“Don’t say “I can’t”. Say, “I presently struggle with.”

-Tony Horton

 I’m not sure why I should be surprised. I mean, I’ve been doing CrossFit for over 12 years now but still, wow! Just wow! I recently did a 12 minute workout that left me with ALL the feels that it still shocks me to think about, although now my feelings are to just laugh about it. But during, and especially after, when I analyzed those 12 minutes, it really made me think about the life lessons I learned. 

Lesson 1: Underestimating Your Abilities
So I went into this workout feeling a little cocky. It had a movement I had only ever done once before (Jump rope Cross-Overs) but I’m a jump rope queen! I mean, not to toot my own horn, but I was in jump rope club as a kid and I can crush me some double-unders. Well, double-unders my friend are not the same as cross-overs and I clearly underestimated my abilities. So, just like life, really assess where you are at when you’re facing challenges. And really be truthful about where you’re at, otherwise it’s only going to hurt you! 

Lesson 2: Warm Up & Practice
So once you accurately assess your abilities, make sure you warm up appropriately! Take some time to practice and prepare for your upcoming challenge. They’re not going to magically appear during the middle of a workout when you’re already tired. 

Lesson 3: It’s Not Your Jump Ropes Fault
Just because you suck doesn’t mean it’s the jump ropes fault (no my jump rope is not suddenly the wrong size). So stop being in a victim mindset and accept that it’s your fault for your struggles. 

Lesson 4:  Learning New Things is Exhausting
When you’re learning something new, it will be exhausting. Even so much so that when you do other activities, even ones you’re used to doing regularly, you’ll be exhausted doing those from the exertion you had doing your new activity. So keep that in mind when you are embarking on learning new things and give yourself grace for other areas of your life. 

Lesson 5: A Change of Scenery Goes a Long Ways
180 degrees. That’s how much I changed my position during this 12 minute workout and it honestly helped. It gave me something new to focus on, it put my body in a different space on the floor, and it mentally helped clear some of the frustrations I was having. I think this can be so true in life as well. If you find yourself stuck, then move. If you find yourself down in the dumps, go outside. If you find yourself anxious, give yourself a river or mountain to stare at. Whatever the feelings you have, changing your scenery could help. 

Lesson 6: Don’t Let Your Emotions Control the Outcome
It’s important to not only laugh, but really focus on not letting your emotions control the outcome. Denial, frustration, anger, embarrassment, whatever you may be feeling is OKAY! It’s normal to have these feelings. The important thing is you don’t feed into those feelings. Don’t listen to the negative Nelly in your head. Instead, reframe your thinking. Try tactics like:

• Repeating: “I’m not tired, I feel outstanding” during a hard workout. 
• Smile. Forcing yourself to smile can actually trick your brain into feeling happier. 

Lesson 7: One Foot in Front of the Other
Regardless of your emotions, the actions to take is just put one foot in front of the other. I tell myself during really hard workouts, “the only way out is through”. I know myself well enough to know I won’t quit, so now I just have to get through this workout. 200 pushups during our infamous CrossFit workout, Murph, is still so daunting. I know it’s going to take me a REALLY long time. But through the years I’ve learned, one little pushup done over and over again will eventually get me to those 200 pushups. So just put one foot in front of the other. As Dori from Finding Nemo said, “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.” 

Lesson 8:  Learn from Others
If you have time before a challenge to reach out to others that have the skills needed for your challenge, then reach out to them. You might be surprised how excited someone is to help you. They get it, they’ve been there and they know the feelings you’re having. So, not only will they probably have helpful ideas to get you through it, but they’ll also just make you feel better by feeling normal about your emotions you are experiencing. Don’t be embarrassed, just ask! 

Lesson 9: Choosing Hard
I love double-unders. I love to do them, I love how efficient I am at them, and heck, I admit, I even love to show them off. But after this workout crushed me with cross-overs I told myself anytime a workout popped up that had double-unders I needed to sub it out and do cross-overs instead. So I went from having a workout I know I’d be one of the top times in at the gym, to being dead last. Not as fun. But, I know that if I choose to do the hard things now during practice, I’ll be even better when the competition comes. So just like I told my six year old daughter yesterday at her judo practice, don’t choose the easy opponents to go against, choose the hardest ones as they’ll prepare you the most for your upcoming tournament. 

Lesson 10: It Doesn’t Happen Overnight
This workout I did was a few months ago and so now I’ve had a few months of practicing cross-overs, but I still kind of suck. And I can get frustrated but I remind myself, it doesn’t happen overnight. I’ve been doing CrossFit so long that it’s easy for me to forget how hard it was to learn pullups, how much extra time I spent in the gym practicing bar muscle ups. I forget the feeling when I first started going Rx with my handstand pushups. So remind yourself when you are learning new things, it will take time! But the nice thing is, the time will pass anyways so you might as well use it making yourself better and more prepared in life. 

Lesson 11: Growing Pains are Better Shared with Friends
As soon as my workout was done I sent a video of myself doing the cross-overs to my swolemate (that’s CrossFit slang for gym best friend :)) and she made me feel so much better instantly. First she laughed at me and then shared similar stories. Even just the act of sharing with her made me feel better as I wasn’t hiding behind the negative emotions but turning my situation around to be funny and educational. 

Lesson 12: Prepare for the Unknown
One of my most favorite lessons I’ve learned over the years from CrossFit is it aims to build you into a human that is prepared for the unknown. What the heck does this mean? Well let me share a personal anecdote.

I was three years into my CrossFit life and rather obsessed. I had a rocky start though because of shame and embarrassment for how out of shape I was and the fear for it exposing that in front of people, which is a story for another day. Thankfully though, I kept at it and I had reached this new level of fitness and a healthy mindset. I seriously felt like I was in the best shape of my life at 28 years old. Then I found a lump in my boob. Yup, there it was, from the fittest I’d ever been to bald and fighting for my life. It sucked, life threw me a punch and I wasn’t prepared for it….or was I?

I’d just spent the past three years of my life in full on suffer fest. Miserableness. Have you ever done Fran (a famous CrossFit workout)? I’d spent three years mentally and physically pushing my body beyond what I thought it was capable of. I’d spent three years thinking I was just getting back in shape but I was truly preparing myself for a fight against cancer. All those workouts, they added up to this stronger (not just physically but mentally) Kelli that I am not sure I even knew existed. 

So for ten months during that cancer fight, I relied heavily on that mental training that I developed from every little workout. It helped me get through the unknown of what was ahead of me with my cancer battle. For those ten months it was a constant unknown of how would I feel today, how well is my body fighting this cancer, how long will I be doing this, and so on. It was an emotional roller coaster and it was exhausting. But through my previous three years of CrossFit training I knew I could handle it. I knew how to suffer physically. I knew how to mentally handle challenges. I knew that as silly as it sounds, CrossFit really did prepare me for this surprise life test. And I’m forever grateful for that. 

What’s your favorite lesson you’ve learned during a challenge? I hope today’s Elevate Livin’ Life E-newsletter helps you conquer some of the challenges you have ahead of you! 

Thanks for reading along,
-Kelli 

“It’s good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it’s good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven’t lost the things that money can’t buy.”

-George Lorimer

It’s November and I know a lot of you are working on your business planning for the following year. So today I want to challenge you to really think about those goals as you set them.
Are you really thinking about what it means to hit those big lofty goals? Or are you just picking a number that sounds badass? (I agree, a million dollar business does sound nicer than 1/2 a million dollar business). But what if the goals you are setting are not the right goals? Or once you make that goal, make that dream money, is it then enough? 

Making Money is Fun
Let’s be real, having money and making money is fun. It feels good, it gives us a sense of security, it can be fun to spend without worrying, and so many benefits to this. So this newsletter is not at all going to dissuade you from making money! But like always, it hopefully helps you think about whether you are living the best life for yourself.

Sometimes we can get distracted with shiny objects, like making lots of money, and forget whether that is truly what we want. I’ve seen too often where someone gets into an industry, especially the real estate industry, to start a job that will give them freedom and money but then all they find is money, which is a lot better than finding neither of those things. But still, we have to be aware of our goals, and what the sacrifices we’ll make to achieve them. 

Reviewing The Year
If you have been reading along with us for a year, then you might recall that last year we did some business planning exercises. You can read that one by clicking HERE.  Regardless if you did any business planning for 2023 though, let’s take a look at how this year played out. 

• If you did set any goals for this year, did you achieve them?
  • Whether the answer is yes or no, how do you feel? 
  • If you did not achieve your goals, why?
    • Really think about this one. Did you give it your all and just not achieve them? This is your journal so BE HONEST. 
    • Did you do all the activities you know you needed to do and you didn’t achieve them?
      • If yes, then we know the activities need to change to reach next year’s goals. So what are the activities you did last year to help you reach your goals and if you need new ones, what could those be?
        • Instead of cold calls perhaps you need to nurture other types of relationships or instead of relying solely on referrals you may need to pound the pavement, etc. 
      • If no, you didn’t do all the activities you needed to do then we know the SYSTEMS need to change to reach next year’s goals. Start writing out ideas on how you will make sure your systems are in place that you’ll do these activities.
        • From building out a “bunker” to give you time to focus on your work, to making sure you ALWAYS get your 20%, your big money producing activities done FIRST, to having the support of your team players in your life. 
• Did you pivot during the year to change your goals?
  • If yes, WHY? 
  • If no, should you have? 
• Did you surpass your goals?
  • If yes, then really think about this:
    • Did you truly want to do more or were you forced too? Was this accidental or intentional?
      • Sometimes we “accidentally” surpass our goals by a surge in business. This is usually a good problem and you’ll spend some time in survival mode but now is the time to realize what you need to do next year to handle the new production you have, and/or another possible uptick.
        • Who do you need to hire now?
        • What systems do you need to build?
        • Are there quick solutions to your accidental upticks in business for the future? For example, can you temporarily hire help? (The answer is usually yes). But you need to know this information BEFORE you get busy or you’ll have no time to look into it and research it.
        • **You can always hire Elevate** 🙂
    • If you surpassed your goals intentionally, then ask yourself why?
      • Did you truly want to make more money and in the end were you okay with the sacrifices you gave up to make that money? 
      • Did you truly need to make more money? 
• Lastly, Look at your LIFE goals, what do you have on your list of goals to achieve outside of work? Are you also achieving those? 

Moving Goalposts of Money:
It’s amazing how the goal post of money can change. You first say you want to make “x” amount and then when you make it you feel this NEED that next year you have to increase it. And it feels good too. But you are always sacrificing something else when you increase production so it’s important to look at what you’ll give up and if it’s worth it.

I read a great book recently, “Family First Entrepreneur” by Steve Chou and he fully admits in his book that he almost wrecked his marriage because he got caught up in just making a little more each year and was drowning him and his wife (they own the business together). It wasn’t until he stopped to really think about the why he wanted more that he realized he didn’t. He didn’t need it and he didn’t want it enough to kill his marriage and be a work-aholic and so he changed his mindset. They don’t have goals to increase business every year, and that’s okay. 

So, figure out where your goalpost is for your money and business goals and why. Then go after it.

Learning to Say No:
Once you truly know where your goalpost is for money and you are working towards it, make sure throughout the year you’re keeping an eye on it. To do this you can track your numbers to be prepared for any increase or decrease in business. I usually know if three weeks in a row my weekly pending deals has changed that means it’s the new norm and not a random spike or drop. So if three weeks in a row I see a huge increase I know I need to start keeping an eye on my team for burnout AND it might be the time to say NO to new business. 

But saying no is so hard! I can’t help but have the scarcity thoughts of what if this business never comes back? Especially in a volatile industry like real estate. But if you say yes and you drown your team then you’ll be in a worse position then if you miss out on these potential sales, even if you miss out on them forever. At least your business will still be alive versus drowning it completely. 

And saying no now doesn’t mean saying no forever. I’ve learned the power in “waitlisting” agents. And then in slower months I have great news to share with those agents that they can work with us. Yes, a lot of them have moved on and found other TCs and that’s okay. But they usually respect my company for the having the foresight to say no instead of taking them on and not doing a stellar job like we expect. So, in time they may have things change with the person they did hire and will possibly come back again. 

So practice saying no. Be okay with saying no. If you need to put a picture on your wall of the reason you say no (family time, time for your health, whatever it is) then do that! 

How to Save Money:
Sometimes the answer is not about making more money, but how to save money. Get real with your finances, set a budget, create a profit and loss for your business (AND LOOK AT IT!), and trim up the excess. 

Other things I try to be conscious of is easy ways to save money. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Mom Babysitting Co-ops
  • A group of moms in McCall swap watching kiddos instead of paying for sitters and/or daycares. 
• Yearly Clothing Swaps
  • Every year I get together with a handful of ladies and we bring all the clothes we haven’t worn in the past year to declutter our own closet. We also bring the clothes our kids have grown out of. We have a night of sharing drinks, laughter, kiddos running around playing, and we spend hours trying on each others clothes. I’m shocked with the stuff my friends get rid of and how much I love the items! 
• Facebook Groups
  • I’m a part of a few classified groups, outdoor groups and mom specific groups for McCall. When I need new gear (especially kiddo gear) I will post there first and I’m shocked with how many people will just give away the item I was about to buy new for a lot of money. 
• Garage Sales & Thrift Stores
  • Favorite thrift store- Goldmine in Ketchum! 
• Coupons
  • Okay, I’m not that great at coupons so if you have some secrets on how to make this easier please share. 
• Online Sales
  • Make a list of things you need to buy that aren’t time sensitive and then when black Friday rolls around, or Prime Days at Amazon, you’ll be able to purchase them then.
• ProForm Hookups
  • I’m a gear junkie and I have a lot of outdoor hobbies. Because I’m a member of CIMBA for $35 I then get access to a lot of discounts for outdoor gear. I bought my backcountry ski beacon for 50% off last year. These are HUGE savings! If you want to become a CIMBA member to get those same hookups you can do so by clicking HERE. Shameless plug :). 
• Meal Prepping!
  • Total game changer when it comes to saving money. 
• Going (Previously Scott’s Cheap Flights)
  • If you like to travel, sign up for these free email alerts for when there are cheap flights. I am flying to Patagonia roundtrip for $350 in January from these emails!! Click HERE to sign up. 
• The Library!
  • I’m all about supporting authors but come on, you don’t always need to buy new books. Use your library and save that money. 

What are your favorite money saving hacks? 

We hope this e-newsletter has been helpful this month and at least given you pause to think about a healthy relationship with money and how it affects your goal planning for life and business. Here’s to an amazing 2024 in both!! 

“Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life.”

-Dolly Parton

It’s Fall y’all! Which means it’s planning season! Business planning, life planning, all the planning to make sure your next year achieves all your goals. So today, we’re here to give some great reminders for when you’re planning out your LIFE for 2024! 

Focus on the Big Rocks:
Have you heard of the story of the professor that shares the analogy of the importance of putting big rocks first in the jar? If not, click HERE to watch a two minute video that explains it. 

Now, as you start to plan out 2024 and what you want your life to look like, it’s important to keep this analogy in mind. Because the point of this story isn’t that you can always fit more in than you think (although that is sometimes true), the point is if you didn’t put the big rocks first there wouldn’t be any space for them. So today take the time to figure out what your big rocks are and how to make sure they come first! From work to your personal life, make a list of what those top priority items are. And I encourage you to work on your life first. 🙂 

Life Resume Yearly Planning:
Jesse Itzler is a pretty badass human. I’ve never met him but I follow a lot of his inspirational videos on YouTube and his video he made last year had some pretty cool points I wanted to share. So you can click HERE to watch it or continue reading the newsletter for the simple but powerful tips and ideas he shares. 

Misogi Event

• Every year, plan out something so hard or momentous that it defines your year. These can be planned things, like buying a house, taking a dream vacation, building your business to x sales, running a marathon, etc. Or sometimes it can be unplanned like kicking cancer’s ass (2018 for me). But for the sake of these activities let’s have them be planned events. At the end of 2024 what BIG year defining activity do you want to see happen? Write it down in your beloved dream book and start planning HOW to make it happen! 
• If you’re failing to come up with some year defining activities then perhaps we need to send you some more inspiration on how to find some. Click HERE to read our past Elevate Livin’ Life blog post that talks about how to find some big rocks, to find some things that will set your soul on fire. 

Pre-Planned Micro-Adventures
Jesse Itzler also mentions his buddy that does one new activity or mini-adventure every other month. That’s only six times a year, which isn’t a lot, but then at the end of the year it’s super cool to see the six micro-adventures that may not have happened. These are things like, go visit my college roommate for a weekend, go camping in Hells Canyon, take a day trip to that new hot spring, run Robie Creek, etc. If you’re getting stumped for what to do in certain times of the year, hit me up and I will happily share with you my favorite activities for each season. 

Also, if you read our August post (click HERE to read it), we talked about building out Freedom Days. So if you have the ability to do these Freedom Days instead of (or in addition too), we highly recommend it so you have way more than just six micro-adventures. 

Award Winning Habits:
Next step in Jesse Itzler’s planning session is adding an award winning habit to every quarter. So grab that dream book and start listing out those habits you’ve wanted to create in your life. From eating healthy, to meditation, to even little things like showing up early to meetings. Write them out and then choose the top four habits you want to build out in 2024.

But writing them out and planning to add them isn’t enough. They aren’t going to magically start happening so you need to also have a plan of how to achieve those habits. I just finished reading Atomic Habits <—-so good, by James Clear and I think it’s a must-read. Until you read it, here are his three step habit forming cheat sheet: 

1. Make it Obvious
   1. Write out what the new habit is AND when and where it will happen  
   2. Design your Environment
      1. I want to get back into photography this year so I took my beloved SLR camera out of it’s case and set it on my desk so I see it daily and can easily grab it. 
2. Make it Attractive
   1. Do something you enjoy immediately before you do the new difficult habit
   2. Join a culture where your desired behavior is normal
      1. This one so works! When I joined CrossFit and really drank the Kool-Aid, I was amazed how much my life changed just being surrounded by people who make those new fitness habits seem as normal and necessary as brushing your teeth. 
   3. Pair the new habit (that you might not want to do) with a habit you already do and like to do
      1. I love to read and I don’t particularly like to stretch. So I get myself to stretch almost nightly by reading while I do it. 
3. Make it Easy
   1. Decrease the number of steps you have to take between you and your new habit
   2. Downscale your habit until they can be done in two minutes or less
   3. Automate your habit with technology or other systems
4. Make it Satisfying
   1. Get an immediate reward after you complete your habit
   2. When avoiding a bad habit, design a way to see the benefits
      1. Mr. Clear used an example about avoiding buying coffee every morning and making coffee at home. When you do something like this it’s not as gratifying so you need to reward yourself and have something built in so you see the benefits. So every time you have coffee at home, put $5 into a bank account which you have setup for a big amazing item, like a trip, or a dream jacket, etc. The act of rewarding yourself immediately and benefiting while avoiding a bad habit is huge! 
   3. Use a habit tracker
      1. Take a printed calendar, stick it somewhere you see daily (fridge, mirror, desk) and check off every day that you do the habit. Then tell yourself you’re not allowed to “break the chain”. 
   4. Never miss twice.
      1. It’s okay to miss the habit once, but don’t allow yourself to miss it twice. This is KEY! 

Daily Vitamins: 
These are things that would be on your to do list if you had all the time and money in the world. They are what would help “fill your cup” on a daily basis. So follow these steps to make sure you’re getting these in. 

1. List your daily vitamins and then do 2-3 a day.
   • Some examples of mine:
     • Hiking with my pup
     • Adventuring with my kiddos 
     • Mountain Biking with my girlfriends
     • Talking with my husband
     • Writing 
     • Reading
     • Working on my business 
     • Learning & Growing through podcasts and books 
     • Type Four Adventures with kids and mom group
     • Skiing in powder
     • Watching a sunrise and/or sunset
     • Connecting with loved ones 
     • Creating space to think
2. Once you have your list, build out how to make these happen.
   • My hubby and I sit down at the start of each season and talk about our daily vitamins and how we can fit them in. We literally map out our schedule (see picture above of our start template) and start filling it in. We do this seasonally because each season it seems our life changes from the different hobbies we do (skiing versus biking), to kids’ sports, etc., so we adjust according to the season. 
   • This is a rough map to get us started but then each week we chat about what the week will look like. Our goal is to ensure everyone is getting some (or if possible) all of these daily vitamins in a week. Remember, it’s okay to ask for support so you can achieve your most important vitamins! 

Share With Me:
So that here is the end of this year’s tips and tricks for planning out your epic year! If you want to read last year’s that had it’s own tips and tricks you can click HERE.

And just like always, I’d love you to share your ah-has, or what you gained from this. Or more importantly, share with me what you plan to do in 2024.

• What’s your Misogi?
  • Mine is going to Patagonia in January!
• What’s your micro-adventures?
  • Some of mine are:
    • Backcountry skiing in Idaho City 
    • Desert Mt Biking Spring Trip 
    • Washington hiking & camping adventure
    • Archery Hunting with Hubby
    • Ladies Backpacking Trip
    • Taking kids to Cedar Point Amusement Park
• What’s your daily vitamins?
  • You saw my list above and those will still be them next year! 🙂 

Lastly, one thing to point out, leave room in your schedule for the spontaneous adventures. From impromptu sunset dinners (the pic of me and kids above), to last minute vacations to the beach, to new vitamins you discover, there is always more to add so make sure you leave a little wiggle room for those that pop up! 

“That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”

-Friedrich Nietzsche

Does an injury, illness, or other reason have you sitting on the bench seat this day, month, year? Well man, that sucks. There is no doubt about it that being out from participating in the things you love is a bummer. I’ve been there. From cancer, to babies, to having snotty toddlers spreading all the sicknesses to me, I have had my fair share of sitting on the sidelines. But there are silver linings to this! So if you have an upcoming surgery, I highly recommend you read on. Or even if you don’t, I still recommend reading our newsletter because you never know when something might happen to cause you to be on the R&R path.

Don’t Waste an Injury:
As Jeremy Jones says, “Don’t Waste an Injury”. This is a time to focus on what you CAN do, not what you can’t do and I highly recommend you make a plan BEFORE your surgery of all the things you’ll do. If you need some help coming up with some ideas, here you go: 

• Some-day Maybe Projects
  • Family Photobooks 
  • Organizing your home, file cabinet, etc. 
  • Crafts 
  • Get ahead on yearly tasks like holiday cards, birthday cards, Christmas shopping etc. 
  • Clean up your computer; inboxes, folders, photos in the cloud, etc. 
  • Clean up your recipe box for future meal prepping sessions 
  • Create freezer meals 
  • Start making a list of things you find yourself saying some-day I’ll have the time to do “x” and save that list for the day you find yourself on the bench seat. 
• Try New Things:
  • If you can’t do your favorite activities, well, perhaps it’s time to try new things.
    • If you love to ski but you know you won’t be able to downhill ski for a while, find out from your doctor when you could start cross country skiing. And work on getting the gear ahead of time so when you’re cleared you can go! 
  • Online Classes like:
    • Learning a new language
    • Cooking courses 
    • Learning to sew 
    • Learn how to maintain your possessions
      • Tune up your bikes
      • Oil changes on your cars
      • You get the idea 🙂 
    • How to improve your business, passion projects, etc. 
• Volunteer:
  • If you love mountain biking and now you can’t bike, well spend your time volunteering with a local nonprofit. They can always use behind the scenes help if you are stuck at home!
    • ***Central Idaho Mountain Bike Association could use your help!! I’m on the board and we always need support. 🙂 
  • Read our past e-newsletter about the benefits of giving back and volunteering HERE. 

What Can you do?

• If you are still not sold on the idea of doing new things, or any of the “projects” listed above, then think about what are you still able to do with the hobbies you love?
  • If you love to exercise and you are going to be out from a leg surgery, well find out from your doc if you can still workout and focus on your upper body? 
  • You may not be able to do 20 mile hikes during this time, but can you do three mile ones? If so, grab your favorite hiking book and pull out the hikes you would usually pass right over. 
• Research blogs, articles, social media accounts, etc. of what other people before you in this similar situations were able to do.
  • Also, sometimes your doc doesn’t know what is okay to do and you might be the pioneer to show a new way! When I was going through my cancer fight there weren’t many CrossFitters also battling cancer, so I made sure to blog for people how I continued my CF journey during my cancer fight so that I hoped it helped someone else some day. 

Rest, like truly Rest:
Okay, this one is hard for me but they call it R&R (Rest and Recuperation) for a reason, because you should be doing that. So what does resting look like? 

• Sleep
• Reading & Audiobooks 
• Watch Shows 
• Video Games & Card Games 
• Puzzles
  • This surprised me but during my chemo recovery I discovered I really liked doing puzzles.
• Blogging
  • I created a blog during my fight with cancer and just documenting my experience was mentally really helpful. In addition to this, I’ve had people reach out to me to say how it’s helped them prepare them for their own fight, which means so much to me! If you’re interested you can click HERE to read my cancer journey. 
• I had so many amazing letters and cards sent to me that I would save them into a small journal and when the days got extra hard I’d go back and flip through this book. Feeling the love from so many friends and family helped me get through some tough days. 
• Embrace the Suck
  • There is no getting around it. Despite all the silver linings, it still sucks to be sick and/or injured. And that’s okay. It’s okay to cry, be frustrated, and hate life at times.
  • Some of my worst days are forever seared in my mind and I use them as fuel now. I use them to live life gratefully. I use them during workouts. When I’m miserable and exhausted during a CrossFit workout, I think, “heck this isn’t as bad as my worst most nauseous day of chemo and you survived that”. So use these days to your benefit in the future! 
  • The only way out is through, so just keep putting one foot in front of the other and focus on what you need to do to get there. 

Plan Your Comeback: 
To help with the mental challenges of being out from illnesses and injuries then I recommend you plan your comeback.

• Plan a Recovery Celebration
  • Everyone loves a reason to get together to celebrate so plan a party to toast to the recovered you!
• Plan a trip
  • During chemo my husband and I would talk about a trip we wanted to take and work on planning it out. This helped me a lot to keep my mind busy and to have something to look forward too. The picture above is us on the trip in Costa Rica! 
• Plan Your Physical Recovery
  • Once you’re cleared for your whole body you’ll still be coming back slowly so you’ll need to have ideas of how to modify fitness and activities
  • Build out your systems so when you’re back you have time-blocked your life to ensure you get some much needed body care and self love. (Massages, body work, time to stretch and do your Physical Therapy exercises).  

Greatest Silver Lining:

• The support and love from family and friends was probably the best silver lining of my cancer journey. From the head-shaving party, to the random texts “thinking of you”, it truly does make a difference in someone’s journey. So THANK YOU to my family and friends who fought alongside me!
  • **Sidenote**
    • If you are the one wanting to provide support to someone going through a challenging time, message me for ideas of great gifts to give for someone, especially if they’re going through a fight with cancer! 
• Other Silver Linings:
  • It could be worse
    • This mindset helped me a lot. Anytime I was down in the dumps I would think about how it could be worse and it made my scenario seem a little better. 
  • The NEW you
    • The first time I tried a pullup after my mastectomy and reconstruction I was shocked with how hard it was and so devasted I almost burst into tears. I thought of all the strength I had gained with years of fitness and how it was completely gone. But then, quicker than I realized, it started to come back. It wasn’t like starting at zero again. My fitness and strength were there, and I did have to build some of it back but it did return faster than I thought. 
    • That being said, you may not ever be who you were before, and that’s okay. Heck, you may even be better!!
      • After kids, although I wasn’t as strong, I was more fit. My strength numbers (squatting, presses, etc.) were way down, but I was a lot more cardio fit. And although I was sad to not be as strong, I looked for the silver lining of being more fit in other ways. 
      • I also tried (and continue to try) to keep a perspective on things. Just because I can’t backsquat 265# anymore, I am:
        • Grateful to be here and be moving at all.
        • Grateful to have some pretty cute and fun kids. 
        • Grateful I can run further than I could in the past. 

I hope that reading this month’s e-newsletter will prepare you for when you find yourself on the bench seat and help you find the silver linings of your predicament. Please, please, please reach out if you ever need to chat, ideas, or just to vent about your situation. Even though this newsletter talks about the positives of the experience I promise, there were a lot of negatives too, and that’s okay! It’s all a part of life, and we’re constantly working to find the best way to Live It! 

“Freedom is a Mindset, not a Destination.”

-Denise Gosnell

Summer is winding down and I want you to take a serious look at the past few months and think to yourself, did you spend the summer THRIVING or just SURVIVING? From the kids out of school, to your business/work, to travel, to house projects, how did this summer go?  

The Grind of Life: 
Most of the business owners I know started their businesses for one of three reasons; to have a flexible schedule, to make money, and/or to have a business that provides a needed service. I feel like a problem with entrepreneurship though is the mentality to grind, grind, grind, to work harder, not smarter. To work long hours and if you aren’t working long hours, to feel guilty about it. 

Even if someone got into their industry to have that flexible schedule, they get pulled into more work and/or see others grinding so they start grinding day in and day out and lose focus on what they ultimately got into this career for. And hey, I will admit, I love the grind at times too. It feels good. It’s like a good hard workout that you chip away at and then at the end you have that runner’s high. So I’m all about the grind….just not at the cost of also livin’ life too. 

So today I want to chat about letting go of the guilt of not grinding, setting yourself up for success in business and life, and how to thrive through it all (with perhaps a little bit of survival sprinkled in at times too). 🙂  

Letting Go of the Guilt:
First, we must shift our mindset about the NEED to grind. Like I said, the grind can be great. It can feel good, it can be a habit, it can be a necessity at times. But when you don’t HAVE to grind, this is when we must let go of the guilt. Truth be told, this is harder than it seems. I built up my business last year to a point where I had a lot more freedom than I ever had. I had amazing gals on the team that handled the day to day and I worked on the business, not in the business. These tasks weren’t as time sensitive which I loved because I could choose what hours I worked, which typically were early mornings so that I had the rest of the day to play with my kiddos.  

But here’s the thing, I had a lot of guilt. I was hesitant to share on social media when I was out on a hike in the middle of the day with my kids. I worried my agents who hire Elevate TC Services would think I was slacking off, being lazy, dropping the ball (which all of these things were so not true because I had a team to ensure the ball was not dropped and I’d already put in hours of work that no one saw). During this time I realized, it’s time for me to let go of the guilt (still working on this) and start sharing and encouraging others to live this way.  We as a culture have been brought up that working long hours is the right way to run a business, or to be successful in our careers. But STOP. Just stop thinking that and think about how we all as humans might be better off if we adopt a better mindset.

So, together, we need to take notice of those making waves in their career while at the same time are off surfing real waves in the ocean on vacations multiple times a year. Stop and take notice of the successful lawyer who shows up to everyone of his kids’ soccer games in the middle of the day. Stop and don’t think to your self, why are there so many people out on the road at 10 am on a Tuesday and instead think, these people have hopefully built lives worth living and not just working.

How we Spend Our Days, is of Course How we Spend our Lives: 
I have always loved this quote because it’s such a good reminder that what you do today, tomorrow and the next day is making up your life. Last year was magical with having the right leveraging in place to really have the freedom of my schedule. This year I have lost one of those gals and I’m back in the “trenches” a little. It is fun and I did miss it but most of my days are spent in the office and taking vacations is challenging. I don’t want to look back on 2023 and my memories be of just sitting in an office all day. So to combat that, despite being in the trenches of my business I have been doing the following:

• Vacations:
  • Book your vacations and make them nonrefundable. From nonrefundable expenses to making plans with friends you won’t allow yourself to bail on, this holds yourself accountable to making these vacations happen. It’s a little risky but I believe your life and work will figure itself out if you are forced to figure it out. 
• Micro-Adventures
  • I talked about this in the last Elevate Livin’ Life E-newsletter a lot, but sprinkle in some micro-adventures into your life. Small and achievable adventures you normally wouldn’t do in your day-to-day life.
    • Again, commit to people you won’t bail on because you will probably bail on yourself. 
    • Plan these for early morning, either before work starts or a few hours after you get some work done for the day. 
• Freedom Days:
  • I just finished a great audiobook called The Vacation Effect by Denise Gosnell and her theory is, you know how much work you get done right before a vacation? Well what if we build out that efficiency in our lives so that we work three-day work weeks that are insanely productive. Then you have two days a week that are your “Freedom Days”.  She says a freedom day is a BUSINESS day that you do no business on and only focus on your activities that bring you joy. She went from running three businesses and working 70+ hours a week to taking every Tuesday/Thursday off of work for her Freedom days. She still has those three businesses, makes more money/growth from them, and works significantly less. Her book breaks down how to go about doing this but the biggest mindset here is:
    • Parkinson’s Law. If you notice when you are getting ready for vacation you can get a weeks worth of work done in a few days? Well, it’s the same idea, whatever amount of time you allow for a task, project, business, etc. that activity will expand to take up that amount of time. But if you shorten the amount of time allowed for it then you’ll be way more productive and efficient. So, I highly encourage you to go right now and block out some time in your calendar for freedom days. If you can’t do the full day, then at least block out some mornings or three hour blocks during the business day that is your freedom time.
  • This is again may be easier said than done. I tried this out a few weeks ago. I took a Tuesday to go adventure in the backcountry. I was really scared because even though ALL my tasks for the day were done, with real estate there are a lot of unplanned tasks/emails that pop up throughout the business day. Because of this, I did ask my team member to just keep an eye on anything that might pop up that needed immediate attention (nothing did come up) and I just let go (kind of) and had an epic adventure (7000′ feet of elevation gain, one forced swim across a lake, and crying from laughing so hard while being in a delirious state). Yes, this is my idea of fun and the best way to spend a Freedom day. 🙂
    • Anyways, the lesson I learned here is, I almost didn’t go. I almost said “no, it’s a work day, WHAT IF something comes up.” But it was fine! And if I didn’t go I would have been so mad at myself.

Freedom is a Mindset not a Destination:
Don’t say to yourself, well when I’m really successful I’ll retire and have freedom. You may die. Or by that point your kids are grown and have their own lives. Or you’re old and broken. <—- I don’t actually believe that as I feel fitter the older I get but sometimes that is what happens, so I’m just telling you the cold hard possible truth here. 🙂 

So, start tackling those bucket list items NOW. Like Tomorrow! Do not wait.

As you know, I love lists. From bucket lists to to-do lists, to everything in between, I love creating them and I of course LOVEEEEE checking them off. So I’m going to encourage you to make some lists. If you have read along in previous newsletters we had various times we had you create dream lists. Go read through those again. If you don’t have any then take Denise Gosnell’s advice and create your “someday-maybe list”. This is a list of things you have told yourself, when I have more ____ (time, money, etc.) I will do “X”. Well what was that “x”? What was that someday-maybe activity? Create a list of those.

Now every week when you’re analyzing your calendar for the week and you see your freedom day blocked out. Go to these lists and choose what you are going to do with that time. Make it count. And do not allow yourself to work (business, house, whatever) at these times. Remember, true freedom comes from owning a business, not from having a business that owns you. And if you don’t own a business, the same can be said of your work, or your house, kids, life, etc.   

Work Smarter, Not Harder:
Once you have let go of the guilt and time blocked out the time for yourself we hope that the Parkinson’s principle will pan out. You will get all your work done in the other days you have set aside as you’ll work faster and more efficiently. But sometimes that isn’t always the case, so in those instances you may need to start delegating. Go get yourself help! Here are some top ways to do this:

• Hire People:
  • House cleaners, personal assistants, landscapers, etc.
  • Employees or contractors
  • Virtual assistants
  • Cooks
    • You may not want or be able to afford an in-house chef but there are some really great options out there from pre-made food companies that deliver meals to your door, to small business owners in Treasure Valley that bring you dinner. I have a few contacts if you need some! 
  • Hey there! If you are in real estate, you can hire us. 🙂 
• Hire Systems:
  • What systems do you use that you can improve the efficiency for. Research it or PAY someone to research/implement them for you.

Breaking the Rules:
Most of the guilt you have is probably self imposed. I had a family member tell me once that she had this “rule” that they couldn’t go out of town for the weekend unless the house was all cleaned and picked up. She just loved to come home to a clean house after being gone all weekend and getting ready to start the week. And heck, I get that, I agree with that feeling! BUT she realized she was missing out on so many opportunities and/or still doing those opportunities but then killing herself to get out on those weekend adventures that they weren’t even that fun. So some Friday afternoons, she started to say, “forget it, my empty house can sit and be messy and I will deal with you another day so that I can get started on my family weekend of fun.” Yes, it was hard to come home and have work to do, but she was happier to have taken the opportunity of fun and to not stressed herself out before it to make it happen. 

I am so guilty of this too! I started this newsletter and had this goal to do two a month. Then my busy season hit and I had an employee quit so I as picking up all their work right in the midst of the super busy season and I just didn’t have as much time anymore ( especially since my work busy season is also my most favorite time of year and I just can’t not hike and play during it :)). Anyways, I had so much guilt and stress that I was letting my readers down and letting myself down. Then I realized NO one knew about this goal and that sometimes my goals need to be fluid as a new more important temporary goal had popped up- handle my time-sensitive work.

So what “rules” have you set for yourself in life that sometimes you need to break? (This is coming from someone that is the ultimate rule follower too!)

Build Your Life:
“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.” – Mae West

Go build that life and once you have it built don’t let guilt get in the way of you enjoying it. Protect your me-time, freedom days, micro-adventures, all of it, so that whether it’s taking naps in the backcountry, sipping margaritas on the beach, playing with your kids, or taking on those passion projects, we hope that you give yourself the space needed to build out something amazing! Something you can look back on and feel like you truly lived and thrived, not just survived and worked. 

Lastly, please, share with me! I love to hear if this sort of stuff speaks to you and helps you build out your life you are stoked on livin’! 

“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.”

-Milton Berle

Sometimes the doors of opportunities are there for you to find them, and other times you have to work for them. Typically, adventurous people have a never-ending list of opportunities of adventures they want to do, so trying to figure out the next one isn’t that much of a challenge. But what if you are new to the adventure game? Or what if you are going on a trip and need to find the local spots?  Well, read on to learn about how to fill up your adventure to-do list full of exciting and memorable experiences. 

What is an Adventure?
I use the word adventure very loosely here because I want it to mean whatever you want it to mean. For me, an adventure is usually some sort of outdoor physical activity or travelling. But swap out the word adventure for whatever you may be looking for in your life. If you are not sure what that is, then read our previous newsletter post here about figuring out what sets your soul on fire.

Once you know what sort of adventure you want, then you need to plan it out. I’m going to use some examples based on the adventures I partake in, specifically hiking, because, well, you write what you know. I’ll throw in ideas for how you can find your next adventure based on non-hiking activities though. 

Where to Find that Adventure:
When it comes to hiking and outdoor adventures these are my favorite ways to find my next one: 

• Good ol’ fashion book:
  • The online world is amazing but sometimes it has too much information and it can get overwhelming. So I go to the tried and true resource of a book. And I personally like a real book, not a virtual one, so that you can check it off as you complete the hikes and make notes for future reference.
  • When I moved to McCall six years ago the first thing I did was buy my beloved hiking book, The Hiker’s Guide to McCall & Cascade by Scott Marchant, pictured above. This book is so well loved I had to take it in to get it spiralbound because pages were falling out.
    • Nerd alert ;)- I even turned this beloved book into a spreadsheet and I’m not much of a spreadsheet person. I did this though so I could quickly find the right hike. Now I can search for hikes that will take five hours or less, or which hikes are the best in July, etc.
      • Want a copy of my spreadsheet? Click HERE. 
  • I will even buy the local guide book when I’m on a trip if I plan to do more than one or two hikes. I figure I’ll have it for the future if I come back and it goes towards a good cause.  
• Blog Posts
  • If you finish off your guide book and/or there isn’t one to begin with, try searching for blogs for your area/adventure. I stumbled upon two amazing online blogs full of detailed notes on so many hikes in my area. 
• Social Media
  • Search hashtags for your area or adventures or both. With this search you should find specific posts to learn from and/or accounts you can follow for more ideas.
    • Example hashtags I’ve used
      • #hikingmccall
      • #hikingidaho
      • #mccalloutdoors
      • #mccall
      • #visitmccall
• Strava
  • Wow! The world of Strava has enlightened me in the past two years. I always thought it was a tool to show off how fast you are at running or biking or whatever it may be. And yes, it is a tool to do that but now I LOVE Strava and pay money each year for it for two main reasons:
    • I can see what other people are doing in my area to know when trails are rideable/hikeable or skiable. And the Strava community is really helpful. I simply reach out to the person and ask them what trail conditions were like and most of the time they’re happy to help.
    • I learn new routes. So many people are out pushing the boundaries and exploring new areas. It inspires me to try new trails and explore mountain tops or backcountry lakes I never knew were accessible.
      1. I’ve also been on many type-two adventures this way and gotten in over my head (safely survived but oof it was a long day).
      2. With a paid Strava subscription you can download other people’s routes to then have when you’re out on that hike as a guide. 
• AllTrails
  • This has been my favorite go-to resource when travelling. It has so many great hikes and most importantly it has recent reviews from people who have done the hikes. So it lets me know the condition of the trails before getting out there, which is important because you may not know what time of year certain trails are accessible in new areas, or if there are closures, etc. 
• Facebook and/or Meet-Up Groups
  • Before I went to Yosemite I joined a few Facebook groups about hiking Yosemite and it helped me narrow down which were the best hikes to do on my limited time there. 
  • These various groups will have trail updates too that can help you with planning when to go. 
  • This is also a great way to meet other people to adventure with. 
• Call the Professionals
  • Local outdoor shops, the forest service, and even guiding services have been super helpful for my own planning. So don’t be afraid to reach out to the people that are professionals in your field of interest, I’m sure they are eager and happy to help! 

**Outdoor activities might not be your adventure but is there an app for the adventures you do love? If your adventure is trying a new home cooked meal each week, can you find a cool recipe app? If it’s remodeling homes, I guarantee there are apps for that! Just google it. 

Plan Out the Adventure: 
Once you find the adventure you then need to plan out how to make it happen! 

• Block out time to get out on these adventures! Choose your top five ones and then timeblock them into your calendar for the next six months to ensure they happen! I get 1/2 a day most weeks throughout the summer to tackle my hiking adventure checklist and I plan it out before summer arrives so I know which hikes I’m doing and when. 
• Micro-adventures to the win:
  • What’s a micro-adventure? It’s just what it sounds like, a mini adventure that you plug into an already hectic and busy schedule. Sound like you?!? 
  • **Disclaimer*** Exhaustion may follow micro-adventures!
    • You are already tired with your hectic schedule so how can you imagine adding more to it? Well, truth be told, you may become more tired after a micro adventure BUT I guarantee you’ll also be more fulfilled! You may go to bed later than planned, or have a granola bar for dinner instead of a home-cooked meal BUT you’ll have a smile on your face when your head hits the pillow with the fact you snuck in a rad experience on a Tuesday night. 
  • To make micro-adventures work you MUST have your bags packed and a plan ahead of time so when the time comes you just have to get out the door and get going! Every minute counts for micro-adventures. 🙂 
• Coordinate with WHO you want to adventure with!
  • Finding out where to go is key but so is finding out who to go with. So figure out your besties that you want to make these activities with and get on their calendar ASAP! 
• On vacation, it’s also important to plan out when you’ll take these adventures, especially if you are going on a trip with other people as they’ll be coming with their own agendas. But if it’s really important for you to get out on a specific hike or go to that cool class, restaurant, whatever it may be, make sure you have all the details before your trip so you can quickly share how much time you’ll need, when is the ideal time to make it happen, etc. 

What is YOUR Adventure?
The mountains call to me. But I would love to know what you have on your “bucket-list”. Is it hiking and biking like me? Or what fills your cup these days? I always love to know what my readers are into! So what are the five things you put on your summer to do list? Or your top activity for your family vacation this year? 

Also, if you ever want to chat about outdoor activities in the McCall area, please let me know! I’m always happy to be a resource for the best bike rides or most amazing hikes. 🙂 

I hope this Elevate Livin’ Life Newsletter has helped give ideas of where to find your next adventure so you can create your amazing adventure-to-do-list AND an amazing life worth living!