Wednesday, December 21, 2016

The Alternative To New Year's Resolutions


You probably saw Coach Ty’s post on how he was successful with New Year’s Resolutions.  By creating goals he was really able to make a lot of his dreams come true which is great and I for one am really excited to see some of the things he’s accomplished!  


As Ty mentioned, some people make New Year’s Resolutions and some people do not.  I personally do not. 


Throughout my life and career I have always been pushed by others to make goals.  In most cases focusing on goals for me has not resulted in success, especially the kind of success that others wanted me to have.  Isn’t the success I envision for myself most important though?  I have found that people find success in life via different pathways.  Many who are successful in corporate environments or mainstream culture, for example, are that way because they thrive on having structure and analyzing their behavior to identify whether it falls in line with social norms.  These environments are where goals (and in-turn New Year’s Resolutions) are most common and often most effective.


But not everyone identifies with that mindset.  If your motiv8tion is historically driven more by emotion and intuition connected to a sense of personal identity, you may find that the mentality you experience from goal-setting can be counterproductive to accomplishing what you want out of life.   


I used to make New Year’s Resolutions all the time then, one year I thought, “Why are you choosing now to make a change in your life that you haven’t chosen to make the other 364 days of the year?”  If I had the mindset to change something about my life right now in the moment why did I need to start in The New Year?  Why not START NOW?  I was always connecting a future action to a future date, meaning I wasn’t really ready to change.  New Year’s Resolutions were my way of trying to connect a lack of action to an outward factor that I had no control over.  I didn’t get something done over the past year or several years that I “needed” to so I decided that things will be different NEXT year.  But, everything GREAT I’ve ever done in life started by me JUMPING and making a decision right then and there to do it, not waiting for a sign or a meaningful time to start.  I immersed myself in the experience of doing it.  The time to start is NOW, even if it’s a tiny step just start doing the work!

New Year’s Resolutions are all about goals usually.  But goals often focus on what you don’t have.  Live life thinking that your worth is always in accomplishing the next goal and you never truly value your current state of existence.  I used to have a burning desire to have an attractive body, have people admire (or be jealous of) me, have accomplishments to brag about, have a high-paying job, have a brand new, custom-built house, have 3 cars in the garage, have nice clothes and jewelry.  Want to know what happened once I finally obtained those things?  MISERY…because someone else always had something better, because by focusing on what I didn’t have there was always a NEW thing I didn’t have but mostly because I never valued the process that it took to get there.  Instead I just made new goals for “more”.  I was never present.  See the trend there?


What about making New Year’s Resolutions TRULY made me happy?  My goals, much like others’, often focused on improving some part of myself that wasn’t a strength for me, which meant I was never focused on using my strengths to better my life.  I can tell you from my first hand experience that a life lived doing what society expects you to in order to be “successful” is a one-way ticket to UNhappiness.  I’ve lived that life…it was awful.  Goals give us the impression that what we have today isn’t “enough”.  We have to achieve more, we have to obtain more, we have to earn more.  Why can’t we give ourselves the respect to know that what we experience today can give us all the joy we desire!?


Check out the most common regrets after a long life.  Making sure these are never on my list is my basis for success in life, not whether I achieved a New Year’s Resolution: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/03/top-5-regrets-of-the-dying_n_3640593.html
    

Which brings me to my final point about New Year’s Resolutions.  What is your reason for making them in the first place?  Are you choosing to make a change that other people define a successful person by?  Or are you choosing to make them because it fits your values as a person and helps you follow your passion?  It should feel right to you, that gut feeling (your intuition) should tell you what’s best for you rather than analyzing your life to create a goal which may be arbitrary to developing into your best self. If you truly know your values and what you WANT out of life, you shouldn’t need a New Year’s Resolution to do the things you feel you “NEED” to do.  It doesn’t take resolutions or even goals for me to evaluate whether my actions fit into my vision of life.  That’s the beauty of knowing who you are!  Every time I’m pushed by others or by social pressure to make a goal I ask myself, “Does this fit with my vision for what I WANT out of life?”  If the answer is “no” there is nothing in this world that will make me accomplish that goal.  So, I don’t waste my time on it!

Steps to creating success for 2017 without using New Year's Resolutions:

1. Start NOW, there's no better time!  You're either ready or your not!
2. Identify your strengths and place attention on developing them rather than weaknesses.
3. Determine who you want to be, define values that support that person and constantly evaluate your behavior against them.


I have a confession to make:  I have been unhappy for much of 2016.  That unhappiness stems from constantly placing pressure on myself to create something that doesn’t exist in this current moment.  I have made goals for myself personally and for my business, telling myself that what exists now isn’t enough.  BUT, the reason I’ve made decisions for the past 5 years to live my “dream life” wasn’t to make a bunch of money or to be the “biggest” or the “best”, it was to share my wisdom to help other people that I know are struggling with the same life that I used to live.  I have allowed a constant life of “lack” to drag me down into a pit of despair over what I don’t have, not what I DO have that’s right in front of me today.  I have been so focused on making goals that it caused me to drop out of a race for the first time in my life, that it led me astray in prioritizing my business over my family and friends, that it removed my passion for the values I hold dear in my life in pursuit of a vision of “success”.


Unhappiness caused by focusing on what I lack or am not good at isn’t success to me.  It’s failure!  And if I truly want change in my life, the time is NOW, not in The New Year! J

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

How to Change Your Life in 2017

Whats Up Motiv8ers,

Today I want to talk to you about a tool that I have kinda forgotten about over the past 5 months.  I was going back through some of my old emails and I came across an email that I wrote at the end of last year entitled, "How I changed my life in 2015."

I clicked on it instantly forgetting I had even wrote it.  Reading it brought tears to my eyes because it reminded of just how passionate I was about setting goals and not letting anything stand in the way of what I wanted to accomplish.  It reminded me of how aggressive I went after my dreams in 2015.

Reading this email got me fired up to get off my butt and start getting ready for 2017.

Motiv8ers this email was about New Year Resolutions and about what I did at the end of 2014 to make 2015 such an EPIC year.  2016 has been just as special but over the past few months I haven't been following the steps below that I followed every day in 2015.  

Check out the story about my 2015 below....

How I changed my life in 2015!
 
 
All through out my life I have never been a person to set New Year Resolutions.  Every one around me just always complained about how they would set a few but would always fall off after just a few weeks.  So I labeled it as rubbish and went into each new year without much direction.  I just lived day to day just wondering what my future was going to look like not really taking control of my life.  Yeah I have accomplished a little bit.  Received two bachelor degrees, joined the Army, ran a few marathons and ultra marathons, and later became a group fitness trainer.   But I always felt kinda lost not really understanding what exactly I wanted to do with my life!
   
Then around the middle of 2014 something clicked.  I started paying attention to a ton of podcasts and self help audio books.  I used to think these things were rubbish as well but the people around me kept pushing me to pay attention to them.  So I did.  After a few months of listening and studying I began to notice that they all started to say the same thing! 
   
If you want to be successful and live your Dream life you have to first know what that dream life looks like and what is it that you want to accomplish.  If you don't know what you want.... how are you ever going to figure out what to do or how to be successful!
   
So I asked myself what did I want?  That was a really hard question.  It felt like I had never asked myself that before.  But for the Next two weeks I asked myself every day.  Then on New Years Eve, before 2015, I wrote all of those wants and goals down.  I took two big poster boards and wrote down everything that I wanted to accomplish and posted them up on my wall.  Check it out.....

 
These posters have been on my wall all year.
 
Then Motiv8ers over the next year I practiced these steps every day!
 
1. Decide what it is you want to accomplish in all areas of your life  
2. Write those goals down and put them somewhere where you can see them every day  
3. Review them every day for at least 5 minutes.
 4. Figure out what you need to learn and practice daily in order to accomplish your goals!
 
  So what happened?.........
 
2015 became my most productive, emotional, EPIC, painful, roller coaster ride, Enjoyable, Loving, rewarding, exhausting, Exciting....year of my whole life!...... 

NEVER IN MY LIFE HAVE I LIVED AS MUCH AS I HAVE IN 2015.
   
Crew I have made some friggin amazing relationships, I ran a 100 mile race, Been killing it in other races, went on some killer trips to the mountains, have met some of my closest friends, found a life that I love, I feel the drive to try and help as many folks as possible, and the biggest accomplishment so far is......Building a business with my closest friends.   

Motiv8 has been a dream come true.
 
Crew my biggest year ever in my life all started with me writing down my goals on two poster boards and posting it up on my wall and looking at it every day!
 
Did I accomplish every thing I put on my board.  No.....But that doesn't mean I am going to stop trying.  That goal just might take a little longer than the others.  =)

So take your 2016 New Year Resolution planning seriously.  I sure am. 
 
 I am going to put even more details and goals down this year and see what I can make happen in 2016!
   
Crew if you found this message helpful then please check out this quick video from one of my Idols Brendon Burchard on how to learn Faster!  Promise you will love it!  
 
   
So Crew are you going to SET some New Year Resolutions for 2017?

You should!!

But don't just mentally say to yourself on New Years Day I am going to do this or that.  Start now with reflecting on your year.  What went well?  What didn't go well?  Then over the next two weeks start writing out your dream life.

This is important.  What is your DREAM LIFE?  Ask yourself every day for the next two weeks and each morning for about 5 minutes sit down and write out what your dream life would look like.  Then write down what you would have to do every day to make that dream life happen.

Then, when New Years Eve comes, write all of those goals, dreams, and daily tasks down and once New Years Day hits, you take off running.  Every day for about 3 to 5 minutes remind yourself and look over those goals so you can generate the Motiv8ion you need to take action daily on making your dream life happen.

Motiv8ers that is what it takes to get Motiv8ed for 2017 and make EPIC SH$T Happen.  =)

Crew if you found this post motiv8ional then post below and let us know how you set your New Year Resolutions.

Lets Stay EPIC Together.

Crew Stay EPIC and Don't Forget to Be AWESOME!

Coach Ty Out!

 

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

What Motiv8es You? December Challenge!

Whats up Motiv8ers.  

Lets make December our most EPIC month to date.  And, we are going to do that with a new challenge.  Check it out below.


Crew the holiday season is here and for many of us Lazy Town has it's full grasp on us. Especially just coming off of Thanksgiving break.  Holiday breaks can make jumping back into your normal routine of exercise and clean eating darn right hard and a chore.  But, if you have a couple of tools in place to help jump start you back on track, once those breaks are over, then your chances of falling off the EPIC Train drop drastically.  

But, we have a problem.  What tools am I talking about?  How do you find a tool that works for you?  Everyone is different and what motiv8's one person might not work or motiv8 another.

So, that is why this month's challenge is called 'What Motiv8's You?"

What Motiv8's you to stay on track and stay motiv8ed towards making your body super healthy.

Like I said above everyone gets motiv8ed differently.  So what works for me might not work for you but it is so important that you find a tool that helps you stay on track and motiv8ed so you can stay EPIC and CONSISTENT over the most busiest time of the year that usually sends everyone to Lazy Town.

So here is the Challenge.  Starting tomorrow I want you to think back on your past and think about what fired you up to conquer your day.  What helped you get motiv8ed to workout consistently and eat healthier in the past.  Was it a friend? Was it signing up for a race? Was it being healthy for your family?  Was it dropping a few pounds?  Find that Motiv8ion again.  Then write it down.  Next, think back on how you stayed consistent on your new workout routine and eating habits.  Did you create a schedule? A calendar? Did you have an accountability buddy? Did you have a goal vision board?

What ever it was revisit those tools.  Now if you can't think of any tools then make sure you make it out to your Motiv8 SET this week and next.  Our Motiv8 Coaches are going to make an effort to talk about this with you and share what tools Motiv8 them and helps them stay consistent.  Also, in the Motiv8 Blog we will be trying to share a few tools from each of the Coaches over the next few weeks.  Once you have your tools share those tools with your fellow Motiv8ers at your Motiv8 SET.  use them to help you stay consistent to your new accountability tools to help you stay consistent to working out and eating right.

Alright Motiv8ers before I let you go I want to share with you what my tool is.  But first I want to share a passage from a book I am reading.  This addressed I problem I didn't know I had.   The book is called "How to Be Here" by Rob Bell.  It states this.

"In a moment I am going to say a word. And when I say it, I want you to notice your first feelings that comes to mind.  Ready?  INBOX!   Were you instantly at ease?......probably not. If you are like me then your first thought to that word is a number.  The number of emails that have come in since you last checked your inbox.  Emails are stacking up as you read this book.  Emails you will respond to later.  You see what just happened? In a course of a few sentences. You went from interacting with this book but also thinking about your emails which you will deal with in the future. When do you deal with your email? All the time? Three times a day? Constantly? Is how you spend your day determined by who sends you emails when they send them? or do you have set times when you deal with your email?  When is your Cell Phone on or off? When can people get a hold of you? When are you working and when are you not working? Creating a life worth living is understanding that you have more power over your time then you realize.  You create the rhythm that helps you do the work that you are here to do.  Everyone I know who has been on their path for a while, and is successful, has details and routines that they take seriously."  Rob Bell 

 The problem it addressed was...... I just didn't feel in control of my time once reading that passage.  

I am already a pretty structured individual with following a calendar, eating right, and working out regularly.  But, after reading this I wanted to take it a step farther. 

First a got a notebook.

 Now here is my challenge.  Every Sunday I plan on writing out my projects for the week.  Then every night I revisit that list and then write out my schedule for the next day.  I want to write out every hour and what I am going to be doing during that hour.  My goal is to only do one thing during each of those time frames.  I am a horrible multitask er and when I try I never get anything done.  So to be more productive I want to plan out when I workout, when I eat, what I eat, when to do emails, when to relax, when to run.  I want to take all of my guess work out of my day and make sure that what is important to me gets done so I don't procrastinate.   I am starting tonight.  So lets see how this works on getting me even more productive.



Crew by me sharing this I want you to help me stay accountable to my goal and I hope you do the same so I can help you.  Share below or share at your Motiv8 SET what tools you are using to help you stay motiv8ed over this holiday season.

Crew do you accept the Challenge? Lets do this!

Lastly Crew, I want you to check out this short Tedtalks video.  It is really interesting and reinforces the fast that in order to stay motiv8ed you need a goal or something to work towards.  Check it out.

Why some people find exercise harder than others | Emily Balcetis


 

 Crew that is all for today!

Stay EPIC and Don't Forget to Be AWESOME!

Coach Ty Out!

Monday, November 21, 2016

Only A Sith Deals In Absolutes!


Hey Motiv8ers!


I've got to share something with you all...


I told myself for the month of November that I would not eat any free sugar.  I had an idea that the absolute removal of free sugar from my diet could jumpstart me back into focusing on my ultramarathon training and healthy eating habits which have both suffered because of my focus on Motiv8 as a business.


So what has happened?  Well some would say I have been UNsuccessful! 


I look at it more fluidly than that.  While I fully support the concept of creating healthy habits and sticking to them, I have come to the realization that my goal, which was grounded in an absolute, was flawed and unreasonable in the first place. 

Why couldn’t I see that I could still be healthy and successful in my training while having a little free sugar (World Health Organization's suggestion is no more than 25g per day) in my diet?  Why did I let myself get caught up in a goal that wasn’t based in any realistic regular habit?  There was no way I would stick to this long term, so what was I proving to myself or even others?

My idea of ZERO free sugar was an absolute and one sure way to fail at things in life is to focus on absolutes which are often developed from an egotistical standpoint.

I let my ego determine my actions, which in my experience in ultramarathons is RARELY a winning strategy.


But we do this all the time:

I will absolutely not eat sugar
I will absolutely not eat anything that doesn’t fit into my diet
I will absolutely only train the way I think is right
I will absolutely never talk to that person again
I will absolutely not allow viewpoints different than mine
I will absolutely disagree with anyone else’s ideas about how to solve a problem


Here’s the problem with absolutes: absolutes create a black and white lense thru which we see the world.  If it doesn’t fit into our philosophy or with our “camp”, more worryingly, it’s wrong.  If it isn’t what we have experienced or want to see it’s wrong.  If we can see it on the surface and don’t like it, we reject it or do the opposite instead of being curious about what value might lie below the surface.

Not only do we do this to ourselves but we let others' idea of absolutes control us into making decisions that may not be best for our unique circumstances!

This looks a lot like another common problem those “OTHER” people have: close-mindedness.  It’s one of the ugliest and least likeable characteristics a person can possibly possess.

Now…before we start to pat ourselves on the back for being open-minded, think about how YOU view the perspectives of others who see the world differently than YOU DO!  Can you accept that a perspective that isn’t the same as yours or your friends’ has merit?  Can you even differentiate between a person’s ideas and their personal character? 

If not, perhaps you aren’t as open-minded as you want to give yourself credit for?

Some of us get so caught up in our idea of the right way to do things that we undermine, mock or even hurt others to assert our point of view.  When we do this we often lack the realization that WE ARE close-minded by failing to see our lives and circumstances from others’ perspectives.  We dismiss what other people say or do as close-minded without even acknowledging that we are being closeminded ourselves for not accepting their reality.  It can be especially dangerous when we refuse to accept that someone other than ourselves could have a life experience that makes them a valuable source of knowledge, wisdom or the prevention of our own future mistakes.

Why would we let our ego allow us to refuse the advice of someone who only wants to see us succeed?

Go forward in life with the understanding that while you may have learned a lot, there is always something you don’t know.  Even experts (with an open-mind) can discover something new, now and again.  Like discovering that a ZERO free-sugar diet is miserable and unrealistic!


Replace your thoughts of what is right or wrong with a true sense of curiosity and watch how quickly you grow!


~Coach Joe

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

How to Adopt a New Habit.....Breakfast Recipes!

What's Up Motiv8ers,

Coach Ty here with another Motiv8ing blog post.  I have some great stuff here to share with all of you and then some recipes down below.  So check it out!!  =)

First Motiv8ers this week in my SETs I've been talking about how to be successful with our November Motiv8 Challenge.   With our November Challenge under way there are a ton of habits and actions we are trying to adopt.  But it is hard to adopt a new action or habit when our bad habits or addictions are so ingrained into our daily routines.

Even I have been struggling with counting my calories everyday and making my green smoothies.  So I thought this would be a great time to bring up the habit talk again.


So Our topic for today is how to Adopt a New Healthy Habit!!
In order to conquer the bad you have to first adopt the GOOD!  Before I go any farther let me ask you some questions.

 All of you want to be successful right?.....  
-You want to be strong and healthy  
-you want your business to be running smoothly  
-You want your relationships to be strong
-You want to be happy, positive, and so full of awesome energy.
   
We all want those things and many of you might be living your dream already which is so great.  But many times many of us just are not as successful as we fill like we should be.  We know how to be successful but we can't seem to get the work done or adopt the discipline to make our dreams happen.

Why is that?  What is holding us back?

Well Motiv8ers take a moment and watch this video from Bob Proctor that talks about how our results and actions are caused by our daily routines and habits.  If you don't have daily habits and routines that support what you are trying to accomplish then you will not be successful.  Check out the video below:

Ok now that you recognize you might have some bad habits that are not supporting you, lets now talk about how to adopt some new ones.  But doing that is difficult and it takes a lot of mental strength to force yourself to make a new change to your daily routin
Well Crew that is why Motiv8 is here.  Check out this tool. 

Set up Trigger Moments.......
 

Do you know what those are?  If not find 10 minutes in your day today to watch this short video.....



Trigger Moments use an existing habit, an alarm, or an object to remind you to do your new habit.

And The best triggers you could set up are.........Alarms or Reminders on your phone.
Here is an example....Lets say your new habit is to make healthier food choices at lunch time when you go out with work friends.  Set up a daily reminder on your phone that says 'Make a Healthy food choice today' and it goes off 5 minutes before your lunch break.
Sounds simple and silly right but it will work. 

Set up little reminders all throughout your day to help you stay on task.

It is important to your success that you have daily habits that you practice consistently that will help you to reach your dreams!

Motiv8ers take this message to heart because it has helped me so much with my diet and my training for my races.  If you have questions post below.

Alright last thing Crew.  Lets talk about some RECIPES!!!  =)

 Remember each week I am trying to find recipes of dishes that are usually extremely bad for you but find a much more healthier options.  Check this out.

Today I found a meal that everyone loves for breakfast.  PANCAKES!  Now this is definitely a processed food and your green smoothies are a much better choice but if you are going to make them for your family then this recipe is a great option.
Spelt-Blueberry Pancakes

But if you want a meal that is super energizing in the morning check out this quinoa bowl.

Hot Lap Bowl 

Motiv8ers that is all for today.  if you have any recipes that you love please post below.  Also if you are loving these topics post below as well.  If you have any topics you want us to focus on please post below.  Your feedback is so important to us and will only help you grow stronger.  So send us your thoughts!

Alright Crew Stay EPIC and Don't Forget to Be AWESOME!

Coach Ty Out!

P.S....Take these tips to heart and try the RECIPES!! 

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Ty's Personal Experience with the Clean Eating Challenge

Motiv8ers,

Today's blog post is a reflection on how I did with October's 28 Day Motiv8 Clean Eating Challenge.   Was it easy for me? NO!! Did I have some struggles? YES!

Am I going to say some embarrassing things in this post?  Embarrassing from my point of few? YES!

Crew check it out. But first.....

How did you do?  Did you do the challenge? Did you try to conquer some bad habits by bringing in some good habits?  If you tried out the challenge please post below and share your experience.  Let us know if it helped you or not?  If you forgot about the challenge, or didn't see it, then check it out here:

28 Day Motiv8 Clean Eating Challenge!

Alright Crew lets get into the dirt.

Note:  Motiv8ers I am going to share some details about my way of living that is a little embarrassing for me but I am definitely not shy to share.  If you feel like commenting on this post please do no matter what you want to say.  Feel free to be as blunt or as open as you want.  We are here to support each other and help each other grow.

Ok lets get started........

Before October hit I new I wanted to start a food challenge with Motiv8.  A challenge that would  push folks to make some positive changes in their eating habits and get people really uncomfortable.  And through this want, I developed the 28 Day Motiv8 Clean Eating Challenge.  I was so excited to launch this challenge with everyone.  It was definitely the biggest challenge we have done with Motiv8 to date.  But, little did I know that this challenge was going to push me as well.  On October 1st I fully excepted the challenge 100% and my struggle began.  And oh was it a struggle!

Ok, before I go any further let me lay out my history for you.  Before the month of October, before the food challenge started, I was not a food prepper.  I lived day to day.  Meaning I would only buy my food for that day and wouldn't prep for the next.  As many of you know I do eat healthy and my diet was good for the most part but, there were a few problems which I didn't really consider were problems at the time.  But through this challenge I found out that they were a problem.  Those problems were....
  1. I bought a lot of pre-made food like vegan burritos, stuff from whole foods salad bar, central market salad bar, expensive granola, and canned soups.  These items can be healthy depending what you pick but the problem was that they are crazy expensive and really eat up the checking account.
  2. I ate out almost every day after my 7pm Ramsey SET.  I would either go to chipotle, Zens, Casa de Luz, and sometimes Tacodeli in the mornings to get a meal.  These meals are healthy but eating out for at least one meal a day started to really add up in the check book.
  3. Almost every day after my 7:30a Ramsey SET I would go to Central Market to grab food for the day.  The problem here is that instead of having food ready to go I would waste some of my day and time by going to the grocery store.  I have learned through this challenge just how valuable food prepping is now on my schedule.
  4. I found myself relying on sport energy foods to help keep my energy up through out the day.  Sport food like caffeinated running gels and the Clif Shot bloks, which are gummy chews.  I got in the habit of eating a whole package of the shot bloks once before my 5:30a SET and before my 5p Zilker SET.  Not because I needed it but because it became a habit and eventually an addiction that I developed through using them for my running workouts.  I found myself eating 2 to 3 packages of these things a day.  Not only is that expensive but they aren't the healthiest of things either.  And on top of that I started to get addicted to the caffeine.  When I didn't eat them I found myself getting a small caffeine headache.  





    So the problems here were time management, spending way to much money on food, not eating as healthy as I should and trying to shake a sugar and caffeine addiction.

Here is how I did.

First Week....EPIC FAIL!.....So that Monday I told all of you at our motiv8 SET that I was taking on the challenge 100%.  But I didn't do any planning or prepping.  I thought I could just go to the store, buy some fruit for the day, and everything would be great.  But as Monday and Tuesday rolled by I just wasn't getting in enough calories because I told myself not to eat the items in problem number one.  By the end of Tuesday I was extremely exhausted from not eating enough and I gave in and went to Chipotle for dinner.  Then the next morning I was still worn out. No energy and not feeling great plus the headaches from no caffeine started sitting in.  Then I did what most do when things get hard I broke the challenge.  I bought some vegan burritos and ate a package of shot bloks.  I said I would get back on the challenge tomorrow and I just needed to eat these things to relieve some stress.  I was stress eating!  WHAT!?!?!  I've never seen myself as a stress eater.  I couldn't believe I did that.

That Wednesday afternoon I realized I had some problems.

So what did I do next?  First I acknowledged what my problems were.  Then I told myself that I had to make some changes.  Lastly, I got out my calendar out and a notebook and started planning.  Here are the steps I took in that moment.
  1. I wrote out the foods and meals that I knew I could cook and prepare that would sustain me for at least 3 days. I also made sure that these foods fit into the Clean Eating Challenge guidelines.  The bulk of my diet over these past few weeks consisted of bananas, dates, oranges, strawberries, lemons, sweet potatoes, brown rice, pinto beans, black beans, lentils, Swiss chard, spinach, salsa, raisins, avocados, carrots, and hummus.  Here are some pics of the meals I ate.


  2.  I then mapped out how much food I would need to buy to sustain me for 3 days.  How many bananas do I need to buy.  How much potatoes, rice, and beans do I need to buy.  I worked hard on the details so I had a plan once I entered into the grocery store.  Note: Crew if you know me I don't count my macros.  But I do count my calories.  I believe that as long as you eat real whole foods with no process junk and you eat enough calories from great nutrient dense foods, all of your macros will fall into place and you will see the results you are looking for.  But the key to this way of eating is you have to take out the junk.  100%. Below is three days of food that I bought on a Sunday. 
  3. I wrote into my calendar and schedule when I was going to go to the grocery store and when I was going to cook my food.  It came down to shopping on Sunday and Thursday.  And I would try to cook either in the afternoon between my Noon SET and my 5pm SET or at night.  Since I didn't have a lot of time in my day I kept cooking to a minimum and simple.  I only used a rice cooker, my ninja blender, and I cooked sweet potatoes in the oven.  This allowed me to keep working without having to watch my food.  It also allowed me to cook in bulk, save me time, and have enough food for one or two days.  But Note: I had to plan it into my day to make this process happen.  If I didn't plan and put it into my schedule I would almost always not make enough time to cook or shop and I would end up going to a restaurant at night which was not what I wanted to do.  But it did happen a few times over the challenge. But I tried my hardest to make a plan and stick to it.
So how did I do with my new plan?  Better.

For the next three weeks I followed my plan almost to the tee.  Shopped for my groceries on Sundays and Thursdays.  Forced myself to put food in the rice cooker and oven when I got home from workouts.  Made sure I had food available at all times to help prevent me from going to restaurants or buying that pre-made junk.  And, I tell you what things really started to turn around for me.  Here are some of the benefits that I felt and saw.
  1. I started to feel my energy come back.  Because I had plenty of the right food available to me I was definitely now eating enough calories to support the amount of exercise I was doing and that started to make me feel really good.  My runs started to feel better.  I had more energy to give all of my Motiv8ers. I was having a lot of fun again at the workouts.  My energy felt stable and I felt like I had plenty of it.  Waking up in the morning became a little easier as well and my caffeine headaches only lasted about a week.
  2. I still had some big carvings for the bad stuff but as long as I had food available I could stay away.
  3. I started to form some new habits that I have never really had before.  I have cooked in the past but never have I ever cooked consistently.  This challenge has forced me to cook and has given me a great new habit.  Also I found that my energy felt better with the food I cooked then the foods I bought at the store.
  4. HERE IS THE BIG SHOCKER FOR ME.  I saved a ton of money.  Not just a few dollars but hundreds of dollars.  almost 500 dollars to be exact.  I've been using MINT to help me budget my spending but I haven't been paying attention to it.  But I went back to September and between September and October there was a huge difference in the amount of money I was spending on food.  It was a huge shocker to me.  I never thought that my food spending habit was a problem but eating out and buying pre-made food adds up fast.
So Motiv8ers was this challenge a success for me?  YES!

Did I learn a little bit about myself?  YES! I learned a lot!

Did I grow from this challenge and am I going to continue my new habits?  You better believe I grew and darn straight I am going to continue these habits.  This habit is going to save me a good amount of money. =)

Motiv8ers remember challenges are not just something you do because your friends are doing it.  You want to pick a challenge that will have a positive impact on your life.  Use these challenges as a way to help you form those habits that you know you should have. I have picked a new challenge for this month.  Follow our emails and follow us on Facebook to learn about our new challenge!

Motiv8ers if you have read this whole post and if it has inspired you, then post below and share what you are thinking.  Sharing my problems with you was hard for me but I know by sharing that it will help me keep my new habits going.

Thank you Crew.

That is all for today.  Stay EPIC and Don't Forget to Be AWESOME!

Coach Ty Out!







Wednesday, October 19, 2016

How to live an EPIC life!

ep·ic
/ˈepik/
informal
particularly impressive or remarkable


We talk so much about establishing routines and making sure that you stay consistent which are definitely the hallmarks to getting into the best shape of your life.

But, is it possible that routines could actually be KEEPING you from living the best, most fulfilled and most adventurous life you can?

A lot of us stray away from adventurous experiences and that's understandable.  Adventures inherently are unpredictable.  They also tend to make anyone who is conservative, a Type A personality or a control freak really uncomfortable.  What will it take away from?  What won't get done?  What about my to-do list?

BUT, think about this.  When you ask most people about their day, week, month or even the most memorable experience they've ever had what do they say?

Do they say, "The moment I marked everything off of my agenda and to-do list for the day".

OF COURSE NOT!

We tend to remember and romanticize the big moments or ADVENTURES in our lives and that's GREAT!  The good, the bad, the unexpected are what living life is all about.  One of the biggest reasons people slow down and deteriorate in health after they retire is that they no longer force themselves into situations with adventure!  They are just going thru the routine, marking everything off of their agenda from day to day.  Their mind slows down, their body slows down and eventually things just stop.

So don't just live life!  Live an EPIC life!

See if the things you'd say are your most memorable moments can be described as E.P.I.C.:


E: Experience

Without experience not only are we naive to what happens in the world outside of our 3 foot bubble but we don't grow.  The secret here is to do NEW THINGS!  The things we do over and over, day after day often aren't even things that propel us forward.  Those are the things that were new, the things that challenged what we thought we knew, the things that gave us insight that we never had before.  It happens all the time, I hear people say, "Well I've never experienced that." as if it can't be true because it didn't pop up in their day-to-day life.  Well did you create an opportunity to experience it?  Or did you just look for it to surprise you somewhere in your agenda?

There are over 6 billion people on this earth living in thousands of cultures in hundreds of countries with dozens of climates.  If you base everything you know off of what you see, hear, touch, taste and smell in your daily agenda and to-do list how can you possibly grow to your true potential?  How do you gain wisdom?  How do you learn how to interact with others who have a different background and perspective than you?  How do you ever know if what you are doing now is the thing with which you can impact the world most?

One of the silliest things I've ever heard someone say is that they didn't think they had any reason to leave their city because they've lived there all their life and it's "not that bad".

NOT THAT BAD?  That's your litmus test for life?


P: People

It took me many years to realize this important fact.  NOT everybody is meant to be friends!  Now I don't mean that in a negative way WHATSOEVER, hear me out.  If you have friendships or relationships with people that are always competing with you, disagreeing with you, talking down to you, giving you the cold shoulder when you have accomplishments or are unsupportive of you during your times of need are you choosing wisely from the 6 billion people on this planet to have friendships/relationships with?  Are THEY choosing wisely?

None of us have time in our short lives to interact with people who make us feel bad about ourselves.  There's really very little time for misunderstandings as well.  If someone is constantly misunderstanding you there's perhaps a reason.  Maybe they don't WANT to understand you.  Do the people in your life continually talk to you about same things?  Do they continually exhibit the same behaviors over and over in your interactions?  If so, what are you really contributing to each other?

The people in your life should lift you up, encourage you to do your best and be there when you fall.  If you can't find those things in the people you interact with, merrily send them on their way and seek out people who respect and love you for who you are.

People should grow wiser, stronger and healthier together just as they do independently.  The people in your life should be just as memorable as your experiences.  Stop wasting your time with each other if they are not!


I: Immersive

When is the last time you gave your FULL attention to an experience?  Did you notice anything unique?

Let's say you go on a hike in the woods.  Typically you take your phone in case someone needs you but one day you forget it or you leave it in the car.  How much more likely are you to notice more during that experience?  You can concentrate on the details of your surroundings.  The leaves have a brighter color, the air smells different, perhaps you meet people on the trail and exchange words.  Think of the innumerable variables that could come from being totally immersed in your surroundings versus rationing out your attention to other things.

Now here's the really important point.  What do those other things have to do with the current moment you're in?  Does answering your phone add to your experience of going for a hike?  Does looking at Instagram while you walk?  In the moment you're in, those things DON'T MATTER!

If you met with a friend for coffee and the entire time they were splitting their attention between you and a dozen other things would you feel that you mattered to them?  Maybe not as much as you thought!

Why can't we give all of our experiences that same respect?


C: Challenge

Reading a fitness blog post you may be inclined to think that I'm going to start going on about running a race, or lifting heavier weights or getting more reps.  But challenges are all around us.  We can be challenged to meet a new friend, we can be challenged to do something that scares us (like public speaking), we can be challenged to accept that someone with a different viewpoint than us COULD have a valuable perspective.  But so often we DON'T do these things.

Living a life constantly rooted in routine and agendas don't challenge us to be different or grow.  They give us the false impression that we've got it all together, like an ostrich with it's head in the sand.  But if all you ever do is what you are familiar with what will you ever become an expert at?  The things on your to-do list?  I hope you thought it out REALLY well!

Without challenges to face we slowly deteriorate or worse become so ingrained in our daily lives that we never seek anything new, unique or memorable.


On my deathbed I'd like to be able to tell stories, not ramble off statistics.  SO what if I have millions of dollars?  Did it enrich anyone's life?  SO what if I lived to 100?  Were those years really LIVED?  And SO what if I always finished my to-do list?  Was I doing anything that really, truly MATTERED?


If all I can point to at the end of the day is that I accomplished some tasks I have failed my mission in life.


If I can point to moments that will be remembered for a lifetime (or multiple lifetimes) though, well I know I have had an EPIC life!


Go live YOUR EPIC life!


-Coach Joe

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Standards are someone ELSE'S definition of YOUR success!


Kind of a crazy thought huh?

But it's true.  It seems that we are our best critics.  And it's almost a universal truth that we grow up being taught that we should analyze and critique our actions against "standards" which are really just the expectations of others.  You see it as early as grade school when you are graded on your knowledge of subjects which eventually becomes a precursor to identifying whether you are "fit" to graduate onto the next grade.

Extrapolate this into your daily life as an adult!  We tell ourselves that we aren't successful until we achieve certain accomplishments or make a certain amount of money or reach a certain social status.  The idea of being worthy of certain things in life seems to always come with a caveat that certain prerequisites or "standards" are met first.

WHY???

Isn't it possible that we all learn, grow and progress at different rates and in different ways depending on our experience and circumstances?  Isn't it possible that your talents may not be realized yet and you don't necessarily control all of the variables to identify your true potential in life?

Of course we don't control everything that happens in our lives.  But there are certain variables that we CAN control.


Did you define what is important to YOU today?

Did you illustrate your OWN vision of success so you know what exactly it is you are going after?

These are YOUR definitions NOT someone else's...so FORGET the standards and definitely FORGET the expectations of others!


There are two ways to look at improving your life:


The first is how we are conditioned as children to look at life:

You identify a weakness that is holding you back and determine that this weakness is the reason you aren't succeeding in life.  You make a plan to improve upon this weakness and it gives you hope that if you can just change who you are that you'll be worthy of the life you want to live.

How has that been working for you?  Do you really want to define your life by how and why you are weak?


OR there's a much healthier way:


Focus instead on who you ARE not who you AREN'T! You can concentrate instead on the talents you possess and the strengths that have come from your experience in life.  Instead of focusing on the standards that other people have established to compare the lives of (frankly, very different) people, make your OWN standards!  What is it that you bring to the table that makes you unique or STRONG?  How can you utilize that strength to build the life that you envision for yourself?

My challenge to YOU is to focus on what you CAN control and where you excel!

It's easy to get caught up in what you think is your lot in life, what you think you need to accomplish by a certain age, by a certain standard that your friends (or frenemies) or your heroes have achieved.

But does it make you any less of a person if you don't do so?

OF COURSE NOT!!!

So GO, surprise yourself.  Work toward what you want every day whether the prize is easily in view or not.  Guess what, you MAY not get to what others define as "SUCCESS".  In fact, your eventual realization of success may be what others SEE as failure.  SO WHAT!  They aren't YOU and you aren't THEM!  We all live our OWN lives!

You may struggle or take longer than you expected but it NEVER makes for a wasted effort, a mistake, a wrong path or an unworthy pursuit to be the best you can be!

Just because you don't live up to someone else's standard NEVER means you are less successful, you are less talented, you are less passionate or you don't care!

You make your own success in life and your definition is your own...so DEFINE it and PURSUE it until you ACHIEVE IT!


Stay fit,
Coach Joe

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Why Calorie Restriction Diets Don't Work!!

Hi Motiv8ers,

Coach Ty here again with another very important nutrition post that if you take seriously, will change your life forever.

Topic for today: Why Calorie Restriction Diets Don't Work!

Motiv8ers, I have been in the fitness world for a while now and let me tell you, trying to figure out what diet is best for you is crazy confusing.  You have the low-carb diet, Atkins diet, Ketogenic diet, Whole 30, Weight Watchers, Biggest Loser Challenge, flexible dieting, Paleo diet, Vegan diet, and the list goes on.  If you don't have the time to really study each of these diets, you might feel incredibly frustrated and overwhelmed because you don't know who to believe.

Well, Motiv8 is here to help!  My goal today is to simplify things for you so you can start to take action on improving your health!  Then, in the following weeks, I'll give you the tools needed to help you start making healthy changes to your health.  Let's get you thinking!

Let me start with the most frustrating phrase I hear pretty much every day: "In order to lose weight, I just need to eat less and exercise more."

Here are the list of things that pop in my head when I hear that statement:
  • If you eat less, how are you going to have the energy to exercise?
  • If you eat less, how are you going to get the nutrients you need to support muscle growth?
  • Just eat less? Why aren't you focusing on what you are eating?
  • If you eat less and exercise more, how are you going to have the energy for your family and work?
  • If you eat less, your body will store more fat because of the lack of calories you are feeding it!
Crew, in reality eating less doesn't make sense!  

Motiv8 recommends focussing on the foods you put in your body.  The goal is to eat more whole foods in a plant-based diet and remove processed foods.
  • Focus on getting enough calories from real whole foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, starchy vegetables, legumes (like beans), nuts, and grass-fed lean meats.
  • When you eat enough you will have the energy to do the work needed to get into great shape and spark muscle growth.
  • When eating enough real whole foods, you will probably be surprised by the amount of food you will be eating to hit your calorie needs.  Real whole foods have less calories than processed foods meaning you have to eat a larger amount of food each day to keep your cravings for junk food at bay.
  • Once you start eating more and exercising more you will start to see the body fat melt away.  At that point it is important to make sure you don't put the fat back on by eating a lot of processed foods.  You have to keep your new healthy lifestyle going long-term in order to see the benefits.
Crew, the benefits are huge if you follow these simple steps.  Coach Joe's story is the perfect example of this.  All of you know Joe as this crazy fit ultra runner/trainer.  But he wasn't always like this.  He used to have a normal 8 to 5 desk job and exercise was just something he did every once in a while.

Check out his before and after pics and then check out his story!
Before
After
Here is Joe's Story:

"When I started my journey I had a misconception that the way to lose weight was to exercise more while eating less.  So I cut my calories to nearly 1500 per day, well below my requirement then of 2400.  I lost weight at first but soon I hit a plateau at 180 lbs.  Months went by and I was getting stronger but not seeing any weight loss.  No matter what I tried I couldn’t move the needle.  Then, instead of cutting my calories, I focused on the type of foods I was eating.  I removed as much sugar from my diet as possible, replaced processed snacks with fruit and started to eat more fiber while cutting down my intake of meat.  All of a sudden the switch flipped and within a few weeks I could start to see small improvements in my energy level, which lead to improvements in my performance at workouts.  By the end of the summer of 2012 I had resurrected the metabolism I had as a teenager and lost an additional 15 lbs!  It was also the start of my transformation from being just fit to being able to build a body extremely resistant to injuries and sickness, run ultramarathons and become a fitness trainer."

Crew this blog post only scratches the surface on this topic and we hope it has sparked some interest in you.  Over the next few weeks and months we will make sure you have all the tools you need to help you become that Super Human you are looking for and become crazy healthy long-term!

Crew I know you have questions so post below or ask us questions in our Motiv8 SETS!  Keep reading this Blog and I promise you will get the info you need to change your life.

Last thing here is a quick video from NutritionFacts.org about eating more to weigh less!


Crew, Stay EPIC and don't forget to be AWESOME!

We will see you at our Motiv8 SETS!

P.S. Check out more blog posts under the label Nutrition to get more details on what your diet should be looking like!

Coach Ty Out!

Monday, September 12, 2016

Help Others By Including Yourself!

So here it is…

The time of the year when we get "busy"; with school, with work, with family obligations.  This is the time of year we start developing those excuses for why we can't stay on track with our healthy habits.  Usually they start with "I just don't have time".

On one hand I find it honorable that people want to schedule so much of their day with things to do and goals to accomplish.  But at some point we overburden ourselves to the point that what is most important to us becomes a gray area.  Or we just downright remove things that SHOULD be important to us from our priority list.  

It's a recipe for frustration, unhappiness and feeling unfulfilled.  

Maybe you're staying busy?  Maybe you're getting something done?  But is what you are working on really what helps you GROW the most?  Is it even what might help others grow?

Sometimes we can convince ourselves that the conditions just aren't right for us to really pursue what we want in life.  The "busy" excuse is often the condition we focus on and it's usually grounded in wanting to do something for others.  There's a lot of good intent there and that's a righteous feeling to have!

But including yourself in your priorities is often a path to incredible growth and productivity because you feel WHOLE when you do something for yourself!  You feel progress, you feel strength, you feel like you're moving forward rather than putting your own life on the backburner.  It completely transforms your perception of the world around you!  It can also completely change others' perception of what may be possible in their own lives, simply by being an inspiration to those around you!

Run Rabbit Run 100 mile trail race is coming up in a few days.  It's an incredibly long and arduous process to prepare for a race like this and one that meant sacrifices here and there that I truly didn't want to make.

But what I also experienced along the way is it drove people around me to rethink what is possible for THEM!  From acquaintances to neighbors to old friends and new ones alike, I've had innumerable conversations the past few months.  People want to know about nutrition, they want to know how to build the endurance a 100 mile race takes, they want to know how to get back on track to being consistent in their own fitness and health.  

I wouldn't trade these conversations for anything in the world!

  
  • Sometimes these conversations are moments that turn people's lives around! 
  • Sometimes these conversations are the catalyst for someone to finally make healthy food choices or start a training regimen of their own!  
  • Sometimes these conversations are the triggers for someone finally saying enough is enough.  It's time to CHANGE starting TODAY!




So make sure that as we get into these busier months ahead that you leave something on your plate for YOU!  Give yourself time, make one of your passions a high priority and go after a big goal.  And never, ever, ever give up because you never know how your life may impact someone you know!

Reading this blog for the first time? Start your own journey right here!  www.motiv8fitness.net


Stay fit,
Coach Joe

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

The Skinny On Cleanses!


I was in Juiceland yesterday and once again I noticed they are pushing the "cleanse" as a way to stay healthy and "reset" your body.

But isn't it REALLY resetting anything?  And are you REALLY detoxing your body?

One of the biggest struggles with getting healthy is sometimes just getting started.  So it makes sense that many people would look for shortcuts right from the start to adopt a healthy new lifestyle.  Besides the fact that THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS, following a pseudo-science based method of “kickstarting” or “resetting” your body is not only dubious in nature but often sets you back instead of springing you forward. 


Enter the “cleanse” or “juice cleanse” in it’s most common form.


Take a look at some of the rationales people create for starting a cleanse and the reality that exists despite all the marketing claims we want to believe are real:


1. Cleanses Will Reset My Body:

Your body doesn’t have a reset button.  In fact your body is one thing only…a survival machine.  It creates patterns of operation and movement to ensure that your Priority 1: Staying Alive continues to happen.  If you starve yourself and drink only lemonade your body adapts by changing your metabolism, your hunger response and your energy level.  Initially you’ll experience a period of shock where you feel terrible followed by an improvement when your body gets used to being starved.  It’s why you feel “detoxed” after a 3-4 days but only after feeling tired and hungry in the first 1-2 days.  This isn’t a “reset”, it’s an adaptation process.

   
2. Cleanses Flush Out Toxins:

What toxins?  Where do toxins exist in the body?  Everywhere!  Not just your stomach!  You actually have specific body parts whose only job is to process toxins.  They are your liver, your kidneys and your colon (when it gets enough fiber).  The liver can detoxify most chemicals we ingest and secretes that waste into your intestines to be released.  The kidneys filter blood (how toxins move in the body) at a rate of 120 quarts a day and converts that waste to urine.  You actually release toxins every time you sit on a toilet.  The ONE thing you could do to ensure that those toxins leave efficiently is getting the proper amount of water and fiber in your diet.  Now there are toxins that can’t be processed by these organs but I can guarantee you no amount of lemon water or fruit juice is going to do any better than something designed specifically for the task.


3. Cleanses make your digestion more efficient:

If you eat less you poop less.  It’s that simple.  Don’t read into it any more. 


4. Cleanses improve my energy level and makes me feel better:

You didn’t eat…then you did.  Of course you feel better!


5. Cleanses reduce inflammation:

Inflammation is a very real thing that can occur with certain types of food, especially if you have a genetic disposition for allergies or sensitivity.  In the case of gluten sensitivity, sometimes people just don’t know until they stumble upon the evidence.  I don’t intend to knock gluten-free diets because for some people it is a very real concern and they work.  DON’T however mistake this type of inflammation with the physical manifestation of starving yourself on a “cleanse”.  You may very well have a flatter stomach because there is no longer food in your digestive tract.  Is it realistic to assume that you’ll still have that flat stomach after you start eating again?  Of course not….nothing “anti-inflammatory” exists from a juice cleanse other than withholding the very thing that caused the inflammation in the first place.


Cleanses in-fact don’t reset anything.  They don’t even provide a benefit other than a momentary reduction in waistline which is actually just an effect of starvation.  It’s simple, if there is nothing in your stomach to digest it takes up less space.  Here’s a picture of me when I get up in the morning (before I have anything to digest) and later in the day.  Notice how different my stomach looks?  Think about what 3 or 4 days would make it look like!  But are you going to stop eating food forever?  Of course not!





Stick to a natural, whole foods, plant-based diet and you can avoid the yo-yo effect of inflammation and lack of energy that leads people to be tempted by “cleanses” in the first place.  And give biology a little more credit…trust in your liver, kidneys and colon to cleanse your body with just a little help from a proper diet.


Stay Fit,
Joe

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Are You in Control of Your Life?

Hi Motiv8ers Coach Ty Here,

Today I have a pretty serious topic for all of you that you might have never seen as a problem.  You might not have ever really thought about it.

Right now, before I go any further, I want you to think about your daily habits and routines. 

Think about what you eat and how you eat it.  Think about how you interact with people.  Think about how you study or what you do when you get home from work.  Think about everything you do on a daily bases.

Now ask yourself did you really decide yourself to do those daily task and routines?

I really asked myself this question two weeks ago when my Mom was driving me to the Capt. Karls Trail night 60k race.  On the drive there she asked me what I had eaten that day to help fuel myself for the run.  I told her some sprouted buckwheat in the morning, 11 bananas for lunch, and then half of a watermelon.  She said "wow I would be sick if I ate all of that."

But then she went to say, " But that still doesn't seem like enough to fuel you for this long 37 mile run."

So I asked her, "what would you eat for a run like this." She said, "well I don't know." So then I asked, "well what foods give you the most energy?" She said, "I have no idea."  "Then what foods, when you eat them, make you feel the best?" I asked.  She stated, "Ty I don't know."

I finished this topic with, "Mom you have been living with your body for a long time you should know what foods make you feel great and what foods make you feel terrible."

This conversion got me thinking. 

Does anyone really pay attention to why they do the things they do!

Or, are they just following what their friends are doing, or what society is telling them to do, or what social media and the news said was a good diet, or just following in the foot steps of their family!

How much of what you do each day did you actually study? did you actually do research on to help you decide that that was the best action to do to help you get to where you want to go? Did you make a goal and decide yourself that these are the actions you need to take in order to achieve that goal?

Motiv8ers to understand this a little better watch this video from Bob Proctor!  He explains how your environment plays such a huge role in causing you to become who you become!

Crew if you didn't watch the video please do!

Motiv8ers there is a reason why we made the month of August Habit Month! 

Its because your daily habits and routines help make you become the person you want to become.  And, if your daily habits and routines are not supporting the person you want to become then you really need to re-evaluate why you are doing them.

So I have a challenge for all of you.  Today and tomorrow I want you to be mindful of everything you do!  Really ask yourself why you are doing the things you are doing in the moment.  Is this action helping me get closer to the person I want to be or is it hurting me? Take note of everything that is hurting you and through our habit challenge this month start finding healthier actions to replace those negative actions!  To find the tools in order to help you make those changes check out the blog posts below.

Motiv8ers take action on this blog.  It is a serious topic that you might not have ever thought was a problem.

Crew remember the Motiv8 Coaches and I are here to help so if you have questions don't hesitate to reach out to your Coach.  It is time to make all of you even more awesome!  =)

Stay EPIC and Don't Forget to Be AWESOME!

Coach Ty Out!


Wednesday, August 10, 2016

How To "Be More Positive"


Have you ever heard someone tell you to "just be more positive"?

How did it make you feel?  Like pushing them off a 50 story building right?



Here's the missing link of that supposed advice that those well meaning people never tell you.  It's not about just "being more positive" but rather fostering an environment that recognizes negativity but does not give it power.  This is not an easy thing to do and you HAVE to continually work at it.





Sorry, as with most things in life, what is worth doing isn't easy and change is usually required.


It turns out that everyone has bad days and sometimes we just find ourselves in bad moods and have ZERO explanation why.  For some people, like myself, with Depression this can happen without an obvious cause, without warning and/or without an end in sight which is frustrating and scary at times.  It may not be as often but it happens to people without Depression too.


***Rather than trying to CONTROL your mood or feelings, it is much healthier to accept them and learn how to move forward.***


There are things we can do to PREVENT our thinking from manufacturing our emotions.

Emotions are basically stories that we attach to feelings.  They may be true or they may be completely in our head.  More often than not, emotions are what create the bad moods we experience and much of the pain/hurt/misunderstanding that festers long after the actual damage was done.


So how can we restructure our thinking to foster an environment of positivity, productivity and collaboration rather than negativity, blame finding and division?


Try these:

1. Assume the best of people rather than the worst of people.

Believe it or not what most people want in life is to be at peace and as Peter Gibbons famously said, "...my only real motivation is not to be hassled...".  It's true!  In general people have good intentions attached to the things they do.  A misstep in judgement, poor choice of words or even just having not considered the perspective of others can make their actions SEEM malevolent.  Most of the time, right or wrong, people are so absent and focused on their own personal reality that they have no idea how their actions affect others.  Give people the benefit of the doubt to know that their actions are not intended to do anything "to you".

2. Focus on abundance rather than lack.

How many times have you caught yourself thinking that you NEED to gain something, learn something or achieve something in order to feel successful or happy?  Focusing on what you don't have puts your mindset in a constant state of lack.  You lack X,Y or Z and that's the reason why you can't have whatever it is you seek.  Instead try focusing on what you are good at, what you do have and what you have achieved to keep your thinking in a place of abundance.  I once worked for a company that put this into their business practice during the interview, hiring and promotion practices and they topped the Inc 500 list for growth and success.  That's proof of concept right there!

3. Unplug from mass media.

We often don't realize the role the media plays in shaping our perceptions of the world.  Creating my OWN view of the world is something I've personally been working on by largely limiting my exposure to television, political discourse and social media.  Who wants to be a talking head?  Most people are completely blind to the fact that media is purpose-built to do one thing, obtain ratings and sell ads.  The go-to strategy for this is covering negative, controversial subject matter that gets people to argue and illustrating unrealistic expectations of what life "should" look like. This creates a revolving cycle of constant lack, attempts to buy happiness thru our consumer culture and then comparing yourself again to the idea of "the good life" usually again thru media.  Think about the media coverage you see of politics with personal attacks constantly lobbied at one another.  How about the fear mongering that our world is in a constant state of conflict when this is actually one of the most peaceful times in history?  You can even look at popular television shows and see constant messages of relationship woes, office politics, violence and ridicule for people who may not fit a cultural "normal".  How about the complete lack of realism?  How does someone in NYC have a 2000 square foot apartment, a brand new car and a killer wardrobe with a regular job?  Look at how we consume media and think about how that exposure affects your interactions with others and your own feelings of self worth.

4. Open your perspective by outwardly seeking opinions contrary to your own.

This one is SO hard to do but if done with an open mind can completely change your entire worldview and how you see others' actions.  One example is glaring in how intolerant we have become of political beliefs, going so far as to call someone an idiot for having a certain position on an issue.  Our country was not built by this behavior of violently rejecting the opinion of others.  It was founded on collaboration of ideas with an effort to build up our success and not tear down our spirits.  But we find the opposite, even in our every day lives, with social media posts carefully crafted to make others jealous, brag about ourselves, lob personal attacks or arguments at each other and showcase our latest personal possessions rather than to include others, support them and share ideas for bettering each other.  We don't ask anymore without expecting a specific reply.  We don't share anymore without wanting outright approval and "likes" for what we do.  We don't accept people for having a difference of opinion.  It's scary.  We are all guilty.  We can all be right or wrong at any given time.

5. Participate in interactions with others that are judicious and limit those that are abusive.

If every interaction you have with someone is making you feel like you are a bad person, make constant mistakes or like you just can't succeed then it is time to re-evaluate whether those interactions are beneficial to have at all.  A puppy learns quickly to avoid another dog if their requests for interaction are constantly met with snarls, barks, growls and snaps.  Give yourself enough respect to know that granting forgiveness for others' behavior does not have to mean accepting hurt in doing so.  Redirect your effort to interactions that promote productivity and growth instead.


Give these tips a try and I promise you will start feeling a difference in your thinking.  One that, when given the right amount of effort, will transform the emotions you allow yourself to develop.  You just may find yourself in a good mood more than a bad mood and that's where we experience the joy, success and memories that we want in our lives for years to come.