Abs of steel, infomercials... and your health coach for the day.

These are definitely the days of quick fixes and overnight success stories.  Whether we're talking about losing weight, achieving financial success, getting fit or designing the life we dreamed of... why does it seem like some people have it so easy and for the rest of us... well we just feel like we got the short end of the stick and everything is so hard?!

A few examples...
While perusing your social media accounts, you scroll upon a picture that your good friend from high school posted.  She's in a bikini standing on the beach in the Dominican Republic and she looks A.MAAZING.  She's super fit with a huge glowing smile on her face and is basking in the sunshine. Is that a margarita in her hand?  She looks to you like she is having the time of her life. Man, she must have lost like 20 lbs since you saw her just a couple of months ago!  She's got abs for pete's sake!

Then, while out for lunch that day, you run into an old co-worker who has since left the company that you still work for.  You notice she is driving a brand new car and when you ask her how things have been going since she left, she tells you that things are better than ever.  She started her own business last year and has never been happier!  She works from home a lot and gets to set her own schedule. She has time to take yoga classes in the morning and still pick her kids up from school at the end of the day. She exudes a newfound joy and looks way more vibrant than you ever remember seeing her at work.  

It would seem by the examples above, that achieving some level of success in these areas was easy for these folks, right?  I mean, they must have a secret strategy... or a magic pill... their lives are so different and so good, and seemingly overnight!  

This.  This is a problem in perspective.  There have been many small things that had to change on a day to day basis for each of these individuals to achieve their goals.  And since none of those incremental changes was visible to you, you might assume it came easy.  

Now, keep in mind, I'm not saying that everyone has to have a rockin' body, time freedom, incredible energy and a new car to be happy... ;)  I'm just saying that having the things that we want and reaching our goals (whatever they may be) takes work!

What is not visible to you is the 45 minutes of workouts that your high school friend did every single day for 6o days and the clean eating plan she implemented to lose the weight and gain her newfound energy and glow. You didn't see that she sacrificed her boozy Sunday brunches and TV time and instead opted for Sunday AM smoothies and fitness.  You didn't know she gave up sugar and fried foods and started a food journal.  You didn't see that she tracked her water consumption every day.  All of this you didn't see.

As for your friend that started her own business... you didn't see her waking up at 5am to start strategizing her day.  You also didn't see her when she was working at her kitchen table 'til well past midnight, designing and creating her website.  You weren't privy to the countless calls she had with overseas product manufacturers or the multiple interviews with nannies to help her with the kids to give her just an ounce of free time in the now so that she could have loads of it in the long run.  You didn't see the date nights she sacrificed with her husband or that they gave up eating out for a year to save money.  

It makes total sense that we might assume that things should come easy.  The messaging is all around us.  Everywhere we go, advertisers are marketing to us, telling us that if we just buy their newest, greatest, cutting edge product or process, then we will be skinny, wealthy, fit, happy, etc.

Think about it.  You arrive home from work, maybe you heat up some leftovers and turn on the TV.  The commercials in between your favorite programs are telling you that for $19.99 you can have abs of steel, or for just $149.99 you can buy the real estate DVD program that is going to change your life by making you instantly successful with their secret proven system.  Maybe you've seen the quick weight loss programs that ask for a monthly fee in exchange for a pill or processed packaged foods that are going fix your your weight problems by "taking the weight off and keeping it off"?!

Unfortunately, none of these claims is true.  Reaching our goals takes work and having the life we want requires us to do the hard things, not only once, but over and over and over again.  We must wake up from our walking sleep, reject the idea that things will be given to us and make the decision to do the work every single day.  

So, I encourage you.  Create a vision for what you want to have in your life and then create some goals and objectives that will get you there.  Break those goals down into daily actions and then do them, every day.  Wake up early, write the lists, get the workout in, change the eating habits, do the work.  
I promise you that you will be happier in your own skin and prouder of you than you've ever been.  

Here's to you discovering the small things you can do everyday to be the person you want to be.

As always, much love and light.  
xoxo,
Margaret