Monday Motivation: Notebooks and List Making

The notebooks in my bag today...

I carry notebooks with me all the time, I still get a thrill every time I buy a new one and think of all the things I will scrawl on the pages. I use my many notebooks for lots of things. I use my jotters for writing down my random ideas after a drive or sleeping, to organize marketing campaigns for work and to write long and short scripts. But, the biggest use of all of my blank sheets of paper is to make to-do lists. I am the Queen of Lists.

I used to be compelled to write my lists every day, I still do this at work each day but I have scaled back to weekly, monthly and yearly lists. Most of the items on my list are aspirational; they help me reach a larger goal. Others are smaller tasks or chores that need some slight nudge or push to get done. 

The single list I find most beneficial to my health is my eating plan for the week. I jot this down in my schedule during weeks when I really need to get back on track with clean eating. I reward myself with a predetermined treat if I meet my daily or weekly goals. 

Even though I love the way it feels when my pen hits the paper to start planning, I am looking to get rid of my manic array of notebooks. After buying my Fitbit I stopped carrying around my gym notebook, it now lives in a pocket of my gym bag just in case. I do not miss it, but I do miss looking back at my lifting progress. For my fitness blog please click here. 

I have always been a fan of keeping a physical planner, but I feel it will have to go as well. Last month I treated myself to a new laptop and I want to make the most of it in conjunction with my iPhone and other gizmos. 

So here is my question to you, what is your favourite app that keeps you organized? Better question, what motivates you? My lists and my little rewards are clearly my motivators, what makes you tick?  

A photo posted by Kate Bruce (@kategbruce) on Apr 29, 2015 at 8:31am PDT

When Life Gives You Lemons, Write a Blog

I have tried to hush-up about a little car accident I was part of a little over two weeks ago on my vacation, but today I just have to vent about it a little bit.

Here is the story: On our drive back to Calgary to leave for my boyfriend’s family trip to New York we left Mountain FM when I was done work around 5pm, we knew we would be getting into Calgary late but we wanted the extra time at home to check out Stampede. Around 11:30PM we were on a dark stretch of road (somewhere between Black Diamond and

Pincher Creek) and a bear found its way onto the road. My car was pretty damaged by the hit and the bear died as a result. After around 45 minutes of waiting for emergency services we finally were able to get out of the car (the bear had been alive for a while and we did not want to cross paths with it so we stayed in the car), I don’t think I have ever had a longer wait for anything my entire life. We had to keep the car on, it was pitch dark outside and we only managed to have one bar of cell phone service between the two of us. Looking back at it we were pretty lucky to get a complete phone call in to 911 at all.

Now almost three weeks later I still am trying not to think about it because it makes me pretty sad. My little car was a brand-new, three and a half month old 2013 Ford Focus and I love (maybe loved) it so much! Every time I get into the 2006 Ford Taurus I am renting it makes me sad, I have never connected with a car before… now I know that feeling. Even though I had only had it for three months we had been through a lot together, driving from Nova Scotia all the way to the Kootenays. We spent many hours together… especially a rough one stranded in Fargo, North Dakota after my boyfriend misinterpreted the amount of kilometers left on the gas meter.

Part of me feels a little stupid for having such an emotional response to a material thing, even though my iPhone shattered when the airbags deployed I don’t get the same response when I look at it… I am not a huge fan of the glass shards sticking out of it, but that is a physical thing. I had been pretty hardcore about protecting my little iPhone, after seeing some of the damage people I know have done to their iPhones. The feeling I get when I look at it now is just a little reminder that instead of sliding into my cute little ‘candy blue’ Ford Focus, I will be climbing into a vehicle that still has a tape deck.

I am so thankful no one was injured (past bumps, bruises, cuts and soreness) in the accident, but my heartaches for my little car. I can’t wait to have her back (or one of her many twins), until then I will continue to be petty; hoping and preying for her speedy recovery.