It’s a fresh, new year! Welcome to 2019!
My annual New Year’s email is one of my favorite to write and send you. My hope is that it might inspire you to look at the New Year with a fresh perspective.
For the last several years, instead of making a resolution or even a “goal” for the New Year…I make a personal promise. A simple promise that I can apply to all aspects of my life that creates a framework for my thoughts, actions, habits and ultimately how I live my life.
The promise is usually a simple phrase or just a word that is like a barometer for everything I do…a mantra, you could say.
Some of my past personal promises have included:
– Simplify
– Pull the trigger (I was putting off important decisions rather than just listening to my gut)
– Follow-through and finish (a consistency thing…)
– Ask and risk (inspired by my then-4-year-old son)
The great thing about making these personal promises is that because I put it into practice almost daily, year-round, it just becomes part of how I operate beyond the 365 days. Unlike making a resolution or goal to lose X number of pounds, make X amount of money, accomplish X, etc., these personal promises become the foundation for me to simply be better, practice healthier habits (mind and body) and “results” then follow.
A personal promise is like a dumbbell that trains my mind to get stronger over time so my outcomes are more predictable and more meaningful.
Last year, my personal promise was to EVOLVE AND REINVENT.
By now, you may know that this past June, after nearly 13 years, I closed my fitness business. I shared with you the reasons why I “quit” what was a successful business by all definitions of the word. But it was time for me to evolve and reinvent.
Honestly, when I made this promise to myself at the beginning of 2018, I really didn’t know what “evolving and reinvention” would look like exactly, and I DEFINITELY had no idea how HARD it is to do.
Closing Body Project was one of the most physically and emotionally depleting decisions I’ve made – and I know it won’t be the last. Undoubtedly, though, it was one of the most powerful experiences with invaluable lessons I wouldn’t otherwise have learned if I didn’t evolve out of what kept me comfortable.
Which brings me to what inspired my 2019 personal promise.
My 2019 personal promise is COURAGE & CREATION.
IN 2019, COURAGE FOR ME MEANS:
- Consciously training my mind to become stronger in order to fight self-doubt.
- Practicing heightened awareness, especially when my self-confidence is tested.
- Regularly doing things that are uncomfortable, because, from experience, this is the only way I get better and stronger.
- Quieting the (sometimes very loud) voices (mostly in my own mind) that tell me I’m not good enough or not worthy enough.
- Owning the evolved version of myself, even if it means there may be some people who won’t like it or who don’t understand it (yet).
IN 2019, CREATION FOR ME MEANS:
- Creating opportunities for women who feel stuck – so I can teach them how the Inside>Out Method can change their lives in ways they may never have imagined.
- Creating connections with people who help lift me up and push me to be my best.
- Creating a community of women like no other…of women who support each other, teach each other, and who also teach me.
- Creating videos, articles, interviews, discussions, webinars, emails, social media posts…this message is powerful, and it just wouldn’t be fair to keep it to myself!
- Creating my book which will be the first of many and I believe will impact millions. Yes, millions (so I’m asking you to share the good word!) 🙂
- Creating keynote speeches, presentations, live workshops and trainings that teach and inspire how to achieve success using the Inside>Out Method.
- Creating opportunities for myself that push me to get uncomfortable.
ACTUALLY…it was my 2-year old daughter, Lidia, who really made it clear to me why it is COURAGE & CREATION that I need as a focus in my life right now.
Lidia is cute, she’s a complete goofball, and of course I think she’s quite advanced (bias mom talking, here). But if there is one word that describes Lidia best, as she has demonstrated to us in her short life, it is FEARLESS.
Lidia is afraid of absolutely nothing.
She is optimistically determined (some define this as “stubborn”). She does nothing halfway. She didn’t just crawl, she sprint-crawled. She skipped walking and went right to running. She knows what she wants and perseveres until she gets it. She goes down slides my son didn’t even attempt until he was at least 5. She climbs on EVERYTHING and jumps on anything jumpable. She is like a tornado or a hurricane – or both at the same time. She tells you what she will be wearing; she also tells you when she’s ready to take it all off and run around in a diaper (if we’re lucky). There’s no changing her mind.
For me, as a parent, this often feels like a test of wills (there’s a hole in my hallway wall to prove it…that story is for another time). I have to remind myself that this is a gift for me to learn and practice real patience.
Here’s the funny part…my parents tell me I was exactly like her when I was her age. My nickname was actually “The Hulk!”
In 2019, I want to be like Lidia (again). Fearless. Courageous. Afraid of nothing. Not worried about what others think. Excited to climb and jump on anything that might create a chance to see things in a new way (but I will NOT be running around naked!). I want to go down slides that are big and scary because if I do it the first time, it DOES get easier and the rush will be totally worth it!
So there you have it. My 2019 personal promise – COURAGE & CREATION.
Thank you for listening (I have yet to make a personal promise about brevity!) and I hope I’ve inspired you to consider your vision for 2019…and consider making a personal promise…I promise you that it is very, very powerful.
Let’s do 2019…and let’s do it together!
-Lindsay
***A FOLLOW-UP SINCE THIS POSTED!
