SigmaU Blog

I bought into the lie that I was someone who would always have to watch their weight. In fact, I’ve been up and down since eleven years of age and with dramatic swings. I’ve been unhealthy consuming less than 300 calories a day in my teenage years living off lettuce and diet coke and I’ve been over a hundred pounds heavier than my tiniest weight.

I’ve invested hundreds, no thousands of dollars in weight loss programs from Herbal Magic to high-end weight loss doctors and systems and here’s what I found. I would gain quick success and see huge results that NEVER lasted! I would be so disciplined with my eating that I would literally stand around and watch everyone eat my birthday cake while I munched on celery sticks. Not a sustainable or very enjoyable way to live!

It was only around 40 when I had a breakthrough and that was to do the inner work required for long-lasting and sustainable results.

Many motivational speakers including Ed Mylett talk about...

Confession

I have a confession! I’m an internal optimist, which means that I tend to see the good and block out the bad.  It has served me well through most of my life until COVID.

See, if I’m honest, I never really spent any time thinking about what could possibly go wrong. I was always reinforcing my goals and dreams and had a deep sense of gratitude for all of the good in my life. While this is incredibly important, the biggest lesson that I’ve learned during COVID has been the importance of planning for the worst but remaining in hopeful anticipation of the best!

Knock Out!

During one of our team huddles, the speaker (I cannot remember which one) said these powerful words and it knocked me on the chin!

“It's not the thing that broke you that broke you. It's that you never even thought about the fact that you could be broken.”

Hot damn! It’s true! I never considered failing. Failing was never an option. Going backwards was a foreign idea...

This was one of the first major lessons I learned at the beginning of my career. Since then, I’ve been studying high performers and devouring their content! What I’ve noticed is that the highest achievers aren’t lucky. In fact, many came from dire situations and rose out of unspeakable adversity. They weren’t special, in fact some were treated so poorly early on in life that you wouldn’t fault them for being bitter or for having a victim mentality.

What I found in the highest achievers is that they have different habits and higher expectations of themselves that produce intentional and exceptional results!

When we’re not paying attention, we can drift through life and miss some pretty epic clues to leading a fully engaged and charged up life! 

As a Certified High Performance Coach™ as well as a student in high performance, here’s what I’ve noticed about high performers…

They have strong habits!

Most are dedicated to a...

A little while ago we had “coffee-gate” go down in our home. To paint a picture, the alarm went off at 4:00 a.m. My incredibly loving husband got up a few minutes before me and had made me a cup of coffee.  Just as he was coming to give that cup of joy to me, in the dark, he missed the side table and coffee went everywhere! All over the beige carpet, the white sheets, the light grey fabric bed frame. It was literally a hot mess up in here! :D

In that moment, I had two distinct choices: I could either let it ruin my day or I could reframe the situation and stick to my regular routine to set my day up for success. I know that when we’re not intentional and are reactive in situations like these, we lose control.  When we intentionally SHIFT, we reclaim our power!  So how the heck do you make that SHIFT?

S – Self Talk

The way we talk to ourselves is so incredibly important. Studies show that most of the time our thoughts are biased to the...

Sundays are a great time to rest and restore as well as get a jumpstart on your success for the week ahead.  Here are a few ways that high achievers make the most of this day to gain a strong footing on the racer’s block and nourish the mind, body and soul!

1.  Silence

While I’d love to claim that I do this each and every week, I don’t. But I do every so often and see the huge benefits of “Silent Sundays”. This means turning off all electronic devices, disconnecting from social media and tv and instead basking in the silence of either quiet reflection or a walk in nature. So why take the break?  Maybe you think that scrolling social media IS your way of relaxing.  Consider this, According to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, “excessive and pathological internet use has been recognized as an internet addiction, which shares features with substance-use disorders or pathological gambling. Common features...

Just how powerful is a question? Well, it can be life changing as a matter of fact! I’ve had the privilege of working with clients as a High Performance Coach™ and I can tell you that questions change peoples’ lives!

Here’s how it happens!

• Changes our Perspective!

When we change our lens, we change our lives! A coach that I worked with in the past used to ask me a very thought-provoking question when I was upset with someone or a situation. He would always ask “Nikki, what else could it be?” This helped provide such perspective because, of course, I begrudgingly came up with half a dozen possible scenarios which proved his point!  When we approach challenges or setback with a powerful question like this one, we also change the lens in which we see the world. Perhaps at first, I think “that person is rude.” What happens when I replace it with “that person must be pretty stressed out right now.” It instantly changes my...

I didn’t realize just how vehemently I am committed to personal growth and development until I was challenged and told that it was selfish. I stopped dead in my tracks and couldn’t believe what I was hearing. This individual said “ya but have you considered the flipside of personal development. It’s actually selfish.”

Well, no! I must admit that I’d never considered investing in myself to be selfish and it got me wondering if people hold back from growing because they have bought in to this myth as well.

Here are a few reasons why I believe that personal development is not selfish.

1. You’re human which means you have an inherent need to grow.

See, most people stop living well before they’re dead. I look at some of my own family members who consume hours and hours of news and television and stopped growing years ago because they learned “all that they needed to know.” For me, that’s a sad existence.

I believe that...

What’s “the Suck?”

The suck is losing the big contract that you had your heart set on. The suck is being in quarantine with a limited lifestyle for over a year and counting. The suck is the lost friendship, broken marriage and devastating loss of trust. The suck is working on a project for four months, putting your heart and soul into it and seeing it fall completely flat before your very eyes! The suck comes in various forms and knocks us off kilter in different ways. We all experience it from time to time. Often it hits us over and over again and in business it can leave us feeling lonely and frustrated.

Why it hurts so much!

When we feel like failures and setbacks are coming at us from all sides, it can feel like our world is closing in on us. It hurts when we have finances on the line. It hurts when we show up, give our best and we get rejected. We question our competence and our resilience. I recently went through a massive failure that devastated me and so I...

Do you do your best work when you fly by the seat of your pants? Not me! I’m a planner, in fact I don’t wing ANYTHING!

In order to show up as a strong leader and role model, I have to be intentional about it. It doesn’t come naturally but when I make it a priority it positively impacts the team.

Here are 4 ways you can be more intentional as a leader today!

1.  Map it Out!

Start your day off thinking about and writing down who you want to show up as that day. Perhaps it’s thinking about your phone calls, interactions, coaching with employees or meetings. How would your best self show up? Decide early in the day while you’re fresh how you can be most effective as a leader. You can also check out our super popular Intentional Journals here: https://www.growwithsigmau.com/books.

2.  Set Intentions before Interactions

Oprah famously starts each meeting asking, “What are the intentions of this meeting?” This is a great way to gain clarity...

When I’m afraid or feeling stressed my ego takes over! Bold statement, I know, but it’s true. I show up rude, sarcastic and I can be short with people.  When I’m leading as my best self and I’m intentional about how I want to show up as a leader, it’s a totally different story.

I’d venture to guess that as a leader, you may be able to relate. When you’re under pressure you just want things done and done properly with minimal questions and minimal interruptions so you can work on what’s most important.  This happens to most of us when we’re in reactive mode vs. being proactive and intentional.

Here are some telltale signs that I’m under pressure and my ego has taken over…

I assume the worst intentions. I have moments where I doubt the intentions of those around me and question if my team did all that they could in a situation vs. assuming the best in others.

When I’m operating from my ego, my ideas are...