Students all over the world are currently cramming for exams (me!). Exam takers can be separated into two groups. One group ready for exams to be over, the other is freaking out (me again!). Until time travel is realized, I only have a few days to get the most out of my 30 year old (not as pliable as 20 year old) brain. Whether you want exams to just be over and done with, or you are cramming all nighters in sheer panic mode; the first step is to breath (take a deep breath now). Now tackle the following one by one:

What should I be studying? 
Depending on whether you had a good plan all along or just kind of dove into it, you may feel lost about what to study. This really depends on your situation. If possible, focus on the areas that are easier to gain marks from in the exam - if you are going to Athabasca University pay super close attention to the lesson notes (exam tips are almost always found throughout). If you already have a pretty good overview of everything, then it’s time to tackle the details. Memorize those definitions, formulas, and diagrams. Always take time to work on practice questions before you take the actual exams. Remember that multiple choice is about the best answer for the question. 

When should I be studying?
How you spend your time is very important these last few days. Your concentration peaks throughout the day. Think back to when you are most efficient. I'm super efficient from 9-11am then from 1-3pm and from 5-7pm. Don’t stress your brain with all-nighters or compromising breathers (even just a walk around the room to have more time to study. It may end up being counter-productive. You should have a steady rhythm. 

Who can I ask for help?
Tutors, teachers, or your fellow classmates can discuss and help you with tackling problems you are still having trouble with. Athabasca University has a handy online forum with your whole class so when you run into a problem now is the time to reach out (actually sooner would have been better but alas no time machine)! 


Where is the best place to study?
Studying by yourself? You need to minimize distractions. If you are revising by yourself you should chose a setting providing minimum distractions. Mine is my library nook with a comfy chair and my desk looking out at street (interpretation drawing to the right). If you are studying with others, look for an environment where you can communicate without disturbing others and without being interrupted. 

Why?
Everyone’s motivation and goals for their education are different. Whether it is to make your parents proud, to earn a gap year filled with adventures, or to beat your older sibling's test score. Keep that goal in mind (even if it is weird) and figure out what you have to do to achieve it.

Take another deep breath. Everything will be ok. 

Good luck! I'm going to go apply these good tips to my cram session! 

Chief Ron Kreutzer Sr. from Fort McMurray First Nation #468 once told me that “people make mistakes, that’s why pencils have erasers”. That was after I made a big mistake, owned up to it and asked how I could make it right.

Mistakes are how we learn and grow. When I make mistakes I have a common reaction of sheer panic, with all the negative thoughts swarming my head and gut like an angry beehive. Takes for me some time to process, drag myself out of the negativity and ask for help to fix it, if it is something that can be fixed.

The top 10 mistakes that managers make include being:

1. insensitive
2. cold, aloof, arrogant
3. betrayal of trust
4. overly ambitious
5. specific performance problem
6. overmanaging
7. unable to staff effectively
8. unable to think strategically
9. unable to adapt to boss’ different styles
10. overly dependent on an advisor or mentor.

Source: M.W. McCall, Jr. & M.M. Lombardo, "What Makes a Top Executive?" Psychology Today, February 1983, 26-31

Taking the above top management mistakes and applying them to our individual life journeys (sound the horns), I present the top 10 mistakes people make when reinventing themselves:

1. negative thoughts (new mistakes are how you learn!)
2. arrogant view of ourselves (Becky, look at her butt…)
3. lying to yourself or others (calories don’t count on Sundays, right?)
4. take on too much at once (exercise three times a day when you are used to none)
5. succumbing to distractions (nintendo Zelda games are my kryptonite)
6. crossing the line to obsession (cried when my husband gave me pizza with meat on it)
7. unable to make the right type of habit changes (start smoking to lose weight)
8. unable to see the big picture (every action has a reaction even if it a few years away)
9. on a different path than that of your partner (hello divorce)
10. overly dependent on others for your life decisions. (my mom gives great advice, but doesn’t run my life)

The transition takes awhile so all I can say is good luck and patience is your friend. At first, if you are like me, you jump in with all your efforts and make a bunch of massive changes that are neither realistic nor sustainable. I’m told lifestyle change could take months to establish for good.

Good self-management, taking responsibility for your actions, will lead to greater things not only for you but for your family and friends too. Remember it’s OK to make mistakes as long as you take the lesson away from them and learn!

1. Note: As I was writing a draft of this post there was a big crack and bang! There was giprock all over the floor surrounded by a cloud of white dust. I turned around from my desk and saw my father’s leg hanging from the ceiling. Instead of running upstairs to his aid, I snapped the photo below. He is helping us renovate our master bathroom and slipped placing his foot in one of the two access holes in the exposed flooring. First thing I told him was Chief Kreuzter's saying about pencil erasers. I think it made him feel better inside. And then I helped him out of the hole and offered first aid for his scrapes.

​
Check back for a blog post on how to fix giant arrowhead-looking hole in your ceiling.

You don’t need to be a manager, supervisor or executive to steer your life in the direction that you want it to go. You just need to apply some simple steps every day. That's the hard part. We all know they keys to success, the hard part is applying and sticking with them.

I work day by day to take the time to think about my future, set tangible goals and make small changes that help achieve my legacy goals. Simple project management: think, plan and execute. Not as simple as one would think. 

Dreaming is always a fun and rewarding experience. Just to write down your dreams instills motivation and hope. I started with three questions: 

1. How do I want to be remembered?
2. What are my long term goals that will help me achieve my legacy?
3. What are my short term goals that will help me achieve my long term goals?

My answers were way out there! But one of my short term goals was taking an after degree in Management & Leadership with a focus on Indigenous Nations and Organizations. I say short term because I can achieve it within 5 years. My long term goals are 10-20 years and legacy are beyond that.

Don't feel you need to limit your short, long and legacy goals to specific time blocks. In the end it is the journey of deciding who you want to be, what life you want to life, who you will live it with, where you will live it and for how long. 

Self-management is just one tool that can help.

Management "is working through others to accomplish tasks that help fulfill organizational objectives as efficiently as possible" (C. Williams, 2008)

Self Management is the "management of or by oneself; the taking of responsibility for one’s own behaviour and well-being." (Oxford Dictionary)

Photo: That funny looking kid with the sunglasses is me on my dad's riverboat giving a tour to our fellow Athabasca United Church members.

It is soo easy to avoid school. I was so proud of myself four weeks ago for putting together a study schedule, that I then ignored completely. One week away from a major final and instead of studying I organized my pantry and my dad came to visit to help us with our bathroom renovations and I helped him with that. I made chilli, bean chip dip and delicious burgers for supper.

Must do school work!!! Must not continue blog.

I am so weak.

Procrastination leads to terrible things:

• CRA bills
• Forgotten parties or dinner with friends
• Lapsed car registration 

All have happened to me, because of procrastination.  They should really teach kids in school the danger of procrastination. If I had paid attention in CALM maybe they did.

On the bright side I have a wonderful new pantry and light fixtures!

As I log in for the hundredth time today feeling guilty about my procrastion, I read a note from my professor of Project Management recommending an article that will help cope with academic stress. Check it out here.

​Panic, Anxiety and Stress Support (PASS)
University of Waterloo student Tina Chan took the concept of a first aid kit, with its bandages and compresses that are used until help arrives, and applied it to the mental health of students who may be facing crisis or stress. Me.

The PASS kit includes:

• Squishy toy
• Ear Plugs
• Eye Mask
• Challenge Cards (mindfulness tips, suggestions to combat mental exhaustion, etc)

I have made a similar kit for myself :) Minus the squishy, I have dogs to cuddle, unless they are barking at me, that increases stress level. In lieu of the challenge cards I have my "Everything is Awful, and I'm not ok" questionnaire. Best advice: take a goddamn selfie!

Here are some helpful quotes:

• "If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, just keep putting off doing it." -Olin Miller
• "Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone." -Pablo Picasso
• "Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work in hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus." - Alexander Graham Bell

O.K. I can do this, I will do this, ADMN 205 and ADMN 232 have nothing on this here student!

Rant much? This is my early morning existentialism coming through so feel free to zip on by to the next post. It'll probably have some fun tips and no ranting.

Disasters for many are a turning point. Those who were effected by the fire and lost everything, the disaster defines them in some way, others it does not. It got me thinking about how we self-identify in general. The fluid nature of our identifiers allow us to spin amongst identities.

When asked who we are, we mostly respond with our name and our nationality. I am Elena and am Cree and British Canadian. I am a member of the Bigstone Cree Nation and in the future envision myself living on an unknown island near Antarctica. I'm not an anarchist, I'm a globalist. I am a human being. Often a human doing. During this disaster I was a human doing and inspired by my coworkers (who by the way are superheroes) who were driven by the work that needed to be done. My family identified me as a workaholic.

In the end our identity is really all about perspective. Ok now I'm more confused. No more existentialism before my morning coffee.

If you read this and are now stressed see diagram below. I suggest printing instead of banging head on computer.

Self management is taking control of your own actions in order to achieve your life's purpose. What I struggled with the most was direction. When I was in high school I had clear written down goals and achieved them by 24. Then what? I didn't really know what my purpose was and more importantly what it wasn't. After getting married it took me awhile to realize I couldn't set goals without input and buy in from my spouse, unless it was something secret. Who knows what is secret after a year of marriage but there could be something.

In business, management is getting work done through others in an efficient manner. In life, it is the management of one's own actions. The accountability rests solely on you for you actions. And if you are hitched, your actions are purposefully working towards joint goals.

This weekend we headed to the metropolis of Edmonton to pick out bathroom fixtures and try the 8th best pizza in the world (Edmonton was recently listed as one of the top pizza cities in the world!). While eating pizza we took out our pens and started scribbling on the paper table cloth at Packrat Louie.

It's ok that I'm still in the planning stage of my life. It's an important place to be. Well executed projects, writing and organizations take the proper time to plan. I especially enjoy planning over pizza and vino.

Wine Alert!
Kokomo 2012 Pinot Noir is worth the extra coin. Light and smooth texture didn't overpower the lemon herb pizza. Perfect compliment.

Weekend learnings:
​Take the time to think things through. I wandered about Best Plumbing for an hour just thinking taking it all in before I could even talk to a salesperson. When I was ready I had it all picked out and could hear the pros and cons of my choices and then make an educated decision. Anther tip: listen to the professionals. Their tips saved us a ton of money!

This week's WOW goals!

1. ​Gym everyday
2. Study and submit two assignments
3. Be mindfully present during the day
4. Medidate at least three times
5. KonMari declutter kitchen

Afterwards, I received great advice on how to shorten my talk and focus on the keys points (to prevent further sleeping). I rationalized to myself that there had to be a plausible reason why this man fell asleep and camera up with the following options:

1. ​I bored him to sleep.
2. The subject bored him to sleep.
3. He had a late night.
4. He has an infant at home that keeps him up at odd hours.
5. He has a puppy.
6. He moonlights a second job.
7. He is batman.
8. He is reading the same book as me and just can't put it down (except to write this post)

These are examples of stories we tell ourselves. In all likelihood his falling asleep has nothing to do with me. Or had everything to do with me. I'll never know and will need to let it go, move on and refine my public speaking abilities.

The story we tell ourselves about what is going on with someone else will define our future self-confidence when placed in similar situations. The next talk I give I will be better prepared and hopefully no one will fall asleep (fingers crossed).

Going to research lecture tips for how to keep audience awake for the next while and get back to you. Wouldn't want you falling asleep during this paragraph. Ugh, seriously. He fell asleep. Must rise above the story and release the fear.

​I can't sleep as I can't stop thinking about the guy that feel asleep. What ridiculous irony.

Two days ago I was delivering mini-facials and got to visit with some amazing women and friends that I hadn't connected with in several months. When work doesn't feel like work you know that you are in the right place.

Best part the products really do sell themselves. No sales experience needed, just start to show off your own skin results. Rodan and Fields is the fastest growing premium skincare company for last five years. In 2015, we had 629.6 million in gross sales and are now #1 in premium anti-aging and acne skincares. #2 in premium skincare as a whole right behind Estée Lauder.

Weight Loss Milestone #1

I made it to the 200 mark and am now 199.4!! That is a weight loss total of 9.2lbs. My starting weight was 208.6. Woot woot! When setting my goal weight of 145. I also wrote down motivation rewards for key milestone weights that coincided with holidays assuming I can keep up losing one pound a week. Every lifestyle change, especially diet, starts off with a major weight loss that plateaus and the downward loss becomes far more difficult to achieve. That's what the tangible reward system is there for and the rewards get larger in pricetag. The end goal is diamond earrings from Anne Sportun (Ralph has offered them up as motivation). Diamonds truly are a girls best friend, especially when they are Canadian and raw. Check out her amazing designs!!

I've just finished reading Change Your Habits, Change your Life by Tom Corley. His 13 habits of successful people were featured on an earlier post, but wanted to give a thorough review. This book was just the inspiration and first step I was looking for. It took hardly no time at all to get through (maybe three days sporadic on and off reading).

His book started with the understanding of habits and their purpose as shortcuts to lessen the work load on our brains and more importantly consume less fuel. Did you know the brain consumes 20% of your body's supply of glucose and oxygen? The brain has no glucose storage unlike the rest of your body so when it is working hard when creating new habits it consumes more fuel than normal.

Habits are generally formed over many years of repetitive behaviour and thinking, largely due to your surrounding environment and mirrored habits of your parents, caregivers, mentors, etc... Breaking habits or introducing new ones can be extremely difficult and time consuming. The University College of London averaged habit formation to take sixty-six days to fully form. Who has that sort of superhuman willpower?? Not me.

In order to change your habits you need to be aware of your habits so start a habit journal. I'm using plain ole pen and paper but there are some great apps out there to help (productive is one that I looked at that has reminders). Again using the SMART goals method, work on a few keystone (unique) habits at a time so you focus your energy on their successful formation. Don't spread yourself too thin!

The next step is grading of your habits are they good (+) or bad (-). How do you make that type of determination? Start with your big goals? Where do you want to be in 5, 10, 15 years? Does your habit help you achieve those short or long range goals? MOST IMPORTANTLY are they time effective? Remember that the biggest commodity in your life is your time!

Time is non-renewable and a currency that most families and individuals ignore. To really drive this point home, please please listen to Dr. Randy Pausch's talk on Time Management. Dr. Pausch is the man behind the Last Lecture (September 2007), he followed up with one more lecture on time management (November 2007), 3 months and a few days after he was given 3-6 months to live due to aggressive pancreatic cancer. He passed away July 2008.

Once you have mastered a few habit changes for a week, add more and so on and so forth. I started with my morning habits. Next week, I'll focus on my habits during the day and at work.

Morning Habits
Wake up at 5:30 a.m. and first a pit stop in the bathroom before meditation for 15-30 minutes (UCLA's Mindfulness Meditation Podcasts are so well led - there are even people coughing so with your eyes closed are almost in the room with them). Then I let the dogs out and get their breakfast ready while the kettle boils. Make my morning chai latte and ponder while the dogs eat. Next, setting up a Rodan + Fields post and reading an article on the products, followed by daily goal setting. By then it is 7:00 a.m. and I need to shower, pick an outfit, do my hair and makeup, eat breakfast and hit the road. On the commute podcasts from the Banff Centre (must dedicate entire blog post to these gold mines) play via bluetooth in the car giving my morning a extra jolt of inspiration.

So far so good, I have introduced the following positive habits to my morning routine:

• Waking up at least 3 hours before work starts
• Meditation
• Goal setting for the day
• House cleaning chore (this morning I started laundry)
• Working on my side business
• Trading radio for learning

The ensuite renos have began with the destruction of the dreaded glass wall! Hoorah!! I have disliked that glass wall since I first looked at the house back in 2011. We then bought the place in 2014 and that dislike turned to utter disdain. It mocked me with its 80s glory every single day. I didn't think I could hold a grudge for this long against an inanimate object, but surprisingly did. Which makes this post so wonderful! It's gone!!

The next step was to remove the sink & vanity then the tub, toilet and last the tile. Ralph has put in over 15 hours on this project since Saturday morning, he's a machine when he had his mind set on a goal. On Monday we picked out our tile and accents, just need to look at cabinetry and a freestanding tub. If anyone has any advice on the best freestanding tubs that are less than 60inches, send them my way! Looking for modern and classic but comfort is the big thing. Ones knees should always be covered when in a bath.