Day 20: 10 Ways to Improve My Daily "Spiritual" Practice

List 10 ways I can improve my daily "spiritual" practice. 

1. Wake up every morning and spend at least 5 minutes reading from the Bible. 

2. Pray throughout the day, for everything. 

3. Say what I'm most thankful for, starting with my health. Lots of things may be stressing me out, but I'm grateful and thank God for supernatural health. 

4. Bring my tithe check to church on Sunday's. I am a cheerful giver! 

5. Thank God for settling me in my home as a happy mother of children. My children are a gift and a reward. 

6. Write out scriptures about my finances and hang them in the hallway so that I can see them and say them every day before I leave the house. 

7. Thank God for a blessed, happy and faithful marriage. What God has put together, no one can separate. 

8. Listen to worship music when I'm feeling anxious. 

9. Write one short poem a day about one aspect of God's character. This will help me to remember who God is because my memory is short (especially in dark or difficult times). 

10. Talk (not in a venting way though) to a trusted friend when I feel like I want to keep silent. 

Day 19: 10 Ways to Improve My Daily "Mental" Practice

IList 10 ways that I can improve my daily "mental" practice. 

1. Keep up with my daily productivity planner. I feel like I'm on top of the world in productivity when I maintain this daily practice. 

2. Notice when I'm about to complain (or if I'm in the midst of complaining) and turn it into a positive instead of staying focused on the negative. 

3. Write down my 10 ideas every single day. No excuses! 

4. Do simple math in my head instead of running to use my calculator. 

5. Start memorizing people's phone numbers instead of relying on my phone to all the memorizing for me. 

6. Get back to reading my one book a month routine. I can tell that my vocabulary increases when I'm reading more often because I have a plethora of words to choose from. 

7. Write an article a day. 

8. Rest! Specifically, get at least 7 hours of sleep every night. This is not only good for me physically and emotionally, but it's also good for me mentally. 

9. Before I spend a given amount of time on anything, I can be more mindful about it, setting an intention before I spend the time instead of wondering later where all of my time went. 

10. I read an article that says that exercise is good not just for your physical health but that it's also good for your brain. So during my morning routine, adding yoga and Pilates is also good for my mental health as well! 

Day 18: 10 Ways I Can Improve My Daily "Emotional" Practice

List 10 ways I can improve my daily "emotional" practice (the emotional leg of the daily practice has to do with the people I surround myself with).

1. I find that my emotions are out of control and sometimes unpredictable when I don't get at least seven hours of sleep, so the first thing I would do is get my seven hours of sleep every night.

2. Do things that I feel genuinely about, even if it means upsetting other people. This is so true for me, especially around the holidays. I didn't want to give in to the obligation of buying a present for everyone, so I just decided not to do it. 

3. Make peace with everyone. This doesn't mean I have to be BFFs with everyone, but I can be at peace with them. 

4. Smile at strangers, with no expectation of them smiling back. It feels good to be the first one to smile. 

5. Be the first person to say "I'm sorry."

6. Be thankful in every situation, and share that gratitude with others when I have the opportunity. 

7. Be kind, even when someone else isn't. Treat others how you would want to be treated instead of only worrying about how they are treating you. 

8. Have boundaries in friendships. In the past, I had to separate myself from people who only called me when they wanted to call me, but weren't there for me when I needed to call and talk to them. 

9. Always speak the truth in love. It's painful to hold in a lie.

10. Listen to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit. He never steers me in the wrong direction. 

Day 17: 10 Ways I Can Improve My Daily "Physical" Practice

List 10 ways I can improve my daily physical practice. 

1. When I get to work in the mornings, I can park toward the back of the garage instead of trying to find a spot right in front. 

2. I live in a two-story house. It would be good if I could run up the stairs every time instead of slowly walking up them. 

3. During my break at work, I could go for a walk around the building. I've done that a few times before and it's so refreshing. 

4. I can walk up/down the escalator everyday instead of just standing on it. 

5. I don't have too much time in the mornings, but I can still stretch and do 5 minutes of yoga. 

6. Where there is an opportunity, I can take the stairs instead of getting on the elevator. 

7. When I become a stay-at-home mom, I can walk my son to school on nice days. 

8. When I get home in the evenings, I can get on the floor and play with my children instead of sitting on the couch. 

9. I can do 10 push-ups in the afternoons when I get home from work. It's a good way to increase my daily physical activity and switch my mind from work mode to home mode. 

10. On the weekends when I take my kids to the park, I can run and play with them instead of sitting on the bench. 

Day 16: 10 Risky Things You Could Do To Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone

List 10 things you could do this week to get out of your comfort zone. 

1. Apply for an external position that I have been wanting to apply for for a long time. 

2. Strike up a conversation with a stranger, someone that I wouldn't normally talk to. 

3. Wear a tight maternity dress minus the big slouchy sweater that I would normally try to cover up with. 

4. Wear my white knit tights that I bought two years ago and still haven't had the courage to wear. 

5. Make my own Christmas cards and mail out to family and friends. (This is something I'm working on now.) I'll also be letting them know that we won't be buying Christmas presents this year, so the card will be their one and only gift. 

6. Quit my job! 

7. Sing outloud where people can actually hear me. 

8. Share photos of my wall art prints on my regular Facebook page. This would be a step out of my comfort zone because I normally keep my business stuff only on my business page, but I want people to know what I'm working on. 

9. Raise the prices for my envelope addressing service. 

10. Smile and say "Hello" to someone whom I think doesn't like me. 

Day 15: 10 Things I Have at Home That I Don't Need

10 things that I have at home and don't need that I could either throw away, give away or re-purpose. 

1. Christmas decorations! We have 10 boxes of Christmas decorations which is absolutely ridiculous. I would like to keep five of the boxes and give the other five boxes away. 

2. The random items/books I have on my nightstand. All they do is collect dust, so I would likely give them away. 

3. All of the magazines in our magazine basket. That basket has actually turned into a place to store blankets, so the magazines never get seen or read. I would recycle all of these magazines.

4. Baby toys. I have so many baby toys, which seems to be a good thing but my children don't play with them. Well, that's not totally true. They play with them for about five minutes and then toss them to the side. Now my pots and pans and cookware utensils, they can play with those for hours! I would love to keep just a handful of baby toys and give everything else away. 

5. Plants. Is it possible to have too many plants in your house? My husband loves them but I don't. When I look at indoor plants, all I see is another "thing" things that needs to be taken care of, and ain't nobody got time for that! If I could, I would donate most of our plants to a local hospital. 

6. Old birthday and holiday cards. I really only keep these out of obligation. I feel like people paid money for them so I should keep them, but I really don't need them. They probably would be much better off in the recycle bin. 

7. Our pool table upstairs. It was a mistake to get it, but we're stuck with it now (at least temporarily). As soon as we can find another wonderful home for this hideous thing, I will be so much happier. 

8. Clothes that no longer fit. Why am I holding onto these again? It's time to let them go and give them away. 

9. Shoes that I no longer wear, or only wear a couple of times a year. It's time to let those go as well. 

10. And finally, I have some old photos that I would love to frame and hang on the wall instead of having them collect dust in the closet. 

Day 14: 10 ideas for investigative articles I would like to write

10 ideas for fascinating investigative articles I would like to write and for what publication. 

1. It's my dream to write for the New York Times. I would like to write an investigative article about why people are so enthused about new ideas when they first come to mind but then get less and less excited about them as time goes on. I'd like to find out how people fan the flames of their new ideas even when they are no longer bright and shiny and new.

2. This is very sad and maybe too serious, but I would like to write an in-depth investigative article about why moms kill and harm their children. I'd like to interview the moms in prison who have been convicted of this type of crime. I would ask what brought them to that point, and is there anything they believe they could have done differently that may have changed the course of their lives. I would like to feature this story in the New York Times or on CNN.com. 

3. I would like to write an article about the long-term effects of wearing heels. I would feature this article in Vogue, Marie Claire or Redbook. 

4. I would like to write an investigative article about my own journey as a black woman who tried so desperately to fit in with the white crowd. This piece would be featured in the New York Times. (I'm actually working on this article right now!) 

5. I would like to write an article about cutting ties with your company. Why is it so hard to leave your company after you've been working there for a long time? It's happening to me now, and I know it's happened to others too. This article would be featured in Forbes or INC magazine. 

6. I really want to write an article about the struggles of parenthood, and I would like to find out why many women don't share just how difficult it is to be a mom. This article would be featured in Parents magazine. 

7. Another article I would like to write for the New York Times is an investigative article about work gossip. How many people are involved in it? What do people gossip about? Do they gossip mostly during the work day or do they wait until after hours to talk about the rumors going around? And I'd like to know if it's mostly men or women who are doing the gossiping.

8. Another investigative article I would like to write is a behind the scenes look at the life of a celebrity. I would love to know if they enjoy cameras following them and taking photos of them out and about. I would also love to know if they ever use the media to their advantage and maybe go out more and be seen more when they know they have something to promote. This article would be featured in Vogue. 

9. I would like to write an article about Rabia Chadry, the creator of the "Undisclosed" podcast. I'm so fascinated by this podcast and the case of The State v. Adnan Syed that I would love to do an in-depth article about Rabia. This article would be featured on CNN.com.

10. And finally, I would love to write an article about how much television we watch every day. I'm amazed at how many people (including myself) say we are so busy, but we spend hours and hours watching TV show after TV show. What's the purpose? And who is that actually benefitting? This article would be featured in my favorite publication, the New York Times.