Redefining Strength Podcast

Why do we have ego, take pride, in doing things alone?

Why do we fear failing?

If we want to succeed, we need to overcome these hurdles. We need to embrace failing faster and embrace an outside perspective.

If you're finding yourself fighting against "help," fearing starting something new because you could fail....

Here are some questions or perspectives to get out of your own way and even fail faster honestly….

#1: Why not ask for help?

#2: What pitfalls have others seen when taking on these challenges? Learn from others!

#3: Repeat failing isn’t failure…Failure is never taking risk so you never see your full potential.

#4: You want to put up a wall against doing it? Then do it more.

Learn more about why that coaching, and accountability, may be key.

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Talking to client - she’s like…

“It didn’t get easier this week! You lied!”

And I said back, "Did you use a harder variation? Did you finish the workout faster?"

She said...“Yes.”

"Then it DID get easier."

With training, you will ALWAYS feel challenged, because you’ll always be reaching for that next thing.

But you’ll see the progression in how far you can run and how fast you do it…or the weights you can lift for more reps…

But no…it never FEELS easier.

We are just stronger, fitter, faster, more confident…

I don’t share this to be negative but I think this delusion that things will at some point be “easy” holds us back…because it makes us ignore how much more we can do…

Whether in the gym or other areas of our life.

And even habits that do become fully ingrained…well we don’t always want to do them!

This isn’t a bad thing either.

It’s just a fact.

It’s why you…

#1: Always want to track progress to truly see progression and not let "feelings" derail you!

#2: Focus on tracking all the different ways you’re growing!

#3: Recognize that feeling MENTALLY tired can be a reason to take a diet break, switch ratios or even use a de-load week. Just because we CAN push through doesn’t always mean we should.

#4:  Sometimes embrace doing the minimum to stay consistent.

Realize that strength doesn’t come from NOT doing hard things…it is built going through the hard.

And pushing those limits never feels easier, but you are able to handle more!

Want to achieve amazing results and reach your goals?

Recognizing where you’re actually starting from!

Create your beastette origin story…By recognizing where you are, you can map out accurate changes to achieve amazing results. And you can motivate yourself by taking ownership of your priorities and even what has caused you to not see results in the past.

To write your origin story, consider these questions…

What does your current day look like?

What are key parts of your lifestyle?

What do you struggle with?

Why do you really want a change?

Where do you feel the negative impact of your situation currently? 

What setbacks have you had recently making you want to see a new and better result?

Why is the pain of staying stuck worse than the pain of change?

TELL YOUR STORY!!!

And don’t miss out on the first ever STRONG Action Blueprint LIVE class:

—> REGISTER NOW

https://rscheckout.samcart.com/products/strong-goals-masterclass/

Travel…the holidays…many of us feel like gaining weight is inevitable.

And in the past, it may have been.

But you don’t have to feel doomed to gain weight during the holidays or when you travel.

You just need to consider some strategies to address the patterns that usually add up.

And more importantly, you need to PLAN AHEAD!

So what did I do?

#1: I stopped to assess prior and plan out options.

#2: I focused on doing the minimum and allowing that to build momentum and motivation.

#3: I focused on controlling what I could control aka the meals AROUND holiday meals or vacation meals out. Even using more “strict” ratios and calories prior and after.

#4: I focused on swaps. Where could I swap things at restaurants. How could I swap things in dishes I was prepping to share.

#5: Used fasting strategically.

#6: Never felt guilty.

#7: Realized too often we emphasize the few holidays or vacation days over focusing on the other 300 some odd days of the year….

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Watch Your Language

Have you ever considered the power of some of the words you use?

I know many of us have read and listened to things discussing how important the way we speak to ourselves is…

But often that even misses the little words that really change our mindset most.

Honestly, the power of words is why I will always say “Act as if” and never fake it till you make it.

We don’t realize even sometimes how we are framing things until we see the changes they create.

Or realize the mindsets holding us back.

You woke up late. Your alarm didn’t go off. The kids took longer to get ready than usual. There was traffic.

You’re off your game and feeling a bit frustrated with running behind.

You’re late starting your workout.
 And while usually you’d do 5 rounds of your circuit, you only get in 2.

You then have to rush off for the rest of your day.

But all day you’re slightly frustrated because you didn’t get in your full session.

You feel GUILTY.

And maybe even a bit grumpy about not doing what you’d ideally like to have done.

Your meal prep starts to look worse and worse to you.

It would be so easy to grab those chips, those crackers, that candy, instead.

I mean, who cares right? Your days already off. Wouldn’t it be better to just start over tomorrow anyway?

If you can’t be perfect with things…

BOOM.

That thought right there, that thought we’ve all had…this desire for perfection…is so often what holds us back.

Even just hearing this story, we all think BUT you still did SOMETHING.

Just tell me what to do!

I know most of us have thought this when struggling to figure out what actions to take to reach our goals.

Especially when we feel like we’ve been working really hard to not see any progress, or such up and down progress, we want to give up.

There are truly so many options out there.

We just want a set DO THIS THING AND you’ll see results.
 But what if this is actually the thought that is KEEPING YOU STUCK.

This idea that there is just one thing to do, one plan we can follow forever that will get us the lasting results we want?

Because honestly this thought of just wanting everything mapped out for us, does hold us back from making sustainable changes.

And I see this most often when it comes to meal plans.

So while meal plans can be a great way to start making changes, we have to recognize their limitations.

They do give us an idea of how to hit our goals - the portions we need, recipes we can use, ways to quickly and easily meal prep.

BUT they don’t teach us to include foods we will ultimately want to eat.

Or show us how to balance our actual lifestyle with our goals.
 They’re a short term fix.

They are the reason we get bored or feel restricted or eventually fall off our habit changes…

Because we don’t learn.

So if we choose to use a meal plan, we want to realize it is meant to be a short term fix.

And as we implement it, there are some strategies we can use to transition over time to fully learning how to make those sustainable changes…

We can start by tracking the meal plan to see the portions to then make swaps with other foods we enjoy.

We can tweak the recipes in the plan or even take the macros and search for other recipes we like or already use that match, even adapting our current favorites to work.

We can include meals out where they work in.

But the key is we take that framework and see how we can slowly tweak it based on what is realistic for us.

Because we need to see making changes less as us forcing ourselves to fit a mold and more as there are different ways to use the mold to also fit our needs.

We have to balance doing the “right” habits with what we can also do consistently!

And this can even mean creating our OWN meal plan…

Honestly succeeding at anything in my opinion is hard. It often means doing things we don’t like.

Sticking with things even when there doesn’t seem to be progress.

Not only putting up with failures but embracing them and learning from them…

There is lots of not so fun things along the road to success…but you have to find ways to embrace these things if you want to see results and maintain them.

That’s why I wanted to share some “truths” I’ve found that I think taking ownership of is key if you want to see long-term success….

You Must Let Go To Move Forward

A psychology professor entered the classroom with half a glass of water in his hand. The students expected the old common question “was it half empty or half full?” But to the surprise, he asked them “How heavy is this glass of water?”

The answers given by the students ranged from 7 oz. To 25 oz. But the professor replied that the actual weight of the glass with water doesn’t always matter but how long you hold the glass is what matters.

If you hold the glass for a minute, you won’t feel much weight. But if you hold for 10 minutes, you will feel a little more weight and it gets heavier for you with hours.

If you hold it for the entire day, then your hands would go numb and pain.

That very light and small and MINOR glass of water will become increasingly heavy.

The same thing happens with our little slip ups and stresses.

The more we focus on them, the more we give them our attention and beat ourselves up over them and focus on them over just learning from them and moving forward, the bigger they become.

We need to learn to let go of the things we can’t change or control while not ignoring them. We have to recognize them, take ownership of them BUT not just dwell on what happened.

Because if we instead feel guilty, let it derail multiple days and throw us off...well the weight of that event adds up.

It gains more importance in our mind. It festers and builds to hold back progress.

It becomes WORSE than it really was.

Do not little mistakes that are mere light glasses of water become things you can barely hold up because you've let your mind stay focused on them.

Instead remember that those mistakes only hold weight if we allow ourselves to DWELL on them.

Basically the Moral: You should learn to let go of your stresses and setbacks. If you can do something about it, just do it. In the other case, just leave it and work towards your goals or else it just kills your productivity.

Now What Can You Do To Help Yourself Move Forward:

Consider WHY This Situation Impacts You So Much

One of the hardest things for me personally to do is PAUSE. Pause and assess. Pause and learn. Pause and reflect.

I like action.

Honestly I’m prone to working harder wasting effort to just DO something over slowing down to learn and assess.

But the secret to the best results in as short a time as possible isn't hard work...

It's efficiency of work.

And efficiency comes from constantly learning, constantly honing your skills. Constantly perfecting your tools and building your resources.

It doesn't come from simply trying to do more.

Because too often when we try to just do more and work harder, we don't find the best way to do something.

And we end up wasting a ton of effort.

A perfect example of this is the tale of two woodcutters.

Woodcutter A cuts wood all day, never pausing to rest.

Woodcutter B, on the other hand, at times throughout the day stops and sits down.

At the end of the day, Woodcutter B has cut 3 times more wood than Woodcutter A.

Woodcutter A incredulously asks, "How the heck have you cut so much more wood than me? You rested far more!"

Woodcutter B says, "I wasn't resting, I was sharpening my saw."

All too often we don't want to take that step back to improve.

We don't want to regress to progress.

We don't want to slow down and learn something new.

It feels like we're wasting time. Or slowing our momentum. Or taking a "break."

But often that step back can lead to a huge leap forward.

Stop trying to rush results by just working harder.

Be willing to pause and sharpen your skills (hehe) and build your resources and knowledge to be more productive.

It will save you a ton of time, wasted effort and ultimately help you move forward faster in the end!

So how can you get yourself to pause at times and do the learning that is necessary to stop working harder and instead learn to be more efficient?