Random thoughts

Thank You!

November 27, 2014 by Camilla

As I’m sitting here reflecting on where I was last Thanksgiving week I’m in awe of what has happened in a year. My blogs have grown and taken shape, I published a book, I started sharing my photography, I started coaching and I’ve made incredible friendships among a long list of other things.

But first and foremost – none of this would be possible without you! I am so incredibly thankful and blessed for the amazing support and encouragement you show me by reading, commenting and sharing my words. Anyone that has ever started a blog knows the time and effort that goes into it. My goal every time I hit that publish button is that my words help someone, encourage someone, inspire someone.

A year ago, as I was out on a road trip to Death Valley National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park I had the chance to reflect on life as a good friend of mine had her life changed by losing her husband to the evil thing called cancer.

I always try to remember that life can be short and that we should live now instead of waiting for ‘some day.’ It’s not always easy. Life gets busy, we forget to seize the day, we worry about things, things that if we were to be given a certain amount of days to live we wouldn’t worry about.

It’s a balancing act for sure. One that I know you struggle with too. Live as if you were to die tomorrow but plan as if you were to live until you’re 99.

Coming back from my trip I wrote a post “Live your life with a sense of urgency.” (I had to resist the urge to go in and edit the chunks of text…but if we keep trying to edit our past then how are we going to reflect back to see how far we’ve come?)

The post is a good reminder to not let life slip through your fingers too fast. Today, no matter where you are, reach out to one person and tell them how much you appreciate her or him. It can be a family member, it can be the cashier at the grocery store. You never know how much the words Thank You can mean to that person.

Thank You for reading my blog, supporting my dream and being a part of my life. I’m truly blessed.

Why We Can When We Have No Choice

August 11, 2014 by Camilla

The other night as I was taking out my contacts trying not to attract mosquito’s by turning the light on (I had the window open with no screen) I struggled. I ended up having to turn the light on in order to see what I was doing.

Suddenly it occurred to me that when I go camping I never need a light in order to take my contacts out. I can easily do it in the dark as long as my eyes are adjusted to the dark.

At first I was quite puzzled. Then it dawned on me. Knowing that I could turn the light on interfered with my otherwise automatic process and suddenly I couldn’t take my contacts out without turning the light on, even when I really tried. Quite silly, right?

That scenario can be applied to a lot of things in life. Think about it.

You’re hungry and open the fridge. There’s plenty of food in there but nothing really jumps out at you. You look in your wallet, it’s empty and you have a week until pay day. Your bank account is equally empty. You go back to the fridge and figure out how to make meals out of what you have and you do. In matter of fact, you discover a new favorite dish that you never thought of putting together before.

Now replicate that scenario with access to money in your wallet. You know that you shouldn’t spend more on food until pay day but this is an emergency. No matter how many times you look in the fridge there’s absolutely no food in there!!! At least none that can be put together into anything eatable. You head to the grocery store but on the way you realize you are tired and well, it’s late and you should do some relaxing too and not spend the rest of the day slaving in the kitchen. The Mexican place that has your favorite burrito is open. You tell yourself it’s inexpensive food and you might even get leftovers.

Sound familiar? Because you have an option your brain interferes with your creative meal planning skills.

Now let’s take a look at some of those other mysteries in life.

Why is it that we get so much done right before we go on vacation?
Why is it that the house, closets and garage have never looked as great as they do right before we sell or move? It’s not as if all those projects suddenly appears, right? Most of them have been on a to-do list for months, sometime even years!
Remember those dreadful term papers we had to do in school? We managed to turn them in on time even if we stared at a blank page the night before.

When we don’t have another choice available our brain shifts into a creative and productive mood.

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How can we replicate that when we are not forced to? Here are a few ideas:

1. Set a deadline. The Parkinson’s Law states that a task expands into the time it’s allotted. If we don’t have a deadline the task expands into the time you give it and if you don’t give it a deadline it expands into indefinitely. Set a hard deadline. Get an accountability partner you have to pay if you don’t get things done in time.

2. Make it a challenge. Tap into that ‘going on vacation’ ‘selling the house/moving’ mentality for a project you really want to get done. Challenge yourself to beat your budget by coming out on the plus side and use that money to reward yourself. Have a friend with a similar to-do list? Create a friendly competition. Whoever finish last buys lunch.

3. Remove the option that you keep defaulting to. Can’t stay away from Facebook? Delete the app off your phone and install a social media blocker on your computer. Ask someone to hide the TV-remote. Cut up your credit card. Don’t even enter the candy isle. Move the alarm clock away from your bed stand and immediately make the bed so you don’t get tempted to get back in.

4. Create a reward system (get an accountability partner if needed so that you don’t cheat) for every task you struggle with. Once a task is finished you get the reward. This works great for those that are motivated by external rewards.

Our brain is just like any other muscle in our body. We have to train it in order to do what we ask. By replicating “no option” scenarios we can train our brain so that we reduce the interference with our “can do” process.

I realized as I was writing this that after I decided that Monday mornings would be a good day for new blog posts, instead of sometime during the week whenever I felt like writing, I’ve been able to consistently post on time. I’ve tricked my brain into not having an option. Although at times I wonder if I should change to another weekday (as I’m sitting here on a Sunday night finishing up this post!).

Do you have any tricks you use in order to tap into that creative and productive ‘get things done’ phase? Please share in the comments.

When Failure Gives You a Reality Check

April 14, 2014 by Camilla

Lately I’ve been posting early on Monday’s trying to get into a consistent schedule. So before my planned camping trip over the weekend I had a post ready for first thing this morning. So why was there no post this morning?

During the weekend I thought to myself that I often have this cheer-leading attitude in my posts and can make it sound so easy to ‘just get off the wheel and work on your dream.’ Truth is it is simple but it’s also not so simple. It’s a process and often a bumpy one.

For the last few months I’ve been on a strict weekly schedule that has done wonders in terms of productivity for my take-life-as-it-comes kind of personality. Last week I managed to mark off all the things on the schedule. I had a super productive week, got lots done including editing my upcoming book. I felt awesome! Look out world because I’m this super productive ninja and nothing can stop me now.

I felt completely prepared and ready to go play the entire weekend. After all, the plan was to be back on my schedule first thing today.

Well, that all got shattered this morning. I got home late last night, woke up hours later than normal and I was exhausted! My Monday 5 a.m. – 7 a.m. slot said: “Get post up.” Tired and already running hours behind I thought, “Eh, I’ll get the post up tonight” and just move things around on my schedule. No biggie.

Until the feeling of failure hit me for not sticking to my schedule and being productive. I should have forced myself to get up I thought. Got to stick to that schedule! Don’t start slacking now!

Then I realized that I was tired and it was okay. That just because I’m having an off-day doesn’t mean my entire week will be unproductive. It was a good reality check.

So why am I sharing this instead of the originally planned post? Because we all need a reminder that our dream may sound so simple on paper but in reality there are obstacles, off days and so many things that will make you want to say “screw it” on those days when you feel as if you failed what you originally set out to do.

Don’t beat yourself up when you have a non-productive day. I have to remind myself of this and I’m sure you do too. Write it off and forget about it. Tomorrow is a new day. You live, you learn and you do better next time. Next time I go camping for the weekend my Monday morning schedule will be blocked out with the words “Recover from the weekend! It’s okay!”

I love this quote by Richard Branson. “Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.”

What are some things you go through when you feel like you didn’t achieve what you set out to do?

Can DNA influence you as you’re writing your life story?

February 23, 2014 by Camilla

I’ve always been different, doing my own thing, going against the flow, challenged the status quo. That all comes natural to me. I also grew up in a household that pushed me to be different. I’m lucky I didn’t have to rebel against my parents and that they encouraged me to question the status quo.

How much easier is it for me to try to live my life the way I want to compared to someone that has a more compliant DNA or that like me has a more rebellious DNA but deal with resistance due to family, society, religion or other external factors?

How much does your DNA influence you as you are trying to write your life story? And how much does the DNA of the people you surround yourself with influence you?

I wish I had all the answers but I don’t so I decided to start looking for them as this is a subject that really interest me. Joe Abraham wrote a book called Entrepreneurial DNA: The Breakthrough Discovery that Aligns Your Business to Your Unique Strengths and offers a free test called B.O.S.I. that stands for Builder, Opportunist, Specialist and Innovator. His TED talk video explains how our DNA influence how we act in business and how the mix of employees or business partners based on what their B.O.S.I. letters are impacts the business.

Another truly interesting book that I’ve come across is Tamara Lowe’s Get Motivated!: Overcome Any Obstacle, Achieve Any Goal, and Accelerate Your Success with Motivational DNA where she talks about how our DNA influence us how we are motivated and that we have different motivational traits, i.e. what motivates someone may demotivate someone else, and if we don’t know what works and what doesn’t it’s hard for us to get motivated and motivate others. She has a great free test as well on her website. Her book and test are applicable to everything in life and her background is quite remarkable.

I highly recommend you take both tests, check out the books and start thinking about how your genetics is influencing you today and how it influences you as you’re writing or rewriting your story, pursuing your dreams and passions. I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject.

How do you feel your DNA and upbringing influence you today as you’re working on writing or rewriting your story?

*There are affiliate links in this post.

Goodbye Starbucks. Hello Dream.

February 13, 2014 by Camilla

Dear Starbucks,

it’s been great but I need to break up with you. It’s not you. Well, maybe it is. In matter of fact, it’s all you.

You are simply not good for me. You cost me way too much money. You entice me with marketing deals that I as a marketing person should know to say no to but I can’t. You have me addicted. You entice me with things like gingerbread lattes at Christmas time. Now you even have gingerbread whip cream. Then, just as I’m about to break up with you there’s half off after 3 pm. Then again, just as I’m gaining strength to break up with you the star dash arrives and you appeal to my competitive side to get 10 extra stars if I buy 6 latte’s. You know my weaknesses and you take advantage of them. Each and every single time.

You’re not good for me. You’re slowly poisoning my body with non-organic beans, non-organic milk, corn syrup and artificial flavors in your lovely sweet syrups that delight my senses and make me believe happiness lays in a cup of frothed milk with espresso. I stay away from all that when it comes to food but when it comes to you my common sense goes out the window as soon as my lips hit that first sip. You have me hooked, making me want more. I don’t know what secret ingredient you use but you have me figured out.

My life was perfectly fine before you came into my life. In matter of fact, it was great. Breaking up with you is hard. I like you. A lot. I’m not sure I can never, ever see you again. But I have to stay strong and stay away from you. I’d love to get back to that flirt status again. That made me feel extra special but you did not control my life. Instead you put a smile on my face for that day but then I wouldn’t see you for a long time and you would just stay like a fun illusion of what could be. Because I’ve learned that once I let you in, then you take over and control my life. So I’m sorry, but I have to break up with you. I’ll be thinking of you but I won’t see you for a while.

With love,
a slightly addicted Starbucks customer that is now going to go cry

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Now, I’m not that addicted to Starbucks but just enough that well, I am. It’s money that I can use towards my dream instead. It’s not hard to spend a $1,000 on latte’s in a year. In matter of fact, it’s quite easy. Especially since it’s only about 4 dollars each time that leaves the wallet. I’m going to miss my latte’s. But my dream means more to me and latte’s are stealing from that. I survived perfectly fine when I didn’t have a daily latte. I will survive just fine this time around too and in a year I will have an extra 1000 dollars that went towards my dream instead of to a cup of frothed milk with espresso.

Tell me. What are you willing to give up for your dream?