SigmaU Blog

Struggle reveals your true allies and adversaries. 

Facing adversity can be a tremendous gift if we’re open to the impact and opportunity for growth.

Awareness of what you value!

Adversity creates awareness of what's most important to you. When you go through a traumatic experience or life-changing event, you quickly eliminate all the distractions, all the fluff, and you narrow in on what matters most. Typically, it's your core values, it's your family, it's your connections and deep relationships. It's your passion and it's your purpose and everything else seems to go by the wayside. People who have had their lives on the line or their freedom in jeopardy will assure you that when that’s at stake, little else matters. You become keenly aware of your driving “why”.

Awareness of your allies!

Adversity shines a light on who shows up and who shrinks back. Remember, honour, and show up for the people who came through for you. You will be surprised at who...

The other day I was doing a yoga session and the instructor asked us to intentionally lengthen our tailbone. In doing so, I felt a stretch that I had never experienced before, even while doing that same posture which I had done a dozen times before.

It got me thinking, how many times I’ve failed to see the micro-steps and shifts and how much they impact my progress.

I realized that micro steps are a huge part of personal development and high-performance living.

The challenge is that we fail to see the power of micro steps.

We insist that we must have huge stretch goals, from where we are to where we're going to be successful. And that's simply not true. In high performance coaching, we gauge our current circumstances on a scale of one through ten. We don’t coach clients to jump from a three to a nine, instead we ask what would take you from a three to a five. The micro steps help us gain necessary momentum to keep pushing.

There are micro steps we can...

Don’t delay your greatness another day, step into the best of who you could be today.

Easier said then done? Well, let’s see…

What holds us back

What holds us back from living a life of excellence? Perhaps we believe that this is reserved for a select few high achievers? Maybe we’re afraid that we don’t have the time or resources to live an extraordinary life? Perhaps you’ve tried living a structured disciplined life and it exhausted you?

For most, shying away from greatness often results in a desire to stay in our comfort zones.  Sometimes, it’s easier to tow the line of what we know than it is to radically change things up.  There’s safety in the mundane but there isn’t excitement! I don’t know about you, but I’d rather live a life that requires challenge, courage and discipline than a life of expectant boredom.

How do we go about changing things up? 

Paint of picture of the status quo.

What would...

To change who we are, we need to change our identity.  If we don’t, we stay stuck in our past patterns and habits. 

New Name

Often, we must change our name. What does that mean? For some people who have always struggled with their weight, perhaps that's going from I'm a person who says, “I always needs to work out otherwise I will get fat.” Instead, they change their identity through their name, “I'm an athlete!” Shed any identity that doesn’t serve your future best self.

New Routine

If you previously struggled with your weight like I have and have decided to identify as an athlete, your actions follow your new identify. Your routine is that of an athlete. Do they laze around on the couch, eat Doritos, and binge tv all day? Absolutely not! An athlete has a routine which includes regularly scheduled fitness routines. They most likely get up early, work out to win the day, eat like an athlete, hydrate like an athlete and honour their body...

Perhaps the Struggle is the gift!

What if the challenge that you and I are facing is the very thing that we need to develop excellent character?

I’m going to go back a few years to my childhood, the first time I experience a major frustration and struggle. I was probably eleven years old, and I desperately want the new white BMX bike with blue and orange neon splatter, full eighties style!

I went to my stepdad and begged him for it.  Being the smart man that he is, he sat me down and explained the cost.  He then said that I could have it if I was willing to contribute. I didn’t make any money so what did that mean? I got a weekly allowance and that’s how I would chip in. 

You must picture this, he’s the senior auditor at a bank, he pulls me aside each Saturday morning and we go through the ledger of accounts! He shows me how many weeks worth of allowances I’ve contributed and the balance remaining to cover half of the $250 bike.

...

Once of the fastest ways to cure anxiety is to live in alignment with the best of who you could be.

When we're out of alignment with who we want to be, or are striving to be, we feel anxious, unmotivated, and sometimes even helpless.

I've seen this with myself and coaching clients. When there's awareness and action taken to increase discipline, I see an instant shift.

The challenge is that it's easy to stay in a self-destructive rut which leads to anxiety. 

Here are some of the signs that we're out of alignment:

• Not following through on promises we make to ourselves or others (big and small, they matter)
• Not giving our best professionally or personally 
• Leaving loose ends and procrastinating
• Living with less intention and discipline 

How do we know we're in alignment?

• We're clear on our path and purpose and we're living with daily intention to serve that purpose.
• We insulate ourselves from negative forces like the news, social media, and other toxic outlets. We...

We need to be bold to reach our dreams.

When I say bold, it will have a different meaning for each of us. For some, being bold is having a difficult conversation. For others, it may mean leaving a job or partner to pursue a dream. Some may consider leaving the country bold, while others may consider speaking up in a meeting to be bold action. Each of us will face circumstances that require us to be bold to reach our goals and live our full potential.

In High Performance Coaching™ we talk about living a fully charged life! Part of that life is living with boldness. We can live in a place where we feel caged, as though we don’t have control and we’re not living anywhere near our potential. Then we can live a comfortable life, where we go through the motions, nothing too daring, nothing too exciting either. I would encourage us to live a fully charged life and that requires being bold!

B – Brazen Action

When I looked up the definition of brazen it was tied to...

You and I don't springboard to success, we level up one day, one habit, one strategic move at a time.

In High Performance coaching we often get people to rate themselves one through ten, one being low and ten being off the charts high in terms of their performance in a certain area of life.

We look at energy, courage, productivity, influence, purpose and so on. We rate these areas of life because we know that what is measured gets improved. If we don’t know how we are performing in a certain area, then we don’t know if there’s a need or opportunity for growth. This is the reason why we need feedback at work and in relationships. Are we on track? We naturally need to know.

We need to be progressing in life; we need to know that there’s a next level for us to attain. Very few people are joyful when they’re in a state of stagnant contentment. Most of us need to feel a drive towards something new and exciting that is different from where we are today.

The...

An ally will tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear! A great friend listens, is empathetic, compassionate, and soothing. This is great under some circumstances like experiencing a loss. If, however, you want to be challenged to grow, you want an ally.

I was going through a difficult period in my life and one of my “big brothers” on my executive board said, you want an ally, not a friend, so I’m going to tell it to you straight. This gave me tremendous perspective. To change and grow, I needed the hard truth.

An ally may show up as a devil’s advocate. I have an amazing right hand person on my leadership team.  She plays the devil’s advocate; she will challenge an idea or present her so-called “crazy idea” that is often genius. Having someone challenge an opportunity or decision, especially if you are a trigger-happy person and they are more measured, like in my colleague’s case, can save a lot of heart and...

You have the time! Time is not your issue! This was something that came across in a booming voice during my motivational workout video the other morning. I’ll be honest, it initially triggered me. My first thought was, “Dude, you don’t know me and the expectations people have of me. You have no idea how many meetings I have today.” The imaginary verbal attack ensued! Perhaps it did for you as you read my opening line!

Ryan Blair famously said, “If it is important to you, you’ll find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse.” It seems that it’s not a lack of time but a lack of clarity around the importance of a task or goal that derails us.

I recently uninstalled Instagram from my phone. It was no longer serving me, and I was appalled when my weekly report showed that I had spent 8 hours the previous week scrolling. I mean, come on, that’s an entire workday!

Immediately I reclaimed 8 freaking hours of my week just by removing...