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 We tend to associate creativity with painting, crafting, or music, but it goes far beyond that. I know that I never thought of myself as creative until my husband pointed out how I can create meals out of anything we have on hand. Still, you don’t need to make something to express yourself creatively; creative expression is all about how you share your unique identity with the world. 

Creative Expression

With my coaching clients, we spend an entire session on creative expression because it’s so important to living an Extraordinary Life. It’s about sensing and exhibiting the true you. It’s about voicing your ideas and leaving your authentic mark on the world. Being the REAL YOU is at the core of your Extraordinary Life. 

Comparison can get in the way of your creativity, but so can consuming the creativity of others. With so many movies, tv shows, Tik Toks, Instagram reels, social media, etc.,...

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I recently had the opportunity to interview the personal trainer Jenny Roth of Coaching Character. She is full of life and has built her unconventional business by breaking the rules and on the radical belief that you’re the expert of your own body. 

The Real Expert

There are a lot of experts out there doing the things they are best at, helping others with their talent, and making a living at it. As a personal trainer, Jenny is an expert in strength training and movement, but she takes a different approach. Rather than showing up to each session and telling you what your body needs, she wants to listen to your body first. 

In the early years as a personal trainer, she saw a lot of people being dismissed by “the experts”. The younger, fitter trainers would dismiss the complaints, concerns, and experiences of their usually older clients when they shared how they felt. It really struck Jenny that anyone, even herself,...

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I've had several opportunities to reflect on my young adult life lately. One reason is that I’m watching my daughter navigate her life in college and my son weave his way through high school, but something else has popped up. I may have an opportunity to advise students at the university I attended, and it’s brought back memories of all kinds. 

I’ve been looking back at how my own young adult life unfolded, and where a mentor would have been very helpful and maybe changed the trajectory of my life. Regret isn’t productive and I don’t have room for it at this point in my life. After all, if my life didn’t happen the way it did, I wouldn’t have all the people and relationships that I’m so grateful for now. Rather, I’m looking back at the choices I made, how I made them, and what I can learn from them for the future. 

Bringing Up the Past

With this new opportunity to advise students...

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Imposter syndrome is nothing new, at least not in the many business and self-development groups I belong to (including my own!). Most of the discussions and tips about it focus on how to stop comparing ourselves to others, but there is another type of “comparisonitis” that is just as tough to overcome: comparing yourself to yourself. I had an embarrassing case of it myself recently that I think you will relate to.

The Dreaded Comparisonitis

Okay, “comparisonitis” isn’t a real word. But if it was, I’d define it as the loss of motivation resulting from the comparison to someone else that appears to be doing better than you are. And yes, that other person can also be you. It could be the younger you, an idea of who you should be, or even goals you once had but no longer align with. When I chose to bike a once-familiar route with my husband a few weekends ago, I had no idea that I’d face all of the...

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With our summer road trip over and my son back to school, I’m trying to get back into my morning routine. It fell apart over the summer and I’m noticing! Before, I’d been sleeping through the night and my hot flashes and headaches were practically non-existent. I’ve started waking up at 4am regularly, so you could say I’m pretty motivated to get back to what works. 

I Embraced 4am (Once)

Normally when I wake up too early, I’ll try my hardest to get back to sleep or get up for a bit before returning to bed. When the latter happens, I end up waking up later and my morning routine doesn’t happen because the rest of the house is up and about. So the last time I woke up at 4am, I decided to just get up and stay up. 

I used this time to take my morning routine to the limit, and while I won’t be doing this every morning, it was a great reminder of why I do it. It works, and makes me...

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I'm back from my road trip and was all ready to get my son off to his first day of school and get to work on my next podcast on motivation, when he tested positive for Covid. Not a great way to start out, but suddenly his previous congestion and my own headache and fatigue made sense. I’m still testing negative but am not overly energetic, certainly not enough to record a podcast on motivation! 

My go-to when I’m not feeling well is to focus on my health, which makes sense because physical health is an important part of motivation. I've been making sure to get plenty of sleep, drink lots of water, and eat an abundance of fresh local fruits and veggies. Another tool I use to increase my energy is adaptogens.

Adaptogens are plants and mushrooms that help your body respond to stress, anxiety, fatigue, and enhance overall wellbeing. Not a bad thing for anyone to have in their toolbox, especially (in my opinion) women....

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Motivation. What is it? Why is it so important? I talk about it all the time in relation to achieving my own goals and encouraging you to go after yours, but do you really know what motivation is? In order to harness our internal drive to go after what we really want, it’s important to know what motivation is and how it works. 

In this blog series, I’m going to be sharing the different aspects of motivation, including how to find it, keep it, and use it to your advantage. But first, we need to define it. 

What is Motivation?

When defining a concept that we can’t see, it can help to start with the dictionary definition. Google defines motivation as “the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way”, or “the general desire or willingness of someone to do something.” I’d say that it’s a driving force that pushes its own pedal when it sees an...

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I’m following my own advice about building relaxation time in your schedule on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. Right now, I’m almost three weeks into a road trip vacation with my husband and son, and (like most vacations), not everything has gone as expected. Here are the lessons I’m learning on the road, to both inspire and entertain you. 

Lesson One: Go With the Flow

Our vacation was planned around my fifteen-year-old son’s race in the National Mountain Bike Championship in Winter Park, Colorado. We hit the road ten days early so he could get some time getting used to the high altitude, with our first stop being the mountains in California. 

The plan was to spend five days hiking and riding in the mountains, but after just one day in, a fire started near where we were. The smokey conditions meant that we were stuck inside with the windows closed, rather than breathing the fresh mountain...

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Every year, I look forward to summer. Long, lazy days spent outdoors and enjoying time with friends and family (finally!). Yet when the season arrives, inevitably I am just as busy as usual, if not more so! Trying to fit in all that “summer fun” while maintaining work and household responsibilities. If this sounds all too familiar to you, then you need to make time to relax. In fact, we all need to relax every day to stay healthy, happy, and productive. Yes, you read that right - you need to take time to chill out so you can do more. 

Why Relaxation is So Important

Relaxation is vital for a healthy mind and is required to maintain motivation and interest in our lives and careers. Taking time to rest is also important to achieving optimal performance and health. Think about it; if you’re in a constant state of hurriedness and always on the go, you will end up exhausted. Everything will become a struggle!...

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Have you ever looked back on your life at those pivotal moments that changed everything? You likely had no idea those moments or events would be so important, and yet the course of your life changed forever in a way you could never have guessed. I recently had a chance to interview an inspiring colleague, Tracie Root, who not only knows this all too well, but has embraced the idea that great things come from the unexpected.

During our chat, we cover many of the unexpected (and some tragic) events in her life that somehow opened new doors and ignited new passions for her. We all know what it means to "pivot", thanks to the pandemic, but Tracie puts a unique spin on the whole idea. For her, letting go of some control and managing expectations when things go sideways are what have led her to where she is now.

Today, she is leading an Extraordinary Life as a self-employed speaker, coach, bestselling author, and community builder who is...