The four tendencies with Gretchen Rubin

Gretchen Rubin’s new book entitled The Four Tendencies is a primer to explain the various ways in which different personalities respond to expectations. Gretchen explains that these expectations are largely classified as outer, such as work demands or others’ requests, and inner, those that we expect or desire of ourselves.

The four tendencies are described as:

1. Upholders – those who meet both outer and inner expectations
2. Questioners – those who question all expectations, but will meet expectations if they meet their own standards
3. Obligers – those who readily meet outer expectations but struggle to meet inner expectations
4. Rebels – those who resist all expectations, both inner and outer

Gretchen explains that the most common tendency is the obliger, with questioners being the second most popular tendency. The extremes are rebels and upholders.

In sticking with a fitness program, Gretchen shares strategies to suit the four different tendencies:

1. Upholders – Once it’s an internal want, anything they try will likely work because they are motivated by both inner and outer expectations.
2. Questioners – It’s all about justification and getting to the fundamental question of “Why?” All questions need to be answered. Questioners love customization and want things to be efficient.
3. Obligers – Building in accountability with accountability groups is a great idea. Outer accountability is the key to success.
4. Rebels – They may be turned off by reminders to do something. They always have to feel it and want it. Make sure they know it’s always an option.

Gretchen explains that it’s very difficult to change one’s fundamental nature. It would be much easier to change conditions or situation to suit your natural tendency.

To connect with Gretchen Rubin or to learn more about The Four Tendencies, visit http://www.gretchenrubin.com or listen to her podcast, Happier with Gretchen Rubin. You can take the Four Tendencies Quiz at http://www.happiercast.com/quiz.

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Meditation for daily stress with Michel Pascal

Michel Pascal is a writer, singer, and spirituality and meditation enthusiast who once lived in the largest monastery in Nepal. His new book, Meditation for Daily Stress: 10 Practices for Immediate Well-being, offers real examples of how to incorporate meditation in our daily lives, causing powerful results.

Michel speaks about the common false ideas of what meditation is. He explains that Americans are educated with the wrong perception about meditation, thinking often of monks in monasteries without a clear idea of how it can apply in our real, daily lives.

The world is so active, and we often feel the pressure to be productive at a high level, which causes great stress. The key is to train the mind to meditate within our daily stress and lives, rather than viewing the process as something that must take place remotely in a quiet or stress-free environment, as this is not realistic for many people.

The goal is to recycle the stressful energy around you into calm energy, as meditation is truly a transmission of energy. This is accomplished through first diagnosing yourself as fed up with your current state and then putting the meditation into practice.

We have the ability to change our perception of our lives in just a few minutes with the help of the practices described in the book. By following these steps, we can retrain our minds and introduce more calmness into our lives.

To connect with Michel or to learn more about Meditation for Daily Stress: 10 Practices for Immediate Well-being, visit http://www.michelpascal.tv.

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11 Tips for sticking with a workout regimen

Donna from Facebook asked about tips for sticking to a workout regimen. Here are 11 great tips to follow:

1. Reconnect to your why – This helps you get started and stick with it.

2. Do it first – You are much more likely to do your workout when you do it first rather than putting it off until later in the day.

3. Set an appointment – Treat your workout like an important appointment that you would not miss.

4. Have an objective – Perhaps it’s a race, competition, or wearing a certain dress that you’re working toward. It’s a good way to recognize progress and maintain motivation.

5. Set micro goals – Set smaller goals along the way to your main goal to give you wins and encourage you to push harder.

6. Make it something you trip over – Make it a constant reminder so you have all you need to do your workout.

7. Convenience – Make it easy for yourself and you’ll be much more likely to comply with your program.

8. Hire a good trainer – You’ll have accountability and you may even have a better workout.

9. Have an accountability partner – Find someone who will keep you accountable so you stick with your workouts.

10. Have some planned periodization – Doing the same workout over and over can lead to plateaus. Rotate to different modalities to keep things fresh.

11. Make it fun – If your workout isn’t fun or you’re not excited about what you’re working toward, consider another style of workout.

Follow these simple tips to stay on track with your workout regimen!

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5 Ways to build and maintain motivation

5 Ways to build and maintain motivation

Motivation is a key factor in sticking with your health and fitness program. Here are five ways to help you stay motivated:

1. Gamification – This keeps you motivated because there’s a score involved. It’s a process of having a score that’s going to drive you forward. Find ways to measure your performance against yourself to gamify the process. Be sure to keep it within your limits and don’t lose focus on what you’re trying to accomplish.
2. Social pressure – While negative social pressure can be bad, good social pressure can help to encourage you. Consider joining Facebook groups for support or find an accountability partner.
3. Sunk cost – If you’ve made an investment, or sunk cost, you are more likely to follow through because you want to get your money’s worth. Making a financial investment will often lead to greater results because the participants have an added reason to stay motivated.
4. Fear – We know that fear is a strong motivator. There are actually ways to set up fear scenarios, such as committing to giving money to a cause you dislike when you don’t follow through. The potential outcome in this fear scenario should matter to you and it should be emotional to provide the greatest impact.
5. Commitment – When you make a commitment, your motivation becomes a little bit easier. A compelling vision and why will help you stick with your plan because you want to reach your ultimate goal.

Incorporate these five suggestions and watch your motivation level soar!

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Finding your big miracles with Joanna Garzilli

Joanna Garzilli is an authority in the field of intuition, conscious business growth, and spiritual leadership. She is also the author of a fascinating new book called Big Miracles, a sort of manual that explains how to reengage with yourself, who you are, and who you could be.

Joanna explains that health and fitness is not just physical. It’s also a matter of the mind and spirit. There is a balance between doing the work and having the mindset to allow you to reach your goals.

In the book, Joanna explains 11 key rules:

1. Align with the spirit – Do you feel good or do you feel bad? Be honest with yourself to know if you are aligned.
2. Be a spiritual vehicle – Achieve a new level of awareness and experience ongoing spiritual awakenings.
3. Commit to your breakthrough – Without commitment, nothing happens. Focus on the end result and surrender.
4. Forgive mistakes – Don’t beat yourself up over mistakes. Perhaps mistakes are miracles waiting to happen.
5. Living without ego – A little bit of ego lets us see our strengths and speak up for ourselves, but too much can be an issue.
6. Believe in your ability – Close the gap between “if” and “when.” Use exercise as a way to clear your doubts.
7. Accept responsibility – “You can’t change what happened in the past, but you can clean up how you feel about it.”
8. Aim high – This allows us to realize we can do more than we think.
9. Take the right action – Action is necessary to get results.
10. Be of service – Be of service to your body and your body will take care of you.
11. Break through to your big miracle – Figure out what will keep you amplified to get that breakthrough and keep you moving forward.

To connect with Joanna, visit www.JoannaGarzilli.com.

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Whoops! How do I get back on track?

Donna, a podcast listener, submitted a great question about how we can get back on track after a slip up in our health and fitness journeys.

We’re human. We’re going to slip up from time to time. Getting back on track is important. To do this, you’ll need to build a paradigm around yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

You cannot fix what has happened in the past. When you first slip up, you’re angry and frustrated, and also stuck in the yesterday phase. To get out, realize that you made the decisions to act in a way that caused this setback. Own it those actions and then forgive yourself. Forgiving yourself is so important because it allows you to move on and release those negative emotions such as anger, remorse, or disappointment.

The next step is to recommit. If you’re not committed to your health and fitness journey, these cycles of failure will keep happening. Your commitment is based upon your why. Reconnect with your why and revision your vision of the future and what you’re trying to achieve.

At this point, you are ready for tomorrow. To look to the future, you must do a root cause analysis of why you had a slip up. Drill down beneath the surface level reason and find the root cause of why you made those choices. Establish good habits to manage future points of frustration instead of choosing familiar bad habits, such as eating unhealthy foods.

Consider journaling how you feel, what you ate, and how you slept. Meditation is another option to assist with recognizing thoughts and feelings. Both of these tools will help you understand yourself better and be better equipped to bounce back from any future slip ups.

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The science of mind over body with Jo Marchant

Jo Marchant is an accomplished science journalist and the author of the new book, Cure: A Journey Into the Science of Mind Over Body. This book examines the role that the mind plays in healing the body.

One example of how the mind impacts healing within the body is displayed through the placebo effect. Jo explains that many people do get better simply by taking a placebo. Decades of research has shown that taking any medicine, including a placebo, triggers specific changes in the brain that eases our symptoms.

Many trials have shown that placebos even work when the patient knows the medication is a placebo. This may be because the brain gets the signal that the body is being cared for, and therefore backs off on its own symptom signals.

Similarly, the brain decides what level of the symptom we need to see based on the severity of the injury or issue. This is similar with fatigue. The sensation created is a psychological one of exhaustion and fatigue, so that we don’t push ourselves to a risk of death. This role that the brain plays shows that we have some control through our beliefs, hopes, attitudes, for example. Exercises such as HIIT can actually help improve our performance and break down this fatigue state, as the brain learns to let the body go a bit further each time based on previous experience.

Jo also speaks about the role of the vagus nerve within the parasympathetic nervous system in altering one’s heart rate. By slowing one’s breathing, the vagus nerve is triggered to keep the body and mind calm. This helps the body to better respond to stress.

Cure is a great primer to understanding how powerful mind can be for your body. To connect with Jo Marchant or to learn more about Cure, visit www.jomarchant.com.

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