PUSH UPS: WEEK 4

Just saw this gorgeous display and had to get a snap. Working on taking more pictures for my blog, so enjoy a random display!

Day: 24
Push up ability: 13

After a gorgeous sunny day out, a picnic in the park and a girls movie night (what a girl wants, such a fab film!), I attempted some late night push ups. AND I MADE IT TO 13! That’s my personal best so far! I still need to work on my form, but to actually be able to push up body up and down off the ground 13 times in a row makes me feel so good!

Today is the first day I can feel that my arms are actually a bit achy, and I can imagine I will feel it tomorrow a lot more, because I did lots of reps today to make it to 13 in a row. I wonder how long it will take me to get to 100 in a row. Making progress gets me PUMPED up and so excited to work harder at it.

I haven’t been working consistently enough on doing reps throughout the day, so that’s something I’m going to focus on from here on.

I’ll keep you posted!

September goals

I’m sharing my September Goals because if you’ve been following me you know that I’m ALL about public accountability. There’s nothing quite like telling the world that you’ll do something to light a fire under you!

My September Goals:
(All of these goals are directly focused on progressing me towards my bigger, impossible goals which you can read about here)

• I will easily do 15 push ups in a row by September 30, 2019.

• I will easily photograph 5 high resolution shoots for my blog posts that I am proud to share by September 30, 2019.

• I will easily put out one video a week on YouTube (4 videos) by September 30, 2019.

• I will easily create a consistent weekly newsletter by September 30, 2019.

• I will easily read 2 personal development books by September 30, 2019.

• I will easily complete my quiz for my website by September 30, 2019.

Looking forward to giving you an update at the end of the month!

What are your September goals?

August review

I had loads of interest about my one year in business review, so I thought it would be fun do a general life monthly review too.

(This is the first month that I’ve blogged every single day of the month, and it’s so awesome to be able to look back at my month and easily remember everything that happened).

Everything that happened in August:

1. After months and months of creating, I finally launched Impossible Incubator, my membership site for people who are pursuing impossible goals! I have 13 amazing members, which is a wonderful size to start with because it’s a tight-knit group and everyone is connecting and keeping each other accountable, and making awesome progress too. I’m super excited for it to grow in September and beyond!

2. Started working on my impossible goal to do 100 push ups. When I started, I was at zero. Now, only a few weeks later, I can already do 8 in a row, on my feet! I thought I would still be doing the push ups on my knees at this point, so I’m stoked with the progress.

3. Started up my Youtube channel again. I’m committing to one video a week starting from September. I’ve let go of my need to make it perfect, and I’m just creating videos in a “livestream style” (but not actually live) that don’t require much editing so I can get them out more quickly. I realised that was one of the blocks I was having around doing Youtube videos - that it would take ages to edit. My “how I overcame my fear of flying” video only took 3 hours from start to finish, which is awesome because my other videos took me probably more than 10 hours each.

4. I went to Budapest and had a phenomenal time there! It was for a personal/business development day, and I feel like I up-leveled my mindset 10x. My biggest takeaway was that in order to create the success you want, you have to step into being that person NOW. You can do that by asking yourself the question: “Now that I am someone who {insert your goal or desire} what do I do? What do I believe? How do I act?” And then take action on that!

5. Went running 21 times. I can’t believe it’s that many. In the past, I’d be proud if I managed to exercise once per week. You can read all about how I changed my habit here.

6. Meditated every single day (or night!). I’m on day 160 of 365. I’m really enjoying just meditating with no ‘outcome’. Just enjoying it, whether it’s a 30 minute guided meditation or a 5 minute breathing exercise. For a while felt like I was doing it “wrong”. Now I’m just going with the flow.

7. Started my 21 day complaint-free challenge. As of today, I’ve completed 3 days of no complaining in a row (if I complain, I have to start back at day 1).

What would I change?
If I were to repeat August, I’d spend less time worrying and more time just trusting I’ll be able to work things out.

What did I learn?
That having too many things on my to do list burns me out! I need to take time out to relaaaax.

What am I grateful for?
Overcoming my fear of flying! I’ve been afraid of flying for more than 10 years, and now I feel totally free. You can watch my video on how I overcame it here.

What was the best thing?
I had my wonderful friends come all the way from New Zealand, and that was absolutely fantastic. They both spoiled me, and really helped me out during the launch of Impossible Incubator. I even got surprised with personalised vegan cupcakes!

Day to day, it can feel like not much progress is being made, but when I look back over the month, it’s easy to see that I’m actively moving in the direction I want to go. I highly recommend doing a review of your month, even if just for yourself!

Let me know what you think about my review, and if you’d like me to keep doing them! If you create a review, I’d love to read it! Tag me on Instagram @saraharnoldhall or email me at hello@saraharnoldhall.com.

My vision board

Ah! Sharing my vision board kind of makes me nervous. All of those “What will people think of my dreams? What if they think I’m silly?” thoughts come up.

But I get so inspired and motivated when other people share their vision and their dreams, so I want to do the same. Hopefully you get value from me sharing my dreams!

Why did I create a vision board? (Or what even is a vision board?!)

By being able to see and visualise my goals and dreams, I am inspired and excited to action more often. That’s really the whole idea - to create a visual representation of your goals so you’ll feel inspired to take action.

I created my board using Pinterest photos and putting them together in a collage on Canva (not sponsored, haha!).

Here’s what the photos on my vision board represent:

• Creating a podcast

• Doing loving-kindness meditation

• Having deep connection with friends (while having a cup of tea!)

• Sharing my message on stage

• Filming videos for Youtube

• Doing 100 push ups

• Relaxing (I’m working on taking time out from work!)

• Reaching 100k subscribers on Youtube (subscribe here!)

• Working from an inspiring home office

• Creating & selling a personalised life planner (has been a dream for years!)

• Running a retreat in Fiji

• Having a deep connection with my partner

• Writing in my gratitude journal

• Attending a Tony Robbins Unleash the Power Within event

• Rescuing animals from slaughter

• Going to my coaching recertification training in California in 2020

Of course, this vision board doesn’t represent my entire life’s vision, nor does it portray every aspect of the best human I want to be (for example, it doesn’t show core values, beliefs or purpose).

Even as I’m writing this, I feel like I need to give an explanation for what I want, as if desiring to live my best life is wrong in some way (hello there, people-pleasing brain).

But no. I’m unapologetic about wanting to live my best life, and to help others live their best lives too.

Do you have a vision board? Let me know in the comments (you can comment by clicking the title of this post!).

Push Ups: Week 3

Day: 16
Push up ability: 8

You guys, I did EIGHT push ups in a row today! On my feet! With (mostly) correct posture!

I had no idea how fast my body could get strong. I’m starting on week 3 now, and if I’m honest, I haven’t been following the routine because I was finding it arbitrary when I couldn’t even do one push up.

I’m going to give the routine another go (you can check it out here), but I’m just stoked with my progress!

Here’s what I’ve been doing:

Whenever I remember about push ups, or I think about them, I just drop and do as many as I can. Then I get up and carry on with my day. Sometimes, that means I do them 4ish times a day, and other times that means I don’t do them at all. But just using “thinking” about it as a trigger is so easy. I can do a quick round of a few push ups in under 15 seconds, so there’s really no excuse not to drop anything I’m doing for a few reps! Even thinking about some now - I’m going to do it now! (DONE - I managed 7 and a half this time haha!).

It’s so awesome to feel the transformation. The fact that I can now - within two weeks of starting - push my own body weight up and down off the floor might not seem like a big deal. But I’ve gone TWENTY THREE YEARS without being able to even do ONE. And all it took was 2 weeks of practice and I can do EIGHT?!

The various sayings around “you don’t know how strong you are” really ring true for me right now. I wonder what else I’m capable of that I haven’t even tried #positivemindset

They haven’t (so far) been causing me muscle pain or aches (possibly means I could push a bit harder, but I like that I’m able to just drop and do them AND see progress without feeling sore - it’s much more enjoyable that way!).

(Side note: yesterday I said I would “Bring The Fun” today, and that’s what I did with the push ups. It’s fun to just suddenly remember half way through walking down the hallway, and just go for it right there!)

I can’t wait to update you again on my progress. Stay tuned because 100 push ups is coming <3

Growth = Happiness

Do you ever feel like the anticipation of your birthday is more exciting than your actual birthday?

It’s not to say that the birthday isn’t enjoyable, but that the imagining, the anticipating, the planning - they are all what make it so special.

It’s my 30th day of daily blogging today, and I’m super pleased I’ve made it this far. I can feel my writing and my content evolving already. One month down, 23 to go!

Although achieving the final goal and passing the finish line is important, I discovered that it’s actually more about the growth.

It’s not about “being there” (I don’t want to wake up tomorrow and find out that I’ve blogged for two years already, that would be awful because I would have missed out on the experience of doing it) and it’s not even about the journey - it’s about the moment we’re in right now. Enjoying writing this, right now.

But how can I be 100% happy with now, if I’m so ambitious?

A while ago, I wrote my own definition of happiness. It took me three days (I’m not kidding) of introspecting and researching to figure out what happiness means to me.

I came up with this definition:

Happiness is being content with the stage of growth you’re currently in.

So, while I’m on day 30 of my two year blogging challenge - I’m not trying to rush ahead to the last day. I am content with the stage of growth I’m currently in.

First year in business: Honest Review

I’ve been coaching since February 2018, but at that time I was working full time as a receptionist, right out of University (with zero idea what to do with my degree).

I consider my business a full time business since August 2018. So as it’s 12 months later, I’d love to share my honest review of how my first year in business has been.

ONE YEAR AGO, AUGUST:

• I’d just finished 3 months of travelling to 18 different countries in Europe with my boyfriend (I thought I’d be able to travel and work but I was SO wrong - travelling and working only happens if you aren’t actually travelling 24/7! We went to a new city every 2-3 days. It just wasn’t possible for me to coach people - I was constantly changing time zones, on buses, planes and trains, as well as staying in accommodations with no privacy and dodgy (if any) wifi).

• Had set foot in the UK, unsure yet where we would settle. Considered London, Cardiff and Brighton. Fell in love with Brighton!

• Travelled around England and Wales for 2 months for free staying with family and friends while I started to set up my life coaching business.

• Signed my first 1:1 “results coaching” client for 1 month rolling contract, and immediately signed someone else the next day. It felt amazing!

SEPTEMBER:

• Felt major imposter syndrome. Although I saw my clients getting results, I felt like the world didn’t see coaching as a “good enough” profession. This made me feel like I wasn’t a good coach (although looking back I know I was actually pretty qualified after a psychology degree and thousands of hours of my own personal development).

• Decided I wanted to get certified as a coach so I could be really sure I was good at what I was doing. Chose to get trained as a Certified High Performance Coach in Arizona, and invest more money than I’d ever invested into ANYTHING before (besides my degree). This was majorly scary. It was $10,000 USD to do the course. I spent every last penny that I had, trusting it would work out.

• Signed up for a group coaching program to find my niche.

• Signed 2 more 1:1 clients!

OCTOBER:

• Moved to Brighton! Even though we could have got a 3 bedroom house to ourselves in Cardiff for the same price as a house share in Brighton, we went for a house share because didn’t know anyone and wanted to make friends ASAP - which we did (got so lucky with the incredible people we met!).

• Launched a course: “How to start your business in a weekend.” Total flop - one sign up, who changed her mind and asked for a refund before we’d even started.

• Made my first $2000 month. My living costs were only about $800 a month, so I felt so proud and excited that my business was taking off!

NOVEMBER:

• Got to Heathrow airport at 7am for my flight at 9am. “Where's your visa waiver?” Huh? I had no idea I would need a visa waiver. Ended up missing my flight because they wouldn’t let me on until the US had issued the document. There was a lot of stress and crying. I was about to miss a course I’d invested so much money into (I called them - they said no refunds). At 3:30pm the document was approved, and I had to make a choice to buy a $2000 flight on the spot. I’d already spent EVERYTHING I had, so I had to borrow money from my boyfriend.

• Booked the flight. It immediately got cancelled. I ended up on a new flight, but to the wrong airport. I had to take a one hour taxi across states, from JFK New York to New Jersey in the middle of the night. My taxi driver was speeding, and we got pulled over on the highway. He kept the meter running, so I asked for a discount at the end. He locked me in the car! (Thought I was going to get kidnapped, I was terrified so I just paid the $150 and ran away). Finally made it to Arizona, 2 hours late to the beginning of the course.

• The course was fantastic. I learned SO much and up-levelled my skills as a coach majorly. I also made an incredible network of friends.

• My imposter syndrome disappeared and hasn’t returned to this day. It was a combination of mindset and actually taking action to get better at what I do so I could prove to myself I was actually awesome at coaching (I’ll do a separate post about this!).

• Daniel got a marketing job in Brighton.

• Coming back from Arizona, I was so pumped to turn my business into a massive success!

• Instead, I earned zero dollars in November.

• Started working with a free client as a favour to a friend. Learning lesson from this: I learned so much about how to coach someone who doesn’t really want to change their life.

DECEMBER:

• Zero dollar month again. Panic.

JANUARY:

• Panic really started to set in. Told myself if I didn’t start making enough to cover my own bills by Feb 30, I would get a full time job (I majorly didn’t want this!).

• Did a zillion discovery calls. Signed one client for $100 a month.

• Started my YouTube channel (actually, I’d started it in 2012 but never posted anything), and created content.

• Daniel payed my rent & bills.

FEBRUARY:

• Signed two High Performance clients via Instagram/my website. (I’m still working with one of them, more than 6 months later!). Started paying my own bills again!

• Stopped creating youtube content because I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go with it.

• Closed my Facebook group, after feeling like it there was zero engagement and my posts were only reaching 1% of people.

MARCH:

• Went on holiday to New Zealand to visit my family, and did a lot of work/soul searching. Decided I wanted to serve more people. I had achieved goals I once thought were impossible for me - not working a 9-5 job, starting my own business in another country, changing my entire mindset. I wanted to help other people change their lives too - so I started creating Impossible Incubator, my members club for people with impossible goals. I thought it would come out in April (Didn’t come out until August!)

• Signed another 1:1 client. Things are starting to pick up!

ARPIL:

• Re-enrolled 2 of my clients for more coaching. Woohoo!

• Launched my High Performance Group Coaching Program with 3 sign ups.

MAY:

• Started doing some freelancing, helping a growth agency with their clients’ social media. I chose to do this so I would have consistency in my income. Although I was making enough, it wasn’t guaranteed to arrive every month (client’s not paying on time) and it wasn’t consistent long term.

JUNE:

• Put all of my energy into creating Impossible Incubator. Morning ‘til night, I was creating workbooks, organising payments, writing plans, contacting experts, filming videos, and everything else that goes into creating a membership site.

• Had my second guest expert pull out last minute, and I wasn’t ready to launch end of June as I’d planned. Pushed launch of Impossible Incubator to August.

JULY:

• Wasn’t happy with the quality of Impossible Incubator videos, so I hired a videographer to shoot with me. So happy with how they turned out.

• Made my deadline July 31st to stop working ON my business (re-designing the website, branding, logo anything that is to do with “set up” - I heard someone say “procrasti-branding” the other day. That pretty much sums it up) and start working IN my business (actually marketing, creating content and coaching more).

• Started showing up every single day online, on my Instagram, Instastories, Facebook page and blog - putting loads of effort into it. This made a big difference to my engagement. I actually lost 300 followers on Instagram, but my comments and DM’s went up. The people who wanted to consume the content were engaging a lot more. I went from posting once a month on Instagram to posting nearly every single day.

• Committed to daily blogging every single day for 2 years! Today is day 28 of 730. Discovered that big challenges motivate me because they’re exciting, and daily habits are the easiest to keep.

AUGUST:

• Properly started emailing my email list. I’d had one for a while but resisted it because I thought it would be too complicated.

• Launched Impossible Incubator! Had a sign up every single day for the start of the launch.

• Flew to Budapest for a VIP mindset day for entrepreneurs. Up-levelled my mindset 10x.

• Making enough extra money in my business to start doing things I enjoy, like a weekend away!

• We’re not even done with August yet - I’ll update anything else that happens!

Conclusions:

My first year in business was AMAZING. I moved countries, started my own business, coached amazing people, invested in myself and my business and reaped the rewards. There were ups and downs along the way, but even on the bad days, I wouldn’t change what I’m doing for the world. I’m so grateful for the freedom I have to design my days and my life. I’m not where I want to be in business YET (although, will I ever be? I’ll just keep moving the bar to a new goal!), but I’m so content and grateful to be making my income from my business and freelancing.

The hard parts sucked. So much. Not knowing if you’ll make money next month is not a fun feeling. But I always had faith that I could make it work. To me, that’s what confidence is: it’s not about knowing how to do everything, but knowing you have the ability to figure out anything.

Where to from here?

Heading into my second official year in business, I’m ready to go big.
Things I’m changing:

• Working on my mindset actively, every single day. This weekend at the Budapest VIP day, it really hit me how paramount this is. Without making deep mindset work a habit, without getting into a high vibe state of mind, there really is no business.

• Changing my business model to include my membership. So many people have asked to work with me 1:1 but don’t feel ready to invest the higher ticket price. I want to be able to serve more people, so I’m excited to work hard on delivering loads of value for my monthly Impossible Incubator members.

• Increasing my 1:1 prices. It’s currently $1500 USD to work with me for 3 months (I have monthly payment options too), to change your life, and create a transformation like I did, so you can go after your wildest most impossible dreams - no matter what they are. Why am I increasing them? Because the work I’m doing is getting more and more transformative. The change I could help people create a year ago was worth $1500. Now with my new skills, certification and experience, it’s worth far, far more. (If you’re wanting to find out more about my coaching or jump on a call with me to chat about creating more freedom and achieve your impossible goals, email me at hello@saraharnoldhall.com or send me a message on Instagram).

• Showing up on VIDEO. It’s amazing how much more engagement I get with my videos on Instagram than my written posts. YouTube is coming back for good, now that I understand how much it really impacts my audience.

• Raising my standards. My identity has been “I need to earn x dollars to get by” and I’m not longer subscribing to the survival mentality. Going into my second year of business, it’s time to THRIVE.

What do you think of my first year in business review? Click on the header to comment, or send me a message on Instagram! I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Travel day

After yesterday’s burn out, I’m actually ready to just blob on a bus and a plane for a few hours and listen to some podcasts. I’m arriving in Budapest this evening. Super pumped to go to my the personal development event tomorrow! One of my goals for the future is to just travel the world going to different personal/business development events or training seminars. The energy of the room and meeting so many incredible people is always so fantastic. Have you been to Tony Robbins Unleash the Power Within? Everyone seems to be raving about it at the moment (you get to walk on fire!). It’s next on my list - and then Date with Destiny too. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you can check out the Netflix Documentary, I Am Not Your Guru, by Tony Robbins. I’ve always been a Tony Robbins fan, but the documentary just completely solidified his power and impact. Definitely worth a watch.

Anyway, I’m off now - updating my travel adventures on Instastories, so check it out there!

Before: Day 1

Day: 1
Push up ability: 0

If you’ve been following me for a while you might know that I’ve set myself an Impossible Goal to do 100 push ups (You can check out all of my other Impossible Goals here)

Currently I’m at zero push ups (yes, I can’t even do one push up, I can only do them on my knees!)

I’ve always had bad upper body strength, and I feel like it’s really time to do something about it. But if you know me, you know I don’t care to do things in moderation. I love a CHALLENGE. That’s what gets me excited! And if I’m not excited about a goal, there’s really no reason for me to pursue it. So that’s why I’ve set the bar crazy high, at 100 push ups.

I really have no clue how long it will take me to reach that goal. But, after having it on my Impossible Goals List for a while, it’s time to start! I’m starting today. On a random Tuesday in August. Because although I love a fresh start for goals (New Year, Birthdays, First of the Month, Mondays etc.), I know they are all just excuses not to start right now. (Although, don’t get me wrong, I still feel those dates have a special magic to them).

I’m following a free program, it’s called One Hundred Push Ups. According to their chart, I’m currently a rank 1. But not for long!

Here’s the plan for today:

Since I can’t do any push ups at all, I’m modifying this program by beginning with my knees on the floor.
Right - I’m off to attempt them now - wish me luck!

Is anyone else attempting something like this? I’d love to hear!

Why I don't have a bucket list

In theory, a Bucket List sounds like a great idea. Before you die, you complete a list of all the things you’ve ever dreamed of experiencing.

Except it has one major flaw: time.

I don’t set goals of things I want to do before I die, because I don’t know when I’m going to die. I could spend my whole life thinking I’ve still got years and years to achieve my bucket list, but find out my time is up tomorrow. Paris? Pop it on the Bucket List and deal with it later. Convenient, right? No no no! I feel like a Bucket List is procrastination in disguise; a way to postpone our dreams, to put them off until later so we don’t have to actually face them now. It’s why people spend their lives in jobs they hate, talking about things they’ll do "someday”. But someday never comes. There might not even be a TOMORROW.

That’s why I only set goals and dreams that I’m actively pursuing. That doesn’t mean I can’t dream big, or far into the future. In fact, I’m the biggest dreamer I know! But I’m also the biggest ACTION TAKER. As in today. As in right now. I am dedicated to working towards my biggest, wildest dreams every single day. Even if they might not happen for 30 years.

I’d even be willing to say that there hasn’t been a day in the last 6 months where I haven’t been actively working towards SOMETHING I’m dreaming of:

Getting in the best shape of my life.

Building my business.

Doing a TED talk.

Growing my Youtube Channel.

Blogging.

Running a retreat.

We’ve got one shot at this life, so I’m pursuing it all right now.