SigmaU Blog

Perhaps you're embarking on a new year with grand ambitions. Some goals may even seem risky and require courage to take on.

Calculated risk is what high achievers do to leapfrog past average performers. They demonstrate courage more often than their peers and as a result, they see consistent and significant success.

We’re naturally inclined to minimize risk or avoid it all together. But what if we thought about risk in a new way? 

R- RISE UP

New levels if success will require us to abandon old habits and patterns that aren't in line with the person required to meet our bold goal. Look at calculated risk towards a big goal as a way to rise up. What are some of the habits you currently have that no longer serve the person you’re striving to become? What habits do you currently do that support that future best self and how can you amplify them to reach your goal? Where do you find inspiration to rise? Is it a friend, coach, author, or podcast host? What would it look...

The days, months and years can slip by in a haze if we’re not intentional about how we approach each day. This can happen during times of extreme stress or change, but it can also creep up on us where we realize that a decade has passed and we’ve been going through the motions.

Here are a few ways we can take deliberate action and be even more intentional and live with purpose.

Set Daily Intentions

Brendon Burchard’s High Performance Planner is an awesome tool to use to set your day up with intention. You start by journaling answers to questions such as how you want to show up that day. What emotions do you want to have that day? Who needs you on your A-Game? Setting intentions about how you want to show up is a fantastic way to increase the way you live with clear intentions. If you have a tough meeting, set intentions about how you want to show up. How would your best self handle conflict?

Have a Kaizen Mindset

Kaizen is an approach to creating continuous...

Think of your ideal life, your ultimate goal or current target. How badly do you want it?

Most people will say that they are committed but their attitudes, and more importantly their actions, don’t back their claims.

I get it. It takes courage to call your shot and when you do, you must follow through. No one is coming to save you or even cheer you on when you need it. That’s an unpopular statement but true and if you do have someone in your corner cheering you on, that’s a rare and beautiful gift. Embrace it!

As high performers, you and I must be committed to the process, call our shots, and then work relentlessly to make it happen!

What inevitably holds most people back?

We’ve been “sold” the lie that it should be easy!

It’s not going to be easy. You’re not going to have balance for a certain amount of time and you’re going to get knocked down time and time again. Too many people promote a que sera sera lifestyle, what will be...

I accidentally leveled up the other day! Let me explain. I was running on the treadmill and didn’t realize that I had mistakenly pressed the speed button higher than usual. It wasn’t until I looked down that I noticed I had been running at a pace that was new for me and presumably outside of my comfort zone.

I learned from that experience to question my comfort zone. In that moment, I thought to myself “where else am I holding myself back from leveling up”? Clearly, the speed that I had previously gotten comfortable at was a pace slower than I was capable of.

Sometimes we level up when we’re thrown into a situation we’re unprepared for or we press the speed button without realizing it!

Here are some ways that you and I can be intentional about leveling up…

1. Our Associations

The people you surround yourself with matter to your level of success. This could be personally or professionally. It could be physically, your nutrition,...

I was on a group coaching call last night and my coach and mentor made a statement that made me stop dead in my tracks.

He said, “Same distractions, same year”! BOOM!

What a concept and so incredibly true. He was walking us through an exercise to evaluate our distractions and things we needed to eliminate to focus on our goals in the coming year.  When he said that, I literally said “WOW” out loud, put down my pen and shook my head.

It got me thinking.  We will continuously have a carbon copy of the year before unless we shake things up! I once heard someone say something to the effect that people who live the same lives over and over each year stop living well before their dead!

As I reflected on this powerful statement, I started substituting distractions for other words.

Same distractions, same year.

Same associations, same year.

Same nutrition plan, same year.

Same workouts, same year.

Same date nights, same year.

Same habits, same year.

I...

We’re near the end of the year and some of you are STOKED that you’ve reached or surpassed your goals – awesome! For others, you may feel frustrated that you’re off track and feeling in a bit of a funk.  Regardless of where you’re at, I want to encourage you today. You can reignite the fire with a few sparks!

First, revisit your north-star! What is your long-term goal?  Do you take on new things or develop daily habits that support your vision for the future. This also helps you eliminate the crap in your life that distracts you, like cat videos on social. Your north-star will keep petty things in perspective.  You’ll have to let some things go that aren’t worth your emotional, mental, or physical energy. Release and move on, if it’s out of alignment with future you!

Next, you want to revisit why your goal matters so much! What will you feel like once you’ve accomplished your goal? What do you wear? Where do you...

We’re in the homestretch for 2022 and for some this is exciting as you’re right on track with your goals. For others, you may feel a sense of frustration or even dread that the year is coming to an end, and you may miss the mark.

Now is the time to buckle down and get hyper-focused on the goals that matter most to you.

We’ve just had Canadian thanksgiving; Halloween is around the corner and the holiday parties will be starting up in November. This can be a dangerous time for the proverbial wheels to come off as we indulge here, compromise there, and the next thing we know it’s the end of the year and we’ve undone all our positive habits.

I want to encourage you to flip your thinking a little on a couple of concepts that I learned while studying to become a High-Performance Coach. One is that Christmas day is just that, it’s a day.  It’s not a week, month or quarter to celebrate so keep that in check so you feel proud of how you handle...

Accountability starts with you! That can be harsh to hear, but it’s true, and a lesson that I’ve learned over the past couple of years.

No one is coming to hold your hand, or mine, to make sure we get stuff done.  The person who cares the most is standing in the mirror.

We may have friends that support us, accountability partners we check in with and coaches who champion us along; at the end of the day, its up to us to get the work done.

I’ve found that friends and even accountability partners can let us off the hook too easily.  We make a big claim about our fitness, and we falter. Often, we’re met with niceties such as “don’t be so hard on yourself”, “you needed a day off”. While this feels good in the moment it’s not what we need and it won’t challenge or change us.

We make the change every time we decide to make a promise, set a goal, and then do it no matter what. Coincidently, every time we keep that...

Have you ever noticed, you feel most alive and fulfilled when you’re under pressure; working towards something outside of your comfort zone? Perhaps, it’s a Big Hairy Audacious Goal that’s stretching you way further than you thought was possible.

Maybe, it’s a lifelong dream to live somewhere else, start a side hustle, move careers, or take the plunge and invest fully in creating the healthiest body you’ve ever had.

Once you have you goal defined, you can move full STEAM ahead!

S – Spark

When your heart is on fire, you’re lit up and excited about your big goal, you have a spark. A burst of energy that will sustain you!  When your goal gets you excited, you have crystal clear focus and become unstoppable! Even though you’re navigating unchartered terrain, you know you’re on the right path and the energy follows!

T- Time

We create time for what matters most! I once had a mentor tell me time wasn’t my issue; prioritizing...

I failed miserably lately BUT, here are the lessons I learned...

Let me back up a bit.  Back in August 2021 I started a program called 75Hard and as you guessed, it’s damn hard y’all.  It’s a physical and mental program to condition you to become resilient and disciplined.  It took a lot of determination. I lost my dad on day 23 of the program and was hell bent on making it to day 75, and did.  I promptly cried like a baby once I had completed it because I felt so proud of how I showed up during one of the darkest periods of my life.

Compromise compounds quickly

Fast forward a few months later and I started compromising.  Instead of eating clean every day of the week, which is part of the program, I “cheated” on a Friday. Instead of working out twice a day each day I started skipping my second work out. It wasn’t anything big that happened at once, it was small little seemingly insignificant compromises that compounded...