It’s Day 6 of the 30 Day Blogging Challenge and guess what?
I’m no longer alone.
When I posted Day 1, I received messages from a couple of friends, Jess and Bernie, asking if they could join as well. And in the last couple of days, we’ve also had Erin and Nils come along for the challenge.
Goes to show we’re more likely to start and stick to something if we have a support group of people around us. It’s why I’m part of an accountability ‘pack’. It’s why I work out of a co-work space. It’s why I keep going back to Crossfit, even though I always find myself cursing everything about it when I find myself on my tenth round of wall balls and my legs are about to give in.
Anyway, that could be a whole post on its own, but today, I’m sharing with you 16 things I’ve done so far in 2016. Because list posts are fun and relatively easy. So here they are, in no particular order:
16 Things I’ve Done So Far In 2016
1. A legless rope climb
It’s exactly what it sounds like – climb a robe using only your arms. I may not be able to do a strict handstand pushup yet, but at least I can feel a little bit like Tarzan. Video coming soon!
2. Validated my ‘Elevator Pitch Workshop’ idea
In February, I delivered an elevator pitch workshop at Hub Melbourne, my co-work space. I marketed the crap out of it, and we packed out the event space. I was rapt. Not only because it was the biggest turnout for a lunch time presentation they’d ever had, but also because it was a nice validation for my work!
3. Went to the Philippines on a sponsored trip
I was fortunate enough to be selected by the Rotary Club of Yarra Bend to participate in the Group Vocational Exchange (GVE) program in Feb/March. 3 other young professionals and myself spent a month meeting and learning from our professional equivalents, as well as experiencing the local culture.
See the video below for a quick summary:
3. Had my one year podcast anniversary
I had a chat with a podcast listener the other day who said “To me, your show is a success because you haven’t quit!”
Creating fresh content every single week is no easy task. You want proof? Go visit the podcast graveyard that is the iTunes podcast directory. You’ll find thousands of shows that never made it past 7 episodes.
My first podcast made it to 39 episodes, and then I decided to pivot and start again, so reaching my one year anniversary was a huge achievement. And I’m still going strong. This week I’ll be releasing episode 71 of Stand Out Get Noticed.
Not subscribed yet? Click here to subscribe in iTunes.
4. Started doing ‘walking meditation’
I find sitting still in a quiet place a real challenge, so I’ve been practicing mindful walking instead.
As often as I can, I go for a walk first thing in the morning, with no music, podcast or phone to distract me. Instead, I focus on nature – the trees, the ocean, the sunrise. And I think about how lucky I am to live in such a clean and beautiful country, and I think about all the things I’m grateful for.
It’s a calming start to the day. I highly recommend it.
5. Found my cafe mojo
I’ve discovered that I do my best creative work in the morning, but when I’m at my co-work space I tend to get distracted by other people.
At cafes, I don’t get interrupted by anyone and I enjoy the background energy and buzz.
So I’ve established a nice little work routine: cafe in the morning, work for a couple of hours (well, as long as I can get away with on one coffee), do my most pressing creative work (writing, idea generation, business planning etc), then I head to Hub for meetings, to do admin, client work, podcast editing etc.
6. Became a temporary cat lady
So I was house sitting for 5 weeks and kind of fell in love with the little cat that Aaron and I were looking after. Even though she demanded breakfast by jumping on my face every morning at 6am, she was very cute and loved a cuddle. Naww.
7. Spoke at an international conference
I was SO excited and humbled to have my own session at the Podcast Movement conference in Chicago last month. I had such an amazing time, and it fully cemented my love for speaking.
Look out, I’ll be keynoting soon at a conference near you!
8. Went to my first ‘doof’
Rainbow Serpent is an arts, music and culture festival held every year about 2 hours drive from Melbourne.
I didn’t know what to expect, but once I was there, I was in awe the entire time. It’s like a giant playground for adults, where no rules apply. There is no dress code, no mobile phone reception, and no 1am curfew. You can dance all night, watch the sunrise, eat breakfast and keep on dancing. It’s definitely not for the faint hearted (or footed).
It took me about a day to get over my initial shock, and then I fell in love with the place. I’ll definitely be back next year!
9. Joined an accountability group
There are 8 of us in our ‘wolf pack’, created by George Samuels of It Will Come. We post our to-dos, wins and challenges in a Slack channel and have weekly phone call catch ups to encourage each other and provide support. It’s a great way to keep on track with your goals.
10. Launched a new website for The C Method
I always underestimate how time consuming it is to create a new website. There are always technical challenges involved and sometimes I just want to scream at my computer and hope that that will fix it. Of course, it never does and I’m forced to enlist help from elsewhere.
But I finally got it launched – you can check it out here.
11. Expanded my voice over talent to online courses
Not many people know this, but I do voice overs for side income. I mostly do explainer/marketing videos, voice mail messages and casino advertisements (yes, really), but this year I also branched into online courses.
So if you need or know someone who needs a friendly Australian voice over talent, give me a hoy!
12. Spoke and sang solo in front of my biggest audience ever
I spoke to a group of 500 graduating student in Manila, and at the end of my session, one of them got up and asked if I would sing them a song.
With 500 people expectantly gazing at me, I couldn’t exactly say no!
It was a great lesson it expecting the unexpected. After that, I felt like I could take on anything!
13. Experienced Chicago in the summer
OMG it was so beautiful!
But if you’re planning a trip there, be warned: it only stays nice and warm for about 8 weeks of the year. The rest of the time it’s windy, cold and miserable. So start planning next year’s summer trip right now.
14. Moved south of the river
In Melbourne, there are two types of people: those who live ‘north of the river’ and those who live ‘south of the river’. And each type has a certain opinion of the other (which I won’t go into here).
I’ve spent most of my adult life being a fiercely loyal ‘northerner’. But earlier this year, I moved in with my lovely boyfriend, who lives right next to the beach in Melbourne’s south.
And you know what? It’s actually pretty good! Can’t complain about going for beach walks every morning…
15. Deleted Tinder
See ‘moving in with boyfriend’ above.
16. Spent 3 hours sharing juicy stories with an overly curious retired couple whilst sipping margaritas and yelling “DID YOU GET ONE?” at people passing by playing Pokemon Go on the beach in South Florida.
No further explanation needed.
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