You've Got This

I got this.

I've been bandying it around a lot lately. And it's fun to say. This was my attitude going into the City2Surf, a 14km race from Sydney's CBD to its coast. I'd never run that far before without stopping. What sort of brazen confidence was this? I'd say a few things helped inform it along the way.

• Listening to People

Oddly enough, when people tell you things, they generally have your best interests at heart, and this was the case when I announced the bet to lose 20kgs.One particular member called me out on my use of the words "I hope". They said:

Don't "hope" for it, fucking work for it. You're an intelligent person Marshy, so don't let stupid food choices win. This time, make it a permanent lifestyle change so that there's no 4th try. Don't prove it to ITM, prove it to yourself.

EVERYDAY: eat clean food, train hard, sleep, and repeat.

It can be done. 

 The words resonated, as they should. The member calling me out achieved this transformation. Abosolutely awe-inpspiring.

• Training

You just fucking do it. There's no excuses. You make time. I've spent years looking for shortcuts, accelerating programs and burning out too fast, applying new theories to do anything but train. I get angry at old me just thinking about my old excuses. You find what works for you and you run with it. It's not meant to be easy, but it's not meant to make you hate yourself either. Once you start, they say 21 days is how long it takes to be formed. I don't know about that, but the thought of not running seems like a really, really stupid idea now. As does not logging what I eat, which is next.

• Look at what goes in your mouth

I hate diets. I really do. The concept of doing something radically different to your normal habits in some sort of sustainable manner does not make sense. They work for some people, but not for me. For my situation, I didn't need a diet, I needed a transformation. My habits were already terrible and I needed to make myself accountable to myself and learn along the way. The only way that seems to work for me is by tracking everything that goes in my mouth. And that's what I do.

Yep, I'm commenting on my own achievements

I don't envisage me doing this forever, but until I know enough to know when I can spoil myself and when I can't, I'm going to keep on loggin'.

And you do this every day. Every fucking day.
Then days like the City2Surf come up, and you get to wear a medal.

Look at me, I got a medal

I'm not there yet. And I don't think I ever will be, because I'll just keep shifting those goal posts.

You've got this.
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Being Bi-Bi: A call-to-arms

A lot changes in two weeks.

I blogged about new intentions then. I wanted to reframe my endeavours, but I think even then, I was still a little lost.

That changed last Thursday on the 26th July this year.
I'd been exploring options, looking at where I could apply myself outside work, and the answer was staring me in the face.

The meeting was by chance, I'd mentioned on Facebook that I was looking at an MBA and whether people had any experiences with this kind of degree. A friend-of-a-friend shared a few thoughts, and I decided I should pick their brains over coffee.

So the night came along, the coffee turned into an after-work soda water, and I put it on the table.

I said I want to do something entrepreneurial. I said I've got business ideas that I want to execute on. I said I want to make a difference.

They probed, did I really? What's driving me? Don't I have a book I'm trying to publish?

Things snowballed. There was a twinkle in their eye that suggested I could do this. What was holding me back? I threw up a list of pathetic excuses. All of which were shot down. It's the time for action. This is the business I've been looking at.

We brainstormed.
And to be honest, since then the ideas have not stopped flowing.

I have registered Being Bi-Bi - the site with which I will promote my book. I started talking about it with people. I got in touch with a photographer friend for visuals. I started writing out a plan for finishing the book, building out the site, and for marketing the shit out of it.

There'll be more to it than this page when I'm done with this

This will work. I've effectively been a digital marketer for four years and it's time to practice what I preach. I'm throwing everything at this. There will be no kitchen sink left.

And I'll be blogging about the experience (naturally).

Check out this site I have for planning and sourcing help, I'm currently after a mentor/coach but there will be lots of other things.

And what do I hope to achieve? Any money from the proceeds will go to Soften The Fck Up - an organisation I believe in, and if you don't you should watch this video and try not to be moved.

It's coming. And no stone will be left unturned.