Jac's Countdown to 50! page 4

[Jac]

I totally love lists . My Reno lists are all in a file so I can get at them easily, along with the specs and quotes for every step. Being organized rocks .

After teaching today I am knackered. I had blueberries, banana, cacao nibs, and coconut cream for breakfast, leftover chicken curry and rice for lunch, and a tomato/mince brew with kumara for dinner. Very tasty and satisfying. I have tomorrows breakfast and lunch sorted, so I'm all good there. Drinks today were a couple of herbal teas (peppermint and ginger), kombucha, and water. I took a bottle of filtered water to work because the stuff at the hospital ( where my office is) is lukewarm and metallic. Yuck.

Bed early tonight, and more teaching tomorrow. I'm also working on a research project about health literacy in palliative care, which is challenging -I have lots of lists for that one, lol.

[zoebird]

understandable.

in addition to home lists, i have two new lists that I'm churning down:

1. yoga of business side of things -- it's own web site, blog posts (i have 24 to write, plus two folks i'm mentoring in exchange for chronicling their journey in the blog), webinars to create (write, create notes for, etc), and of course, marketing the workshops and mentoring. I've gotten a fair bit done, actually.

2. starting the satellite classes. this was an idea i had a year ago, but moving forward on it has been challenging. it's mostly not having enough yoga teachers available to do it, and the realization that those whom I do have need a fair amount of hand-holding. on that end, it's not at all like the US. people here say that the market is getting saturated, but honestly, i'm 'short staffed!" at the moment. So, figures.

anyway, the plan is to take healium yoga classes out to the wellington suburbs by utilizing the church and community halls. the first aspect will be a parent/child class for the 3-5 yr old set, which is an unmet market. They have kindy, but they don't necessarily have other activities during the week, and SAHP are looking for things. All of the children's activities here in seatoun run long, long waiting lists, too. And, when I take DS around town, I ask the ladies if they would be interested in that sort of class, and if this sort of price point would work for them, and which times of days, etc.

the thing is, I hate teaching kids. I've tried about 20 times and I hate it every time. So, I can't teach it.

One of my friends loves to teach kids, and her daughter is 4-4.5. She's going to teach at our studio, so DH and I can watch the children while she teaches. She's experienced in yoga, but not a yoga teacher -- the main thing is that she knows how to work with kids (and does work with kids). So, this is our first foray, and we're looking at developing it into a curriculum.

From there, we'll bring in and train other teachers, rent the halls for days/times, market the darn thing, and hopefully fill it up with kids/parents.

This was part of my business plan for our premises, but the reality is that people who are at home with kids don't want to come into the city. Most of them stay in their burbs (since burbs here are nice and not like US burbs -- there are little down towns in each burb with restaurants, shops, community centers, etc, which of course Jac knows, but in case anyone else is reading), and I can't blame them. So, I thought I'd take the yoga to them!

It also does well for our brand, and gets it going. So our course in house sets up the marketing and curricula, and at this point, I've got to research venues and create a budget, and then find teachers and train them. I'm planning on giving myself 6 months.

so, that's where we are. Two big lists. Then there are several small ones. Tomorrow is accounting day, so tomorrow's list is to do all of the invoices and then reconcile everything.

[Jac]

Excellent lists, zoebird! Your business sounds like it's gathering speed - seems not all that long ago you were posting about getting another teacher and organising your work space .

My current lists (apart from the reno ones) are around the palliative care project and a big pile of publications I want to get out by the end of the year. The palliative care one is a project I'm taking over from another researcher who has become over-stretched. It's a very big deal, though, because the funder is a national one, and the competition for their funds is extreme. So I've kind of helicoptered in as a lead investigator . Generally getting funding as a 'new' researcher (one with less than about 10 years experience) involves getting known as a good person to fund, and getting known as a good person to fund involves getting funded - it's an ever decreasing circle of frustration. I'm in my 5th year post-PhD, so getting lead of an over $100k project is a Very Big Deal. Building my credibility, though, involves working with the previous researcher's team, ethics approval, and advisory board, so I have lists about all of that . Also, palliative care isn't my clinical area, so I have a big learning curve there.

I crashed by 9pm last night! Slept well, woke naturally at about 5.45 which was in time to have a bath and read a bit of a trashy novel before I had to get into work mode. A bonus was that Tony went to bed early, too, so we both feel pretty good today. Talked all the way to work, instead of staring into space, lol. I could talk to that man for hours, but life seems to get in the way. He makes me laugh .

Eggs in coconut oil for breakfast. No real desire for coke or sugar - in fact a student gave me a 'treat' yesterday - some kind of Scottish junk food called a snowball. Funny to realise that in a lot of situations I have a visceral response that says "that's not food, don't let it touch you!" Wasn't even tempted. The thought of coke surfaced, though, as a reward for getting though the first part of the day and a boost for managing the second. That was my thought process anyway, but it was no problem to recognise it and let it pass.

I'm really, really bloated today; it's getting worse every day. The basic puffiness in my feet and hands has gone, but the abdominal discomfort is horrible. I think it's the kombucha - it's the kind of response I've had in the past to probiotics. I've posted a thread to see if other IBS people get it, and if I should just press ahead and see it as a healing symptom

[zoebird]

Have you had a naturopath run a stool sample? DH was surprised to find so many interesting things.

Or, could it be stress response? I know I bloat when stressed.

Got through a lot of work today, but not accounting. Everything stacked up. Thankfully, tomorrow afternoon is completely dedicated to nothing else, so I can do the accounting then. I do classes at 10, 11, 12, and 1, then I can account from 2:30-4:30 (should get it done in two hours!), then have a break and teach at 5:30.

It does seem like only yesterday that I was just getting starting, and I feel like I'm moving along with plenty of area to grow and try new things. I get so excited and want ti all NOW but try to space it out so that I don't' get overwhelmed.

At this point, I should have Wednesdays, and Thursday nights covered come September, as well as pregnancy yoga off my plate. I'm also likely to cut post-natal yoga, though I'm sticking that into the curriculum for the satellite classes so that we can expand out of the kid's yoga (first class) and into post natal and also pregnancy yoga down the track.

This would mean teaching my core 7 classes at lunch, plus one evening class (tuesdays), plus two corporate classes, plus up to 4 mentoring (one per week; i currently have two) plus up to 3 private lessons (currently have 2). That would put me at 14 hours of "active" work per week, and then I can spend time running and developing the business even more. I'd like to keep that to about 16 hours, which would put me at a 30 hr work week. 4 hrs working on blogs/marketing/etc; 4 hrs doing accounting and general management; 4 hours managing the satellite classes, teachers supervision and training; 4 hrs doing business development.

Wee!

That's the "current plan" anyway. So, i'll work 9-3 on Mon, Wed, and Fri (18hrs), and then 1-3 on Thursday (2hrs), and 9-7 on Tuesdays (10hrs).

There might be work in and around that (from home, etc), but otherwise, it will be nice to cut the work-week back a bit. The toughest thing is that first saturday of the month: free yoga class for loyal students in am, teachers supervision/training for the satellite classes, teacher training for in-house teachers; teacher supervision for all teachers. It's a full day. LOL

[Paleobird]

I crashed by 9pm last night! Slept well, woke naturally at about 5.45 which was in time to have a bath and read a bit of a trashy novel before I had to get into work mode. A bonus was that Tony went to bed early, too, so we both feel pretty good today. Talked all the way to work, instead of staring into space, lol. I could talk to that man for hours, but life seems to get in the way. He makes me laugh .

Eggs in coconut oil for breakfast. No real desire for coke or sugar - in fact a student gave me a 'treat' yesterday - some kind of Scottish junk food called a snowball. Funny to realise that in a lot of situations I have a visceral response that says "that's not food, don't let it touch you!" Wasn't even tempted. The thought of coke surfaced, though, as a reward for getting though the first part of the day and a boost for managing the second. That was my thought process anyway, but it was no problem to recognise it and let it pass.

I'm really, really bloated today; it's getting worse every day. The basic puffiness in my feet and hands has gone, but the abdominal discomfort is horrible. I think it's the kombucha - it's the kind of response I've had in the past to probiotics. I've posted a thread to see if other IBS people get it, and if I should just press ahead and see it as a healing symptom

Hi Jac,
Sounds like sleep is normalizing. Most excellent. And the temptations are fading away. Great news.

About the bloat, I've never had IBS so I'm not an expert there. I read your thread about it and what made the most sense to me was eating good probiotic foods as opposed to taking probiotic supplements. I think they would just absorb more easily and not run the risk of overloading the system with too much too fast.

[Jac]

Zoebird, my mental image of you is like a cute American energiser bunny - one who is very flexible . Your plans sound really exciting - little bit of risk, lots of knowledge. Well done! I like reading about them.

Paleobird, it's a good thought, but unfortunately lots of the good probiotic foods are triggers, as are lots of other foods. I still hope I can get past this and into a less fragile state, but every time I have a flare I can't explain, everything has to come into question again. It gets more complicated by the time between trigger and response - sometimes it's almost immediate, but as I've become more healed it can be up to 30 hours.

I had very little sleep last night, as a full flare hit me about 8pm. At 2am I ended up taking buscopan again, which helped me get a few hours sleep. Triggers could be the kombucha, but could also be the stress of detoxing, then working hard over the weekend, followed by 2 high stress days. It's quite possible that it was all down to stress. It could also be the daily apple I've had for the last few days - it's apple season here, and they're sooo sweet and crunchy. Or it could be all of the above. Today I'm weak as a kitten, and waiting to eat until I'm hungry.

On a brighter note, it was a stunning frosty morning today. This is the view from my front yard. I love living here!
DSCF8512.jpg

[marthat]

Wow, that's what passes for frosty!?! It's green!! What temp is frosty in NZ?

What a gorgeous view!

[Jac]

Wow, that's what passes for frosty!?! It's green!! What temp is frosty in NZ?

What a gorgeous view!

Well, the grass was white . It was 0 deg Celsius - doesn't quite measure up to 'frost' in other parts of the world, I know!

[marthat]

Here's what it looks like out my window on a "winter morning". As pretty as it is, in it's own way, I like your winters better!!



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[Jac]

Oh, wow - that's stunning! And a little bit chilly, no? Our winters can get like that in the South Island and around the middle of the North Island (aren't we imaginative at naming our places?). But it never lasts very long. I think a really long cold blast would be a couple of weeks. And it makes the national news every night, lol. And everyone stays home til it's over!