4 tips to Gear up for the New Year... yes, already!

GAH!  Where has the time gone?  Its been 2 years since Jason and I won the Ultimate Body Challenge powered by FirstFitness Nutrition.  Training for that contest was awesome! I was in the gym 6 days a week, planning and preparing my meals a week ahead of time, packing my lunch and 2-3 snacks everyday... and it just goes on and on.  I can honestly say it was the most productive time of my life!

That year in December, FirstFitness sent us on an amazing vacation as our reward.   It was truly that amazing. 

Here we are 2 years later and getting ready to go on our 10 year Anniversary Cruise to the Western Caribbean!  I can't tell you how excited I am!  Not only have I been married for 10 years to a wonderful and Godly man, we're going to celebrate floating around the Caribbean without a care in the world!

We'll come back into the hustle and bustle of Christmas, followed by all three of our children's birthdays, Valentine's Day, my birthday, all 4 of our grandchildren's birthdays, festivals and fairs, income taxes and coaching our new Team members and Challenge groups.  Wow!  There it is, in black and white!  All the things that could distract us from taking care of ourselves!  All the same types of things that very honestly have been "winning" lately...

It's time to get back on track, make a plan and get focused again!  Today I've sat down and filled up 3 pages of my notebook and blocked off time in my calendar to get back at it! It's time to get back in the gym, time to get my menus planned and meals prepped for the week, get my shopping done 2 weeks out.  As much as the sapphire in me hates to admit it, life works better with a well executed plan! 

Here are some of my immediate action steps:

1. Update menu and grocery list - my grocery list stays the same for the most part and is consistent with my menu plan and nutrition program.
2. Get the groceries - When everything is going according to plan, my shopping day is the Saturday following payday.  I'm over a week late at the moment and my meals are suffering.  I will be getting groceries this afternoon.
3. Prep lunches for the week - If I don't get them prepped the at the beginning of the week, I end up scraping together lunch or going out, this results in high cost and higher carb lunches. I usually try to do this on Sunday evening, but as you can see, I'm behind.
4. Pack my gym bag - I like to go to the gym before work.  This means laying out my gym clothes and packing up my work clothes the night before.  If this doesn't get done, 90% of the time, I'll hit the snooze and skip my workout. 

There are other phases to my plan and I'll be sharing them in the next few days. Things like limiting Facebook time, scheduling blog posts, updating social media profiles and holding weekly business meetings.

How do you stay focused?  What's your #1 time management tip?