Unstoppable Grad

I'm sorry! I know I've been MIA, particularly with my recipes lately! I'm going to focus a lot on remedying that! In fact, I have a new idea to give MOTW a face-lift!

Money is something that I know is a point of distress for a lot of graduate students, am I right? So, when I find a really great recipe or combination of recipes for the week that fall on or below my $50 a week shopping budget, you'll be the first to know!

So, this week I'm kicking off my budget MOTW with two great recipes!!

Now before I get to the recipes, I want to tell you about my shopping process. I have some go-to meals and snacks. In fact, the only thing that I really switch up during the week is my dinners!

Breakfast: Shakeology

AM Snack: Fruit (usually banana or an apple), sometimes I have greek yogurt too

Lunch: Kale salad with protein (hard boiled egg or chicken)

PM Snack: Veggies (Celery or Cucumbers) + Hummus

Dinner: Varies

**Optional after dinner snack: Greek yogurt**

So before I go to the store, I take stock of what I have.

For breakfast, do I have almond milk and coffee and tea to mix with my Shakeology?

For my snacks, do I have fruit? Do I have veggies and hummus?

For lunch, do I have my kale? Do I some sort of protein to mix in? Do I have oil and balsamic vinegar for my dress?

And for dinner, I pick out my recipes and build my grocery list around what I don't have for that recipe.

Then, it's off to the store! Today, what I got at the grocery store was this!

Kale (2 bunches)
Celery (1 bunch)
Hummus (1 container Kroger private selections)
1 lb lean ground turkey (93% lean)
Frozen mixed veggies (for both recipes) - 3 different kinds (peppers and onions; vegetable soup mix; mirepoix mix)
28 oz crushed tomatoes, canned
2 more zucchini (i already had one)
15 oz fat free cottage cheese (slightly cheaper than ricotta)
24 oz of skim mozzarella cheese
1 lb of salmon chunks with skin (cheaper than salmon filets)
Curry powder (recipe called for green curry paste, but I couldn't find it in the grocery store)
1 gallon of Silk coconut milk
1 box of minute brown rice

After all was said and done (and rung up) - my groceries totaled $38.06 after Kroger Club savings! That's less than $40 for a weeks worth of groceries!

Now to the recipes!

Firstly, a recipe from my good friend Rachel's new cookbook, 30 Quick, Easy Meals which can be found on Amazon in both a hard copy and a kindle edition pdf! It's a GREAT cookbook, especially for people who are on a budget AND are short on time! So, today, from that cookbook I will be cooking Curried Salmon over Rice!

What you need:

Salmon
Frozen veggies
Curry powder (or curry paste if you can find it)
At least 14 oz of coconut milk
Brown rice

Basically, these recipe was so delicious and so easy to make! I was surprised! I've never made curry anything before. In fact, I've never even eaten curry before. But everything in this just sounded so great. Basically, here's the gist...

The recipe called for a salmon fillet, but as I mentioned above, buying the salmon chunks was cheaper! I sauteed these skin-side down for about a minute. They should still be pretty raw.
Take the skin off of the salmon pieces and break them into bite-sized chunks
Mix your salmon and frozen veggies (I used mainly the the peppers & onions and the mirepoix mix) with curry powder.
Add coconut milk and let simmer until the sauce thickens.
Cook the rice while curry is simmering.
When it's the thickness you want, you're done! Ladle some curry mix over your rice and you're good to go!

This recipe was delicious! And it's just a teaser of all the delicious, quick recipes that are found in Rachel's cookbook! I HIGHLY suggest you check it out here!

Secondly, we've got a recipe that has become a favorite in my challenge groups--ZUCCHINI LASAGNA! For my fellow Italian peeps, this is a GREAT way for you to get your pasta fix without all the carbs associated with pasta dishes! This is a recipe that I adapted from Skinny Taste's Zucchini Lasagna Recipe.

Now, fair-warning, this recipe is a bit labor intensive. But, I'm telling you, the taste is SO worth it!

What you need:

Ground turkey
Frozen veggies (or fresh) *optional for meat sauce*
Herbs and seasonings for sauce *optional*
Crushed tomatoes (28 oz)
3-4 Zucchini
Salt (for zucchini preparation)
15 oz cottage cheese or ricotta
Parmesan cheese
Mozzarella cheese (for sprinkling between layers and on top)

Firstly, I tackled the sauce! This is a great thing to start with because it's going to simmer while you prep the other components.

Basically, the great thing about meat sauces is that you can put whatever you want in it! Meat sauces are super flexible like that! You want beef? Great. Peppers? Great. Hate peppers and want tons of garlic and onions? Awesome. Corn? That's great too!

Start by sauteing the ground turkey until there's no more pink. I ladled out the majority of the fat, but left a little bit in there for sauteing the rest of the veggies.

Then mix in your frozen veggies. Whichever ones you'd like! I stuck with the pepper & onion mix, as well as the mirepoix mix that I used in the last recipe. I then added the crushed tomatoes, basil and italian seasoning to taste, as well as a bit of sugar to bring out the natural sweetness of the tomatoes. Let simmer for at least 20 minutes so all the flavors meld together.

Now onto the zucchini...

Prepping the zucchini is by far the most labor intensive part of this process. You're probably think, why the heck would that be? Don't you just need to slice into strips and go?

Well, actually, no. Zucchini are very watery veggies. And, what we need to do is dry them out as much as possible or else you're lasagna is going to be more like soup than lasagna.

So, after you've sliced everything into strips (and they don't have to be perfect...as you can tell mine aren't)...salt them! Salt will help bring out the juices, which you can then dab off. Salt them and let them sit for at least 10 minutes. Blot off any excess water.

Then, grill them, again blotting off the excess water after they've been grilled.

While you're zucchini are grilling - make your cottage cheese mixture by combining the 15oz of cottage cheese with your parmesan cheese. Set aside for assembly...

Now, you can assemble your lasagna! During this time, I also preheated my oven to 375F.

Basically, this part is super easy! Kind of messy, but definitely easy!

Start with your meat sauce on the bottom of the pan.

Layer zucchini on top of that.

Then your cottage cheese mixture.

Sprinkle with some of your mozzarella cheese.

Then layer some more zucchini.

Repeat this process until you run out of ingredients, and then top with mozzarella cheese!

I don't really think that pan size matters for the lasagna. Basically, if you want really thick lasagna, use a smaller pan. And a larger pan if you want your lasagna to have less layers.

After you've assembled your lasagna...bake covered for 45 minutes. Do not forget to cover! I totally did at first and it will save you some mess if you remember to cover your lasagna now!

After the 45 minutes have elapsed, uncover your lasagna and continue baking for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown on top.

After baking, if you have the patience to wait and not dig in immediately, let your lasagna rest for 10 minutes. It will hold its shape better when you cut into it.

While I was waiting for my lasagna too cook, I tackled some other miscellaneous meal prepping tasks. This is a great time for that!

So, what did I do?

Ripped up kale for my kale salads

Chopped celery for my afternoon veggies and hummus

Hard boiled eggs for my lunch salad protein

Cooked and diced up a chicken breast for salad protein.

All my meals are essentially ready to be eaten! All I have to do is some assembly! Super easy!

And now, I'm done for the day! I'm sitting on my couch watching Harry Potter...haha.

Happy Meal Prep Sunday!

I was reading some Tony Robbins again last night, and I realized that I struggle to know what my values are. I could come up with values, but are they mine? Do they really fit my life? And as I was reading, I realized how many good points Tony Robbins makes. For example, think about this...

Do your values define who you are or do you define your values?

He makes this very interesting point in the pages of his book. And it lead me to think about the values that define my life, and if they were even remotely in line with the life I wanted to be living. So I started writing to answer this question:

What is most important to me in life? What defines me? What drives me? What makes me feel good? What motivates me? Those were all things that ran through my mind as I wrote. And I came up with this list in no particular order:

Growth
Contribution/Impact
Recognition/Praise
Happiness/Fun
Passion
Health
Integrity
Love
Freedom
Achievement/Productivity

These certainly don't seem bad overall right? So I started asking myself this:

How does each of these things benefit my life?
Do these values COST me anything?
What of these things that define my life should I get rid of?

Some of these are obvious. I should not value Recognition or Praise. That was a hard one for me to write down, but I know that I do value that. It's a problem. And it's one that I'd like to get rid of.

What about passion? Passion can't be a bad thing, right? Well it can, IF it causes you to ignore other aspects of your life like your health, or your family, or it results in you compromising your integrity.

Then as I continued reading in Tony Robbins' book, he made a very good point.

"We are not our values. We are much more than our values."

This may not make sense. Our values define us, you might be saying. But your values really are things that have been conditioned in you from years of reference and experience. So instead of asking yourself what your values are, ask what you want them to be!

Robbins then asks:

What do my values need to be in order to create my ultimate destiny?

Or as I like to think of it, how do I need to order my values to live my best life?

This may seem strange but I don't know what my destiny is anymore. I'm being drawn down to very different paths, which at times rip me straight down the middle and pull me in very different directions. So, while I figure out my path, I simply want to live my best life.

So I brainstormed some more and as a result generated this, new list of my values to life my best life:

And in the process of generating these values, I wrote out WHY each one is something of value to the life I want to build:

I want to make my mark on the world. I can’t exactly say with certainty how at this point. But, I know that to do anything remotely close to that, I need to have the energy to do so. Therefore, health comes first. Also, I think that no matter what field I enter into, excellence won’t be achieved unless I’m always seeking to improve myself. Therefore, growth comes next. I love the quote “Happiness only real when shared.” Therefore, I need to make relationships a bigger cornerstone of my life. Also, if I’m going to make Beachbody a priority in my life, connecting with people will be important. So, therefore, all of this to me encapsulates the same foundational value of love, compassion, and warmth in my personal relationships and interactions. One of the biggest things I want to be in life is a person with integrity, who has and executes high moral standards and is never a hypocrite. A person who does what they say they’ll do. So integrity is next on my list. Gratefulness is another thing that is a weakness of mine. I think if you’re grateful than it transcends into other aspects of your life, and therefore you’re happier, fuller, more passionate, etc. Also, nothing in life can never be achieved without passion! Passion motivates, and if I’m going to achieve in my life I need to have that! This is an easy one! If you aren’t having happiness and fun in your life, than what is the point of living!?! Everything you achieve in life should be done happily, not to make you happy! As stated before, I want to make my mark on this world. That’s the only thing I’m certain of. So, I value contribution/impact because I hope to contribute and impact this world. This value falls down to 6^th purely because I think that these other things will be important to my being able to have an impact. If I don’t have health, I don’t have the energy to do this. If I don’t have love and compassion, people won’t want be to help them anyway. Same thing with integrity. And if I don’t have passion, I won’t have the drive to contribute. Additionally, I decided to “lump” achievement into that because if I make a contribution and I have impact, than in my mind that is achievement! These are merely values of mine because I feel like they’re weaknesses that hold me back particularly in my interpersonal skills. Thus, cheerfulness and openness are values of mine to because I want to be a person that people feel like they can come to no matter what!I may have stolen this one from Tony Robbins a little but he has a point. Some people have intelligence and fail to use it. I am an intelligent person, but I need to make sure I am being intelligent, and thus bettering my life.

I feel like I'm pursuing a lot of things in life right now. But I don't think you can truly pursue things with passion and dynamic intensity until you know your values.

So, ask yourself, what are your values? And if you don't know, go through some of these exercises and you'll maybe find that things that you place value on in life don't quite match up with the life you want to live! Spend some time redefining your values so they match your goal life! Remind yourself every day what these things are, and go after your life with gusto! :-)

Until next time,

I started this last hour pissed off at myself. Why? Because I feel like I try so hard with no results sometimes. I wanted to so badly to be my coach's first Emerald coach on her team. I almost went Emerald last night but the coach I'm working on recruiting didn't sign up and two other coaches beat me to it. And I was angry. At first my anger was misplaced, directed at my coach for pitting all of her coaches against each other. But I realized that that's not true. That's not what she did at all. In my disappointment at not advancing yesterday, I sought someone else to blame. Okay, so now I must blame myself right?

Wrong.

But I failed, right? So I'm to blame...

Wrong. Wrong. WRONG.

Why does their have to be anyone to blame? I tried. I made the effort and things didn't work out. It's a bump in the road. A stumbling block. And I found myself seeking motivation...and I instantly knew where I would go. To my favorite youtube motivational video account by Mateusz M.

"Why do we fall?"

So why do we fall?

So we can get back up. Or as Rocky Balboa said throughout that video...

"But it ain't about how hard you're hit. It is about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much can you take and keep moving forward."

Maybe to some people that doesn't seem like a hit. But my coach has so much faith in me, and I felt like I kept letting her down. I kept not taking that next step when she thought I could. I kept not putting the effort in when I should have and I was upset with myself. I still am.

But you know what...I'm going to keep moving forward.

Shortly after realizing that I "failed" I wrote this on a sticky note:

"I may not have been the first Emerald, but damn it, I'll be the first DIAMOND..."

To new goals.

To new commitments.

To determination.

To moving forward.

Okay so in the maybe 4 hours since I posted this picture on instagram, I had about four different people ask me for the recipe! So I figured this merited a a blog post!

I LOVE protein pancakes! I've toyed around with a number of recipes and this is my favorite so far! I modified this recipe from one I found on pinterest from Lexi's Clean Kitchen! I didn't have a lot of her ingredients and I wanted to make it accesible for someone who didn't have a lot of organic ingredients or typical "health" food staples.

So here's my version:

Chocolate Pumpkin Protein Pancakes

-1/3 cup pumpkin puree (original recipe called for homemade but I just used canned pumpkin from the store)

2 tbsp whole-wheat flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1.4 tsp pumpkin spice (if you have it--otherwise I used a few extra shakes of cinnamon, 1 dash of ginger, a big shake of nutmeg because I love nutmeg, and a shake of all spice)

1 heaping scoop of chocolate Shakeology (the original recipe called for vanilla protein powder, but I only had chocolate so I added that instead)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 tbsp honey

My batter turned out REALLY thick actually, so I would suggest thinning it maybe with a little bit of almond milk. It should spread easily into a circle, when you pour it into the pan (you know--you've made pancakes before).

I usually put about 1/4-1/3 cup of batter into the pan and then top it with chocolate chips! For these I used Nestles dark chocolate chips and put about 8 chocolate chips on top of each pancake!

I'll refine this recipe as I make it more, but I wanted to share now because it's JUST THAT GOOD!!!

Enjoy! :-)

I went to a wedding this last weekend with the "it's complicated" guy I'm dating. He's pretty much my boyfriend, but that's kind of a story for another time! Anyway, I figured that I wanted to try to drop a couple extra pounds beforehand. So, why not give 3 day refresh a try?

I'd heard of such great results from 3 day refresh and wanted to see for myself! So, I purchased and was SO excited when my kit arrived in the mail.

Now, disclaimer--It said on the direction to not workout too hard during this program. I was running a 21 day fix challenge group during this 3 day refresh and felt obligated to my girls in the group to get the workouts in. That decision might end up biting me in the ass, but hopefully it won't. The directions did say that you could PROBABLY do a heavier workout during the fix. My plan was to modify the 21 day fix workouts by using lighter weights and cutting out some of the more demanding workouts. We'll see if that helps me in not overdoing it.

Start Weight: 150lb

Starting Measurements:

Waist: 33"

Hips: 36.5"

Arms: 11.5"

Legs (with inner thigh pooch): 23.5"

Day 1

Workout: Total Body Cardio Fix with lighter weights

Water Consumption: 132oz

Review:

I had some hunger pangs at the end of the day. By no means was I starving but I was craving. I will admit that I cheated a little bit in the evening and had about a tablespoon of peanut butter, which I now regret. I realized that having my evening tea with some Stevia satisfied my sweet tooth just fine. Lesson learned. I won't slip up tomorrow. I did however get a really bad headache in the evening. I did some reading and found that that is normal! Phew...and I also found that I was really tired and ultimately went to bed a bit earlier than I normally do because of it.

Day 2

Workout: Upper Fix, lightened up my weights and cut out a couple of the more difficult exercises

Water Consumption: 135oz

Review:

Morning of Day 3 and had the most ab definition I've ever seen!

I won't lie that I started off this morning a little grumpy at my results. I saw on everyone else's results that they lost 3 or so pounds in the first day. I gained a pound. How is that possible???? I threw this out to my awesomely supportive and informative team of coach on Team Fit Foundation/Team Total Balance and they had a lot of great ideas! One especially point out that they didn't have a bowel movement (overshare but necessary to consider) the first day or 2, which affected their weight loss! Point taken! I realized the fiber in this diet would likely absorb a lot of water and therefore increase my water weight for a day or two! Other than this little hiccup in the morning, I felt great! I was surprisingly energized considering how few calories I'd taken in and found that I really wasn't feeling hungry at all until right before I went to bed. No raging headaches today either!

Day 3

Workout: Lower fix, with slightly lighter weights than usual

Water Consumption: 128oz

Review:

Okay, I'm feeling a lot better about this this morning! Especially because I have another reason why I might be putting on some water weight! Apparently I chose the wrong "time of the month (TOM)" to be doing this! Lol! Overshare, maybe? Oh freaking well my friends! Middle school boys learn about this stuff in health class so I've given up caring! Anyways, I weighed myself this morning and am down 2.5 lbs since yesterday! That's 1.5 pounds from the start of the 3 day refresh! Not a huge difference in weight, but I actually could see my abs popping out a little bit this morning! Woohoo! I think that the 3 day refresh is cutting down on bloat and really resulting in some ab definition which is awesome! I actually posted this pic to the right on instagram because it's the first time that I'm really starting to see Ab definition! Yay!!

Side note -- I am loving this tea thing! I like tea but I'd never though about bringing tea bags to work to have in the morning! I'm obsessed now! It warms me up on the inside as we make this transition to cooler Fall weather! Plus, it feels like it alleviates my TOM symptoms! Yay!

End Weight: 148lb

End Measurements:

Waist: 31.5"

Hips: 36.5"

Arms: 10.5"

Legs (with inner thigh pooch): 23"

FINAL RESULTS...
Weight Loss: 2 pounds!
Inches lost: 3"

Overall...

Ease of use/Enjoyment: The 3 day refresh truly was very easy to follow! There really is nothing confusing or complicated about it! The only thing that made it less easy to use for me was the fact that I can't really have a blender at work! I work in a lab and for me to keep a blender at my desk or to have one anywhere in a shared space is quite unrealistic! So I had to settle for shaking my shakes! Now this wasn't an issue for the Vanilla Refresh shake which really was good! But for the fiber sweep, this was tough to do! The Fiber sweep is gross, frankly! It's gritty and with the exception of the subtle citrusy taste, it's not particularly appetizing. You just kind of need to shake it up and CHUG! But every other part of the program was really very easy to follow. This may have been easier to for because I was coming off of doing the 21 day fix! So if you've never done anything like this before and you don't usually eat so many veggies day to day, this may be a lot harder for you!

Cravings: Probably the part that I struggled with the most was the cravings particularly at the end of my day! There isn't much structured into your day in the evenings, and this was really hard for me because I spread out my 21 day fix meals so that I can have a snack in the evening! Usually, this is something along the lines of some greek yogurt as "dessert". So it was really hard for me to just go to tea in the evening! On the first day, I had a massive head ache at the end of the day. The more I read the more I learned that this was normal because you're completely changing what and how much you're taking in! I had a snack and a cup of hot tea and this subsided for the most part!

Things to consider: Your body will react different to this cleanse then most, especially depending upon the kind of lifestyle you maintain! If you're not used to eating restricted amounts, and are particularly not used to this amount of veggies in your diet, you might lose TONS of weight on the 3 day refresh. I didn't! I didn't lose a lot of weight, probably because for me I'm really getting to the point where those last 10 lbs will be REALLY hard to take off. But also because other than more restriction on my diet, the things I was eating on the 3 day refresh weren't DRASTICALLY different than my day to day! Also, another thing to consider--bowel movement! I talked about this above...and I know it still seems like TMI, but I didn't lose a lot of weight, and actually put on weight the first day. But then I realized that I actual hadn't had a bowel movement until 1.5 days into the program! Even though I was drinking a ton of water, my body was still storing it up because of all the fiber (and probably the fact that I started my TOM while on the 3 day refresh). So, you need to consider your body, your normal lifestyle, etc. before you compare your results to other!

Results: I enjoyed the 3 day refresh! It taught me that I really am a lot more bloated than I ever realized! The weight loss wasn't significant, but the loss in inches was! I realized after day 2 that I can't compare my results to other peoples because I'm a different person! My body has different needs and different composition! If I don't lose a ton of weight on this, that's fine! It still made me feel good! I felt cleansed, I felt lean, less bloated, etc. You need to celebrate those small victories even if you don't see big results! And that's the biggest thing that I learned from the 3 day refresh!

I highly suggest you try it if you're wanting to cleanse your body! But, I personally wouldn't bank on something like this as a quick fix leading up to a big event! The 21 day fix is probably a better bet if you're trying to lose pounds before a wedding or something! But this system didn't make me feel less bloated, cleansed, and ultimately REFRESHED and I feel like that's what matters!

Until next time!

I really want to talk to you all today about using "self talk."

Firstly, what is self talk?

I think of self-talk as your inner voice. I feel like all of us have an inner monologue. Sometimes, it's good! Sometimes your inner voice is full of positive things that make you feel good about yourself and what's going on in your life. Sometimes it's optimistic! But, self talk can also be really bad and really negative. Basically, it's the exact opposite. It gets you down, makes you feel crappy about your situation or yourself. This is never a good thing! We want to try to keep our inner monologue positive or at the very least motivating, not self-deprecating or degrading!

You might be curious as to why I chose the images I did for my banner at the top of the page. Well, because my self-image was so insanely positive in both those images that I just felt personally like they fit this post so well. The first time I wore the maxi dress in the picture of me on the left, I firstly had never been able to wear a maxi dress before. They were all to long or too clingy and I just didn't feel comfortable. I put this dress on and my first thought was "Damn I look good!" That's positive self-talk! Now, let's talk about how you can change your positive self-talk and then, how your can apply it!

How can you change your inner monologue or "self talk"?

1) Listen to what you say before you say it!

In the same way that we've taught ourselves to think before we speak, think before you, well, THINK! Haha okay that might not make perfect sense, but what I'm trying to say is monitor your internal dialogue! Look for patterns and triggers and learn what things tip you off toward your negative inner monologue starts. That way you can either steer clear of those triggers OR you can anticipate the negative self talk before it happens and alter it!

Stop negative self talk, @Bryce Esch Esch & @Connie Hamon Brzowski Kaelin con & obviously @Diane Haan Lohmeyer Baker!!

2) Journalling.

I'm a huge proponent of journaling! I get 90% of my negative emotions out in my journal, that way I can truly evaluate the problem at hand, address it, and hopefully move on! Now, you may think that having a chronicle of all your negative emotions may be a bad thing, but I actually kind that having recorded my mistakes or feelings about certain things keeps me from dwelling on them and actually a) improves my focus, and also b) keeps those negative thoughts and feelings OUT of my internal monologue!

3) SOS Response

I JUST found this image on pinterest! The image I found wasn't linked to a website, so I apologize if this was someone else's content or image that I'm using. I would have linked to your site if that had been available from where I found this image. This is a fantastic strategy for dealing with negative self-talk! STOP and allow yourself the opportunity to address your thought. OBSERVE what you're saying and how it makes you feel! SHIFT your perspective and response!

4) Do something positive for yourself!
It's easy to adapt to a more positive way of thinking when you KNOW that you've done something good for yourself! Workout! Get a haircut! Spend two minutes longer on your beauty routine! Where something you feel sexy in! Commit to a week of healthy living! All those things will make you FEEL better and thus you will have a better perspective on yourself!

Next, how "self-talk" be used?

When you're working out:

I don't know about you all, but I've found that one of the dangers of working out by yourself is that you really get in your head during your workout. Now, if you're having a really focused day, that can be a great thing! But, if your motivation is lacking...it can be hard to stay motivated and to keep pushing yourself! That's when I use SELF TALK! When I catch myself going, "I can't, I can't," I will literally say out loud to myself, "YES YOU CAN! Keep pushing!" Sometimes, I will even list off the people that are counting on me OR the reasons why I wanted to do this workout! OUT LOUD! Always out loud!

To reduce your stress:

Have you ever caught yourself needlessly freaking out over nothing? About school? About your upcoming meeting/wedding/date? How do you usually cope? I know for me it used to be this constant stream of thoughts about the worst case scenario and it would just cause me to freak out more, and sometimes even manifested itself in illness! Instead of perpetuating the cycle, change your thinking and allow your self-talk to enable you and to build up how well you can manage the situation, how capable you are, OR how little it will truly matter in the scheme of your life if things don't work out perfectly. You think you just screwed up that date you just went on? Instead of telling yourself, "Oh my god I'm going to be single forever!!", tell yourself "Oh well if he doesn't get my awkward humor someone else will find it HILARIOUS!" You made a mistake during your presentation at work? That's unfortunate! But instead of running around going "Oh I'm such an idiot! I'm going to get fired!", say to yourself "Well now I know better for next time, and I'll absolutely kill it then!"

Improve your focus.

Sometimes when I get side tracked at work, I'll find myself say "No, no. You don't need to do that now. It's only getting you off track. Stay focused for ____, ____, and ____"

If you don't use self-talk already--start implementing it now! Positive self-talk can legitimately change your life. Not only can it help to improve your self-esteem, but it can draw others to you! Once you adopt a positive, uplifting spirit about yourself, people will be drawn to you because they will want that energy and spirit in their own lives. They will want that positivity to rub off on their own life. Not only will adopting a positive inner monologue and self-talk change your life internally, but it will attract the kind of people that we all want, and you will change other peoples lives as well!

Until next time,

RESOURCES:

http://au.reachout.com/what-is-self-talk

http://psychcentral.com/lib/challenging-negative-self-talk/0003196

http://www.webmd.com/balance/express-yourself-13/positive-self-talk