by admin | 19 Feb, 2021 | Andrew's Blog, Mindset
It’s been a very interesting week for me. Certainly not the one I expected when I was sitting writing my blog last week. All I knew is that I was feeling more anxiety than normal and was experiencing some physical signs that were concerning me. What I didn’t realise, just a week ago, was that the anxiety and physical symptoms were simply ways my body was trying to tell me that it was time to reset.
I have mentioned before that I have been prone to anxiety in my life. It was something I believe I inherited from my mother when I was a small child as I observed and felt her own anxiety. For me that anxiety had all but disappeared over recent years as I had become more comfortable with who I was, what I was doing and my place in the world. In fact, loving my life was how I would describe my situation. So, this anxiety and these low-level headaches that began, surprised and then started to concern me.
I wasn’t sure where the anxiety was coming from and, as I mentioned, the headaches started to concern me, which then just continued to fuel my anxiety. This is how it works folks, and I can give you this information firsthand. It all came to a head through a couple of very uncomfortable conversations with some very important people in my life about my style of leadership and basic communication characteristics. These conversations, whilst hard to hear, were exactly what I needed, because they immediately shone the light on a business area of my life that I then knew was the source of my anxiety.
As a result, I made a time to talk to my mentors and I realised that, right now, even after many years of experience, I need to reset, and go back to the basics. You see, before this penny-drop moment, I was working hard but spinning my wheels. Up until that time, I was not enjoying what I was doing and feeling like I would never get to where I wanted to be. It was the events of this week that have helped me clean the slate, reset, and start again with a fresh approach, clear vision and a willingness to accept help.
It’s been a tumultuous week in some ways and a transformational one in others. I am happy to say that it has helped me enormously and now I hope I can help you. What I realised is that the achievement of any aspiration is not possible if you are not aware of where you currently are in relevant areas of life. Here is a simple example. What if you had the exact address of a destination you wanted to visit, but had no idea of where you currently were, would you get there? Here is the answer, no way! Not until you can precisely determine where you are, can you move towards where you want to be.
This is so true for me. I was working away at a part of my business, with a goal in mind, but no real concept of my current status. That’s why I needed to gain that awareness and then reset. My question, as always, is does this apply to you in any area of your life? Are you spinning your wheels, treading water or feeling stuck in any way? If so, there is a two-step process here. First, you need to be honest about where you are currently at. Second, you need to simplify, reset and go back to the basics.
Are you getting no traction with your wellness goals? Can you be honest about where you are at, and hit reset? Are you struggling with conflict? Are you willing to take responsibility for your role and then hit reset? Is your career stagnating? Are you ready to discover why, and then hit reset? The truth is this, if you are stagnating, stuck, frustrated or anxious, I would have to say, you are probably not aware of or being honest about where you are currently at. The moment you can reflect and discover your current location, you can move from just surviving to thriving.
In my podcast this week, I invented a new word, ‘thrival.’ The podcast is called, ‘Survival to thrival,’ and I talk with the amazing Tracey Jewel. She found herself at rock bottom in her life, just a few short years ago, and after some time to stop, reflect and then hit reset, she began to thrive in life. It’s a great conversation and one I wholeheartedly encourage you to listen to, particularly if you are feeling stuck in any area of your life. Don’t waste any more time feeling anxious, unwell or stuck. Get real and honest with yourself, hit reset and watch what happens.
by admin | 12 Feb, 2021 | Andrew's Blog, Mindset
We often hear about the comfort-zone, but the reality is that the comfort-zone, for many people, is not comfortable at all. In fact, author and speaker Deborah Stathis, says it this way, “Our comfort-zone usually isn’t even comfortable, it’s just familiar. That which is familiar, isn’t necessarily the best thing for us!” It is so true, what we allow to become familiar, often is not comfortable at all, or the best thing for us. So, are you ready to go from familiar to fabulous?
You may have heard the story of the man sitting on the park bench with his dog sitting next to him. Even though the dog was quietly whimpering away, it didn’t seem to bother the owner. A passer-by who noticed the whimpering dog, stopped and asked the owner, ‘Do you know your dog is whimpering?’ The owner answered, ‘Yes, she’s been doing it all morning.’ The passer-by then asked, ‘What is wrong with her?’ The owner explained, ‘She is sitting on a sharp stone.’ With a confused look, the passer-by then asked, ‘Why doesn’t she get off the stone?’ The owner said, ‘It doesn’t hurt enough!’
The stone was not comfortable for the dog, hence the whimpering, but it became familiar enough to just settle for. Does it sound crazy that, as easy as it would be for the dog to get off the stone, it just sits, stays and whimpers? It does sound ridiculous, doesn’t it? I would, however, ask you to think about something in your life, right now, that may be familiar to you, that you may even complain about, but you have settled in and do nothing to change. Ouch! Are you familiar in a job, that no longer stimulates you, so you whimper about it, when you just need to get up and go find another job? Are you familiar in your financial struggles, often moan about, but don’t get up and look for the myriad of solutions that are out there? Maybe you’re familiar with your lack of energy and ailing health, complain about it, but don’t just get up and start moving towards more energy and better health.
Have I annoyed, agitated or angered you? If so, hopefully to the point of moving you from what is familiarly uncomfortable and starting the process of creating fabulous. In my podcast this week called, ‘An amazing life lies beyond comfort,’ I speak with Australian actor and celebrity, Tim Robards. He has an amazing story of how he transitioned from an Exercise Physiology and Chiropractic career to become a successful actor. He knew the wellness industry intimately and it was familiar to him, but he had a burn inside of him to create a fabulous acting career. He said multiple times in the podcast, he often did things that were unfamiliar, and that terrified him, but every time they led to something great. He never settled for familiar, he wanted fabulous and so he went for it.
Familiar to me was personal training. I had done it for fifteen years and I could do it easily, but it got to the point where it no longer stimulated me, in fact, I began to resent it. I was in my late 30’s and got horrifyingly close to accepting that as my life, just putting up with it yet complaining about it every day. Thank God, I didn’t. I was working too many hours, I was financially unstable and I was always tired, and it was definitely not how I wanted to be living. Whilst it was very familiar, it was also very uncomfortable, So, I asked myself, ‘Andrew, how do you want to live?’ As soon as I asked myself that question, I was clear that I wanted to be healthy, have time and choice, be financially secure, have beautiful relationships, make a difference in the world and be joyfully happy.
Personal training was never going to help me achieve that, so, at that moment in my life, I knew it was time to get off the sharp painful stone. That’s when the most unfamiliar and uncomfortable idea came into my head… to write a book. I had a burning desire to change my life, and I could see an answer, I just had no idea how to do it. So, I got off the stone and started moving, and amazingly, as unfamiliar as it was, the path opened up for me and, I am grateful to say, that I went from familiar to fabulous in a very short period of time. The hardest part was making the decision and taking the first step.
If you are ready to stop whimpering about the stone you are sitting on, then this message is for you. Get a strong vision for the ‘fabulous’ you want to achieve and move it quickly from your head into your heart and then into your gut. Once it’s burning in your gut as a non-negotiable, you are ready to make the decision and take the first step. From that point, moving from familiar to fabulous is a done deal. You deserve fabulous, but it’s not just going to fall in your lap, you will need to get out of the familiar zone and make it happen. You can do it and you will be so glad you did.
