What is Stress?

What is Stress?

If I asked you what is stress, you would most likely give me a list of things that cause you stress. Things like money, work, responsibility, maybe your family or too many things to do and not enough time.

What Stresses You Out?

But those things are relative. Similar to the old saying “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure” the same holds true with stressful situations. Each persons stress triggers are different.

So then I might ask you, why do those things cause you stress?

And this is normally when most people try to give me a back story or a big story to explain why it is stressful. And hidden within that story are the under tones of worry or regret.

We worry about what will happen in the future or regret/relive the past events.

Essentially you are not in the now when you are stressing. Those stress triggers teleport you to a moment in the past or scenarios of the future (no matter how realistic or sci-fi they may be).

Are You Living In The Future or Past?

When you start worrying about the future or past, regardless if the stress is only in your mind, your body gets involved. Stress hormones get released; the body thinks that the mind is in danger therefor it prepares for escape from the problem – to physically escape – except we don’t. In fact, we typically endure a lot of stress of the mind and do very little exercise and then all those stress hormones are stored in your body.

This leads to belly fat, unexplained physical pain, possibly headaches or even more chronic issues like heart disease, diabetes II, hormone disturbances and dermatological issues.

Are You Experiencing Any of These Symptoms?

Stress is your body’s response to stressors.

On the minor level, it stops or slows depression, raises your blood pressure, causes a rush of hormones for quick physical decisions – might make you cranky or quick to snap.

Although we might have different things that stress us out at different levels, staying in a constant state of stress can cause big issues.

NOT ALL STRESS IS BAD.

But I do want to clarify that not all stress is bad. It’s only when you are in a constant state or when you don’t physically work out the stress hormones that have been released into your body.

What Have You Learned From Some Challenging/Stressful Situations?

Stress, or challenges are also a key part of learning and developing ourselves, therefor learning how to deal with stress is the important thing – not avoiding all stress. Haha, That would just make life to boring!

Your Success Coach,

Izzy Nalley

The Blame Game

The Blame Game, aka excuses, is the biggest reason people gain weight and keep it on.

They will think of million reasons that they have gained weight or a million things to blame it on rather then themselves and the habits that got them there.

They want the weight to come off “but” <— that being the key word that let’s you know if you are playing the game, there is always something that is in the way.

That thing in the way is the challenge or the obstacle and most people see the peak of the problem and think it is just too hard and takes too much energy and they “don’t have the time or energy for that.”

It’s just my body type, it’s my thyroid, it’s genetic, it’s my age….I’ve heard a lot and I’ve seen a lot…a lot of people not letting their excuses define them. They stop blaming their problems on something or someone and find a way.

Otherwise, this means that changing doesn’t feel worth the effort.

Sure, they might be willing to throw some money at it, but they don’t want to put in the work.

Well, guess what..?! Choosing the easy path is what got you where you are! And if you want something to change, you have to choose the other path. You have to dig yourself out of the whole, the debt that you got yourself in.

Think of weight loss like getting yourself out of debt. Say you have 8 credit cards (8 bad habits), we could work on all of them a little at a time or we can dive in and pay off one at a time. But consistency is key. You cannot pay $60 have interest of $30 and then add another $40 in purchases and expect to see results.

Gosh, you might even need to “get a part-time job” to pay it off faster (cut out that weekend ice cream).

And I don’t want to forget to mention that in the process of getting yourself out of calorie debt you might actually save money and learn some key habits to get yourself out of financial debt too.

Mind-Body work can be amazing for your life.

Are you ready for some life changing this year?

Your Success Coach & Yoga Teacher,

Izzy Nalley

Rewire your Brain to Beat Procrastination

Turn off the phone, tune into yourself, and be productive when it counts.

Have you ever found yourself staring at your phone or laptop, mindlessly checking social media or going down an internet rabbit hole when you’re supposed to be doing something else? So have I.

*Can you read this entire blog post?
85% of readers will not.
10% of those who do will skim some if not most parts. *

My name is [Izzy], and I’m addicted to information.
More specifically, I am addicted to the infinite and immediately available mental stimulation the internet offers in the form of information. And, according to scientists, I’m not alone. Information addiction is real, and is a perfect outlet for procrastination. After all, why would I want to perform some unpleasant task when I can sit and laugh at cat memes instead?

But procrastination can lead to negative consequences, from mental fatigue to missed deadlines that frustrate my manager. How did I become addicted to something so potentially destructive? And how do I recover for the sake of productivity? The answer to both questions is the same: neuroplasticity.

“What fires together wires together” — Donald Hebb

Neuroplasticity?

Neuroplasticity, discovered back in the 1940’s by Donald Hebb, is how the brain changes (for better or worse) in response to repeated experience.

“Heady” stuff? Here’s a real-world example you might relate to:

My first encounter with the internet was transformative. As I clicked away, my brain thought “this is new and this is awesome!” and released some dopamine to motivate me to seek that rush of unexpected discovery again (and again, and again). As hours of web surfing went by, I became less tolerant of enduring boring, difficult, or stressful tasks and began choosing distraction over productivity. In other words, I wired my brain for procrastination.

Yeah, yeah…I’ll finish reading this later

Procrastination is a fact of life. According to Piers Steel, author of The Procrastination Equation, about 95 percent of people admit to putting off work (perhaps the other 5 percent didn’t get around to completing the survey). So, it’s safe to assume you, like me, are a procrastinator at times…you might even be procrastinating now. The good news is we can learn ourselves out of procrastination the same way we learned ourselves into it — by taking small, consistent actions that offer our brain a reward.

Use your mind to change your mind

There are seemingly endless strategies to overcome internet-fueled procrastination. I found the process below especially helpful, and hope you will as well.

Accept reality

You’re going to procrastinate from time to time — you’re only human and can’t do it all. In fact, it’s possible that beating ourselves up leads to more procrastination, making it harder to be effective. Have self-compassion and recognize there is a time for procrastination before and after your task, but for now you must focus.

Disconnect from the internet

The internet and your smartphone will demand your attention subconsciously — you’ve trained your brain for that. Place your phone in another room, with notifications and sound off. If you have to work on your computer, turn Wi-Fi off.

Be mindful

Take a few minutes to observe your thoughts and emotions. I find mindfulness meditation, particularly breathing meditation, a great tool for insight. When I began meditating, I held the common belief that to meditate “correctly,” my mind had to become totally blank. But to be truly mindful is to be aware of yourself without judgment. Noticing my thoughts and the emotions around them helps me understand what needs to be done next.

Prioritize what’s important

If, while observing, you noticed fear or anxiety around starting (or not finishing) a particular task, pay attention. These emotions are a great indicator of why you’re procrastinating. Whether you think you’re unable to do something well or simply want to avoid having to deal with it at all, use this insight to prioritize your tasks, and make the decision to work on one that seems especially difficult. Remember, the goal is not only to finish a task, but to make it easier to be productive in the future. Accomplishing difficult tasks will bring you the positive feelings necessary to rewire your brain.

Focus on one thing at a time

Once you’ve decided where to begin, focus on how to organize the task into small pieces (SMART goals are a great tool here). Don’t think about multi-tasking — this is single-tasking. Keep your focus on one part of the task at a time to avoid being overwhelmed about the outcome of the final product and the work required to get there.

there.

Jump in

The hardest part of getting started is…getting started. A lot of this is because of the way we judge our thoughts — dismissing our efforts before giving them a chance to develop. Let go of your expectations and judgments and just BEGIN. Sometimes you can find a shortcut to help overcome the initial obstacles to productivity. For instance, templates are a great way to remove the stress of staring at a blank page. Every task likely has a similar hack to ease you into action.

Take a (timed) break

If you feel yourself getting overwhelmed, take a break. Set a timer for five minutes and do something else. You could return to breathing to clear your mind again, do some jumping jacks to get your blood flowing, or go outside for some fresh air — but do not allow yourself to check the internet or your phone.

CYA: Celebrate Your Accomplishments

When your task is finished, pat yourself on the back; you’ve earned some self-esteem. Procrastination is usually a response to the unpleasant feelings associated with a task. Rewiring your brain requires sending yourself different messages. Recognizing that you can move through difficult emotions and accomplish your tasks is crucial to replacing your negative thought patterns. Each success rewires your brain so that the next time you’re faced with a difficult task, you will approach it with more confidence, patience, and focus — and less urge to check your phone.

Don’t worry about perfection

Once your task is done, let it go. I could write this blog a million times, a million ways, and it would never be perfect — that’s just part of the deal. Accept imperfection, value the effort, and keep moving onto your next task.

Speaking of perfection, you likely won’t do any of these steps perfectly, but you’ll make progress. With repeated effort, you’ll become skilled at being productive when it matters, just like you became skilled at procrastinating. Be patient and kind to yourself as you grow. And, of course, give yourself a few minutes after you’re done with your task to hop on the internet for that sweet, sweet dopamine rush. Which reminds me, I was so busy writing this that I haven’t checked Facebook all day…

Written by Brian Daignault on October 4, 2018.

Original Post:

View at Medium.com

Stop Waiting To Find Yourself.

Looking at the past and regretting will not do anything except create pain now. The only time we should look at the past is in order to examine, observe so that we can learn from it and apply those skills to the future. In order to change anything you must know where you currently are. That’s why mindfulness is so important on your path transformation. We can plan for the future, But only if we know where were truly starting.

We can create our stairs and plan our steps for our staircase to growth.

Living in past failures and, on the opposite end, living in future possibilities it’s no different than sitting and playing video games all day long.

Neither one lands you and your present moment. Neither one allows you to fully participate in life at this moment. We should take moments to exam in the past and take time to plan for the future but in those places are not where we should stay permanently all day.

Our time should be spent wisely. As if you had $100 to last you a whole month. You would be very mindful. But instead we spend our days in exchange for money instead of in exchange for growth, memories, really taking it all in.

Some people live chaotic lives only to find mindfulness when they’re giving a timeframe of how much life they have left. Then they start spending their time more wisely. But the truth is tomorrow is never promised. We should plan for tomorrow of course. But we should never put off today The things that are truly important to us. Stop waiting for X to happen before you do Z.

Those things that nagging us every day, all that time we spend in her head daydreaming about that beautiful vacation or more time with our loved ones… When will that perfect time come? Stop waiting for someone to waive the magic wand. You have the wand. You have to make the plan. You have to find a way to make it happen. You’re waiting is just an excuse, procrastination and a lack of taking responsibility for your own life.

Start today checking off that bucket list find the things that you could easily do. Start saving for the things that you really want to do. Is the five dollar coffee every day worth putting back so that you can go on that trip that you wanted? Or is that shopping spree worth extra hours away from your family?

What are your self sabotaging habits that you keep giving into?

Start today with your self discovery of where you’re at right now. Stop judging yourself with who used to be living in the fantasy of you will be. Start with now.

Is your relationship to goals, food & habits one of those bucket list items?

Then lets get started on your 12 month transformation with our new online program that has big results!

Turn Excuses Into Results

How to Turn Excuses Into Results

Cy Wakeman                           April 12, 2018

From my early career as a therapist and now as an author and leadership expert, I’ve been helping people learn about the power and happiness that comes with the mindset of accountability. And counterintuitively, to teach this mindset, I first teach its opposite: learned helplessness. Why? When people believe they can’t have any impact on their circumstances, it keeps them from stepping into the power they already have to create happiness and success.

Related: Stop Making Excuses for Who and Where You Are

 

Take me and my desire to lose weight, for example. After a few months of seemingly doing whatever I could to make the numbers on the scale budge, I was seeing little results. In fact, I started wholeheartedly believing I had a thyroid problem. When I went to my doctor, he ran a series of tests and shared with me the great news: My thyroid was perfectly healthy, a bit overactive actually! He was thrilled, I was devastated. You see, the reality is that I had told myself a story, believing I had done everything I could to lose weight. In reality, as my doctor helped me accurately account for my habits, I realized that I was only making half-hearted attempts. I was consistently dieting from morning until afternoon. After 3 p.m., though, I wasn’t so accountable to my goal, but I looked to attribute it to a medical problem. A lot of us live our lives the same way. We cite external reasons as to why we can’t succeed and believe our own stories that our half-hearted attempts to get results were real.

Learned helplessness causes us to fall into the belief that external circumstances hold us back from success, that everyone or everything else is at fault, and more importantly, that there’s no way to overcome it. It correlates to your team’s engagement because if they see their circumstances through their ego, they can’t see how they can make an impact.

I’m not talking about healthy self-confidence. I’m talking about the ego that works like a pair of glasses with the wrong prescription. It skews reality and causes our teams to move away from the actual facts of a situation, assigning motive, making assumptions and overwriting reality with a mental story. It drops us into the role of the victim, giving someone or something else all the power. Over time, this habit of thought calcifies into a set of powerless and helpless behaviors, in which people hold themselves back more effectively than any external circumstance or person ever could. When people hold the belief that they don’t have an impact, they disengage.

Learned helplessness is symbolized by battle fatigue, that moment when we encounter yet another obstacle and believe, This issue just never goes away and there is really nothing we can do about it. We just need to learn to live with it. Humans may not be rational, but they are predictable. People will take a limitation from the external environment, internalize it, exaggerate it and bolster it in their imaginations until they’ve shackled themselves. They tell themselves a story about what’s possible and impossible, and that story dictates their effort.

Step Into the Power You Already Have

For some time, the conventional leadership wisdom has been that we need to listen idly to the complaints of unhappy employees, that leaders need to work on providing employees with optimal working circumstances so they feel empowered and engaged. The conventional wisdom has led leaders to cultivate an entitled workforce, not an accountable one, which is what actually leads to engagement.

If you encourage people to cite their circumstances as the reasons they can’t succeed and make excuses for their lack of results, you encourage learned helplessness and the victim mentality that goes with it. You allow people to believe, in essence, “We cannot do our best work in sub-optimal circumstances, and we are not 100 percent personally responsible for our results.” In the reality of daily work, our teams will operate with a less-than-perfect plan, imperfect clients and less-than-desired resources. Our roles as leaders is to help them step into the power they already have, which is using their skills, talents and abilities to fill the gap that exists between reality and perfect circumstances.

Questions to Spur Self-Reflection

If someone comes to you in a state of learned helplessness, seeing only lack and impossibility, the best action you can take is to interrupt their thinking and help him or her get to the bottom of the “story.” It is the role of the modern leader to coach a new mindset—that the stories we tell ourselves are the sources of most of our suffering, and any stressful thought we have is most likely untrue.

Here are two great questions you can ask to bring your team back to reality:

1. What do we know for sure?

The first question to overcome a powerless mindset is, “What do we know for sure?” Listen for the facts. Repeat the facts you heard and ask if that’s pretty much what is known for sure. Then ask a quick follow-up question to inspire action: “What can you do to help?”

2. What would great look like?

One of my favorite questions to stop venting in its tracks is, “What would great look like right now (for the client, your team, your project)?” This flips the switch from thinking as a victim to generating an empowering and accountable action plan. People can usually answer this question because everyone knows what great looks like; it’s the basis on which we judge others. For example, when your morning coffee line isn’t moving fast enough to make it to work on time, we can always describe what great would look like (i.e., they need more help, more registers, a better process, etc). Your people know and can describe to you what great looks like, and so I say, “Awesome. Now, go be great.”

These questions work because they help us move beyond the skewed filter of our ego and spur self-reflection. And self-reflection is the foundation of personal accountability. As leaders, we can eradicate learned helplessness by waking up those who have fallen asleep to the story of the ego that they are powerless and can’t have any impact. Instead of seeking to fix and perfect your team’s circumstances, transform their mindsets to live skillfully in any reality. Imagine the power your team will have when they develop the skills to succeed in spite of any circumstances that come their way. What a powerful way to immediately turn excuses into results.

Related: If You Want to Change Your Results, You Have to Change Your Thinking First

Source: https://www.success.com/blog/how-to-turn-excuses-into-results