Hope you are enjoying this holiday season!

I looked at the calendar this week and realized our holiday parties will be starting this week. This left me looking at the whole month and I quickly went into, “how are we going to fit this all in?”

I know several of you are juggling your business, your career, kids, family and so much more, so I wanted to give some quick tips to try to minimize the stress around this time of the year.

Step 1: Do Not Over Commit  

The classic response is to say ‘yes’ to everything that comes your way.  I know I am guilty of this.  Also, to be honest, everything sounds fun this time of the year too!  But you will save yourself so much agony if you pick and choose what is best for you at this time.

We tend to feel obligated to do things and yes, sometimes you do need to be present, but there are also times when it is OK to say no. It feels weird at first but you will thank yourself in the end, by not being over committed.

You decide what is important given where you are and what you want to accomplish.  Then don’t feel guilty about the decision.

Step 2: Start a Gratitude Journal  

The next tip is expressing gratitude. I know we tend to think more about this during the Thanksgiving holiday, but gratitude is something we can incorporate all year long.  Take 1-3 minute(s) at the end of the day to either tell someone what you are grateful for or write it down in a gratitude journal.

There are lots of studies on how those few minutes spent in gratitude can add up to being so much more positive in your outlook on life.

We tend to drift to the negative and it takes practice to be positive.

Step 3: Plan  

The next one may just be my personality, but it does help to take a bird’s eye view of what’s going on around you and plan what’s next. Now I know not everything in life is planned, but if you set intention around what you want to achieve it helps ease the burden of the how.

I was introduced back to the old school hand written planner; this is not just any planner.  This planner has room to write goals, review the last month, prioritize personal and business to do lists and more.

I highly recommend the Passion Planner.  I know a few other people who use it and they have enjoyed working through it.

Just knowing what is coming next and being able to plan accordingly helps keep your mind at ease.  Avoiding surprises helps keep stress lower.

Step 4: Review  

Lastly, I am a huge advocate for reviewing.  I am talking locking yourself in a room and reviewing everything you did last year.  Go through your calendar.  How many hours did you work?  Do you want to do the same next year or what would you do differently?

How much time did you take off?  Was that enough?

How many appointments did you have?  Did you gain a positive return on the time spent in those appointments?

How many times a week did you workout, was it enough to reach your goals?

You can review anything you desire.  Most of all, did you spend your time the way you needed to achieve what you want out of life?

Tony and I take our year-end review seriously and it helps us set up what will happen in the coming year.  Some years it has been brutal, especially when you are not where you want to be.  Other years we have gotten through our review very rhythmically.

We took time this year to go to a place we are inspired by.  I am either happiest around mountains or a beach, especially since Indiana has neither of those.

We flew out to Colorado and really worked through what happened both personally and professionally in 2016 and set our intention for 2017. During this time of review, we both get much needed hope and clarity to keep pushing forward.

Also, when reviewing a year, go back through all the awesome things that happened that you may have forgotten or that got overshadowed by the present.

Review…this helps you look at everything you have gotten through or achieved and then helps you set the path for what’s next.

I hope these four steps are helpful!  Now start implementing!

By now you have seen some Christmas trees going up; the Circle in Indianapolis looks amazing all lit up!  Thanksgiving is now a memory.  This time of year is such a joyous celebration.

BUT…

It can wreak havoc on your health and wellness goals.

So what is the typical struggle

• Holiday cookies
• Parties
• Drinks loaded in calories
• Family stress
• Financial stress
• And we could go on

We put a lot of pressure on this time of the year.  Also, we are exposed to so many more calories than we typically consume.  I mean I never met a sugar cookie I did not like!

How do we survive this holiday season without it literally weighing us down?

This depends on your goals or what you personally desire for your health.

For some people maintenance is a huge goal.  The average person gains 7-10lbs over the holidays…yikes!

By making your goal to maintain, you set an intention to not overdo it but you do allow yourself to still enjoy the occasional holiday treat.

Personally, I recommend this approach.

You can absolutely still lose weight during this time of the year, but it will require some more planning on your part.  Also, you will need to understand how to still be in a calorie deficit to create that weight loss.

This does not mean skipping breakfast before the big meal so you can save up calories.  One of my biggest pieces of advice to clients is eat normally around those holiday meals and consider taking in a protein shake before the event or meal.  This way you are not “starving” which will lead to over eating.  If you are already content going into the meal you’re less likely to go over board.

It’s like going to the grocery store hungry…then pleading your case.  “I do not know how those chocolate chip cookies got in there….”

Also another way to avoid the unwanted weight gain is to keep workouts part of your routine.  Something is better than nothing.

Make appointments with yourself.

We get a lot of people telling us over the holidays they will have a hard time making it to the gym.  Sure you might be traveling, but we also see lots of people having more down time around the holidays.

At our gym we encourage clients to bring family with them to the gym over the holidays, keeps everyone in check!

Here are a few other helpful tips:

• Take it easy on Alcohol
• Keep a food journal (you might be surprised once you see it all)
• Monitor your hunger (try to eat something with protein every 3 hours)
• Weigh yourself once per week
• PORTION SIZES
• Check in with your future self

The last one is important.  If you wake up the next day feeling guilty, process those emotions.  They are real and the best thing to do is acknowledge them, do not dwell on the feelings, then help yourself plan so that you do not get in that situation again.

Visualizing who you want to be in the future is important and in the moment of “should I work out or should I skip, should I eat this now or skip it”…remember what you want for you.

You get this one body and typically we do not get a do over.  So keep it in perspective.  Enjoy the holidays but try not to go overboard.

Hopefully you can apply some of these into your holiday season.

My challenge to you is don’t be the average American that gains 7-10lbs this holiday season!

If you need some help with this challenge don’t hesitate to reach out.  We have a great program that will help hold you accountable.

Happy Holidays!

picture credit of Instagram @notonthelease

I sincerely cannot believe it is Thanksgiving this week!

Also we have a little over 4 weeks till Christmas…WHAT!

In light of Thanksgiving we are focusing on Gratitude as one of our Positive Habits to include in our daily lives.

By expressing gratitude in all areas of your life, you can fight internal and external adversity.

I put in the subject line: if you focus on what you don’t have you will never have enough.

This is so true.

Cultivating positivity takes work.

Now this is not saying you will never have a bad day, but life is better if you develop an attitude of gratitude.

So I have a challenge for you:

At the end of the day tell someone around you 3 things you are grateful for.

By doing this you are shifting your perspective.  Instead of focusing on everything that went wrong or didn’t get done, you focus on the positive.

But we have to be intentional about being positive and by ending your day with 3 positive things, you will feel more alive and receptive to the good things that do happen in your life.

Also, gratitude is enjoying the small moments.

No matter how hard your day was, there is something to appreciate.

• the workout you did that morning
• completing a project
• gaining a new client or customer
• catching up with a friend

The fact that you are alive and have been given another day is a gift.

My Grandpa always said this, “Today is a Gift that is why it is called the Present.”  I am pretty sure he borrowed that saying from someone, but it is so true.

Share your gratitude and give it to others.

The challenge is to do this when things are going well in your life and when they are not going well.

Some of this may seem small or insignificant compared to your goals or vision, but the effects of the small things bleed into all areas of your life.

So I will leave you with what my Grandpa always said one more time.

“Today is a Gift that is why it is called the Present.”

Share your gratitude with others and share with me your experiences.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have talked about how we are what we repeatedly do…Excellence is not an act but a habit, Aristotle said this.

What are things you do over and over every day or most days of the week?

Are those things helping you progress?

I went on a hunt to find what highly successful people did.  What did they do that was so different from me?

I looked at business owners, TV stars, inventors, CEO’s, etc.

My goal was to see something blaring, something so different that I could jump on and instantly find success.

What I found, I am sure is not surprising, but I almost missed it.

I almost missed it because it is so simple.

 

Most of these successful people did these items on this list:

1.) Got up 3+ hours before they needed to be somewhere

2.) Read or listened to audio-books

3.) Exercised or was active most days of the week

4.) Watched minimal TV

5.) Focused on specific goals

6.) Wrote down their goals

7.) Work with a coach or mentor

8.) They constantly were learning something new

 

What was interesting is all these people I studied had such similar traits, so I thought there might be something to this.

I have watched clients in our program see incredible results, truly life changing results.

They did not show up once in a while to their workout or kinda sorta eat well…

They showed up for each session, they food journaled, responded to their accountability coach and they measured results against the goals they set.

They followed through with the commitment they made.

They had a ritual.

It’s easy to start something but do you finish or see it to the end.

I encourage you to take a look at this list and see what you can implement into your life.

Start small and build.

Now I am not going to say this will be easy and fun at all times.  It can be hard to add new habits into your life, especially in the beginning.

Keep your eyes focused on the vision, persevere against temporary failures and commit to the process.

Slowly but surely you will start to see small wins.  Small positive habits will start forming and you will ultimately reap the rewards!

If you need help adding in positive habits to your life, please reach out.  We offer a Free Consultation.

“Energy and persistence conquer all things.” –Benjamin Franklin

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