PRMariah

Over the past few months, I am been eating healthier and trying to focus on eating a cleaner diet. I have also tried to commit to working out at least three time a week. However, after working, cleaning the apartment and entertaining the guest Hunter and I have had, it’s been rough. I have a few friends who have tried the program Advocare. They all lost weight doing the 24-day challenge, but it also helped them make a life style change after the challenge ended. The last few weeks I have been debating giving Advocare a try. My main concern was the price- retail price is $190.Last night, I gave in and order the 24-day challenge.  One of my friends is a distributor so I used her number for a 25 percent discount. 

The 24-day Challenge should be here by the 19th. I will be posting keeping track of my progress.

Until it arrives, I am starting to do 15 minute yoga sessions twice a day and eating at least two “clean” meals a day. 

To learn more about the 24-day challenge you can visit the website- https://www.advocare.com/24daychallenge/default.aspx

myfriendsaremarried:

and then I’m like..

I have a problem. It is a pretty common problem, but normally goes undiagnosed. This problem has caused issues as small as misspelled words and forgetting a task to injury and death. My problem is Multi tasking.  

As a marketing specialist, all the information available at my finger tips excites me. I want to read about the latest news from numerous sources, tweet it and blog about it all as I eat dinner and watch the news. But really, how much of that can someone retain when they are reading, eating, watching TV and checking email?

Many of my simple mistakes wouldn’t happen if I just focused on one task at a time. If I took the time to focus on just one article, just one tweet, just one email then I would probably notice that misspelled word that occasionally sneaks through.

So the past week I have been practicing this crazy concept of “Mono Tasking”. That’s right. I have been trying to do just one thing at a time. I am not doing this to an extreme, but I am making small changes. I have already noticed a huge difference in the information I retain and even put out.

Here are the small steps I have been taking:

• Keeping only one tab open at a time- There may be three articles that I want to read and Facebook messages that I want to check, but instead of going back and forth every few minutes I focus on one thing at a time by keeping everything minimized until I am ready.
• Turning off the TV and Radio while I am reading/writing- I would like to think I can listen, read and retain at the same time, but it just isn’t possible. When I am trying to read or write that needs to have my complete attention. Have you ever been writing and watching TV then start writing what you are listening too? The brain just can’t completely process both at the same time.
• Spend the first few minutes of my day without technology- As soon as I check my Facebook, Twitter or email I cannot stop. Instead of rolling over to check my phone as soon as I open my eyes in the morning, I am keeping my phone on the other side of the room. When I wake up, I just soak in what I need to do first.

Disclaimer: I still plan on walking and eating, listening to music while working out and many other mindless multitasking activities that I know will not overload my mind and body.  

Today on LinkedIn I noticed a few articles entitled “Things I carry”. I read through a few of them, and it made me realize how much you can tell about a person by what they carry, so I have decided to create my own list.

iPhone – I couldn’t live without it

 Notebook- To write down my to-do lists

 Pen(s)- Even though they always disappear

 Business Cards- Never stop networking, you never know where the next opportunity lies

Lip Balm- I’m a lip balm addict

Granola Bars- Brain food, for days I am too busy to slow down

Aleve- For days where things just are not going the right way 

Emergen-C – I refuse to get sick

Mints- There is nothing worse than talking to someone with horrible breath

Something to read- When I do get a few free minutes, I do not want to waste them by twiddling my thumbs

A few days ago, I woke up at 4:30 a.m. to catch the train to Chicago for an all day media training.

I haven’t been in my career for too long, but I have had the opportunity to attend media training during my time in college and through internships. Even though I prefer to prepare others for interviews and I have never been the shining broadcast personality, I felt prepared for this media training. I imagined we would sit in a room set-up like a classroom and go over the basics- smile, look where the reporter tells you too, stand still and never say “no comment”. Then I walked into our training room, where a middle aged woman just over five feet tall and a middle aged man who was around six foot three stood with all of their camera equipment.

The couple was the former anchors of an Austin, TX morning show. They now work for Hahn, Texas, a public relations firm who specializes in media training. I could tell by just looking at the couple and their camera equipment, this media training was going to be different.

The first few minutes started off like I imaged they would. However, after a few short minutes of the basics we started to discuss how to handle unexpected and unwanted press. In my past roles, I never had to work with unwanted press, and almost every interview was planned.

Before I knew it, the short, but very intimidating women had her camera shoved in my face asking questions. Not only was I put on the spot in front of the entire training group, but my face was also displayed on the large projection screen in front of the room.

Besides a little stutter at the start, I think I handled the situation pretty well. We spent the rest of the day going over interviews, learning tricks of the trade and mock interviewing.

There are many things that I learned and will be keeping in mind for my future interviews.

Wear solid dark colors- During my media training I wore a blue cardigan and a white shirt. The blue cardigan looked great on camera, and really brought out my blue eyes. The white shirt was a mistake. During lunch I spilled a little oil-based salad dressing on my shirt and there was no way of hiding it on camera. I will make sure to avoid wearing white when I know I have an interview and possibly keep a back-up shirt incase of any more lunch time spills.

Practice phrases, even if you think they are not tricky- Everyone will have some type of phrase that they will need to repeat multiple times during an interview, such as an event or company name. Even if it seems like something easy to say, if it is not natural you may get tongue twisted on camera.

Keep your hands out of your face- If you are concerned about moving your hands too much, try holding something. I wrote some key talking points on an index card and held it with both hands in front of my lower body. This helped me keep my hands down and away from my face. Also, holding my talking points allowed me to pause and take a look to make sure I was not missing anything.  

Get Pretty- Men and women both need to pretty up for a broadcast interview. For girls this means, get a manicure or paint your nails with a professional color, pull your hair out of your face and make sure your make-up is appropriate. Men should dress nice, shave and fix their hair. Also, you should check to make sure you are not wearing anything distracting that could take away from your interview, like shiny or bulky jewelry.

It is okay to start over- If the interview is not live, do not worry about messing up. If you mess up, simply stop, breathe and start over. The reporter rather you start over three times and get a good sound bite than rush through it and leave them with nothing.  

I have four interviews planned in the next week and a half. I will let you know if I remember all of these tips! 

Today, I was walking through Walmart trying to decide what type of curtains and rods I should buy for me new apartment when I got so overwhelmed that I just left my cart in the middle of the aisle and left. 

The past few weeks have been such a whirlwind that I have not had anytime to let all the changes in my life sink in. 

I accepted a new position with Whole Foods Market as a Marketing Specialist for a new store in Mishawaka, Indiana. Eighteen hours away from my friends and family, I am living on my own (for now), and responsible for the opening of a store in a completely different market than I’ve ever lived in. Oh yeah, and it is cold. Like really cold. 

After a trip to Chicago, the moving adventure from Florida to Alabama then to Indiana, and some training in Madison, Wisconsin I am finally trying to get settled in my new home and new role.