ready2bskinE

I’ve been thinking about something lately.  The closer I get to my goal weight, the more time I spend evaluating where I am, how I got here, and how far I still have to go.  Only 8 lbs til I reach my goal weight.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that the closer I get, the more I realize how far I still have to go to reach my actual fitness goals.  I still am not a great runner, can’t even say I jog “regularly”.  My inner thighs are still jiggly.  I still suck at push ups.   I think I’ve been working at losing weight, and not so much at actually gaining strength or toning my body to look the way I want it to.  It’s so easy to focus on the weight and think “I’ll work on my muscles once I reach my goal weight,” or “As long as I burn enough calories to lose weight, I don’t need to run.”  “As long as I exercise, it doesn’t really matter how many push ups I can do.”  All this lazy-type thinking has resulted in 1/2 assed results!!

My inspirations are those women who have lost weight AND toned their bodies.  Who are thin and STRONG. Nancy, MJ, and Leida come to my mind.  You guys do things the right way.  Yes, you want/wanted to lose weight, but it was also a priority for you to be stronger (MJ and the P90X workouts), get better at things you weren’t a natural at (Nancy running comes to mind),  and sculpt a hot body (Leida and those ABS!).  You guys have the right frame of mind, and that’s something I’m going to work on getting myself into, too.

1/2 assed effort = 1/2 assed results: I’M LIVING PROOF OF THAT!!   Yeah, I lost weight, but it’s taken over a year and I’m still not at my goal.  And what’s worse, I feel like I’m starting at Step 1 of getting into shape after a YEAR of exercising.  (Ok, maybe Step 2, but still…. it’s frustrating!)

Anyway, I just realized the difference between me and some of my buddies, and I thought I’d point out to anyone just beginning that although the difference may seem small at first, putting in that extra effort really WILL make a huge difference in the long run.  I realize now, that if I had really been giving my workouts 100% all along, I would be so much stronger, so much faster, so much more FIT right now, instead of just saying, “I’m 60 lbs lighter.”  I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m so HAPPY I lost that weight, and I don’t ignore the fact that the weight loss IS an acheivement.  But this blog, I just want to reflect on what I could have done better, to maybe give a heads up to anyone willing to listen.  I’m 1/2 way there: the weight is mostly gone, and now I’m free to focus on getting into great shape.  BUT I can’t help but think it would have been a much better use of my time to tone my body and get stronger WHILE losing weight. *IF* I had done that, I’d be in a bikini this summer, instead of dreading bathing suit shopping yet again this summer; I’d be confident, have a great body fat %, and probably be running a race this summer, instead of thinking “I’ll definitely do that next year.”  Well, I definitely WILL, but wasting time is such a sad thing, because it’s one of the few things we are fully incapable of making more of.

Good luck to all my buddies, and thanks to anyone who reads this and decides to work out extra hard today.    Also a huge thanks to my inspirational buddies.  Hopefully I’ll be catching up with y’all soon! 

**Oh, and for anyone else who may be in a similar position to me, I started a Summer Survivor challenge to help me get closer to my fitness goals this summer.  We’re going to be accountable to each other, so that we don’t waste another summer without getting closer to the bodies we want.    If you’re interested, head over to the forums and check it out!

Well, I lost 1.5 lbs last week, which was a big victory!   :)   I’m so sick of all the up and down, back and forth.  If I can just lose consistently-I’d be happy with even 1/2 lb per week!- I’d feel a lot more confident that I’m doing this right.  But honestly, I started keeping a journal last month with my weight and measurements, and in one month of working out probably an average of 4x per week and counting calories, I lost a grand total of 1 lb, and GAINED 1/4 of an inch in each of my calves.  Granted, those inches are muscle-If I were going to get fat anywhere, trust me, it would be in my belly and/or butt, but they stayed the same.  All that walking and jogging has my legs looking pretty darn good, but the belly is still the same. 

Mark my words guys, this month, I’m going to be in the floor every freaking day, working on my abs, figuring out how to do Pilates, might even buy one of those Bosu balls I’ve been hearing so much about.  But my waist measurement WILL come down this month!  I can’t waist any more time… I’m just sick of wasting time.

One of my biggest issues with my weight going up and down is my stupid sweet tooth.  It’s almost like I can’t see a cookie without wanting to eat it.  What’s up with that?  Like there’s a glitch in my brain… when it comes to sugar, my appetite gets stuck on the “on” switch.  :(  Is it my willpower?  Do I just not care enough?? Do I just not hate my flabby belly enough? I believe that conquering my cravings for junk food is the key to taking my fitness to the next level.  So I’m just going to take it one day at a time, and be accountable here for what I eat.  My goal is to go for one month without disappointing myself, but I’ll just start by focusing on today.

TODAY I will eat only things that make me happy and proud of my choices. TODAY I will work out til I’m satisfied that I’ve worked as hard as I could in the time that I have.  TODAY I will take that one small, but oh so important next step towards reaching my goals.

Today is Day 3 of my new start.  :D  I decided to zig zag my calories this week, along with my new, improved workout plan and “half plate method” I’m doing this week. Hopefully that will help shake things up and burn some extra fat.  Have I mentioned my half plate method that I’m trying this week?  I just decided that no matter what meal it is, breakfast, dinner, whatever, half of my plate will be full of fruits and/or veggies. Then the other half can be eggs, wheat toast, chicken, potatoes, whatever.  Can’t fit a ton of mashed potatoes on a plate that is loaded with veggies and some chicken, so I’m hoping this method will help me #1 watch my portion control and #2 keep my calories in check.  Just something I’m trying out.

 Yesterday shopping with my family was AWESOME! Everybody went: my mom, dad, and 17 year old brother, my two kids, and my husband. It was so much fun!  :D  I love shopping with all of them.  The kids are MAJORLY entertained with that many people they love surrounding them, and no one gets frustrated because there are so many adults that we actually compete for the kids attention, rather than getting irritated with them when they won’t be still.  We were ALL worn out by the end of the day.

 And I got some new clothes!!!!  WooooHOoooo! Finally, some clothes that FIT!  Pretty much everything in my closet was getting too big. Some of it was ridiculously big!  (But I was wearing it anyway, which *I think* speaks to what a low-maintenance woman I am! LOL)  No, it’s just that, my husband was like, “You ALWAYS want new clothes!”  And I DO NOT! I just think, that since I’m down to a SIX, it’s time to retire the size TEN jeans!! I mean, what woman wants to wear a ten when she’s a six?  Any hands??  LOL   So I’m pretty excited!  I tried a pair of size seven jeans that I just KNEW would look awesome on me. They were so cute, and ON SALE, but….. I needed a size FIVE in them, and they didn’t have any. (You know, they just put the random left-overs on sale, so you don’t always get lucky.)  But I wasn’t upset!! I was on cloud nine that I needed a size five in them!!  :D   (Mind you, I do NOT wear a five in everything. The jeans I wore yesterday were 7s and they fit just fine.  So… you never know.)   ;)    Anyway, I didn’t mean to go on and on bragging about my clothes size. It’s just that it’s been A LONG time since I’ve been able to squeeze into clothes that size.  It’s exciting!

I had a green salad (with fat free dressing on the SIDE) and a grilled chicken sandwich for lunch and shared a small order of fries with my two kids, then we went to a deli for dinner and I had a bowl of chicken soup and 1/2 a turkey sandwich with grapes.  I think I was probably within my calorie limit for the day, since I didn’t have any snacks or anything.  Oh, we watched a movie when we got home to unwind, and I ate a whole bag of light popcorn myself, but that’s only like 50 calories or something.  So, all in all, it was a great day!

Went grocery shopping today, and got lots of fresh fruit and veggies, so that I can keep up with my 1/2 plate method this week.  Made the kids put lots of the stuff they grabbed back, so thanks to being the MEAN MOMMY I won’t have to stare at cookies, chips (well, I let them get Pizza Pringles, but trust me, I will NOT have a hard time resisting THOSE) cake or brownie mixes, cookie dough, or ice cream.  (Yes, they took each of those things down and tried to put them in my basket, and they’re THREE and ONE!  I’m seriously thinking I should start leaving them at home when I go….  I’d save money, be more relaxed, AND have less temptation to just say OK! to the junk food.  But I guess that’s a subject for another time…. LOL)

One other thing I’ve decided to try, is having a Slim Fast shake and fruit or veggies for dinner. (With my bigger meals being breakfast and lunch, so I can eat more when I actually need the energy, and less when I’m winding down for the day.)  I did Slim Fast when I started out, and I really liked it. It helped me lose weight, and I think the fact that it has actual nutritional value with not many calories might make it the perfect thing for the late dinners I’ve been having.  That will mean I don’t have to cook dinner for myself, so I can eat when I get home from work, and THEN cook for my family. Or while I cook for my family.  But I won’t be eating an hour and a half before bed time anymore.  Just a thought…. I did buy the Slim Fast, but I’m not sure yet if it’s going to be dinner for this week.

OK, my kid is begging for some soup. Made her put the treats back, but I let her get the Shrek chicken soup she begged for.  (btw, they’ll put a cartoon characters face on ANYTHING if they think it’ll sell a few more, won’t they??)  Hope everyone’s winding up their weekend right and looking forward to a great week!

I’m not really sure how I feel about starting over. I mean, I’m “ok” with it, because I know that it represents a fresh start with unlimited possibilities.  I’m a big fan of unlimited possibilities.  :D   At the same time, having to start over means I messed up big time, and that’s a major let down.  It’s like, if I messed up so bad this many times, the odds that I’ll mess up again are pretty good, and I’m so tired of the up and down, back and forth.

The only way to reach my goals (and they are lofty goals) is going to be total, 100% commitment.  I know I have that ability in me: I’m commited to other things in my life 100%, so I know that it’s within my power to do this.

Some of the fitness goals I have for myself:  I want to have muscle tone! Lots of it, everywhere. I don’t expect to be a bodybuilder, but I want no jiggle anywhere.  I want my body fat percentage to be somewhere in the range of an athlete, say… 15%. Right now, it’s somewhere closer to 23-25%.    Not outrageously high, but much higher than what I think looks good on me.  I want to RUN again!  There’s a little bit of a mental block there, because I’ve had a few episodes throughout my adult life of chest pain, dizziness, etc… I’ve had it all checked out, no serious problems found, the docs just say “Don’t over-exert yourself.”  So, I’m sure I’ll be getting back into the game slow and steady, still the question remains, how do you get better at ANYTHING without pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone?  I have faith in myself that I can figure it out though.  Unllimited possibilities, right? 

So I have some very high goals for myself.  I’m not necessarily putting a time frame on this, because I have NO IDEA what kind of pace I’ll be able to keep, and no idea how long it will take me.  I realize that these are things that unlike weight loss, the results are slow to come and hard to measure.  So another goal will be to work on NOT getting discouraged.  I’ll just do the best I can each day, and hopefully by the end of the summer I’ll be able to notice some kind of difference.  I’m definitely thinking of investing in those fat-pinching calipers; I think being able to really measure my progress will keep me from getting too discouraged.  Because let’s face it, some of us don’t exactly see what others see when we look in the mirror.  If you’re like me, your flaws are MUCH more obvious to you than they are to anyone else.  So the mirror is NOT a good, encouraging measure of progress for me.

This is just a lot of rambling, me trying to get my thoughts together and focused on what I want to accomplish THIS TIME around.  Yesterday was Day 1, again.  I had 1700 calories, as opposed to the 1500 I was aiming for, but it’s still less than my BMR, so I’m not going to beat myself up about it.  Today I will hit my 1500 goal, and tomorrow I  have a marathon-shopping session with my mom, so as long as I make a good choice when we sit down for lunch, I’ll be good for the day.  Some people have a harder time with their diet when they’re out, but for me it’s 1000x easier than being at home.  I LOVE being busy, and at home, I mean, I *am* busy with the kids and cleaning and all, but the kitchen is RIGHT THERE, only takes a second to have a snack.  When I’m OUT it takes planning and action to eat… go somewhere, wait in line, purchase something, take time away from my LOVE shopping to eat, so a snack is not NEARLY as appealing then.  Does that make sense?  So tomorrow should be a very good day, and today will be easy too since I have a ton of errands to run.  It’s payday, so you know, bank run, pay bills, etc.  Not everyone’s idea of fun, but I like running around, being out of the house.

So anyway, I think I have my goals set for the next couple of months; I know what I want to work towards, anyway.  It mostly revolves around working this FAT off.  I know what I have to do: commit, run, weights, Pilates for that ab flab.  Planks planks and planks with side dips, planks with alternating push ups, then a weight session, and a walk/jog this afternoon (if it doesn’t rain) on the schedule for today.

Ok, I should have seen this coming. I woke up two days ago with a big, bright red ZIT right between my eyes. And I’m not one to brag, but my clear skin is one of the things people have always complemented me on, so having that thing right there on full display is my skin’s version of a crisis.  Should have known something was up.  But I just figured, oh well, I get like 4 zits a year, I’m not gonna make a big deal about it.

Then yesterday, I TOTALLY BLEW IT with my no-binge goal.  Didn’t mean to.  At first, it was just the cookies. I wanted a couple of cookies and milk. It was ok, it totally fit into my calories for the day.  Then my husband decided to get pizza for supper.  So I had one slice. That’s what I told myself: just one slice; it’s thin crust, no big deal.  Then that salty pizza totally kicked my cookie craving back into high gear. I was like ok, one slice of pizza, one cookie for desert.  Then eating that cookie turned into two, then I wanted one more slice of salty pizza…. and it turned into one of my classic sweet/salty binges.  I must have had 500 calories or more worth of cookies alone, and that’s not including the milk. Pizza, who freaking knows??!  So I know I totally blew it.  Didn’t even make it two weeks. 

Then I woke up this morning, completely had to DRAG my own ass out of the bed, and spent all morning bitching at my husband because he “never” helps me around the house. I even said something along the lines of “I quit. The job of family slave SUCKS and I’m not doing it anymore.”  (????)  Now, normally I LOVE taking care of my family. They’re GREAT, I LOVE them, I want to make them happy; I LOVE having a clean house and happy kids, makes me feel proud as a mom.  ( I know, that might sound really backwoods, barefoot-and-pregnant to all the career women out there, but hey, that’s me!)  So I basically just went off on a tirade that wasn’t even “me”.  For probably the better part of an hour.  Of course, my husband fueled it with his ignorant comments. All he had to do was that “listen with one ear” thing he usually does, and mmmm hmmmm me, maybe even offer an insincere apology and promise (lie) to do better.  But INSTEAD he tells me that he can’t stand that crap women pull, about how they have it so hard cleaning the house and taking care of kids, why don’t I try for one day to do his job, blah blah blah….  So of course, that pissed me off for real. No voices were raised (the kids were asleep, after all) but still, I went off on him.

All for what??  A huge zit, a sweet/salty binge, and huge fight over nothing = PMS.    And to top it off, I just realized my boobs are sore!  AUGGGGHHH!!

I know one thing, he better not try to touch them THIS Week!

Hmmmm…. Just a little update. I’ve been more consistent with my workouts the past several days, and I’m feeling the BURN as a result. Of course, I’m loving every minute of it. 

Still haven’t had a binge, so that makes 10 days now. Oh, I came close last night! I was cooking dinner for the family, and I was soooo hungry I had a string cheese. Then my 3 year old didn’t want to finish hers, and instead of just trashing it, I ate the other half of hers. THEN I grabbed a box of cereal from the pantry…. And put it back.  :D  It’s been a VERY long time since I was able to stop myself in mid-stride with a box of CARB loaded cereal in my hand. (Carbs are definitely my vice, my strongest craving.)  So I’m patting myself on the back right now.  I had a salad instead, and a bottle of water, and a few bites of the dinner I cooked for my family… because I wasn’t hungry anymore.    Looking back, I really don’t think I was as hungry as I *thought* I was. My sister in law had just called and said she’d be stopping by, and I started stressing about whether my house was clean enough, and that’s when I reached for the snacks. So…. yeah. That was a mini-binge waiting to happen, but it didn’t. 

And I’m soooo sore today. I did I don’t know how many crunches and reverse crunches and corkscrew things yesterday. It’s just, I keep saying “I need to work on my core,” and “I hate my belly” but then I stick to cardio and weight circuits like they’re going to magically start solving all my problems. The truth is, I *need* to get in the floor and work my core, I *need* to invest in a good Pilates DVD, I probably *need* to join that gym I keep hearing so much about and take a good Pilates class from someone who knows what they’re doing. LOL   So I’m going to start working on that list of things I need to do, step out of my comfort zone a little, instead of plodding along hoping for different results from the same old workouts.  (Did I really just say that to myself?? LMAO  I’m giving myself some good advice!) 

Well, I guess that’s pretty much it for today. Except one other thing:  I found out today that the Sacred Heart Diet, which is supposed to have originated from some hospital’s cardiac unit, is not really a dr-formulated or approved diet. It’s just another variation of that old cabbage soup diet. 

If I had any idea how to do it, I’d post a link. LOL  But you can trust me. If you want to do it anyway, I mean, I’m not one to say one way or the other. I don’t judge: do what you need to do. BUT I just hate that some people do it, thinking it’s a really good, hospital-approved program, and it’s not.  It’s basically just the concept we’re all trying to follow, which is eating fewer calories than you burn. There’s no magic soup or combination of foods that will make you drop 10-17 lbs of body fat in a week or ten days or whatever.

So…. Good luck to all my buddies on your weight loss journies. Love you guys, thanks for stopping by!

It’s still early, and I haven’t had any coffee yet. I don’t think my brain is fully functioning, so I’ll just keep this short. 

Sunday was Day 9 without a binge.  :D   Feels good to be over 1 week, and I can’t wait til this Friday, when I’ll be able to say it’s been 2 weeks.

Head over to the Forum and check it out! It’s posted under Fitness Challenge.

 So I’ve been reading all over, how so many Buddy Slimmers are in need of motivation. I’ve come up with a Summer Survivor idea that I know will help me, and I think can help lots of other people here, too.  I’m planning for it to run from the first official day of summer, to the last day of summer: June 21- September 21. Each of us can accomplish a LOT in three months, and I think that in a competitive atmosphere, there will be even more drive to get results, so…. imagine yourself 20 lbs lighter at the end of summer, or if you don’t have that far to go, imagine yourself with 10-20% less body fat. Hey, if you’re not a professional body builder, then even if you’re close to your goal weight, you probably have some body fat that could stand to come off.  :D  I know I’m in that boat. My weight tracker SAYS I have 10 more lbs to go, but trust me, there is a LOT more work I need to do than just lose 10 lbs. to be able to call myself “in shape”.  So that’s what I want to focus on in this challenge: Getting us all closer to where we need to be.

I was thinking about having two teams: one who wants to focus on losing weight, especially for people who are still quite a ways from their goal weights; then another team, who instead of focusing solely on weight, will focus more on body fat or inches lost. If there’s anyone out there like me, who will most likely reach their goal weight during this challenge (If the work is put in!) then we’ll still have a ways to go before our bodies actually look the way we REALLY want them to. And along those lines, I was thinking that the winner from each team for a given week, will be that team’s captain for the next week. As sort-of a prize, but also to keep the motivation going. I think that having a different person keeping up the dialog each week will keep it fresh and keep any one person from feeling like they’re carrying the team’s “cheerleading.”  And then, instead of eliminating anyone, the bottom person for each week will be competing for a different title. We all know how it is to have a crappy week; it can either derail your progress, or serve as a stepping stone for kicking it up a notch. Well, for anyone who falls to the bottom and finds they’re way back to losing a significant amount, that person will be competing for the “Comeback Queen” title for the challenge. 

I want to have different challenges each week, one focusing on the diet aspect of getting in shape, and another focusing on the exercise aspect.  Both are very important; most people will be unable to reach their ultimate goals focusing solely on either one or the other. So we’ll be working on all of it, together. 

I ‘m going to try to have a forum thread up and running by tomorrow. I hope to see a lot of you there. 

Anyway, Thursday was Day 6 without a binge. Today will make a whole week!!  :D  I’m excited about that, but it’s hardly a milestone. Two months will be big… I don’t think I’ve ever in my life gone two months without a binge. Maybe not an all day binge, but even when I was skinny, I had mini-binges…. like 4 or 5 bowls of cereal in a row, or 3 huge bowls of ice cream in a row; you know, enough to make me sick in more ways than one. So, one week down, 7 more to go! 

I already blew my personal exercise goal. I wanted to workout for 21 straight days, but yesterday was SUPER hectic. Ran errands all day, with the plan of working out when I got home from work. Unfortunately, when we got home from errands, my baby was BURNING UP. Checked her temp, and it was 102.7. For those that don’t know, they recommend taking a baby to the hospital at 103. So then she starts shivering, and her hands and lips turn purplish, and all she says is “I’m cold… I’m cold!!” over and over. Of course I freaked out, called her dr, called in to work because I couldn’t leave my baby, not even with my mother, with her feeling like that. By the time I actually got to speak with a nurse (the office took a message and had her get back to me!) she was back to her normal color, and the fever had gone down to 101.7. So of course, I didn’t take the time to workout yesterday. Instead, I held her and monitored her all day and throughout the night.  Happy to say today, that the fever just broke this morning, and I’m certain she’ll be fine. You know how moms are… we just freak out over the slightest little illness. LMAO

But anyway, I’m back on track today. Now that I know for sure she’ll be fine, I’m planning a nice long run after work. Well, as long as my lungs will let me.

A chance meeting might seem like a fluke, but scientific research backs up the notion that you can influence your own destiny.

I was reading an article in an old issue of Oprah’s magazine “O”, and she’s come up with some psychology experts who say that 90% of our luck is what we make up our minds it will be; only about 10% of what happens to us is “chance”.  There was an experiment where the test subjects included a man who described himself as LUCKY, and a woman who described herself as inexplicably UNLUCKY.  They were asked to go to a coffee shop (at different times). The man in charge of the experiment had actors stationed inside the coffee shop; one was posing as a millionaire, the rest were instructed to act “normal.”  Finally, a $5 bill was taped to the sidewalk outside the coffee shop.  When the “lucky” man arrived, he found the $5 bill, walked in, sat down beside the “millionaire” and ordered a coffee.  He started a friendly conversation with the man, ordered another round of coffee for them, and left with a possible business deal. When later asked how he would describe his day, he said it had been very lucky. He had found $5, met an interesting person, and had a possible business deal.

The “unlucky” lady walked into the coffee shop without noticing the money taped to the sidewalk. She also sat down next to the “millionaire” but kept to herself, not exchanging a word with anyone.  When later asked how her day had been, she replied that it had been uneventful.

These two people were given the exact same opportunities, but one made the most of them, while the other didn’t even notice them.

Why do some travelers strike up conversations and make surprise business contacts on an airplane while others hunker down and watch the in-flight movie?Why do some people find love at the dry cleaner while others move on to the next errand? By definition, a chance encounter is a random event. Our actions, however, play a crucial role in the outcome.

So why did the lucky man and the unlucky woman have such different experiences? The creator of the experiment, Richard Wiseman, Ph.D. says, “Lucky people create, notice, and act upon the chance opportunities in their lives.” If luck means being in the right place at the right time, he adds, “being in the right place at the right time is all about being in the right state of mind.” Wiseman believes lucky people have a relaxed attitude toward life, which makes them receptive to chance encounters and opportunities. The less relaxed you are, he says, the more you tend to focus on what’s directly in front of you, to the exlusion of possible opportunities on the periphery.

Perhaps lucky people tend to be more extroverted. Typically, they are the type of people who draw others toward them and are adept at maintaining friendships. Wiseman believes the bigger your circle of acquaintances, the more opportunities you have. A typical person knows about 300 people on a first-name basis, so if you go to a party and meet someone new, he explains, you’re only two handshakes away from 300 times 300 people; that’s 90,000 new possibilities for a new opportunity, just by saying hello.

But handshakes aren’t the only way to incrase the odds of a life-changing encounter. Wiseman claims that 80% of the people who TRY to increase their serendipity are successful. It takes only a month, he says, and most people report their luck increases by an average of 40%.

A few keys to success:   PREPARE YOUR MIND.  Don’t leave chance encounters entirely to chance. Instead, try doing a little predictive encoding and get your mind ready for good things to happen. This is the process where you visualize what you want, encode it in your brain, so that you have a better chance of recognizing it when you see it. Louis Pasteur said, “Chance favors the prepared mind.” If you lay the groundwork, then when something happens by chance, your memory goes right to work, and you notice it for free.

GIVE CHANCE A CHANCE.  If you always pick apples in same part of an orchard, you’ll eventually run out of fruit. The same applies to luck. Pursue an active life-get out there and do things-and you’ll increase the likelihood of good things happening. Go apple picking-or grocery shopping for that matter- somewhere new. Eat your lunch on a different park bench. You never know who will be sitting next to you.

RELAX.   If you’re anxious, stressed, or preoccupied, you probably won’t notice good things waiting to happen. You’ll walk right past money on the ground or miss an opportunity to speak with someone in a coffee shop. A ladi-back attitude can lead to all sorts of possibilities, but you have to be ready to go with the flow.

BUILD YOUR NETWORK OF LUCK.   Stay connected to the people you know, and try to meet new people. You can become more of a social magnet by paying attention to your body language. It may sound obvious, but make smiling a habit. Remember that you are surrounded by opportunities. It is just a case of looking in the right places and seeing what is really there.  Why chat with someone on an airplace- or at the dog park, or at a conference- if your paths are never going to cross again? People are opportunities. The gift is in the interaction and the connection with another person, whether it lasts forever or not. And you never know where that gift might lead.