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The Inside is What Counts

/ Sloan / 2 Comments

A couple days a week my alarm goes off at 4:02 am. Honestly, it usually scares the shit out of me and all I want to do is throw my phone against the wall and curl back up and fall back asleep. But 4/5 times I don’t. I have a conversation with myself that goes something like this:

Go back to sleep, now. Really. Do it. 

No, no, no. 

Do it. That extra 35 minutes will make a huge difference in your day!

But will it really? I don’t think it will.  Get your booty up!

SLEEEEEEEEP. 

Nope, you’ll be so mad at yourself. Get your ass up, brush those teeth and go. 

And then generally, I get up. A little mad at that voice still, but I go. I go to work 40 minutes early and I get my work out in. (I usually snap about it @sloanderr) with a pic of myself, not so happy and whatever time it is, usually 4:43am.

 

I am a huge proponent of finding your own intrinsic motivation. What does that mean? It means being able do something because you’re motivated by how it will make you feel, not by some sort of external reward dangling in front of you. Another, non fitness, example–for me, this blog. I’m both intrinsically AND extrinsically motivated.

Intrinsic: I do it because I love writing, I love teaching and I the feeling of accomplishment I get when I finish a post. It’s really uplifting and I feel like I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing.

Extrinsic: I love seeing the ‘views’ number go up. I love comments, I love getting ‘likes’ and responses. Engagement is huge (hint hint…)

Trust me: if I was ONLY extrinsically motivated for writing, I would fall short most times I post. My followers are growing, but it’s happening very very very slowly and that can be frustrating in this day and age–we all want immediate gratification, right? But I enjoy the process and hope that eventually others will enjoy my site as much as I enjoy the process of it.

Let’s bring this all together–if you can hone in and develop your intrinsic motivation, it will make not hitting the snooze button a lot easier. Try to start listening to that little, tiny, quiet voice that is egging you on to get up and get moving. That voice that mentions maybe you don’t need that second cookie. Maybe it’s a voice suggesting you need help. Try to listen and see if there is any internal reward by listening. I trust that when you start doing this, that voice will get louder and clearer. I can help you find that voice, if you let me.

When you start to listen, start to pay attention to how you feel inside. Fitness and healthy habits really start by acknowledging the internal feels, and then you start to see the external results. Eventually, all of this stuff becomes habit–

…unless it’s 4am…I’m not sure if you ever get used to that.

 

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Self Care Saturday

/ Sloan / 1 Comment

Today I got up at 6:58am. Well, honestly, I hit snooze and was out of bed and putting the kettle on for coffee at about 7:16am. By the time my french press was ready to be plunged I had started making breakfast and was settling on the couch to finish my book before I had to head out at 8:05am to meet my client at the YMCA for our 9am session. I treasure the mornings I’m able to sip coffee with a book–I’ll purposely get up an hour early to be able to do this.

We trained, high fived, and I sent him on his wobbly legs to go on with the rest of his morning. I ran home (literally, ran) and wrapped up my morning with 6 miles under my belt and a shower in my future. I took a long shower, shaved, took my time, put on a face mask, made a smoothie and a bit more coffee. I painted my nails while listening to TED talks and sipping my smoothie.

You guys, then I took a nap, it’s a rare kind of day that I take a nap. I talked on the phone with a friend for over an hour, I read a little bit of my new book and now I’m sitting down to write, eat popcorn and watch a dumb movie. These are the kinds of days that I usually dream of. But then when given the opportunity to have them I sit around feeling like I ‘should‘ be doing something else. I ‘should’ be being productive.

But.

Who says that self care isn’t productive? Who says taking a Saturday Cat Nap isn’t what our bodies need sometimes? Obviously, we can’t live our whole lives like this, we would get nothing done! But having a day to stop, slow down and relax into what you’re craving is sometimes more important than going out and doing things that are “instagram worthy”.

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For realz 

Are you able to slow down and have a Self Care Saturday? Have you always been this way?… This is new for me, any tips!?

Mindful Goal Setting

/ Sloan / 2 Comments

Let’s talk about goals and goal setting. Well. Let’s first define GOAL.

 

goal
ɡōl/
noun
1. (in football, soccer, rugby, hockey, and some other games) a pair of posts linked by a crossbar and often with a net attached behind it, forming a space into or over which the ball has to be sent in order to score.

2. the object of a person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result.
“going to law school has become the most important goal in his life”

We’re going to focus on the second definition. And why not, let’s use google’s example too. And I’m going to call our future law student “Jerry”.  Jerry decided he wanted to be a lawyer in high school, he had great mentors and teachers. His uncle is a successful lawyer and has given Jerry advice and insight on what the profession is actually like. At age 17 he’s convinced that justice is his life’s path.

Do you think that Jerry all of the sudden just BECAME  a lawyer? No. Absolutely not! Who would hire a lawyer who just one day decided to be a lawyer! I imagine, to become a lawyer, one has to set smaller, more manageable goals and tasks before signing up for the bar exam. Right?

Okay. Enough about Jerry. Why am I talking about a fake high school kid who has dreams to be a lawyer? Because I want to show you that in order to reach a BIG goal (such as a career change, a fitness goal, a lifestyle change) we have to take steps to get there. Setting goals (no matter the size) takes thought and mindfulness.

SMART:
S: Specific
M:Measurable
A: Achievable
R: Relevant
T: Timely

What does this mean!!??

It means we need to break it down after we identify the big goal. Then, we need to chop that big goal up into a few little goals.

SPECIFIC: Be a kick ass lawyer.
MEASURABLE: Did Jerry get into college? Take the LSATs? Which law schools did he apply for?
ACHIEVABLE: Does Jerry actually have the skills to be an amazing lawyer? Or is he chasing a dream that would have his time better spent being a plummer? Get real, is this going to happen for him?
RELEVANT: Is Jerry the right man for the job? Does the world need more lawyers or is the market saturated?
TIMELY: This isn’t going to happen in a day. Jerry has to study and make sure he learns the skills necessary to be the best lawyer–what does that time frame look like: daily? weekly? monthly? YEARLY?

So, in order to become an amazing lawyer Jerry needs to:
–apply and get into law school (assuming he has an undergrad…etc etc.)
–He needs to look inside him self and see if this is truly something he can do and is capable of, (to put this in a ‘fitness’ perspective–if you’re goal is to have a thigh gap you need to see if your hips and pelvis actually are capable of this. NOT ALL BODIES CAN HAVE A THIGH GAP–so it’s a lost cause for most women to make this their goal.)
–Jerry also needs to look around at the market, does the world need more lawyers? He needs to do his research and decide if after all is said and done, will he be successful?
–What is the time frame for this goal? How many years does he need to anticipate it to take to achieve this goal and what needs to happen in that time. BREAK.IT.DOWN.

Okay. Enough about Jerry–yeesh, what’s with that guy? Let’s talk about you. What are you goals? How can I help you break them down into a SMART goals?

Step one: Subscribe to my blog and I can help you be a resource to be motivated! (You can do that over there…——->
Step two: Email me, right now. Send me your big goal and I will get back to you within 24 hours and we can chat about it. We can work together to break it down and get you geared up to achieve your goal. Whatever that goal may be: fitness, wellness, writing a book or getting a job. Let’s start here together.
Step three: I guess I don’t have a step three. Follow me on instagram, mostly because I think I’m pretty funny and inspirational…and quite humble too.

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