I found a scribbled note this morning, I do this all the time from anything I am consuming and this quote is from a novel by V.E.Schwabb called The Invisible Life of Addie LaRou. 

The note said, “it’s easy to stay on the right path when the road is straight, and the steps are numbered” and I thought you might need to hear that this week. 

How often is the path straight? How many of the steps are numbered? Well, a quick internet search for pretty much anything would have you believe that it’s all the time. 

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.

I came across this quote on social media the other day and I thought to myself, I have to share this

I want you to give these words some hard thought over the weekend. 

Hate might be too strong a word for you, but please don’t get stuck on that. 

Are you talking about this? 

I’ve been thinking about what you’re thinking right now, whenever you take that moment to read what I send each week. 

So many of you tell me how much you enjoy my emails and say how much they help you, which is great! That’s exactly the idea. 

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?

I was working with a member last night looking at the PI Challenge data and discussing the amazing progress everyone has made and I was reminded of something very important, and I want to share it with you 

This member had increased her score on the machines by a decent amount and I said to her, if I was you my goal now would be to keep it there for at least a month before I even think about trying to increase it again. 

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.

What am I talking about?

Getting on the scales of course!

If they fill you dread then I’ll admit that the experience of being weighed may meet all your (terrible) expectations BUT, and you’ll have to bear with me here, it’s not the number that’s the problem.

Let me explain.

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.

I truly believe that quality input is vital, not only for quality output but to simply make sure the thoughts I have in between those two events, especially about myself, serve me.

And so, I wanted to share with you something I read in a book recently, and not for the first time. If you haven’t heard of what is referred to as “The Man in the Arena” then you should take a minute to read it…

But that’s not what I want to tell you about.

I want to tell you about disappointment.