Last week I started listing some of the tips I’ve learnt during these past years in my own journey. I shared five tips:

1.    Having a strong why is very important

2.    Being prepared is 90% of the success

3.   Ensure you celebrate your wins and small accomplishments

4.    Be compassionate and intentional

5.    It’s a journey

Today, I share with you the rest of the tips with the hope that they’ll help you stay focused on your goals in your own journey.

6.     Focus on your own story 

This is tough, you’ll always want to see how others are doing and naturally you’ll compare yourself with them. But remember, you have your own story, which is different from anybody else. So, mind your own journey instead of comparing with others and where they are in their journey. Sometimes we are comparing our beginning with somebody that’s been at it for years, and that’s not reasonable. 

But of course, there is another side to the comparison issue, which takes me to the next point…

7.     Always be learning

If you are going to look at what others are doing, do it as a learning experience, not to put yourself down by comparing with them. It’s great to see how others are progressing and doing things, learning from others’ experience is very valuable and it’ll help you speeding up your own progress and it’ll also help you avoiding possible mistakes that others might have already made. Look to others as role models and use their experiences for progress, not for comparison. 

Also, equally important, always be learning about yourself. Bring awareness to your body, to your thoughts, to your feelings. Identify your beliefs. Identify your ways of learning, ways of thinking; see what works better for you. Are you a visual learner, or do you prefer audio learning, how do you remember things better? Explore different avenues. Acquire new skills and keep on improving daily.

8.     Learn from your mistakes

Talking about improving daily, whenever you make a mistake, whenever you fail, don't beat yourself up! Learn what is that it didn't work, then adjust and try something different and see how that works. You’ll made mistakes and you’ll fail, you are stretching yourself out of your comfort zone and everything is new and different, and that’s exactly the beauty of this. If you don't stretch, you don't grow. And if you don't grow you stay stuck. I don't want to stay stuck, do you?

9.     Be flexible

Know your goal but be flexible on how to get there, don't keep on trying only one approach that is not helping you on your progress. There are many ways to get to your goal, don't try to stick with your way…I love this quote from Chris Voss “Never be so sure of what you want that you wouldn’t take something better”.

It’s so true, sometimes you are so stuck in your own ways that you cannot see that there might be a better way to reach your goal. Be willing to explore and be open to the possibilities.  

10.  Know yourself

This one ties with the point about always be learning. Increase your knowledge about yourself. Know what things trigger you, what things help you being focused. Experiment with things to see what makes you being more productive. Use tools and ideas from others but shape them to be your own tools. I shared an example of how this idea affected my morning routine in this past blog. I knew about the power of the morning routine, but it wasn't until I adapt it to do what I like to do, that it stick with me. For that, you need to understand yourself, what your strengths are and what your weakness are, and work with that to move forward towards your goal.

11.  Share what you’ve learnt 

Use your new knowledge to help others, spread good ideas around you. Maybe your group of friends or family are not supportive of your goals, but sometimes, just by doing your own thing in front of them, you can set an example. Sticking to your goals, being consistent and sharing your discoveries and failures can be empowering. But, don't try to lecture the people around you. That's the last thing they want to hear. Do no try to force your ideas on anybody, just share your knowledge when someone is open to hear it without expecting them to join you on your goal. They have their own journey!

12.  Believe in yourself

Of course, this one seems so obvious, but sometimes is not so easy. When you have such big goals, you might feel discouraged because the destination is so far away. But you have to trust in the process and believe in yourself. Remember that this is your life, it’s your dream, and you can do it. You will have low days and excellent days, it’s all part of the journey and on those low days, just keep on moving forward, remember how far you’ve come and focus on just the next thing ahead. Small steps, one foot in front of the other. 

13.  Be your own cheerleader

Don’t expect that others will get you and what you are trying to achieve, there will be people that will not understand you. There will be people that will ask you to “cheat”, not because they don’t want you to succeed, but because they don’t understand your goal. So, be your own cheerleader, don't depend on others to cheer you up. They are not in your shoes and they don’t share your vision. Be ok with being the only one in the room with the salad when everyone is eating a burger. Get used to be the “weird” one that stands out…

One thing that I noticed being the one that stands out, is that it actually makes me feel empowered when I say no to something that most people would say yes. It makes me feel freaking good. It fuels me to keep moving. Try this for yourself, get used to the power of saying no!!

14.  Tracking and measuring progress

It’s also a very basic tip, I know, but sometimes you forget to track your progress and this is really important. Know your markers, what are you going to be tracking and how do you know that you’ve reached your goal and smaller steps along the way? 

For me, I have been tracking and writing down all my meals for the past years, I have an excel spreadsheet that I’ve been updating regularly with all my breakfast, lunches and dinners, along with notes on how I feel, exercise days, supplements, and tests I’m doing. Of course, over these years, I  have missed some days, but I’ve kept at it, and now I can look back when I first started and see how I was feeling and see how different foods affect me. A simple tool like an excel spreadsheet…

15.  Use technology

Talking about spreadsheets and tracking progress, use your gadgets to support you on you journey. Do you have a cell phone with you at all times? Set reminders in it so you remember to do those things that you need to. Schedule your days in the calendar. Set timers to get you moving. Use a fitness device to help you measuring your activity, use heart rate monitors if you are tracking your fitness. Use meditation apps to help you out. 

I personally have an Oura ring that helps me monitor my sleep, my body temperature and heart rate variability and helps me figure out my work out schedule according to how rested I am. I also use the Inner Balance app to train on increasing my heart rate variability coherence. 

As a closing thought, remember to approach your goal from a place of love and abundance instead of fear and lack.

In my case, I had to remember that my natural state is a state of health and wellbeing, that my body knows how to heal and that “I am not sick, I have a sickness”. This subtle realization was very important for me. Because I was assuming that my body was not working properly and it was at fault, that there was something wrong, when the truth for me is that my body is actually doing what it needs to do given the circumstances. It is actually working properly and defending itself in the way it’s supposed to be. Now it is for me to ensure that I remove the upsetting circumstances that are causing my body to attack itself. 

When I think about this, the quote from Mother Teresa comes to mind: “I will never attend an anti-war rally; if you have a peace rally, invite me.” 

So, I focus on supporting the health of my own body, not in fighting against sickness. I focus on coming from a place of love instead of fear. Initially my goal was fueled by the fear of getting another autoimmune disease but now I focus on the feeling of loving my body as it is right now and supporting it to be even better knowing that if I do that, my body will support me back.

Well, I hope this long list of my lessons learnt during these years’ adventure is of some help in your own journey.

Now, I’d love to hear from you, which of these tips resonates most with you? What are some of the lessons that you’ll use in your own journey? How can you ensure you stick to your own goals? 

Let me know below!

xoxo,

Sofia