The Best Of A Year Of Living In & Travelling To 8 Different Countries
The biggest lessons I've learned from travelling (and living) in 8 different countries over the past year...The biggest lessons I’ve learned from traveling (and living) in 8 different countries over the past year
I am not sure about you but on my side, 2014 was a very special year. Infused with the biggest challenges I had to face so far but also the biggest learning lessons. It definitely was a year of (self)discovery and growth. Each year, I like to take some time to reflect on the past 12 months and prepare the year ahead. I write down what I’ve learned and achieved. I also write down my intentions and goals for the next year. In all areas of my life. As you know, I am a strong believer that to be able to reach your goals and create the life you really want, you need to be clear on where you want to go. Who you want to be. What you want to achieve. This exercise is so important and so beneficial, that I’ve created a mini-guide you can download in PDF to help you do the same, at home.
Download your free mini-guides:
Click here to download the mini-guide to reflect about your year
Click here to set-up your intentions and goals for the year ahead.
These little guides will also help you to break down your goals into smaller steps, so you’ll be able to set up a strategy already. Feel free to take a few minutes to visualize yourself achieving these goals. I know this will help you to get there effortlessly. On my side, I wanted to share with you the main things I’ve learned in 2014 – and you’ll see how special this year has been for me:
The biggest lesson I’ve learned from traveling (and living) in 8 different countries over the past year
2014 was the second year I was location independent. That means I was working and living in tropical countries while traveling around. Last year, I lived and travelled in Indonesia, the Philippines, Nepal, Belgium, France, UK, Italy, and Malta. As much as this kind of freedom and experience is absolutely awesome and beneficial, I realised that to become your best self in the long term, you need some kind of structure and stability. When traveling, you spend so much bandwidth and energy to adapt, learn and grow with new environments and cultures that you just have fewer resources for your work, your friends and family.
1. Focus on the 20% that generate 80% of the results
By living and traveling most of the time last year, I had no choice but applying the 80/20 rule to the extreme.
The 80/20 rule is the Pareto law and proofs that 80% of your efforts generate 20% of your results and vice versa. For example, you can apply that to your revenues and realize that 20% of your efforts generate 80% of your revenues.
The thing is that from income to clients to blog posts to travel to fitness to relationships, you’ll find that the 80/20 rule works everywhere.
When you’re time-poor and have no idea about what your day will look like in advance, you’re challenged to apply this rule if you want to be efficient. Focus on what will bring you the best results first, then you can take care of the rest… if you have time.
This is another big thing I’ve learned by traveling that much. Over the past year, I had no choice but focusing on the 20% that brought me the best results. And indeed, I got amazing results by doing so…
I’ve created my first online recovery program “How To Stop Binge Eating & Transform Your Life“, which is helping hundreds of people from all over the world recovering from their tortuous relationship with food.
I’ve also created 2 eBooks: an eGuide about Healthy Eating + Living in Bali and the latest one, the “Raw Chocolate Desserts eBook“. I’ve also expanded this amazing community to over 10,000 people from all over the world by writing for well-known online magazines.
And last but not least, we (Niko and I) bought our very first home!
3. Strength building is NOT only for people who want to look like Hulk
Last year, I became a yoga instructor. At that time, I was living through yoga. It was my religion (and it’s still very important in my life today, don’t get me wrong). I learned a lot during my yoga teacher training. You can watch the video blogs I recorded at that time here and here.
This year, I discovered HIIT (high-intensity interval training). I realized that if you really want to take care of yourself, yoga was not enough. I actually got the best results ever by practicing less yoga and integrating more cardio and HIIT.
If you are looking to be fit and strong, to increase your muscle mass and tone your body, then you should aim to diversify your exercise routine. A mix of cardio, flexibility and strength building will give you the best results. Quickly!
I am still impressed today to see how my body has changed over the past few months. Maybe one day, I’ll show you my own “before & after” pictures… who knows!
When struggling with eating disorders, I always thought that the only way to get a lean, fit body was by dieting and depriving myself. This couldn’t be further from the truth!
I am currently the fittest, leanest and most energized I’ve ever been, yet I am eating more than ever before – of the good things, not Burger Kings, obviously.
Your Turn Now! What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned in 2014? Share it in the comments below because you know what? By sharing it, you’ll learn even more from it! Then share one thing you’d like to achieve in 2015. This will hold you accountable and by doing so, you’ll be halfway there!
xox
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Great post Pauline! Thank you, I am going to do this exercise tonight, I love making lists and this is the time of the year when I do the most 🙂 my 2014 had very positive events as well as very difficult, especially about my job, I had several bad experiences, of course I learnt lessons and they made me grow, but they are still painful….
Anyway thank you
I really enjoy your news letter, good job!
Chiara
Thanks lovely Chiara!
Yes, I think life is always a great mix of pleasurable experiences and learning lessons 😉
I wish you all the very best for 2015
<3
Hello beautiful Pauline! Thank you so much for sharing and for bringing up all those things. I can relate to a lot of the things you write. It’s easy to forget to reflect on what one has accomplished, and only think about what’s coming next. So thank you for that reminder.
I am proud of myself for having had my first own yoga retreats and them being really successful and feeling that I’ve grown so much as a teacher and facilitator.
In 2015 I want to host a retreat with you in Europe:) Hahah!!
Big kiss!!
Oh so nice to read Lisa 😉
This is such a great accomplishment! I still remember practising yoga next to you at the yoga barn the week before your first retreat!
So awesome! Congratulations!
Bring it on 2015! YAY!
Big big hugs & see you soon
xox
Hi Pauline, awesome blog !! and congrats for your great accomplishments, I think many women are just dreaming about it 😉
Just wanted to precise a thing…. when you compare yoga to an other physical activity, please please please precise what type of yoga do you mean, because there is so a big range of asana practice that you can do, the name yoga is really too vague. If you try ashtanga yoga for example, you’ll know that it’s almost like doing cardio and weight and HIIT all in one. If you do yin yoga is more like streching and relaking, if you do flow yoga you are working more cardio and coordination, so much different! do you understand what I mean?
Hello Pauline! GREAT post. Thank you so much 🙂 this is exactly what I need at this time of year and literally one day away from completing my Diploma of Yoga Teaching… YAY! I totally agree with your options about yoga + fitness. It is easy to forget that yoga is so much more than just the asana classes. Yoga was traditionally developed as a spiritual and lifestyle practise – not a weight loss or athletic activity, although there are some great physical payoffs, getting ‘fit’ is not really the goal. Yoga works the body mind and spirit, so combine Yoga with another more intense exercise activity that you ENJOY and you’re sure to see some really great results. I lift weights and do other forms of exercise as well such as dancing, pilates and acrobatics and because I love doing all of those and they keep my body strong I therefore consider these to be part of my ‘yoga’ practice as well. That said, I’m sure that if you were to practise traditional Ashtanga (vigorous yoga 2 hours a day, 6 days per week) yes, you would probably get pretty fit, but there’s no point in practising like that if it doesn’t nurture or inspire you. You need to find out what it is that you enjoy and can maintain. What I love most about yoga is that it is so adaptable and it will always complement whatever you are doing in your life.
The biggest lesson I learned in 2014 was letting go of judgement (especially towards myself) and recognising my strengths, realising that I have the freedom to do and be whoever I want.
Next year I am looking forward to creating my dream life and celebrating 1 year completely ED free!
Thanks for sharing such inspiring words Jen!
I hope your yoga teacher final “exam” went well and I am sure you’re now an amazing yoga teacher 😉
xox