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In my professional and personal life, I have always sought to lead people, teams and projects with one mission: positive influence and impact. As founder of Revolution Personal Training Center, I lead an award winning private studio to impact thousands of lives using the concepts I still teach today. As President of Elevate Your Life from 2016, I switched into a consulting role providing mentoring to those seeking to build a business in the fitness industry. I have effectively taught thousands of people on sales and leadership, generating millions in sales in the fitness and wellness space, as well as multiple award winning and recognized top producers in nationwide companies. Today, I am focused on writing and sharing what I have learned along the way. Uncommon Optimism is the underlying theme of knowing that NO MATTER what life throws our way, we are always able to focus on what we can control - ourselves… Join me on the journey as I share what I've learned to help you elevate your self, your business, and your life.

Sunday, May 10, 2020

Pivot towards your FULL POTENTIAL


There was a pivot that happened for me well before Corona virus and that I've seen happen for many others over the course of decades of working with people on personal development. ⁣

Its the moment when they realize that EVERYTHING is about what they are put here to do. Then magic seems to happen and the next realization is that EVERYTHING rises and falls on taking what we have all been given, a body, a mind, and a spirit, and investing in that, so that it grows. With massive intention. Because bodies minds and spirits don't grow without massive intention. They atrophy. And if they atrophy, they are not healthy.⁣


There are millions (I am guessing) of reasons not to invest in one of these 3 aspects of our given birthrights.  Habit, assumptions, and just ignorance are the biggest reasons that I have seen.  Lots of folks think of building and growing their physical body, knowing it will atrophy and be unhealthy otherwise, but growing our brains and our mental health/emotional health seem to be a ignored by habit and the assumption that we are born healthy in these areas so no intention or investment is needed.  Just the body.

I have seen over and over when someone puts as much energy as it takes to learn, act, learn, try, and learn some more to become as physically fit, mentally fit, and emotionally fit as they can, their whole lives take a shape that looks alot like their dreams.

I find it hard to argue with the opinion that these 3 areas of "fitness" would happen without massive effort and intention.

I have heard that humans are the only living thing that will choose not to reach their full potential.  A tree always grows as tall as it can...reaches it full potential.  And humans are not happy, satisfied, content, unless they are doing the same.

So it follows that if the default setting if we are not intentionally building, developing and growing our body, mind and spirit is an unhealthy body, and unhealthy mind, and an unhealthy spirit, then its no wonder we are not reaching our full potential. 

Without this massive intention and focus on developing these 3 things, it seems that the common denominators are:

  • lethargy
  • guilt
  • procrastination
  • comparison
  • hopelessness
  • neediness
  • anger
  • fear
  • anxiousness
  • sadness
  • apathy
  • avoidance
  • disinterest
And if you believe or are entertaining believing you are here for a purpose, its pretty impossible to imagine moving anywhere NEAR that purpose in these states.  Or being someone who is mentally, physically or emotionally unhealthy. 

Anthony Robbins teaches alot about state and I have found it to be impossible to disprove.  

According to Tony: “The state that you're in at any given moment determines your perceptions of reality and thus your decisions and behavior. In other words, your behavior is not the result of your ability, but of the state that you're in at this moment.”

If you change your state you change your actions and that sets you on a different path.  Investing in these 3 things is like an insurance policy for the best possible state you can be in.  The rest flows from there.

Ignore the physical, you're not healthy.
Ignore the mental, you're not healthy.
Ignore the emotional / spiritual, you're not healthy.

The unrest is there, it may have just been there is a blind spot for us in one of these three areas that when we realize we were ignoring - CHANGES EVERYTHING!

Theres an old story about Rosa Parks I read where she was asked if she meant to start a Revolution, and she replied something like  - I wasn't looking to start a revolution.  I didn't know what everyone else was doing, I just knew what I was doing.  

It struck a cord with me years ago, and I've found that to be one heck of a guiding light.  I mean there is massive power in not caring what "everyone else" is doing.  Unless you are cheering them on. 

So what may seem normal is to pay a little attention to physical, some people seem to care about growing mentally, and some do some emotional health stuff "if they need it."  But no need to be obsessed.

I actually think you should become obsessed. 

EVERYTHING changes when we began to focus on physical, mental, and emotional and spiritual health with this kind of focus. The greatest improvements in life for me (and I observe thousands more) is in the clarity and purpose that comes from a radical focus on building your own "house." 

I think of it as pouring into my foundation, and then it makes everything else stronger because its built on something strong.

Emotionally and Spiritually - pouring into the things that support hope and mental health - committing to read/study on faith, pray, journal, meditate, therapy, there are so many options. The only option is no intention plan.

Mentally - pouring into learning EVERYTHING that our curiosity is piqued about.  Grabbing different sources, using the best ones we can find and being willing to be bad at something before we are good!  Almost everything we want to know or do is a matter of learning how and if there is nothing we cannot learn. 

Physically - pouring time and energy and resources into finding and learning the answers to get fit and grow in health.

The overriding approach is that NO amount of time or energy is too much in these areas.  Because it pays exponential dividends in all other areas, AND because its impossible to be like that tree and grow to our "full height" without first being healthy in these 3 areas.

If you are not improving your mental health, its not a given AT ALL.  
If you are not investing in your mental health its not growing, and its not healthy.  
And mentally unhealthy people do not reach their potential. 
Physically unhealthy people do not either.

Over and over, when the focus on these 3 things increases, the improvement in all the areas of life is guaranteed!

Relationships
Work
Success
Daily joy
Satisfaction
Productivity
Service
Purpose

This is where "UnCommon Optimism" comes from.  Knowing that every single person can choose to build on what they were given to get unstuck and reach their full potential gives me optimism I can't find anywhere else!

Thats all I got!
~Anna

BLOG: Decisions Determine Destinations - the addendum

 I DISPISE SELF PITY. I spent a career learning and teaching how to take outside circumstances and keep them emotionally and physically sepa...