SigmaU Blog

Life can be humming along and then WHAM! You’re thrown a curveball. This can be a health crisis, losing a job, losing a loved one, a divorce, a natural disaster.  Curveballs are unexpected and knock us off our feet. For how long, is up to us.  There are a few ways in which you can manage curveballs, so you can still swing the bat when they come hurling your way.

1. Recalibrate

The first thing we forget to do when we’re in crisis is breathe.  There’s a reason why the EMS driver will tell you to count to ten and breathe. Our brains need oxygen to function and think clearly.  If the world is spinning around you, remember that you can control your breath. During the darkest days of the pandemic, when I felt like things were spiraling out of control, I came back to my breathing.  There are amazing exercises which you can look up online or simply stop, plant both feet firmly on the floor and take five deep belly breaths to recalibrate.

2. Assess...

What have the past couple of years looked like for you in terms of your thinking? By that I mean, have you had an abundant or a scarcity mindset?

When we look at abundance, it’s a mindset of plenty for everyone! When we look at a scarcity mindset it refers to a lack of something. A lack of time or money.

I’ll be honest with you, prior to the pandemic I lived in a very abundant mindset.  During the pandemic, I found myself shrinking to a scarcity mindset.  Granted, our business dropped about 90% in revenue overnight and it was one of the most challenging times in my life.

I’ve worked through the push and pull of abundance vs. scarcity and I wanted to share some ways that I was able to shift my thinking and hopefully it serves you.

• Realizing that there is an abundance of money
  • Money is printed for heaven’s sake. Just because someone else’s business is thriving does not mean yours can’t too.  There’s an abundance of wealth to...

How do you renew your strength when you're completely out of steam? I'm going to share with you a couple of ideas that I find to be really helpful because I’ve been there too!  I have the best of intentions, I’m fired right up and then, well, it fizzles!

Number one is to revisit your goals often. Most of the time we write out goals and then we tuck them away in a drawer and we forget about them. I'll admit something very cool does happen when you do that and you find your goals accomplished years later, but it’s not as powerful as revisiting them each and every day!

The second thing is to maybe set a new goal. Perhaps your existing goal isn't getting you excited, and you look need to look at a new goal that's going to stretch you, that's going to require courage, that's going to require you to level up, and this may just get you renewed and excited again.

The third thing is to make a checklist of all the things that you've done already. Go through all your...

1.  Quality people
2.  Quality content
3.  Quality consumption

Quality People

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

Who do you have in your immediate circle? Are they inspiring? Do they push you to be a better person? Are the conversations you ‘re having about dreams and goals and the future, or are they about other people? The five people closest to us have a tremendous impact on the way we think and ultimately our success.  If you’re not surrounding yourself with positive, growth-oriented people, then find a community where you can get that inspiration. If you haven’t joined us yet, feel free to hop on our Friday zoom calls here where #sigmapromotespositivity https://sigmapromotions.com/sigmapromotespositivity/

You know you’re in the right community when your associations make you want to be a better person. They are open and excited about your successes. They cheer you on and they inspire...

Clarity is incredibly powerful. Why?

When we have complete clarity about what it is we want in life, what we stand for and what our big North Star is, it gives us a sense of peace. It provides assurance that our efforts are counting towards something. Often, when we don't have clarity, we can bumble through each day, get a multitude of tasks completed, are very busy and may even feel some sense of productivity and accomplishment.  However, we can be left wondering if we’re making a significant difference at all.

When we have complete clarity, we know where we're headed, and what we want to achieve.  We have vision.  More importantly, that big North Star gets us excited and fired up and helps us build momentum. We’re more optimistic because we're working towards something that really matters to us.

Clarity also provides us with total focus so that we can determine what our distractions are. Meaning, what are the activities, people,...

I’ve been thinking a lot about legacy lately and a new dream is forming on my heart.  I want to impact tween girls so that their lives are forever changed through personal development.

As an eleven year old girl, I was 5’2” and 210lbs. Not exactly the epitome of health or confidence! I always had great friends in school, but I was also always very self-conscious and would longingly look at my friend’s tiny waistlines and wonder what it was like to be skinny. I would long to be the one running the track and “own the room” like some of the popular girls in my class.

Looking back, I’m so glad that I went through that awkward period in my life because I believe it has shaped me to be the person I am today. I can have compassion when people struggle with their weight. I know what it’s like to feel stuck, not knowing where to start.

I’m sharing this because I believe that most tween girls are experiencing the same pain and...

I recently took a self-defence course which stretched me way outside of my comfort zone and made me reflect deeply on self-imposed limitations.

My husband encouraged me to take the course because I had an incident at eleven years old walking alone that had a massive impact on my life.  I’ve been looking over my shoulder for the past 33 years since, and I lost a significant part of my childhood innocence and freedom that day.

When I completed the course, I realized that I gained back a sense of confidence that had been missing for three quarters of my life.

During the weekend course I realized many lessons which I wanted to share with you…

1.  Discomfort is imperative to growth

I was very nervous about taking the course. I wasn’t sure what to expect, how I would react and if I could overcome deep seeded anxiety when it came to my self-protection. I had to get outside of my comfort zone physically and mentally to reach that next level of self-confidence....

Life can be challenging and throw curveballs to the best of us.  We have big dreams, goals and plans and then something outside of our control derails those plans, and we get stuck in the struggle.  Today I want to encourage you to honour the process and struggle so that you don’t miss the hidden gifts along the way.

This isn’t about being a Pollyanna, this is about accepting the struggle, seeing it as a process and learning and celebrating what the process is developing in you. 

Let me explain…

Having a driving WHY, knowing the importance of remaining consistent in our pursuit towards our goals will keep us focused.  Reflecting on the benefits of sticking with it, the sense of pride you will feel on the other side and picturing yourself in that moment of victory is key to staying the course.

When we lose sight of the end game, we can get trapped in the victim mentality. I did this recently.  There’s a situation that is physically...

I had never even heard the term false obligations until I started studying high performance habits and Brendon Burchard’s work.  In fact, the thought never dawned on me that I had been wrapped up in false obligations and the stress that accompanied it!

Let me back up, what is a false obligation? Well, it’s an “obligation” that we’ve created in our minds that requires our immediate time and attention. It’s something we feel guilty about not doing or we sense a loss of freedom of choice in the matter.

Some examples of false obligations include…

• Picking up the phone when it’s ringing
• Saying “Yes” to that coffee or dinner when you really need time alone to recharge
• Responding to a text immediately without sleeping on a response
• Behaving a certain way because of family expectations
• Rushing to visit three households on Christmas day so no one feels left out
• To share private information with people because they are good...

Influence is something that we’re constantly participating in. We’re either influencing others or we’re being influenced by others. Recently, my colleague Lindsay shared some insights from one of her favourite books “Captivate” by Vanessa Van Edwards.

She shared that the reality is that we’re influenced all the time by other people’s energy.  We also influence others in the room by our energy.  What kind of energy do you want to be remembered for?

We know people who make us feel alive, excited, and refreshed. We also dread visits with those who make us feel edgy, irritable, and somehow like we’ve just run a marathon!  Energy influences relationships but there are some other factors when you consider positive influence.

In High Performance Coaching ™ we look at three key areas of influence and they are based on how positive influencers impact us.

They teach us how to think

There’s a very important distinction...