I get inspired at the weirdest times and last night was one of those times. Actually, it was this morning at 1:44am when I wrapped up my weekly coaching call with the Kilted Coaches. I hung up from the boys and carried on an ongoing conversation with an MMA fighter I recently connected with who’s out on the west coast at the moment (stay tuned for a chat with him, by the way). Our chat led to me tuning into an episode of The School of Greatness with Lewis Howes podcast which discussed how to avoid anxiety and burnout.
I was exhausted but inspired by my late night/early morning session but I resisted the urge to hop out of bed and type out this post. Why did I set an alarm to write it this afternoon instead of doing it when inspiration hit? It all comes down to rules. I’m a law abiding citizen and was always a good girl in school, but those aren’t the rules I’m talking about (although I am strongly suggesting you obey the laws wherever you live!) I’m talking about setting rules for your life and sticking to them.
When I decided to separate from my husband I wrote some rules to keep me focused and guide me through this difficult process: rules like no trash talking on Facebook, consider the best interests of the kids when making decisions, make time for myself and my goals a priority, stay positive, not feeling guilty for making the choices I make…get it? In this episode of his podcast, Lewis Howes suggested setting rules for your health and fitness, too. Some of his rules are making your bed, setting a wake up and go to bed time, making a daily workout non-negotiable. That got me thinking about how it really is important to create rules and stick to them.
Think about the most successful people you know.
Their success is no fluke. They set up routines and systems and habits that they stick to because they provide direction and guidance and they work! In training for a half marathon I can’t just go out and run whenever I feel like it for random amounts of time or random distances. Every runner knows you need to find a program and stick to it!
I’m hearing the Kilted Coaches tell me to “stick to the damn plan” right now as I type this (it’s ok that I hear voices in this instance) and it’s so simple but we ignore the value of following rules and following a plan so often and that’s where we encounter doubt and uncertainty and get knocked off-track!
I encourage you to sit down and set a few rules for yourself RIGHT NOW! Set them then follow them, maybe even print them out and post them by your bed or in your office and let me know what changes in your life as a result.
Here are my current daily rules but know that this list will grow and change as my goals shift!
Mindset Events 