Things we invest in

I love listening to podcasts, reading books, hearing sermons, and even watching TV to gain knowledge. I am hoping that when I read or hear something new it will sink in and I will know it. I’ll have planted a brand new thought that I didn’t know before, into my brain. And it will do something. I am investing my time and money in hopes of catching a thought that will create what I’m really wanting.

That’s why I love reading. You pay less than $20 to hear all about how they think. Authors share their thoughts and when I see one of their thoughts that stick out to me, and that I want, I highlight it. I might go back and think about it again or read it out loud and process it. Sometimes I will even share that with a friend or post it for others to see too. But really I am hoping that planting their thought into my brain will create something different for my life. Believing that new thought will allow for something new.

Podcasts are so fun because they are free and you are really only investing your time. I love to listen to podcasts on business in hopes of finding some new things I never knew before. Hoping that I catch a concept that they share that will help me. A new thought that would do something new for my business.

I am sure you do this too. With pen in hand at a conference, church sermon, or really anytime you are listening to something. Your brain is looking for new thoughts. A new thought that would trigger something in you that you didn’t know before or hadn’t thought of in that way.

 I see often in Scripture that God wants us to gain knowledge. He wants us to invest in pursuing understanding and learning new things. He knows that new thoughts can unlock wisdom for us. I often pray, “Lord what do you want me to know about this situation.” I long to know His thoughts because I know if I knew them it would be so helpful for me. He wants me to know His thoughts too. He wants me to plant His word as anchors for my thinking.

 Wisdom is the ability to think and act based on the thoughts we have available to us. Those thoughts have come from our experience, our understanding, common sense, and insight. But really that all just means our thoughts come from what we choose to think about, what we have seen, heard, or experienced in our own life.

 Proverbs 2:6 For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

 And often we don’t know what we don’t know.

So when I became a life coach and started learning that whatever pool of thoughts I have to choose from is going to be what I know and the wisdom that I pull from I wanted a larger pool, or a more intentional pool. That pushes me to open myself up to new thoughts, and to get picky about what was really in there. I wanted to expose myself to thoughts that I had not been exposed to before. And I wanted to clean up some of the thoughts that were taking up space. It is amazing to think that there are thoughts that I will have in the future that I have never had before, and there are some thoughts in the pool that will never be there again.

So that is why I read my Bible, and look for good books, podcasts, sermons, conferences, and people to listen to and glean wisdom from. I want to expand the pool of thoughts that I have.

But there is something missing that only coaching can do for our thinking.

It’s in a coaching session where I extract thoughts that I don’t want to be in the pool any longer. There’s nothing in place in our lives to help us find the thoughts in our brains that don’t need to be there anymore. The ones that are taking up space and creating results in our life that we don’t really want.

That is exactly what my coaching program does.

It’s in that time, that I help my clients identify what thinking their current thoughts actually does create in their life. Often women come feeling like something isn’t working; it could be staying single, their weight, job, living situation, or their relationship with their parents. Whatever it is the wisdom that they have is playing on repeat in their mind. What I do is take them through a process to find the thought or thoughts that are there that don’t really need to be there.

 And there isn’t anything out there in a book or podcast to show you the way to do that. Learning how to self-coach does. Understanding the tools I teach will help you begin this practice in your life. And this weeding out and adding in very picky new thoughts will be the key to creating what you most want in your life.

When we add new thoughts into our brain we’re hoping they stay in there, but maybe there isn’t enough room because some other not so amazing thoughts are taking up space, and so they never really stick.

When I coach someone and they identify the thoughts they currently have, they often realize they no longer want to think them anymore. They’re done with them. It’s in that moment right there that they need a new thought.

 I am really good at giving some very powerful new thoughts to them. Thoughts that they may never have thought before.

My clients often say, “Wow, I have NEVER thought about it like that.”

That’s when we know we’re onto something.

 So that is why this investment into coaching is so transformational. You can pay $20 or listen to free podcasts but all you’re doing is adding to the pool. Yes we want knowledge and wisdom and often God gives us that. It’s the thoughts in the pool that aren’t leading us to life that we need to do surgery on. We need to do the weeding process and often we need an outside perspective to help us see what we can’t see.

 I recently started coaching a woman who has been listening and learning all about coaching for over a year and in our first session together she said, “Wow… these are just my thoughts.” She went on to say that she had heard so much about it, but experiencing the surgery first hand was absolutely life changing. It was the difference between seeing and knowing. It’s the difference between taking drugs to cover up the pain or doing surgery to get rid of the problem. Being able to identify exactly what thought needs to go and then working on that one is where the transformation happens.

That investment is worth it.

Do you need surgery? If so I know a great surgeon. :)

Check out the group-coaching program today to see what this life changing investment can do for you. Hurry because the doors to this opportunity close on Jan. 22nd.

Deciding ahead of time about the Holidays (+ a gift from me)

When you take a step back and think about all that the Holidays involve, it can be a lot. We can put a ton of pressure on things being perfect, and we expect a lot out of gatherings, presents, family, traditions, performances, parties, etc. We spend more time with our families and that takes more communication, more give and take, more people involved.

We add extra onto our normal everyday life routines, to create these memories and make the most of this time of year. And some of us are dealing with other things; like issues with work, trying to stick to losing weight, not a lot of extra cash and presents to buy, a relationship that might just be starting, or ending, or the loss of someone important in your life. All of that plays into the next 2 weeks of life. So before it all happens let’s decide ahead of time what we want it to be like.

Did you know you can do that? You can decide now and create it.

I didn’t know I could just decide, plan and do.

The first time I did this was Christmas of 2018. I was getting certified to be a coach and for homework we had to answer some questions about what we most wanted to create over the Holidays. I filled it in about how I didn’t want to gain any weight over the Holidays. I didn’t know if it would happen or not, but I was doing such a great job with losing weight that I didn’t want to just throw in the towel and pig out. So when class came I showed up with my homework in hand and got coached. It was amazing to really verbalize what I most wanted. I realized that if I wanted it to happen I would need a plan, know some obstacles, and then find some amazing new thoughts to accompany me through it. Getting coached helped me see the excuses that I normally have to overeat, and how often I thought eating was the answer. As I walked through the questions it gave me huge awareness of where I was at, where I wanted to be and who I would have to become to get what I really wanted. I left that class and headed into the Holidays knowing that it was possible and pretty solid on my decisions ahead of time. Knowing that our best decisions come ahead of time and not in the moment taught me that the more I can decide the day before and then just do the next day, the better. Yeah there were things that came up, but I didn’t gain any weight over the Holidays because of the work I had done. I took the time to really see me. My relationship with myself grew because I realized that I do know what I want but I don’t often take the time to sit down, plan it out, and then go to work creating it. Often times I just let life happen to me and then just lived frustrated with the outcome. But not anymore. I was done with that.

The biggest thing that I had to do for my plan to be successful was to feel any feeling that came up. So when I was bored, I just felt bored. When I was frustrated, yeah, of course, it’s okay. I knew that negative emotions would happen and just because it’s the Holidays, they don’t go away, we still have 50% negative emotions. We can’t run from it or plan it away. I actually planned to feel hungry, frustrated, left-out, unsatisfied, and tired. I knew that eating sugar and flour and all the yummy treats of the Holidays wouldn’t solve for those emotions. So that might be something that could help you this Holiday season, deciding which negative emotions you probably will feel and being okay with it. My mentor passed away this year and so this Christmas I will be without a card from her, without a phone call, and I know I am going to feel sad, disappointed, and loss. I am open to it happening and so when it does I am not caught off guard, I go with it.

I want this to be a Holiday like you have never had before, so I created the Single Ladies Holiday Thrive Guide. My gift to you. It is 9 questions to walk you through the same experience I had in 2018. If you do this work, you will show up differently to Christmas and New Year’s. You will create a better relationship with yourself as you actually take time to think through what you most want and what you don’t want.

Give yourself a gift this week and take yourself on a date for 30 minutes and decide what you want the rest of 2020 to look like.

Deciding right along with ya,

Angie

It is time to DE-CLUTTER

I am not talking about your closet or your pantry; I am talking about your mind.  

We have had a year. One filled with the normal thoughts of life but I think 2020 may have brought on extra thoughts. Just like it may have brought on extra pounds, extra spending, or extra projects you have taken on, we want to deal with it. As they say, “Don’t just sweep it under the rug.” So I want to walk you through how to de-clutter your mind today.

 Just like every other space in our home, things get stored up in our mind, and if not careful there are piles all over the place and you don’t really know where they go.

Have you ever been trying to do something productive and everything in you is bringing your attention to the mess around you? That is what happens in our minds too. We want to focus our brain on something specific but it just keeps showing us everything else. My brain likes to do that when I focus on a task for my business. When I sit down to write content all of the sudden I need to check on that bill that was due, or make that dentist appointment. Those are just extra thoughts and they are just bouncing around in my brain. They don’t have a place to go. My brain doesn’t know what to do with them because they are information and my brain is not meant to store info. it is meant to process it and solve it.

So if we have a clean and tidy brain we can direct the thoughts as to where they belong, create space in our brain to think new thoughts, and start processing, solving, and creating. Often our brains are crowded and don’t have space to do just that. The job that the Lord really wants our brain doing.

So where do we start?

A few weeks ago we decided to tidy-up, I think that is a Marie Kondo word in my mind now, and boy it was needed. I wanted to do a walk through of each room and see what fit, what didn’t and what needed to go. So I opened closets, pulled things out and saw what we were working with. After seeing it all I was able to really get a sense of what I had. Then I could make decisions about how much space was there and what would really fit.

 If you have watched Marie Kondo, or Home Edit on Netflix then you know exactly what I am talking about. Marie always has them pull it all out. Look at everything you have and from there decide what you really want and what you don’t want anymore. I love how she says to release it or let it go.

That is exactly where we start. Getting it all out. I like to call it a thought download or thought dump. I do this regularly and so do my clients. We know how to empty it all out, and I mean all. Get in the corners and behind the shelves. That is where some of the most interesting thoughts are. They are the hidden ones that come up randomly and so very few times, that they stay there taking up space.

So you can either put 2020 on the top of the page and start writing, or just start, it doesn’t matter just fill up page after page after page. Write about your disappointments, surprises, losses, wins, hopes, dreams, failures, confusion, doubts, fears, and struggles. But don’t forget about all the random thoughts too. The ones that you don’t even know why you have them, but they just keep showing up.

I LOVE having a place for everything in my house. I am not a fan of things just hanging out and if I don’t know where something goes, who does?

 The same is with your mind; you can have a place for everything. So take that list and start organizing what goes together in groups. My kiddos were putting all the Barbie toys in one area and all the art supplies in another area. Do that with your thoughts. Gather all the thoughts about relationships (dating, friendships, self, God, family), work, money, weight or body image, past, to-do’s, dreams, etc. Find all the common themes and group them.  

Then pretend you have one page for each category and decide what thoughts you want to keep and what thoughts you want to purposefully let go.  Clean it up. Throw out the thoughts you don’t want. You can cross them off your original list; you can compile those thoughts on one page and burn it, whatever you need to do. But now they aren’t up there anymore. You have one page filled with the thoughts you want to keep. Now store those pages in a file somewhere, but those are the thoughts we are allowing in our brain. They all have a place, nothing hanging out cluttering up the main processing, and creating space. You know what you have up there and you know it is tidy.

Once you have that done you get to open new categories in your brain. It is like you bought empty bins for your closet and you decide what goes in there. So what new thoughts do you want to start thinking? I would create these folders dating, 2021, goals, possible opportunities, books to read, problems to solve.

Just like my closet, I don’t have room to add anything new when it is crammed and full of old stuff taking up space, our brains can’t receive new thoughts if we have old thoughts taking up space.

Do yourself a favor and spend 30 minutes de-cluttering,I promise you it is so worth it and it’s kind of fun!

Organizing my mind too,

Angie