We are 5 weeks past the New Year and this is when you need self-discipline to help you stay the course. 

Adrenaline wears off.  Motivation subsides,  At this point, new health goals become extra tough.

What exactly is self-discipline? 

It’s the ability to do something you don’t want to do in the moment. 

I  believe self-discipline is the backbone of all achievement. The ability to stay focused and remain motivated can help us reach any goal, no matter how big or small. But even with all the knowledge in the world, it can be hard to stay self-disciplined.

We all struggle with self-discipline in one area or another, but we also have an area where we do have self-discipline. For example, you may not be able to make healthy food choices, but you show up every day for your children. Remember to give yourself credit! The easy area for me has always been exercise, nutrition and mindset. How about you? What is easy for you and where do you struggle?

Most people think self-discipline is hard and requires a lot of willpower. 

But self-discipline is actually freeing and once you stop resisting self-discipline, you’ll find it much easier to do hard things in the moment. 

Self-discipline is an act of self-respect. 

It’s about keeping your word to yourself. When you keep your word and do what is hard instead of avoiding it, you build a strong relationship with yourself. 

People will often bail on themselves, but they wouldn’t go back on their word to a child or friend. It’s interesting that we often consider it more important to keep our word with others than with ourselves!

Self-discipline is showing up for your future self. The person you want to be. Self-discipline is also an expression of self-love because it demonstrates that you are willing to take the necessary steps to better yourself and your life. 

By taking the time and effort to practice self-discipline, you are valuing your own needs and desires and showing yourself that you are worth the effort. This is an act of self-love, as it is a way of treating yourself with respect and care.

Not following through on goals erodes our relationship with ourselves because it shows a lack of commitment to our own ambitions. It demonstrates a lack of trust in our own abilities and a lack of faith in our own potential. It also demonstrates that we are not taking responsibility for our own actions and that we are not accountable for our decisions. Ultimately, this lack of follow-through on goals can lead to a lack of self-confidence and self-esteem, which can further erode our relationship with ourselves.

I  studied the science of behavior change in college and the data overwhelmingly support that self-discipline is a habit that is available to anyone who wants to develop it.

Showing up when it’s not fun or exciting isn’t easy,  but you do it because it’s what you want deep down.  There is no greater feeling than finally achieving your goals. 

If you’re looking to become more self-disciplined, here are a few tips to help you get started: 

1. Set goals: 

Setting goals is an important first step. When you have something to work towards, it is much easier to stay motivated and committed. 

2. Break it down: 

Break down your goal into smaller, achievable tasks. This will make it easier to stay on track and not get overwhelmed. You want to feel confident that no matter what happens In your day, you will have time and energy to follow through with your goal. For example, if fitness is your goal, plan a cardiovascular exercise 3 times a week for a duration of 5 minutes as opposed to 3 times a week for an hour. First, build the identity as someone with self-discipline then gradually increase. 

This changes your identity from someone who procrastinates to someone who has discipline. The more you trust yourself, the easier it will be to follow through and progress.  

3. Develop a daily routine: 

Establishing a consistent daily routine is a great way to build the habit of self-discipline. It can help you to stay focused and organized, and prioritize tasks. If you aren’t able to follow through with your goal one day, be sure not to miss another day. It may seem inconsequential, but after missing two days, it’s much easier to not follow through on day 3 and day 4. Before you know it, you’ve abandoned your goal. 

4. Be accountable: 

Find an accountability partner or friend to help you stay on track. Having someone to check in with can help you stay focused and motivated. 

5. Track Your Progress: 

This one is huge. I’ve been tracking my health habits for decades and this has had a profound effect in how I show up for myself. There is so much to learn when you document your progress. For example, by documenting my food I discovered wheat was the reason for my digestive issues. By tracking the statistics of my workouts, I was able to learn what heart rate zones and durations interfered with my sleep.  Track your progress as you move through each goal. 

6. Avoid Distractions: 

Avoid things that may distract you from achieving your goals. First, you need to be aware of your distractions. What keeps you from focusing on your goal? It may be social media, a noisy environment, or emails. Learn to control the factors that distract you. 

7. Reward yourself: 

Positive reinforcement can be a great way to build self-discipline. Celebrate small victories and reward yourself for completing goals. When you achieve something or make progress towards a goal, take time to reward and acknowledge yourself. This will help you stay consistent. This is an area where I struggle. I have found that acknowledging my efforts daily in my journal helps remind me of how I’m showing up for myself. 

8. Visualize Success: 

Visualize yourself achieving your goals and what success will look like. 

9.  Create a Support System: 

Surround yourself with people who will motivate and encourage you. For example, when I first started with triathlons I joined a triathlon club. I then had many workout partners to keep me accountable and to learn from. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.  Asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness. If you feel overwhelmed or stuck, don’t be afraid to reach out to others for support.

10. Take Care of Yourself: 

Make sure to take regular breaks, get enough sleep, and eat healthily. 

11. Reduce the scope:

When you encounter unforeseen obstacles in your day, change the scope of your goal instead of totally dismissing your goal. For example, if for some reason I’m not able to complete a strength training workout, I will still do pushups or squats before getting into the shower. This still helps to build the identity of a person who has self-discipline. 

12. Backup plans:

Always have a plan for the what-ifs.

For example, lack of sleep can derail plans.  If I’m exhausted from lack of sleep, I will change the activity to one that is physically more manageable. Instead of a run, I will swim as I’ve found that swimming will actually re-energize me and sustain me for the rest of the day. A run tends to make me feel even more tired. 

Achieving “health” is hard to do on your own. Our brains are designed to seek pleasure and relax so it can be hard to know what to do, what to eat, how much to eat, what workouts to do, etc. 

But can you imagine what it would feel like if you woke up and had the self-discipline to exercise, eat healthily, avoid alcohol, and have emotional control? 

That’s where I come in. As a coach trained in behavior change, I can help you build self-discipline by helping you identify your goals and create a plan of action to achieve them. You will learn how to break down your goals into manageable steps. I also help you to develop strategies for self-monitoring, such as keeping a journal of your progress and creating rewards and consequences to help motivate you. Most importantly, I provide support and encouragement to help you maintain self-discipline over time.

And I would love to help you!

Motivation.

Such a powerful contributor to health. It gets us out of bed an hour early to exercise. It is the reason we put in tireless work to keep ourselves and our loved ones happy and healthy. It is the big ‘why’ behind all of our actions and behaviors. Yet it can seem, at times, impossible to channel motivation and keep it going long-term.

At times, motivation is easy to come by but just as quickly fades into avoidance or procrastination. Other times, it is simply too hard to even start. It’s easier to let the Netflix series you’re watching automatically play the next episode than to get up off the couch and get your butt to the gym. It’s easier to order take-out than to buy and prepare a nutritious meal for you and your family.

At this point you may be asking, “Sure, but how?! How can I even get motivated?”

Before we practice harnessing motivation, let’s back up a bit to really understand motivation at its core. In essence, it is the response to “why”. Why do you wake up an hour early to go to the gym? Why do you spend some of your very limited time on this earth to have dinner with your friends? Why are you trying to lose weight? Why are you trying to create a better work-life balance?

It comes down to your WHY.

There are two types of motivation: external and internal. If your big “why” is external and you haven’t done the work from within, then your motivation will be fleeting, at best.

It is essential to dig deep and find reasons that are super important to you, to your values and to your purpose here on earth.

We can look at some examples to better understand external versus internal motivation:

1. Look at the amount of people who go to the gym in January versus February. People make a New Year’s resolution to lose those extra pounds. That’s great! So they sign up for a gym membership and decide to go 5 days a week starting right after the holidays. On the evening of January 1st they pack their gym bags and meal prep for the week. January 2nd arrives and they wake up early to squeeze in a gym workout before work. “This year will be different!”, they say. They blend up a nutritious smoothie and head off to the gym. They have a great workout at the gym. At lunch they eat a healthy salad with lean protein. “This is delicious!” they say. Their motivation level is high. Unfortunately, what inevitably happens to many of those gym-goers is after a week or two, they lose motivation. “This salad is delicious!” quickly becomes, “Maybe I’ll just get a pizza today.” Waking up ready to hit the gym quickly turns into snoozing the alarm or rationalizing why it’s OK to skip your workout today. By the time February rolls in, the gym is back to its pre-holiday crowd. Maybe next year…

Why were these people unable to keep going? They very likely had an external reason for their goal. Maybe society is telling them that they will be happier if they are thinner. Maybe the celebrities they read about go to the gym and follow the same diet they are trying. These reasons are given value by others, not by themselves. External reasons aren’t bad, but internal reasons are the fuel for long-term motivation.

What is your reason? If it’s for external reasons outside of you, like praise or recognition from others, then you’ll want to dig deeper and find a reason that is aligned with your own values.

2. In an episode of Ozmosis, John (the host) and I talked about his motivation- his reason for running. He is an avid runner, but this year due to an injury he has been having trouble making running a priority and logging those miles. He is struggling with getting “back in the groove”.

We often base our future performance on our past performance, and John is no exception!

John felt a lack of confidence because he was comparing his physical state to that of last year. He viewed himself as unhealthy simply because a year ago he was, in his mind, healthier. He believed that the miles he ran was a direct measure of his worth as a coach. He was down on himself because he was running less and was connecting his running with his self worth as a human and as a coach. It’s almost impossible to be motivated to get up to run when you’re feeling this way.

This resulted in excuses, inaction and procrastination. Like with many of us, it turned into a vicious cycle that perpetuated itself.

How is John supposed to feel motivated while he’s feeling frustrated and unconfident? His motivation came in brief spurts then quickly died off. How we feel determines how we show up in our life. Think about the last time you felt sad. What actions did you take as a result? You may have gone to bed, or reached for a bag of chips, or turned on the T.V., or cried. Sustainable motivation is fueled by positive feelings. As humans, we are wired to move away from pain, whether it’s physical or emotional.

John needed to work on developing thoughts that lead to confidence and empowerment. From these thoughts, results will naturally follow. From strong internal reasons, motivation will spring forth.

Here is the podcast episode if you want to listen for yourself!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEjiyqLS0bo

Now we get to the fun part! Here’s an exercise I want you to do. Carve out a good amount of time to really think about this. Putting 2 minutes of hard thinking into this exercise will not reveal many secrets to motivating yourself for the rest of your life (if it were that easy, you’d already be super motivated and wouldn’t be reading this!). Give yourself the time that you’d give to a loved one when they come to you with a problem. Also, silence distractions! Set your phone and computer notifications to ‘Do Not Disturb’. Ask those you life with to not interrupt you and go into a quiet room, if possible.

Ready? Here we go!

Imagine you’re 100 years old. You know you’re nearing the end of your life. You’re sitting in your rocking chair on a chilly autumn morning and reflecting on your life and the choices you have made.

What are the things you have done that would lead you to feel your life was well lived? In short, what was the purpose of your life? Really think about what has brought you fulfillment. Write this all down. Out of this, make a list of the 5 most important things that make you feel most content. What are the 5 vital events or choices that occurred in your life that lead you to undoubtedly say that you had a meaningful life? What are the major decisions or paths you took which allowed you to lead a life that was filled with purpose. How do you know your life was well lived?

It may be a difficult exercise for you at first, but over time and with practice it will become clear to you. Remember, you are not necessarily writing about things that actually happened or that have already happened. This mental exercise puts your imagination to work on what could be.

Throughout the years in which I’ve guided clients through this mental exercise, I have never had one say they wanted a bigger house out of life. Not one client wishes they had more cars in the driveway. Sure, that walk-in closet with racks of designer shoes and clothes would be nice, but it never makes that top 5 list. When you read or hear about stories of people actually on their death beds, they are not regretting a lack of material items. Instead, we might hear: “I wish I had forgiven my mother.” “I wish I had a better relationship with my children.” “I wish I took that risk in my career instead of staying in my safe and stable job that I only tolerated.” “I wish I wasn’t reliant on an oxygen tank and wheelchair.” “I wish I gave more to the world than what I took.”

Be honest with yourself about your feelings while doing this task. Check in with your body when you write something down.

What is your reason for making your goal?

It’s important to consider your reason closely to understand what feeling is fueling your desire. In order to fuel long-term behavior, you want to elicit a positive feeling. For example, it will be hard to lose weight long-term if your reason is because you hate your body. When we feel shame, disgust and other negative feelings we aren’t motivated to be kind to ourselves nor behave in a way that supports our well-being.

Does your reason come from fear, or self-punishment or does it come from a desire to live your best life?

Next, log one of your normal days from the time you wake up until the time you sleep. Write down everything you did. Log what you ate for breakfast, what you drank, who you spent your day with, what you worked on, what you did during your free time, what you watched on TV, what content you read…

Be as detailed as possible and leave nothing out (not even those cookies you ate as a late-night snack)!

OK great, now comes the final step. Compare the log of your actual activities with the log of your fulfilled future. Do the choices and accomplishments match up? Look at what you actually did in a day and compare that to what you want out of life. Did you make time for the things that are important to you? If you want to be satisfied with your life it will require daily effort and practice.

Ultimately, you need to decide if you are willing to do what is required to leave this life with no regrets.

If you are, then take those 5 things you want out of life, and start incorporating them into your daily life now. Bit by bit.

To be- and stay- motivated, your daily life needs to support why you are here on this planet.

It’s OK if you aren’t there yet, because guess what? You aren’t 100 years old! You aren’t on your death bed! You’re one of the lucky ones. Be kind to yourself, yet determined, as you find your “why” to life.

It really will motivate you every day.

If you really get stuck and need some guidance, I’d be happy to help.

What can you do when you lose your motivation?

During a coaching call this week, a client asked me this question. She shared how she struggles with motivation. She wants to exercise more, but she doesn’t follow through and doesn’t show up for herself. She disappoints herself over and over again which erodes her self-confidence. It’s almost impossible to feel motivated when you are down on yourself. She asked me to outline a plan for her.

It’s human nature to not want to always show up and do the hard things.

What hard things am I talking about?
Eating better, drinking less alcohol, strength training, stretching, losing weight, going to bed earlier, stressing less, establishing healthy boundaries -any goal you have to make you and your life better.

I know you have goals for yourself – small goals, big goals, health goals, personal goals, business goals. Goals to travel more, stress less, sleep more, drink less.

You have goals because you want to grow as a person.

You want to be a better person for your children or grandchildren or for yourself.

It’s called evolution and it’s programmed in your genes.

You can’t become a stronger person when things are easy.

They aren’t meant to be easy and when things aren’t easy your mind will play tricks and come up with every reason in the book to not do it. To become better, to become stronger, you don’t want it to be easy.

So what can you do?

Change your thought about what it is you want to do. Instead of thinking I want ……. (insert goal) to be easy, say ” I love that I’m finding this hard. It means I’m growing as a person.”

It creates a whole different feeling, right? From feeling defeated to feeling empowered. And do you know how you respond when you feel empowered? You take action that brings you closer to your goal.

I’m offering one thought option, but it can be any thought that makes you feel empowered and excited.

You’ll definitely feel much more motivated when you feel empowered than when you feel defeated.

Do not quit or change your goal. Instead, change your thought about your goal.

It happened to me a couple of days ago. I have a goal to run a half marathon which means I need to start running consistently.

I’ve added my training plan to the calendar.

This past Friday was a run day and I was feeling very unmotivated.

This was my thought process:
Why am I unmotivated? I’m slightly sore from yesterday’s strength training, but mostly it’s because it’s raining.
I then asked myself, “What thought do I need to think that would support the goal I want which is to keep to my run plan?”

• I could tell myself that running in the rain is enjoyable. I’ve done it many, many times. Heck, I’ve even run a marathon in the pouring rain.
  That thought didn’t motivate me.

• My next thought was,
  “If I have some company it will help me get out the door.”
  I contacted a running buddy, but she couldn’t go.

• My next thought,
  “I could run on the treadmill.”
  Who am I kidding? I don’t like running on the ‘dreadmill’.

• I added, “I’ll give myself permission to run half the planned distance and I can watch a show on Netflix.”
  That did it. I got on the treadmill and when I reached the halfway mark I stopped. It was a win in my books. I was proud of myself for showing up. Instead of not running at all I ran 25 minutes.

Allowing myself to do less almost always works for me. I’ve often told myself just do 10 minutes and if I want to stop at that point I can. Most of the time I complete the workout, but there have been times I’ve given myself permission to cut it short.

You can show up for yourself. Wrestling with your thoughts is the hardest part. Find thoughts that will support your goal and DO IT.

You have dealt with much more unpleasant feelings in your life. You are much stronger than you give yourself credit for.

Going through childbirth or losing a loved one is hard, much harder than dealing with short-term discomfort.

I do believe that discipline is my superpower. I show up to do the hard things and it is a feeling that drives my action. I know what it feels like to be so down that I’m not sure if I can get up again. It’s a dark place where there is little hope. I show up to do the hard things because they make me feel hopeful. That is the emotion that drives my actions.

How about you? How are you making yourself stronger? What drives you? I would love to know.

There are many well-researched health tips that will contribute significantly to your health, but the tip that will make the biggest impact is one that is not well-known or talked about until now!

When trying to achieve a health goal, most people focus their energy on actions. For example, I’m not losing weight so I’ll add more exercise to my day, or I’ll eat less food. This approach won’t last.

Lasting change starts by creating thoughts that will make you feel good about what you want to do.

In order to implement positive actions in your life, you need to adopt a THOUGHT that supports that action. Positive thoughts create positive feelings. Positive feelings support positive actions. Positive actions create positive RESULTS in your life.

The single most impactful health tip is to focus on the quality of your thoughts surrounding your health goal.

If you aren’t achieving a result you want, it’s because you have a thought that doesn’t support that goal. First look at the thought behind your goal. How does that thought make you feel? Or, you can ask yourself what thought is making you feel discouraged about your goal?

For example, when someone tells me that they want to exercise consistently, but they just don’t have the motivation to make it a consistent part of their life, I know we need to explore that person’s thoughts around exercise. When I ask how she feels about exercise she may say, “I hate it” or, “It’s a chore”. When I ask why she feels that way she may say, “It’s hard for me” or, “I’ve never been good at it” or, “I do it because I’ve eaten too much”. None of these thoughts make her feel good. No wonder she isn’t able to enjoy exercise. Why would you want to continue doing something that makes you feel bad?

When this same person is able to create thoughts around exercise that make her FEEL better, feel more joy, feel more empowered, feel less discouraged, only then will she be able to make exercise a regular part of her life.

When you are able to implement positive actions in your life, it’s because you’ve adopted a THOUGHT that makes you feel more positive about that goal.

I want you to think about one of your health goals for a second. Is it to drink more water, eat more vegetables, add more exercise, lose weight,….?

How does the woman who has achieved that goal think? Her internal environment – her thoughts – and her external environment support that future person.

Now ask yourself, “Do I show up as that version of me NOW? Do I show up as the woman who is living that goal?”

The woman who wants to eat more vegetables prepares a grocery list that includes vegetables. She shops and has produce in her fridge for the week. She finds pre-washed lettuce and many other convenient healthy choices which makes it super easy. She plans her meals daily and knows what vegetables she will eat at each meal. Her thought may be, “I deserve to feel my best”.

The woman who fuels with water has a method for making it consistent and convenient. She has a glass or metal water bottle that she fills first thing in the morning. She refills it when it’s empty. She keeps it at her desk and sips throughout the day. She takes it with her when she gets in the car. She may even set her timer to remind her to drink.

Her thought may be, “Water makes my skin glow”.

The woman who exercises consistently looks at her calendar at the beginning of the week and plans her exercise. She knows what she will do on what day and at what time. If she goes to the gym she has a gym bag packed so she doesn’t get to the gym unprepared. She makes this appointment with herself NON-NEGOTIABLE. After all, this is the most important activity on her calendar.
Her thought may be, “Exercise gives me energy”.

Do you create an environment that reflects where she’s at?

Think about the future you who is healthier and start to be her NOW. How you show up every day MATTERS!

If you want to achieve your goal this year, start showing up and making decisions the way your future self would! These decisions are based on the quality of your thoughts.

Start living through that lens and I guarantee you’ll get there!⠀

This is the mindset of RESULTS. Live now as the future you.

Have a wonderful week. I would love to hear your thoughts. Let us know below!

Do you want help creating intentional thoughts that support the life you want to live?

We offer group coaching. Find out more HERE.
If you prefer more individualized attention, one on one coaching is available. Contact us HERE.

When I tell my weight loss clients that one of the basic tenets of successful weight loss is daily weighing, I get a lot of push back. For most people, the thought of getting on the scale creates so much anxiety.

Research supports that people who weigh themselves daily are much more likely to lose weight and maintain their weight loss.

A 6-month randomized, controlled study found that daily weighers lost on average 9.2 kg (20.24 lbs) at 6 months compared to 3.1 kg (6.8 lbs) for those weighing themselves less than daily. The participants who weighed themselves daily lost significantly more weight. They also adopted many more weight control behaviors that helped to maintain their weight loss long-term.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4380831/

It’s much easier- physically and mentally- to get back on track after gaining a couple of pounds versus gaining five or ten. But knowing the facts doesn’t make stepping on the scale any easier.

If you have a goal to lose weight and keep it off, you’ll want to start weighing yourself daily, and to do that you’ll want to learn how to make weighing a neutral activity. You won’t be able to do that when you make the numbers mean something personal.

Giving a negative meaning to the numbers on the scale will sabotage your weight loss and, more importantly, affect the relationship you have with yourself.

It’s important to remember that numbers are neutral and they don’t have the power to control you and influence how you feel. Numbers are data and can very effectively guide you toward your goal when you understand that the numbers have nothing to do with your self-worth.

When you step on the scale those numbers mean something to you because you’re making them mean something.

What thoughts are you choosing when you see numbers on the scale? Most people aren’t even aware of their thoughts, and there’s good reason for this. We have well over 40,000 thoughts a day and most of them are unconscious. Much of what the brain does is at the unconscious level. People may notice feeling disappointment, shame or anger, but they don’t understand the thought creating the feeling.

Here’s a process to help you learn how to change the experience. The next time you get on the scale, do the following:

1. Look at the numbers.
2. Identify what you’re feeling and write it down.
3. Identify the thought creating the feeling. Ask yourself, “Why am I feeling this?” Pay attention to your answer because this is the thought behind the feeling. You may have more than one feeling. For each feeling investigate the thought behind it. Write it down.

Peel away at the onion and you’ll discover the thoughts that are creating the drama about the numbers on the scale. You can choose to make the numbers mean something positive or something negative about yourself. It’s a choice.

4. Replace the negative thought with a positive thought that serves you. How you speak to yourself will influence how you feel. Why choose words that will only hurt you? Ask yourself, “How do I want to feel?” Choosing to feel hope, curiosity, excitement, and love will allow you to make much better choices for yourself. It’s much easier to make healthy choices when you feel positive about yourself.

The only way to feel differently about the number on the scale is to change the thought that isn’t serving you. You know you’re thinking a negative thought if you’re feeling a negative emotion.

What could you think instead? Any thought that makes you feel better is a viable option. Maybe you could choose to think:
The numbers on the scale help me understand what food choices are right for me.
Knowing my numbers is a step closer to controlling my weight.
Numbers are only data and don’t determine my self-worth.
I’m a step closer to my goal every time I weigh myself.
I’m making myself a priority and weighing myself is an act of self-love.

Choosing to make it mean something positive about yourself will move you toward your goal. Negative thoughts only move you away from your goal.

It’s nothing but a number on a scale. Nothing more. When you learn to look at the information in your environment as neutral and not as a reflection of your worth, the journey becomes so much easier.

I’m learning how to play golf and I had my first lesson this past week. I’m so new to the sport that I had to be taught how to hold the golf club. The instructor taught me the basics and after hitting at least 100 balls I was thrilled to be able to even hit the ball!

When I missed the ball, the instructor told me what I did wrong. He analyzed what he saw and gave me feedback. The information he gave was simply data, like the numbers on the scale. It wasn’t criticism nor a judgement. It didn’t mean I wasn’t trying, or that I’ll never be able to figure it out. Trust me, I wasn’t good, but if I allowed the experience to frustrate me, there’s much less chance that I will keep trying. My goal is to learn how to play golf, and I won’t get there if I berate myself.

Your health journey is the same. Learn the basics, learn how to interpret your results and what to change based on those results. Change your thoughts so they are working for you and not against you.

Here’s a thought spin that may change your belief about the numbers on the scale. Think of daily weighing as an opportunity to learn more about yourself. It’s an opportunity to teach you what foods work for you and give you energy. It’s an opportunity to understand what is going on in your mind. The more in control you are of your mind, the more in control you are of your life.

Weighing yourself is a wonderful opportunity for self-exploration as you learn to move your life in the direction you choose.

The degree to which the numbers on the scale impact you can be a good indicator of how much you allow other extraneous factors in your life to control you.

Learn to control your mind and you will learn to create your life instead of reacting to it. Remember, they are just numbers!

Are you tired of living in a body that doesn’t feel right? Summer is around the corner and I want to help you trim your body and transform your mind, so that you can thrive in a way that you deserve!

Join me for my very SUCCESSFUL 6-week weight loss program: Reset Renew Results.

You’ll be ready to proudly wear summer clothes and enjoy what you see in the mirror. I’ll show you how to eat, move and think for lasting results.

I WANT RESULTS

Find Out With This Exercise

Step 1

Write down what you want your top 5 outcomes in life to be. Take the time to do this as it has the potential to be a life-changing exercise.

It’s surprising how few people stop to think of what they want their life to represent.

The greater your health, the greater your life outcomes in every area of life, such as relationships and career. Most people have a health / self-care outcome on their list. Perhaps it’s to keep up with the grandkids. Or to have enough energy and vitality to travel and see the world. I’ve yet to meet a person who doesn’t agree that a fulfilled life includes health and vitality.

Step 2

Next, write down everything you did the day before and how you spent your time.

Your day may have looked like this:
Woke up and got myself and the kids ready for the day.
Made smoothies for breakfast
Made lunches for kids
Dropped the kids off at the bus stop.
Drove to work
Worked all day.
Picked the kids up and drove them to their activities.
Stopped at a fast-food establishment for takeout dinner.
Bedtime for kids
TV + a glass of wine.

Step 3

Now compare your list of top 5 outcomes to your daily activities. How much of your time was spent on any of the top 5 outcomes on your list?

If you’re like most people, the answer is very little.

Some outcomes people list as important to achieve before their time is up often include:
Close family relationships
Community contribution
Being an amazing parent, spouse, sibling, aunt, uncle, friend
Developing a close spiritual connection with God / Creator / Universe
Early retirement filled with purpose and passion
Travel / Adventure

Yet, when people review their time spent it’s a shock to see that very little, if any time was spent on any of the 5 outcomes on their list.

The days pass, the years pass, and dreams die.

Most people believe that they are too busy and just don’t have time for what is really important to them, but this is simply not true.

In believing this you’re denying yourself what you most want in life.

It is possible to have a busy schedule and create time for the outcomes you most want for yourself. Wanting certain outcomes does not make them happen. You have to make them happen.

If you say your spouse is the most important relationship in your life, then make time for that relationship. If your health is important to you, then make time for your health.

With each desired outcome on your list, create the time in your day to make sure your life is supporting what you want. It is a choice you can make.

The underlying foundation of a fulfilled life is health.

HAPPINESS EXERCISE

Another exercise you can do, is to write a list of 30 things that make you happy. Then, have a close look at your life and start to incorporate more of the things on this list. What brings you happiness are clues to what you’re all about and what makes you feel alive and fulfilled.

Your day will always be busy and filled, and it is up to you to take control of it and make time for your dreams.

Plan your life. It’s never too late.

Fear is tragic. It’s tragic because it stops us from fully living.

I watched my first triathlon in my twenties. I was so excited by the event and the energy of the participants, that I decided I wanted to do one. I went out and spent $400 on my first triathlon bike. Back then that was a fortune.

I spent the next year training for the event which includes 3 sports – swimming, biking and running. Then the following year, I felt unready and afraid to do the full event on my own, so I put together a team. One friend would swim, another bike and I would run. Our swimmer had to bail at last minute, and since we were short a team member, we couldn’t participate.

Time marched on as it always does. I got married, had children, worked, moved to a different country and before I knew it, more than 20 years had passed and I still hadn’t participated in a triathlon.

What stopped me? FEAR – tragic, debilitating fear.

What made me so fearful? My thoughts….
I wasn’t a good swimmer
How would I find my bike in the transition area?
How do I train for 3 different sports?
How do I do well at something that I’ve never done before?
How would I find time given that I had a family, work and a home?
etc. etc. etc.

The ROOT CAUSE OF ANY PROBLEM IS OUR THINKING.

We are programmed to be fearful. Our primitive brain wants to keep us safe and it perceives any change, including new thoughts as potential danger.

This is why when you set a new goal for yourself like weight loss, it can be so hard. It’s not that you are weak, or unmotivated, or lack character. Not at all.

The fearful thoughts I had about participating in the triathlon was the problem. The root cause of feeling fear was my own thoughts. It wasn’t my behavior, but my fearful thoughts that resulted in inaction and 20 years of lost opportunity.

OUR THOUGHTS DIRECTLY CREATE THE EXPERIENCES IN OUR LIVES.

We have over 40,000 thoughts a day and we’re not consciously aware of them all, but they are the reasons for every feeling we have.

Positive results come from positive thoughts.

WHAT RESULT DO YOU WANT TO CREATE IN YOUR LIFE?

I sucked at my first triathlon. I had a panic attack and desperately tried to get the attention of the rescue boat. They never saw me and I was forced to get to shore. I got there doing side stroke… not free style like all the other graceful swimmers.

But I continued to practice and within a few years I was invited to be on an Elite Triathlon Team. I found a sport that I LOVED. It allowed me to travel, train and meet so many wonderful people.

WHAT ARE YOU PREPARED TO SUCK AT?

You have the choice to believe the thoughts that aren’t serving you, or you can create thoughts that serve you much better.

Challenge these thoughts and tell your primitive brain “thanks for looking after me, but I’ve got this”.

This I know for sure – any goal you wish for yourself is within your reach.

Let me know what that wish is.

Is it losing weight, participating in a race, being an example of health for your children or grandchildren, having more energy, learning a new language, or perhasp reversing type 2 diabetes?

Fear is a natural response to life. Letting it stop you from living your best life though is tragic because there is a way to stop giving it control.

Are you ready to take control? I’m able to help.

Happy to serve .. You can always find me here

Another word for motivation is perseverance. The more you practice it, the better you get at sticking with something even when it gets uncomfortable and life gets unpredictable.

Do you create goals for yourself? If you don’t, you’re not alone.

Why People Don’t Create Goals

There is a natural tendency to avoid setting goals. As humans we FEAR failure so much that we don’t go after what we most want in life. Yet as humans we are programmed to change and grow. This can leave us stuck in limbo, wanting change yet fearing it at the same time.

Research suggests that less than 3% of people write their goals down even though it is through goal setting that people stop re-creating the past and move toward a more fulfilled future.

If you’re tired of re-creating the past and have dreams that you would love to turn into reality, then effective goal setting is your golden ticket.

If you knew you could not fail, what would you dream for yourself?

Imagine if you could believe in yourself enough to know that you could achieve your goal, whatever it is (lose 30 pounds for good, or have a loving relationship, get off medication, or own a second home in your paradise) would you go for it?

It’s exhausting when we spend our life fighting our natural tendency to improve because we fear what that change may bring.

Imagine what you could accomplish if you had enough belief in yourself to move forward despite your fear?

Goal setting helps you create belief in yourself and momentum in your life.

The Power of Goals

Goals are powerful because they provide direction and supervision for your brain. If you don’t give your brain directives it will continue to filter information based on your past and not on where you want to go. The brain likes to maintain the status quo. It’s job is to keep you safe and it interprets change as danger.

Helping people create and implement goal plans is an important part of my coaching. Time and time again I’ve witnessed the power of goal setting in helping people make changes that they never believed could be possible.

HERE’S MY PROCESS

Step 1 – Think Long-term

Look into the far future and ask yourself where you would like to be at that point in your life. Your vision can focus on relationships, health, finances, activities, hobbies – in other words everything and anything you want.

It’s easier for people to think far in the future. A longer time frame feels less threatening because the commitment is not in the immediate future. Go ahead and dream about where you want to be, say 25 or 10 or 5 years from now.

Step 2 – Start With One Goal

You may have a list of goals you would like to achieve, which is great. But the best advice I can give you is to pick one goal to start. Research shows that your success rate is much lower with too many goals at once.

Step 3: Make It Measurable

Examples:
How much weight do you want to lose and by when?
What size of clothes will you be wearing?
How much money will you make? By when?
Where will you live? When?

Step 4: Write it down

Use a cue card, or anything else you fancy.
Write it in the present, as if it already exists.

This next step is critical. I’m sharing a strategy with you that I call the secret sauce. Very few people know about this and it is a game changer.

Step 5: Jot down all the reasons why it will be hard

Brainstorm what you think your obstacles will be.
What skill set are you missing? What do you need to learn to reach that goal?
Get it all down on paper and don’t omit any idea that comes to your mind.
Keep working through your reasons and eventually you’ll get to the deep stuff, like:
people will laugh at me if I fail
people will judge me
I’m going to have so much anxiety
I’m too busy to take on more
I may lose my friends if I change
WHAT STANDS between you and your goal are your obstacles. People tell you to ignore your obstacles but that is the WRONG advice. Overcome your obstacles.

The purpose of this exercise is to show you that it is your thoughts about the goal and not the actual goal that are limiting you.

Each obstacle then becomes a strategy in your plan.

For example:
If one of your obstacles is that you are too busy, then a possible sub goal may be how to organize your life to create more time. Or, another possibility may be what can you remove from your life to create more time?
If one of your obstacles for weight loss is that you don’t know what to eat, then a possible sub-goal becomes how to create a food protocol that works for you.
Next, you want to prioritize all your sub-goals and focus on one sub-goal at a time.

STEP 6: Get It Done

This is a process that helps you break the long range goal down from 25 years to the current week and day.

The little things you do everyday will bring you to the big goal.

You do it at your pace. If you need to, then extend the time frame of your goal, rather than changing your goal.

STEP 7: Accountability

Quitting doesn’t get you there faster. Quitting is temporary relief. Instead, think of the lasting, permanent relief you will feel when you accomplish your goal.

Accountability is super powerful. Get an accountability partner, like a friend or spouse. It doesn’t matter who, as long as that person is truly rooting for your success.

Do you need an accountability partner? Contact me! I’m happy to root for you.

Create Goals For Your Life

Most people don’t create goals for their life, which is interesting given that we typically plan for most of the endeavors we take on. We don’t go on a road trip without planning the route, deciding where to stay and what to pack. We recently finished renovating our bathroom which required major planning from beginning to end. I don’t believe anyone would start a major renovation without having a plan.

Write your goals down daily

Despite the power of goal setting only 3% of the population set goals for themselves and only 1% write their goals down. Gail Matthews, a psychology professor at Dominican University of California, found that a person is 42% more likely to achieve their goals and dreams simply by writing them down on a daily basis.

I know how much we are all looking forward to saying goodbye to 2020 and welcoming in a new year and new possibilities. Before this year ends though, I would like to tell you about my goal setting ritual and I invite you to join me in doing the same. It’s a process to help you set smart goals and get the most from the new year. Not only will you learn a lot about yourself, but following these 3 simple steps will help you create long-term goals that won’t have you giving up when the going gets tough.

SCIENCE SUPPORTS THAT THE SECRET TO HEALTH IS ALL IN YOUR MIND!

I bet when you think of areas that most affect your health, these are 4 areas you’ve been told to focus on: 1- Sleep 2- Exercise 3- Nutrition 4- Avoiding toxins

We’ve all heard that these are pillars of overall health, but they actually aren’t what have the MOST impact on health.

Do you know what does? The most important way to improve health is to minimize negative messages and maximize positive messages to your brain. Positive self-talk has the most impact on your health.

But the reality is that it is incredibly hard to control our thoughts since so many of them are unconscious and automatic. Most of the time we aren’t even aware of the messages we are sending to our brain. For example, you can really do a lot of harm with messages like ”I’m such a loser”, “I stink at this”, “I’m a fraud”.

A really common theme is using movement as a form of punishment for eating too much. In actual fact movement is a celebration of what your body can do.

There are many similar examples. Maybe you were the last one to be picked for sport teams and now you avoid physical activity because you learned to associate it with isolation or humiliation (did that bring you back to high school gym class?). It’s not easy, but start to pay attention to your internal language. Once you take the time to understand the messages you send yourself around food and exercise, you will then be able to develop harmony and balance between body and mind.

When I was younger, I really focused on exercise and nutrition. Then, when I was introduced to doTERRA, I realized the importance of eliminating environmental toxins from my life.

I continue to focus on these foundational pillars of health, but with age comes wisdom and I now realize that what most influences our health are the messages we tell ourselves.

This is how science says it works:

1. Based on how we interpret what’s happening around us, the brain and central nervous system respond by sending our cells a constant stream of messages that directly impact our physical state.
2. Positive messages draw healthy responses from our bodies.
3. This results in the form of stronger immune systems and healthier sleep patterns, among many other benefits that can last a lifetime.

How we speak to our bodies plays a vital role in our health and well-being.

I was brought up to really focus on productivity. This was so ingrained that over the years it felt natural for me to sacrifice my health in the name of productivity. Sound familiar?

What messages did you hear growing up? Were meal times happy? Did your family participate in sports together? Was your Mom always stepping on the bathroom scale? Most of these messages are subconscious and we don’t even realize how much they control our mindset and life.

Bodies naturally tend to attain equilibrium, and we can enhance our physical state simply by listening to the clues our bodies give us. Incorporate exercise and foods that bring you long term joy and energy.

We become what we believe, and remaining positive sends our bodies loving messages that are crucial to maintaining good health.

My challenge to you for the next few days is to really focus on your internal dialogue. What messages do you hear? Are they supporting your well – being? Would you share these messages with someone you love? If not, it’s time to start re-programming them with kinder, more nurturing language. I would love to know what you learned from the challenge. Be sure to share your feedback in the comments below.