I sat down with Tamiko Chambers of Starchild Social to talk about mindset, empowerment, taking control and so much more.

SUMMARY

Here's a few notes to summarize my discussion about re-framing our current environment:

1. Stop saying why you can't.
2. Ask yourself why some people who have had pretty tough lives are positive and joyous, while others who have pretty average lives are miserable inside.
3. Know you have extraordinary ability inside.
4. Stop making excuses and become empowered.
5. Ask yourself if there is a benefit to not making a positive change.

 I've been talking to a lot of people recently, from friends and family to clients and the common denominator most people are grappling with is: loss of control.

There has been A LOT of change recently. In the coming week I will be focusing my work with clients on creating order and structure within their day.

SUMMARY

Some reminders to take with you:

1. Focus on what you can control.
2. Honor your emotions so you can focus and not feel stuck.
3. Be flexible.
4. Start your day with a routine.
5. Set benchmarks of success by hour and daily, as necessary.
6. Get up hourly for at least 5 minutes. Grab a snack and water.
7. Avoid eating because you are bored.
8. Get outside.
9. Meet your neighbors.
10. Support each other.
11. Catch up on projects you've been putting off - personal or business.
12. Learn meditation.
13. Take advantage of the various educational, fitness and entertainment apps and virtual tours available for free.
14. Share your successes with each other.

You are going to make it through. You are more...

I bet you’ve wanted things to change at some point in your life. Maybe it was your weight, your job, how your relationship was going. Did you find it just happened like magic? When you look back do you realize it was never about getting a change but rather making a change happen? You see, I’ve worked in fitness and personal development for 18 years and have met a lot of people who want changes to come into their life. But the question I always ask is if they are willing to make a change.

We all have extraordinary abilities inside of us. Significant, lasting change is directly related to you and comes from two places:

1. Your values for the new outcomes, not just getting away from present circumstance (though it might be a short-term motivator), and
2. Belief that you are empowered to positively affect your life and that you deserve it.

As part of my Mindset Transformation Coaching^® program one of the things I help people to uncover is their Thought and Emotion Value...

There are people who focus on Moving Away from something they don’t want and others who focus on Moving Towards what they do want.

Move Away

• I don’t want to be heavy. I don’t want to be poor. I don’t want to be with someone like that.

Move Towards

• I am going to be fit. I am focused on abundance and happiness. I will only be with someone who shares my values.

Moving Away from often creates an abrupt start and initial motivation, however, when the Move Away from gets far enough from what the person wants to avoid they think they have it under control. “Whew, I’ll never be like that again. I’m going to do that [old behavior] just once and get back on track tomorrow.”

Often paired with the success of avoidance is the mindset of riding it out while it lasts. Eventually, however, they lose momentum and motivation, and that behavior slips, creating inconsistent results. The internal language creates unconscious direction and sends people...

As a fitness coach I have had people ask what they can do more of to improve their health and fitness. Many people listen to suggestions surrounding strength training and nutrition, but flexibility training and recovery techniques are often dismissed. It is however, the balance of functional training, nutrition and recovery that allows us to reach optimal results.

I often say that it is our job as fitness instructors to guide you about when to push through and when to back off. Flexibility and recovery exercises are what help us unwind the tightened and damaged muscles to help us heal and move forward.

Here’s a quick Do & Don’t list for localized icing and ice baths.

LOCALIZED ICING

Local icing for injury recovery helps decrease pain and inflammation, and enhances healing.

DO

1. Whether your injury is acute or chronic, ice immediately after you are finished exercising to decrease swelling and begin healing.
2. Leave ice on for 15 to 20 minutes. Less than 10 and...

Let me start with little something written in the early 1900’s by American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. You may know it:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.

Ah yes, The Serenity Prayer. When I was a kid I used to obnoxiously sing it as I ran around my grandparents’ house. It was prominently displayed on the kitchen wall so I read it more times than I can count. Who knew what a truth it would become as I got older? Perhaps it provided a subconscious influence.

Day after day I talk to people about goals, challenges, great experiences and general life topics. It’s very clear that we tend to gravitate toward fixing, resolving, or simply hyper focusing on life elements we have little control over. Yet, we often overlook the areas in which we have absolute control.

Where in your life are you holding onto the first line of the message? Do you find it difficult to let...

Fear, ego, pride, and discomfort….and the list goes on. Wow! There are so many reasons to not do something, right? Staying in our box of comfort is just that, comfortable. Getting uncomfortable, however, is a necessary part of our own personal growth, and oftentimes helps us overcome long-held judgments.

I was reflecting on an occasion when I was working with a personal training client who told me all of the reasons he thought an exercise we were doing was dumb. I assure you that he was putting forth effort on par with his enthusiasm. “It’s not like I’m getting anything out of this anyway,” he said. So I replied, “Do you think you’d get more out of it if you tried with more than minimum interest?”

After acknowledging and honoring his dislike of the activity (which was a variation of side shuffling down the floor with resistance), and further understanding he felt ridiculous doing it because it wasn’t “guy-like” in...

As summer approaches it’s hard to resist the pull of the ocean or lakefront and the desire to run/walk on the sand. From mindfulness to fitness, waterfront activities provide many benefits.

1. Less is More

Even if you live near the water, start with beach runs about once per week so your body can adapt. Short runs may not even be noticed until the next day because of all the tiny stabilizer muscles your body is now using. 30 minutes or less is a great starting point.

2. Packed or Unpacked?

Though you might think that softer sand is better, a firmly packed or wet sand is best and can help prevent injury. Even with firmly packed sand it is loose enough to let your feet sink in, and give you some instability and resistance without creating overuse problems from trying to remain stable.

3. Barefoot is Okay

Here’s your chance to run barefoot without the impact provided by road running. We were designed to run barefoot on turf, after all. That said, since you don’t...

I’ve been writing weekly blog posts for a long time, and creating various motivational memes as well to accompany those posts or to stand alone. You might receive them in your inbox, read them on my website or on Thrive Global where I am a contributor, or maybe on one of the many social media platforms we have these days. It’s not enough to want to lift and inspire those around us anymore; it’s about posting and clicking and sharing and so on.

Frankly, keeping up can be exhausting. It is for me at least. Other thought leaders may think I’m crazy for admitting it and prefer to convey a high level of constant attention, focus and enthusiasm. I on the other hand prefer to be authentic about it. I’m not an automaton and sometimes I want to completely disconnect from media outlets.

I enjoy connecting with my clients, however I may coach them, as just another person. For example, last week I told a couple of fitness clients that my mind wanted to eat...

Making good decisions by considering multiple perspectives, pros & cons, and intellectual and emotional input is awesome. But do you ever find yourself ruminating for what seems like an eternity? We always need to make choices, and very few are all good or all bad. Hopefully you’ll see the lesson or pattern in whatever you choose, but you have to choose.