Hi guys! Welcome to Episode 321 of the wildly successful lifestyle podcast! How’s it goin? So you have probably heard the saying you’re the average of the 5 people you hang around the most. And if you don’t like that, if you don’t like where that puts you, You may just have to be the one in your group that is always setting the standard high. There’s gotta be someone right? Wouldn’t you rather be that then the one that just seems to be going through the motions? Sometimes we look around and we think man I’ve been working hard and I still am not where I want to be, but where would you be though, if you weren’t working hard in the first place? Life is a process and each step we take in the right direction leads us to new possibilities, even if their small, so never give up, what’s meant for you is coming.
So for a very long time my little sister Molly has been telling me about her sauna in Nashville lifetime and how it’s like a party in there. Lots of people lots of talking and she learns something cool most times she’s in there. As opposed to my sauna at my gym where no one talks to each other and it’s almost like how far away can you stay from each other. I just thought that’s how it was. Ok So I was with her last weekend and we went to her gym did yoga and then she said hey LT let’s sit in the sauna for a little bit. Ok cool. Now. These are not big saunas, hers is smaller than mine. But let me tell you it was packed and people didn’t even seem to mind that you were side by side with your neighbor in there. And everyone was talking and sharing cool stuff they are doing with their workouts or diet or skin and mindset stuff. I was in sauna heaven. I loved it. So I’ve decided I’m going to engage people in my sauna too and so far it’s so fun. I hope it’s not annoying people but it doesn’t seem to be. I think like my episode 320 talked about people genuinely crave connection. So it’s been fun. But good things come from it too.
One day this last week I was in the sauna with my friend Lena, shout out to Lena. And we were talking about intense workouts. I told her I’ve only recently noticed how much more I was capable of in the gym than I realized. I have been really focused on at least 3 times per week having a super intense workout where I’m sweating and having to catch my breath, I used to say I just don’t sweat. Now I realize yeah you don’t sweat when you aren’t putting your all into a workout. Now any exercise is good for you of course but I’m talking about taking it to another level. I’ve just never realized what it takes. Honestly. It’s been a whole process I’ve gone through to realize this.
Now. Some people are raised in a family where intense workouts are the norm and they know what it takes or maybe you’ve learned it on your own that that’s what it takes. I was talking to Lena in the sauna and I told her I’ve had the hardest workouts of my life this week. I’m going to tell you why in a minute but I’ve been working out with Kevin for years and all of a sudden it’s clicked that I’m capable of so much more than what I’ve been giving him. I said it’s crazy to me that I’m just now learning that my workouts for years have been sort of and she chimed in with “just going through the motions”. And I felt so seen when she said that! Yes! That’s exactly how it felt! Now let me insert here, Lena is at that gym every day pushing herself to do more. She is extraordinarily fit but she is that fit because she gives extraordinary effort. I thought that as long as I got in to the gym, Did a nice workout that I should be fit. Especially now that I have my diet where it needs to be. And fit I am but I wasn’t seeing the kinds of changes I expected. I thought it was all about my diet and so much of it is. But it’s also about pushing myself out of my comfort zone. I’ve been living in my comfort zone at the gym for a while. I told Lena that I didn’t think I had it in me to finish my workout but I told myself to not be a little bitch and to get it done. Lena laughed and said I have to tell myself that every single hard workout I do. But she also said something else that is so true and I loved her for pointing this out. She said you may have been going through the motions but you were building consistency. Yes, Over the years I built a consistent habit which is extremely valuable. Where would I be if I hadn’t been consistent in my going through the motions? Nowhere near where I am right now.
That’s why I said earlier. It’s a process we all go through. Some will start off at a different level simply because their parents were extremely fit, they start off ahead of the game. Others will be starting from behind. And some will be right in the middle which is where I think I came from. My mom up until she got into her 50’s ate extremely healthy and made sure we at heathy as kids. But we lived in the country and they didn’t exercise at all. Their work gave them exercise and they were probably too tired from raising all of us kids to exercise after that. So you may have to buck the system you’re familiar with. Not everyone eats pancakes and pastries for breakfast, not everyone eats dessert after dinner, not everyone watches tv every evening and not everyone would be on their phone in the presence of someone their spending time with in person. Now. These are becoming the norm but it’s not the norm of exceptional people. Not the norm for Wildly Successful people.
And. Everyone will be at different levels in this process and I don’t think anyone should beat themselves up for where they are. Maybe you just, like me, didn’t know. I can remember years ago watching that movie the holiday and at one point Cameron Diaz is at a little shop in London buying all this food for her own little party and she said “I want to eat carbs without wanting to kill myself”. At the time when that movie came out my diet was probably 60% carbs. And not the healthy good kind. So I was like wait what? Are there really people that don’t eat bread and sweets? Honestly the thought hadn’t occurred to me. So slowly my process progressed where I now am gluten, dairy and grain free. I’m probably 80% Whole Foods and protein. I feel great and my body is a healthy weight.
But, You see I thought once I got my diet where eating clean like that, that I should have this lean muscular body by simple consistency of working out.
Extraordinary results require extraordinary effort. It’s that way with anything we do. Not just our workouts and our nutrition. When you see someone with an extraordinary relationship, they are putting a lot of effort to be there. And just like working out and nutrition. “There” is not a destination. It’s a continuous, consistent journey. They aren’t just going through the motions. You don’t have extreme heath and fitness by just going through the motions. You aren’t the number one sales person in your company by just going through the motions. Your consistency may have gotten you where you are which is really really good you’re already ahead of the average crowd. but when that consistency feels comfortable, and you start wondering why you’re not making gains, you have to push a little harder to get to the next level.
I believe you attract what you’re thinking about. I’ve been wanting to uplevel my workout game for a while and I also believe you can’t improve what you don’t measure. So for the last few months I’ve been hearing about the whoop strap. It measures your strain, your recovery and your sleep. It actually tells you where you are and what you’re capable of any given day. Some days it will tell me I’m fully recovered and I can put in a full strain day. And it actually tells me how hard I should work to get that strain in. And it isn’t a walk in the park and it certainly doesn’t get there by going through the motions. I have to work. It’s fascinating to me to be able to measure all that. And it helps me work harder. That’s why I think I’m pushing myself because I know what I CAN do that day. And I also know what I need to do to get there. I’ll put the whoop strap name in my show notes and you can also email me at heidi@heididawson.com and I’ll be happy to tell you all about it. That’s just one of gazillion tools of measuring.
I wish they had a tool like that for relationships right? But maybe that’s something we can innately tell because it either feels really good or it doesn’t. If you’re just going through the motions there, you feel it and the other person does too. How do you uplevel that? That’s a whole other episode.
And look extraordinary effort isn’t for everyone. But you are listening to the wildly successful lifestyle podcast. So you’re looking for more than the average, I know that to be true.
My challenge to you today is this. Where in your life are you going through the motions? Maybe you’ve built consistency and you’re comfortable and didn’t really realize it. You’ll know the answer because it will be an area where you are needing a change, it feels like your stagnating, You’re consistent but you’re not making gains. Maybe your comfortable but bored. It could be your health, your career, your relationship, your daily routine. Remember extraordinary results require extraordinary effort. And also…if you’re inspired to do so, maybe set your phone down and connect to strangers in the sauna, on the train or at the grocery store. It feels good to connect and we have a lot to learn and you’ll find that people really are more interesting than what they share online. Share this with 3 people looking to level up! I love you guys, I’ll talk to you in a few days!!
