How Doing “Mountain Climbers” Can Reinforce Your Goals!

One of the exercises in the INSANITY DVD series is called “Mountain Climbers”. While I was sweating my tushy off doing these things, it occurred to me that reaching for our goals could be done the same way – physically and mentally. Now, if you were actually climbing a mountain, you would be reaching for the next place to put your hands and feet. Climb, climb, climb, all the way to the TOP! In my mind, I imagined that I had a goal – something to reach for – and decided to do a little project.

Get a set of 3×5 cards. Write one goal on each one; as many as you can come up with. Punch a hole in each one, and thread with string. Give yourself about 18-24 inches, so you can hang them from the ceiling, a light, or a ceiling fan. If you are doing these workouts in your living room, this can be a good way to literally “reach for your goals” and imagine yourself climbing to the top to reach them! It’s amazing what this little trick can do for you. I have received some insights by doing this only a couple of times. Try not to go all crazy and hang 50 of these things up at once! It works best if you do only 2 or 3. Why? First of all, having a bunch of these things hanging over your head can be quite distracting. Second, if you hang only 2 or 3 of them (and rotate with each workout), you can focus on what you’re working toward, and insights will have a better chance of making their way to you!

Goals require that you take “steps” to achieve them. Where will you put your hands and feet? One decision leads to another until you get to the top of your own mountains.

This little trick refocuses your attention on the benefits of what your doing, and can be a nice distraction from those voices in your head telling you to quit. If you notice yourself daydreaming, however, pull your attention back to the video, and don’t forget to breathe!

When you’re done with your workout, pull the cards down, and imagine you have climbed to the top of that mountain! Drink your refreshing water, and breathe deeply. Know in your heart, that you WILL get there.

Leave me a comment and let me know if this helps you in any way.

I will be adding other INSANITY insights as I continue on my journey!

To Your Unlimited Health and Wellness!

INSANITY – Pure Cardio…and I’m Still Standing!

I’ll tell you what, this INSANITY workout is…..INSANE!!! While it’s definitely NOT for everyone, it is absolutely for me.

The diet is actually going to be the more difficult part for me, I think, because I use caffeine as a crutch during the day. As a Mommy of two under three, it seemed like the easiest and quickest way to keep up with them. That was short term thinking, however, and it will take some getting used to not to have it. Long term goals are sometimes to much to think about because we are so used to fast fixes in our society. Here’s my long term goal – unstoppable health! With that in mind, it should be easier to turn away from those things that have been contributing to my physical demise. Meal planning helps too!

“Pure Cardio” in the INSANITY 10 DVD set, is CRAZY!!! Even my husband broke a serious sweat within the first few minutes! Nothing like a sweaty husband to get me going in the morning.  :)   The DVD shows even the fittest participants going down to the floor, and breaking for water and a little rest during the workout. It’s nice to see that everyone is not perfect, and does need to rest a bit. There are some videos out there that are pieced together, and I don’t believe that benefits very many. I enjoy the “pushing” that you can tell the participants on the video are doing – it motivates me.

Shaun T. tells you to “Dig Deeper”. Ain’t that the truth?!? It’s not just the physical limitations we are trying to break here. I notice I have mental ones before I even begin in the mornings. The mental roadblocks continue throughout the entire workout – up until the last 5 minutes (when I know it’s close to being OVER!!). But with my husband right beside me, from beginning to end, that motivates me to keep going. Don’t get me wrong, I still want to cry sometimes! And I do take little breathers and get water regularly. My body is getting stronger and more flexible – just like my mind. You can’t do one without the other – mind and body are connected. Just like marriage and motherhood, you can separate what YOU do from how it affects THEM.

When I started this INSANITY journey, it was a way to get myself on track in every area of my life: Mommy-wise, realationship-wise, business-wise, homemaker-wise. Having just written that down, I noticed the “ise” at the end of each one of those…kind of like exerc”ise”!!

What changes have you made to move yourself forward? How are those changes affecting every area of your life? It all starts with changing your mind and then taking ACTION. Baby steps become bigger as you get stronger. Just start with one thing, and you’ll be amazed how fast you grow!

Why I Hired A Life Coach…

Kim Somers is not just a Life Coach. She is one of the most fulfilled people I know! Anyone who is happy with their life, and gives it a 10 (on a scale of 1-10), can certainly give me some direction!

Now let me be clear on this: Everyone you meet can influence your behavior, your perspective, your experiences. The same holds true for the people who meet YOU – you have the ability to influence those you meet. Remember the commercial where one person saw another person helping someone, then they went out and helped someone else, and the chain kept going? It’s kind of like that. The difference with a life Coach is that they have a specific set of tools used to motivate your behavior, as well as your thought process, in order to help you toward your goals. They are not here to tell you what to do, but will instead, lead you through a path of SELF discovery (well, the good ones do anyway!). An outsider can tell you things they see about you and your situations, that you may not otherwise have had perspective on. With all the different aspects of our lives running at once, it’s easy to get them muddled up and confused with one another.

My life, as an example, was just one long day of “Mommy!”, Spongebob, what’s for breakfast, laundry, dishes, phone calls, diapers, nap times, dogs, Kai-Lan, don’t jump on that, stop hitting your sister, bath time, potty training, errands, vacuuming, put your clothes back on, what’s the matter, stop touching mommy’s computer, check email, check Facebook, who’s going to the meeting, where is my phone, who’s birthday is it, grocery store, what are we having for lunch, brush your teeth….Seriously, the list goes on!

What she has done for me in just 2 phone calls is nothing short of a miracle! It does take a willingness to be open and honest with yourself. It also takes the ability to take in to consideration the other persons impressions about you – good or not so. Homework is sometimes required, as is changing your daily schedule (not just for the phone calls or face to face sessions), and just the way you do some things in general.

The trick is to find someone with interests like your own, so that the things they suggest are not far out of your character. The closer they are to the personality that you DESIRE OR YOURSELF, the more likely you will be to mimic what they do and say, and you will find yourself making any changes suggested easily.

This is also true of anything in life – when there is something you want, find someone who has it (or something similar), and do what they do to get it! I would like to be a well rounded, happy, fulfilled mommy, wife and entrepreneur (and Spiritualpreneur), therefore, I found someone with those things, and I am doing what is necessary to achieve that.

There is nothing wrong with seeking outside help. Too many people are proud and don’t want to be honest with themselves about their lack of direction and fulfillment. Maybe money is an issue – that can usually be worked out if you have found the perfect coach. Don’t let anything stop you from achieving your greatest potential! Find that perfect person (or people) to help you on your path to greatness. Then…

RETURN THE FAVOR!

Once you have been placed gently on your path, help others do the same. You don’t have to be a pro yourself, but help others reach their goals, even small ones. Do what you can with what you have!

Like I said before, she has helped me so much just by talking and giving me things to think about and work on. It’s a process.

Take the first step….

Farmville Almost Killed My Business (and My Family)!

Make sure that this doesn’t happen to you!

If you are serious about having a successful home based business, you MUST stop “playing games”! Especially if your connections and contacts are made and kept through Facebook. Since everyone can basically see your activity online, it’s not a good idea to be level 25 in a week on Farmville, if you want to be taken seriously.

Any new business (or even a growing one) requires TIME and effort. It didn’t take long for me to realize that all of my “free time” was being spent playing this particular game. I thought it was a great way to socialize, and it was something I looked forward to playing everyday. It was fun to grow my farm, and make sure I didn’t miss out on harvesting my crops in time, and giving gifts to my Facebook friends. But the fact that a game would interfere with my production – GROWING my business – was wrong. So one day I just blocked the entire application. After that, I decided to block a whole lot more of them. Who has time for this if they’re serious about being successful?? Play the games AFTER you meet your financial goals!

Now, as far as Family is concerned….I am a stay at home mom of two daughters under the age of 3. They are not in daycare, nor do I have help at home during the day while their daddy is at work. Yet I found myself getting frustrated when one of them, or both of them, could not leave me alone for 2 minutes while I harvested my crops! That’s just not good for anyone. How can I be frustrated over a game? A GAME? My kids are real life. They matter more than Farmville. Besides, when we build our log home, we can all work in our own little REAL Farmville!!!

Games are fine. Just don’t let them interfere with your success – Family or Business.

Now, let’s go watch some Spongebob while mommy works on the laptop!