What if you decided that the thing you’re struggling with, the obstacle in your way, the valid excuse in your life, the true barrier isn’t actually a burden at all. What if you decided that it’s a chance, it’s an opportunity for you to step up, show up for yourself and prove just how damn strong you are?
That’s the challenge I gave to Sarah, my FLFT client on today’s episode.
Sarah is a working mom. Not only does she have 4 kids, she works 24-hour shifts as a flight paramedic.
She shares a real, valid challenge in today’s episode and we completely turn it on it’s head and decide it’s a chance. A really exciting chance. Don’t miss it!
At first glance, this question, “tools or weapons?” doesn’t make much sense.
But, after a conversation with Faith, we recognized that she has the ability to use her choices & her thought as either tools or weapons.
She can beat herself up for a choice, effectively using it as a weapon against herself.
Or, she can learn from that choice and create a more informed strategy for next time, using it as a tool.
She can use her thoughts of guilt, frustration and regret about putting weight back on as a weapon against herself or she can use them as a tool to empower & encourage her.
So – your thoughts and your choices – are you using them as weapons or tools?
There’s so much other great stuff in this episode including thoughts on:
Are you making this too hard?
Faith’s advice to anyone who is struggling to get started
The value in the struggle might be greater than the struggle in the success
I love to read and my latest book is Tim Ferriss’ new book Tools of Titans. It just came out this week and he’s been sharing quotes from the book on social media including this one from Brene Brown.
“The big question I ask is when I had the opportunity, did I choose courage over comfort?”
I know most of us love quotes but how often do we turn the inspiration into motivation? How often do we make motivation work for us by translating it into action?
Let’s use this quote as an example.
Think about what that quote could mean in your life, for your choices. Don’t simply be intrigued by it or inspired by it. I want you to be changed by it.
Tomorrow morning, when you wake up, what if you ask yourself, “What can I do today to choose courage over comfort?”
What would that look like? What choice could you make or what action could you take?
That’s how something like this quote becomes a tool instead of merely a moment of inspiration.
Tools are only valuable when they are used.
Each and every day we are saturated with inspirational quotes and motivational sayings. It’s all well & good to read them, repost them, or send them to your friends. But, that won’t do anything for you. That will not change you.
So, how do you use them? How can you use this quote or any other motivation as a tool to change what you do, to influence your choices, your path, your decisions?
How can you make motivation work for you? How can you turn inspiration into motivation and motivation into action?
Catch yourself in a challenging moment and ask, “Am I, right now, choosing comfort over courage?”
What can you do differently?
What would be a courageous choice?
Or, start your day with that question.
The way to turn moments or ideas into tools is to actually apply them to how you think, how you speak, how you make your choices.
What can you do before you go to bed tonight to choose courage over comfort?
How can you work to translate ideas into action, having them meaningfully influence the way you go through your day, how you speak to yourself, how you interact with others, what you eat or don’t eat, when you stop, & how you reel yourself back in when you start to drift?
Awareness. It’s an obvious, common-sense kind of word but I’m not sure we totally understand it.
When people talk about how tracking or journaling makes them more aware, that’s great, but does it actually improve the choices you make?
Or do you just have a greater acceptance of the choices?
These are the questions I ask Diane, one of my Fat Loss Fast Track clients, in today’s episode.
She shares how tracking & affirmations are the tools that have helped her the most and I said asked her point blank: “did these actually improve your choices? Did it change anything for you?”
We get into a powerful conversation about awareness and the power that comes from being able to create a personalized strategy that reduces your reliance on willpower.