One of the best decisions I did in this year 2022, is when I started to prioritized myself more. Doing my self-care routine for four months, I can feel how I develop myself into a better one. My confidence improved and I became more inspired to continue what I started. Now I realized that one statement of Mr. Jim Rohn about self-development is indeed right. According to him, “If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us.”. He said it straight on point and I found this statement true when I experienced it in this journey. As I start to work on myself, I saw how the things changed around me. I became happier than I was before and I started to look forward on the days that will come. I realized that the first step in reaching my goals is to develop my own self first. As soon as switch my mindset to that, everything became clear and I found a way to aim for something today that my future self will be thankful.

“Success is something you attract by the person you become.”- Jim Rohn

Listening to inspiration vlogs of successful people gave me an insight on how they made their dreams happen. By doing this as soon as I start my day, it helped me to learn a lot of strategies and concepts that I can also apply in my daily life. From Oprah Winfrey, Jim Rohn, Robert Kiyosaki, Rob Dial and many more great people that are willing to share their success story, they became a part of my daily routine. Every time I learned something new, a part of me is telling that one day once I become successful like them, I will also share my life story and be an inspiration to the rest. Once that moment come, I will surely be the happiest person alive knowing that I made it happen. Although, I still have a long way to go to reach that point, one thing I have in mind is that I will make it possible. What I have in mind right at this moment are my ultimate goals which are:

1. To be happy.
2. To reach my goals.
3. Share my life story and be an inspiration.

Despite of a lot of “impossible” that people think in this world, I want to be that one person that will prove that everything is possible if you really put your heart to it. There’s an endless opportunity in this world, we should not let our own restrictions stop us in doing something that we love. Like how this simple blog shows how I became consistent in my goal to have a healthy lifestyle, I wanted to show to the rest that working on your plans is still the best way to make your goals possible.

• Start saying YES rather than NO.
• Start making a ROUTINE rather than staying in your bed.
• Start building funds rather than spending on things that you want.
• Start developing your skills rather than wasting your time in the internet.
• Start making real friends rather than a fake company.
• Start your day with a smile rather than a frown.
• Start learning from professionals rather than working on the job you don’t want.
• Start making goals rather than just relying on whatever life gives you.
• Start making yourself as a priority rather than neglecting it.
•  Start telling others that they can rather than saying that they can’t.

This blog may only consist of my workout journey, but this is a perfect example on how you can work on your goals every single day. As long as you allocate a time for a specific goal in your daily life, rest assured that there will be a great outcome in the end. Like what I always share in my blogs, the best way to make your plans possible is to work on it. The more time you’ll focus on it, the more chance for you to achieve it. Like what I did in my workout journey, it all started in the pandemic when I was laid off from my job and did nothing for almost half a year. Because of that, I gained 6-7 kg and my self-confidence hit rock bottom. Now that I’m in my one year and one month’s doing home workout, it helped me to lose weight and stick to a healthy lifestyle. By consistently doing it, it became a part of my daily routine and now a healthy habit that I developed.

The people around me also saw my progress and because of that, I received positive feedback up until this day. Oftentimes, once people already achieved their targets, they will usually go back to their original habits. I’d seen a lot of people like that, so I wanted to prevent it from happening to me. I don’t let compliments overwhelm me that much and I really pushed myself to become more consistent on it. Like what I always write on my blogs, you can only stick to your plans if you’re also determine to do so. We are all given 24 hours in a day to do something, now it is all depends to us on how we will use that time. For me, I choose to do something that will help me to lift up my self-confidence. In order to do it, I should ensure every single day that I’m doing my workout plan.

For the first two months of this year, I did a monthly blog of my workout journey. Since the progress that I shared there didn’t really showed the changes happened, I decided to just make a two months progress review. I believe that by doing this set-up it will be more ideal and at the same time I can focus on my other blog categories. In this blog, I will be reviewing the physical activities I did for the month of March and April. Unlike what I did in the first workout review which is on a weekly basis assessment, I’ll do a monthly sum up instead so that it will be more specific and concise. What I am focusing this year is to maintain my weight, develop strength and create a habit of a healthy lifestyle. Not only doing workout, I’m also correcting my eating habits by means of eating more fruits and vegetables. Every single day, I make it sure that I’ll consume a minimum of two fruits and won’t exceed on daily calorie intake. It’s not like I am starving myself, I just wanted to control my unhealthy cravings. The only day that I’m allowed to do so is every Friday which I considered as my “cheat day”.

Here below are the summary of my workout plans and measurements for the month of March and April.

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

“Rome wasn’t built in a day, but they worked on it every single day.”

-Abraham Lincoln

March Work Out Progress

For the month of March, I’m not that consistent and it all started when I had my period. After that week, I became lazier and find it hard to get back on my usual routine. Since I also have limited time due to my work which is at 9am to 5pm, and I have house hold chores on top of that, I really suffered in managing my time well. For a quick recap of my workouts for the whole month of March, here below is the summary of it.

Although I failed in some weeks, I still tried hard to get back in the last couple weeks of March. The workout I did for the whole month is more on cardio like Jogging & Jump Rope. Every day, I work out for 30-40 minutes as soon as I reached home. Since I am guilty that I was lazy this month, I prepare a routine for the month of April to ensure that I’ll be consistent in doing my workout. As I see my tracker starting from January up to March, I observed that I often got the same problem every time I have my period. As soon as I stopped my workout during those days, I find it hard to get back again to my usual routine. Although I have in mind that I don’t aim to lose weight anymore, I still need to work on it to develop stronger stamina. Since I don’t want to look sick because of the lost of weight, I wanted to continuously work on cardio to strengthen my body instead.

In order for me not to feel bored, here are some cardio workouts that I have in mind which I planned to executive for the rest of the months:

1. Jogging
2. Jump Rope
3. Circuit Training
4. Zumba
5. Power Walk
6. Jumping Jacks
7.  Squats
8. HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)

Other than doing Cardio workouts, I also have in mind different stress relief activity that I’m set to do for this whole year. This is for me to take care of my mental health at the same time and not only my physical aspects. By doing this after my 30 minutes workout routine, it will complete my target time which is 40 minutes in a day. Here below are the different stress relief activity that I planned to execute:

1. Yoga
2. Meditation
3. Breathing Exercise
4. Stretching
5. Positive Self Talk Time
6. Journal Updates
7. Blogging
8. Aromatherapy

What I did also in order to motivate myself more is to take a couple of pictures after workouts and post it in my Instagram story. I just feel so proud and confident every time I see myself doing a consistent thing that I never did before. I can feel how I improved my confidence by doing these self-care activities. Although there are times in this month that I feel lazy, I still tried hard to go back on it. Repetition is they key thing that I emphasized in this month. As long as I keep repeating the whole process properly, my lifestyle will easily cope up with it and every added activity will eventually be part of my daily routine. The workout videos I’d seen in social media greatly inspire me also to do the same. Their healthy lifestyle made me realized that there’s a lot of ways to achieve it but it will all starts within us. 

Once I have enough budget to buy extra things for me, I planned to buy workout equipment and clothes so that I can start to shoot my home workout routine. The things that I have in mind are:

1. Workout clothes
2. Dumbbells & Weights
3. Yoga Socks
4. Workout Shoes
5. Sweat jackets for Running
6. Smart Watch
7. Resistance Bands

Just by thinking of these things makes me so excited. Once I will go for vacation on October, I planned to buy it there because I’m pretty sure that it is cheaper than here. I have a lot of things to buy but actually I’m out of budget! In order to make it happen, I need to sacrifice some of the existing expenses that I have which is not my needs. By doing that, I can allocate some money for me to buy those things. As you all know, I have a lot of financial obligations this year that inhibits me to buy things out of my plans. From the two-house renovation, payment of my two insurance and retirement fund and many more other existing obligations that I have. I just hope that I’ll receive good news this year so that I can somehow adjust my budget and make way for the things that I wanted to buy for myself.

Overall, I still consider this month a successful month for my self-care journey. I will use all the failures and mistakes I experienced to come up with the right plans that I’ll do for the month of April. Now, I will make it sure that I’ll be more consistent and stick to the routine that I’ll make.

“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”-Jim Ryun

April Work Out Progress

In this month of April, I was given more time for myself due to Ramadan wherein we only have five hours duty.  For me to prepare my day and make it sure that I’ll make time for my workout, I prepared two sets of daily routine that I’ll strictly follow in specific days. I made those routine few days prior to the start of April so that I can follow it on the first day of this month. I believe that the beginning is the most important part of any plans. This is because once you failed to start it in the very beginning, the tendency is that it will be the same for the rest of the days. The more I’ll push myself to repeat the process for at least a week, it will help me to adjust to it right away. As soon as I completely achieved the routine for the first week of April, I started to become consistent on it in the rest of the weeks.

What I did in order not to let my laziness win over, is as soon as I reached home around 2:30 pm, I will hurriedly change on my workout clothes and start it 3:00 pm. My workout routine is five times a week starting from Saturday to Wednesday and the two remaining days will be intended for my household chores and cheat day. To give you a glimpse of the routine that I did, here below is the illustration of it:

By following these two routines I set for the month of April, it became easier for me to manage my time well. Who would’ve imagined that I was able to stick to my routine for the whole month? Here below is my record of workout for April:

As I assess myself for the whole month of April, I feel so proud that I was able to stick to my plans until the end! After proving this strategy effective, I decided to do it for the next couple of months so I can make sure that I’ll achieved all of my monthly goals! The routines that I made a print out and posted in my room, greatly helps me to remind myself on the tasks that I need to do. Because of that as well, I achieved a new online training certificate within two and a half weeks doing the routine! Isn’t it amazing? Truly that this month Is jampacked with a lot of productive activities that help me to develop myself more. I never been so productive like this and because of that, I planned to do it consistently. It’s not like I’m not productive before but it’s just, I feel more motivated to work on my goals this time.

To give you the workout that I did for this month of April, here’s the workout videos I did:

1. Yoga
2. Meditation
3. Breathing Exercise
4. Stretching
5. Positive Self Talk Time
6. Journal Updates
7. Blogging
8. Aromatherapy

What I did also in order to motivate myself more is to take a couple of pictures after workouts and post it in my Instagram story. I just feel so proud and confident every time I see myself doing a consistent thing that I never did before. I can feel how I improved my confidence by doing these self-care activities. Although there are times in this month that I feel lazy, I still tried hard to go back on it. Repetition is they key thing that I emphasized in this month. As long as I keep repeating the whole process properly, my lifestyle will easily cope up with it and every added activity will eventually be part of my daily routine. The workout videos I’d seen in social media greatly inspire me also to do the same. Their healthy lifestyle made me realized that there’s a lot of ways to achieve it but it will all starts within us. 

Once I have enough budget to buy extra things for me, I planned to buy workout equipment and clothes so that I can start to shoot my home workout routine. The things that I have in mind are:

I do this workout video followed by a 10-15 minutes stress relief yoga for the first two weeks of the month. After I feel that I’m losing more weight than usual, I decided to have an alternate workout.

Here’s the other workout that I added in this month. Together with the first video, I alternately do these two workouts in the last couple of weeks of this month.

Looking back in the time that I started, I officially finished one year and one month doing home workouts. It was a long period of pushing myself to achieve healthy lifestyle and this was the best decision that I’d ever made. Sometimes, I think if I didn’t work on this, perhaps I’ll be in that same place where I am insecure about myself. This simple activity greatly helped me so many ways and I don’t want to put it into waste. Even though sometimes I still question the essence of doing this, but as I assess my journey, indeed it was the right thing to do. The whole process always take time, it wasn’t really an instant change. For me, it took more than a year to see the changes of my physical and mental aspect. To summarized all the things that change upon doing workout, here are the following:

1. I improve my own self confidence.
2. I slowly get rid of my insecurities.
3. I started to invest on myself more.
4. I realized that our own selves play a big role in our own life.
5.  I stop procrastination.
6. I started to allocate a specific time of the day solely for myself.
7. I became healthier from my lifestyle and food choices.
8. I learned to accept my flaws.

Before this month ended, I became equipped with realizations that inspired me to continue what I started. The confidence that I am slowly building in for myself remind me that I am worth of everything that I am dreaming of. One thing for sure is that, I will not let this journey comes to an end. I will continuously pursue things that will benefit me the most like doing these simple activities. I may experience challenges in the future, but my mindset will be fixated in my ultimate goal which is to be happy.

For the next month, I planned to do HIIT workout, Jogging, Yoga and breathing exercises. Since I will have a limited time after the Ramadan, I also decided to make a routine fit for my schedule on the next month. Here below are two routines that I’d set for the month of May:

In these remaining months of the year 2022, I promise to make most out of the moment. There will no be wasted days because I’ll make it sure that it will be filled with activities that will help me to achieve the best version of myself!

“The mind is the most important part of achieving any fitness goal. Mental change always comes before physical change.” – Matt McGorry

Here’s the summary of the successful months that I achieved my fitness goals. By means of doing everything consistently, I learned to value my own self and develop it into something that I never thought of achieving.

Now, I am better than the old me.

This year is truly one of the best periods in my life. It was the start of everything and I can feel how the things fits perfectly in their right place. I am happier than before. The new me is the result of the things I sacrificed in these past months.

This journey of mine is the reminder for everyone that everything is possible once you put your heart, mind and soul to it. There will be more goals to unlock but as early as now, I am claiming that I will achieve all of it!

“I will beat her. I will train harder. I will eat cleaner. I know her strengths. I’ve lost to her before but not this time. She is going down. I have the advantage because I know her well. She is the old me.” – Anonymous