International Women's Day - Accelerate Action - 7 weeks today!

This Saturday is International Women’s Day – a time for us all to celebrate successes, motivate ourselves to try new things, promote equality and take action. This years strap line is AccelerateAction and I will be taking it literally and ramping up my training as there’s only seven weeks left until the endurance race!

Do you have something you want to do this month or year and struggle to get started or stick with it?

Have you always wanted to try something, like Paddleboarding? Or tried something else. Loved it but for what ever reason haven’t done it again but would love to?

One comment I've had said ‘I had one paddleboarding lesson last year (with another instructor) loved it, next one got cancelled and I didn’t do it again but I really want to give it another go but things keep getting in the way'

So to celebrate yourself as a woman and Accelerate Action in something – why not start on Saturday? 

Sign up to that lesson or challenge, commit to yourself and let us know what that is. 

It’s 7 weeks today in the countdown to Race to the Castle – when myself and likeminded paddlers will take to the river to push ourselves through a 40km endurance paddle.

On one hand seven weeks seems quite a lot of time to do a lot of things - after all, the end of April feels ages away when it’s only the first week of March - however, I read a post on Facebook today that reminded me that time is one of the certainties in life and it passes regardless of how or what we do or feel about it and I know that the end of April will be here in the blink of an eye if I’m not careful!

I can’t put the brakes on the time til the event, I need to focus and crack on with the time I have. I have a very clear plan which I’m already actioning and seeing results so I just need to stick to it to reach my end goal.

Getting on with the task is something that I often struggle with; I find it easy to waft along, let the day float past (sometimes in a frantic floaty way) but I get to the end of it and wonder how I haven’t achieved more or not finished something or even started something I wanted to.

As I’ve mentioned before - hard and fast goals  don’t always provide the motivation I need unless they are linked clearly with a challenge that lights me up.

Having this challenge (and the ones either side that I booked in an overexcited moment!) has given me the focus of ‘Something rather than nothing’ each week initially and as we’ve got closer ‘something more than before’ on a daily basis. Yes, my motivation slips, my excuses form and I stay in bed a little longer than I planned on some days but I have learned a lot during this process. I know if it wasn’t for making the commitment to the challenge in the first place I wouldn’t have the accountability to turn up and be fit enough not to let myself or others down or to be eating well enough so I can enjoy the journey.

Most importantly, my mindset has changed thanks to this accountability. I’m not beating myself with a stick if I don’t achieve but having the consistency to do something rather nothing each day and something more than before each week has been empowering and life-changing on many levels.

If you want to take part in your own challenge of ‘do something rather than nothing’ and move towards 'something more than before'. Sign up here and we’ll send you the information to get started and keep you informed! You may even want to join our group of likeminded women for inspiration, community and accountability.