What You Can When You Can (#wycwyc): Putting It Into Practice

(photo credit - livinggratitude.wordpress.com)

I first heard about the What You Can When You Can philosophy through Roni Noone's blog Roni's Weigh about six months ago (at least). WycWyc (/wikwik/) as it's otherwise known is a fabulous way of thinking. Most people today have so much going on, they don't know which way is up. Kind of like juggling balls. Trying to keep all the balls in the air all the time is tough. Whether you're a working mom (or dad), or a stay at home wife (or husband), or whether you work from home and have no kids (like me), everyone gets flustered and thinks they don't have time for things...such as exercise.

I mention that I work from home...I should clarify....I am working at working from home. What does that mean? I enjoy writing. I like to write for this blog. I like to write articles for certain sites. I like to write little blurbs for other sites. Do I do it as often as I want? No. Can people make a good living from doing what I want to do? Certainly! Freelance writers on the Internet can and do make a very good living. The main thing is to DO IT.

Procrastination is a killer. I am struggling big time right now with procrastination. Now while I don't have a "real" job, I still do housewifely duties. I make sure our place is kept somewhat neat and clean. I don't intend to get into all of the nitty gritty details here, but my husband and I do not live alone. We share a house with his parents. It just works out well that way for now.  I don't clean the entire house (although I would love to), but I do make sure our area is clean. I also do some mad, mad, mad cleaning when everyone is out.

On top of that, my husband and I have one dog and one cat (my in-laws also have a dog of their own and a parakeet). So, all those animals can make for not only messes, but they also takes up a lot of time and energy. Particularly our dog Jax. He's an attention hog like nobody's business. Especially in the mornings.

So I'm not only using the WycWyc frame of mind for getting exercise in, but I'm also using it for writing and getting more serious about it. If I only write 1 or 2 hours a day, so be it. It will increase the more I do it. It will eventually pay off, literally, in the long run. One of my main goals is to get some sort of residual income so I'll be making money without having to do anything. That's a long term goal obviously, but it can be done. People do it all the time.

Start out slow, and things will increase over time. Just like losing weight. I didn't lose 35 pounds over night. It took me a little less than a year. The point is I made it. And now I do what it takes to maintain that weight loss. Same goes for my writing plans. Do what it takes to get to where I'm comfortable, and then do what it takes to maintain that.

I have no illusions, it will take long hours and loads of work in the beginning, but in the end it will be worth it. Just like it was with the weight loss. Lots of work and determination, but it got done. I also have no grand expectations about how much I'll be earning. Some people writing online claim to make a 6 figure income. I highly doubt I'll get that much ever, but one can dream right?

So, What You Can When You Can is my motto from now on. In more ways than one. Exercise, writing, housework, and pet care. Those are my main focuses in life these days. And the main thing I need to eliminate is procrastination.

Keep Moving and keep doing whatever else you do too!

Mileage Monday: Keep On Keeping On

Another Mileage Monday, and more pictures! Things are going well on the exercise side of things. I've skipped a few workouts here and there, but for the most part, I'm consistent. I'm still only doing strength training twice a week. That seems to be working well for a while. Mondays and Thursdays or Tuesdays and Fridays are the days I aim for. If I miss Monday, that it's going to happen Tuesday. Cardio happens about 4 days a week lately. Hoping to increase that again.

Week before last I mentioned I had 1.1 miles to go until I hit the next town on the virtual walk site. I said I would push myself to get in 1.1 miles on the elliptical, when normally I only do 1 mile even. Well, not only did I do 1.1 miles that day (which was exciting), I also stayed on the elliptical longer than I ever have on NordicTrack A.C.T. elliptical. I made it to 1100 revolutions before I had to take my first break. I know I've made it to 800 revolutions (1/2 mile) in one shot, and I want to say I've made it to 900, but I don't think so. Very exciting indeed, and I surprised myself.

So, since my last Mileage Monday post, I've passed through Burgin, KY in Mercer county and Harrodsburg, KY also in Mercer county. Next up is Mackville, KY which is about 5.8 miles from where I am on the map. I've gone a total of 817.2 miles since I started back in April of 2008. Slow going, but great motivation still. Here are the pictures!

Mile 810 (elliptical for 1.1 miles)

Mile 812.4 (Leslie Sansone for 2.4 miles)

Mile 814.8 (Leslie Sansone for 2.4 miles)

Mile 817.2 (Leslie Sansone for 2.3 miles)

(photo credit - Virtual Walk site)

Keep Moving!!

Mileage Monday - Back To Strength

My efforts to make friends with my hand weights again is going well. Last week I managed only one day, but that's OK. I want to take it slow. This week my plan is two days. I already did my strength routine for today, and I'll do it again on Thursday. Then next week I may try for three days. We'll see.

I do find myself enjoying my strength training workouts more since I've cut out the ab routine. I had such a long ab routine (20 minutes just for ab work), that I found myself really dreading strength training days. For now I don't plan on adding any ab work back into my routine. I may pick and choose a few moves to add back in further down the line.

I'm doing OK with my cardio workouts. I have to say it again, if I don't get my workouts in early in the morning they tend not to happen. I had a few days like that last week, and I regretted not getting those workouts in. So far so good this week.

Since my last Mileage Monday post, I've passed through Burgin, KY in Mercer county, and I have about 1 mile to go until I reach Harrodsburg, KY in Mercer county. It's actually 1.1 mile I have left to go. I plan on doing the elliptical tomorrow, and I typically just do 1 mile on the elliptical. I may have to push another tenth of a mile to get to the next town. I've been thinking about increasing my mileage on the elliptical for a while, so this might be a good excuse to do that.

Here are the pictures I have from the virtual walk site for the last week.

Mile 805.6 (Leslie for 2.4 miles)

Mile 806.6 (Elliptical for 1 mile)

Mile 809 (Leslie for 2.4 miles)

(photo credit - Virtual Walk site)

Make it a great week, and Keep Moving!