Thumbprints: The 2 Reasons Fitness "Programs" Fail

1)  Your path to where you want to be is a thumb print, not a blue print.  The problem is that with fitness everyone is looking for "the" the way to do it.  Its totally inconvenient to us that they wa that worked for our friends or our sister is not the way that will work for us.  So we actually have to figure it out ourselves.  And it may be totally different than everyone else. Your fitness plan is like your thumbprint.  Its unique to you.

2)  To make it even more elusive to someone who is searching for the one program, its like a thumbprint that changes as you age!  Your circumstances change, your body changes, your preferences and environment change, so there is no way to prescribe a cookie cutter program or blueprint that accommodates all of that.   

That is why, no book or program will ever be the last one.  There will always be another unique approach, just like thumbprints.

Homemade No Bake Protein Bars

This has become in just a few short days a "Smith Family Favorite".  How do I know?  Because 2 days ago I had enough for a week, but my family discovered them.  So they are kid (and Mom and Dad) tested.

I just made a batch of vanilla and a batch of chocolate.  HIGHLY RECOMMEND!
It should look like this while you are doing and the finished product.  this is exactly how they turn out.
If you make them, let me say this.
You're welcome.
Anna

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar-free peanut butter
• 4 scoops (or 1 and 1/3 cups) whey protein powder -- most are low in carbs, but check -- any flavor
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Artificial sweetener to taste, about 1-1½ cup sugar equivalent optional
• Crushed nuts or high fiber cereal to coat

Preparation:

Put all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix all at once. A mixer works great for this, but a food processor would probably be fine as well, or just a spoon. Then roll into balls. If you like, roll in crushed nuts or cereal.  later in a tupperware with wax paper and do your best to keep your family out of them!

I add some of the cereal or nuts into the batter and it makes it taste like rice crispies!

Over-thinking and Under-planning

...if someone gave me a plane ticket to anywhere in the world,

 I would choose to go to...

But...WAIT!

How long will I be gone?

Who will watch Ellen?

Is anyone going with me?

Can I do some research?

I know, what a fun-hater I can be right?  The practical side of the brain can overrule the free spirit, risk taking traveler side of the brain, and cheat us out of the greatest opportunities and experiences we will ever have in life.   I love to travel but I HATE HATE HATE to think about it and plan for it, so I've been known to avoid it.  I routinely pack at the last minute, so I am always that person borrowing a bandaid or Tylenol.  Or your socks.  One time I forgot underwear all together.

The issue here is risk.  The whole trip could be a failure, or could cause a failure, and when we see potential failure on our horizon we experience the fear caused by one thing only...RISK.

Risk is most prevalent for an artist, attempting to create something for the first time.  Ask any artist.  It takes bucket FULL of fearlessness to create something and share it. So what does that have to do with decisions in life and risk?  When designing our lives, we are 100% artists.  Art is doing something for the first time, and we are all living our lives for the first time and with every decision, every action (or failure to act).  Everyday, we are literally creating a history of ourselves only we can create. If you are alive you are an artist whether you want to be or not.  And the responsibility is crushing if you allow fear to convince you that what you have imagined can go wrong is tangible, instead of just in your head.  Fear of wrong decisions can be so paralyzing that we just stay in our comfort zone, avoiding risk.  But if we assess the risk, and recognize fears as imagined, then we can start to do what we were meant to do.

The sheer beauty of the scenery jolts a person into realizing just how big the world is and while we are sipping coffee in our local starbucks, or commuting in traffic to our cubicle, or living a life that feels like Groundhog Day in any way, there is a guy bungee jumping next to the breathtaking wine vineyards outside Queenstown.  And we all need to see that to understand the true freedom we have.  So really?  Do I really need to get that closet organized this week?  It kind of turns your priorities on their head.

I know I'd love NZ.  I didn't love Europe.  I would go to New Zealand again but that would take the risk and possible reward of a new experience out of the deal.  That movie Under The Tuscan Sun makes Tuscany look ideal, so that's my answer.

And when I got there, I'd set my sights on writing a book.  

Elephants in every post

Am I the only one that feels like life is like a freight train!?  Stopping to write out what I want and also what I think is time consuming and so the "things that aren't getting done" while I am writing are like giant elephants in the room while I write (what is my deal with elephants--maybe I should slide elephants in every post, just for fun, but I digress).

When you look at who/where you are and who/where you want to be in life, you notice elephants.  Ha! No, Im kidding I edited that in to entertain myself.  You notice a lot that otherwise would be zooming by you.  It's a great feeling. Going back thinking about 5 years ago what is different?  What is the same? Like Lucy, my pit bull mix is 20 pounds heavier and has about 20 times the grey hairs she did 5 years ago but she sits in the same spot in the kitchen while Mike cooks.  But, Mike standing there and cooking while I type-that hasn't changed:)  It will be a sad day when that changes.

Also-
...we discovered that a $4 vase of fresh flowers keeps for over 2 weeks and is worth it in the kitchen so thats there.  Five years ago, I had indoor plants everywhere because everyone who is trying to be domestic does that but I've learned that my house is where plants come to die :/

...my hair is very short now instead of pulled up in a knot on top of my head.  I think thats a late 30s woman thing.

...I think about fitness ALOT less now because I am usually focused on other people's fitness.  And my reasons have changed in alot of way and in alot of ways they are exactly the same.  But I am heading back to where I was in my fitness mission 5 years ago, but have learned new things that make those goals even sweeter now and for different (and better in my opinion) reasons.  Nothing is worse than a fitness goal without and heart-moving reason.  Peeling back the layers and finding that reason that has nothing to do with one other person but the one that is driven by such a deep love of yourself is where the real work in your fitness journey is.  The rest is just conforming to other's ideas.  People who in many cases don't even know you.

But what is the same is that I am learning that a lot of the lessons I learned after my Mom died I am relearning and Im gaining confidence and peace through that pain.  I know one day if I get to be an old lady, all of these pains and hurts, discoveries, joys and experiences will give me wisdom and peace.  Just like losing her did.

Looking at who I am and who I want to be and where I want to be, something jumped out to me a few posts down...in many ways I am where I want to be.  I am so glad I stopped to think about it.  Its the same lesson I learned when Mom passed away, that sweetness and preciousness of life, family and friends that really are right there in front of your eyes.  I think about how lucky I am to have the family I have and know, unequivocally how much they love me and take time to show that to me.  Thats not a given in this life, I know.  I think about how lucky I am to have Mike and how much he loves me and teaches me or about a child that makes me face myself and get better everyday.  I think about the other blessings in my work and how I get to be a part of a special catalyst that actually changes people's lives for the better in ways that will never leave them and I am humbled.

OK got serious.  So before I go....ELEPHANTS! :)

Anna

The Inkling...

After my Mom suddenly died 55 yrs young, I journaled every morning over coffee. When I filled a complete notebook, it represented my life in a Nutshell, which felt "Nuts" at the time. 

Writing is an armor against what is bothering you, a "shell" of sorts. So I entertained myself by flipping that journal over and writing "the Nutshell" on the front...I found it so clever I named the second notebook I filled "The Nutshell, Volume 2". Sometimes you feel like a Nut...

After over 100s of readers from yesterdays post and so many sweet notes, I was touched in  a positive way and it reminded me of some of the responses I got from the online journal I kept for years.  I stopped and thought about how I just had the urge to share what was I was thinking but didn't really know why or what the purpose was until I finished writing.  I never do.  I always write what comes out then write the title because I typically don't start out with a "point"...its just a thought, an inkling, if you will.

Ooooo, inkling.  Thats a good name for a journal.

I never never never make time to write anymore.  It occurred to me last night that its probably one of the biggest overlooked changes I've made in the last 7 years.  And yesterday I decided that was a problem.  There has been something missing for me and this is it.  As soon as I decided I was going to commit to writing again it was like an elephant was lifted off my chest.  I instantly felt so good I decided that I would write everyday-or close to it-what I wanted and when I wanted and it would be a priority. For me.  Then the fear hit, because I am honest and transparent to a fault and I started thinking about how I'd have to edit myself for fear of being judged and then here comes the elephant back on my chest.  So I fought it and decided, concretely, I would be real.  

No elephant.  So, good choice.

But then I thought I bet everyone has something that they absolutely love and don't take time to do. Wouldn't that be cool if we all decided to fearlessly listen to and follow what we feel is right and with total faith, not worry about the outcome?

Im curious to see what the outcome of doing this for me will be.  How will filling an order I feel like has been given to me from the powers that be will improve or change my relationships, my parenting, my daily habits, my approach and results in my goals.  It did occur to me that I think a lot of people are like me.  My theory is thats why we all like facebook.  The posters like me are just writers, that is what we love to do.  We all have millions of thoughts everyday, most of them subconscious.  But I can't help but feel that when God lined us up and gave our minds all their gears he gave mine an extra crank as my friend would say.  It just goes really fast.  My mind is always writing, its unstoppable.  And it gives me clarity.  I fall into an easy flow when I am writing that I've read is an indicator some believe that its what you are supposed to be doing.

I look back and I was a voracious note passer in school.  I wrote all the time in journals, sometimes staying up late.  I thought about what I could write later all the time.  My mind analyzes and thinks about things constantly, and writing gives that some order.  Plus I have this urge to get it out, so I can think.  Is everyone that way?  Did I inherit this?  It seems like, looking back, its part of my fabric.

And, it just flat out makes me happy.  I wonder what others have as their itch they need to scratch and how scratching it makes a difference.  I will be writing as close to everyday as I can so I look forward to learning what all is on this road.

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Three years ago, I was introduced to a fellow who changed my thinking and my life forever.

But this blog is not about him.  Well, kinda.  And don't worry I 'll tell you who it is and give you his name at the end:)

Out of a leap of faith I hired a sales/business coach and paid him a lot of money (to fight with him I think he would say) because you couldn't tell me anything.  Im bullheaded.  I like to say "committed" but Im just flat out stubborn. Mix that in with not knowing what I didn't know, pride, fear, and paradoxically a burning desire to serve and change people for better and you get a full time job for a mentor!  

(I joke with him now that I was pretty sure our 3 hour meeting every 2 weeks was all he could do on our meeting days because I am sure I wore him slap out.)

I was so confused and fearful and dealing with everything in my own head that I was standing so solidly in my own way that I assure you he earned every penny in those hours working with me.  

Now we are great friends and he is a valued mentor of mine.

What I learned from him reaches in to every single facet of my life and I call on it daily to make decisions.  One of the things he had me do right when we started our work together was answer this question in writing and I came across it the other day and it was so eye opening. 

So I wanted to share it.  Now its kinda raw and I really wanted to edit it because its pretty personal, but that does no good. Its encouraging to know others are just like you, and we dont get to edit ourselves, so its here in its whole form.

How many people have done this?  If you haven't done it, I highly recommend it.  There are things on this list I am still after.  But the thing that amazed me and brought tears to my eyes when I found it (true story!)  was despite all I am still working for, how much of it was realized. I feel that alot of what I was after has been accomplished!!!  Its an indescribable feeling!  I wrote it 4 years ago when everything in my life was so incredible different.  None of this was realized.  So when I read it now, in 2013, I couldn't believe the strides that have been made-all while I am busy thinking about whats next, what could be better, what isn't quite right yet.  It made me stop and celebrate, truly celebrate what has been accomplished.  

So, Whats your long term dream?  Here is the question he posed to me that prompted this answer.  Take some time today and write your own and put it somewhere.  I guarantee in 1 year, 2 years or more....you will be amazed.

"Spend some time working on your long term dreams, your short term goals (3-12 months), and your intended outcomes for the next 6 weeks."

The other thing this really drives home is that I needed and still need a mentor, a coach.  I would say that we all do.  I thought I needed no one when I started and I still have to work to be on a team, because of how Im made I think I have to do everything.  Part of its fear, a sense of responsibility and some ego but when I started it was mostly ego.   I have learned that having a mentor, and being on a team and giving more to others is true success and leadership.  Its a servant's heart Im forging and Im grateful to - here it comes - Andy Lowe with Renegade Concepts (cause you all wanted to know) for planting that seed.  

I hope this inspires you to celebrate so much of what was once on your "wish list" and keep writing and planning your future!

Committed to your health,

Anna

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Homework:

Spend some time working on your long term dreams, your short term goals (3-12 months), and your intended outcomes for the next 6 weeks.

Long term dream:

Who would I be?  What would I have?  No limits:

Balanced life, low on stress, high on gratitude, time with family, being a purposeful and intentional parent not just a reactive and knee jerk parent.  Having space to have clarity, daily appreciation of all my gifts and daily use of my gifts for my family and greater good. 

Working enough to be challenged, but not so much I am always working, and making myself stop to live the life above.  Having a sense of boundaries and goals where the “success=more” doesn’t hold.  Working hard is OK, but I also want to work smart.  Right now I work harder than I need to b/c of a lack of clear vision and goals for my work. 

Physically:  super fit strong body, super clear and peaceful mind. 

Financially, I fine with the money we have coming in this household since having more bothers me from the perspective of waste.  However, I’d have Mike working with me on this mission mostly because I have trouble sharing with him what its like shouldering all the hats and ideas and tasks and issues I do each week.  Until you’ve done it, you don’t get it.  Working together would bridge that gap.  Plus, we’d love to work together (we think!)  And I’d like to have a partner in crime I can trust 100% and who can HELP share the burden in all ways.

I would live in line with my values: God, Health, Family, Work/Vocation

The ways I do that are:

God-daily devotion, prayer, God based decisions

Health-daily workouts, superior nutrition, meditation, dr visits

Family-bless Mike and Ellen every day.  I am here to support Mike and to teach Ellen my love for her and how to manage the ups and downs of life to teach her the fruit of the spirit and a relationship with God…now be her best friend or protect her for all discontent.

Work-To be an out of the box, above average trainer in quality, results, service and longevity.  To continue changing the lives of my clients.  To continue to be the kind of trainer that does the unexpected, with an unexpected level of integrity and honesty and goodwill that delivers a whole new level of service that impacts the lives of those who range from ready to change to scared to death.  To give hope and help others find their power (responsibility) through fitness.

Also….To provide a facility full of high integrity trainers who do the same.  To provide an environment to clients and trainers that encourages them to be their best and remove all limits for what they can achieve and how it cam impact others.  To create a culture of superior professionalism yet familiarity and fun at the same time.  A place full of love for each other, what we do, results, fitness, etc.  Where the first inclination is to give.  I

To do any of that, I’ve got to pay the bills and get some money rolling in.  So the goal is $11,000 per month which is over double our current income of $6,000/month.  That means 30 new clients or 5 new clients per trainer with no attrition.

That equals 10 qualified leads per trainer

That requires reaching 40 qualified potentials.

3 month goals:

I’ve achieved the balance part lately by creating a daily system of tasks each week and that has allowed me boundaries and order vs chaos. 

Cooking dinner and reading to Ellen each night as well as walking her home from school, all without any other distractions, phones etc.  Been taking time to do things for Mike so no goal there either right now.

Physically, this is business too, I would weigh 135 by and through Christmas and maintain that by a solid 6 day a week workout regimen and solid superior nutrition that were just habitual.  Just like brushing my teeth.  I’ve lost 9 pounds and improved the habits in the last 30 days.

Add $1000 a month (1 client per trainer) over the next 5 months, so in 3 months, that’s 15 new clients (no attrition).

Monthly trainer meetings to promote teamwork, communication and education on training and leadership.

 Individual meetings with trainers talking through marketing and training quality action items and holding each other accountable each week to reach the 40/10/5 and work on retaining those we have.  Fidel started a newsletter.  Ben attended a networking event.  Matt is doing a presentation at a local women’s club.  

3 initiatives/projects to get in front of 40 people a month (per trainer) in action and planned for next 3 months-

Some kind of outside trainer training.

12 month goals

By October 2010, over $100, annually coming in ($11,000 per month).

Trainers reaching their goals using the ideas and accountability and training we’ve been doing.

I’m still weighing 135.

Having fun, helping more people, working less, making more. :)