Blog

Listen on The Extraordinary Life Podcast

I’ve been talking a lot about breaking out of your comfort zone to achieve your goals and dreams. Today, I’m tackling another way to get up and get going: self-discipline. Without self-discipline, it’s easy to get distracted from your goals and just coast through life. That may be fine for a little while, but coasting won’t take you where you want to go. Success takes commitment, and to stay committed, you need self-discipline. 

Self-discipline is something I’ve been working on again lately. You may remember back in May, I tried the 75 Hard Challenge and only made it about halfway. I had all kinds of excuses to stop because the road to success is full of temptations and distractions. I was keeping up with things like my podcast and blog, but not doing some of the other things I knew I should have been doing to move my business forward so I can help more people. So, back to what I know works to be disciplined...

Listen on The Extraordinary Life Podcast

When it comes to achieving your goals or dreams, your success boils down to one simple thing: your mindset. If you keep a positive mindset, there’s no limit to what you can achieve. But if you allow yourself to sink into negativity, you’re going to stay stuck. So how do you flip the negative to the positive, even when everything seems hard? I’ve got a few ideas to help.

A Tale As Old As Time

I recently had the pleasure of reading a book for my friend’s book group. It’s called “The Dream Giver”, by Bruce Wilkinson. It's a short book, and the first half is a parable about the journey to following your dreams. Then the second half contains his steps to follow them. 

It felt like such a coincidence to pick up the book, because I’ve been talking about leaving your comfort zone this past month. I love reading different takes on the same topic, but the idea of leaving the familiar behind to...

Listen on The Extraordinary Life Podcast

Two weeks ago I wrote about why pushing yourself out of your comfort zone is necessary for meaningful growth, and this week is all about facing the fears that are stopping you from doing just that. When you start taking steps out of your comfort zone and toward your goals, your fears are going to come out of the woodwork one by one. They are going to slow you down and distract you, and the only way to deal with those fears is to face them. 

Have you ever wondered why you are afraid of public speaking, heights, or financial insecurity, but the person next to you isn’t? The truth is that we create fears for ourselves, both subconsciously and consciously. Some are learned, while others are passed on to us from important people in our lives. Let's use the fear of water as an example.

Perhaps your grandmother nearly drowned while swimming in the river. She developed a fear of swimming in rivers, and never went in one again. When she had...

Listen on The Extraordinary Life Podcast

Here in the United States it's the day before Thanksgiving, which is the perfect reminder to invite gratitude into your life. Gratitude is more than just giving thanks, however; it’s a quality of being and an emotion that you can feel deep in your heart. For something that you can practice in just minutes a day, gratitude also comes with a cascade of benefits that will improve nearly every aspect of your life. 

More Than Giving Thanks

Most of us say thank you every day. We say it to the checkout clerk at the grocery store, to our kids for putting their dishes away, and to the stranger holding the door open for us at the coffee shop. Most of these interactions are conditioned responses rather than sincere expressions of gratitude, which goes a lot deeper.  

Don’t get me wrong, a simple thank you can have a powerful impact on both parties when genuine gratitude backs it up - and that’s the feeling I’m...

Listen on The Extraordinary Life Podcast

 Chasing your dreams and changing your life for the better isn’t easy. It requires you to step out of your comfort zone again and again, something most of us would rather not do. Over the next few weeks, I’m sharing thoughts and strategies to help you get more comfortable with being uncomfortable, so you can start taking action and create the Extraordinary Life you’re dreaming of. First up is courage. 

 I’m going through my fifth recertification for High Performance Coaching right now, and in today's class we role-played the coaching session on courage. It got me thinking about how subtle courage is in our everyday lives. For most of us, being courageous isn’t about running into a burning building to save a bunch of kittens, but it’s showing up in smaller (though just as scary) ways. 

Everyday courage looks like setting strong boundaries, trying new things, breaking bad habits or...

Listen on The Extraordinary Life Podcast

Have you ever wondered why you’re struggling to achieve a goal when you want it so badly? I’ve been hearing a lot of people struggling with this, which is why my podcast has been heavy on the cheerleading lately. You definitely are not alone! The struggle to move from what you don’t want into what you do want is more common than you might think. So why does it happen, and what can you do about it? I have some answers. 

The Struggle Is Real

When I work with clients who are feeling stuck and just can’t seem to reach the goals they so desperately want, they feel like they are banging their heads against a wall. “I want this so bad! Why can’t I make it happen!?” Very often, it turns out that they are the ones holding themselves back, though they don’t see it. (Hooray for an outside perspective!)

The trick to ending this stagnant situation is to take action… but when you’re stuck,...

Listen on The Extraordinary Life Podcast

Have you ever noticed that you get what you expect out of life? That what you think is going to happen does? We all live with an unconscious expectation of ourselves and our own lives, and this expectation not only determines what we have in our lives, but it also represents what we're willing to settle for. It’s a very powerful emotion and one that few people ever learn to harness to improve their situation. That’s a shame, because whatever you expect with certainty is what you will get in your life.

Ralph Charell said, "Nobody succeeds beyond his or her wildest expectations unless he or she begins with some wild expectations." So what are your expectations for your life? Are you excited about your future or do you face it with apprehension, fear, or even dread? These thoughts can be about the far away future or what you expect for your day. 

Why We Keep Low Expectations

For many people, the future holds too many...

Listen Instead on The Extraordinary Life Podcast

The other day, my yoga teacher Kofi said “The Yogi is someone who takes responsibility for the thoughts that go through their mind.” I love the simplicity and deep meaning behind this quote, and it fits perfectly with my recent podcasts on managing your thoughts. This week, I want to talk about managing your thoughts when things aren’t going your way. 

Balance is a Myth

I find that many of my clients come to me feeling overwhelmed about having to do it all, while also wanting more out of their life. It feels like they can’t keep up in life as it is, so going after their bigger dreams seems impossible. My coaching approach is an active process, and I know (and want you to accept) that your circumstances and the balance between the different parts of your life will always be shifting. 

What this means is that I encourage you and show you how to take action in your life, so you can learn as you go....

Listen on The Extraordinary Life Podcast

Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could create a life roadmap so you knew exactly where you were going and which forks in the road to follow toward your goals? Since “the great pause” over the past 2 ½ years, I’ve been hearing a lot of “well, what now?” from within my network. It’s hard to feel sure what steps to take next after all the uncertainty, but I have five questions that will help you find clarity. Your answers will also serve as a roadmap, something you can refer to when faced with tough decisions or when you don’t know what to do next. 

I encourage you to think about your answers and write them down. There is something about writing that cements the thoughts into your mind, and makes them more tangible. It will also serve as a reference that you can come back to anytime you need. 

If you’re ready to jump back into life and achieve your dreams, I’d love to...

Listen on The Extraordinary Life Podcast

Last week I shared strategies on how to train your negative thoughts to be more positive because the thoughts that move through your head have everything to do with your confidence, success, and even your health. (Check it out here.) This week, I’m taking that concept one step further, and sharing how you can set up your internal environment for those positive thoughts to flourish. In other words, what can you do so that your brain is more receptive to the positive messages you're sending it? 

Studies show that you can prime your brain to be more open to feeling confident, positive, and to making healthier choices both for your body and your mind. You can physically alter your brain circuitry to promote more positive responses with simple practices that anyone can fit into their day. 

Give Meditation a Chance

Meditation has been around for literally thousands of years, and for good reason. If you’re the type of person...