1200 pages of writing in six notebooks.

273 days of writing about and carrying out exercises to get to the heart of what money and abundance means in my life.

250 hours of physical activity / group exercise classes — 5 days a week for 50 weeks out of the year. It’s probably more than that, actually; I’m leaning into the conservative side of that number.

These are some of the things that enhanced my life this year.

If you looked at the posts I’ve written and recorded these past two weeks, you’ll see that writing every day and getting clear about money were the first two game changers for 2018.

This week, I want to add the importance of exercise / movement, but also let you know how all three of these areas share three common principles that I think can help you approach 2019 with a solid focus.

Consistency.

Commitment.

Resilience.

Three is a magic number.

First, the movement piece. If you know me or you’ve followed my work for awhile, then it’s not news to you that I champion regular exercise as a portal into a higher quality of life that goes far beyond what the scale says or what your body looks like. I even built an entire group coaching program around it.

• When we move our bodies on purpose, there are feel-good chemicals released that help elevate our mood.
• If you find the right activity you look forward to, you bring more fun and joy into your life. The pleasure principle is a key factor to keep you returning to something over and over again.
• I do things in my fitness routine that are really challenging — some workouts just kick my ass — but I am proud and happy that I show up and accomplish my mission. Being proud is such a great feeling.

• With exercise, you can connect with other people and have the potential for friendships to form that keep you coming back to moving your body again and again.
• I have created a “fitness family” in the past 7 years that I’ve committed to making exercise an integral part of my daily life. In an age where we connect largely through technology, people are also starving for face-to-face interactions. We can find that when we show up in a class to roll out the yoga mat or set out those hand weights.
• More than in years past, movement has given me the grace and courage to go forward, even on the days when I felt physically and emotionally tired. I knew that exercise was good medicine for me when I was struggling with depression and anxiety, and I stuck with it.
• When you move your body regularly and challenge her, you deepen your relationship with yourself. I always say that my body is the only thing in life I truly own — from my first breath as a baby to the last one I’ll take as an old lady dying in her warm bed surrounded by those I love.

You’re probably thinking about the coming year and exercising more and taking better care of yourself.

In the past two weeks, people have written to me regarding my posts about writing each day and my money work to tell me that they want to do more of that work themselves in the coming year.

You can do all of it, too — I promise you.

I do not possess a special superpower that makes all of these practices easy for me. Here’s what I tapped into that made writing, money, and movement life-changing for me this year:

Consistency.

Commitment.

Resilience.

CONSISTENCY

In 2018, I decided I was going to make certain things in my life rituals. I wanted to see what it felt like to do something positive and enriching over and over again, faithfully, and how that could impact my life.

Sure, I’d write a few days a week; maybe I’d bullet-point my intentions for the day, but I wasn’t always consistent.

For years, I’ve known that it felt good to write in my journal whenever I could, and I’d always tell myself, “I really need to get back to doing that more; it makes such a difference.”

This year, I turned that thought into “I am going to get deeper into writing. I’m going to see if I can start a streak and challenge myself to do it every single day. I’m going to go “over the top” with it and see what happens. I tell my clients to write all of the time; what if I could show myself and others the impact of putting pen-to-paper every day?”

I found a way to make it very appealing and easy for myself. That was another key.

I chose a time of day (the morning) when I knew I’d be available to myself.

I also connected another ritual to it; I have coffee at the same place each morning. That is where I write.

You can find me there anytime between 6:30 a.m. and 8 a.m. beginning my day with words.

The money work unfolded the same way. I got the workbook I used in 2017 and decided to revisit it. I did the 21 exercises for 21 days in a row and saw miraculous returns.

I was so amazed by the outcomes that I decided to challenge myself to cycle through the workbook for 21 days, over and over again — consistently — for the rest of the year.

“What if I manifested five figures this year by doing this over and over again?” I told myself.

So I did it.

And the money showed up.

I’m not exaggerating or giving you some w00-woo-voodoo life coach smack — I did the work and I made it happen.

I shifted my energy and my mindset. I looked for opportunities I’d never looked for before. I experienced a new level of gratitude. The money kept coming in all sorts of forms.

The reason I am consistent with physical activity isn’t because I have some special mantra or process that makes it easy for me.

Here are the simple and significant things I did…

• I put it on my calendar. I put it in there before I even scheduled clients who might be paying me for my services.
• I decided that I am the first priority.

If I take care of my body and myself, the dollars will keep coming — that’s my mantra.

Make the appointments with yourself two, three, four, or five days a week and show up.

Give it the time you can — it doesn’t have be five or six days a week for an hour; you don’t have to get into that “all-or-nothing” mode. Start small and simple and build up over time.

Put on your shoes. Walk out the door. Do the thing. Stop arguing with yourself. Consistency builds muscle.

COMMITMENT

If consistency is the act of doing something over and over, commitment is the devotion behind it.

Commitment is love or being open to falling in love with the process. It’s a sense of duty you have for yourself.

Consistency and commitment go hand-in-hand; if you’re willing to show up again and again, you will develop the commitment. That’s when obligation can morph into something like love.

I think of it like my marriage. If I consistently communicate with my husband and we deliberately design our life together, my commitment to us deepens. I’m dedicated, loyal and faithful.

The same thing happened with me this year with writing, money and movement. I kept showing up and these practices became things I wanted to do versus what I had to do.

It got to where I would feel like I was missing some kind of appendage if I consistently skipped out of my practices / rituals, and that’s when I knew things were going to “stick.”

If I got off track with it, I’d make a plan to regroup and make them fit into life again.

RESILIENCE

This might be the most important one.

Consistency and commitment aren’t about being perfect. Life is going to happen and we’re going to get out of practice. We might get bored, go on vacation, get tired or distracted.

There were even times this year where I was in the thick of being consistent and committed, but felt like things were at a standstill or even falling apart. That’s where I had to lean into resilience.

I’d remind myself that it wasn’t about perfection — it was about the process and the progress.

We’re going to have obstacles along the way; it’s remembering to pick yourself up, dust it off and get back into it. You don’t even have to think of it as “starting over” — it’s just picking up where you left off.

Remember this if you’re doing something this year like taking charge of your health in a different way.

There’s a study that has shown that people fall off the “fitness cliff” around February 9th each year. The gym check-ins slow down, people get into the doldrums after the excitement of new beginnings wears off. They might not be seeing the scale move in the direction they want.

Decide you’re not going over the cliff.

Decide you’re going to stick with yourself and fly this coming year.

Decide that when it gets tough, you’ll dig in and keep going.

Decide you’ll get the help or encouragement you need to do that (call me! Lol).

I want you to see that it wasn’t just the actions I took this year that changed things and helped me level up. It was my mindset.

It was telling myself each day that I was going to show up (consistency), be dedicated and do the work (commitment), and get back up and get going again when it felt like it was slipping away (resilience).

This is my coaching gift to you that you can open right now! You don’t have to wait until December 25th — or January 1.

Step into now. I promise that your life will be better for it.

###

Think about the coming year; where do you want to be more consistent and committed in your life?

What are simple but significant steps you can take and build upon day-by-day to make consistency and commitment your way of life? Are there rituals you need to create? What time do you need to set aside?

NOW, write this stuff down — don’t just keep it in your head. Remember how important I said writing pen-to-paper is. Get a journal you love (I’ll bet you have a few of them collecting dust on the shelves) and dig into it.

What is your resilience plan? Think about a regular and honest check-in you’ll do with yourself to see where things are at. Will that be once a day? Once a week? Think about strategies — phoning / texting a friend; writing out a plan for the day (I do this by writing out what every hour of my day will look like so I can see where I want to build things in).