The definition of insanity...

is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Well friends, we are about 7 weeks away from launch, and perhaps you've grown tired of the Mission. Goodness knows I have. Everyone has days where you just want to say EFF THE MISSION AND THE HORSE IT RODE IN ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahem. But, we press on. Why? Because that's what the rules say. Remember? 1. Take one more step. 2. When you feel you can't go any further, see Rule #1.

I was at a luncheon where Kristen Steede was the guest speaker. The name may not ring a bell, but she is of Biggest Loser fame from a few seasons ago. She said something that really struck me. She was speaking on motivation, and she said that it's not that she has good days and bad days. It's that she has good hours and bad hours, good moments and bad moments. And, that if you are the type of person that needs a different motivation every day, then that's just something to embrace about yourself. Find those different motivations and keep it movin'.

That said, sometimes it's not just the lack of motivation. Sometimes you need to switch it up to kick yourself off that plateau. To help you out, I've found a few suggestions in the book I talked about earlier (Cinch, by Sass) that I thought I'd share. My favorite suggestion that I recently implemented that has been working is specific timing for your meals. Every meal should be 3-5 hours apart. No more, and no less. And, eating the first meal of the day within 1 hour of waking up. (Personally, I find this one to be the most difficult). As a backup plan, she says that you should think of it in blocks, and maintaining the pattern. So, try to eat each meal during each block of time when you would need it. Here are the blocks: 1. Wake up time - lunch; 2. Lunch - midafternoon; 3. Midafternoon - early evening; 4. Early evening - bedtime. Even if you can't time your meals perfectly, try to keep them inside of the blocks.

Here's another idea, write down everything you eat. Yes really, everything. Nothing like seeing it in black and white. It's also a great way to see where some of those sneaky calories are coming from.

So, let's re-launch the Mission, y'all. As my own cheerleading squad told me, Mission NLAs and QfAs are not for the weak. And by making it this far, you're automatically strong enough to finish. Get after it!