Systems for Success in Life, Business & Home
This 30 minute call will introduce you to a business opportunity with Stephanie Rice and Brigitte Hinneberg. We are looking forward to sharing our exciting new business with you. We will also had a very special speaker also dialling in from Houston.
How often is it you find the bills and credit card statements all roll in at the same time, it can be stressful and inconvenient if your pay is late or a client still hasn’t paid their invoice.
Perhaps you know you won’t have enough money in the bank by the end of the month so you try to sort everything in the middle of the month.
Maybe you have been stung with late fees as you didn’t have enough to cover a direct debit.
You KNOW you make enough money every month to pay these bills, but it’s the due dates that can be stressful – you check your balance and find you are practically broke. Take the time to personalise the timing of some of your bills to fit into YOUR schedule.
Money tip – make a phone call – Ring your bank and ask them to change the statement day for your credit card statements, bank statements and most of your bills. You can chose a date based on the statement end date or on the due date (this is usually a fixed number of dates from the statement end date but it can vary from bank to bank). Statement dates close to the end of the month or first of the new month gives you a clean *cut off*. While you can always re-work your budget (spending) to go from a set date to a set date it’s easier to make that call and arrange things how YOU want it, not how your bank wants it.
Take action – review your bills – look at all your bills for the month and note the statement closing dates – if there are any that just won’t work with your new schedule or timing call the company and ask if dates can be changed and if so change it to the dates that suits you best. There are a few points to remember
The Payoff – take time to remember you OWN your money – your money doesn’t own you! You are firmly *in the driver’s seat* you’re NOT the victim – it’s up to you what you spend and how you spend it and ultimately how you will pay for it all. Like most people you hate overdraft fees and late fees and they ARE avoidable – you just need to plan a little better. So if you can keep that money in your pocket your money handling skills will grow stronger every day!
Whether or not you have your business up and running yet it’s critical you begin to visualise an existing business and see yourself running a successful enterprise. When I’m faced with challenges in my business, it’s my vision that keeps me going. When I look at the inspiring vision I set when I started my company, all complications fade and I’m motivated to push through and carry on.
Every major company in the world has a vision or mission statement – a broad, futuristic idea of what their company will achieve and look like in the future. Our five-step process helps you get there, but you need to know where “there” is first.
A vision statement is a broad, inspiring image of the future state a business aspires to reach. It describes without specifying how aspirations will be achieved, or when. It’s ambitious and forward-thinking. It’s not about where the organization is now… it’s about what the organization will be, or aspires to be.
A vision statement needs to:
The vision statement will also provide a clear criteria or measuring stick for decision-making. When making tough choices, ask “Does this support the vision statement?” If major initiatives don’t support the overall business vision, chances are they aren’t worth the investment of time and money.
If your business doesn’t have a vision statement, it needs one. If you already have one, then take this opportunity to strengthen it or make sure it’s aligned with the current dream you have for yourself and your company.
Your vision statement – once created, agreed to and perfected – should remain consistent and unchanged for several years.
Your staff need a strong, clear vision statement just as much as you do. When creating a vision statement, keep this in mind. The vision will need to be something that your staff can embrace, get excited about and that will motivate, inspire and build morale.
How will you communicate your vision to your employees once you’ve created it? How can you inspire them to nurture and support your vision on a daily basis, and in everything they do? How can you empower and motivate them to take ownership of the company’s future and their stake in it?
1. Start by looking at your strengths and weaknesses from the perspective of everyone who does business with you.
Think about strengths and weaknesses from the perspective of customers, staff, management, vendors or suppliers and owners.
For example, what would your customers say about your customer service standards? Would this area be considered a strength or a weakness? What would your staff say, or what would you want them to say about training and professional development opportunities? What do you think about your income and overall financial growth? Use this chart as a guide:
Strengths Weaknesses Customers Customer service Product or service availability and quality Business location Business image Staff Training Salary Professional development Benefits Quality of work environment Management Training Benefits Staff skills Vendors / Suppliers Product or service quality Owner (You) Income Business image Salary
2. Analyze your observations, and remember that your weaknesses represent great opportunities for change and improvement, while your strengths need to be nurtured and developed.
Take a look at what you’ve written and answer the following questions on your pad of paper:
3. Now that you’ve assessed where your business stands today, where do you want it to be? What opportunities exist?
Here you will take the strengths and opportunities you identified in step one, the analysis you completed in step two and start describing them in words. Use the chart below as your guide. Write three sentences that describe the future state of your business.
3. What opportunities and aspirations are the highest priorities for you and your business?
Take the sentences you created above and list them in order of importance to you. You may have to do this several times before you feel the order is accurate. Then combine duplicate sentences or ones that describe similar things. Once you’ve finished your list, take the top three to five sentences and combine them into a cohesive paragraph.
4. Refine your statements so that they’re broad, future-oriented and use words that reflect your values, priorities and dreams.
You need to refine your statement so it’s smooth, clear and easy to understand. Here’s a checklist to use when reviewing the words you’ve written:
TIP: You can use phrases like:
A leader in… Support the development of… Offer opportunities to… Continually create… Build on… Inspire… Develop… Facilitate… Achieve… Deliver… Bring together…
5. Include your staff in the vision creation process and ask them for feedback.
Do they understand the vision? Do they support it? Does it inspire them? Can they find meaning in their work based on it? Incorporate their feedback where possible and relevant.
6. Put your vision statement where everyone can see it – your staff, management, customers and vendors.
Once you’ve created your vision statement, share it with the world. Your vision is something you’ve committed to, and it lets everyone know where your company is heading. It allows them to see where you want to go, and gives them the opportunity to help you get there.
In the Momentum Business Academy e-learning program, we will show you how to work through a comprehensive goal-setting process that will act as the roadmap for achieving your vision. You’ll also review, in depth, the five-step process which is the strategy that you’ll use to achieve your goals, and in turn, the vision you’ve created. Find out more here: www.momentumbusinessacademy.com
By far the hardest things to keep track of in my day are my own thoughts and inspiration. Most mornings I get home from the gym, greet my children and then head straight into the kitchen to help with breakfast and lunches and getting everyone ready to go off to school. Whilst cutting carrot sticks and plating up pancakes, I invariably have a stream of thoughts racing randomly through my mind about the things I need to remember to do that day.
I really don’t want to forget these important thoughts and they are usually the most important things that really need to be addressed. While my hands are busy with food and helping, I can’t stop to write it all down, so here’s a quick and easy tool I use to capture those ‘to dos’ before they are forgotten.
I just open the ‘voice memo’ app on my iPhone and literally talk to myself! Here’s an example from today: “Morning B, today you need to remember to…go through Grace’s presentation with her again, make a hair appointment for sat night, send welcome packs to two new clients, go to the ATM to get money for the ironing, pick up the new glasses from OPSM, send the birth certificate to the rugby club for James and help Lachy with his reading.” That’s it.
Then once I’ve dropped the kids off at school, I jump back in the car, play the memo back and write them down. Then looking at the list, it’s a case of the four D’s – what do I DO, what do I DUMP, what do I DELEGATE and what do I DELAY?
See, juggling is simple! xx
The reason we want to get organised in life is so we can be, do and have what we desire. So it’s important to have a daily dose of inspiration to keep you going through the journey to getting and staying organised.
Sometimes when we talk about vision boards, people recall tacky old high-school collages. Well rest assured, you can leave all that behind. Your vision board needs to be inspiring, beautiful and make you feel amazing.
Busy entrepreneurial mums may initially feel like creating a vision board is a waste of precious time. But it is actually the opposite. A vision board can pull you much faster towards the life you are working so hard for by feeding the subconscious with powerful symbols and messages.
An important tip: don’t clutter up your vision board with too many images. That can be overwhelming and defeat the purpose. After all, this is the year you’re going to be organised,so a cluttered vision board is not what we’re after!
Engage that right brain of yours for some creative ideas on how you want to display your vision board.
I have used a kikki.K vision board.
Follow us on Pinterest to discover some great vision board ideas.
As you can see they are far from boring and actually rather beautiful.
It’s important to create something you love to look at. Remember that through this program, we are going to help you achieve your goals, so really you want to take them seriously enough to find some lovely images. But whatever you do, don’t get all left-brained about it. It must FEEL great. Also, think outside the square. Your images and items are symbols of the things you love and want to attract. They don’t have to be too literal.
This one is so beautiful. I love the pompom trim, the gorgeous wreath and the birds, the different whites and the linen background adds warmth and an earthy tone.
If you prefer more colour and life, check out the one below.
You can also create a digital version of your board so that you can see it any time. We’ve discovered a handy app called Vision Cooker. This displays you vision board on your mobile devices and desktop computers.
How will you display your vision board? What are some great ideas and layouts you have seen?
I’m very excited to announce that we are interviewing Barbara Pellegrino again soon for our 2014 vision board master class. Stay tuned – members will be invited to the webinar.
Here’s to Your Success,
Brigitte and Angie xx
Resources – Kikki k Vision Boards
Today’s female entrepreneur is described as diligent, capable, resourceful, courageous, energetic, active, audacious, passionate, self assured, gutsy, enterprising, imaginative, plucky, industrious and opportunistic. Despite all these words – and many words we didn’t list – overall she is courageous.
Woman have often found challenges in business, especially when up against men, they have not only the challenges of a career to contend with but trying to balance family and work and deal with many out there who feel a woman just isn’t as effective as a man in the entrepreneurial arena.
Thankfully thinking and times have changed, as a society we have come a long way and now women are being recognised and acknowledged for the work they do, and while there is still some need for *acceptance* the female entrepreneur’s courageous spirit is shining through. Women have begun turning to the small business/solo-professional field to become fully fledged entrepreneurs in their own right.
Women are no longer accepting of the *status-quo* they are up to the challenge of creating their OWN business dreams. They have the faith they need and trust in their own abilities to push against the tide and head off into those *uncharted waters*. It is this courageous spirit that allows her to open doors, close doors that don’t work for her and to develop new business skills. The female entrepreneur of today sets herself challenging goals, is willing to face anything and has an *onwards and upwards* plan to move ahead – from starting something new to completely re-inventing herself.
It’s her desire to succeed and the need to reach for her dreams that gives her the courage to achieve her goals.
As with anything the first step is the hardest, getting your business idea off the ground is daunting, but any feelings of anxiety or uncertainty can be conquered by that can-do courageous attitude. By believing in your goals, your morals and your skills you can achieve anything you set out to do. Stay true to yourself, stay motivated, set yourself goals and stick to them and seize any and all opportunities as they become available. This is the only way you can avoid any set-backs.
Today’s female entrepreneur doesn’t look back, she doesn’t pine over lost chances or missed opportunities she keeps to her goals, letting her heart and passion guide her. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger are words she lives by.
If your courage has gone into hiding – now is the time to sit down and visualise your goals, where do you want to be? How can you get there? Set yourself on the path to achieving your goals do whatever you need to do, achieve whatever you need to achieve to live that entrepreneurial dream.
Do it not just for yourself, but for those women out there, the ones who are looking up to you and admiring you for what you have achieved – you can become the role model for the next generation of female entrepreneurs.
I love the lifestyle that comes from running an online business. I get to work from home each day, set my own hours, choose my own projects, and enjoy abundant income. It’s hard for me to imagine how I’d feed myself without the Internet. When I think about income generation, I immediately think of the web.
I was talking to a successful entrepreneur recently who pointed out that building an online business is an exercise in personal development. He’s absolutely right. I’ve probably learned more valuable life lessons from my entrepreneurial pursuits than from any other areas of my life. Running a business tests you in so many ways — your self-discipline, your intelligence, your communication skills, your focus, etc. If you’re lacking in any of these areas, your business results will reflect it.
The real world of business can be unforgiving. Success is rewarded. Mistakes are punished. The benefit is that it keeps you honest. You can’t settle for weakness, laziness, and bad ideas, or your business will fail. There’s a huge chasm between an idea that sounds good and an idea that actually gets implemented and succeeds under real-world conditions. Anyone can come up with good ideas, but most people can’t successfully implement them.
Some people can’t handle the pressure of running their own business. They worry about the risk of failure. They’re looking at it from the wrong angle though. That risk is precisely the point. Risk is what helps you grow. It makes you stronger. An entrepreneur who fears risk is like a bodybuilder who’s afraid of barbells.
There have been times when I had to deal with tough problems, like having bills due but no money to pay them. These problems made me dig deep inside myself. My business compelled me to grow into the kind of person who could handle these sorts of things. I learned to trust myself to work hard, to stay focused under pressure, and to even enjoy the process.
We all have different levels of risk tolerance. You don’t need to stress yourself out to grow. You just need to challenge yourself in a way that stimulates you. Lift weights that are heavy and which tax your muscles… but which you can still successfully lift. Afterwards you may feel spent, but you’ll also grow from the experience. If you only do what comes easy for you, you’ll suffer from atrophy, and life will become rather boring and pointless.
In the age of the Internet, I think almost everyone should have an online business… if only for the growth experience. It doesn’t cost much to start one, but it will teach you so much. Perhaps the greatest benefit is that you’ll learn you do have something of value to share with the world, something that can generate income for you for the rest of your life.
In a way I’m jealous of the teenagers and 20-somethings who are growing up so Internet savvy. Any of them could start their own online businesses and get ahead financially at a young age. I would have loved to have been doing this in high school or college. It’s terrific that some people are becoming millionaires at such a young age, but I think the real success stories come from those who find a way to generate just a few thousand dollars per month, enough to cover their expenses.
My kids are only 4 and 7 years old, but I’m already thinking about how I might help them start their own websites soon. My daughter is very artistic, so who knows? Imagine if by the time she becomes an adult, she already has a steady stream of cashflow from websites she created during her teen years.
Running an online business is deceptively simple. Look at my web site, for example. The structure isn’t very complicated. It’s mostly just a lot of content and a lot of ads. But it consistently generates a nice five-figure monthly income. Anyone can do it, right?
Unfortunately, not everyone can do this. People try and fail all the time. The success stories get a lot of attention, but there are orders of magnitude more failures.
The key factor in building a successful online business is traffic. If you can’t build sufficient traffic, you won’t be able to generate much, if any, income. And unfortunately most people are really bad at building traffic. They apply completely inept strategies that don’t work, and they usually give up within a few months after starting.
Building traffic is not remotely easy for most people. This problem isn’t unique to the web though. You see it in every field. Some authors sell millions of books, while the average book doesn’t even sell 5,000 copies. Lots of people can write a book, but relatively few know how to sell a book. Lots of people can create a web site or blog these days, but few know how to attract large amounts of traffic.
If you can successfully build lots of traffic, it’s fairly easy to generate income from it. You also have time to figure it out. If you can grow your traffic, you can maintain your traffic, and that gives you time to figure out how to monetize the traffic.
In the past I’ve written articles trying to teach people how to build successful online businesses, including How to Make Money From Your Blog and How to Build a High-Traffic Website. Those were long, detailed articles, and both have become extremely popular in the blogosphere. I didn’t charge any money for this content — it’s all free. Those articles inspired a lot of people (hundreds that I know of) to enthusiastically start their own websites. Some of those people are doing quite well now, but most that I’ve been aware of have failed miserably.
Why did most people fail? I think the reason was that the whole process of running an online business is just too complicated for most people. There are lots of ways to screw it up. It pained me to visit some of those sites and notice a dozen glaring mistakes within the first few seconds — blogs that didn’t enable permalinks, cutesy headlines with no keywords in them, bad choice of topics, page titles that still used the WordPress default format, hideously suboptimal ad layouts, hidden or missing contact info, etc. Any one of those mistakes could cripple a site’s results. More than one is a practically a death sentence. Such mistakes cause problems both for human visitors and search engines.
But at the same time, there were teenagers humming along just fine, generating four figures in monthly income after working on their sites for 6-12 months. They didn’t necessarily get everything right, but they were Internet savvy enough to fix the big problems early.
What bothered me most about this was that people were too often failing because of the technology. Many of them had great ideas and very good content. It was a shame to read some of their articles and think to myself, This is great stuff… too bad no one will ever see it.
The cruel and unfair part of online business is that if you aren’t very Internet savvy, you’ll make mistakes on the technical side that you’re totally oblivious to. You may get the content side right, but the technology will bite you and cripple your results.
In my “How to Make Money From Your Blog” Article, I did correctly identify this problem and suggested that 99 out of 100 people would fail because of it. But it’s still a pretty unfair situation. There are people who can write great content who really deserve to be getting a lot of readers, but because they don’t understand permalinks, RSS feeds, pinging, or other technologies, they’re doomed before they start.
Once I saw this happening, I basically decided I’d better shut up about encouraging people to run an online business. People kept asking me for new articles on the subject, but I didn’t think it was a good idea. I was concerned I’d be doing more harm than good.
Recently I came across a vastly superior solution to this problem — a way for people to build a successful online business that doesn’t require them to become technology gurus.
What I recommend is a service called Site Build It! – it’s an all-in-one solution for creating and building an online business. You pay an annual fee for the service, and they provide you with all the tools you need to build an income-generating web site. They host the site for you, they help you register your domain name, and they provide integrated tools like point-and-click page generators, built-in blogging, form builders, RSS feeds, and lots more. Many of these details will be handled for you, so you don’t have to worry about them.
You still create your own content, and you use their tools (or your own familiar tools) to create a site based on your unique ideas. You focus on the content side. They help you with the technical implementation side.
I don’t recommend this solution for everyone. If you’ve already built a successful website that generates thousands of dollars a month for you, you won’t need this. I don’t need it myself. But if you’re one of those people that have been held back by the technical complexity, then this is definitely something you should look at. This is the kind of solution I’d recommend in a heartbeat for my non-programmer friends who want to get something going online but quickly become lost in a sea of jargon.
There’s a lot to explain about this service and why I think it’s a great idea for most people interested in building a successful online business. So I wrote a whole separate article about that here:
That article is my personal impression of the Site Build It! service, and it contains many links to their site for more info. The most important link is their 30-minute video tour. If you have even a slight interest in running an online business, it will be worth your time to watch it. It starts out mostly motivational, but it becomes more educational as it goes along. Even if you’re not interested in their service, I think you’ll get something out of it. I especially liked the segment on monetization strategies.
If you’re interested, just be aware that it will take some time for you to look into this service and decide if it’s right for you. The Site Build It! site has a lot of detailed information on it. In my article I’ll provide you with some ideas for where to get started to find the most critical pages. If you really like to do your homework before making a decision like this, you’ll find no shortage of detail.
Site Build It! also has one of the most generous affiliate programs on the Internet. Some of their affiliates earn more than $10,000 per month. I recently became an affiliate myself after seeing what a great service this will be for people. If you’re looking for new income sources for your web site, just read the last section of Build Your Own Successful Online Business, which will explain why this affiliate program is so strong.
Running an online business can be a wonderful growth experience, and the income and freedom it can provide is certainly nice too. People really shouldn’t be deprived of this opportunity for technical reasons. The self-publishing power of blogging technology has gotten us partway there, but it’s only one piece to the puzzle. I encourage you to take a good look at Site Build It!, since I think you’ll find that their system fills in the remaining gaps, putting online business success within reach of most people.
This is by no means a get-rich-quick program. You’ll still need to put in the time and energy to create quality content for your web site, but at least you won’t have to worry as much about the technical side.
So long, 2013 financial year and hello to a brand new one! This week we’re making sure our clients have a simple system for success for the 2014 financial year. I want to share a few features of that with you today.
If you’re familiar with our online program Milking it, you’ll know that we like to make people’s lives easier and simpler with systems for success. And one of those systems we teach is a financial system, ‘Milk Money’. We bet that if you told all of your friends about it, they wouldn’t believe how simple and effective it actually is. Every household needs one and every business needs one. It’s neat, it’s simple and once you set it up, you just maintain it.
Join us now!
So, before I show you the four things about this simple system, let me ask you a question. What are you going to do differently this year? How are you going to make your 2014 financial year successful?
How about getting your own system in place? Your system should be made up of four things:
Let me give you an example. Here’s how we helped our client Kate* set up her financial system. We helped Kate to make the complex simple. At the end of last financial year, she knew she couldn’t afford to have another year of chaos. Her family and her business depended on her success so she asked me to work with her to turn things around for the better.
Kate wanted to get her financial house in order and to make more money this year but she didn’t have a plan. Here’s the system we set up:
1. People:
The most important part of any system is the ‘people’ aspect. Who are the people in your financial system? With my client Kate, they were her family – her husband and three kids. In addition, she had a bookkeeper and an accountant. She also sought advice from her father so he was a stakeholder in her system. All those people were involved in Kate’s ‘system’ and they needed to understand her vision and goals.
Another important person in your ‘system’ is your accountability partner. You need someone to hold you accountable for your goals and actions. Kate hired me to hold her accountable to her goals. But for you, that could be a friend or someone you trust.
People have tendencies, attitudes, habits, behaviours and it’s always good to consider these factors when you go about making your plans. One interesting thing about your people is to observe their attitudes towards money. What do you believe is possible for you to achieve financially? Why? With Kate, we discovered that she had some limiting beliefs about money. Once she was aware of them, Kate was able to make some changes.
2. Processes:
Every successful outcome is the result of certain things happening in a certain order. If you want to lose weight, you could take every diet book in the library and distil the messages down to one equation: Ingest fewer calories and exert more energy. It’s no more complicated than that.
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The same applies to your money. If you want to create wealth, all you have to do is increase your incomings & decrease your outgoings. It’s as simple as that.
It’s an equation.
But what we’ve learned with Kate and other clients is that people have a habit of making stuff complicated.
Here’s the process we take. It’s so simple:
Once I got Kate to really understand this very simple process, the rest was easy. Kate confessed she had actually never planned a financial year before. She was too busy trying to keep track of the ‘reality’ of her financial position.
In Milk Money, which is module 6 in our online program, we focus on money and we talk about money!
Nothing grows in the dark. And sticking your head in the sand gets you nowhere.
When you set up your financial system for success, not only do you increase your money power, but you also increase your energy by reducing stress and thus improving health.
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When you have a stable system for success, you will continue to create more and more wealth. In Module 12, we help you with the other part of your wealth plan: your business and how to make it more profitable. We teach you sales and marketing systems, social media, CRM, project management, people management, and all the turn key systems that will make your business efficient.
3. Rules:
No system can ever work without rules. You need to spell out the obvious to yourself and everyone else. Otherwise it all falls apart. Think about the kitchen: if you don’t stack the dishwasher at the end of the day, the dishes won’t be clean. Here are some rules we set up with Kate, to ensure her financial system kept running smoothly:
4. Tools:
The tools are what everyone commonly thinks of as a financial system. Now you know better – they’re just tools. Without the people, the processes and the rules, the tools are useless. Here are the tools Kate had at her disposal to make it all work:
We’ve helped thousands of people all around the world get organised and save many thousands of dollars each year with our systems for success. Maybe it’s time we could help you?
Come and join us TODAY. Stop delaying it. We can’t wait to help you start Milking It in Life, Business and Home!
*Kate gave me permission to use her story, but her name was changed to protect her privacy.
Are you sick of all the beating around the bush about diet and exercise? Do you just want a program that works, because you’re too busy with the rest of your life to be agonising over your health?
This week in our Momentum Platinum group we have been getting down into the nitty gritty of health and fitness. We call this part of the program ‘Energy Flow’. Each member is setting up their own ‘System for Success’ to get optimal energy and to maintain their bodies in peak condition. Nothing helps you save time, energy and money like having your mind and body in the high performance zone.
To help clarify some of our questions, I interviewed leading personal trainer Paul Steele who leads a team of 17 trainers at the fabulous Go Health clubs, super club in Nundah – my local health club.
Warning – this is a very ‘real’ conversation, with no big claims or quick fixes. The Milking It and Momentum Platinum programs focus on Systems for Success that you can maintain and build on for the rest of your life. We’re not interested in fads that fizzle out.
The great thing about our chat, was that Paul knows all of the science about optimal health, but he just focuses on ‘what works’. I’m inspired by his advice – especially the part about de-stressing and sleep!
The questions came from our group discussion.
Is it possible to lose the excess flabby skin that you are left with after having children through diet and exercise?
Unfortunately, it is very difficult to regain skin elasticity through diet and exercise. It is definitely possible to get a flat chiselled stomach post natal; however the actual skin elasticity is a different kettle of fish. There are skin care treatments and other methods of improving the skin in this area. By losing weight gradually, you can avoid much of the excess skin that results from rapid weight loss.
I recommend getting 2-3 sessions of resistance training (i.e. weights or body weight resistance exercises) per week, with 1 – 2 High intensity interval training sessions. Any amount of cardio will be bonus on top of these, however 30 minutes of short bouts of high intensity efforts will stimulate your metabolism and really maximise your calorie consumption; both during the session, and for the hours proceeding. Additionally, look after yourself! Sleep and stress management are huge factors when it comes to fat loss! Studies have shown that increased amounts of stress, drives your cortisol levels up which in turn increases belly fat.
A flat tummy won’t come from doing a thousand sit ups… Put simply, a flat tummy will come from decreasing stress and increasing your calorie output to calorie input. More specifically, you will achieve fantastic results and drop huge amounts of stomach fat by increasing your insulin sensitivity. See article on insulin here, for a deeper understanding of the role of insulin.
Consistency is paramount!
No. 1 tip – Do not make any changes to your diet that you cannot maintain for the rest of your life! I have seen it time and time again; people taking on diets that cause dramatic weight loss initially, however eventually your lifestyle will return to ‘normal’ and you will regain the weight, plus more. Starving yourself to lose weight is both dangerous and not effective as it makes your metabolic rate sluggish! Additionally, your energy, concentration and overall performance will drop.
Rather, take it step by step. Start by improving your choice for breakfast. Once you have established a comfortable routine with breakfast move on to lunch etc.
For a lot of people, especially busy mums, improving your breakfast nutrition begins with making sure you have breakfast!
Also start by swapping sugary cereals or white toast, with some high quality oats and berries. Alternatively, there is a lot of contemporary research advocating for a high protein and fat breakfast, e.g. omelette with chicken and a handful of almonds. The basis behind this breakfast is improved blood sugar regulation, i.e. improves insulin sensitivity.
Plan your meals! Take the tough choice away by preparing your meals and having them ready to go. “Fail to plan, you plan to fail”… If you haven’t planned or packed your meals, you will often finding yourself choosing between eating crap or starving yourself…. This is a lose/lose situation so take the time to prepare and you will achieve great success.
As above…. They’re s*%t 🙂
A lot of exercises professionals advocate for 6 meals/day… I find that 4-5 planned meals/day achieves great success and doesn’t cause too much stress and thus – cortisol production.
Haha, well everything in moderation!
But seriously, if you establish a sound routine of exercise and nutrition, there is no reason why you can’t introduce cheat snacks/meals more frequently. I tend to encourage my clients one cheat meal a week when they begin with me, and then we increase the frequency of these if their progress and results justify it. This is possible because as you increase muscle mass, decrease fat and increase your metabolic rate, you can process junk food more efficiently.
Similar to chocolate in that in moderation can be okay. However the alcohol content itself does have other impact aside from the pure calories involved. It is also affects your hormone levels and can therefore be quite devastating on your energy and performance etc. Not to mention the resolves you have with making healthy food choices once you’ve had a few wines..;)
If you’re interested in joining a program that helps you get organised and save time, energy and money in your life, business and home, and you want to have FUN in the process, then come and join us today! http://www.didyourememberthemilk.com.au/milkingit/milkingit_join.htm
More about Paul:
Paul has played rugby union semi-professionally and is a sometime champion boxing coach and was sportsman of the year for his senior year at school. Paul is qualified in Atlas functional training and rehabilitation, Crossfit level 1, Biosignature, Joseph coyne optimal fat loss, trigger point performance therapy and is a Grit strength instructor….I’m exhausted just thinking about all this!
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