Tag: new beginnings

March 26, 2023. Find your productive time.

Tiny actions work well for me-hence the book I wrote. However, even tiny actions cant always fight against my “down time.”

I have the majority of my energy in the morning. By the end of the school day, I am kind of like a wet noodle with not much energy. So tiny actions I accomplish in the morning now are

  1. Washing/putting away any dishes from the night before.
  2. Hanging up clothes from the night before.
  3. Tidying up the house/bathroom/bedroom.
  4. Grading papers.
  5. Practicing French.
  6. Cleaning out my car (before I pick up the carpool)
  7. Folding any laundry that I washed.

This may seem like a lot but I usually get ready in the morning and then have about 20 minutes left until I have to be out the door. Before implementing tiny actions, I would simply leave a lot of these tasks for after school/evening. Then, I would get home and be tired and not get anything done. Therefore I learned to maximize my energy in the morning and give myself a break in the afternoon/evening.

Do you know when your “peak energy” occurs? Can you maximize what you do during that time and cut yourself some slack for the rest of the time?

To my 110 subscribers and 336 followers-THANK YOU!

2/19/23. Weird dreams with carbohydrates.

I have been eating low carb/keto for the past 5-7 weeks and I was trying the technique in the book “Carb Nite Solution” where you eat what you want one day a week. Well, two things. The first being, I dont think I am really losing much weight so that is disappointing. However, its the second reason that I need to stop/modify what I am doing.

After I eat carbs and dessert (on Saturday nights), I have the WEIRDEST dreams that night while I sleep. Last night, my two cats were in the parking lot of a furniture store. I kept picking them up to bring them home and they werent my cats. They looked similar to my cats but they werent my actual cats. Then, my husband was wandering around the parking lot with no sock on one foot. When I would ask him what he was doing, he would reply with “just trying to get comfortable.” It was sooooooooo weird. Also, I slept 10 hours last night AND fell asleep on the couch watching TV before bed.

I believe this blog should be honest so I am being honest. I am not sure if I am going to continue to follow this program. Here are the things I do know for sure.

  1. I feel better with lower carb eating.
  2. I think it is weird (and unhealthy) that you cant eat fruit on Keto.
  3. I am not sure how sustainable a really strict diet is for me.
  4. If this carb nite is causing weird dreams, what else is it doing to me?
  5. However, It is nice to feel like I have a treat at the end of the week to look forward to.

So where do I go from here? Well, I made low carb lasagna with egg wraps (my new discovery!), I ate eggs for breakfast and I will eat a salad for lunch tomorrow and yogurt for breakfast. So, at this point, I am continuing to eat a lower carb diet. I am also “upping my steps” which I will post about next week.

To my 105 subscribers and 335 social followers…THANK YOU! You give me a reason to keep writing and for that, I am thankful.

Keto week 3 update-“Carb night solution”

I have been eating a lower carb diet for about 3 weeks now and I feel a lot better. I read a book called the Carb Nite Solution and his whole idea is to eat low carb all week and then have a “high carb” meal on one of the weekend nights. Then you get right back to eating low carb on Sunday morning.

I picked Saturday night and have done this 3 times so far. Results?

Wow.

First, I have eaten some REALLY good food on these Saturday nights.

Second, the food tastes super rich and delicious (much more so than it used to taste)

Third, it is starting to become fun to pick out my “Saturday night indulgence.” Last night was Steak Frites and Apple Crisp with Vanilla Ice Cream. Super yummy.

I will continue with this because I feel go0d and it is kind of fun right now. One disclaimer-I don’t eat as low carb as he recommends during the week. (He says to stay under 30). I stay under 50.

So what do I eat? Cheese sticks, nuts, caesar salads, Egg burritos with low carb tortillas, chicken, avocados. (Not a ton of variety but I feel pretty good and that was one of my goals for this)

Is it always easy? No. Some nights I am tired and would like to just eat something easy. It is especially hard when you are on the road. I had an Unwich from Jimmy Johns (a sandwich wrapped in lettuce leaves.). It was fine, not great.

However, my body doesn’t hurt as bad as normal so I am hoping that fewer carbs leads to less inflammation. We will continue to see.

To my 102 followers-I AM OVER 100! WOW! THANK YOU!. So which mode are you in right now? Burst mode (like I am with Keto) or tiny action mode? (going to talk about that in my next post.)

Have a great week!

1/7/23 Keto/low carb-one week down (how is it going???)

So, I hate to even mention this on this on my blog because this diet is more of a “burst” than tiny steps. Yes, leading up to starting the new way of eating was all tiny steps (more water, cut down on sugar, more steps, cut out chips, etc…) but the actual low carb diet itself is a maj0r “burst.” You have to go all the way to get into ketosis, and so you cant really tiny step your way there (there are other diets like weight watchers that are more conducive to tiny changes) but Keto/low carb is not one of them.

Why do I like a low carb diet? 1. It is easy as far as what you can/ can not eat. 2. It REALLY curbs my hunger. 3. It seems to provide me with more energy than other diets. 4. It brings down my cholesterol, sugar, and triglyceride numbers. (I have been able to avoid medications by eating this way)

Why don’t I like a low carb diet? IT IS NOT FUN-It is boring and repetitive and strict. It is difficult to eat with others (like if everyone is ordering pizza)

So…in order to make it more fun and hopefully stick to it long term, I am trying a technique called the carb nite solution. It is a book that professes you can eat low carb for 6.5 days and have what ever you want for dinner at the end of the week and it wont derail your progress. (I am picking Saturday night.) Tonight will be my first try at this. I will let you know how it goes.

Also, I am taking part in a lot of other bursts today such as deep cleaning the house (need to reset before school starts again Monday), taking down and putting away Christmas decor (including tree), washing all the laundry, towels, and bedding, washing the carpets (our cats like to dribble their food).

Today isnt really a tiny action day. It is a day of many bursts but it is a day I feel needs to happen every once in a while in order to have tiny actions work the other 99 percent of the time.

THANK YOU to my 99 followers-got a new one this morning so thank you to that person! Stay tiny my friends!

November 20, 2022. Ask a question

Last week at work, I had a misunderstanding with a colleague. After a few days of stewing, I finally decided to ask why this particular issue was happening. It was so insightful. There was a deep history behind the decision that ultimately affected me.

A tiny question. A tiny clarification. In a few tiny moments, I understood. I felt better. I relaxed, accepted it, and moved on. So simple and so tiny.

So this week I encourage you to ask a question if you don’t understand something. It may be a really complex issue. It may have nothing to do with you. You may be the end result of a lot of other decisions. OR it MAY have something to do with you that you need to change. However, you cant feel better by avoiding it. Another colleague said (at lunch) nothing gets better with avoidance and she is right.

Thank you to my 96 followers! My new book is available on Amazon under Jessica Riley Beebe. The kindle version just launched a few days ago!

Get your copy of Tiny Actions Big Results today!

November 9, 2022 My book has arrived!!!!!!

2-3 years of daily notes. Countless hours of reading and experimenting. All the tiny little actions that I tried, discarded, tried again, kept, improved. They have all led me here! My book is here! It is on Amazon! It is an accomplishment that is both exciting and scary.

You can either search Jessica Riley Beebe in the Amazon search bar or follow this link https://www.amazon.com/Tiny-Actions-Big-Results-Together/dp/B0BLGDR9R8/ref=sr_1_1?crid=35LYDEF8R716P&keywords=jessica+riley+beebe&qid=1668034764&sprefix=jessica+riley+beebe%2Caps%2C118&sr=8-1

I have already given one speech. I am booked to give another one in a month. Some authors may dread this. I find it exhilarating. Thank you to all the people that purchase a copy of the book, read this blog, email me Congrats! I appreciate all of you dearly.

To my husband who has been a source of encouragement from the beginning-THANK YOU!

To my sister who has taken up the social media side of being an author-THANK YOU!

To the others that have encouraged and helped me-THANK YOU!

To those that criticize-is it perfect? Probably not. Will you find an error? Maybe. Is my life full of ease and comfort because I have everything figured out? No. But guess what? I tried. And anyone who tries to do something to help people in this world is just fine by me. I can sleep at night knowing I tried.

My next book is in the works. Stay tuned and stay tiny! To my 94 followers-thank you and have a great week!

October 30,2022 Maintenance is just as important as tiny steps

When working on achieving a goal, most of us want to make progress at it every day. We tend to become impatient and want things RIGHT NOW (Hello, Amazon!) However, maintaining progress is just as important so that we make keep charging ahead when we are able. We don’t want to wind up completely back at the start and lose all of our hard work!

I had a step goal of 10000 steps by November 6, 2022. I am holding steady at an average of 9000 steps per day. I could beat myself up and be discouraged. Instead, I am choosing to look at where I came from (7000 steps a day) and realize that I have held this number for a few weeks now. (I have even made it to 11000 on a couple days!) So, I am going to focus on maintaining it (I would try to increase it but right now, 9000 feels difficult for me so I want to wait until it feels a bit easier).

This maintenance is important. It is important to stay here and not slide back to 7000. or even 8000. It is important to not lose all of the hard work I have been putting in and the progress I have made.

A burst I have been working on is “no candy, sweets or desserts until Halloween.” Well, Halloween is tomorrow and I feel kind of “meh” about indulging in sweets tomorrow. I have felt pretty good the last 20 days and I am not sure that I want that to go away. There have been tempting moments but overall, it hasn’t been too bad. So, I may pick a day to indulge (Thursday night cheesecake factory) and then wait again until Thanksgiving.

Also, I may reduce how much bread I am eating. I am not ready to go full keto ( I love bread and missed it so much during my keto diet time). However, my husband suggested that maybe I could cut down how much I eat. So this week I will count all the pieces of bread I eat (chips and tortilla shells count) to evaluate where I should place my goal using tiny steps. For example, if I am eating 5 pieces a day, I will not reduce it down to zero but maybe reduce it to 3 instead? I will keep you posted on this.

To my 90 followers, THANK YOU! Have a great week!

Oct 16, 2022 The problem with tiny actions

If you have been following this blog for a while, you know that I praise the “tiny steps, habits, actions” way of accomplishing goals and tasks.

So what is the problem? When you think that something is so tiny, you sometimes stop doing it. I haven’t felt well this week (school crud that everyone has), so I haven’t attended to all the little steps that I talk about. And here is what happened.

My sink is full of dishes.

The laundry is washed and dried but just sitting on top of the dryer.

I found a chair to put clothes on that need to be hung up and now they have filled the chair.

The dining table is covered in stuff.

The coffee table is covered in stuff.

My bathroom has stuff all over the counter.

My suitcase from the weekend is still packed.

I have shoes in every room that need to be returned to the closet.

So I started working on the house this morning when I woke up and in 30 minutes, I am still no where near done with picking up all of these areas. The sink is full of even more dishes because I made beef stew. The laundry is now on our bed but there is more that is washing as I type. The clothes still need to be hung. The dining table is halfway cleared. The coffee table is cleared and the shoes are returned to the closet. The suitcase is unpacked.

It feels overwhelming. It makes me grumpy. THIS IS EXACTLY WHY I CAME UP WITH MY SYSTEM IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!!!!!!!!! Instead of resting today, I feel as though I have a lot to do to get the house ready for the week. This week I will put the tiny little systems back into place and get things back on track.

To my 90 followers-THANK YOU! What tiny little actions do you focus on to keep your life together?

My book is still being edited (it is taking longer than I thought) but I will put the link here as soon as I have it!

May 22-we don’t like to talk about failure.

Failure. The reason I started this blog was because I believe in the tiny habits and tiny steps toward a goal. However, I also wanted to “see failure.” So many books and stories tell you “I just did one or two things and now I’m successful.” And I KNOW that there are more ups and downs than that.

So I wanted to start this blog to document everything. And guess what? I know why people don’t want to document failures. Because it’s embarrassing. I didn’t want to fail this week and as I got ready to write his post, I didn’t want to write it because I feel as though I have failed at some things.

However, failure is a good time to regroup and scale back. I have come to believe that if you find yourself unable to make progress, then your actions/steps/habits are “too big.” You can NOT compare yourself to others at this point. Instead you need to scale back to what YOU can accomplish.

Here. is an example. Two weeks ago I went all week with no sugar, without chewing on ice. This week I have eaten sugar and have been chewing on ice. Each day I start again and I can’t help but think about “30 days of no sugar or even 1 week of no sugar.” and I immediately think it will be impossible. It is because I am thinking too big. I am imagining a place where I am not. A place that feels unattainable. And so I must change something and try again. Therefore…

I need to scale back. I will try to just eat one meal without sugar. Then two meals. Then three. Then a whole day. Then two days. Same with the ice chewing. If I am awake for 15 hours a day, I will try to go one hour without chewing it, then two, then three and so on.

Failure makes us vulnerable. It makes us feel weak. It doesn’t have to. Instead it can make us reevaluate and try again. We only fail when we stop and don’t keep striving to improve. I will let you know how it goes!

To my 83 followers…THANK YOU! And stay tiny! Scale back your actions so far that you are successful. Even if it feels silly. It will work. Save $1.00. Floss one tooth. Eat one healthy meal. Wash one dish. Do one load of laundry. Get to work early one day this week. You can do it! See you next week!

April 17-4 weeks no sugar (Easter doesn’t count)

Today is Easter. We went to an Easter Brunch. I had dessert. It was good and I am glad I ate it but I have felt kind of sick for the last few hours.

  1. My body is clearly getting used to not eating sugar.
  2. I am still experimenting with what to eat/how to eat/etc…
  3. I don’t want to go back to my old ways of eating sugar.
  4. l haven’t really missed sugar except on a few stressful days.

I DID eat one day of NO CARBS and I was super hungry! If I stay on track, I am supposed to do TWO days without carbs this week. I am not sure. I will do one for sure and I will try to do two. Remember, tiny steps so that it is maintainable. I am not trying to get burned out on a diet, I am trying to find a lifestyle plan of eating.

I only averaged about 8000 steps this week so that is disappointing. I will again aim for 9000 this week.

However, good things are that my eating is MUCH healthier than it was a month ago, I am moving MUCH more than I did a month ago, and I feel MORE IN CONTROL of life things than I did a month ago so those are huge bonuses!

I am going to go another month of no sugar. I need to be careful that I don’t start “cheating” with tastes and bites, here and there. Going to keep an eye on it and work through it one day at a time, knowing how good I feel right now.

Goals for this week-1 (maybe two days) of totally no carbs. Try for 9000 steps.

To my 79 followers-THANK YOU! Here’s to having a sunny week!