Now that we have reached the tail end of the second day of August already, I figure I should shake a leg on getting caught up with my goals post for the month. I learned a big lesson from my goals last month – I tried to take on too much and put too much pressure on myself. I tried to burn the candle at both ends with earlier morning wake-up calls, non-stop days of mothering and other tasks, and then not enough relaxation at night.

I actually didn’t do all too grand on my July goals because of the overextension of my time and energy. I missed the mark on the following goals I had set for July:

• create and begin a study plan for my personal training certification
• one new healthy recipe each week
• participate in the 3000 in 35 #fitblog #fitabs challenge
• stretch or foam roll for 10-15 minutes daily
• at least 20 minutes each day in concentrated, quiet prayer and Bible study

I refuse to say I failed, though. I did feel aware of stretching more and working on my core – so I made a greater effort than normal with those two activities. I may not have hit the goal, but I did do more than previous months. I may not have accomplished as much studying as I hoped, but I did get through 4 chapters and took the time to know the material well. And I did pass other goals with flying colors:

• I stayed on top of my half marathon training (even with a rocky last week)
• we rocked our budget last month
• applied to the Fitfluential ambassadorship
• I am now thisclose to being finished with any Healthy Living Summit prep work

Where does all of this leave me for this month? I have ONE goal! Better time management. I don’t want to end up burned out by the end of the month again. I want to simply focus on the things that matter each and every day. My goal for better time management will revolve around making time each day for:

God with prayer and Bible study

Family with play time with the kiddos and connection time with the husband

Health Time with choosing foods that make me feel good and keeping up with half marathon training

eep! going to have to do TWO MORE than that this Saturday

Professional with regular study time

Passions by continuing to share what I feel called to share here.

So my goal is simple. I want to manage my time well enough to have each day entail the above and then just allow for other aspects of life to fall into place where they fit. I remember once hearing an analogy in church about our lives are a glass jar. We each must fill our jars with beautiful pebbles (those things that truly matter to us in life) and sand (the relatively inconsequential parts of life).

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If we try to fill our jars with the sand first, we won’t have room for the quality pebbles. However, if we focus on the pebbles first, the sand will naturally fit around them as it gets added later. That’s what I want to do with my time. My energy. My life. And that is my goal for August.

• What is a brag you have for the month of July? And what do you hope for out of August?
• And if you're so inclined...I would feel honored if you chose to nominate me for Mamavation's inspirational "tweeps"! You just tweet the following - I nominate @TinaFFF as one of the Top 50 Most Inspirational Healthy Tweeps, http://bit.ly/nnwaBM #Top50HT

So, who all got sucked into the mindless reality television a la The Bachelorette last night? I sure did. For some reason, I can’t help myself and inevitably have at least one junky show like this to watch every week. Usually I will watch a night or two later, but I didn’t want to risk any spoilers so I caught the show for myself last night. Although I still haven’t seen “After the Final Rose” so don’t give me any spoilers about that!

We still didn’t want to get caught with a load of commercials though, so we made a little plan to use our time wisely. Because even spending time watching this show is a prime example of using time wisely, no? After a fabulous white bean salad for dinner and getting the kids to bed…

…we each took an hour to work on on our own tasks. I studied up another half of a chapter in my NASM textbook while Peter worked on a software project of some sort. Then, we started the trash TV and chilled together the remainder of the night. We usually only half watch anything on TV because we’re I’m too busy talking about other things, but we both found the finale rather entertaining. Hey – my brain needed a break after an overload of information on how to properly assess clients!

Although I’m not complaining. I love all the information studying for personal training has given me. I have picked up quite a few useful tips to apply to my own workouts. Each workout has given me something to get excited about and a new challenge for my body. That gives me the warm and fuzzies. Or, more aptly, the sore and hard-corezies. We’ll just pretend that makes sense.

In yesterday’s full body workout, I incorporated some of the suggestions on supersets and challenging the body with new moves. While the notion of keeping a variety in my exercises is certainly not news to me, my recent studies did serve as a great reminder and got me to actually pull out something different. The switched up layout and addition of some stabilization moves has given me major DOMS (aka muscle soreness) today in my upper body. I even managed heavier weights than I thought I could for most exercises. Guess that week of rest did me good? 😉

Yet again, I did three circuits of increasing intensity. I completed each circuit three times through before moving on to the next. It took about 35 minutes from start to finish.

In addition to the weights circuit, I completed a 45 minute spin class with my favorite, favorite, favorite, favorite instructor of all time. I arrange my workout schedule around her classes because she is that amazing.

She kicked my booty. And it felt so good! Thanks, Sophie!

Needless to say – I’m back on my workout high. My love for fitness certainly works out. Now it shall be interesting to see if Ashley & JP work out as well. Gotta love my fabulous puns and tie-ins! No? Oh well. I still love you. Have a great Tuesday, friends!!!

• How long do you give the new Bachelorette couple to last? I give a year. Tops. I don’t have any faith in those relationships…yet still watch. I don’t get it either.
• What is the hardest thing to come up with for you in a blog post, such as the title or topic? Mine is hands down the transitions between topics!