Feeling overwhelmed? Life feel somewhat out of control? Feel that no matter what you are doing you simply can't keep up? 
The other day I was listening to a podcast and the person being interviewed mentioned that each year they had a "quit list" of all the things they were going to quit that weren't really enjoyable or adding value to their life. This is genius I thought.  As an overcommitted, perfectionist, workaholic this sounded like an amazing idea. So I started my own quit list. What in the world does this have to do with yoga you ask? Well everything. What is yoga? Yoga is the "yoking" of the mind and body. You see the body can do nothing without the mind. The practice of asana or postures is one limb of eight that is involved in changing patterns, or habits. In the yoga world often known as "samskaras" or mental and emotional patterns or one might even say neural pathways. 

Our subconscious mind is controlling much of our life, meaning we do many things without really thinking it through. In order to change this some tools are to  visualize the process or outcome,  focus on whats important,  meditate, we practice discipline, all of this is yoga. For more info look into the eight limbs of yoga. 

Here is my quit list and it was not as easy as one might think. I am also including my "what to focus on list"  when I quit the other craziness.

Courtney's Q​uit List

1. Quit focusing on creating a side hustle (website, blog, vlog, more ebooks)  when we have three jobs that are bringing in plenty of money. When and if I do these it will be simply for fun. I instead will focus on the three business we run that are making money, increase those profits by managing the books, marketing, and calendar. Optimize what is working and running. 

2. Quit worrying about finishing another book or having a goal for a book until I retire and I'll revisit. I have three books in the works. One is in editing so I will finish it and get it published. Then the other two if I have the free time I may upload those as an ebook but it will no longer be a priority. Only after everything else is done will I focus on this, if I want to.

3. Quit saying "yes" to projects that wear me out, take my time and don't produce income. I have gotten a lot of media attention this year and it has not brought me one bit of money except book sales. At $3 average on a book (about $700 a year) that is less than a week of work.  I will instead focus on things that make me feel good about sharing or helping others. If it helps someone or can possibly result in more money I "may" do it. 

4. Quit trying to learn new ways to sell stuff. Use what I have, Facebook Market place, Instagram, Craigslist and good old fashioned yard sale type stuff. Let go of making money online with anything else than what I am already doing. Let go of the darn "shoulds"! 

Before taking on anything else these things should be optimized in my life. 
WHATS IMPORTANT LIST

1. Doing my best at my current job. Showing up, doing a good job that is most important, everything else is not necessary. I have already proven myself. 

2. Manage the income we have better. Follow a budget, handle the taxes, handle the investments and tax deferred retirement accounts and health savings, optimize what is coming in by saving, cutting spending, and investing wisely. 

3. Manage the household. Take time to organize our life in regards to food, finances, organization of space, cleanliness, maintaining order and operations, autos and animals. 

4. Manage my own self care. Eating healthy, exercise, being in nature, time off, reading, watching movies, travel, flea markets, yoga and meditations and generally having down time. 

5. Finish what I have committed to and look at this list and make sure these things are going well and I have time for them before taking on anything new. 


There you have it. Basically it's focusing on "What's important and letting go of everything that is not". I need structure to do this. I need list to bring me back to ground. As a creative if I don't have structure I get willy nilly in my ideas and before long my day dreams are taking on a new reality that has created a ton of self imposed work. This keeps me from really enjoying life. 

What are you going to quit to focus on what is important? Share with me if you like. 

Love,
​C

 Routines can be hard to establish but once you have them in place they become part of your everyday life. I'm a busy working mother, wife, and friend.  If I tried to stick to an hour a day routine at a gym everyday it simply wouldn't work for my lifestyle and I am quite sure I would fail.  At different times in my life going to the gym for an hour a day may have worked and off and on for many years I did this. I myself worked in the gym setting for many years as a teacher and administrator. Now I live in the middle of nowhere, all but one of my kids has grown and moved on, and life is very different. Finding "Minimalist Fitness" has been such a great find in my life and I am in good shape because of it. What is it you ask. It's setting a routine that works for you that takes very little time. It's also flexible. And for me personally it cost nothing. 
Here is how it works for me. 

1. I work out 5 to 6 days a week for a minimum of 20 minutes at home with You Tube.
2. I commit to two strength training workouts per week of 13 to 20 minutes, with You Tube. I love HASfit.
3. I commit to two to three days a week of cardio, which is often walking on my treadmill. If it's nice out I go outside and usually do two miles. If I am on the treadmill I often end up going at least 30 minutes because I love to listen to podcast. 
4. I do not allow myself more than 2 days without exercise. This means when I don't exercise if 2 days go by I make myself do something stat! This is called the 2 day rule and it is invaluable.
5. I try to go to a yoga class once a week but more often make it twice a month due to time and distance. 
6. I don't get militant. Moving is my priority,  something over nothing. 

What my workouts look like. Here is what the past week looked like. 

• Monday I did 30 minutes on the treadmill.
• Tuesday I did a 13 minute ab routine, 5 minutes of yoga and 5 minutes of mediation.
• Wednesday I did nothing.
• Thursday 20 minutes of low impact combined strength training and cardio routine, 5.30 minutes of yoga, and 5 minutes of meditation.
• Friday I did nothing.
• Saturday I did 20 minutes of strength training. 5 minute meditation.
• Sunday I did 30 minutes of cardio.
• The Monday before I did one hour of yoga at the studio, included about 15 minutes of meditation.

 
This adds up to 3 hours 3.5 minutes of activity and  35 minutes of meditation (outside of my job which I don't count). 
There where two days I did nothing. Notice on some days I did as little as 20 minutes. The most I did was an hour and that was a class. 

I've gotten in really good shape, lost a bit of weight (15lbs) and I've been at this for a year. I was doing much more previously and not losing weight. I combine this will a paleo, low carb diet and have one or two cheat meals per week (which are still fairly healthy, maybe three small pieces of gluten free pizza). 

Do what you can. Something is always better than nothing. 
Minimalist fitness usually is defined as about 15 to 20 minutes a day, most days of the week, with a day or so off here and there. That's not to hard! 

​