All week I’ve been planning an email about why it doesn’t matter if you put on a bit of weight over Christmas. It’s a really important message and I wanted to do something really catchy like “10 Reasons it doesn’t matter if you gained weight over Christmas”. 

But honestly, I can’t think of 10 reasons. 

I can only think of 1 that’s worth talking about. 

I’ve been having a good look around this week at all the trends on social media, looking at what people are posting (influencers and ordinary day to day folk) about fitness, weight loss and health and to be honest there is a whole spectrum out there. 

You can find posts talking about resets, starting fresh, aiming high your best year yet. 

You can find stuff that tells you it’s all nonsense, resolutions don’t work and you’re wasting your time. 

I thought this weekend would be a great to check in with you. 

I really want to know how you are doing? 

You see, we’ve actually had record numbers of workouts in the gym this week, and that’s just incredible. Because for a long time I’ve made it my mission to keep everyone working out right through December. 

Your month in review!

It’s that time again and if it feels like only 5 minutes ago I spoke about “Taking Inventory” that’s because it was!

Sometime this weekend take a moment, with pen and paper. Divide your page in two.

On one side list out your wins this month – grasp for every single small moment, pile them in and don’t get distracted by what you think you should have, could have, or would have done in a perfect moment.

Today we start our 12 Workouts ‘till Christmas Challenge, and of course, it’s as popular as ever with over 120 of you signing up in the first few days (we’ll be up to 150 by the time you read this!).

It’s got all the ingredients to engage and motivate you, but do you know the real reason this challenge works so well?

It’s simple.

As in, that’s the reason, not the reason is simple…

Distractions.

They are everywhere, and this is the time of year it is very easy to get distracted!

So here’s a question for you…?

Would your results improve if you focused on being consistent, reliable and diligent with your actions?

We can spend a lot of energy chasing 10 out of 10

I was so excited to read about how many of you are not done with 2023 – at this time of year, too many people slide off their plans, put their goals to one side or simply start to get so distracted that they lose sight of what is really important to them.

What was missing for many of you though, was plans for 2024.

These are my daily (work!) notebooks from this year. I’m filling them quicker than ever.

Somewhere in here are some ideas of things I wanted to put in these emails and, while I was looking through I found something else that made me think of you.

Last month I wrote my plans for the rest of 2023 and my plans for 2024.
You see, with 8 weeks left of this year, I am not done with 2023

xLast week I sent you a great video (some of you even watched it…) all about how to get really motivated for the things you want to do in life (you can watch it here if you missed it! It’s about 18 minutes long but you can start it about 7 minutes in if you want to get to the really good stuff)

You probably know already the thing that gets you moving is a powerful “why”, but that’s not what the video was about.

It was about understanding the difference between

Your motivation lies in your “why” – at Curves we’ve always called it your X-factor (long before it became a talent show!)

This is probably THE most important part of starting an exercise journey and continuing it, even when things get hard…

Do you know what the most common reason for quitting the gym is?

Life. Just, life.

Life gets in the way, or big life events happen that knock us off.

But, after 14 years of experience this is what I’ve noticed. Not everyone quits.

Too often there is disappointment in the air when numbers don’t move fast enough so I’m here to tell you, ready for next week’s Coaching and Accountability, why you should embrace (and CELEBRATE) your slow progress…

It seems that lots of you discovered something last week when you took inventory (thanks for letting me know how it turned out by the way, I love getting your emails).

As I was lucky enough to get hear what everyone discovered I wanted to share it with you because there was a common theme, and actually it was one I hadn’t considered when I wrote last week’s email.

The theme was …

I was absolutely stuck on what to write about this week.
To get myself unstuck I took inventory of my week to see what themes came to mind. I checked my diary, I looked through my notebook, and I looked what I’ve been reading.

I was looking for was a story to share, what I found were the best parts of my week (and a couple of missed opportunities).

And I’m sharing it with you because…

As most of you know by now, we sent out 2 emails this week to the wrong people!

In case you missed it, here’s what happened, and also what you can learn from it.

When you tune into something good, it gives you the opportunity to connect with yourself and to recommit to yourself.

It reminds you just who you are, and that you’re doing OK. It also reminds you of the things that are important to you.

You joined with some goals in mind – you might have a goal weight/dress size in mind, or you may have decided to focus on the health and well-being benefits, or maybe a bit of both.

Sometimes we joke about “going to your happy place” in your mind while you are working out, but there is some truth here, and some benefit.

Rather than it being a dissociative process, “zoning out” can mean a person is focused in their own present moment, they’re really paying attention to how the machine is feeling and the muscles that are being worked, and that’s a good thing.

Each month we celebrate with two lists – Top Attenders and Top Goal Setter Go Getter, and we do a prize draw of all the names in each list and the winner gets a t-shirt.

Hands down, the ladies who get on those lists get more satisfaction from their workouts and they enjoy them more, and that means, they stay motivated.

The real answer to where your motivation lies is, it’s in your RAS, and if you make friends with it, it will help you achieve all sorts of things you may have struggled with in the past.