Hold the phone, did someone say I get the opportunity to analyse? Halleluiah!!
There are those who would say that living your life by analysis only makes you get caught up in detail and unable to make decisions ("analysis paralysis"), then there is me. Give me a set of criteria, some fixed key performance indicators, Microsoft Excel, and I will happily enter into my analysis bliss bubble.
Lets be clear, I am not a questioner. QUIZ can be found HERE
- Questioners question all expectations; they’ll meet an expectation if they think it makes sense (my husband is a Questioner); essentially, they make all expectations into inner expectations
No, no, no... I do NOT like to say, why? why again? why again again? to analyse which butter I want to buy. No, no - that makes me crazy. BUT, I do like to Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control.
Framework - music to my ears. Budgets, Gantt charts, pie charts, bar graphs, root cause analysis.... ahhh, happy place...
So, now that we have established that I LOOOVE analysis. Lets apply a framework to the Isagenix 30 day challenge.
STEP 1: DEFINE
In order to define, I had to question what I would use to gage my success.(queue professional interviewer Barbara Walters voice) "Kanani, what are you looking to achieve through embarking on the Isagenix 30 day challenge?" (end Barbara Walters voice)
"Well Barbara, I would have to day my key goal is to ....Clear the FOG
- More ENERGY
- A better and more stable MOOD
- To master the art of THINKING CLEARLY
- And to achieve the most from my body, WEIGHT, ENDURANCE, STRENGTH"
But that seems to simple. Four criteria, is that really evreything? That is all I need to define my SUCCESS....? Too easy; it can't be that easy when each one for the four criteria has such a large subset of indicators. They are very qualitative criteria. Qualitative = grey.
For example, looking at energy... Am I asking if I am energetic in the morning, in the evening, at lunch? If I am only doing one test a day, how will I remember how I felt hours before.
For heaven's sake, I have two kids of my own, two step lovelies, a partner who works mad hours, a crazy busy social calendar (mostly doing things for the kids), a part time employee being the nanny AND I have a full time job. Half of the time I am hard pressed to remember where I parked my car, let alone remember how I felt eight hours ago.
But really.... you know that moment when you walk out of the office and have to push the unlock button on your car to remember where it's parked, yep... that's me. Face palm.
So, no. There needed to be structure and quantitative data. I love structure.
Alas, I have developed the Pièce De Résistance - materialising in the form of two check lists.
The first check list will be carried with me, and used during the day. This check list, it's the pretty pink and purple format is a PULSE CHECK. Taken in the morning, during the day and in the evening. The higher the score, the more vibrant I am. The closer I am to my fog burn off. Easy.
It's made up of the criteria that I think will define me in my best form. The qualities that I am going to look to improve / for improvement on. The interesting thing will be seeing if Isagenix can help me achieve this. Clearly many of these items are still open for interpretation, but I am going to try to score consistently.
THE PULSE CHECK
Then there is THE DAILY WRAP UP pictured below....
This "daily wrap up", the second pictured check list, also in it's pretty pink format is a daily summary document. Very detailed and on this one; low is good, where high is bad. High = further from fog clarity. This check is actually from the website psychologytoday.com. It consists of questions that are a bit more depressing in design, but assesses your risk towards Depression, Anxiety and Stress. Assess, if you will, my moods.
"Moods are like fog. They can roll in unexpectedly and obscure the brightness of life, making everything gray and dark and difficult. And you might stumble through it for hours, or days, or months. And then all of a sudden with a gust of wind, or beam of light it dissipates, and the world brightens, and you don’t understand why it didn’t look that way the whole time. "
Why moods? Well because they relate to "the FOG"
What is Brain Fog? A Clinical Definition
Brain Fog has been described as a feeling of mental confusion where the individual lacks mental clarity. Its as if there is a loss of focus, and a sensation of “so close and yet so far”. The term “fog” is used because it feels as if a cloud comes over your thought process that reduces your ability to think clearly. This may cause an individual to become excessively forgetful, though long term memory remains intact. It can last anywhere from a few hours to a few days or weeks. Its onset can be gradual or sudden. Usually there is no direct physical trauma to the brain involved. Most people know something is wrong but cannot put their finger on it. Most don’t take it seriously and consider it part of life or the aging process. It is considered more of a nuisance among conventional health practitioners.
Brain fog can persist for a long time, lasting months or years. What makes this condition perplexing is that the fogginess can come and go. It can be related to food, menstrual cycle, body temperature, activity level, sleep cycle irregularity, stress, hydration status, exercise, and many other seemingly insignificant events that only become obvious on careful retrospective examination.
Clearly, for me, the intention during all of this is to clear the fog. And whatever benefits I reap, great.
I feel good, having such a plan.