The YLF Live Stream Podcast

It is the start of the fourth quarter, and everywhere you look, people are talking about locking in, salvaging the year, and finishing strong.

But what if you do not need to salvage anything?

In this episode, I want you to look at how far you have already come, how your thought process has changed, and where you have already started building more trust in yourself.

Success is not only about checking more boxes or increasing your output. A lot of what we are actually chasing through our goals is a feeling. Calmness. Security. Confidence. Peace of mind. The ability to feel at ease with ourselves.

You do not have to wait until you reach the next goal to start cultivating those feelings.

We also talk about why being 100 percent locked in is usually a short term strategy, not a sustainable way to live. Your 70 or 80 percent effort today can eventually produce more than what your 100 percent effort used to produce because your habits, experience, awareness, and self trust continue to compound.

That is the rhythm I want you to build.

Operate from a calm headspace. Move at a deliberate pace. See the good, the bad, and everything in between without rushing past your own life.

You can still work toward what matters to you while appreciating where you already are.

You are already doing more of this than you probably realize. The next step is learning to see it.

Whose eyes are you seeing yourself through?

When you are being especially critical of yourself, whose voice are you actually hearing? Where did those expectations, standards, or judgments originally come from?

In tonight’s YLF Live Stream Podcast, we start by looking at the way we see ourselves and how much of that perspective may have been shaped by other people.

Sometimes those thoughts have been repeated for so long that they feel like our own voice.

That is why I want you to start identifying them.

Notice the especially critical thoughts. Trace them back when you can. Give that voice, expectation, or standard a name if that helps you separate it from yourself.

Then do the same thing with the positive.

Who has seen something good in you?

Where did some of your healthier ways of seeing yourself begin?

Instead of only noticing and naming the negative thoughts so you can put them aside, I want you to notice the positive perspectives too and intentionally cultivate more of those.

We also spend time breaking down the YLF Rhythm, the annual structure I want you to use to pace your effort instead of trying to stay locked in at maximum intensity all year.

January through March is the build phase.

April and May are the focus phase.

June through August, we scale things back while preserving consistency.

September and October, we focus again.

November and December, we intentionally begin winding the year down.

The percentages I talk about are not hard rules. The larger idea is that I do not want you constantly trying to operate at 100 percent.

There should be room to build, focus, recover, adjust, and continue moving forward.

That is also why the YLF Framework is built around minimum daily actions and weekly goals.

You are practicing what it looks like to operate from a calm headspace and move at a deliberate pace.

You are still taking action.

You are still following through.

You are just removing the expectation that progress requires you to constantly push yourself to your limit.

And just like changing the way you see yourself, you are not going to execute this perfectly.

Give yourself time to figure it out.

Give yourself room for the old thoughts to come back.

And keep practicing the version of you that you actually want to reinforce moving forward.

How much of your life are you trying to control?

Not in the sense of having goals, structure, or wanting a say in what happens. Those things matter.

I mean the situations where you are holding on so tightly to an outcome, a person, a plan, or even your own behavior that the effort to control it starts wearing you down.

In this episode, I talk about perfectionism, uncertainty, flexibility, and the fear that can come with not knowing what is going to happen next.

We all want some sense of control.

We want to feel empowered.

We want to know that our choices matter.

But there are also a lot of things in life that will not cooperate with the plan we made for them.

That is where self trust becomes so important.

You may not know exactly how something is going to work out, but you do have a long history of figuring things out as you go.

That does not mean every decision works perfectly.

It does not mean you respond perfectly every time.

It does not mean you should expect yourself to control your emotions or reactions one hundred percent of the time either.

It means giving yourself enough grace, compassion, and room to adapt.

I also talk about how exhausting it can be to spend energy trying to control things that are not actually within your control, and how much time we can lose when we stay locked into that struggle.

The question I want you to sit with is simple:

Where are you holding on too tightly?

And what might change if you trusted yourself enough to loosen the grip a little bit?

You do not need to know exactly what happens next.

You need to trust that when the next thing happens, you will figure out what to do with it.

You have not wasted a single thing.

That does not mean every experience was necessary, good, or meant to happen. It means your life is still unfolding, and the choices, setbacks, missed opportunities, wins, mistakes, relationships, and seasons you have gone through all become part of the person you are now.

In this episode, I talk about what happens when you realize you have been living the life you thought you were supposed to live, checking the boxes, doing the right things, and still feeling empty or disconnected from yourself.

I also talk about regret, uncertainty, and why we are often so quick to turn one difficult season into a permanent story about who we are or where our life is headed.

We do not know what is around the corner.

That can be terrifying, but it can also be incredibly hopeful.

You have not met everyone you are going to meet. You have not done everything you are going to do. You have not made every decision that will shape the next version of your life.

A big part of this is learning to recognize your own patterns. Not just what you do, but how you think, how you react, what makes you uncomfortable, and where you start packing yourself away to fit the life you think you are supposed to live.

Fitness can be one of the first places where we start asking deeper questions about ourselves.

Who am I?

What do I actually want?

What am I doing because I want it, and what am I doing because I think I am supposed to?

The goal is not to blow up your life or abandon every responsibility.

The goal is to get honest about what you want and start finding ways to build more of that into the life you already have.

You are allowed to change.

You are allowed to realize that something you once wanted does not fit anymore.

And you are allowed to trust that the life in front of you can still become something that feels more like you.

Do you need to evolve in order to keep moving forward?

Most of the time, I think the answer is yes.

That does not mean you need to completely reinvent yourself every few months. A lot of the changes that help us move forward are much more subtle. Sometimes it is changing how much time or energy you give something. Sometimes it is putting something on the back burner. Sometimes it is continuing to push forward, even when you do not particularly feel like doing it.

In this episode, I talk about why consistency by itself is not always enough.

Showing up matters. Taking action matters. But if you never take a step back and reassess what you are doing, consistency can quietly turn into rigidity.

You can keep doing something simply because it is familiar. You can keep moving down the same path because it feels safer than making a new decision. And sometimes you can continue doing something long after it has stopped being the best fit for where you are now.

That is where awareness comes in.

You have to stay connected enough to yourself to recognize the difference between discomfort that means you should keep going and discomfort that may be telling you it is time to reassess.

I also talk about reallocating your focus without treating it like failure. Something can still matter without needing the same amount of your attention. You can adjust the way you do something, pause it, change its role, or decide that right now your energy belongs somewhere else.

And then there is the decision-making piece.

You are not going to make the perfect decision every time. The goal is not perfection. It is getting comfortable making decisions, owning them, and trusting yourself enough to know that you can course correct if you need to.

Moving forward is not just about continuing to take action.

Sometimes it is about recognizing that the next step needs to look a little different.

We have access to more fitness data than ever.

Steps. Calories. Macros. Heart rate. Exercise minutes. Streaks. Goals. Rings to close. Numbers to hit.

A lot of that information can be incredibly useful. I love my Apple Watch, I like setting goals, and I enjoy seeing progress. But in this episode, I want to ask a different question.

At what point does taking care of yourself start feeling like you are just managing another list of tasks?

We talk about the difference between using numbers as information and allowing those numbers to determine whether we think we had a successful day. I also share some of my own experience with tracking steps, setting stretch goals, and how easy it is for me to start fixating on the number instead of simply enjoying the activity itself.

I want you to think about the last time you moved your body without worrying about tracking it.

What would your fitness look like if nobody else knew what you did?

Would you still make the same choices if there were no check-in, no step count to share, and no outside accountability?

There are no wrong answers to those questions. Accountability can be helpful. Goals can be helpful. Data can be helpful. The important part is understanding why you are using them and whether they are still helping you build the life you actually want.

We also talk about something that can be harder to remember when we are constantly measuring ourselves.

The effort you are able to give today is enough.

Some days that means pushing yourself. Some days it means doing what you are willing and able to do. And sometimes taking care of yourself means resting and giving your body what it needs instead of chasing another number.

Your fitness does not have to become another standard you have to earn your way up to every day.

How comfortable are you making decisions when you do not have all the answers?

In this episode of the YLF Live Stream Podcast, I talk about uncertainty, discomfort, and what happens when we spend more time trying to eliminate risk than actually making the decision in front of us.

We all want certainty. We want to know how something is going to turn out before we commit to it. But most decisions in life do not come with that kind of guarantee.

Sometimes the best thing you can do is make the decision, pay attention to what happens, learn what you can, and adjust later. Other times, the better choice is to wait and let the situation develop. The point is not that you should always act quickly. It is that waiting, planning, researching, and evaluating can sometimes become more comfortable than dealing with the uncertainty of actually choosing.

I also talk about how much faith you have in yourself when you make decisions, how past experiences can quietly influence present choices, and whether something that happened during one season of your life has become a permanent rule in your head.

There will always be discomfort. There will always be unknowns. You are rarely going to have every piece of information.

The bigger question is whether you can trust yourself enough to make a thoughtful choice without needing uncertainty to disappear first.

What happens when the routines you normally rely on stop working?

In this episode of the YLF Live Stream Podcast, I talk about the difference between being really good at managing your routine and actually trusting yourself to navigate life when things go completely sideways.

Both matter.

Routines can help you stay consistent, get things done, and create stability. But there are also seasons where the usual structure disappears. Plans change. Life gets messy. You do not have all the answers. Sometimes you do not even know what the next step is.

That is where self trust starts to look different.

I talk about giving yourself time to react, feel what you are feeling, and even panic for a little while if that is what the moment brings, while still being able to eventually come back to the belief that you will figure it out.

We also get into what confidence actually looks like when it is grounded in being at ease with yourself, how personal growth can create friction in other parts of your life, and why becoming more confident can open possibilities that may feel exciting and uncomfortable at the same time.

You do not need your goals or achievements to make you enough. You are already enough before you hit the goal, after you hit it, and even if you decide not to chase it anymore.

The bigger question is whether you trust yourself enough to keep moving when the boxes cannot all be checked.

What happens when you finally reach the goal?

Some people feel a sense of relief when they get there. Other people immediately start looking for the next thing to chase.

In this episode, I talk about the difference between being comfortable in the pursuit and being comfortable after the finish line. Sometimes working toward something feels easier because you know what to do next. You have a direction. You have actions to take. You have something to focus on.

But when the goal is reached, that structure can disappear.

I also talk about the importance of knowing what feelings you may be trying to avoid in either situation. Are you uncomfortable being still? Are you afraid of losing progress? Are you worried that if you stop pushing, you will slip backward?

Those are useful things to notice.

We also get into the idea that not every change you make has to become part of your identity. Some things really are just habits, skills, or routines you decide to do differently. Picking up the mail more often, changing your breakfast routine, or learning a new work tool may improve your day without changing who you are as a person.

The bigger point is to understand how you operate.

You can work toward goals, celebrate wins, adjust when needed, and still learn how to be at ease in the moment. The more clearly you understand what drives you, what makes you uncomfortable, and what you are afraid of losing, the easier it becomes to build a life that actually works for you.

What would change if you trusted yourself to recover instead of trying to prevent every mistake?

In this episode, I talk about perfectionism, self trust, and the way we respond when something does not go according to plan.

For a long time, I was the kind of person who could do something well and still assume it was going to go sideways. If I made a mistake, it could feel much bigger than it actually was.

That is why I think one of the biggest shifts we can make is learning how to see mistakes differently.

You are still going to feel that initial reaction.

You may still have the moment where your brain says, “Uh oh.”

But that moment does not have to become a catastrophe.

I share a recent example from a virtual presentation where I completely forgot how to move into slide mode. For a few seconds, I had that familiar feeling that I had messed something up. Then I figured it out, made a joke about it, and kept going.

That is what I want to reinforce here.

Mistakes can become signals to assess and adjust instead of proof that something is wrong with you.

I also talk about how often we treat small obstacles like emergencies.

What mistakes are you making much bigger than they actually are?

What are you afraid will happen if something goes wrong?

And can you separate the initial thought or feeling from the response you choose afterward?

That is where curiosity can help.

Instead of immediately thinking, “This is why I cannot trust myself,” you can ask, “What is going on here?” or “What needs to be adjusted?”

I also get into the importance of giving yourself time to acclimate to the changes you are making.

If you are building new habits, changing your mindset, or moving in a different direction in life, you are not going to execute everything perfectly right away.

You are learning.

You are adjusting.

You are going to make mistakes.

And you are still going to be okay.

Self trust is not believing that you can prevent every problem before it happens.

It is knowing that when something does happen, you will figure out what to do next.