I Go Out Walking

Francois and I love to go out walking most days, as long as it is not pouring rain. I must say though that right after a rain a walk smells delicious. It is late spring and almost summer so the Alberta Wild Roses are out. It was amazing to walk around a bend in the path a few mornings ago and be hit with the incredible floral scents. Lilacs are out in full bloom right now too.

Consistency is the new habit that I am building. It is a powerful habit. Doing something every day, day after day builds new pathways in the brain. Rael Kalley my habits coach has me working on creating this exercise habit over my 100 Days Of Fire. At first I hated it, but now I am actually looking forward to it. It seems to be working. I have gone for a walk at 10:00 PM to make sure it happened, so I must be committed to it.

The parks in Calgary are fabulous. There are so many great pathways to take. Lately we have been to Edworthy Park, Bowness Park, Bakers Park, Nose Hill Park and all of the other parks attached to it. I think though one of my favorites has been the park out at Cochrane. There is a path in the backwoods there that will give you quite the work out. I would not recommend going in the rain because you may slide ride off the trail but it is a very cool walk in the park. There are also these awesome stairs that you can climb to get right up to the big cowboy sculpture.

Each day that I go out walking I consider it a miracle. I really did not like to exercise in any way only a few short months ago. It took saying an affirmation, "I love to exercise," 6 times a day for four months before I was even ready to try it. Now that we do it every day we don't like to miss it at all, and I am still saying "I love to exercise." I am now starting to mean it when I say it. Learning to Lie To Myself has been a useful tool.

The journey of weight-loss is continuing one step at a time. Each day that I go out I get a little closer to my goal and the scale is showing it as well.

How is your journey coming? Tell us about it below and be sure to sign up for updates from my blog at the top right hand corner of the page.

Being Too Busy

Calgary View Nose Hill Park

There is nothing worse for creating new habits than being too busy.

Life is busy, isn't it?

All that being busy gets in the way of change. We have our routines and those routines are how we manage. Change means we have to disrupt the routines.

My routines prior to making these changes on May 1st were all BAD. Yep. No nice way to say it.

I got up as late as I could. I tried to squeeze the last few seconds of sleep out of my night and that caused pressure on my overall performance, but that was my habit. I was protective of that rest and would argue I needed my beauty sleep. Even though there was absolutely no evidence to support that it was somehow making me more beautiful, and perhaps there was even evidence to the contrary.

I would stagger down to the kitchen and let the dog out and then with my eyes half open I would feel my way around the kitchen and get a coffee into my miserable self. I would stand at the counter feeling gross and try to stir myself up to face the day.

The day then got very busy.

I would go up to my computer and try to get as much done as possible in an hour, get everything packed into my briefcase and rush out for the appointments, the training classes I would teach, or the schedule that I had set for myself. I was very busy. That amount of busyness was keeping me from reaching any health related goals. My days were going from one appointment to another. No time for exercise and no time for thinking about what to eat.

I didn't eat breakfast which kept my body in starvation mode. Then I was so hungry I would eat a heavy lunch that fed my soul. On cold days I wanted something hot so in the restaurants I was ordering the burger and fries with gravy and Reuben sandwiches . I smothered everything with cheese and sour cream. I didn't order salad because it was cold. Ew... cold...

I did not take the stairs. I did not like exercise.

When I finished up my appointments I went home and right back to the computer to do more work. My ass was getting bigger and bigger. Sometimes I was having trouble fitting into a chair in a restaurant. I did not like that feeling, but habit was keeping me there.

Working with my habits coach Rael Kalley has opened up my eyes. I realize now, I am my own worse enemy. I have this big gang in my head that has sprayed my thoughts with ugly graffiti and as soon as I try to clean it off or repaint they show up with bats and swear at me. They try to take back their territory. I have to fight for it every day. One of their tactics is to remind me just how busy I am. I have no time for exercise.

Whispering Walkway
Nose Hill Park

Since I started the 100 day program I am no longer responding to those gangsters. I am making time for exercise every day. We have been visiting the parks all across the city and taking pictures and videos of our experiences. We go for a walk either early in the morning, or in the evening, and we have been fitting it into our busy lifestyle with more ease than I thought possible. I am actually really enjoying the exercise. I would not have believed that was possible.

Following a plan for what I eat is also easier than I realized. It just requires some pre-planning. Once you get into the habit of buying fruit a couple times a week, it is not hard to juice each morning. Once you buy a few bags of meal replacement protein powder from Arbonne you have something around for those times when you are too busy to make good choices. Making a new plan priority is not hard once you have made it priority. The difficulty is in our mind before we get started. Once we get started it gets easier.

What are you too busy doing? What do you do now to overcome it?

Tell us about your changes, and subscribe to hear more about my journey at the top in the right hand corner.

Lie To Yourself

Apparently what we tell ourselves is important. We continually tell ourselves all kinds of things. Much of it is negative. Much of it is not true. We just think it is true at the time.

For instance we typically say things to ourselves like "I never am on time." Is that true? Are you NEVER on time? Isn't that an exaggeration? If you have a job, you must be on time some of the time or you would get fired. So that can't be true.

We all lie to ourselves continually so it is important to tell ourselves lies that bare good results. You have heard of faking it until you make it. Some people think that is not real. I happen to know that it works. There were lots of things that I faked it on. I pretended to be good a public speaking. I pretended over and over and over and over again. I faked it so much and I told myself that I was good at it. Now most people would agree. I rock at public speaking. That was not true the first time I did it. My knees knocked. I forgot what I was saying. I shook. I had no confidence. I just made myself do it and I told myself I was going to be good at it. Eventually I became good at it. I am sure you can think of something that you faked for a while too, and then you got good at it.

Affirmations can feel like faking it at first. I have heard folks say affirmations don't work. Well actually they do, but you also have to work. You have to keep saying them. If you write out one sentence and say it sometimes. You won't get much of a result.

A few years ago when I first went into business, I knew I had to change the way I thought about things considerably. I was making no real money and I had to change the way I was thinking about money. I had realized that I thought money would only come to me through hard work. Money came to others without hard work. Money came to others who were seemingly undeserving, so that meant it should work the same for me. I wrote down, "Money comes to me easily." I put it on the lid of the toilet seat so I would see it every time I went to the bathroom. I put it on my steering wheel in my car. I wrote it out in my journal and stuck it to the top of my computer screen. I said it several times a day. I doubled my income that year, and the next and the next after that.

Affirmations worked. I knew it. I had seen it.

Rael Kalley my habits coach reminded me of that when I started working with him last December. His plan was a little more radical so I decided to give it a go. He taught me to write out my affirmations with a lot more detail and to spend 5 to 7 minutes at a time thinking about how having that thing would make me feel. He also encouraged me to say them a minimum of 6 times a day. Things started to change right away in some areas.

I was saying "Money comes to me in an avalanche of abundance through my brilliant ideas." In less than 48 hours I had a really huge brilliant idea. It made me a bunch of money really quickly. That was very cool.

The affirmations that I was saying about what I ate took about 2 months to kick in. I wasn't ready for change immediately. My head rejected the sayings at first and recognized them as lies. I was saying, "I only desire foods that drive me closer to my ideal weight of 150 pounds." I laughed out loud the first few times I said that. I thought about the beer and pizza I was planning to enjoy and giggled as I ate them, but I kept saying it. Within 30 days I was desiring less pizza. In fact, I was rejecting milk products like cheese and sour cream without even thinking about it. I was not ordering them when I was at a restaurant, instead of insisting on them bringing me a vat for my baked potato. I stopped ordering extra dressing and condiments. I had 1 beer instead of 3. My cart at the grocery store was suddenly full of fruits and vegetables instead of processed foods.

My exercise lies took even longer. The first month I said "I love to exercise," and I physically grimaced when I said it. I thought of going outside and then I shuddered. Yuck. Who wants to do that? I did not even have excuses. I didn't need them. The answer was not even "No." It was a loud, "HELL NO!"

Kerry George
Walking at Nose Hill Park

I made my first commitment to exercise in January and by mid February I realized I was not going to do it. I was not ready. I decided instead to just keep lying to myself until the lie seemed closer to truth. It took a few months. In March I tried to go for a walk. I took 5 steps and went back in the house. Yuck. Then it snowed. That was a great excuse to put it off for a while longer. It was in April that I realized that I felt ready. May 1 was going to be the big day. Francois was going to help me. He was going to go with me. We were planning to do it 5 days a week. Now we do it 6 days a week. Last night we went bowling as well. It is awesome when you have a partner or even a friend who will support you. Now I had 1 less excuse.

Affirmations work. If you work the affirmations, they will work for you.

Write out your affirmations. Not just one line. Write out how you want it to be as though you already have it. Write about wealth, and health, and things you want to accomplish as though you already did it. Write out things you want to have, as though you already have them. It should be several sentences long. If you don't like to write, start with, "I love to write." Tell yourself some worthy lies that you want to become reality.

Now I love to lie to myself and the lies are good ones. I tell myself I am what I want to be so often, and so hard, and with so much emotion that I am becoming the lie. It is my new truth.

What kind of affirmations are you writing for yourself?

Tell us all about it below in the comments. In writing out your commitment and sharing it with the world you are one step closer to doing it always. Also please subscribe to these blogs on the top right hand of the page.

Whispering Walkway
Through the woods in Nose Hill Park

100 Days Of Fire

Have you ever felt like you needed to just burn some things out of your life?

Rael Kalley my habits coach in April was encouraging me to do a 100 Day Challenge. To me it seemed a bit extreme. I had to ask myself how badly do I really want change? Maybe I like the pain of not changing better than the pain of disciplining myself to change.

Slow and steady wins the race, right?

Good things come to those who wait.

Or is it only the things that are left behind by those who hustle?

I don't know, there has to be some good excuse for being non-committal.

Inside I know he is right. I just don't like it. I want to fight it.

Who wants to light fire to the way that they are and purge out all of the ugly at one time? That sounds painful.

I was in the army. It was about 100 years ago. Right after we all got off the ark. Things were different then. The grass was greener. The sky was more blue. It was easy to leap into the flame and get shot at, and swim the river, and get gassed with tear gas. That was then. This is now. I have a different body now. Invasion of the body snatchers came and stole that old body away. I could do 100 push ups back then. I could hang upside down on monkey bars and do 50 crunches. I could take a punch to the stomach and punch back. I could run 10 km before breakfast. Now I couldn't do one push up. Literally, not one. There would be much moaning and groaning and weeping and wailing and nashing of teeth if I tried. If you hit me in the stomach your fist would sink in about 2 feet and I would double over and die. I wouldn't leap into anything accept maybe bed, or perhaps the buffet line at a Chinese Restaurant.

100 days of discipline. 100 days of fire. Hmmmmm I think that I hear a pizza calling my name...

100 days of sticking to the program. I get to pick the program, but then I have to stick to it.

100 days of committed exercise. I have to decide. Is it 3 times a week? Is it 5 days a week? Is it 7 days a week? I get to decide but then I have to stick to it.

At military boot camp, I did not get to decide. I had to do it. They literally threw us out of the beds at 4:35 am if we did not respond to the 4:30 wake up call. We had to run 10 km even if we only felt like running 1 km. We had to keep up. If we puked, they did not care. If we cried they did not care. If we quit, they dragged us along. Then they punished our entire group for the one who was lagging. That was a great way to make friends.

I used to have that girls body in the photo above. That was me. Except I had dark hair. I carried a gun. I was in the army. I thought of myself as a superhero.

100 days of fire.

Okay I will do it.

For 100 days I committed to some business goals. I have to make 10 calls a day.

For 100 days I committed to my eating program. I went back to Fit For Life because it works for me.

For 100 days I committed to 5 days a week of exercise.

I started May 1st.

We have been walking 6 days out of 7. Sometimes more than once.

I am already down by 13 pounds.

Only 80 days of fire left. I am getting my body back!

What would you commit to for 100 days?

Changing Habits

For the last few years I have been using business coaches to help me grow my business www.cibnconnect.com

I am very blessed because as the owner of The CIBN I get introduced to the best of the best and over the years I have had some exceptional help that has given us wings even in a bad economy. In the network I also get to see who brings real results and who has practical techniques that are easy to implement. We have a few great coaches right now who specialize in different things but my main personal coach is Rael Kalley. Rael is worth his weight in gold.

Rael is primarily a habits coach. He is one of the most successful coaches that I have ever met and it is likely because he has mastered his own personal habits. He is not ruled by his habits, he actually rules his habits. As a result he makes really good money. I think that is an important quality in a coach because many of them want to give me all kinds of advice and they can't even afford a basic membership at The CIBN for only $700. If someone can't afford that little amount then I don't want to take business advice from them. I certainly would not introduce them to you either.

The first thing I noticed about Rael is that he did not blink when we told him the price for the MasterMind Program and he joined immediately. He has money. He takes his own advice. The second think that I learned about him was from one of his clients that was leaving his office one day. The man disclosed to me that he was making about 6 times the average in his industry. Rael also self-published a book a few years ago and has sold over 40,000 copies. That is unheard of. I decided last December I had to have him as my coach. I really need people like him around me.

An interesting thing happens when you hire Rael Kalley to be your business coach. You lose weight. No kidding.

The reason is because he is a habits coach and habits affect every part of our lives. Many of Rael's clients over the years have lost weight and more importantly they kept it off after they lost it. Some of his clients lost more than 100 pounds. That is not a common thing. Most people gain back what they lose.

When I hired Rael I was topping the scales at 244. It is the heaviest that I have ever been. I hired him in December of 2017 and by the end of February I was down to 230. I had not even changed much. I was not exercising yet at all. I was just changing the way I was thinking. After a few months, I had not lost more, but I had not gained it back either.

Because of Rael I was examining my habits. Mostly I was doing it to see gains in my business, which went up by $20,000 in monthly revenue in January of 2018.

By examining my habits I realized that I had set myself up for failure in business, in life, and definitely in weight-loss. Click Here to review my bad habits.

The first thing that I needed to change to get better results was how I was thinking about things. I had to change the way I thought to make permanent changes to my habits. I would like to tell you that those changes came overnight, but they did not. They took some time. In December 2017 on Rael's advice I started writing out affirmations and saying them 6 times a day minimum. Mostly they were about things I wanted to change for business, but Rael insisted that I look at healthier living choices as well. I did not want to. I did not care if I was fat. I like myself just fine. I was not motivated to be any different. He did raise a valid point though that I would not live to see the empire I built if I gave my body no further consideration. That was a good point.

I really, really, really had to start by changing the way I thought; especially about exercise. I had a lot of stuff in my head about how I hated exercise. I did not like it when:

• It was too hot
• It was too windy
• It was too cold
• It was too hard

I did not like to bike or walk, I really hated it a lot!

So the affirmations that I told myself went like this:

• I love to exercise (cringe).
• I love to go outside (groan).
• I only desire foods that drive me towards my goal (sigh).
• I enjoy walking every day (moan).

Most people would probably start a program a lot faster than me. I first had to defeat the demons in my head and my personal bad attitude.By January I was eating more salad and on a program for eating better. By February I stopped cringing when I said the statements about exercising. By April I was planning to actually go outside. It wasn't until May 1 that I started doing it. Now I am going outside for a brisk walk and even a little jog 6 out of 7 days in the week. I am making progress. Don't judge me.

Tell me how are you progressing? I won't judge you either.

Go ahead and click up on the top right hand of the page to get updates so you will see my next blog, and don't forget to write your comments at the bottom of the page.