Tag: Inspiring Max

Planning For Fun

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This week is Inspiring Max’s 8th birthday. When I started blogging on Mother’s Day 2014 I didn’t have a plan. I learnt as I went and took each new experience as it came. Like my life really. During the first few years I found inspiration easily. The older I am however the more distracted I get. As I am nearing 60 I am looking to the future. Retirement is coming so work needs to give way to fun. What changes do I want to make and how will I achieve them. Now is the time to start planning. This will ensure I achieve what I what and not have hours lost to distraction. To help my motivation I found the perfect quote.

To give this quote even more power I have added it to a sunrise photo I took from my drive way only weeks ago. For me this will mean starting with a weekly plan that is then dividing it into a daily one. This week I am going to start with a blogging plan. This will ensure that Inspiring Max has direction and over the next two years I can aim for 1000 posts. I am currently sitting on 665 which was only increased by 90 since my 6th anniversary blogpost, due to a lack of planning. Having a plan for the A-Z challenge this year made blogging fun and doable again. Blogging is fun. And I want more fun in my life. To do so I will stop overthinking things and start making them happen.

Reflection

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Spring has sprung. And just before it my 59th birthday. Both of these have recently helped drive my latest time of reflection. My final motivator is the news that to get out of lockdown we need to live with Covid -19. As Australia up until these last few months has been able to contain the virus this reality creates anxiety in most of us. The reality is however that I can only reflect on things in my life I can change and Covid isn’t one of them.

I’m a firm believer in the following quote:

My favourite way to break down powerful words is through the use of acrostic poems. So for me, reflection means:

Review where I am currently at

Explore where I want to be

Freely and honestly check my initial review

Look at what needs to be different

Enact a plan

Choose daily, weekly and monthly goals

Test and track my goals

Include in daily, weekly or monthly routines

Observe regularly what works and what doesn’t

Negotiate any changes that may be needed and enjoy the new me blossoming

For me the main areas of reflection involve:

  • My health
  • Blogging/Writing
  • Career/Retirement Planning

After reflecting on my health I realised daily tracking needs to be around my water intake, movement and sleep. I started doing this a few weeks ago and I have already noticed a huge increase in my energy levels.

Returning to blogging last month made me realise that over the years Inspiring Max has developed its own momentum. I was surprised that even when I haven’t been blogging, it is continuing to be read. This has inspired me to spend more time blogging. Not just writing posts but also engaging with the blogging community. Over the last few weeks I have been able to maintain 3 posts a week, which on refection is sustainable. Me getting better at planning posts will be the key.

Reflecting on this last area is in some ways out of my control. I am a mental health nurse who trained 40 years ago. I have obtained many skills over my career but have no general nursing experience. As we open up I have no idea what will be expected from me as I go about my work day. I have decided to follow my gut and see where the journey takes me. It is also tricky to plan for travel at the moment but it is certainly something I am hopeful to start in 2022.

What areas of your life are you currently reflecting on?

Celebrating 600

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Today I am excited to announce that I have written 600 posts. When I started Inspiring Max I never dreamed this was possible. My first post was Mother’s Day 2014. When I reached 100 posts on my Mother’s birthday 30th October, 2014, I had 3,000 views. I was so happy. My 400th post occurred on 16th February, 2016 a few months before I took a break from blogging. Now 6 1/2 years after my first post, I have approximately 32,000 views. My goal for next year is to continue to grow inspiring Max, gaining momentum with every post.

To celebrate my six hundredth post I have created an acrostic poem:

Seeking new ideas

Interacting and inspiring is my goal

Xcited to be on this amazing journey

Honing my skills with

Unique and positive posts

Navigating my way

Determined to make a difference

Respecting and responding to others

Enjoying the journey

Driven by inspiration

Trusting my instincts

Happy others find my hard work helpful

Passion, persistence and positivity

Open the way for my original

Simple success

Thankful for Inspiring Max’s amazing community

Over the last week I had a forced lesson on how important my blogging community is. Due to technical details, I was unable to connect with anyone on my blog. And can I tell you it felt terrible. It was like giving a speech in a large empty stadium. A lot of effort went into the preparation, but as there was no feedback, I had no idea whether my audience liked it or not.

6 Years Young

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Today Inspiring Max is 6. I can’t believe how much life has changed. My first blog post back in 2014 was titled Happy Mother’s Day.

Here is my 12 month celebratory post, my first blogiversary in 2015. I was excited by how far I’d come. In May 2014, I had 23 views and I didn’t care I had no followers, I had views and I began to believe in myself. I could do this. By May 2015, Inspiring Max was moving up with 12,567 views and 415 followers. This month, May 2020 I have created 574 posts, have had 16,106 visitors, 30,444 views and 1,108 followers.

I also love that after a year of blogging Inspiring Max had been read in 114 countries and in the following 5 years it continues to find new audiences and now has been read in 134 countries. Many of these countries I never knew existed.

One of the things that surprised me during my break from blogging is how my site kept growing even without me working it. Like our finances growing with compound interest for the approximately 800+ days I was absent Inspiring Max kept growing at 2-3 views per day without new content. This makes me wonder where I would have been if I had stayed.

When I returned to Inspiring Max, one of my favourite things was visiting my old blogging friends and seeing how much their blogs had grown. After all, blogging isn’t just about writing and posting good content. I believe it is a package. We are part of an ever growing community and no-one can blog alone.

To me, blogging is divided into four parts:

  • Blog hoping – going from one blog to another viewing and reading their sites
  • Joining in challenges created by other bloggers
  • Engaging with new and old blogs, by liking and commenting on their posts
  • Gaining knowledge by sharing experiences. Never has this been more relevant than now. We can all check on each other during this time of world lock down.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Growth

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On the 26th Nov, I was excited to finish planting my last vegetable garden before leaving on our holiday to Perth, the next day.

Two weeks later Dec on 10th, I returned from Perth and was surprised by the growth.

However, today Jan 6th the GROWTH is amazing. Who knew I had green thumbs.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/photo-challenges/growth-2/

Christmas Calendar 2017 #9

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Yesterday I feel down by not being able to post my quote. This was because I didn’t have my computer with me so I will be catching up today and tomorrow. Yes I could have just forgotten about it, but instead I have decided to follow the advice of today’s quote and stand up. We can’t always control every thing. Sometimes we just have to pick ourselves up, dust our selves off and keep going.

Christmas Calendar 2017 #5

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The more we practise something the better we get at it. But as the quote suggests the more specific we are with whatever we are doing,  the more easily we can replicate it. I have certainly found this with my writing and editing. Once a difficult task for me, through blogging I have found I can naturally improve my flow and style.

Christmas Calendar 2017 # 1

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Welcome to Inspiring Max’s 2017 Christmas Calendar countdown. This year I have decided to mix it up a bit and do the twelve days of Christmas.

Every Christmas is colour themed in our family. All family members despite age can nominate any colour or combination of colours and lobby others to get their vote. Last years winner and the colour of this years Christmas Calendar was Grey and Lavendar, affectionately known as Gravendar.

Coffee Catch-Up #22

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If we were having coffee I would tell you that I can’t believe it has been six months since our last coffee catch up. Wow how quickly that time has flown. Life has a funny way of changing sometimes. When I started Inspiring Max it seemed all I did was work and blog. These days I work half as much but I am having so much fun, I haven’t been prioritizing my blogging. Fortunately for me, my blog has continued to work without my input so I am inspired to get organised and make 2018 my best blogging year yet.

If we were having coffee I would tell you how excited I am my veggie garden is complete. I finished the last garden just hours before departing for my holiday to Perth. It took months to do all 4 gardens as they were all created from scratch or given a total revamp with the help of my husband. I have been enjoying some of the herbs and lettuces that I planted earlier on a daily basis as I prepare my salads for lunch. I can’t wait to see how much they have grown while we are away.

If we were having coffee I would tell you about my last trip to Bunnings (a very large hardware/gardening store.) While I was gathering my gardening soil I suddenly felt eyes staring at me. I looked ahead and much to my surprise was a waterdragon sitting on the pallets like he owned the store.

If we were having coffee I would tell you about Kellie. Kellie is the name my daughter gave to the kookaburras who come to visit our backyard. They seem to enjoy being there, as they come often in groups of 2 or 3. Their laughter is very infectious and never fails to bring a smile to my face.

If we were having coffee I would tell you we are having a wonderful trip to Perth, Western Australia. According to the fridge magnet I bought yesterday it is the the most isolated city in the world. This could easily be true as it is nearly a 5 hour flight from Sydney.

To have a bit of fun with the distance my husband and I decided to allow the Pacific and Indian Oceans to meet. At 7am we went to Bar Beach (Newcastle) and walked into the Pacific Ocean. We gather some of the Pacific Ocean in a bottle and took it on the plane to Perth. At 7pm the same night we walked into the Indian Ocean at Bathers Beach (Freemantle). We then poured our bottle of the Pacific Ocean water into the Indian Ocean. Bucket list item complete.

P.S We didn’t wash our feet or legs between oceans so they were also mixed together on us.

If we were having coffee I would tell you how weird it felt to see the sunset over the ocean in Australia. Living on the east coast, we always see the sun rise over the ocean. I am hoping to view the sunset again, with more vivid colours next time.

If we were having coffee I would how amazing the Paul McCartney concert was on Saturday night. Prior to the concert I wasn’t a huge fan but I am now. What a show! I would have to say it was the best concert I have ever been to. https://www.inspiringmax.com/the-ageless-paul-mccartney 


If we were having coffee I would ask you what is happening in your world? Let me know in the comments.