Self-Discipline, Accountability & Green Smoothies

For the past week, I've been making and drinking green smoothies. I didn't invest in a fancy juicer, just pulled out my five year old blender and put it to use for something other than margaritas.

Is this something I'd been planning to do? Absoultely not. But when I saw my friend's Facebook post about it, it made me want to try it. That combined with Dr. Oz telling me I needed to get about seven servings of fruits and vegetables per day. Throwing my fresh veggies in a blender with a cup of ice is much easier than cooking them.

WORK IS A KEY INGREDIENT

Stesha had an overwhelming response from her Facebook community when she started sharing her green smoothie journey with us. We asked all kinds of questions and that led her to write this blog post. I went to the store on February 1st (stocking up for our annual snow day here) and loaded my basket with a good mix of smoothie ingredients and comfort food staples. Somehow, I thought buying the kale, broccoli, kiwi, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, and spinach was enough. I got home, put the groceries away, and checked in on my other website...Facebook. Within minutes, Marlo asked if I'd made my smoothie. I stopped dead in my tracks and went to work creating the masterpiece pictured above.

Would I have settled for just buying the ingredients and not doing anything with them had she not asked me that question? Not likely, but I probably would've procrastinated a bit longer.


DO THE MATH

Think for a minute about the people around you. Who do you have in your life, on your team to make sure you're going to do what it is you say you're going to do? Who's there to impart good habits and introduce you to new things? Who can you count on to push you outside of your comfort zone?

If you're only spending time with folks who help you make excuses and contribute to your complacency, it's not doing you a bit of good. I'm a firm believer in holding yourself accountable as an individual, but you're more likely to succeed if you're in the company of other people striving for the same thing.

Conduct an accountability audit. Figure out who deserves to stay and who earned the right to go. But don't stop there - take the next step and actually do something about it.