Advice for the ultimate go-getter

Whew, this has been one of the craziest months for me in a long time. I’ve been meaning to blog a lot more, but as you all know life gets so busy you have to choose priorities… mine have been training for my 10k – leading into my half marathon training (running and strength!) and enjoying time with close friends. This past week I’ve realized I’m coming up to achieving three of my major goals and it’s time to start prepping to set and refocus on some new ones.

I find that most of the time my head is literally in 20 places at once (what I’m going to eat for dinner, projects at work, tweeting and keeping up on my connections, planning my runs and workouts, social events with friends, etc..) and these past few weeks I’ve been overbooking myself – which is not cool (sorry to those who I’ve had to reschedule with!) Due to this, I’ve had to re-focus my priorities and I wanted to share a little inspiration about choosing goals and priorities and how to not get side tracked.

Fitness and communications are the two biggest passions in my life. Finding commonalities between them probably seems pretty difficult, but I’ve realized I can definitely carry my passion for health and fitness through my communications profession. First of all, when I look for jobs, I look for those opportunities that will add positive experiences to my professional and life skills.

Example #1: Searching for opportunities within the health, recreation and fitness industry. I have huge plans for this in my future but I’m starting at the bottom (<- it’s the only place to start unfortunately!). I refuse to settle for just any job, I want the job – and the difference between the person who gets it and who doesn’t, is how hard you want it.

Example #2: Go after that job! It’s called creating your own position. Why try to conform yourself to a specific position when you can create your own? Crazy idea huh? Surprisingly, this is the secret (not so secret anymore!) key to success… or so I’ve been told. Just think about it for a minute. Entrepreneurs typically become successful not doing what others before them had done, but by creating a new concept based off of the example of others mixed with the specific passions and skills they possessed.

My most important advice? Network, network, network!
You want to find out how other’s began and reached their success – ask them! Chances are you’re dream career/job/goal isn’t exactly like theirs… but by reaching out to several (100’s?) of others you’ll get a pretty good idea of the direction to head towards.

Lastly, I treat everything as a mini challenge for myself. From going alcohol free for a month, to flossing twice a day for 30 days, to running 4 days a week – I set myself mini challenges that only I can hold myself accountable for. If I blow them off, I have to answer to me – and I don’t know about you, but I am my worst critique. Take a look at Scott from YourInnerSkinny’s challenge for everyone to Challenge themselves:

So how are you going to stay focused? Write it down! Blog about it, make yourself accountable and set mini rewards for achieving your priorities and continuously set new ones.

Overwhelmed? Don’t be – it’s your future you are chasing – go grab it!

Network, Network, Network!

If you know anything about job hunting, you know the key to landing a great opportunity is not only about who you know…it’s about who they know. Networking is essential when it comes to finding a job in the public relations industry – hands down. By the way, these wise words are spoken mostly for those individuals who already have a decent network of people to network with… and then you have me who landed in this city with z-e-r-o.

So remind me again WHY I decided to fly across the entire country and put my feet in the Pacific (it’s on the ol’ Bucket list!)?

My answer – Why not? Afterall, I have this view only a few blocks from my front door…

 As for the networking? Don’t worry everyone – I’m on it! In case you don’t know me very well, I love to network! I’m all about meeting new people and trading expertise and advice or simply getting a new perspective. I love being around people… which might explain my obsession passion for coffee shops :)

On another note I got up and killed Insanity 2.6 (Plyo Cardio Circuit) this morning! I have to admit, I think this is the workout I despise the very most – which only makes me work harder! After the sweat-a-thon it was time for a quick breakfast of glorious oats:

And then off for coffee with a new friend :)

Since it wasn’t raining (yet) Faith and I decided to venture across town to a cute boutique I follow on facebook called Barefoot Contessa. I saw a picture of a new necklace they got in – and Fell-In-Love (over the internet) and needed to have it! So we hopped on the bus and rushed over in hopes that it was still there… and it was!

Ta-Da!

If I can step out of the daily report for a moment – I have got to share this inside element into the life of Amanda.

I consider the best moments in my life the unexpected ones that unexpectedly appear and make me stop in my tracks with amazement/awe/appreciation. We found this sign outside of Barefoot Contessa before going in (I’m in love/obsessed with everything Marilyn Monroe  by the way…)

As we continued our walk down Main St. in search of a coffee shop – we fell in love with the patterns pressed into the sidewalk:

 

 

 

 

 

 

We settled on a local Starbucks and I got a yogurt + granola parfait + S. Pellegrino + a pear (<– I brought that with me!). I’m sorry I honestly cannot drink their coffee – no offense to SB lovers! BLEH!

Once the music got to be too much for me (Mexican???) we packed up and headed on home! It was JUST starting to rain as we walked home from the bus so we decided to make fajitas and do some work from home…which resulted in many wasted hours of random laughing :) What else is life for after all?

I felt like it was a productive day all round! After a few scoops of peanut butter and a banana for a snack – we are off to bed! I’ve got to rest up for Insanity 2.7 in the AM!

Stay tuned for a possible update on the job prospect ;)

Night!