Yes, you read that right, a power post-it. Every year, I put a post-it in the middle of my desk and it’s helped me reach my goals consistently, while staying true to my deepest values.
It’s simple, practically free, and consists of just three elements: a theme for the year, your values, and your one main goal.
A theme. Each year, I choose a theme for the year. Usually consisting of just one word, a theme represents your hope for the year, and your focus. Some themes that I and others have used include strength, stability, powerful, flourish, authenticity, drive, focus.
Your values.
Your values are beliefs that motivate and fulfill you. They do not change with age, or your businesses, or when you marry; they are inherent elements of who you are. When you align your actions and decisions with your values, you have more clarity and peace, less resistance, and often reach your goals faster.Your main goal.
Most people set more than one goal for the year, but generally there is one central goal that the other goals support. In business, that central goal is generally a revenue or income goal.In order to make this a powerful tool, once you have all three elements and create your power post-it, I recommend taping it down to your desk directly in front of you. That way you are physically, literally aligned with your theme, values and goals every time you sit down to work.
By having this in front of you all the time, you are getting a visual reminder of your theme, values, and goals constantly. Eventually they just slip into your consciousness, influencing every decision to be aligned with what is most important to you, and helping you reach your goals faster!
Recipe for Super Chocolates
![Healthy, chocolatey yumminess!](http://marycravets.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Chocolates-225x300.jpg)
I recently made a re-commitment to eating healthy, and am exploring ways to make this commitment delicious (rather than torturous). Imagine my delight when I discovered recipes for healthy chocolate online!
But I’ll admit, I was skeptical. I’m a chocolate snob. And chocolate made from superfoods? Well, I was concerned they would taste like grass.
After experimenting, I came up with a simply delicious recipe*. The online recipes I found didn’t address how to deal with common problems (like the honey completely settling to the bottom), so I’ve included best-of-the-best instructions that will help you avoid these pitfalls.
Side note: if you are like me, and are on a diet that restricts carbs, you are going to be ecstatic about this next tidbit. Depending on how large you make the chocolates, they only have about 2-4 carbs each. While I’ve been eating and testing these chocolates (often up to 10 a day), my ketone levels have actually gone UP. If you don’t know what that means, here’s the bottom line: I seem to burn fat better when I eat the chocolates. Totally serious.**
A Note About the Recipe
The recipe below is for a small batch of chocolates, because you may want to do some practice runs to get it the hang of it. The ingredients are not cheap, so making small batches will save you money and headaches. Once you’ve got it, double or triple the recipe and go crazy!
RECIPE: Super Chocolates
Ingredients
1/3 cup Coconut Oil (I prefer unrefined, like at Trader Joe’s)
1/4 cup raw cacao powder (I used Hershey’s cocoa powder in one batch and it worked fine and tasted great, but cacao gives you the best nutritional properties)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch salt*** (optional)
2-3 teaspoons honey (to taste)
Instructions
![Step 1](http://marycravets.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Cacao-and-coconut-oil-225x300.jpg)
Step 1. Put coconut oil, cacao, vanilla and salt into a stove top-safe pan or bowl. Do NOT add the honey yet!
![Step 2](http://marycravets.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Liquid-mixture-225x300.jpg)
Step 2. Over very very low heat, continuously mix with spoon or spatula. Remove from heat as soon as the coconut oil is melted, then continue stirring until the mixture is free of lumps and thoroughly mixed. The mixture will be a very runny liquid at this point.
–> For a milder, creamier chocolate (similar to milk chocolate), skip Step 3 and go straight to Step 4.
![Step 3](http://marycravets.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Whisk-the-mixture-225x300.jpg)
Step 3. For a darker chocolate, return the mixture to very very low heat, stirring constantly with a whisk until it is lightly bubbling. Continue to whisk gently (don’t whisk like you’re beating an egg!) for 2 minutes. Stick to 2 minutes: if you go longer, you’ll end up with a much more bitter chocolate. Remove from heat.
Step 4. Put the whole container of the mixture into the fridge until you see about 1 inch of the chocolate starting to solidify around the edges of the bowl. For the milder chocolate, this will be approx. 10-15 minutes, for the darker chocolate, 45-60 minutes.
![Step 5](http://marycravets.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Fudgy-out-of-th-fride-225x300.jpg)
Step 5. Remove mixture from the fridge and scrape the hardening chocolate from the edges and mix with the runnier stuff in the middle. What you’re working to get is for the entire mixture to be the consistency of a good, thick hot fudge. This may take a few trips back and forth into the fridge and onto the stove top, but it’s worth it. Getting to this fudgy consistency is the key to keeping the honey from completely separating.
Step 6. Add the honey, and taste it. Add more if you like!
Step 7. Spoon chocolate into candy molds, then pop in the freezer. In 15 minutes, they’re ready to eat!
Once you get the hang of this, try adding coconut, almonds, dried fruit. Have fun with it!
![On the right, the milder chocolates and on the left, the darker. Coconut was added to all except for the hearts.](http://marycravets.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Chocolates-225x300.jpg)
Post questions and comments and I’m happy to help!
* To those of you who know me well, please stop laughing. I know I haven’t cooked for more than a decade, but… well, just stop laughing, ok?
** I’m sure if I ate more than 10 or so per day, this probably would not be the case, so I don’t recommend using the chocolates as a basis for your diet. Just a yummy supplement.
*** The salt does not dissolve in the mixture, but is fairly well distributed. If you include salt, you’ll occasionally get a piece that is a little saltier than the others. Personally, I like that, but feel free to just omit the salt if you prefer.