As I come upon my 3rd anniversary of blogging, I’ve been thinking a lot about all the wonderful opportunities I’ve been given over the past few years. I wouldn’t have attended last week’s incredible Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, for instance, if I didn’t blog or tweet. At the conference, I bumped into Audrey McLelland from Mom Generations and we chatted briefly about how I went from having a personal blog to working with brands, and how – coincidentally – I owe it all to her sister Jane (though I’m not sure if she knows it!). Back in 2008, Jane tweeted about an opportunity to review a box of Kellogg’s cereal. I followed up with her, she put me in touch with someone at Mom Central… and that one seemingly trivial project led to SO much more! Kind of amazing, since I only had maybe 10 posts under my belt at the time. Now Jane and I happen to be working together for the first time, as part of Team 4all!
So, anyway. The point I’m trying to make is that you shouldn’t let opportunities pass you by, no matter how small they may be. This doesn’t just apply to your career; you can adopt this mindset to other aspects of your life.
Take exercising, for example. I could say that carving out half an hour to an hour to workout is close to impossible in my busy day, but when I break that down into several 10 or 15 minute chunks, it’s much more doable. If I take advantage of the various opportunities that present themselves throughout my day, I am that much more active and don’t even realize it!
- Take the trash out yourself, instead of asking your husband or kids to (plus, this guarantees that it’ll get done faster!)
- Walk the kids to school, or if that’s not possible, to the next farthest bus stop.
- When doing laundry, instead of piling the hamper with clothes and taking it upstairs in one trip, take smaller loads up one at a time.
- Set a timer when you’re cleaning. When you give yourself a time limit to get things done, you’ll find that you pick up the pace.
- Toss a ball and a jump rope into your trunk so you always have something to play with the kids, even at a crowded park.
- Don’t think that your backyard playset is just for the kids! You can use it as part of your workout. Checkout the Playground Pump app for ideas.
- On a rainy day, go the mall just to window shop.
- Park farther away from the store.
- Take the stairs instead of the elevator. My kids don’t complain one bit!
- When making dinner, make a double batch and freeze it for later (and use the time you save to exercise!)
- While dinner is cooking on the stove, play the Wii with your kids. Our favorite game is Just Dance. It keeps the little ones out of the kitchen, and I can jump in and out anytime.
- Mow the lawn and rake the leaves yourself instead of paying a neighborhood kid to do it.
- Exercise while you’re watching TV. Get on a stationary bike, rowing machine, or treadmill. If you don’t have a machine, grab some dumbbells or a resistance band.
- If that’s not your thing, at least get up and move during TV commercials! I DVR everything these days, but don’t fast-forward. Instead, I run to the sink to wash some dishes, or to the living room to tidy up, etc. You can get a lot done in those 2 minutes!
- Sign up for those sites that offer a different deal everyday – LivingSocial, Groupon, etc. Most frequently feature discounted fitness classes and healthy meal options.
- While on vacation, pay a visit to the hotel’s fitness room. Even if only for 10 minutes.
Take a look at what you do in a typical day and see if you can improve upon it to make your everyday activity more, well, ACTIVE! Do you take advantage of every opportunity that comes your way?
