"The fortune is in the follow through"

This is something I heard this week on some material I was listening to by a wonderful man named Kurek Ashley.

Kurek is a Peak Performance coach and as part of a commitment that I made to my networking group I chose to review his Life Success Club CDs.  Let me start by saying how LUCKY I am to have been given this task.

Sometimes in life it's easy to see what is needed to achieve the goals you have set for yourself, and yet at the same time it seems almost impossible to reach those goals.  Kurek Ashley actually gives you the tools to make a real difference and not only hit your goals, but totally blow them out of the water and achieve more than you ever thought was possible.

I know this is true because this morning, after working yesterday from 5am I woke to a clean house (yes I HAPPILY cleaned it myself), sleeping children, contented pets and having taken two big steps towards spending more quality time with my patient and loving partner Stuart ... and still I had enough energy to be able to teach two 'exhilirating' and 'wonderful' (quotes from participants) Body Balance classes this morning.  WOW!!!!  Right now I'm feeling pretty good.

There were two tiny snippets of the material that I listened to that made the difference to what I achieved yesterday and what I had failed to achieve in the four days before.

1) "The fortune is in the follow through" -

I always know what has to be done, and yet I am able to procrastinate better than anyone I know and come up with an unlimited list of excuses for doing so.  Last night I took the Nike approach - just do it!  In my head I told myself that "I have more than enough time to achieve all that I want to today" and it worked.  I also recognised that doing the stuff that needed to be done, following through, would deliver on the promise that life makes, and enable me today to spend time with my children, spend time on my business and spend time with my partner.  The fortune - both personal and material - is in the follow through.

2) At the completion of a task ask 3 questions - firstly, what was great about it? secondly what could I do better; thirdly, how much did I improve this time on the last time.

You can apply these questions to any aspect of your life and it will deliver instant improvement.  Consider this - a 3.3% improvement every day over a month, is a 100% improvement in that month.

To get a better result in every aspect of your life these simple questions help you to focus on the positive - what have you done right and how can you make it even better; and then add momentum by celebrating the improvement by acknowledging it in measurable terms.

If you have a dream, and preferably a grand vision dream, then try these two small pieces of advice from Kurek Ashley every day and see if it makes a difference.  In 24 hours I feel amazing ... and that's with an average of 5 hours sleep a night for the past week; 2 children under the age of 5 and running my own business.

My grand vision goal this month ... to 'exhilirate' and energise 100 people in my Body Balance class ... when it feels this good, it's too good not to share.

The fortune is in the follow through - keep moving forward!

Power of the People!

So I've been pretty busy this past two weeks, having moved house and survived and extended period without internet and phone service in the office ... grrrrr!!!  And now, I am back.

The halt of technology did not halt the great march forward of the Twelve Week Challenge Team.  At the end of week 4 (last week), everyone had significant changes to weight, girth and body composition and with only one third of the program complete this creates a great vision of what can be achieved in the 8 weeks to come.

If you're wondering why a person would commit to 8 weeks of being advised on what to eat, how to think and how to exercise, let me share some of the feedback from the current team that might make it clear:

"My lazy 'ass' is killing me ... thank u I luv the feeling!" (Karen)
"Awesome wished we did one of those (boxing classes) every week" (Richard)
"Thanks for all your time and effort so far.  I am enjoying myself and starting to feel better which is really good" (Kerrie)
"I have fun at every workout!  I might turn up grumpy and not wanting to be there but always leave with a smile on my dial" (Liz)
"My chiropractor wants your card - he says whatever you're doing, keep doing it because it's working" (Greg)
"I had the best time with Simone today boxing" (Kerrie)
"I feel great after ViPR, I have so much energy" (Leigh)
"Your workouts rock!" (Stu)
"I can stay for boxing - yeehaa" (Rod)
"It feels good (to bench press 20kg) (Mark)
"That was heaps of fun.  I've had a great workout, and I'll definitely be here on Friday" (Trent)
"I feel really good, much clearer and more energy (Nyari)

There are so many reasons to take a 12 Week Challenge.  Only one of them is weight loss.  Each of the individuals on the current challenge has an individual reason for committing to the workouts, the food plans and the mental training.

For some it is to help focus them in their business; for some it is to make time for themselves; for some it is to improve a health condition - high blood pressure, hypothyroidism; or a physical challenge - scoliosis, patella femoral syndrome, sciatica, a permanently damaged bicep muscle; and for some it is to become stronger - physically, mentally and emotionally.

This challenge, now in it's fifth week is so much more than an exercise program to help you lose weight.  As the trainer leading the team, I too am on a journey, learning something new every day, every step of the way.

Stay tuned as we embark on Week 6 - I have a special celebration planned for the half way point, and am hopeful of being able to share some pictures of this with you.  In the meantime, check out the team at work, boxing it up at last Friday arvo's playout - if you look very closely ... they are smiling .... YEEEEHAAA!!!!