Leaders Create a Future that Wouldn’t Otherwise Exist
Today I was reminded about the importance of habits. I just started listening to a new book, called Atomic Habits by James Clear. If you haven’t picked it up, I highly recommend reading it. In the book, it discusses the idea that we are what we repeatedly do. Have you heard this quote before? I know I have. Our days are filled with choices and decisions and I believe that the quality of our lives is a direct reflection of the quality of our decisions. I know because I used to make some really bad choices. Through my journey of self leadership, I have learned what is important to me and I’ve created a vision of my future self. In that vision, I am a wife, a mother, a NY times best selling author, a leadership coach, an athlete and a philanthropist. I have a strong connection to the person I want to become. Every day I take small steps towards becoming this person. There are moments where I don’t feel ready but what I know is that successful people do things even when they aren’t ready.
When I opened up a restaurant in 2009, I had no idea what I was doing. What I did know was that I wanted to help people eat healthy. I had recently discovered my passion for fitness after finding myself overweight after I graduated college. I didn’t gain the freshman 15 - it was more like the graduate 30. During college I was so worried about gaining weight that I became obsessive. Instead of making healthy choices to keep the weight off, I made the most unhealthy choices. Mainly, to not eat. And when I did decide to eat, I would binge eat and then make myself throw it all up. Sounds like a future healthy restaurateur right?
After graduation, I decided I wanted to move to the mountains to foster my love for snowboarding. 2 weeks after graduation I packed up my bags and headed towards Winter Park, Colorado. When I arrived, I immediately fell in love with the outdoors and the lifestyle that went along with at. I spent hours on the mountain each day and at night, my choice of dinner was donuts and grilled cheese. You can imagine what one might look like with a diet like that. After a few months of living there, I went home to Virginia for my sister’s wedding and when it was time to try on our bridesmaids dresses, mine didn’t fit. Talk about stress for my sister the day before her wedding! It was that moment that I decided that I needed to make a change and that I would start working out.
I went from eating disorder, to weight gain, to finding myself at the gym for 6am workouts. It started with a desire for more and a belief that I could attain it. I began working out 5 days a week, I made it part of my daily routine. I started educating myself on nutrition. I set a goal for myself to run a half marathon. Mind you that 2 years ago, I had barely finished the Turkey Trot with my sister in D.C. What I learned about goal setting is that it pushes you towards becoming the person you want to be. Because in order to reach those goals, I had to make different choices every single day. It was those choices that have gotten me to where I am today.
Since starting my fitness journey as a non athlete, I’ve run 5 Half Marathons, 1 Full Marathon, finished a GoRuck which is a grueling 50 mile overnight hike, completed a race that went up a 14,000 ft elevation mountain, competed at 5 NPC Figure Competitions, placing in the top 3, competed in over 10 CrossFit competitions and 4 USAW Weightliging meets. Not to mention, I opened and operated 2 fast casual healthy restaurants to help people eat healthy and live healthier lifestyles.
I didn’t just list out these accomplishments to make myself feel good, although I am pretty proud of myself. I listed these out to show you that with small daily habits and a vision for where you want to go, anything is possible.
My vision today is to give people the tools to change their habits and ultimately their lives.
“You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” —- John C. Maxwell