365 days, I did it!

Today marks 365 days of Meditation in a row!

My biggest learning lesson is this:

There is no such thing as a “right” way to meditate. The meditation police aren’t going to come knocking on your door if you don’t sit in stillness on a cushion with your hands in a perfect position.

Sometimes I meditate while walking.
Sometimes I just take a few deep breaths.
Sometimes I light candles and chant and hold my hands in mudras.
Sometimes I do the a guided meditation track half way and then stop.

There. is. no. right. way.

I’m doing this for me! I’m doing it to feel good – not to pass a meditation exam.

So now, in round two of my meditation challenge, I give myself permission to just meditate because it feels good.

Anyone care to join me?

Goodbye Brighton

As the world changes rapidly due to Coronavirus, we decided to move home to New Zealand earlier than planned – and it’s bittersweet. I can’t wait to see my friends and family in New Zealand and start the next chapter of our lives, but living in Brighton for the past two years has been an absolute blessing and adventure.

I’m so grateful for the lifelong friendships I’ve made in this beautiful, liberal, wild city.
Brighton, I will be back!

Push Ups Update: Injury

50 in a row, even with my little arms!

Day: 211
Push up ability: 50

On the 22nd of February, out of the blue, I pumped out 50 push ups. I think I had extra energy from drinking a protein shake (I always thought those were all hype, but now I’m on board!).

Although I was sore the next day, the pain went away. Unfortunately, due to way too much computer use (I’m guilty of 8+ hours a day due to the nature of online coaching) I have really aggravated my right shoulder and I haven’t been able to do push ups at all in March yet.

Today I went to see a sports therapist, and she assessed me to see what was wrong. I will be going back in a few weeks, but in the meantime I’ve got some shoulder exercises to do.

I also signed up to the gym earlier this month but I haven’t had a chance to go because of my injury. I have still been running 3x a week though.

This has been an interesting journey so far, because I never expected that injury would be what held me back. I expected to struggle with the mental stamina to keep going when my body was tired. Turns out, that is the easy part! Right now, I am mentally ready to train hard, but my body is screaming “slow down!!”

I’ll keep you updated!
Let me know what the unexpected struggle with your goals is in the comments!

What Worked?

Today, thanks to the wonderful coach Stacey Boehman, I came across a brilliantly simple but effective goal reflection tool:

• What worked?

• What didn’t work?

• What I will do differently?

I have resolved to answer these questions every single day in the back of my journal during March. I’m really excited about this because although it seems like it is just three questions, what it actually is, is an advanced accountability tool.

So much of the time, we tend to think “I’ve tried everything!” or “That won’t work.” This tool gives us the chance to prove it, and show ourselves how much effort we have really been exerting.

Why daily?

Because when you’ve got a specific goal that you need to take action on every single day, monitoring your progress daily is paramount. Y’all know my motto: if it matters, do it daily. So here’s my new motto: If it matters, monitor it daily.

First Speaking Event

Tonight was my first speaking event as a High Performance Coach and I was so pumped! It was at a networking event in Brighton and I spoke about how to achieve impossible goals (of course!). I had a little whiteboard that I was holding, and eventually the host Emily stood up and held it up for me, which was so sweet of her because I talked for quite a while! One of my goals this year is to speak on stage (and although this was technically a stage, I’m not counting it as my goal fulfilled quite yet, because I’m excited to speak to a bigger audience than there was at this small networking event). So this was the first step of working towards it. It does, however, check off one of my March Goals, to speak at an event. Woohoo!

I’m looking forward to sharing my talk again at some point so I’ll hopefully get one filmed for you next time… watch this space!

February Goals Review

The month is almost up, so it’s time to share how my February Goals went!

1. I will easily reach 60 push ups in a row by February 29, 2020.

   I almost hit this goal! I got to 50, which I still can’t quite believe. This is the power of shooting for goals that feel beyond what you can do – shoot for the moon and you’ll land among the stars.

2. I will easily begin my habit of sending a weekly email out to my subscriber list by February 29, 2020.

   I did this! Woohoo! Every weekend I sent out my new Impossible Digest newsletter (it’s so much more fun than a regular newsletter – it’s a weekly shot of motivation! Sign up to receive it here.)

3. I will easily go to bed by 12am every night.
   I did this about 70% of the time – which is truly epic because before I set this goal I was doing it 0% of the time. Now that I’m on my 90 Days to the Best Health of My Life challenge, I will be trying to get this number up to 100%!

Overall, I’m happy with my progress but I know I could have been better if I had been more deliberate with my time.

My best February tip: One helpful tool I learned in February is to schedule everything onto your calendar and then throw your to-do list away. That way, if you don’t do something on your calendar, it needs to be moved to another day, and you can actually see the effect of putting it off until tomorrow because very quickly tomorrow runs out of space! (Plus, it’s freeing not to have a to-do list!)

How to Stay Focused on Your Dream

Yesterday I wrote about how to dream.
Today I want to talk about how to stay on the path to your dream and avoid distraction.

1. Write your dream down, in detail.

2. Create a vision board so you can visualise it every single day. Add it to your phone background, your computer, your fridge.

3. Turn your dream into action steps. Use the All It Takes Method.

4. Tell people about your dream. But don’t just tell that you have one – show them what you’re doing to get there. I didn’t tell people I wanted to do 100 push-ups – I told them I was committing to it and I showed up to share my plan. I’m halfway.

5. Know your why. Why do you want it? Remind yourself every day why this dream is important – not just to you, but to the people you will impact and benefit from accomplishing it.

6. Write your dreams down again, in detail again. Write them over and over and over. Keep it at the top of your mind.

7. Get a dream team. A group of people you trust to support you and keep you accountable. This is exactly what I created my membership Impossible Incubator for.

8. Pick your #1 most important dream and prioritize it over everything. Stephen Covey said, “The main thing is to the main thing, the main thing.”

And whatever you do, don’t forget ever about your dream – it might be your most important legacy.

How to Dream: Step by Step

How to dream up a spectacular, impossible, electrifying vision for your life.

1. On a bit of paper, write down your biggest vision.

2. Now ask yourself: “How am I playing small with this vision? “

3. Rewrite your vision, only bigger.

4. Then ask yourself, “If I had already reached that vision, what would be my big vision?”

5. Write that.

6. Don’t stop until you’re both breathless with heart-racing excitement and also feeling sick at the terrifying thought of how impossibly big your dream is.

Then give me a call.

Push Ups Update: FIFTY!

I can’t believe I did 50 push ups. FIFTY! I've had a couple of rest days because I'm feeling a bit sore afterwards but I’m soooo stoked that I made it to 50! That's HALF WAY to my impossible goal of 100 push ups.

Feeling strong! 💪💪💪

One of the things I noticed was the moment I got to fifty, my identity shifted. Now I'm suddenly someone who can do 50 push ups. That makes me feel powerful! 100 doesn't seem so crazy any more. It feels... achievable?! I know there’s still a lot of effort to go, but how wild is that? I can actually see this happening.

The goal now is to shift my identity to someone who can already do 100 push ups BEFORE I reach 100.

Now that I am someone who can do 100 push ups, what do I do?
How do I train?
What do I eat?
What do I wear?
When do I workout?
What time do I sleep? 

“Now that I am X what do I do?”

These are the questions I get to ask myself every single day.

The fastest way to become your ideal self is to act it.

How are you living into your ideal self right NOW?

Take OrganisAction

Don’t let your ideas be ideas.

Writing out ideas or plans in a journal feels like productivity. It feels like we're getting things done. But if those ideas stay ideas, the activity is the exact opposite of productive: it's time wasting.
'Organized' is not synonymous with 'productive'.

You can have colour-coded folders and journals and planners filled to the brim, but unless action takes place, you're not actually progressing.

My friend Ashley Shapiro recently introduced me to a mashup word she coined: Organisaction.
Taking action during organisation.

Don't write a list of everything that needs to get done today.
Schedule the tasks into your calendar.
Set an actual meeting.
Hit send.

Whatever you do, get the ball rolling in the real world. Don’t let your ideas be ideas.
Take organisACTION.