Ok...we are almost halfway through the year. Remember that WORD OF THE YEAR you chose back in January? (or maybe thought of choosing?) How is it going? What's the impact that word has had on you so far?
My word is PERMISSION. To be honest, it was a little scary choosing that word. I could hear my gremlin in the background throwing out all kinds of reasons for why I shouldn't do what I want. Even more reason to choose that word! Great chance to practice taming my gremlin.
I gave myself PERMISSION to take a bucket list trip to Europe with my cousin. It was an experience of a lifetime. The lessons about PERMISSION are still rolling in.
Please share your WORD OF THE YEAR and tell us what you are learning. When one person shares, we all learn!
I recently had a client who was struggling with getting to the gym in the morning. He knew that this Single Daily Action was the one thing that was going to help him stay on track with his weight loss goals. Being highly resourceful, he searched for an I-Phone app that would help him get his keister out of the warm, cozy sack. Well, he found a doozy! "Step Out of Bed" is the most annoying app on the planet....and it works! My client has successfully been getting up and getting to the gym. In the process, he is feeling good about himself and losing the pounds he wants to shed.
Of course, I had to try it, just to be a good coach. Wow! Annoying is right! And...it really does work! Here's the catch: you must take 30 steps before it will turn off. You cannot turn off your phone or reduce the phone volume while the alarm is ringing (and it's loud)! There are lots of ways to customize it in Settings.
For $1.99 on I-Tunes, your money will be well spent. And you'll be on your way to feeling better and better about yourself! Be sure to come back and share your experience if you dare to take the challenge!
Check it out: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/step-out-bed!-smart-alarm/id673120263?mt=8
Commitment happens one breath at a time.
It's Monday morning and you are lying in bed trying to decide if you are going to get up early and go to the gym before you have to be at the office at 9. You KNOW you will feel better after you've finished a workout and yet....you lie there....contemplating. "Do I really want to go work out?" Your mind is filling with a half dozen reasons why it would be a good day to skip the gym, sleep in and "maybe go later tonight."
Sound familiar? You probably wouldn't be human if you said no.
Commitment.....that's what happens the moment you make a decision to stay true to what's important in your life. Regardless of whether it's a big decision, like changing your career, or even a seemingly small decision, like flossing your teeth before you go to bed, any decision is an opportunity to take action, or not. And sometimes, especially at 6 in the morning, taking action while you are lying there is your warm bed just isn't very appealing. But the image of yourself sitting by a pool weighing ten pounds less than the YOU lying right there under the covers is appealing. Ready to put your feet on the ground yet?
Here's the cool thing about commitment: it's a great way to keep your "gremlin" at a slight distance. Gremlin is a term coined by my friend and mentor, Rick Carson, author of Taming Your Gremlin, to describe the narrator in your mind. Your gremlin's intention is to make you miserable by distracting you with outdated information, memories of failures from the past and fear of flubbing things up in the future. We all have a gremlin. Too bad - but true. The good news is that we can learn to tame him, by noticing our decisions and choosing to say yes to decisions that help us keep the promises we make to ourselves. If, over and over again, you commit yourself to saying yes to the exercise schedule you've set for yourself, over time your gremlin will begin to leave you alone. And you will begin to create, in real time, the vision of yourself actually becoming a slimmer, healthier you.
Every year in December I begin working with my coaching clients and asking them to come up with ONE WORD (or phrase) that will have meaning to them in creating what they want in the upcoming year. It's my favorite exercise to do with clients, next to our Yahoo, Boohoo, Tootaloo exercise that I also do at the end of the year.
Here are some of the words and/ or phrases chosen by clients, colleagues and even family over the last 15 years of my coaching career:
You never know what you are going to get into when you are working with a client at a deep-seated level. That’s actually the fun part of being a coach if you can stand being with the unknown. I find that when I give myself full, and I mean fullpermission to work at the deepest level with a client I have a sense of inner fulfillment that is so satiating, it’s like taking a bath is a life sized lemon meringue pie.
Today was one of those days when the unexpected showed up.