"REVIEW DAY"

(Hang on, Im singing loudly and badly and I need to finish this verse before I start writing....)

Good news and bad news.  
Bad news -I have no idea what this post is going to be about. 
Good news - I woke up inspired.  

I knew I had something to write, but felt like I had other more important things to do and yet, I still need to do the 2 big ones and here I sit. 

NOT RECOMMENDED ENTREPRENEURIAL BEHAVIOR. The thing its....I was inspired.

I was inspired by this song this morning....

"Our hearts are hungry for a food that won't come
And we could make a feast from these crumbs
And we're all staring down the barrel of a gun
So if your life flashed before you, what would you wish you would've done?"

(Yes, I just went and looked those lyrics up and am sitting here intermittently singing and typing -  very Stevie Wonder, but I digress...)

I was inspired when Ellen and I woke up to kiss my mother in law before she left at 5am with Mike to have 2 stints put in her heart today.  What a lady who has taught her son such compassion and patience and the difference in right and wrong and mostly how to love and care for me and for Ellen Rose in an awesome way.

I was inspired by how my Ellen Rose woke me up by nuzzling her head in my neck and saying "MMMM I love you Mommy" before kissing my cheek.  

Then today was the day I read our client reviews and started sharing them on Facebook.  I was touched and inspired by every single one, especially since a short few months ago I really thought all was lost - that I had done it all wrong.

Today is also the day I went through a few old planning notebooks and found this.  WOW.  So simple.  But its where we are and we've never been closer.  I wrote this 3 years ago.  There is mold on the paper.  I wrote these words with absolutely no idea how, with virtually nobody close to me really believing in me, that I would ever get it done.  I have been knocked down in ways I've been shocked by and never could have imagined.  I've stood in my own way, and I've been sabotaged by others.  I've been robbed by loved ones and acquaintances.  I've squandered hundreds of hours on ideas that didn't work and lived through that discouragement.  I've started and stopped projects, I've felt lost and betrayed and very alone.  And of course I've been encouraged and lifted and I've invested alot of time and money in myself to learn and grow.  But then 2 things happened today that drew a straight line from when I started this adventure 8 years ago --- to today.  

I saw this piece of paper.  And I read the reviews from our coaches and our clients. I highlighted a few here.  Its getting done.


And that inspired me.

So then I thought I should name this post "REVIEW DAY" which made me think of the movie "Training Day."  And remembered one of my favorite quotes.  

Alonzo Harris: You gotta be a wolf to catch a wolf.

Coincidence?

Wolves don't travel in packs of foxes.  They travel in packs of other wolves.  They attract who they are.  Work on yourself to become what you want to attract, and then commit to working together and learning from the rest of the team.  And most of all NEVER GIVE UP!

I think I started off like a sheep in wolf's clothing.  Too sensitive, too reactive, and acting like prey.  But in the last 8 years I have become, on most days, a wolf and have attracted a pack of like minded people who, together, are quite capable of making an impact.  

Whatever your goal, your dream, your current obstacles, screw-ups or circumstances....

I hope this leaves you inspired.

Im headed to #1 of the 2 biggies I need to work on today.

Still singing out loud.....;)
Anna

RECIPE: Chocolate PB Protein Muffins

Just finished a quick newsletter on how to practice authentic badassery to our reader base about our upcoming charity workout, and now Im about to make these muffins for the local church's fall festival benefitting our community from Metabolic Cooking.....my FAVORITE RECIPE BOOK EVER!  

Thought I'd share the recipe.  

Follow REVOLUTION FITNESS ON FACEBOOK to see how they turn out!

The folks at Metabolic Cooking are actually giving away a Free Fast Start Kit To Fat Burning Foods you should check out!

Happy Saturday Im off to cook!

Authentic Badass

Au-then-tic Bad-ass
     noun
     :one who practices authentic badassery

On your best day, you know one very sure thing: that without a shadow of a doubt you are an authentic badass.

You know the feeling, right?  I know you do.  You've just forgotten it maybe.  Typically, we feel it, we love it, we fear it and then WE IGNORE IT, so its mostly a memory.

Its not a mood like I once thought it was.  It's also not your ego. 

I am talking about that thing in you that is on the level of these folks who I think are totally authentically badass:

Mother Theresa
Ghandi
Bruce Lee
Michael Jordan
William Shakespeare
Albert Einstein
Samuel L Jackson  :)

Its our inner authentic badass. Its that joyful thing that defies us to fall into the trap of doing what is expected, socially acceptable, and BORING.  And I believe right there beside it is that special thing we were created to do.

And you probably know what that is.  I believe its that thing that won't get out of your head and simultaneously scares you to death.  And if you ever find the courage to be HONEST AND AUTHENTIC, you would admit its what you are going to go after.  Then you will have to endure (in addition to your own self-doubt, negative self-talk and deepest fears) repeated and painful FAILURE.

SO that is what it is to be a practicing authentic badass. It means you will fail. ALOT.  That failure will bring a plateful judgement from others that we all fear with a giant side helping of subtle disapproval and a buffet of overt discouragement.

The people who love you the most will say to you "You haven't been able to do anything like that yet, so there is no way you can do it now."  They will point out every mistake and every other route that would take your further away from your dream in an effort to save you from the pain of the path you are on.  Like you, they know it will be painful.  Some of them are jealous.  Some are threatened.  Most are just scared you will get hurt.

Its so much easier to take the path of less resistance, not the path of least resistance, the path of LESS resistance.  We are all guilty of this.  I think most of us work hard and after we mature, we stop running from challenges.  But do we not still hold back from what we REALLY WANT??

In most cases what you really want to do, what you can't get out of your head, is not socially acceptable.  And in all cases its scary.  People will laugh and scoff and people will talk.  They will gossip.  The ones closest to you especially.  And when you fail, they will raise their eyebrows and think to themselves "see?"

I dont know about you, but that is one of my biggest fears.  Statistics show our biggest fears are public speaking and looking foolish to others.  No outlier in this girl, I get that 100%.  They don't come any more sensitive and vulnerable to judgement than me.

But its very simple.  Nobody has ever reached their goal without enduring all of these things.  They are not signals to stop.  They are normal.  

They are the price of being authentic and believing in yourself with an authentic confidence. Being who you really are means you get to be that authentic badass everyday, but you also have to be transparent and vulnerable as well.  Neither one of those things are socially acceptable because we are taught fake humility (aka "don't brag on yourself") and fake confidence (wearing confidence like a facade).  THis is the opposite of what we are going to be if we are AUTHENTIC.  

For example, I said a commitment out loud to my Dad at dinner a while back.  Lately we've been sharing more and more personal stuff and something like "I committed to write everyday because I love it and I think I am meant to do it" is just one of those things people who don't deeply, truly love you would not remotely care about.  But its also pretty vulnerable given as adults we don't tend to share our inner selves with anyone, including our parents.  I felt crazy sharing that!  It was just too vulnerable.  So Im here fulfilling my commitment to write and noticed that just revealing that to my Dad was just more of me telling the AUTHENTIC TRUTH.  And I don't think I'm alone when I say our own truth scares us to death.  

Fitting social protocols and doing "whats right" instead of what we really feel starts young.   A funny example is when a little kid gets a gift they hate and we insist on them pretending to like it and thank the person profusely. Awesome intentions there, but dangerous pattern being taught that

a) we are responsible for how other people feel
b) our truth is important
c) whats true should be hidden
d) pretending is good and makes others happy
the list goes on....(more in this post From Tip Toes to Steel Toed)

Being authentic means you are open to your biggest fears.

Being a badass means you are open to failure and criticism from others.

But that is normal.

I get it.  The road I am on scares me.  I'm terrified.  I'm skeptical.  It feels too big. The impact and importance of the task can feed the ego - the very same ego that will prevent any success of real value. I am also afraid of what people are saying and have said about me.  I am scared the sacrifices I have made will not pay off.  But I know all of that is normal.

And whatever freedoms and success I have, I have earned and I will continue to earn as long as I am doing what I am supposed to do.  To keep being honest. 

So whatever your goal, your background, your current circumstances, spend some time digging down to the real brilliance that is you.  Be authentic, badass and vulnerable all at the same time and go for that thing you want.  Whatever it is.

Thats all I got!
Anna