Tenacity: The Relentless Pursuit

Do you ever feel like you continue to do the same thing over and over again and continue to get the same results? Have you set a goal for yourself and fallen short? Have you gotten back up? Have you tried again? What about again? And again? And again? Have you quit?

These questions aren’t meant to be rhetorical. We need to ask ourselves them to understand whether we demonstrate grit during hard times or whether we crumble in the face adversity.

I am writing this blog post during a very tumultuous time; likely, one of the most tumultuous times that many of us have ever had to face (from a global standpoint). No matter who you are or where you are located, you have been forced to change many things about your life. Work has transformed into an at-home-activity, some of us are no longer employed, others are finding it hard to stay disciplined with what were once successful fitness and nutrition routines; we have parents teaching and working from home, families spending significantly more time together, and our plans for the weeks and months past, and the year ahead are unclear. If we were to close our eyes and visualize what the future has in store for us, a large question mark would likely appear.

Doubt and uncertainty are all around us. That is a fact. These feelings of doubt and uncertainty are the same feelings we feel when we fall short of a goal. We question “can I do this”? We ask ourselves “will I try again”? If they are the same feelings, then our response to these feelings during these times of uncertainty will be the same.

If you fall into the category of “falling down seven times, getting back up eight”, then keep doing that. Keep getting up. The challenges that you are facing at home will continue to come at you. Use the same determination you use when going after your goals to get through these challenging times. Adapt your strategies. Set boundaries. Keep trying, just like you do.

If you fall into the category of “I quit”, we have an opportunity to do some real self-work here. Why do you quit? What makes you believe that your efforts are not worth putting forward? We don’t have that option right now. This is a “no quit” period of time. We owe it to ourselves, our loved ones, and the world around us to keep fighting through the challenges.

Life requires your relentless pursuit of “x” and “x” is whatever you choose it to be. Right now, that may be getting through your day as a parent. It may be hitting your work goals or figuring out your new fitness and nutrition plan. It may be looking for that new job or figuring out your next foot forward. No matter the pursuit, keep moving. A good friend and mentor of mine would describe this as having tenacity. The great thing about tenacity is that it is just as much of a skill as it is a choice. Are you choosing to fight or to quit? Are you choosing to get back up?

Whatever your “x” is, choose to relentlessly pursue it with the tenacity that you can find within yourself.

You can do it. Never Give Up.

Nikki

Xoxo

Change, Productivity, Working from Home, and Resilience

We are living today like we have never lived before. We are experiencing unprecedented change, the way in which we socialize and interact with others has been disrupted, and we are having to adapt and cope with changing provincial and federal recommendations daily. We do not know what tomorrow will bring, and it is the unknown that often causes the fear and anxiety that so many of us are feeling. The different world that we are living in today however, does not have to be disastrous. We have an opportunity here to develop skill sets and coping mechanisms that have never been tested. They say that with great change, comes great opportunity; therefore, let’s focus our efforts on the opportunities and come out the other side, better and more equipped than ever before.

Change

Change is hard. Humans are creatures of habit and when those habits are so severely disrupted, it causes deep frustration and anxiety. In times of great change, it is important to focus on the things that we can still control – our nutrition, our movement, our sleep, our time, and our mindset. Continue to fuel your bodies with the best nutrition that you can and move daily. Go for a walk. Do some at home fitness. Increase your heartrate. Sleep too can stay regular. Continue to go to bed at your regular times and implement the same pre-work morning routines. Your day may look different, but you do still have control over your time. If you are now working remotely, you can schedule your regular coffee breaks and lunch break into your day. If you are not working for the time being, you can create a daily time-table for yourself with projects or initiatives that you have been putting off. Most importantly, you do still have control over your mindset. You get to decide what you think about the current global situation. You get to decide to believe that things are going to be ok. You still have control over your thoughts. Choose optimism today, and every day.

Productivity

In times of change and uncertainty, we can find ourselves thinking about all the things we can no longer do (go to the office, get to the gym, go visit family, go to public events etc..) instead of doing all of things that we can still do. We can still be productive in this time of social distancing. Leveraging video conference calls is the perfect way to stay connected with colleagues and customers. Allocating time in the morning, at lunch, or at the end of the work day to do some sort of daily movement (run, walk, burpees, air squats etc..) will keep you on track to meet your fitness goals. Calling family members and getting creative with virtual book clubs or movie nights can keep your social calendar as lively as ever before. We are fortunate to be living in a digital era where technology gives us the power to stay connected, regardless of location. Now is the time to put that technology to the test to ensure that we can continue to be as productive as possible.

Working from Home

With the drive to keep people safe, many organizations are looking to have their employees work from home. With this move comes great change both for the organizations themselves and for employees. The technology required to stand-up the infrastructure and client resources to enable work from home productivity is one piece of the puzzle. The other pieces include creating a clutter-free and quiet workspace in one’s home and creating a schedule of priorities to follow. Find a room in your house that allows you to sit quietly with your PC and phone. Remove any unnecessary distractions, including a TV. At the beginning of each day or at the end of each day, create a schedule of priorities that will keep you focused for the day or following day. This schedule of priorities should act as your guide as you move through your workday. If you find yourself doing things that are not in alignment with your schedule of priorities, shift your focus back to what you decided needed to get done. Working from home can even be more productive than working in the office; however, you must choose to stay focused on the work at hand.

Resilience

Let’s talk about resilience; particularly, psychological resilience. Psychological resilience is the ability to mentally or emotionally cope with a crisis or to return to pre-crisis status quickly. Resilience exists when the person uses "mental processes and behaviors in promoting personal assets and protecting self from the potential negative effects of stressors". In order to be psychologically resilient in times of uncertainty, we must focus on the things that we can control (see above; change) and believe in the power of our own actions. Most importantly, we must choose to be resilient. We can take two individuals facing the same problem (ie. any two individuals living through the COVID-19 crisis today) and these two individuals could have completely opposite reactions based on the way they choose to cope. The choice is ours to make.

Let each of us rise to the challenge of responding positively to the changes of today so that we can shape the tomorrow that has yet to come. Your thoughts drive your words, your words drive your actions, and your actions create the reality that you have chosen for yourself. So, eat that salad. Go for that run. Complete those projects for work. Call your customers. Stay connected with your friends and family. Sleep your 8 hours. Rise up - for today is here and tomorrow is never guaranteed.

                                                                                                                                                                         Nikki xoxo

Our Reality.

Thoughts become our Words. Words become our Actions. Actions become our Reality.

We create the reality in which we live by how we think, what we say, and what we do. However, many of us only focus on the “doing”: we join a gym, we start a new diet, we take a new job, we get married, we have a child (or two or three) - we ACT without a conscious analysis of our thoughts or the words that we use every day. We then stop going to the gym, or the diet escapes us, or we dislike or even quit our new jobs, or we get divorced, or we're unsure how to adapt to our new life with children etc.. These actions fail us because they are resting on a precarious foundation.

Our thoughts and our words are our foundation, like that of a house. We must START with them. We must consciously invest in them and build them up to support the actions that we take and the reality in which we want to live.

Give this a try:

• Take a piece of paper and a pen.

• Sit.

• Write down every thought that comes into your head.

• Every. Single. One.

• Keep going until thoughts start to repeat themselves - until no new thought enters your mind.

• Use as much paper and as many pens as needed.

• Pin that paper up in a room and take a look at it every day for the next week.

• Add to it as needed.

What did you learn? What did you become aware of? How did the thoughts that you wrote down affect the actions that you took that week?

Becoming conscious of your thoughts and beliefs is the first step to building an effective foundation for ACTION.

Nikki xo

Mindset is EVERYTHING

Your mind has the ability to create the reality in which you live.

Is the glass that you see half empty or half full? Is it a rainy day or a day to dance in the rain? Do we lose the game because of the cards that we are dealt or can we win by how we choose to play the hand?

The answers to all of these questions reside in the mind of the beholder. Our minds (both conscious and unconscious) have been molded by our life's experiences, by the people we spend time with, by our successes and failures, and by our emotions. To date, your mind or mindset is influenced by all that has come before you and will continue to be influenced by all that is to come.

What if you could control or influence your current or future mindset? What if you could tell your mind what to think, how to perceive, and consequently, how to create reality?

You can. You can influence your mindset by taking conscious action and by spending time building or breaking established habits of thought. By leveraging the Think Out Loud Co. platform, you can transform your mindset to help you accomplish goals and overcome barriers, at work, in the gym, at home, and in your relationships.

It starts with you.

Nikki xo