Pay Yourself First

Here are some thoughts on success in a Forbes article from James Cash Penny, the founder of JC Penny “Though plenty of people want to be successful, only a self-selected few will even come close." I could not agree with this statement more. In other words, if you are willing to buckle down and commit yourself to doing the hard work it takes to achieve big goals, you can be one of them. Using fitness as a catalyst is a surefire way to pave your path to success.

What I have noticed is we tend to have moments of success but we usually don’t live a perpetual life of success. Do you notice that you may be rocking it in one area of life, but not so much in others? I have noticed this in my own life more than I care to admit. To be completely honest, I have limited my potential success because I stop when I feel something is "good enough". That hurts just to write it. Can we take "good enough" out of our vocabulary?

When you become complacent it translates to, I know it can be better but I am not willing to go that far or I don’t feel like doing what it is going to take for that result or I did not prepare properly for this to be excellent, so this is going to have to be good enough. Oh my goodness…

Can I share something with you? Just because you don’t FEEL like it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. Your feelings are a natural sense and can be deceiving at times especially when it requires discomfort. They usually are momentary and when they go against what you know is logically beneficial you have to ignore them. You have to push past them. When you push past the point of discomfort, you usually find yourself in a better place.

The same way you push past your feelings of not wanting to go to work but show up anyway because you have bills

to pay. You need that same reasoning for yourself when you know you need to go workout or not eat the fried chicken. You are trying to live a long healthy life just like you are trying to have money to enjoy it.

Treat your body the same way you treat someone else’s business that you show up to daily. The difference is that this paycheck is paid in longer days here on the earth. Live your life by design not by default. Pay yourself in health and wealth and success will follow suit. Good health allows you to thrive, not just survive. I am cheering you on my friends and if no one told you today “You are Amazing”.

What You Should Eat

What should I eat?

Hello good people! I wanted to talk about a question I get asked all the time. “Tarsha, what should I eat?” And you know, the answer is very simple. You should eat the things that are going to NOURISH your body. Yes, that’s right, do not feed your EMOTIONS and eat for your CONVENIENCE. I know, I know, ouch!! Keep reading though, it gets better I promise. I am not being harsh.

The key is to train yourself so that you get to the point where eating is not an event or treated as a reward. What do I mean by that? You get up and think of how you can fit in that run to Chick-fil-A. You begin to get giddy with excitement just thinking about the chicken sandwich and the sauce. You start to sense what it is going to feel like when you satiate that craving, and you go through the emotion of eating the food without considering how you are going to feel after you eat it.

The difference when you choose to nourish your body is you take those same thoughts and place them on green leafy vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds and water because you envision all the energy you are going to have. You begin to think about your future in a positive light and not just the momentary pleasure of a fat filled meal. I am sure some of you have tried changing eating habits and you felt better after. Suddenly your new motive is to think about all the things you could possibly change because it makes you feel better.

Imagine what you could accomplish if you made one quality decision to have a big salad daily and 5 glasses of water. No calorie counting, no rigid restrictions, just 2 small changes or slight adjustments. Something happens when you begin to take charge and tell your body “You are going to have this salad and love it”. Go ahead, announce it out loud, declare it, believe it, decide it! “You love vegetables and water.” “You love to be nourished with the freshest foods.” “Body, I love you and I am going to take care of you.” What if you did that every day? So now this leads to my first Official Gibbons Family Fitness Challenge to you this month. For the next 30 days I want you to add 1 big salad and 5 glasses of water daily (that’s 2 ½ bottles of water).

Do you think you can do it? Because, I KNOW that you can. Tag me on IG @gibbonsfamilyfitness #GFFchallenge with a picture of your salad or water or whatever meal is starting your change. Consider me your biggest cheerleader. You can start whatever day you read this blog which I hope is today 😊. I am here for you. Go be a Rockstar!! You are amazing!

Feeling Stuck

Hi family! Have you ever had the feeling that there was something more you wanted to accomplish in your life? The question is, where to begin. This is where I happen to be in the present moment. I have all these great ideas and things that I want to do but the list seems so long that it can be overwhelming.

For instance, let’s take this website that you are currently reading this blog on. For 3 years I have wanted to rebrand everything in my business. It was a massive undertaking and had to be done in 3 weeks’ time to offer you all the free fitness classes that went on this summer. So, what am I saying? Add a deadline to what you want to accomplish. The fitness classes were starting after the 4th of July, and I needed 2 weeks for people to be able to register. This now made my idea urgent and necessary, and it got done. Yeah, me and my wonderful admin! Something that was lingering on my to do list for three years, suddenly found a deadline and became a reality.

Can I encourage you to decide to put an end date to your goal? Just choose one for right now that you can focus on. Do you want to eat better? Decide to cook 2 new recipes per week. Do you want to learn a new language? Commit to putting the Duo Lingo app on your phone and set an alarm to practice 15 minutes a day. Do you want to spend more time with your kids, spouse, significant other or family? Schedule a time every month to do something special.

Here is the thing: the way you get unstuck is to move a little bit at a time. Tell yourself I really want to do this and then take baby steps with a deadline to accomplish it. You will be so surprised how much ground you will cover. Take this blog for instance: My admin gets on me about getting it out monthly and I wait till the last minute every time…lol. I am literally sitting here writing it at 11:53am on August 30, for September 1st. You know what motivated me? You all did. I know I can not be the only one feeling that I have things to offer, whose soul longs to escape the mundane activities of the day and reach for the things that will light up my life and bring unspeakable joy and satisfaction.

When we do this, it makes us a better person and a gift to the world, ourselves, and our families. My “more” specifically is to help women be great in their God-given purpose and talent while living a healthy life. This literally became clear to me about 2 years ago. You see, my business led me to my passion. I knew there was more than just fitness and nutrition classes. So far, I have led 5 different Women’s groups for my church and have had two speaking engagements in the last 2 months. It is beginning to happen.

Can you do me a favor? Identify your purpose, your place, your thing and get unstuck! There are people waiting on your gifts and talents to help them succeed. And of course, the biggest benefit of all is you are walking in your purpose. Nothing is better than that.

If no one told you today “You are amazing”. Go be great. I would love to hear from you in the comments, on social media or right here on the website. I am cheering you on.