Redefining Strength Podcast

Turning Obstacles Into Opportunities - The Power Of Perspective

We can’t always control what happens, but we CAN always control our attitude about what happens.

We can see it as an opportunity or an obstacle.

It’s all about our PERSPECTIVE.

So instead of dwelling on the event you can’t control, focus instead on what you can do….and that means CONTROL YOUR PERSPECTIVE.

However, this is easier said than done.

That’s why I wanted to share 3 tips to help you shift your perspective and see obstacles as opportunities.

It’s key we do this so we keep moving forward through the ups and downs that are bound to occur!

What we measure we can manage.

If you don’t have clear data about what is going on, you can’t make accurate changes.

Tracking provides us that data. 

However our data is…well…only as good as our data collection methods.

So if tracking isn’t working? You need to take a look at how you’re collecting data as one of these 4 things may be going on…

And note…I’m not saying we are trying to intentional do things wrong, but I also believe that with hard changes there are easy ways to make excuses or unintentionally lie to ourselves about how “consistent” we are being!

I think often when we're struggling, we feel like we're failing.

But that honestly isn't the case.

To succeed, you have to face struggles head on and keep on going.

If there are no struggles, you're probably not making the changes you need. And you're probably closer to failure than you realize.

Because change is hard. Doing what you "should" isn't always fun.

Success IS struggle.

Life will always do its best to try to get in the way and we're constantly going to be fighting those excuses.

Learning something new too is a process. We're going to have to embrace being bad at something, at making mistakes if we want to grow and improve

Because often the only way to fully learn is by doing and making those mistakes.

I mention all of this because often at that first sign of push back, at us being bad at something, we climb back into the habits we are comfortable with.

Especially if results aren't immediate, which often they won't be.

If you've found yourself wanting to go back to what is easy and instinctual and COMFORTABLE, it may be time to give yourself a little wake up love tap aka a SLAP.

If you want a new and better result, get ready for things to be challenging and uncomfortable.

Get ready to embrace the struggle.

Here are 3 tips to help…

It’s so easy to fall into the “more is better” attitude.

Because taking action, “doing more,” allows us to feel like we have more control over our results…like we can get things to happen faster.

But that’s simply not how things work.

We can’t out exercise or out diet time.

So often doing more creates unsustainable routines and habits not to mention pushes us the point of training or dieting so hard that we see diminishing returns.

Our hard work actually backfires. 

That’s why I wanted to talk about how less is often more. How you can DO LESS AND ACHIEVE MORE!

Here are 4 tips to help you dial in your diet and workouts to be efficient and effective. Because really often it isn’t that we don’t have enough time or enough willpower…we are just too focused on doing MORE over that consistency!

I did a podcast a while ago about “how long does it take to achieve (insert result here)?” since I get that question a lot. 

And I said in that podcast that the annoying answer is… “Your entire life.”

Often we equate what we are doing RIGHT NOW to the results we have RIGHT NOW.

Even though we do know results take time to build.

The simple fact is, our current results in life are truly an indicator of our past hustle. Ryan shared that statement with me and I thought it was a great summary.

What you did a year ago? Is part of the results you’re seeing now.

It’s why, we can’t just diet the couple of days before vacation and expect abs to pop through. And if they do? Well it’s probably because they were basically there from what you did the 4 months prior at least. 

It’s that whole thing of “one healthy meal doesn’t make you healthy just like one unhealthy meal doesn’t make you unhealthy.”

Things are cumulative whether we like to recognize this or not.

Like many of the things we simple write off as “getting older.”

We attribute often aches and pains or struggles to lose weight with old age when, sure there are changes our body goes through as we get older, but also part of what we’re seeing now is due to our past “hustle”…or lack thereof haha

Everything really does “build” off of everything else we’ve done in life…both good and bad.

And at any time we can choose to make a change. But the time is always NOW.

Not Monday. Not in the New Year…

But NOW!

Because in life there is no starting over. There is only moving forward.

And that’s why I wanted to share these 3 tips to help you start hustling today to create the life you want….

I was thinking about what most often leads to a client being successful…and honestly it never boils down to the fact that they really have more willpower. Or better macros or better workouts.

It boils down to the fact that they truly take OWNERSHIP of the process. They focus on finding a way through the ideal, and not so ideal times.

And they recognize the power of their mindset.

Because so often we try to search for a perfect diet, a perfect workout. A perfect supplement or move. When really, it comes down to the fact that…

“What our mind believes, our body achieves.”

That’s why I wanted to share 4 things successful people DON’T DO with some tips to help you avoid these pitfalls.

Guess what? 

You’re human. You’re never going to be perfect.

I know it’s hard to believe but it’s true.

And honestly, if you ever look back at a project you’ve done and there is nothing you would change?

You’re either…

A. Not being honest with yourself…

Or…

B. You’ve stopped learning and started standing still.

Because as we learn and grow, we will always find flaws in earlier plans.

And it’s key we realize this because so often we hold ourselves back from ever getting started because we want something to be “perfect.”

We have to recognize that perfection can actually hinder progress!

Ok so we all do this…when talking with someone, looking back on the path we had to take for results, we’ll say, “It wasn’t that bad.”

Because in the end it was worth it AND we’ve adjusted to the new habits so they feel easier.

But I guarantee many of us to start did some whining about how sucky or hard or confusing the process was.

Because, guess what?

Change IS hard.

Reaching a goal we’ve never reached is OVERWHELMING AND TOUGH.

The learning process sucks.

It’s not fun to not be good at something.

But even the master was once a beginner.

It’s funny though how we start to dislike the discomfort of learning, of feeling out of our element more and more as we get older.

We believe there are things we are slightly entitled to….that shouldn’t be tough.

But if we haven’t learned the way to do something previously, it isn’t going to be easy and we are going to mess up.

Think back to being a kid…I don’t know about you but there were plenty of times I whined about things being hard.

And 99% of the time I was told, yes? Things are hard. But learning how to do them makes it easier!

So if you’re feeling overwhelmed right now with making a change, if you’re feeling frustrated by things being hard?

Well, maybe it’s time to tell yourself to suck it up buttercup and recognize that new can be difficult.

But by practicing and working through it and LEARNING, it gets easier!

Because the path to success means you have to go through the hard to get the result.

Sorry you can’t dodge that learning process.

The simple truth is, you can work really hard and not achieve the results you want.

And I see this becoming more and more the case as people want to post about how hard they’re working. About how they’re spending hours in the gym.

Doing some crazy restrictive diet where they cut out a ton of stuff.

But then they’re frustrated by their lack of results at the end of it.

The thing is…they’ve almost put more of an emphasis on the work than on the plan to get the result!

They’ve confused effort with results.

The sucky truth is working hard doesn’t mean you’re making progress forward. 

You can have a destination and get in your car and start driving, but that doesn’t mean you get to your ultimate location if you don’t have a plan and know the direction.

Actually, it’s a surefire way to get lost.

You did the “hard work” of driving, but you had no clear path forward. No direction.

And honestly you’d have had to have worked less hard, had you just mapped out directions and actually followed them.

Instead you get lost, have to ask for direction. Get more fatigued and frustrated. Buy more gas. Stop for snacks. Get lost again…

It’s why we need to stop focusing on the EFFORT and instead focus on the PLAN.

How many times have you really set down to think about each component and how it may be helping you move forward?

How often have you really planned out a progression and macro ratios and then truly tracked how they were going and HONESTLY HIT THEM to know if they did or didn’t work?

I know it can be scary to back off the effort because it feels like you’re less in control, but trust that GPS. 

Often when we trust the process and implement systems, we get far better results with far less effort!

Feelings aren't data. 

How we "feel" about what we are doing often isn't the same as the actual data showing what we are doing.

And data doesn't lie. 

It's why it's so key we track our macros and our workouts so we have that impartial data to use to help us tweak and adjust.

Because often when we don't have that data? It's easy to lie to ourselves about how things are going.

I can't tell you how many times I've had clients say to me, "This ratio doesn't work." when they haven't actually hit the ratio for more than a day in that week.

Are they trying to lie to themselves? 

NOPE!

I know because I've done it myself.

I've seen it happen personally around the holidays where I even get LAZY with tracking because, subconsciously, I want to excuse or ignore the "deviations."

I want to lie to myself even though it isn't consciously what I'm doing.

But if we want results?

We have to stop going by how we're feeling. We have to stop ignoring the data.

We've got to take time to step back each week and honestly review our CONSISTENCY.

Because consistency over the weeks, months and years adds up.

And if we don't implement a program? We can't know if it works.

So don't "blame" your workouts or your macros before you truly give them a chance.

This week if you've been frustrated by your lack of results? Step back and take an honest look at what you've been doing.

You may just find your "feelings" about how hard you've been working aren't the same as your actual implementation.

We can't confuse EFFORT with RESULTS!