17 May The journey continues…!
Sooooooo hellooooo everybody…!! Been on radio silence a little lately, just adjusting to my ‘new lifestyle’ 🙂 It’s been a busy couple of weeks since being back in London!
It was fantastic to be greeted by my beautiful, smiley and happy girlfriend after two months away. I arrived back on Saturday afternoon to my favourite home cooked meal of pasta and also a ton of chocolate as we had missed Easter together so had to make up for it….and boy did we make up for it and consume a series amount of chocolate!! Happy days ::))
Earlier on this year I applied to do a Teacher Training Certification of Mindfulness at Oxford Mindfulness Centre which is part of Oxford University and I was accepted to go there for an interview on the Tuesday after I landed. I didn’t met any of their entry criteria when applying so found it a little strange to have been accepted for an interview, but anyway….I’ll take it! I’d describe their interview day and process as a little disorganised and unprepared, they were only seeing each applicant for 20 mins…..20 mins for a year long course which costs £6k to teach Mindfulness??!! After the initial welcome they gave us I was not inspired too much by the presentation especially as they are trying to make Mindfulness more ‘mainstream’ and appealing to the general public. Unfortunately I wasn’t convinced and that continued into the interview were I felt they had not read any of my application so I had to explain everything again. Together with that I had never completed their 1 year of Mindfulness ‘system’ which was a pre-requisite that they seemed to question although it was clearly mentioned on my application. Get my confusion?! I definitely left thinking that it was not for me and the fact they seemed quite rigid in the way they teach Mindfulness which to be honest is not going to generate Mindfulness going viral. Seems like they felt the same way about our future relationship and sent me an email yesterday to say they would not be accepting me based on not having a mindfulness practise??!! So both parties are now happy 🙂 Haha
Maressa and I enjoyed a nice holiday together after that in beautiful Barcelona and Cadaques which is a 2 hour drive north and then also a cool little road trip further north into France for one of the days! The chocolate frenzy continued on that trip and it’s fair to say we have had our fair share now and have had to put a ban on chocolate for a while. Her rules, not mine 🙁
I had a few days between that and my next mini-trip which was to Birmingham to go to a fitness expo called BodyPower. I spent those days doing a little business planning but also ‘enjoying’ doing those chores I had left for when I was not working full time. Exciting things like cleaning out stuff and going to the rubbish dump!!
Birmingham was great, I went with my close buds from the gym. BodyPower is always an interesting weekend, mostly because they have amazing seminars and lectures from many top athletes, doctors, cooks, business guys etc. I pretty much sat in lectures for both days and ate a humungous amount of protein bar samples in-between each talk!!
This week has been about finding my feet, working out the future and direction of the business. It’s extremely different to being employed and rocking into work each day. I honestly don’t think people appreciate the different type of motivation you have to generate when starting or running your own business.
Things I am learning, everyday there are plenty!!!
- You need to get a routine going!! Still wake-up early, exercise, have a daily schedule of things to do and complete
- It’s so easy to be lazy and to get distracted. Try avoid these and not make excuses
- You are going to have many ‘wtf’ moments – how do I start, why am I doing this, what do I do?
- Learning new things take time. A LOT OF TIME. I spent 7 hours today trying to edit a 7min video and then to also edit it into an even shorter video to share on different social media platforms! That time included watching and listening to tutorials on Youtube
- There is so much free information out there. There is no excuse not to find them
- Patience is key, you will get frustrated at not being able to do things well but that is part of the fun and learning curve. Today I learnt so much and it didn’t feel like work for 1 second….although effectively it was all ‘work’!!
- Your days go fast!
In other exciting news, Rep’n and Prep’n is getting a re-brand to fit more inline with my offering and way of thinking. Also something that is a little more professional and appealing 🙂 I’m also honing in on what I really love and want to do and provide so tonight I’m going to an Open Evening for a Chef’s course. I don’t want to work in a restaurant or anything but I do want to learn some kick-ass kitchen skills and also get a recognised diploma. So many other things to write too but slowly does it, I take it this blog will become more health, lifestyle and business orientated as time moves on rather than me writing about my escapades
As always, thanks for reading and hit me up with any questions you may have
Cheers, Gareth
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