5 Tips for Living Inspired

As we ring in the New Year and begin our journey in 2013, I want to share something.  In the New Year we atIntegrity Human Performance have made it our goal to create content, materials and services which make people feel inspired.  What I mean by inspired is a hunger for work, for play, and for life; a sense of freedom that grows from having insatiable creativity, a bold confidence and the unstoppable courage to pursue your passion.  An inspired life is personally exciting and professionally energizing.  It resonates with your natural talents and is connected to your inner sense of purpose.  An inspired life naturally brings increased fulfillment and a feeling of significance.  You feel as though you are part of something bigger and more meaningful.  You feel as though you are giving something back to the world.

An inspired life is not something we experience, it is something we create.  We design it, we build it and we live it.  Below are a few tips to help you create your very own inspired life.

1. WRITE THE SCRIPT

This is often tough to start, but we all have a movie scripted in our minds of what a happy, healthy and successful life looks like to us.  Start by visualizing the movie.  As you continue to paint a more vivid picture of each scene begin “writing the script”.  Napoleon Hill once said, “Reduce your plan to writing…. The moment you complete this, you will have definitely given concrete form to the intangible desire.” That being said, I recommend taking a ”finish line view” and begin at the end.  Not to sound morbid here, but think of your life on its last day or picture your funeral and work back from there.  Stephen Covey once called it “begin with the end in mind”.

P.S. Reviewing this step after each of the following tips could be helpful.  The end product should inspire you.

2. BE SUPERHUMAN (this tip was the hardest for me to do)

Our talents, strengths, passions and desires all provide us with a unique and sometimes an almost superhuman energy source.  Our unique talents and strengths are so natural to us we often don’t recognize how influential and inspiring they are to others.  Other times we are aware of our strengths, but take them for granted because they come so easy.  Under-utilizing our strengths leads to weak and inconsistent performance.  Understanding our talents and utilizing our strengths will unlock even better opportunities paving a path to greater success.  ”

Our passion also generates strong energy.  Oprah Winfrey has expressed, “Passion is energy.  Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.”  Pursuing our passion ignites creativity, courage and inspiration.  Ignoring this energy and not doing what we truly desire can create the unsatisfying feelings of fear, fatigue and insignificance.  There are a number of different reasons we become complacent, don’t pursue our passion and lose touch with our natural energy.  When we do, instead of pulling us toward the activities that excite and energize us we begin to get stuck doing things that exhaust us and zap us of our energy.  We begin to avoid new and challenging adventures, miss out on fun and lose a sense of what ignites the fire inside us.  Don’t ignore your superhuman powers; utilize the energy for your success.

3. FIND THE ONE.

Decide in one word or with a short personal motto the main reason why you live how you live.  One word provides a focused, clear and concise description of your why.  Describe the why behind your movie script and why you do what you do.  Choosing a why gives our dream a significant purpose and makes our vision compelling.  In his book Start With Why, Simon Sinek states, “Great leaders lead with WHY.  They embody a sense of purpose that inspires those around them.”  Define your why and it will be the reason people initially connect with you, continue to follow you and remain loyal for years to come.

One word examples: Inspire (I can’t help it, I love this word.) Lead, Love, Resonance, Creative, Success, etc.

Short theme examples: To ignite inspiration, To cultivate growth, To feel connected, To live abundantly, To enable greatness

4. BEGIN CONSTRUCTION

To transform your vision into action and begin building your dreams ask yourself:

1. HOW am I going to achieve my WHY?  (These are typically the goals, objectives or milestones you set)

2. WHAT behaviors, systems, strategies, and solutions do I need to get the HOW done in the most effective and efficient way?

3. Do I have the knowledge and skills to achieve the WHAT?

4. (if no to #3) WHO must I become or what must I learn/change to achieve the WHAT or WHO in my network can assist me in this growth process?

5. What level of commitment am I?

5.  REMEMBER THE NUTS & BOLTS

The integrity of an airplane is a must to ensure the safety of everyone on board during takeoff, flight and landing.  All parts must be maintained, repaired or replaced and every nut and bolt must be in place so the parts fit together seamlessly for optimal performance.  We are no different as individuals, teams or businesses.  We must be whole and complete to achieve our peak levels of success.  Seamless integration is important if you want to perform at heightened levels of excellence.  Here is a little sample of how to streamline success:

The true driver behind all we do is feelings.  Feelings are the nuts and bolts that hold everything together.  We don’t seek the material, tangible, outside things; it’s the emotional, intangible, inside things we truly want to experience when we conquer objectives.  Yes, we all have milestones we want to hit, goals we want to achieve and destinations to reach, but it’s not simply the house, money, job or lover that we want… what we live for are the feelings associated with attaining them.  It’s about fulfilling what we call our “innate ambitions” that makes these goals meaningful and creates memorable moments.  So when you set your goals throughout the year.  Don’t just write down a S.M.A.R.T. goal, go deeper and add a written description of your innate ambition or the underlying motivating feeling you’ll receive when accomplishing your aspiration.

Now, these tips are simply the ones which have worked best for me and I hope they help, but instead of discussing my small, inconsequential tips in the comments, let me ask you: what does an inspired life look like to you and what advice would you give about what it takes to live an exhilarating, purposeful, compelling life?

With inspiration,

Brandon Sobotka

Positivity…Minimizing Stress When Your Life Is In The Dumps.

I love “good luck”.  When everything is going great and things just seem to turn out how we hope, wish or want them to.  A period like this happened to me recently.  My career was going well, my personal business was seeing consistent growth, my relationships with friends and family were wonderful and I had even found a beautiful woman to share it all with.  Everything in my life I was extremely happy with, I was “high on life”.  It ‘s easy to stay excited and satisfied when moments like this happen.  Energy is not hard to find, it’s always easy see the good and remaining positive is a simple thing to do.  Fears are easier to over come and when something remotely bad happens we shrug it off as though it was nothing.  But what happens when the tide turns.  Are you a positive person?

Most would answer yes to this question and I believe most people intend to be positive.  I believe they want the good things to happen, see the best in people and try to make every day a great day.  But, as we’ve all experienced…what happens when the crap hits the fan, when nothing seems to go your way and the cards being dealt are consistently bad? 

The major challenge with positivity comes not when life is going well. 

"A whole lot of nothing" by Colter

It’s not even when life is simple and mundane.  It’s when we are slapped, bombarded, and crushed by what almost seems like a never ending strategic attack of trials and tribulations, often triggered by one major event.  Because we live in such a chaotic, fast-paced,  ever-changing, instant gratification world, we can become instant prey to the circling vultures of negativity and fear.  If you show signs of weakness they will swarm and pick at you little by little until you are fully broken down.  During these hard times, doubts rise, fear creeps in our mind and our inner most insecurities come to the surface.  If we let it continue it becomes a snow ball of negativity.  It’s fear, doubt, frustration, anger, sadness, depression, etc. 

This is when principles, priorities, passion and positivity become paramount to your life. 

One of the questions I like to ask myself when my life is “in the dumps” and/or when I feel the vultures of negativity and fear are circling is the following…

“What people, places or things should, or can only be changed by me?”

I’m sure we’ve all experienced a time in our life when it became rough, even demoralizing.  See if you can relate, these were my feelings.  I was almost always weathered to my last nerve and just wanted to rage on people.  It often created tension and heated arguments or fights with those close to me both personally and professionally.  I hated feeling like this so I often just felt like quitting, running away or making ridiculous excuses to hide some of my pain and embarassment.  It frequently took me to the brink of tears.  If I didn’t break down crying I would find myself in my car, music blasting, screaming at the top of my lungs just to hope I would feel better.  I couldn’t eat though I was often starving.  I slept very little although I couldn’t keep my eyes open.  Accomplishing things became extremely difficult…either because I didn’t want to be there or I was too exhausted to focus and effectively complete the task.  I often felt as though no one was around or wanted to help.  When they did offer, my pride would step in the way and I didn’t want to “burden them with my problems”.  I felt as though very few people understood what I was going through and everything they said just made me more irritated and/or frustrated.  There were times my fear froze me in my tracks.  I could not tell the difference from when a good opportunity appeared and when I was around a bad influence or in a bad circumstance.  Sometimes I felt that for every glimpse of hope there was, a problem ten times bigger then that would pop up and I’d be right back to the first stage of fear again.  If I did start to knock out some of the issues more would come and it seemed as though I was treading water in an open sea instead of realizing that I was making it.  It just kept going and going. 

Can you see the snow ball effect of fear and negativity?  In hindsight I was actually doing a pretty good job making it through the struggle.  It was my fear and my pessimistic mindset making things seem worse.   

There are many ways to approach these fears, trials and tribulations, but here are a few that have been successful in my past as well as with friends and clients. 

Find Your Foundation.  The most common reason why people think their lives are in the dumps is that they don’t know who they are or what they want.  They are not living their own lives.  Take a deep introspective look into whether you are acting to please others – to please family, friends, and/or society.  Foundationally, what are your principles and values?  What are the qualities you can always fall back on and bring your life back in to focus when times get tough.   Grab your closest friends and ask them their true honest opinions on this.  You may be surprised.  Don’t be hurt by their responses if they are not sounding like something you would like to hear, but realize that you need to know who you are, what your wants and needs are and make the choices to pursue your own path.  Try reflection, meditation, prayer or whatever you use to learn these things about yourself.  This is an invaluable tool for conquering your fears as well as hard times and may also come to aid if you lose interest in the important things in your life.

What are your Strengths. What are the qualities you have that you like about yourself or what natural characteristics do you have that people enjoy and gravitate towards?  In what ways do you prefer to think, feel and behave?  Are you caring?  Are you funny? Are you intelligent? Are you honest? Are you selfless? What everyday tasks in your life do you take pride in?  All of these things are connected to your natural strengths.  Focus on the positive things in your life. You are always influencing others.  Even when you think there is no way others can be inspired, motivated or influenced by me, there are inspirational qualities in everyone.  That includes you and your strengths. 

Change Your Mindset.  Life is about creating yourself.  When you find yourself in the midst of trials and tribulations, it’s easy to get in a bad mood, turn negative and go into a bitch session or even crawl into a shell and avoid everyone.  You could think of the negative things such as, “I’m not smart or talented enough”, “I’d rather quit”, “I’m fat, I wish I looked better”, etc.  If we’re being honest, then yeah, some of these thoughts may be true and yeah it’s great to be honest with ourselves, but the negativity behind it can be defeating.  Not having adequate knowledge or skills does not mean you are not smart or talented.  Change your mind.  Look for the opportunities in adversity or how your positive attributes can improve a problem.  Think about the people that you know love you and whom easily recognize your wonderful qualities and characteristics.  Realize that nobody’s life is easy and there will always be ups and downs, and moments of low self esteem. The fight of life never ends.  Don’t automatically assume people don’t understand, are always out to get you or that they don’t care and are only in it to get something for themselves.  Odds are that most every person close to you has been through an extremely difficult time when the cards were stacked against them.  Probably not the exact same situation, but similar in many ways.  Listen for advice you can put to use.  If you hear similar suggestions multiple times from a number of different trusted sources, it’s probably a good idea to take action on it.  Remember, every person matters to someone. You’re here for a reason.

Love Yourself. Look in the mirror. Find an appreciation for the beautiful person you are…. Do you take care of your skin or hair? Do you have a sense of style? Do you have a beautiful smile or eyes? fit physique? Find what appeals to you.  If you can’t find something, once again, ask those loved ones close to you. When you can’t change something, change your attitude towards it.

Make a Choice.  Don’t dance around or prolong a decision.  Just decide.  There are ridiculously wealthy people living in mansions who are miserable and poor people living in cardboard on the streets who are perfectly happy.  How is that?  They made a choice, either subconsciously or consciously.  It’s all about how you look at things and how you choose to feel in each and every moment.  Every day you have the opportunity to make choices that will build the life you want.  Don’t be jealous of those who have what you want, they chose that path along with all the responsibilities, sacrifices, trials and tribulations that came with getting there.  If you’re not where you want to be yet, you made a choice or several choices that have landed you exactly where you are.  Remember that your life is your own and its direction is your choice. You don’t have to be who other people tell you that you are. You can change your life by choosing the direction that matters to you and pursuing it one small step at a time. 

Life Plan. What is your vision?  How do you get there?  What can you do to make your life better? What do you desire to do? How do you want to feel? What solutions and strategies do you have in place to achieve these things. This doesn’t mean you need a step by step process planned out for every little single thing in your life.  It’s simply setting milestones and knowing the actions needed to conquer each one.  The first steps are usually the hardest – asking for help or admitting you need it and then allowing or letting others to help you.  

Get lucky.  In many cases the cards we are dealt in life is simply luck. Where and when we land a job, whether you have a kind loving family or a physically or mentally abusive one, whether your family was wealthy or not are all random things. It’s what you do with it that matters. “Remember that there is something epic and heroic in rising from harsh circumstances to do something well. Just surviving a rough situation and coming out of it with a heart is a triumph, a story that could move people long after you lived. That matters.”  -Unknown

Get motivated. What motivates you? What spikes your energy to continue on every day? Is it love? Family? Health? God? Your attitude? Friends? Music?  If it inspires you in your hardest and darkest moments then give yourself a boost by focusing more often on what is important to you personally.  Bring it to consciousness more regularly and you may be amazed by the results.

Time and Patience. There will be a tomorrow. There will be a next week. There will be a next month and perhaps in one of those instants, things will have changed for the better.  You have time, especially if you’re young and in a bad situation.  Your life is your own and all the things you could do to better it will come into reach if you truly want them, even if they’re difficult to attain.

R & R. Not rest and relaxation, although that could help, but reflect and reminisce.  Whenever you feel like the future is ‘bleak and/or hopeless’, think about the happy times. It will help make you feel better and remind you that when you are committed no matter what to someone or something there will be good times. Think about all the good things you’ve experienced, felt, and achieved, and consider how many more good things could be waiting ahead.  Whether you noticed it or not, those good times took a lot of energy and work as well.  The difference is, is that you made a choice in your head that you wanted it.  There will be many great moments in your life – don’t let a few obstacles get in the way. Initially, if you find it tough to remember any happy memories then think of the moments it wasn’t as bad or start today by journaling those things you are grateful for.  Pick even the smallest of every day things like nice weather, your cute pet, a sweet note or text message from your other half, a friendly hello from a complete stranger.  This exercise will help you to remember and help you begin to more frequently recognize all the wonderful things in your life.

Enjoy Yourself. It’s okay to step back once in awhile and just enjoy the moment. Many of my favorite moments come in the middle of something.  Even in tough situations – I’ll consciously catch myself in the midst of the “mind clutter” of a day or a moment, stop, think to myself “I love life” and just smile and laugh.  Don’t restrict yourself from doing things you love because others may consider them “not important” or because you think you’ll be criticized for doing them.  Enjoy life, even if you’re not at the best place you could be. You only live once – make the best of it.

So I go back to the question I started with,”What people, places or things should, or can only be changed by me?”  The list above are all things that you can change.  Don’t just try and do it all yourself, remember those close to you are valuable when pulling yourself from the dumps.  Imagine them as a team.  This experience will only make your relationships stronger.

Please feel free to comment below as I look forward to hearing how these worked for you.

Light the Flame…Protecting Metabolism for Optimal Fat Loss.

It’s the beginning of a new year and many people are pounding the pavement, wearing out cardio equipment and flooding group exercise classes in hopes of their dream bodies.  I always have to ask one question…do you want to lose weight or do you want to lose fat?  Many are still oblivious of the difference between weight loss and fat loss. People often group these in the same category.  They are not the same.  Understanding the difference is key in “lighting the flame” or creating, achieving and maintaining an effective fat burning environment.

I have been overwhelmed this January with questions from family, friends, colleagues, clients, and others about losing weight.  Our society is crazy about weight loss but this cultural obsession may actually be having a negative impact.  No, this does not mean you should go back to long hours in front of the TV with a bag of Doritos instead of hitting the gym.  You may just need to tweak what it is you’re doing.  The “old school” weight loss approach of low calorie diets partnered with extended hours of aerobic exercise does help you lose weight and burn fat.  However, it also breaks down important lean muscle mass at the same time.

I’m sure we’ve all experienced it…Think about yourself and/or a friends new year weight loss journey or another time when weight loss was the goal.  During the new year people jump on the crash diet band wagon, buy a new gym membership or the latest and greatest piece of fitness technology out on the market to lose those stubborn pounds.   It’s an all out hog-wild weight loss mission.  At times it works and many do lose weight.  Maybe, 10, 15, 20 pounds or even more.  Great right?  Wrong!  It may be making you even more fat.  Here’s why…

Muscle is the catalyst for metabolism.  An individuals lean muscle mass has a heavy impact on insulin sensitivity, utilizing  and removing glucose from the blood and therefore burning fat. Diets low in calories tend to be low in the vitamins, minerals and nutrients needed to maintain muscle and they often lead to the breakdown of important lean muscle tissue.  This result can severely impact metabolism and weight loss by “slowing down” the metabolic rate.  Your metabolism will be less efficient when you believe your weight loss mission is completed.  After dieting, because of this breakdown of muscle, the body is more inclined to holding on to fat as opposed to developing new muscle.  This leads to faster fat gain then before.  The muscle is like wood on a fire and when you have poor quality wood or less wood then is truly needed, you have a small, weak burning flame.  Just when you think you’ve won, you might have actually thrown some “dirt” on the fire.

What about the exercise piece?  Working out adds fuel to the fire right?  It depends…Add aerobic exercise into the mix and it may snowball even more in the wrong direction.  But, there are other exercise options.  Several studies have shown resistance trainings effect on muscle.  Resistance training helps with the increased production of multiple fat burning & muscle building hormones. Resistance training also helps maintain lean muscle mass and maintain a normal and even elevated metabolic rate.  Your metabolic rate or metabolism is a real indicator of future fat burn or fat gain.

The point is…take care of your metabolism, protect it.  I’ll explain.  A gain in muscle equals more calories burned and the more likely those calories will be burned from fat if you’re following a quality meal plan.   A loss in lean muscle mass means less fat burned while active and exercising and less fat burned post-workout.  The real problem with losing muscle is its detrimental impact on your individual metabolism.

So change your weight loss mindset to a fat loss lifestyle.  Concentrate on building and maintaining muscle to increase metabolism.  Here are 5 key steps to helping you “light the flame”, build a healthy metabolism and achieving the lean, sexy body you’re wanting.

1. EAT UP – if you’re going to change your eating habits or jump on a meal plan.  Eat more not less.  Change to eating more of the right foods more often. Eat what we call nutrient dense foods.  Foods that are filled with quality vitamins, minerals and nutrients.  Vegetables, lean protein sources, fruits, dairy and healthy grains.  These foods can help increase energy, decrease hunger and cravings and provide hormonal balance.  All of these impact muscle building and fat burning in a positive way.  You want “tone” or to look lean, it starts here.

2. ADD WEIGHT – I know women don’t like to hear this, however the proof is in the pudding.  Heavy resistance training elevates good hormone levels and helps regain the muscle mass that you may have lost in the past.  You want an athletic looking, tight body then this is the road you travel.

3. HIT THE PILLOW – In order for you to truly reap the rewards of your hard work and dedication it is important to get quality rest.  During sleep is when good hormones are released to regenerate and repair your muscle from training.  If you don’t get adequate recovery time on the pillow the opposite may occur.  A release of “bad” hormones that can assist with stunting your metabolism and even assist in storing fat.  I recommend no less than 7-9 hours of quality sleep per night.

4. DRINK UP – No, this is not happy hour.  Water.  Water is very important for many of the processes involved in building and maintaining muscle as well as burning fat efficiently.  Drinking about 50-66% of your body weight in ounces is a good recommendation.  For example, a 200 lb person should drink about 100 ounces or more of water per day.  This number should increase with activity.  One gallon is equal to 128 ounces to put it in perspective.

5. MAKE IT A LIFESTYLE – Maintaining fat loss and finding your ideal body will be a never ending roller coaster ride of struggle if you do not make the necessary changes in your daily life.  A healthy lifestyle year in and year out is the only way you can consistently manage and keep a well burning flame.

Good luck in achieving your health and fitness resolutions.

-B. Sobotka