How you think and feel is what will make a difference to how many workouts you do, how much effort you put in, and your progress. 

Mindset is commonly misunderstood and thought of as motivation or will power. 

Your mindset is something you have to put on every day, just like your clothes (it doesn’t just happen like magic!). 

A word on trying harder 

Trying harder. It’s not just about more effort.  

There’s another component, technique. If you’re already putting in all the effort you can muster, then refining your technique could open the door to better results, with the same effort. 

Just a quick one this week, you know, because everyone is hot 😅 
 
If you need a reason, if you need motivation, if you need to be reminded to push yourself back up the priority list (because you've put other's needs ahead of your own) then here it is:

Wow! I had some fantastic responses to last week’s email (thank you!) about the messy middle and while lots of you are not there in this moment (great news because we can’t all be there at the same time ha ha), everyone related to it, or a version of it. 
One reply though made me realise that I’d overlooked a very important part of the solution to that messy-middle moment (remember the one where I said you want to tap out and might be tempted to set light to everything!).

2025 is half over. I’m not sounding the alarm, I want to make a timely point. 

When it comes to the middle, there can be a tendency to feel like we should go one of two ways… 

I'm not gonna lie – there’s one part of goal setting I find challenging and that’s rewards. I get why they’re important, I can just never think of anything! 
What I do know is that we all deserve a reward, we all deserve to feel special (including you), but maybe it is down to us. I came across this gem on the socials the other day and thought this is something I could get on board with, and maybe you could too. 

I know the last few emails have given you a lot to think about. As always, there’s no pressure, these emails are for encouragement, direction and support. Ignore what you are not ready for, or what doesn’t apply or resonate with you. 

There’s no getting away from the fact that your X-factor IS important. It can also feel hard. Sometimes we’re just in a place where we just want to go the gym, do our thing, feel good, be happy. 

Did you see my “weekly roundup” video I posted this week? 
It might really help you so if you missed it or you’re not on the socials you can WATCH IT HERE. 
Why? Well, in it I connect the dots for you between your X-factor, your goals and your monthly Coaching & Accountability sessions with your Coach. 
  

Your X-factor is the million-dollar reason you want to get fit, healthy and in shape.

A good X-factor puts you right back to the moment you first started this and were all fired up with motivation and how you were gonna change your life

The chocolate is not the problem. You do not need to punish yourself, or your body for the chocolate. You don’t need to feel guilty about it.

You have been lied to about this.

In fact, your body is way cleverer than you think and it doesn’t care. It doesn’t care about the chocolate, and it definitely doesn’t care about your efforts to counteract whatever you’ve been led to believe chocolate does to you.
This is why exercise is so important. Aside from the physical benefits to our health exercise helps us to handle stress, it improves our emotional resilience, helps us to regulate our reactions to what’s happening in our lives and improves our connection to our bodies.

I workout because I want to be able to choose – when someone invites me out for an adventure, I want to say yes and not be worried about whether I’ll make it. When life throws me a challenge, I don’t want my fitness to prevent me from dealing with it.

One of the things I love to see when I am Coaching on the circuit, or hear about when I speak to members is the renewal of their connection to their bodies.

What they experience as they are exercising, actually Strength Training, and finally discovering what they’re bodies are capable of is an incredible thing to watch.

Weight management is not the math problem you’ve been led to believe (calories vs calories out). It’s really about life management, and how you process emotions.

Think about what do you do/don’t do when you feel good (especially about yourself)? And what do you do/don’t when you feel tired, overwhelmed, emotionally drained, sad, angry or simply worn out?
 
This is why exercise is so important. Aside from the physical benefits to our health exercise helps us to handle stress, it improves our emotional resilience, helps us to regulate our reactions to what’s happening in our lives and improves our connection to our bodies.

It’s no secret that I am a notebook person!

I have them for all sorts of reasons and the other day I was reminded of notebook I’ve let lapse and so I’m reviving it with immediate effect. (I will be starting a nice new one of course!)

The notebook in question is my “quotes” notebook. (I was reminded because I spoke to a friend the other day and she’s on quote notebook number 8 and now I’m a little jealous!)

I’m sure you get the idea already but just in case…

In January 15% of you got 3 or more workouts a week.
Half of you did 1 or 2 workouts a week.
Half of you did between 1 and 10 workouts in the month.
21% of you didn’t make it in at all for one reason or another.

Why am I telling you this?
 
Well, while we are all aiming for 3 workouts a week to get the most benefit, it just doesn’t always work out how we planned.

Success – it’s probably not what you imagine.

I learned a long time ago that celebrating success is key in staying motivated. The flip side of that is man, we can be hard to please!

So, this email is to encourage you to think about the small wins – actions taken, moments where you caught yourself and changed your thinking, anytime you made a different decision or pushed hard against previous habits or behaviour.

BTW it’s you, you’re what’s important! 

I am always campaigning for you to make yourself a priority and to make your workouts the most important thing you do in a day, while at the same time I watch women be afraid to plan a workout “just in case something crops up" or listen to the 24 reasons they didn’t come for a workout last month.

Your Goal: what you want to happen, where you want to end up, your ideal scenario, what you are AIMING for. 
Your Expectation: what you predict will be the reality (always lower than the goal… until you actually achieve your goal). 
Your Standards: what is acceptable to you, where do you draw your line, what actions and commitments are you asking of yourself?

However you’ve been spending these days I want to encourage to take only great memories , joy and gratitude from the last few days into 2025. 
You have nothing to make up for or undo, you haven't been bad; whether you spent too much, ate too much, drank too much or didn’t move enough hopefully you had a great time!

We are often busy thinking about what we want to become but one of the most life changing and powerful processes we can go through is really getting to know ourselves.

Many of our thoughts, habits and behaviours come from our culture, our conditioning and habits developed from external influences.