Get Uncomfortable

Every year when January comes around I take time to reflect on the past year and set huge goals for the new year to come. I follow those goals up by making plans, getting started and hold myself accountable to achieve them. For the past few years, I’ve been crossing off my goals, left, right and centre! It’s exhilarating, satisfying and rewarding to achieve scary goals… but it’s can also be overwhelming when you try to bite off more than you can chew.

If you are anything like me, striving for great success means filling your days from start to finish just to squeeze it all in! Along with the constant need to succeed often comes pressure to continuously push ourselves day after day… it gets exhausting.

This year, instead of setting goals that I believe are generally achievable and within my abilities, I’ve decided to not put as much pressure on myself (inhale, exhale) to achieve certain goals by a certain date. This doesn’t mean that I will stop any of my fitness, career or personal ongoing goals or change my current lifestyle… it means I will go with the flow, be more relaxed, be open and take opportunities as they come.

That being said, after talking it out with Faith, we both decided that this year would be the year to #getuncomfortable.

We both sat down and discussed our goals. Some just haven’t been as easy to accomplish as we’d envisioned (my main three = fitness, stress-reduction and career). We’ve been doing the same process over and over again, expecting the same results.

It’s then that it hit me!

If what I’m doing right now is not working and I’m stuck in the comfort zone, it means that what I’m doing is clearly not working. If I want to see great success and achieve great things – I need to get out of my comfort zone and change what I’m doing.

I fully believe: “If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done.”

With that being said – Faith and I have decided that 2014 won’t consist of us putting pressure on ourselves – but to challenge ourselves to step outside of our comfort zones, do things we’ve never done before and see what having a positive and open mind can allow us to achieve.

Plan: Do 12 things or make changes that we’ve never done before. We will be aiming to attempt one change a month for a total of 12 by year’s end.

Are you stuck, frustrated, or are interested to see what getting uncomfortable could mean for your life? Feel free to join us! Tag your commitments to change on twitter, or post in our comments sections to let us know you are on board.

#getuncomfortable challenge #1 is soon to come… any suggestions for me?

My Goals

When people ask me how I stay so focused and on track with my health and fitness goals all while maintaining a positive attitude, I tell them it’s because I set goals and stick to them. I believe that goal setting is a way to hold yourself accountable to your actions and provides you with a platform for achieving greatness in your own life.

Whenever I meet someone I secretly ask deep and meaningful questions in order to learn 3 major things about them:
1. What they do with their life + a brief history of how they’ve gotten to this exact point in their life.
2. Their life goals, short and long-term.
3. Their passions. What is it that makes them get out of bed everyday and how they choose to pursue self greatness.

Once I figure out these intimate details (often without them knowing), I can then understand who they are and what they are aiming to achieve in their life. Everyone has the potential for greatness and I believe that the inspiration for greatness starts with defining your passions and goals in life, working towards them with all your heart and continuously achieving and re-setting them.

My Life Vision

The vision I see for myself in 15 years from now is an even more ambitious version of my current self. I will have worked with lululemon, reached my health and fitness goals, and will keep setting bigger, more ambitious ones. I will have started a health and fitness movement that inspires individuals to achieve the things they never thought possible. I will be married to an equally ambitious and passionate man who I will proudly call my best friend, be a proud mother to a child (or two, or three), live in Vancouver and go to work everyday with a smile on my face knowing the work I do inspires others to better their own life. I will love myself, my life and the people who inspire me to be a better me everyday.

 My Core Values

1. Integrity.

adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.

2. Authenticity.

the quality of being authentic; genuineness. Refers to the attempt to live one’s life according to the needs of one’s inner being, rather than the demands of society or one’s early conditioning.

3. Positive Attitude.

brings optimism into your life, and makes it easier to avoid worry and negative thinking. It will bring constructive changes into your life, and makes them happier, brighter and more successful.

My Goals

Health

1 Year : In a year from now I will have run a half marathon, gotten close to my ideal body weight and have incorporated yoga into my daily lifestyle.

5 Year: In 5 years from now I hope to have completed at least 3 more half marathons and am on my 3rd marathon.

10 Year: In 10 years I will be completely at peace with my body and know it’s vices inside out. I will have successfully completed an ultra marathon and run marathons as a hobby and practice yoga on a regular basis.

Career

1 Year: In a year from now I will be working within the lululemon culture pushing the creative and inspirational bounds. I will love the work I do and continue pushing myself to make a bigger mark on the world.

5 Year: In 5 years from now I will have moved my way into a position that continuously allows me to help others create and achieve their personal goals. I love change and continual self-improvement. I will love my job and the people I work with; together creating big things for the people in our community.

10 Year: In 10 years from now I see myself in a senior or director role within a company (lululemon?!?) that reflects my personal values and lifestyle choices. Work will not be “work” because I will be doing the work I love on a daily basis. I will not just have “a job” I will have “the job.”

Personal

1 Year: In a year from now I will have influenced at least 100 people to make the moves to live their life the way they aspire to lead. I will be a volunteer with a youth running/fitness organization, have reached my personal fitness goal and make enough money to live comfortably while being able to attend fitness events all over the continent.

5 Year: In 5 years from now I will have created a fitness/health movement that will inspire others to get fit and live a healthy and active lifestyle. I will have met the man of my dreams and he will be right beside me, pushing me to keep achieving my goals as he achieves his as well.

10 Year: In 10 years I will have started a movement that has evolved into societal change; both mentally and politically. I will have reached the moment in my life in which I am completely comfortable with myself. Through my actions, both personally and philanthropy, I will provide the ability for others to seek support and inspiration to do the same.

I will have Made my Mark on the World.

These are my goals, I know I can achieve them – it’s all about finding that opportunity to enable me to get my foot in the door. What are your life goals?