Hey all! The “Mid-Length Crisis” continues. February was a busy month, so I didn’t do my length check pictures for that month as I wanted to, but I wanted to make sure I posted my March pictures before the month was up.

So far, I’ve done a good job of sticking to my mini-twists/low manipulation routine. I wore mini-twists pretty much for the entire month of February which aided my hair in retaining length. For March, I’ve been wearing my hair in braid-outs and twist-outs, but I’ve done a better job at tying my hair up before bed and keeping it moisturized as needed. I haven’t been tucking my ends at all—not when they are in mini twists nor when they are in my braid/twist-out styles. I think “end-tucking” isn’t as important for me as “end-locking” is, meaning I need to wear styles that keep my ends clumped together. Mini twists especially are great because I can wear my hair “down” without worrying about them tangling up. I’m still washing about once every 7-10 days and I’ve been experimenting with Queen Helene’s Royal Curl line. I will post a review on the products after I finish them up.

So that’s it! I’ve been trying to keep it simple and so far, simple has helped me retain about 1-1.5 inches in two months. Not bad! I guess I am officially BSL now?!?! How has your “Mid-length Crisis” been coming along? As always, you can check out my pictures here or on the facebook fan page.

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(Recent picture of me after leaving the gym)

(Continued from My Fitness Journey, Part 1)

As I described in my Summer Hiatus post, I spent the summer of 2011 in Dallas for an internship. Having never visited Dallas before, I was really surprised to see how involved with health and fitness the entire city seemed to be. At least for the young adults, the fitness culture was very strong. Hoping to catapult myself into the fitness habit when I returned to DC at the end of the summer, I made it a challenge to workout consistently while in Dallas. In my first few weeks in the city, I went back to what I knew—Jillian Michaels DVDs. This attempt was very short lived; my housing for the summer was in an apartment complex and the downstairs neighbors were not happy with jumping around emanating from the floor. With home workouts ruled out of the equation yet again, I returned to the very place where my fitness saga began: the gym.

Though the gym in the apartment complex where I stayed was small, it had enough to start a basic routine. After learning about High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) on various blogs and YouTube videos, I began coupling bodyweight cardio routines (i.e. burpees, mountain climbers, etc.) with free weight exercises. Since the smallest free weights in the gym were a set of 15-pounders (I had previously been using 5-pounders with the workout DVDs), I was forced to get stronger, very quickly. I also took up tennis and began playing once a week (in a 100 degree weather no less) with some coworkers from my internship.

Within a month of working out with the 15-pound free weights and killing myself in cardio drills I began to really enjoy working out again. Though it was tough talking myself into the gym after a full day of work, I always had this intense sense of satisfaction when I was finished. I began to increase the intensity of my workouts by running sprints on the treadmill or up and down the apartment’s stairwells. Just as with my food revolution, I also began reading a lot fitness information, trying to figure out how to better maximize my workouts. In short, getting in shape became really addictive.

When I go back to DC, my workouts stalled for about a month as I focused my attention on finding a place to live (my residence from the previous school year had a rent increase that I couldn’t afford), but once I was settled, I got right back into working out regularly. I even bought subscriptions to Oxygen Magazine and Muscle and Fitness Hers as gifts to myself to stay motivated. Both magazines have been extremely helpful as they continuously help me learn new weight lifting techniques and healthy recipes.

As of today, it’s been about 8 months since I’ve started working out regularly. I now average my lowest weight since high school (138 pounds) and I workout five days a week. My schedule is as follows:

Day 1: Chest, Triceps, Shoulders, Abs

Day 2: Legs

Day 3: Back, Biceps, Abs

Day 4: HIIT Weight Training Circuit*

Day 5: Cardio (low or high intensity), Abs

Day 6: Rest or Make-up day

Day 7: Rest or Make-up day

*I accomplish this via either the Nike Training Club app for iPhone or the circuits from my Jillian Michael Hot Bod in a Box set. By the way, the Nike Training Club app is amazing and it’s free! Please download it today…

Even though my journey back to a fit lifestyle has been a little crazy, I’m so happy I’m finally back in the swing of things. My desire to lose weight and look “toned” is what brought me to this point but now that I’m here, I can honestly say I don’t really focus on weight or “toning” anymore. As I focus on lifting heavier and heavier weights and performing more and more intense cardio drills, I find that my weight and “look” take care of themselves. Now that my ultimate goal is to get back into competitive sports soon and maybe even join a local team, if start to gain a bit of weight as a result of building muscle then that’s just fine with me. For the first time since high school, I feel like I am well on my way with fitness…

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Since fitness is such a big part of my life now, I really wanted to take the time to write this post to encourage those of you interested in getting more involved health and fitness and provide a starting point for all the future fitness post here on the blog. Here’s a list of helpful resources that I used (or currently use) to get back in shape:

Books

• New Rules of Weight Lifting for Women by Cassandra Forsythe and Alwyn Cosgrove
• You Are Your Own Gym by Mark Lauren (his website is good, too.)
• Making the Cut by Jillian Michaels
• The Eat Clean Diet by Tosca Reno
• Squeaky Gourmet by Maureen Jeanson

Websites/Blogs/Articles

• ExRx.net (I use this site all the time to find exercises that work specific muscle groups)
• Bodybuilding.com (HUGE collection of fitness information. The have great 12-week workout plans for women, too)
• Greatist.com (Their “Complete Guide to Interval Training” is phenomenal!)
• Crossfit.com (My “secret” dream is to compete in a Crossfit competition one day
• The best article ever on being “skinny” vs. being fit (or why lifting weights won’t make you “bulky”)
• Black Girl’s Guide to Weight Loss
• Thin Thighs & Sweet Potato Fries
• Myomytv.com (great kettlebell and bodyweight routines)
• Military.com’s Fitness Center (are you Army strong???)
• Oh She Glows (vegan recipe blog)
• Precision Nutrition (clean eating made simple, plus this great article about cardio misconceptions)
• Pure2Raw (raw, vegan blog with interesting workout posts)
• Determined to be Fit (A fellow black woman who is into Crossfit!)
• Sporty Afros (two sporty, natural ladies who are based in my future city)
• Andia Winslow’s YouTube Channel (check out this crazy ab routine video)
• Nike Women Youtube Channel (Great videos featuring athletes demonstrating workout moves. And seriously, how sweet is this video?!?)
• Pinterest!!! (Check out my fitness inspiration board)

There are others I’m sure, but these are the resources I can think of off-hand…

Do you workout? Is fitness a part of your life? How does it relate to other things you do? Comment below.

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(My well-loved trainers)

In the last two years, I’ve somewhat become a “closet” health enthusiast. Even though it was the documentary Food, Inc. that put my health awareness on full blast, long before viewing that film I was always painfully aware that the discipline involved in working out and eating healthy would have a profound effect on my ability to accomplish other things in my life. It has taken me about 6-8 months to get into a consistent routine but since working out has been so beneficial to my life, I want to officially introduce the subject of heath and fitness to Think & Grow Chick by sharing my personal fitness journey:

I suppose this started “back in the day” when I got my first taste of athleticism by running track and field in high school. I wasn’t a track star by any means, but I was relatively fast and good enough to enjoy second or third place in most of my events. When I first joined the team, I was shocked to find that the coaches fully expected the girls to not only lift like the boys in the off-season, but lift with them. I distinctly remember wondering if someone had made a mistake when I was told that my workout partner for the day was one of the members of the boys wrestling team! Having never lifted weights or done strength training before, I was slightly intimidated but definitely curious to learn about bench pressing, hang cleans, plyometrics, agility drills and other exercises I thought were reserved for football players only. Within a few weeks, however, all of the intimidation dissipated as I found that I not only thoroughly enjoyed weight training, but I was actually pretty good at it. As an added bonus, it did wonders to further tone my already lean frame as I gleefully sported every shoulder and arm-bearing top that I could find that summer.

Unfortunately, like most young adults, when I got to college I pretty much fell off. The gym was but a distant memory since I was no longer involved in sports and my diet pretty much consisted of cafeteria food, $3 Jamaican chicken patties, and McDonald’s sweet tea. Even though my diet was bad, because I was always broke, food became scarcer so I didn’t really gain any weight. I also didn’t (and still don’t) have a car, so the constant walking helped me miraculously mitigate the dreaded “freshman fifteen.”

(Me in a friend’s dorm room, freshman year 2006)

For the next few years, I tried to get back in the gym but I couldn’t get on a consistent routine. On days where I felt particular determined and motivated, I would energetically go to the gym, only to put myself through a workout from my track days that was clearly too intense for my out-of-shape condition. Discouraged by the difficulty of the workout, I would take a “break” the next day that would inevitably stretch out into months and months of avoiding the gym. The same thing happened when I tried to jog regularly or even do floor exercises in my dorm room. No matter what I did, nothing seemed to stick.

By the time I was a junior in college, I had completely abandoned any sort of healthy lifestyle. I was still slim but totally out of shape and unconcerned about it. I figured since I had a “fast metabolism” I could get away with ignoring exercise and eating unhealthy foods.

My turning point came the summer of my 21st birthday. After looking at various pictures from birthday celebration, I realized that I gained a little bit of weight in my face. It was definitely nothing major and probably completely indiscernible to most people, but my vanity was strong enough to make me reconsider my stance against the gym.

(Me at 21)

Even though I had mentally committed to getting into better shape at the end of that summer, it still took me a few months to actually make any consistent changes. The only thing I could really stick with in the beginning was exercise DVDs. After reading reviews for the most effective home workouts, I discovered Jillian Michaels from the Biggest Loser and started doing her 30 Day Shred and No More Trouble Zones DVDs. This was easy for me to incorporate because it only took 20 minutes and I could do it without any fancy equipment right in my living room. The first time I started 30 Day Shred was around Thanksgiving 2010. By Christmas of the same year, I had lost ten pounds, which was huge given how recently I had started doing the workouts.

Right around that time however, a new tenant had moved into the apartment in the basement of the house I was living in, which meant I wasn’t free to do my living room workouts anymore because of the jumping and noise. Since I didn’t have a TV in my bedroom (which wasn’t big enough to workout in anyway), my new-found fitness routine became very inconsistent again.

Even though a fork had been thrown in my workouts, around the same time I watched the movie Food, Inc. which totally revolutionized my eating habits. Overnight after watching that documentary, I became very conscious of what I ate and tried my hardest to eat organic and unprocessed foods whenever my college budget would allow it. In fact, because I was so broke, I began eating less meat in order to save money. I also began reading a ton of books on healthy eating, further educating myself on the American food system, the dangers of processed food, and the long-term impacts of having a poor diet.

(Salmon with a homemade blueberry sauce over rice pilaf…this was one of my better healthy creations)

Learning all of this information totally changed my perspective; for the rest of the school year (Spring 2011), I cooked myself healthy meals, blocking out a few days in the week where I would “go meatless.” I also tried to get in workouts whenever I could, but these were generally limited to the Comcast routines available OnDemand at my boyfriend’s place. Nevertheless, I was happy to get into a groove where I was improving. I then understood that my health was more important than just looking good and I become very serious about living a health lifestyle. It wasn’t until the following summer, however, that my fitness journey really started to accelerate…

***

…to be continued in part 2…

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As I mentioned in my 2011 “recap” post, 2011 was not the year of healthy hair practices for me. In many ways, I would say that 2011 was more like the year of regression, as it seems I spent the whole year failing to get a grasp on the basics.

The first major “no-no” that I consistently committed was (*gasp*) falling asleep on cotton pillows with my hair uncovered.

I did this a lot in 2011.

Like, all the time.

This wouldn’t have even been so bad if it weren’t coupled with another terrible hair habit that that became quite commonplace for me: not moisturizing my hair in between washes. Yeah…my hair would be a DESERT on wash day. Detangling was like trying to separate a bale of hay. Despite this painful, horrible, length incinerating practice, I would still go days (weeks?) without moisturizing my hair simply because I was too lazy to do anything to it before bed. I felt so guilty about this all year and vowed to start moisturizing regularly in 2012.

As if all of the above were not bad enough, I also became a frequent offender of not protecting my ends. Obviously I didn’t do this overnight because I wasn’t even bothering to tie my hair up, but I also gave up on protective styling throughout 2011. I waffle back and forth with this all the time because honestly, I hate my hair pinned up, but I wasn’t protective styling *ever* in 2011—like, not even one day a week which was clearly a mistake. I don’t think my hair needs to be covered up 100% of the time, but I do know that protective styles need to be integrated into my routine at least some of the time if I ever hope to reach my dreams of BSL and beyond.

As I was confessing all of my hair sins to my best friend who was in town for the weekend (she is also natural and has hair around the same length as mine), we confirmed that this past year was full of inconsistent hair practices for both of us. I didn’t really stick to my regimens as planned and every week was a willy-nilly escapade where I would do whatever to my hair without keeping my length goals in mind. Likewise, she would wear here 4b, APL hair out for days on end because it was cute, only to have to face the monster that is detangling on wash day. The more we talked about it, the more we realized that so many of our hair woes were precipitated by our inexperience with hair at this length. Now that both of us our nearing BSL, it is a lot of hair to deal with (and I know we haven’t even seen nuthin’ yet) and subconsciously we were confused at (and rebelling against) the new, increased amount of attention our hair requires.

This was really startling for us, but especially me, since I’ve been natural for 8 years now. After “mastering” my hair to the point where I’ve coached several others in going natural (including my friend), you really take for granted what a “brave new world” it can be when you reach a milestone in your own hair journey that you haven’t been to before. Things that have worked for you for years suddenly do not work anymore, and all of your hard earned expertise seems for naught as you struggle to bust through month after month of hair plateaus. My best friend and I have deemed this, “The Mid-Length Crisis.”

A still shot of me and my friend, Randall, discussing the “Mid Length Crisis”

Let me just say, for the record, that I hate The Mid-Length Crisis (MLC). I would estimate that I’ve been here for well over a year; I am anxious to resolve it (hair therapy?) and move on with the rest of my hair journey. Since my friend was in town for the weekend and we are both feeling the pain that this “crisis” can inflict, we shot an entire video detailing our MLC hair issues and plans for breaking free. I’m still editing the video, but one major “a ha!” that we described in the video was…

…neither of us like wearing our hair in medium-sized twists.

Randall in medium-sized twist bun at the MoMa in NYC

Me in medium-sized twist bun 2 years ago

This may seem like a random declaration, but those of you who are actively trying to grow your hair out and are familiar with protective styles know that wearing you hair in medium sized twists, pinned up or bunned in some fashion is the considered to be the holy grail hairstyle for natural hair length retention. Much of this is because the style was was instrumental in helping the ever-popular Kimmaytube in reaching her now hip-bone length hair.

Anyone who has ever done the medium-sized twists protective style thing can attest that it is a phenomenal style in helping one to retain length. Even I credit this style in helping me get to APL in the first place. The issue that both me and my friend have that throws us into a “Mid-Length Crisis” in the first place is that we don’t like wearing the style! Yes, it is a great aid in hair growth but I never feel “polished” or “put together” when I am wearing my hair in that fashion. I know others will disagree and find that the medium-sized twists protective style is actually quite becoming on them, but for me, I just end up feeling like the dreaded “H”-word…homely.

So the crisis is, how do we reach our hair goals without having to wear our hair in that style? Is this an unreasonable request? Do we just need to suck it up and remind ourselves that “hair shouldn’t be the only thing going for you”?

Because my friend and I are desperate for a hair routine/style that will allow us to reach our goals but still allows us to feel “polished,” we have challenged ourselves to bust out of the MLC without the aid of medium-sized twists. Revolutionary, I know.

Since I’m ditching the medium sized twists, the regimen that I will be employing for this challenge is:

1. Weekly washing and conditioning
2. 3-4 weeks in mini-twists, followed by 1 week of a “loose” style
3. “Loose” styles can be twist out, braid outs, or even flat ironed hair
4. During the “loose” style week, I will wear my hair in a loose bun or pin up from Monday to at least Thursday, then I will wear it “out” over the weekend
5. After my week of “loose” hair, I will go right back into mini-twists and start all over again

Once a month, I will post “length check” photos on the Think & Grow Chick Facebook page to see if my friend and I are making progress. You can view the January pictures right now in the gallery:

…or in the designated Facebook album. If you would like to embark on this Mid-Length Crisis challenge with us, you are free to post your hair pics on the Facebook page, too. I figured that if I know that I have a once a month “check-in,” then the accountability will keep me from being lazy with my hair throughout the week or doing dumb stuff like not moisturizing for days at a time.

***

Am I alone, or is there anyone else out there feeling the sting of the “Mid-Length Crisis”? What used to work for you that doesn’t anymore now that you are midway to your length goal? Does dealing with all this “new” hair stress you out? Share in the comments section.

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Hey everyone!

Although the word has already gone out to those who are currently members of my bookclub, I just wanted to make everyone aware that the Think and Grow Chick Bookclub is back and session starting this Sunday, January 29. For all of the month of February (January 29 through February 28, 2012), since it’s a short month, I have chosen “The Greatest Salesman in the World” by Og Mandino.

This is a short but strangely uplifting and motivating book that I happened upon at a used bookstore when back in the Midwest during the Christmas holiday. I don’t want to say too much about the book or I’ll give it away, but it centers around a character who lives in the ancient Middle East during the first century who happens upon some “secret scrolls”. Desiring to be the greatest salesman in the world, this character reads the scrolls and the wisdom they contain change his life forever.

As I said before, this is a very short book–one could likely finish is in an hour or two during a lazy afternoon. Though it might be one of the strangest books I ever read (in a good way!) when I was done with it, I immediately wanted to reread parts of it over and over again, letting the message of the “ancient scrolls” really sink in. I know all of this sounds cryptic, but this little gem is really a perfect book to read at the start of the new year. Originally written in  1968, many people from all walks of life consider this book a classic. For those of you who are like, “What? Greatest Salesman in the world…?” fret not as this book actually has very little to do with selling or salesmanship. Instead, The Greatest Salesman in the World provides cleverly compiled insight about the attitude and thought process one must consistently have in order to do anything worthwhile in life.

If you are already plagued with procrastination and/or self-doubt at less than one month into the new year, then I highly recommend that you join me in reading this book. Let it be the boost you need to succeed!

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To get more information about purchasing the book and to read reviews, click here. (Note: Because this book is so old, any local used bookstore is likely to have it for $5 or less. I have personally encountered it twice at two different used bookstores in different parts of the country.)

To learn more about the bookclub, click here.

Happy Reading!

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As promised, here is Part 2 of my “New Years Post” for 2012. Consider this post to be the nitty-gritty—the stuff I did well and the stuff I flopped on in 2012…

The Good

Bible Reading: As I mentioned in my last post, I stayed pretty consistent with my morning bible reading and prayer routine. Most days it was only a chapter or two, but just staying in the habit proved to be really beneficial for me in all aspects of my life. This something that I definitely plan to maintain in 2012. In fact, it is my goal to get through the entire New Testament and part of the Old Testament in 2012.

Fitness: I surprised even myself with how great I’ve been doing with staying committed to my fitness routine. I have to admit that it was a slow start last year; very rarely did I even work out until late June, early July. When I got to Dallas for my summer internship around that time, I felt really inspired to get in shape because (1) so many of the young people there are in shape and (2) I knew that I wanted to be in the habit of working out by the time I got back to DC.

My little Texas-kick start really worked, because I was completely fitness obsessed by the time I got back to DC. I will go over my specific actions in a separate post dedicated to my fitness journey, but some of the major things I did included devising weight lifting and high intensity interval training routines for myself. My friends, let me just say that it has made all the difference. I dropped 8 pounds without even meaning to (I am 5′ 9″ and went from 148 to 140) and have developed  significant muscle definition that even my boyfriend, friends and family have noticed. This is not only something that I want to maintain in 2012, but I would like to take it to the next level by becoming even more defined and increasing my athleticism.

Finances: 2011 was a big year for me in terms of money. I was able to get the last two financial monkeys off my back by paying off my last two credit cards, which was approximately $2,700 in total debt. One of the main reasons I was able to do this was because of the salary I received from my summer internship. Although the first credit card was paid before the summer, I killed the last card ($2000) in exactly 8 weeks.

Having extra money was obviously a big help, but even that would not have mattered if I didn’t stick to my budget. I was very methodical and focused with my saving and paying those credit cards off, so sticking to my budget by doing things like cooking at home, packing lunches, taking the bus instead of the train (cheaper), and shopping for things secondhand or on-sale is what really helped me get over the hump.

I will go into greater detail about my financial practices in another post (The Story of a Black Girl and Her Money, Part 3 is sooooo over due…) but this year I would like to stay debt-free in terms of the credit cards and pay off the smallest of my student loans, which is $3,350. I also would like to build “giving” into my budget where, in addition to what I regularly give my church, I’m doing something creative and spontaneously generous every month. I’ve always wanted to be more deliberate with charity, but I always convinced myself that I didn’t have the time or money. Now that I’ll be done with school and I’ll have a “real job” in a few months, I really want to get serious about doing (financially) charitable things.

The Not-So-Good

Hair: 2011 was not a good year for me and my hair and I only have myself to blame. I reached APL in April of 2010 and have only retained about 3 or so inches past that since. I am about an inch away from BSL and it is driving. me. crazy!

The difference between where I am and where I want to be…ah, so close!

But as I said, *I* am my own hair culprit in that I got way too comfortable in 2011 and really developed some terrible hair habits. In brief, I was not diligent in sticking to my regimen, protective styling, moisturizing, or even tying my hair up at night. I will go into detail in my own dedicated “hair frustrations post” but for 2012 I know I have to get it together with the hair or I’ll never reach my hair goals.

Blog: As much as it pains me to admit it, in 2011 I did not work as hard on the blog as I could have and should have. Yes I was busy, but everyone is busy and I know that I could have cranked out more post if only I weren’t so lazy! It has been my goal since the inception of this to expand the reach of Think & Grow Chick. I think the topics discussed on here are relevant and uniquely presented and I always feel I’m doing a disservice when I don’t put as much into the blog as I am capable of. I think the biggest issue I faced last year was the limiting mindset of treating this like a hobby. When you say “hobby” to yourself, you think of a “some time” thing that you do whenever you feel like it for your own enjoyment. Honestly, I see Think & Grow Chick as better than that. Just by all of the wonderful, incredibly positive and inspiring comments that you all leave me, I think what it present here is really special. In 2012 I want to treat it that way by posting regularly on here and my social networks (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc).

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So this is where I’m at in 2012. To really create an environment of success, I’ve done a few things:

1. I have (of course) written all of this down in a journal. My motto has always been “if it isn’t written down, then it doesn’t exist.” Goals just aren’t “concrete” for me until I have them written down in a place where I can review them regularly.
2. Speaking of writing things down, I even keep a Franklin-Covey planner to help me do the things that will get me closer to my goals on a daily basis. With this being my last semester in college, I expect there to be tons of “urgent” things that need to get done right away that will take up a lot of my time. By writing my goals in a planner and carving out time each week to work on them, I’m making sure that I’m making steady progress on the important, not urgent stuff that tends to repeatedly get pushed to the side.
3. While my planner is what helps me do the practical stuff towards my goals, vision boards help me “see” and “feel” my goals. This is where Pinterest comes in. I freakin’ love Pinterest! It is a great way to collect inspiring images, videos and quotes off of the internet and organize them into virtual boards. I have boards for everything from fitness, to hair, to fashion, to even recipes I want to try. Follow me on Pinterest here.

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What were the things you did and didn’t do in 2011? What are some specific things you are trying to accomplish in 2012? Share in the comments section.

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Whew! It’s that time again: my annual “new year’s” post! 2011 was packed with so much, flying by so fast that I hardly know where to start! There are a lot of things that I accomplished in 2011 that I’m really proud of and want to carry forward in 2012 but in order to explain it all with justice, I have to go somewhere that I’ve only touched on briefly before: my faith.

As I’ve alluded to in other post, my faith in God as a Christian has been a huge source of strength and inspiration to me. Whether it was coming out of the mess I made with school and my finances or even with my goals, if it weren’t for God and the wisdom I have received from the Bible over the past few years, I am certain that I would be certifiably crazy!

If you notice in the last sentence, I said “over the past few years” because I’ve only recently gave my life to Christ. Although I was raised in a Christian household and my Dad even became a pastor during my teenage years, I never fully understood the Christian message growing up. As a person who considers herself an “intellectual”, I faced a lot of inner conflict when it came to Jesus, so I embarked on a spiritual and intellectual “soul search” during the first 3 years of college, professing only to believe in God but not necessarily the God of the Bible. It wasn’t until right before I turned 21 that a series of crazy circumstance that only God could orchestrate brought me to a place where Jesus was the only thing that made sense and the only thing that I wanted. I’ll leave my testimony at that since a lot of the stuff that brought me there is personal, but I wanted to make my background known so that you understand the beliefs powering my perspective, even if yours are different.

As I described in my 2011 “new year’s” post, my focus for last year was not necessarily on goals but on good habits that would eventually lead to the outcomes I was looking for. One of the first habits that I successfully “ingrained” was getting up to read my bible every morning. Although I did (and still do) have days where I wake up too late to do this or I miss for some other reason, I got into the routine enough where I was (and still am) amazed at all the wisdom I was gleaning, even from just a chapter a day.  In fact, I’d say understanding biblical concepts and allowing them to influence how I live and look at life was the single greatest theme for me in 2011. Based on that, these are the philosophies that influenced the habits/goals I am putting into practice for 2012:

 Money. When it comes to money, I am now focusing more on how I manage it and how generous I am with it versus pursuing more money just for money’s sake. Last year, I received a lot of wonderful financial blessings (which I will detail in part 2 of this post) that made me realize that I am already exceedingly financially blessed, especially for a college student. God has never not provided for my needs, so instead of making random goals to earn more money “just because” I want to point my energy towards managing it properly and being generous to those less fortunate.

Last year, especially with the passing of Steve Jobs, I realized that I want to focus more on making meaning with my work over making money. This is not to say the two are mutually exclusive; at least in business, money does tend to follow those that create the most value for others. The point is that money should follow meaning as a by-product, not the other way around.

Fitness. Similarly to my shift in perspective on money, I no longer want to approach working out for vanity’s sake. I’ll admit this will be hard to put in practice because Lord knows I would loooove to have a six-pack, but I really want to move away from working out to make my body look good versus working out to be healthy and experience all that my body can do.

These may be extreme comparisons, but when I start to obsess over small physical “flaws” that need to be “fixed” in the gym, I think of women who with disabilities, women who deal with illness, women who battle obesity, or even women who are enduring physical or sexual abuse. Every day, there are millions women in this world who’s bodies are prevented from operating at the level of health and freedom that I get to experience. That is not to say that there is anything wrong with looking good or even desiring to look good, but I want to keep “looks” in its proper place. I’d rather have a six pack as a by-product of me being a healthy, athletic person than because I crash-dieted and worked out excessively to get it.

Achievement. My ambition is probably where I’ve had the biggest mental shift. This is huge for me because I’ve placed a lot of mental energy, even to the point of breakdowns, into “accomplishment”. Over the course of reading the Bible and praying in 2011, “Self-Actualization”, for me, is now successfully using whatever platform I have to (1) give God glory and (2) help others. That’s it. It doesn’t matter how many goals I reach or targets I hit—if I’m not doing those two things then I’m not doing what’s important.

As a recovering perfectionist/self-help addict/goal-obsessed person, this is so freeing for me. I feel free because I can now pursue goals without freaking out if I don’t hit them perfectly, because I know (like money) they are a means to an end, but not the end themselves. If my goals are all I have in life, then it makes sense for me to obsess over them and fret if they aren’t accomplished perfectly. However, if my dreams and aspirations are merely vehicles to show everyone how great God is and help people achieve greater meaning in their lives, then all the slip ups, missed opportunities and imperfect execution is okay because at the end of the day, I still accomplished what I *really* set out to do.

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So that, ladies and gents, is as succinctly as I could explain the “recalibration” that took place in 2011. Just consider this my 2011 brain, squished into a blog post as neatly as possible. Coming soon is more of a “nut and bolts” post describing specifically what I did and didn’t do in 2011, as well as the habits I’m working on for 2012.

Where is your mind at now that we are out of 2011? Have any mental shifts taken place for you? Share in the comments section.

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“Your eyes are bigger than your stomach.”

This was a quip my father always had at the ready when I was kid. Whether it was asking for another 3 slices of pizza before I had finished what was already on my plate, or begging for a large sized popcorn and sweettarts at the movie theater when we had just come from dinner, as a child, “your eyes are bigger than your stomach” seemed like the answer I was destined to receive for the rest of my life.

Although most people grow out of the “your eyes are bigger than your stomach phase” by the time the reach adulthood, I find it curious that so many of us continue to fall prey to this syndrome when it comes to money and the stuff that we buy. Just as your parents understood that an entire pan of brownies simply could not fit into your 8-year old stomach as designed, as managers of our own money we need to understand that many of the things we long for financially do not fit who we are on the inside. Here is what I mean…

Since last week I’ve been reading this book by David Bach called “Smart Women Finish Rich”. I’m not done with it yet, but in the first few chapters the book expounds on a few concepts that I think are solid gold. In chapter two, Bach describes a woman who came to his office seeking help with her financial situation. Though she was making an impressive salary, she was living paycheck to paycheck and couldn’t figure out why she felt as thought she wasn’t doing anything meaningful with her money. After reviewing her spending habits, the author determined that the woman was spending well over half of her take home pay on things that did not reflect her values.

Values.

I paused there for a moment as that was the first time I really thought seriously consciously spending your money on things that reflect your values. As Bach explains in the book, values are different from goals in that values are loftier concepts that express the things you find most important in life. For instance, a goal with money might be to pay off student loans, but the value reflected in that goal may be “flexibility” since not having to make that hefty payment every month would leave your paycheck with wiggle room to do things you enjoy.

Bach encourages the clients he works with to figure out what their values are when it comes to money by doing something called a “Value Ladder”. The ladder starts with the question, “What’s so important about money to you?”. Depending on what you value, you may answer something like “freedom” or “security” or even “happiness”. The next step in the Value Ladder process is then to determine what’s so important about the last value you answered. So if you indicated that money was important to you because of “security”, then you’d need to ask yourself “What’s so important about security?”. Depending on the answer to that last question, you then continue up the “ladder” perpetually asking “What’s so important about (insert previous answer here)?” until you can’t think of anything more important than your last answer.

Since I love stuff like this, of course I had to try the value ladder for myself. In my most serious tone of voice, I proceeded to ask myself:

Courtney, what’s so important about money to you?

Me: “Oh, definitely the ability to have options. I never want to feel like I’m stuck somewhere or that I can’t do something that I would like or need to do because of a lack of money.”

Other Me: “Interesting, interesting. Well tell me, what’s so important about ‘not being stuck’ and having options to you?”

Me: “Hmm. I would say the freedom and peace of mind that options provide. I don’t want to be limited from doing the things that are important to me in life because of issues with money.”

Other Me: “Now we’re getting somewhere. So what’s so important about having the freedom to do the things that are important to you in life?”

Me: “Well…I would have to say…that having the freedom to do the things that are most important to me means I’d be able to live life to the fullest, you know? If I don’t have financial freedom then I can’t live out my full potential and fully express my talents, because I’ll always be worrying about money.

Other Me: “I think what you said right there is really crucial: living out your full potential. What’s so important about that?

Me: “I guess…its important because I have one life to live and I believe God put me here for a purpose. Life is so short. I guess I just don’t want anything to get in the way of being who I am created to be and doing what I am designed to do.”

Other Me: “Yep, life is way too short. Is there anything more important than what you just answered?”

Me: “Nope. I really believe living out our God-given purpose as best as we can is the reason we live in the first place.”

After reviewing my answers to my Value Ladder, I became acutely aware of the instances where I had spent money in direct contrast to the things I said I valued. Before I paid off all my credits cards–of which I ran up by buying things like clothes and expensive restaurant dinners–I remember working at jobs that I *hated* but couldn’t leave because I needed the money just to make my credit card minimums. How crazy is it to max out your credit card if it means you’ll have to work at a humiliating job that you hate just to make ends meet? That is the exact opposite of having options.

What’s important about assessing your values when it comes to money is to remember that its not really about how much you have, but rather what you choose to do with what you have. I don’t believe I need to be a rich person in order to live out my purpose in life (that would be silly), but I whole-heartedly believe that if I mismanage what I have, I will create problems for myself that will hinder me from living out my fullest potential. How many people have you heard of that would like to give more to charity, or maybe quit their job and start a business they’re passionate about, or even have the funds to travel and see the world, but can’t because they live paycheck-to-paycheck?

My Value Ladder will certainly look different from someone else’s, but the point is to make sure that your spending habits are inline (or at the bare minimum, do not hinder) your values and the things that are important to you. So next time you go to make the purchase, sign for that car note, or lease that expensive apartment, as yourself what your values are and if what you are getting ready to spend money on will prevent you from doing the things that are important to you. Don’t let your eyes get bigger than your stomach—spend your money on things that reflect who you are (or who you’d like to be) on the inside.

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PS—Feel free to try out the “Value Ladder” in the comments below. Start with “What’s important about money to you?” and keep asking yourself what’s important about your previous answer until you reached your most important value.

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That’s right, the bookclub is back! Though I’ve mentioned the bookclub on the blog before, if this is your first time hearing about it, you can click on the “bookclub” tab in the navigation bar above to learn more about it. For quick viewing of what we are reading at anytime, the current book is posted in the sidebar.  Below is a short video from my YouTube channel introducing October’s book, “Grow It!” by Chicoro:

Happy reading!

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It is definitely that time again.

Feeling crisp in my lightweight cargo jacket, I bopped happily down the sidewalks today after finishing my classes, taking in the the soon-to-be autumn air. Although I’ve since traded in my pigtails and plaid jumper uniform for a more adult aesthetic, something about the fall season makes me regress into a happy little school girl.  Back then, the fall season signified the return of my multicolored folders, mechanical pencils, and the practiced art of picking out my clothes the night before school. While I can’t say I’ve necessarily maintained any of these practices—important documents now go into my very “grown-up” file cabinet and my school uniform consists of black yoga pants and nikes—I never was able to shake the need for a new routine with the changing of the seasons.

If I’m honest, most of my “Fall 2011″ routines are still up in the air (Wake-up at 6am or 7? Shower before breakfast or after?) but the one I think I’ve managed to finally drill down is (big surprise) my hair routine. With the summer temperatures fading fast, I’ve committed to the following in order to keep my hair together this season:

1. Wash hair and put into small/medium two-strand twists for 1 week. Rinse once or twice before the week’s end to keep the scalp fresh. Wear twists pulled back or in a bun throughout the week with headbands or hair accessories for extra “flare”. Cover at night with a silk scarf to keep twists from looking “old”.
2. Unravel two-strand twists and wear in a twist-out for 1 week (see pictures). Mist hair and scalp with water every other day or so, and oil scalp with grapeseed mix*. Put in 7-8 large, chunky twists and cover with a bonnet for bed.
3. Wash hair and repeat steps 1 & 2 for another full 2 weeks of styling, choosing plaits instead of two-strand twists if I get bored and want a slightly different style (i.e. a braid-out).
4. After doing the twist/twist-out (or braid/braid-out) cycle twice (4 weeks total), wash hair with clarifying shampoo (followed by a deep condition), plait and let air-dry in order to stretch hair. Take plaits down and flat-iron hair. Wear straight for one week.
5. Do steps 1-4 all over again!

So that’s my fall hair routine. I like it because it is simple but still gives me versatility without much manipulation so that I don’t get bored. My tentative product line-up is:

• African Black Soap (my “shampoo”)
• Trader Joe’s Tea Tree Tingle Shampoo (my “clarifying” shampoo)
• Trader Joe’s Nourish Spa Conditioner
• Trader Joe’s Nourish Spa Conditioner + honey + olive oil (my deep conditioner)
• Trader Joe’s Nourish Spa Conditioner + aloe vera juice + grapeseed oil (my leave-in conditioner/moisturizer, à la Kimmaytube)
• Water filled spray-bottle + apple cider vinegar and Eucalyptus essential oil (my itchy scalp remedy, used after my shampoo and rinsed out before my conditioner)
• Shea Butter (my “styling cream”, although I am currently looking for a Shea butter blend so that it is less thick and greasy)
• Grapeseed oil + drops of Eucalyptus, Rosemary, and Tea Tree essential oils (my itchy scalp oil)
• Plain water (my everything!)

So that’s all she wrote folks. Are you overhauling your hair regimen this fall? What are your “hair plans”?

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