064: What I did Right (and Wrong) in 2019

Introduction 

You're listening to Biceps After Babies Radio episode number 64

Hello and welcome to Biceps After Babies Radio. A podcast for ladies who know that fitness is about so much more than pounds lost or PRs. It's about feeling confident in your skin and empowered in your life. I'm your host, Amber Brueseke, a registered nurse, personal trainer,
online fitness coach, wife, and mom of four. My guests and I will excite and motivate you to take action in your own personal fitness as we talk about nutrition, exercise mindset, personal development, and executing life with conscious intention. If your goal is to look, feel, and be strong and experience transformation from the inside out, you, my friend are in the right place. Thank you for tuning in, now let’s jump into today’s episode.

(00:48)

Hey, Hey, Hey. Welcome back to another episode of Biceps After Babies Radio. I'm your host, Amber Brueseke and today we're going to do a little bit of reflecting. We are wrapping up 2019 and I can't even believe that 2020 is almost here. Like, I really remember when I was in high school thinking like 2020 was like ridiculously far away, right? Like we were going to be able to have flying cars in 2020. So it's a little bit crazy that it's already here. But at the end of the year I am, well, first of all, I'm big on goals and I am big on reflecting on those goals. And so as we wrap up 2019, that's where I kind of my mind goes is I go into reflection mode and I think this is really important. I talk a lot and teach a lot about uh, you know, looking forward and setting goals and working towards them.

Reflecting on Goals (01:42)

But I do think it is important that we stop every now and then and we do some reflection. That's where we learn the lessons that we need to learn. And if we don't ever do that reflection and we're only ever looking forward, one, we're not really celebrating what we've accomplished. And two, we're not learning the lessons that we need to from the experiences that we had. So back in episode number 14, all the way back in episode number 14, I outlined what my 2019 goals were going to be and so today I kind of wanted to do a little bit of update on them. I think, um, I wanted to share with you what happened with those goals, how I did. Some of them I hit, some I didn't hit and I really encourage you to pull out the goals that you made at the beginning of the year.

Maybe you don't remember what they were, maybe you don't even know where they are. But I hope that you had some goals written down. I encouraged you to have some goals written down at the beginning of 2019 and I think it's really important to reflect back on them even if it means you didn't do anything. Even if you go back and reflect and you're like, well, I didn't do anything towards that goal. That is still feedback my friend. That is not a failure. That is feedback. In episode number 28, if you haven't listened to that episode, that's an excellent one. To go back and listen to episode number 28 “Failure Doesn't Exist.” I talk about this concept of the fact that I don't believe in failure. I believe you either get the result that you wanted or the lesson that you needed and so for you it may be that the, you know, there's a lesson in there that you needed of either you set too lofty of a goal or you didn't set little goals that lead up to the big goal that you weren't committed.

Goals are Worth Setting (03:24)

Like there's a lesson in there for you to learn and I really, really like irks my tater a little bit when people say that we shouldn't set goals or new year's resolutions because people don't complete them or because like everyone forgets about them, that's not a reason not to set them. It's a reason to set them and then actually create a plan on how you're going to be successful. And if you weren't successful, there's no need to beat yourself up. We don't have to create meaning around that. We don't have to say that it means you're an awful person and that you're never going to get that result. But I do want you to learn the lessons because here's the truth. Most people don't learn the lessons and so then they get stuck and they repeat the same lessons over and over and over again and the same mistakes because they haven't actually learned the lesson.

And so learn the lesson. Let's just get through it. I talk about this a lot in the failure episode. Let's like let's get through the lesson so that we can start to get the results that we want and we can start to create those results that we want in our life. So we're going to do a little bit of review of my goals. Hopefully this is prompting you to do a little bit of a review on your goals and I'm going to tell you about how I did and what some of the things were that I did really well. Some of the things that I maybe didn't do quite as well. And, um, kind of do a little bit of reflection on my goals that I set for 2019.

Goal #1: (04:41)

So we're gonna start out with goal number one for me was to double my business revenue and that is a big huge checkmark. Um, we actually tripled our revenue in 2019 and so that was really, really exciting. Um, Biceps After Babies grew a lot over the year, both me personally and the business and my team. And, um, I have, I don't even know how many contractors we have now working with us, but we have a core team of four of us and, um, a lot of different contractors working, doing things from website development to graphic design to SEO, to um, copywriting. And so I've been able to outsource a lot of the things in the business that need to be done, but that don't necessarily need to be done by me. And so that's been really fun because what it means is I get to spend more of my day doing the things that I really love and that really help people. Um, you know, building my website doesn't really directly help people but now I spend more of my time doing the podcast and getting on coaching calls and coaching in MACROS 101 Facebook group and um, all the things that like actually light me up and really get me excited and it's like why I created a business, right? It's like help people and to one on one with people and to be able to help them through their struggles and be able to see their successes and I get to do that now more as I've been able to up my team. So 2019 was a really awesome year for Biceps After Babies and I'm so excited that you're here and that you're with us and that we are planning to continue the growth in 2020. I have some really awesome team members that we've brought on recently and I'm excited to continue to see them grow as the business grows. That's, that is also something that's been kind of fun that I had that didn't really expect was I love pouring into my clients. Like I love coaching clients and seeing their transformations. That's really awesome. But what I didn't really expect was seeing these women that I'm bringing into the team and how I get to see their transformations personally and in the business and as they develop and grow their skills. And so that's been really exciting as well to see the women who we bring in that I'm able to touch people in the fitness world, but then also the women who come in and work on my team with me.

MACROS 101: (07:02)

So 2020 is going to be an awesome year and I can already feel it. So we did a lot of good things with the business. We definitely grew our revenue. We launched MACRS 101 for the first time, we ended up doing three big launches for that. And a lot of you are MACROS 101 clients and alumni and that was has been really exciting. MACROS 101 has been incredibly successful both as a business standpoint and also as a client transformation standpoint. And we, I love sharing my client successes because it really, hopefully for you shows that it is possible. It's possible for you regardless of how old you are, about what your financial situation is about, what your medical situation is like, these goals that you want to set and achieve are possible for you. And we've had so many huge successes in our MACROS 101 community, and it's just been an honor and a privilege to be able to coach these women through the process or those of you who are in MACROS 101, you know, that we talk about how to count macros, but that the program is so much more than that.

And I have a very unique and um, and like very strategized way that I coach clients and we get deep into, um, a lot of the things that most coaches don't get that deep into. Um, most of the time what I hear from clients is they're like, I've had other macro coaches, but like I've never experienced anything like this. And that is because we don't just teach the how, like the, how only gets you so far. We have to tap into the identity level. We have to tap into what you're telling yourself. We have to tap into what you believe about yourself. And so the way that I take clients through this process is we start with that. Our first step with my clients is believe it. We have to focus on believing first. Then I can teach you the things, right? Then we learn it. That's our next step. I can teach you how to count macros and then we nail it. We focus on consistency and why you're not being consistent because so many of you know what you're supposed to do, but then you don't actually execute it and you're like, you're missing that consistency piece.

MACROS 101 cont: (09:18)

And there are reasons why you're missing that consistency piece. And it isn't the fact that you just need to try harder. That's not the reason. So we talked a lot about self sabotage and that's something I see a lot of my clients. So we, we do nail it is third. And then the fourth step is adjusted. And this is where I love the fact that when we count macros, we are doing a consistent input into our body. And so we can look at the results that we're getting and we can adjust according to those results. And so those are the four steps that I take clients through inside MACROS 101 and we will be reopening the doors January 21st of 2020 so if you have been wanting to get into that program, we will have, um, we will not be having three openings in 2020 so it's going to be, um, probably only twice that we will open the doors. So the first time will be in January, January 21st of 2020 get that on your calendar. And if you are really serious and you want to make sure that you don't miss the announcement about doors opening, go to www.bicepsafterbabies.com/waitlist and you can sign up and get on the wait list and then watch for an email from me because it'll January be here before you know it and we'll be launching MACROS 101 again.

Goal #2: (10:30)

Okay. So the second goal that I had is to give more. And I really wanted to put an emphasis on giving and being generous and feeling abundant with the things that we have in our life, the blessings that we have, the monetary blessings that we have to be able to share that with other people. And so, um, we did, we gave, uh, quite a bit for just charitable contributions, but what 2019 really brought that we weren't necessarily expecting it and when I was setting this goal wasn't necessarily expecting was that, uh, our family members would need some financial support as well. And so we were able to financially support some of our family members and that was a real blessing in our life and, and hopefully in their lives as well. And so it was a good experience for me. It's been a good experience for me to loosen the reins a little bit when it comes to money to more freely give and, um, to be able to look at the things that we've been blessed with are in our life, to be able to share those with other people. And I really think as we have more like that just allows us to be able to share more. And so I'm, I feel like we did a good job of that in 2019. Um, I think there's always improvement and, and making charitable and contributing an important part of, of our journey is, is definitely something that we're still gonna continue to work on.

Money Mindset: (12:00)

But we definitely give, um, a good portion of our income to both our church and then other charitable contributions. And then this last year was a lot about supporting our own individual family. Now part of that that I feel like maybe we didn't do so good at is I am still working on my money mindset and I've done a lot of work around it and I've done a lot of uncovering of beliefs and where those beliefs have come from when it comes to money mindset. But I definitely have a more like closed fist mindset, like more of a scarcity mindset of, um, and I think some of it comes from, um, maybe some of my upbringing. I think some of it comes from our experience being very poor for a very long time, but I definitely do still notice these tendencies to like to go to that scarcity mindset.

And so I would say like what I can do better is to continue doing that work, continue doing the mental like shifts and belief shifts around money and this idea of scarcity versus abundance. And that's definitely something that I can continue to improve on. I every time I think, Oh yeah, I'm making like a lot of progress on this, then something will come up and my husband will be like, and here we go back here we go back to the scarcity mentality. In fact, just the other night, like my husband bought some stuff and he's been talking about for the house, he bought some stuff for the house and he's been talking about upgrading our TV that we've had for like over 10 years. Anyway, he was talking about these things and I just kind of went back to my like old like scarcity of like need to like hold onto money, like hoard it. And he, we kind of, we talked about it and I ended up coming, coming around and seeing that I was just like those old thought patterns, they just, they creep up and so it's definitely something I'm still working on still really I understand like abundance and abundance mentality but sometimes I still just go into those old thought patterns and definitely something that I am continuing to try and train.

Goal #3: (13:57)

All right, so number three was to practice mindfulness. I really wanted to focus on being more present and I will just say that I kind of suck at it. I'm not like, it is not a strong suit. If we're talking about like strengths of mine. This would not be on the list. I am a multitasker. I love, I love to multitask and I tell myself the lie that I'm more productive that way and I know all research tells me I'm not and I know everyone. Like there's so much like actual research saying that you, when you context switch you actually like it takes you longer and all of these things. But it is man, it is a hard habit to break. Multitasking is a hard habit to break. So my goal for 2019 was to be more mindful was to be more present was to um, stop the multitasking, not necessarily stop it but just make some improvements. Um, and uh, while I feel like I, it's a constant battle for me. It's, I am not perfect by any means. In fact, I still find myself when I'm on the computer working, I'll be like mid in the middle of something and like an idea or a thought will pop up of like something else I need to check. And I like immediately like go and check it. Like context switching is just, it's a constant work in progress.

Meditation: (15:15)

Um, so I definitely am not perfect at it, but I do feel like I've improved. I as far as like meditation goes, one of my goals was to incorporate more meditation and hope and like help that to help train that, that mindfulness idea, quieting the mind. And I did some meditation. I can't say that I was very consistent at it, but what I found is what I prefer instead of meditation is I actually prefer hypnosis and hear me out on this because people hear the word hypnosis and they like, I don't know, it just, you think of like your high school graduation party when they like hypnotize people to like run around the stage and act like monkeys. Um, so the difference between meditation and hypnosis actually is meditation is about quieting the mind. It is about thinking nothing, right? Like having that quiet mind. Whereas hypnosis is actively, um, it's almost like visualization where it's like actually actively visualizing and putting in the thoughts that you want to have happen.

And so I do like visualization, why I've used those realizations for a long time. Started it back in high school when my high school volleyball coach would have us visualize before every single match and we would visualize ourselves getting the kill and like serving ACEs and, and things like that. So I started visualization like back in high school. Um, and I like hypnosis a little bit more because it is that like, what do I want to put into my brain? Like what do I want to put into my subconscious? And so this is where I'll take my goals and, um, actively create that in my mind of like, what does it look like when I got, have got to that goal? What are, what are the steps that I'm going to take? Like what is it going to feel like when I get to that goal? What's that outcome going to look like? And so I actually prefer that a little bit more, um, due to using hypnosis rather than meditation. Um, and I've implemented that a lot more over the last little while with my goals and my business and I do see a lot of value and taking that time one on one, just setting the time aside each day to be able to do it and, and focus on something and to being able to really like get the picture clear in my mind of what it's going to look like when I'm at successful. The more that we can believe in that success, the more that we know that that success is inevitable, the more that we can actually visualize and see us performing whatever task it is that we want to perform, the more successful we're going to be. So definitely still have room to improve, uh, on mindfulness. I am not there yet. I would say I am moderately better at it than I was at the beginning of the year, but I don't necessarily think this is an area that I made huge leaps and bounds in 2019. So it is something I am continuing to work on and continuing to commit to in 2020.

Goal #4: (18:05)

And then the last goal that I had for 2019 was to strengthen my relationship with my Heavenly Parents. And this is a spiritual goal and I'm in my church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They rolled out some new curriculum this year with a focus on really teaching in the home and how important it is as parents for us to be taking that time and teaching with our kids. And, um, this program is called Come Follow Me. It's based around, you know, the teachings of the Savior and as a family, this was a new program that was rolled out in January. And so to report on our progress, uh, we'll have a real candid and real frank and real honest, we probably do Come Follow Me maybe twice a week and maybe three times a week if we're like, it's a good week. So we are definitely not doing it every day. And some of you may be like me, either somebody may be like, Oh, what a disappointment. I don't really care what your opinion is. Um, that's just the reality of where we're at now. Do I want to do better? Absolutely. Um, and my husband and I have have set goals to slowly increase that. I really think like jumping from two days a week to like seven days a week is kind of setting ourselves up for success. So we've been slowly trying to like just, you know, at least make sure we have two times a week, maybe let's push it to three and then from three to four. Um, but having that time where we are able to teach our kids is important. And I, and I place value on it. We just need to be better about like executing it. I feel like our nights and as our kids get older, our nights are just like crazy. It's like Scouts and gymnastics and homework and coaching calls and like, it's just all the things right? And so I can give 1,000,001 excuses, but it really just comes down to we need to make it a priority and something that, um, is I find value in and we will continue to work on and improve. Definitely not perfect.

There is Power in Setting Goals (20:06)

So hopefully as I go through all of those goals and kind of give you a little report, it's holding me accountable for the goals that I said. I do think there is value in being public with your goals because there is that accountability factor, um, of knowing that other people are going to know whether or not you completed your goals. And hopefully by me sharing, you will recognize that just because you don't complete your goals doesn't mean you shouldn't be setting them. Uh, I truly believe that when we set goals, even if we don't achieve them, we usually will end up higher or closer to that goal than we would have had we not set the goal. Had I not set the goal about mindfulness, I probably would've never like come across hypnosis and it started implementing that. But because I had set a goal, like I maybe didn't achieve it all the way, but I made progress in that, in that realm. And so I really encourage you, I know there's a whole lot of stuff about new year's resolutions are dumb and nobody ever keeps them, but I really do encourage you, if you don't set new year's resolutions, at least set goals and whether or not you set them at the beginning of the year or you set them each month or whatever. Setting goals is the key to making progress. You are where your attention is. Whatever your attention is on is what you create in your life. And when we set our attention on goals and on the things that we want to create in our life, that is how they get created in our life.

Resources to Use for Setting Goals (21:31)

Before we go, I am going to link up, a free download on crushing your new year's resolutions. So if you need some help setting your goals, you want a worksheet to be able to go through to to set your new year's resolutions, go to www.bicepsafterbabies.com/64 And you can download that free download to be able to help you with setting your new year's resolutions. We also will link up episode number 13 in the show notes. Episode 13 is called How to Set New Year's Resolutions that Stick. And I give you a lot of advice in there about how to actually set new year's resolutions and how to break it down and how to create different areas in your life that you're setting goals for. So if you feel like a little bit overwhelmed or like you've never been successful before with setting new year's resolutions or goals and you want to get better at that, definitely go and take a listen to episode number 13 and we'll make sure to link that up in the show notes too. So it makes it really easy to find.

Show notes are always at www.bicepsafterbabies.com/ then whatever the number is of a podcast episode. So in the case for this podcast episode, it would be www.bicepsafterbabies.com/64 And all of the show notes will be there. We'll link up both at freebie and the other episodes so that you can learn about setting new year's resolutions. And the last thing, next week we will be releasing a podcast episode all about my experience doing plant-based eating. So this was a highly requested topic and I talk about plant based eating and vegans and vegetarians and how to count macros on it as well as share my experience. So definitely make sure you tune into next week's episode. That wraps up this episode of biceps after babies radio. I'm Amber. Now go on and be strong. Well, because remember my friend, you can do anything.

Outro

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