Woody Wonders

Time to reflect and review Despite my best efforts to slow down time, it's not worked; so here we are again, not only reflecting on quarter 2 of the year but also doing a half year review.  I mean come on, halfway through the freakin' year!! I'll kick things off shall I, by bringing you up to speed on what's been happening in my life.  This is definitely a good way to keep accountable - tell someone your goals.  It's certainly worked for me as I knew I'd have to write this blog at some point and tell you lot! Woody's Goals Start a blog.   Obviously this goal is going really well because here you are reading it and thank you for all your lovely comments on how much you are enjoying it.  It's good to know that it's not just myself and Mr Bob who read it, although to be perfectly honest I'm not even sure he reads it - the support of a husband eh?  Actually, this should find him out because he'll either be highly offended that I...

Carbohydrates - Good, bad, indifferent? First of all, there's no 'good' or 'bad' foods so let's not go down that route (you can of course, have a good or bad diet overall).  But one of the most popular questions I get asked is "what carbs should I be eating and how much of them?" Basic carb facts: Found in foods such as bread, rice, cereals, fruit, starchy vegetables and sugars foods. Contain 4 calories of energy per gram. Simplest form is glucose but carbs range from a mix of simple sugars to hundreds of individual sugar chains which form complex carbs such as wholegrain breads and cereals. Also grouped according to their GI (glycaemic index) which is how quickly a carb releases glucose into the bloodstream. How much: Let's keep this really simple without having to use a scientific calculator to work out how much you need - it largely depends on how much you MOVE! If you spend all day on your feet, moving around and a...

Dealing with the unexpected Without disclosing too much, a few people I know have recently had to deal with 'unexpected situations'.  So this week I thought I'd give you a few tips on how to cope with the unexpected, and when I say unexpected I mean when something completely side swipes you.    There you are, pootling along quite happily when WHAM, the unexpected comes along and takes your feet from under you.  Whilst you're laying there on the floor with little stars floating around your head, here's some things to think about: Gain some perspective on the situation: This is a really important part of coping with the unexpected.  Seriously, have a think about how much worse things could be and that will force you to think about the positives you can take from the situation.  Be truly grateful for the fact that no-one's life is in danger; anything else is surmountable. What can you take from the situation: How can you grow and become stronger...

Don't be a slave to the bell I think most of us have heard of Pavlov's dogs experiment where Pavlov presented a stimulus (the sound of a bell) and then fed the dogs, after a few repetitions the dogs started to salivate merely at the sound of the bell. It's a bit like that with social media, we don't even need to look at our phone; we hear the notification bell and we're  like "ooh, has someone 'liked' me". Don't get me wrong, I'm not averse to surfing the social media sites and I think it's a great platform for both business and pleasure, and that's the point I want to make today - social media has to be used in the right way to gain the most benefits. We often misinterpret what we see on social media, for example, it tends to give the impression that everyone we know are in great relationships, take 5-star vacations around the world every other week and are generally 'winning at life'.  We know in our rationa...

So what do you do on Fridays? I started my 'side hustle' in 2006, way before it was trendy to call it a 'side hustle' and having two careers became 'a thing'.  Although to be perfectly honest, back in those days my 'side hustle' consisted of one boot camp on a Thursday night and writing the odd training programme.  For quite a few years, it remained like that and then in 2011 I decided to do a 'walk to run' course and it kind of exploded after that.  I started taking on more fitness clients and I eventually dropped down to 4 days in my 'day job' as a PA so I could do more fitness work on Fridays. I was torn as to what to do as I felt under pressure to choose one career over the other.  I really enjoyed being a PA.  After starting out my office life as a receptionist and working my way up the 'admin ladder' I quickly realised that I wasn't cut out to be a manager or anything like that but being a PA was the next best t...