There never really is “balance.”

Life is a constant balancing act.

We are always learning how to improve things and I think there will always be times we steer too much in one direction.

We’re human after all.

But part of mastering “balance” is realizing it will be a continual work in progress.

So how can you help yourself strike more of a balance over going to extremes…which…..let’s face it, is far easier especially when it comes to our diet and exercise routines?

Well that’s why I want to share these 4 tips to help!

#1: Focus on your current lifestyle.

It is easy to claim we’re an all or nothing person. It’s easy to go to those extremes in an attempt to get faster results. 

We cut out any “bad” food.

We set a workout routine that is 6 days a week with two-a days.

It’s easy to take that initial motivation and do as much as possible.

But that’s also often why nothing works….long term.

We never find that balance!

That’s why it’s key we stop just restricting or trying to rush results. Instead when we make changes, we need to stay focused on what is realistic for OUR current lifestyle.

What does your schedule actually allow for so that you can base your training off of that?

What foods do you want to enjoy long-term so you can find ways to map them in?

The more we actually consider our needs and goals when making changes, the more we can actually find a balance that will work…not lead to us working really hard only to fall off in weeks or months when the motivation fades.

#2: Add slowly.

Often when you add too much all at once onto your plate, you overwhelm yourself, which can ultimately lead to you not even truly getting started…or at least sticking with things long term.

Change itself is hard.

So as much as we want instant results, the slower we can make the changes the more we will truly allow ourselves to create new habits.

Motivation fades. The reason we ultimately keep moving forward is because things have become natural.

The smaller the adjustments, the quicker they just become part of our routines.So to build momentum, start with small, easy changes. Even if they feel ridiculously easy or even silly to start.

The more you do, the more you do. So start adding slowly to build those changes. 

#3: Take time to step back.

It’s easy to get caught up in the moment and even ignore all of the progress we’ve made. This can lead to us doing MORE, which unfortunately can ultimately backfire.

It’s key we take time at points to step back and reflect on how everything is going. To reflect on the progress we’ve made and the changes we’ve implemented.

By taking that bird’s eye view of things, we can see more changes we’d like to make while recognizing the progress we’ve already made as well. Because often we ignore those results as they build because we aren’t “there yet.”

Recognize your hard work as it builds. 

It will help you strike that balance and even accept there will be ups and downs…times you’re more or less motivated.

Everything goes in seasons, and that is a-ok! We can let ourselves have times we just maintain over always driving forward. It will help us move forward more long-term!

#4: Constantly assess. 

With taking that step back at times, don’t be afraid to assess.

I know it can be hard to take an honest look at how we are doing, and even recgonize our flaws, but that hard look at everything can help us avoid going to extremes.

It can help us see if we are being as consistent as we feel we are….or if we’re actually working harder over smarter.

It can even help us tweak as our needs and goals change. 

Nothing in life stands still…and neither should our nutrition or our training!

SUMMARY:

Life is a constant balancing act.

Progress will never be linear but the more we try to go to extremes, the more we hold ourselves back from creating a sustainable lifestyle.

We can’t always control what happens, but we CAN always control our attitude about what happens.

We can see it as an opportunity or an obstacle.

It’s all about our PERSPECTIVE.

So instead of dwelling on the event you can’t control, focus instead on what you can do….and that means CONTROL YOUR PERSPECTIVE.

However, this is easier said than done.

That’s why I wanted to share 3 tips to help you shift your perspective and see obstacles as opportunities.

It’s key we do this so we keep moving forward through the ups and downs that are bound to occur!

3 Tips To Help You Turn Obstacles Into Opportunities:

Tip #1: Reframe the situation – It’s a detour.

Instead of seeing a “failure” or a “setback” as the end of the world, realize it’s merely a detour. You’re merely learning a way not to go. Or heck, maybe you actually found a way around another speed bump or issue!

The point is, you need to see it as a part of the journey.

It was part of the learning experience that will help you continue on your way.

By doing this, you give yourself a moving forward mindset.

Because we have to remember that whether we believe we can or we can’t, we’re right.

Assess what happened. Assess maybe what lead to the off plan trip. Then use that information to help yourself move forward…potentially even faster!

Tip #2: Plan and Track.

So often obstacles lead to us throwing our hands up in frustration because we don’t know what caused them and we have no plan to help us get back on track.

The frustration we can feel without direction often puts us in a more negative mindset. It makes the setback or slip up or obstacle feel even more frustrating than it has to.

But when you have direction? If you can even see what happened in your tracking and logging? You can more easily make tweaks.

Give yourself a plan. Yes deviations from it will happen, but it gives you direction and a course of action to keep moving forward. And then by tracking what is and isn’t working, you can make accurate changes!

So often we can control our perspective when we feel more in control of what we are doing. And having a plan does just that!

Our thoughts impact our actions but our actions also impact our thoughts!

Tip #3: Control what you can control. (From your attitude to your action)

The simple fact of life is…stuff outside our control is going to happen.

So when it does, we should focusing on controlling what we can control.

Again you can’t change events, but you can always control your reaction to them and your attitude.

So control what you can control.

Focus on pausing to breathe and assess the situation. That can help you shift your perspective and your attitude. Then take action focused on moving forward over dwelling.  

But stop focusing on something you can’t change. That will only build up the obstacle.

If you instead focus on adjusting your attitude and the actions you are then taking, you can embrace those events as opportunities to learn and grow!

SUMMARY:

We can see things as obstacles or opportunities. The choice is ours. Because those events? Well they happened.

Use them to grow!

I think often when we’re struggling, we feel like we’re failing.

But that honestly isn’t the case.

To succeed, you have to face struggles head on and keep on going.

If there are no struggles, you’re probably not making the changes you need. And you’re probably closer to failure than you realize.

Because change is hard. Doing what you “should” isn’t always fun.

Success IS struggle.

Life will always do its best to try to get in the way and we’re constantly going to be fighting those excuses.

Learning something new too is a process. We’re going to have to embrace being bad at something, at making mistakes if we want to grow and improve.

Because often the only way to fully learn is by doing and making those mistakes.

I mention all of this because often at that first sign of push back, at us being bad at something, we climb back into the habits we are comfortable with.

Especially if results aren’t immediate, which often they won’t be.

If you’ve found yourself wanting to go back to what is easy and instinctual and COMFORTABLE, it may be time to give yourself a little wake up love tap aka a SLAP.

If you want a new and better result, get ready for things to be challenging and uncomfortable.

Get ready to embrace the struggle.

Here are 3 tips to help…

Tip #1: Take Time Each Day To Celebrate The Wins – No Matter How Small

It’s easy to focus on the negative. To let it even “consume” you. But the best way to keep yourself moving forward is to remind yourself of the positives. 

Create a more positive mindset to help you keep on driving forward by recognizing even a small win each and every day.

Even say it out loud to yourself to really make sure your brain HEARS the positive.

What our mind believes, our body achieves.

Allow yourself to see your hard work paying off by recognizing those habit wins as you go through the learning process.

Even give yourself a mini challenge for the first week you’re doing something new to BRAG about a positive each day…even if that positive isn’t even really related. It will still improve your mindset!

Tip #2: Break Things Down

If you feel like you’re hitting that overwhelmed tipping point, that point of feeling super negative, take a step back.

Remove one challenge to focus on making a smaller change.

Don’t be afraid to admit you’re doing too much at once.

The most sustainable habits are the ones that require less willpower to replicate. And sometimes that means doing less to start so ultimately you can do more!

Tip #3: Get Help.

There is nothing wrong with asking for that outside perspective. Sure could you do it on your own? Yup!

But why not get a cheat sheet to help you do it faster?

Why not use someone else’s knowledge and experience to your advantage?

Why make mistakes you could avoid?

Why not have support to keep pushing forward while also having someone there to teach you the WHY behind things?!

When we’re struggling it can be nice to have that person to give us perspective and even help us focus on the positives and embrace the process.

SUMMARY:

Just remember…just because you’re struggling doesn’t mean you’re failing…actually it means the exact opposite.

Change requires change!

Keep on going this week despite the bumps in the road and challenges you’ve faced.

YOU’VE GOT THIS!

AND shameless plug for my One On One Coaching if you need that extra support and accountability!

–> LEARN MORE

It’s so easy to fall into the “more is better” attitude.

Because taking action, “doing more,” allows us to feel like we have more control over our results…like we can get things to happen faster.

But that’s simply not how things work.

We can’t out exercise or out diet time.

So often doing more creates unsustainable routines and habits not to mention pushes us the point of training or dieting so hard that we see diminishing returns.

Our hard work actually backfires. 

That’s why I wanted to talk about how less is often more. How you can DO LESS AND ACHIEVE MORE!

Here are 4 tips to help you dial in your diet and workouts to be efficient and effective. Because really often it isn’t that we don’t have enough time or enough willpower…we are just too focused on doing MORE over that consistency!

#1: Design For Your Current Schedule

I often get asked about the best training schedule for (insert any goal here).

My reply is ALWAYS…

“What’s a realistic, not ideal, but REALISTIC training schedule for you? Because the key is designing your routine based on that!”

There are so many ways to design a training schedule based on specific goals. But the one that will pay off is the one you will do consistently.

So if you can realistically do 3 days? Design for that. 

Maybe you do more full body or anterior-posterior workouts over body part of hemisphere splits.

If you have 6 days, maybe you do the opposite or lower the volume per day or change up the types of moves.

You can always design for the time you have.

But better to plan for something you can do consistently than to end up not working areas because you miss workouts.

#2: Focus On Maintaining Things YOU Love

So often we start making changes by cutting out the foods we love. 

But this is also why we often fall off the new habits rather quickly….we run out of willpower to maintain the restriction.

We simply don’t like feeling constantly restricted!

While we always want to capitalize on that initial motivation, the more we can use it to create sustainable habits the better.

Because those habits, based off of even things we love, will allow us to maintain the new habits even during times our willpower is nonexistent.

It also helps with our mindset making changes and implementing new things.

The less you feel like you’re losing things you love, the better your mindset will be and the more open you’ll be to that learning process.

So find ways to plan in the things you love and work around them.

If you love dessert? Plan that in first and work backward from it to hit your macros.

Love your cardio but know you need strength training? Plan your cardio workouts first and then work in shorter strength workouts around it even starting with just activation work.

Love having a specific day off? Don’t plan a workout for that day!

Love having a drink on Friday night? Plan it in and work your macros around it!

Work AROUND the things you love even if you may want to cut them out eventually to start simply creating the healthiest version of your lifestyle.

#3: Make Small Changes As Things Become Habit

I know many of us feel we are “all or nothing” people, but so often making massive changes leads to us massively falling off our plan.

Because it just feels too different, too overwhelming and requires too much willpower to maintain so many new things at once. 

Make one small changed based on your current habits and routines. 

Because what gets us results is what we can be consistent with long term. And what is easiest to stick to is something based off our current lifestyle.

No one size fits all. Stay focused on your needs and goals and creating the healthiest variation of YOUR lifestyle – not on what someone else’s arbitrary standard of clean is!

Small changes lower the barrier to entry. They make it easier to mentally accept the changes.

And the add up to build momentum.

They also make it easier to create habits we can maintain even when we aren’t motivated…they’re just…innate! 

#4: Set End Dates

While we want to create a “lifestyle” we do “forever,” forever is overwhelming. 

No end date applies no pressure to start. It gives us no time to assess.

And it can lead to you trying to do more to rush things or feel like you need to switch things up when you simply need to stay consistent for longer for results to build.

The best thing we can do for ourselves is to set “end dates.” 

These give us a set point at which to assess. They allow us to feel like we can change then too if needed.

It doesn’t just feel like we’re stuck doing something forever.

Because we also have to realize we won’t do one thing forever. Our needs and goals are constantly evolving and so should our workouts and our diet!

That’s why it’s also so important we learn the WHY behind what we’re doing so we can make changes as needed.

But set those end dates to have points to step back, take that bird’s eye view and assess. 

Ready to make a change and dial in your workouts and your diet to match YOUR needs and goals?

Check out my 3-Step Recipe to RESULTS…

–> The RS Recipe To Achieve LASTING Results