Challenge Yourself

If what you are currently doing in life is easy --- going through the motions at the gym, checking Facebook while the kids play, cooking the same old standby meals ---then get out of the rut by challenging yourself!  You are not going to improve in any area without taking chances and mixing things up.

Research some new recipes to try out and make it a fun experiment. Designate a night of the week for a certain type of cuisine that you normally don't cook.  For the next few weeks we will be cooking a vegetarian meal once a week.  This is a challenge for the the poultry folks that we are, but I'm sure I'll find some yummy new meals.

Get off the couch and do something active that will be fun for you and the kids. It doesn't have to be fancy, just different.  Play hide and seek, tag, hopscotch, go to the park, go fishing, build a fort out of linens, set up an obstacle course or race, make some healthy snacks together in the kitchen instead of handing out fruit snacks and goldfish.  All of these activities are easy to do, fun, and don't require you to spend money.

Change up your routine at the gym.  Try a new class.  I did this one today...first class I've taken since college, other than yoga.  I tried cardio-plates and really enjoyed it.  It challenged my core in a different way than I normally do and I guarantee that I will be sore tomorrow.

Switch up the body parts that you work.  If you work one body part a day, try doing full body circuits.  If you plug away on the treadmill while watching the television, then you aren't working hard enough...do intervals instead.  Now that I've been doing sprints on the treadmill, it's hard for me to do anything else for more than a few minutes.  I used to get on and run at a steady pace for 45 minutes.  No more.  If I start to get comfortable then I change the incline or speed.  I gauge my comfort by how often I actually watch something on the television screen.  I'm so focused on breathing or switching the speed these days that I don't catch more than a few glimpses at the screen.

What ever it is that is comfortable for you, identify it, and change it.  You'll be glad that you did:)