on!

Today's post literally came to me today and I thought, why not blog it and release it all in the same 24 hours #saynotoprocrastination #ElenaAsksGodAnswers

So, we have come to the end of Chapter 1/12 of 2018 and has it ever been one long and fulfilling month! January has been good to me! I preached my first sermon here, launched the promo for my first worship event in March here, became a brand ambassador for Victorious Caps here, spent quality time with my loved ones, ate some great food and saw God move in mighty ways.
I started this year (actually the last week of December) with a great drive to be proactive and START all the things that I have been delaying for so many years. I made a minimal list of the things that I wanted to DO and ACTIVELY PURSUE this year. I am so glad I did because I have found the beauty in surrendering my plans to God and allowing Him to help me.

What I want to share today are the things that I have learnt this year and what I aim to improve on in the subsequent months. We will start with where I want to improve.

As you may have inferred, two of those things are seeking accountability and being more transparent. I struggle a lot with complaining. It was actually my brother Papa who first got me to realize that I did this a lot. I am generally very optimistic, unless we are very close, then you will find out that I complain a lot. And to be honest, though I'm aware of it, I can't say that I have ever actively taken steps to work on this flaw. So to begin, February is the month of love. Love is grateful and appreciative. So I'm going to stop complaining! I am naturally competitive (thanks to growing up around boys) so I am challenging myself to not complain for the next 28 days but instead list out all the things that I am grateful for.

Next and in that same vein, I am working on my non verbal communication. I was watching the movie Hitch with my girlfriends and the matchmaker himself spoke about how so much of our communication is non-verbal. This we all know, but how many of us are actively aware of the messages we are communicating based on our body language?

So these are the two things that I want to be more intentional about as we begin a new month. Now to the fun part; what I have learnt.

1. REST
This is probably the most important lesson I learnt. Starting off the new year with so much vim I realized quickly that if I kept going the way I was going and didn't take any time out to breathe, relax and rest, I would quickly burn out and lose the desire to do any work at all. Rest days for me are days where I have no obligations, I can relax without any guilt or pressure (meaning I have worked hard) and more likely than not will involve my loved ones because I'm a people person.

2. OPTIMIZE YOUR TIME
One of the best things I did this month was to read The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. In his book he speaks about optimizing your time. For example, I spend at least 10 hours a week commuting on the bus. So now, instead of giving those 10 hours to OC Transpo I use it to feed my mind with podcasts, sermons or reading books. And it helps me achieve my goal of self investment and reading more.

3. WAKE UP EARLIER (and thank me later)
I now wake up at 5:30am every morning (except Saturday). I started this habit 35 days ago. Immediately I wake up, I spend time with God, then I get ready for my day. During the weekdays this is the most helpful because I don't have to rush and I am prepared physically and mentally for the day. When most people are still feeling groggy, I'm up and alert and work much more efficiently. And all this without caffeine!

4. BE A PLANNER
This is adulting 101. Plan your money, your life, your cleaning schedule, your activities, your weekly tasks, your goals, PLAN YO LIFE. By planning, I'm able to do little things everyday to be faithful with what I have a prepare for the future I expectantly anticipate. #CompoundEffect

5. ASK FOR HELP
I learnt to ask for help and not be afraid to hear NO. Because not everything you ask for from people, do you get. I learnt to ask God for wisdom to help me deal with people. And to take risks, ie. put myself out there and not be afraid of what the response may be.

And that is all folks! Thanks for sticking with me.

Stay Blessed!!!

Elena Asks.