“The mind is the set of cognitive faculties including consciousness, imagination, perception, thinking, judgement, language, and memory, which is housed in the brain (sometimes including the central nervous system). It is usually defined as the faculty of an entity’s thoughts and consciousness.[3] It holds the power of imagination, recognition, and appreciation, and is responsible for processing feelings and emotions, resulting in attitudes and actions.” —Wikipedia
Wow. Powerful right?
Your MIND holds the power of imagination, recognition, and appreciation. It’s responsible for your feelings and emotions, resulting in your attitude and actions.
This isn’t new information to me, but every time I read the definition, I get the chills as if I’ve just seen a ghost. In my world, I’ve created an acronym for MIND. It’s to help you get ignited because there are various variables to nurturing your mind, but you can start with what I share below.
You see, our mind is everything and I’ve found that over the years I’m often asked about my Motivation, Energy, Nutrition, and Discipline and how I apply it to both my personal and professional life.
M: Move for Motivation
I: Ignite Your Energy
N: Need Better Nutrition
D: Discover Your Discipline
Although there are so many avenues we can discuss, I want to focus on these 4 topics because it’s important for you to feel IGNITED AND MOTIVATED.
To GET ignited and motivated, NUTRITION and DISCIPLINE play a major role in supporting your THOUGHTS and BELIEFS—which sends you on your way to success.
MOVE for MOTIVATION
The general desire or willingness of someone to do something.
Motivation is powerful, yet a tricky beast. Sometimes it’s really easy to get motivated, and you find yourself wrapped up in a whirlwind of excitement. Other times, it’s nearly impossible to figure out how to motivate yourself and you’re trapped in a death spiral of procrastination.
Days of not getting up on time and hitting the snooze button
Days of binge-watching Netflix or LIFETIME, the ultimate energy sucker! I know because I’ve been there.
IT’s NO FUN, right?
And if you’re anything like I was when I fell in those traps, I wasn’t even enjoying sleeping in or curled up on the couch because I was internalizing so many nasty thoughts about me.
You’re a failure Susan, just get up.
You’re being so lazy Susan and wasting your life away
This is why your fat Susan, eating and sitting on the couch not doing anything
This is why you’re depressed Susan, you’re watching serial killer movies over and over—and the internal bullying would go on…
Whether you’re trying to figure out how to motivate yourself or how to motivate a team, I’m positive this will help get you started.
The truth is—at some point, the pain of not doing IT, (whatever IT is you’ve said “enough is enough too) becomes greater than the pain of doing it.
Make sense?
At some point, it’s easier to change than to stay the same.
Action. It’s easier to take action and feel insecure at the gym than to sit still and experience self-loathing on the couch.
Feeling Awkward. It’s easier to feel awkward while making the sales call than to feel disappointed about your dwindling bank account. It’s easier to leverage and take advantage of opportunities when you typically fear and want to stay home. Lastly, it’s easier to finally ask for help.
And even when it comes to making those uncomfortable steps, you never really want to take them. I was never ready for a baby, let alone twins. For my career, I was never ready to speak in front of 100 people and I was never ready to deliver a keynote to 150 teachers. However, it was time to move.
Enough is Enough.
I believe, this is one emotion that ignites your motivation. Every choice has a price, but when we are motivated, it’s easier to bear the inconvenience of action than the pain of remaining the same.
Right?
I mean, how long are you willing to accept the repeat of beating yourself up for not waking up to get your day started? Or how long are you willing to fear every time you make a purchase for a business need, clothes, or food, and fear your card will be declined? Been there, so not fun, I feel sick thinking about it as I write about it.
How long are you willing to suffer from chronic pain causing you to miss out on the fun with your family, or experience true happiness because you’re in pain, uncomfortable and miserable.
How long are you going to compare yourself to every other human being that will never be the same as you and you will never be the same as them? When will you let go of that comparison game because it doesn’t serve you? Are you ready to feel AMAZING with who you are and the life you currently have?
It’s time to MOVE.
Our lives are filled with content. Content in the form of friendships, family, TV, social media, magazines, podcasts, and music. We can be inspired, brainwashed, and even distracted. What does your life’s content reveal?
I teach my students and clients how to take inventory of the content within their lives and what’s filling up their minds. You want to discover all of the passive inspiration and then create active inspiration.
Active Inspiration Vs. Passive Inspiration
So how do we ignite motivation, better nutrition, and discipline? With active inspiration instead of passive inspiration. You want both, but ACTIVE is where your results will come from. When you consume the success and ideas of others, it’s considered passive inspiration.
Every time you watch a video, read an article or listen to an interview, you’re practicing passive inspiration. You may learn, feel excited, get pepped, become sad, angry or any other emotion or feeling. With passive inspiration, you don’t actually have to do anything, you simply consume and absorb.
Hearing about other people’s success isn’t the same thing as creating your own.
You must create active inspiration and what I typically say is “Play an active role in the game of your life”. So reading this a form of passive inspiration and then I want to you to IMPLEMENT so you have your create your own active inspiration.
Get in the habit of creating things, applying new ideas to your goals, experiencing life, trying out new passions, and making mistakes. That way you start to discover your powers—who you are and what is important to you.
As mentioned, active inspiration is what results in the long—term passion and enthusiasm—and creates that discipline to build the habits to ignite you to transform.
Watching someone else’s success might leave you feeling excited for a few minutes, but taking action and applying something new to your life will inspire you more than anything else.
Learning and listening will help you think about things in a different way, but creating, producing, and experimenting is what ignites and propels you forward.
So GET ACTIVE.
Need Better NUTRITION
Listen, I know you hear about how important balanced nutrition is for your long-term health. And I’m more and more of a believer as I gain more knowledge. I know from experience, helping others, and research just how much nutrition impacts your MIND, energy, thoughts, beliefs, actions, health, and results.
What you eat directly affects the structure and function of your brain and, ultimately, your mood. —Health Harvard, Edu.
Our brain requires fuel all day long, consistent balanced fuel.
It’s been a few years now and I continue to heal my body as it experiences life’s natural speed bumps. And I maintain my Bells Palsy and chronic back pain with nutrition. My frustration is barely existent and my late afternoon slumps are gone.
My body was full of inflammation. And I’m boldly going to say that I bet MOST of us women are filled with inflammation which can be affecting many of our mental, emotional, and physical obstacles.
Inflammation is part of the body’s immune response and without a healthy immune system, we’ll struggle to heal.
Poor nutrition and a weak immune system are known to play a role in obesity, heart disease, arthritis, and cancer. (Foods high in sugar and saturated fat can spur inflammation)
When I focused on healing, exercising, and removing inflammation, I started to feel less pain. Less pain in my lower back, less bloated and less stressed.
In addition, the one half of my face from the bells palsy started to heal and not feel as if I just got punched in the eye.
So what does this mean for you? How can you slowly and sustainably start the shift?
- You can start paying attention to how eating different foods makes you feel. And not just in the moment, but the next day. When I started with all the supplements I currently take, I added one at a time so I could monitor my emotions and body.
- You can go through your current habits and lifestyle. Look at the possibilities of implementing new items in your kitchen. Try new habits, and create new standards. For example, I always share that I stop eating past 7-7:30pm during the week and wait at least 2.5-3 hours to go to bed. It’s natural intermittent fasting, allowing your body to digest and heal through 7-8 hours of sleep.
- Stop eating past 7/7:30pm and IF you have no choice, choose the healthiest dinner possible (strive for little to no carbs that late)
- Start with drinking half your body weight of water in ounces
- Eat the rainbow, meaning eat ALL of the food groups—eat a more “balanced” way throughout the day. So think of consuming a little of each food group at each meal to practice. I always help my students and clients fine-tune as they conquer step by step. This is what helps keep your nutrition game sustainable and being a long term success. Well, this and you showing up and implementing (wink)
DISCOVER your DISCIPLINE
Oh, the good old discipline—the struggle is real right? The struggle may be real, but anyone, including yourself, can master it! The book, The Slightest Edge, by Jeff Olsen, made a big impact on my day-to-day with nutrition and working out. I have the discipline in my business—in showing up and having evidence of being in business for thirteen years now. The book shares some amazing science and ah-ha stories. They really inspire you to continue taking those forward steps towards your goals.
Here’s the thing, discipline is built from you showing up with commitment and as you feel and see the evidence of progress and shifts, you’ll be inspired to keep going.
When people see the scale go down, they get inspired to keep going. But if they don’t check the scale or show up to do the work, they won’t see or experience the results. Then, their motivation goes out the door. Make sense?
If I don’t save $100 a month I won’t ever reach thousands in the bank. I struggled with coming to terms to put $120 away in Whole Life Insurance for my kids before they were born.
Five years later, I forget that money automatically comes out monthly and it’s been close to six years now. That’s The Slight Edge, small steps day in and day out and when you have fun, stay focused, and are always eager to learn—next thing you know, you’re down several pounds and have lots of money in the bank!
For Discipline, you must practice and create what I call “rich rituals” to keep you excited!
Here are some other practices to think about for developing discipline:
- Put in rules, non-negotiables. One of mine is that I never go more than 2 days in a row of being active. Working out, hiking, walking, etc. Where in your life can put establish some rules and boundaries.
- Remove temptations. Take inventory of triggers and temptations around you. Reflect on if they should be part of your world or not. For me, I know my willpower is to not buy any junk food. But if it’s in the house, I struggle with control. So my husband knows because I asked for his support to not buy cookies or chocolate. As for me, I never go down the aisle. Follow the old saying “out of sight, out of mind.”
- It won’t feel right/perfect. Don’t wait for the perfect moment or the perfect feeling to start. Change, growth, and commitment don’t always feel great. You’ll have to accept the fact that you’ll have to adjust.
- Reward yourself. But not with food or booze. Reward yourself with an experience, something fun when you have WINS. Life is about celebrating!
If you start implementing even SOME of these ideas, you’ll experience growth. You are always welcome to learn more and share with me HERE in my private FaceBook Group.
Discover your powers & Ignite Your Life
Sue
P.S. Let’s get you in the mindset of doing whatever it takes to experience a healthy M.I.N.D. In the Discover Your Power & Ignite Your Life masterclass, I teach you simple exercises to clear and release the negative blocks, triggers, and fears. We take action, so you always know how capable you are in reaching your desires and goals. Join us now
