How do you want to FEEL today (or tomorrow or the next day)

Motivated? Energised? Calm? Empowered? Healthy? Ready for anything? Loved? Appreciated? Noticed?

Get it written on a “To-feel” list.

What do you need to do to feel like that? Now you have your action AND your motivation.

There are many reasons to exercise. (Dannii and I talk extensively about them here). 

Keeping going with your exercise habit, well, that can be tough one.

And here’s the reason.

There is no finish line.

It never ends.

It never gets easier.

You get Stronger.

You get fitter. 

Hopefully you’ll be able to work or play harder, faster, longer.

Building yourself a robust habit of 3 workouts a week at Curves is EVERYTHING – whether you want to sleep better, get great Smart® results, have more energy, increase your metabolism, laugh more, improve your Strength, improve your physical and mental health or simply feel like you are deteriorating less!

Anyway, your replies got me thinking, especially Dawn W’s (thank Dawn).
 
Some of you pointed out that you often come for your workout on “half a decision”, and often those are the best workouts (which reminded me that I’ve had that particular phenomenon on my list for an email or a blog post for some time now so stand by for that coming up - I digress)!
 
The fact is, when you come in on those days you didn’t feel like it, when you come because you feel you should, when you are only halfway to being ready – you’re always glad you did.

We know it can be a big step walking in our door for the first time, the first time in a while or sometimes on any given day.

 When new member Julia came for her second workout this week she reminded me that we are all just one decision away from achieving our goals.

I asked her “Are you ready for this?”

She replied “Oh I’m ready,  I’ve decided.”

Task = housework

Purpose = a clean and relaxing home

Task = 30-minute workout at Curves

Purpose = develop lean muscle, increase metabolism, balance hormones, burn fat, maintain joints, reduce risk of preventable disease, be Stronger, sleep better, regulate emotions, calm racing thoughts, destress, reduce cortisol, see friends, laugh, be fitter, be fit enough to enjoy life, live longer, increase energy…

This time last month I was talking about my lightbulb moments, and how I’d been working towards a particular goal for 13 years.

I said, “when we are attached to the outcome, we hyper-focus on our flaws” and I wanted to revisit that topic for this email because it’s been Coaching & Accountability week in the gym, and I have seen this happening over and over again.

It’s happened again. Another lightbulb moment like the one I mentioned in my last email.

This one was about goal setting (I'll share it next week), and it came from a few different things I am listening to and reading at the moment (2 books and 9 podcast episodes).

And it’s the listening and reading that I want to talk to you about today.

So many of you ask me for advice about achieving your goals, and whatever the question the answer boils down to the same thing in different words.

This morning, while I was going through my morning routine, I had a bit of a lightbulb moment.

I love it when that happens.

All of a sudden something falls into place in your brain, and you see everything totally (or even just slightly) differently.

As we start our week of Coaching & Accountability sessions it made me think about all the women I have coached over the years, and all the times I’ve celebrated their progress (that they couldn’t see), discussed their measurements (that they were disappointed with NO MATTER what they were), and set new goals (that fled their minds as soon as they stepped outside the door because of all the demands on their bandwidth)
What was the common theme?

Making progress is as much about recognising what you are already doing, as it is about making change.

The world is a pretty demanding place.

There is a lot of noise.

You can get sucked into doing things you don’t really want or need to be doing.

You can get sucked into believing things about yourself that simply aren’t true.

Let’s imagine someone gave you a bag of money – that would be nice wouldn’t it?

Well, yes, it probably would.

Now this bag weighs exactly 1 kilo (this story just gets better!).

Which would you prefer?

Your 1 kilo bag to be full of pennies, or your 1 kilo bag to be full of £20 notes?

It’s a no brainer right, at least, I hope it is. Unless you have an especially deep passion for collecting pennies you would hope your 1 kilo bag is stuffed full of £20 notes.

Both weigh the same…

On this day, 3 years ago we reopened our doors after pretty much 1 year of forced closure, and while I would like to write a very lengthy email, thanking every single one of the 83 of you that stuck by us throughout that time, thanking Coach Dannii and Coach Tash for believing and holding on tight, and thanking all of you who stayed as long as you could and returned as soon as possible, what I want to share is the BIG lesson from that time that relates to YOUR health, fitness or weight loss journey.

Consequences Matter!

OK, that might be stating the obvious and feel a bit negative (consequences are defined as unwelcome or unpleasant). This is a weekly email of encouragement after all.

So, stay with me here, because this is really worth some thought over the weekend, and this is NOT about your Easter chocolate or whether you missed a workout to spend some QT with your nearest and dearest.

This is about all the everyday decisions we make…

I wanted to give you all shout out you know, because, taking your own advice… man that can be really hard! Let’s be honest, it’s much easier to spot what others should do and overcome their reasons excuses than it is our own.

While I would love for you all to make that one change that I believe could change EVERYTHING this week it probably doesn’t feel that easy.

So, I’m going to encourage you all to take a second and read the words that Kaz shared on the notice board in the changing room (I’ve included it below for you).

I was chatting with a couple of you the other day on the circuit about meditation.

Now, bear with me a little because meditation is not what this email is about.

This is about a small comment I made in the process of telling the story of my meditation journey.

What I said was, “I decided to take my own advice and restart my meditation habit”.

And from the reaction of those of you on the circuit, this hit home, so I thought it was worth sharing with all of you.

Changing habits, building new ones, doing something differently to what you are used to…

It’s all hard, at least at some point.

Keeping going is the easiest way, because keeping doing a thing is easier than starting a thing.

But what about when we drift off our path and we get stuck in the weeds?

What sort of input are you getting?

Are you reading, watching, listening to things that lift you up? And I’m not talking happy stories or cat videos that put you in a good mood? I’m talking thing LIFT you, things that challenge your thinking, elevate your thoughts, widen your horizons and increase your self-belief, your motivation and your drive to achieve your goals.

Last week I wrote about the stories we tell ourselves and I’ve had quite a lot of feedback on this. I want you all to know EVERYONE does it, it’s in our nature, what’s important here is to be aware of it and gently call yourself out on it.

Because even if it’s based on previous experience, it doesn’t make it a truth today.

So what can you do about it?

Have you been back to the gym yet? Have you resumed any of your best or favourite habits that got lost over the last month of so?

What are the stories you are telling yourself about that?

I find the stories we tell ourselves are the most significant thing that determine our actions and how we feel about them.

The narrative we build around doing a certain thing will ALWAYS be true.