1. You don’t need to wait to become the perfect version of yourself to be happy.

Oftentimes, we prioritize reaching a goal so much so that we forget about our happiness in the whole equation. The focus centers on the weight we still have to lose or the definition we want to see, and we aren’t happy with ourselves until it happens. We close ourselves off to experiencing life and relationships around us so that we can finally get from point A to B—essentially, we equate our happiness with a goal. We spend so much time measuring ourselves up, punishing ourselves and feeling guilty for not being “perfect” when, in reality, you don’t have to wait to become this “perfect” version of yourself before you start loving yourself and truly enjoying your life. You’re allowed to be happy while you continue to evolve and improve. You don’t need a number on a scale, a number of reps, a number of miles or an amount of weight you can lift to feel validated.

Personally, I believe I’ll be the “perfect” version of myself when I am able to just enjoy exactly who I am in the present moment. This is the version of myself I am striving to become. Continue working toward your goal, but in the meantime, embrace, own, accept, love and just enjoy being who you are right now. There is only one of you and we have one life to live, so allow yourself to be happy!

2. No matter how far you still have to go, you’re allowed to celebrate how far you have come.

You’ve heard it before: “It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey.” When we focus too much on how far we have to go, we forget to realize how far we have come. We could be leaps and bounds further along in our journey than we were just a few months ago but not take the time to stop and celebrate all that we have achieved in the process.

We get this picture in our heads of exactly who we want to be, how we want to look and where we want to go. We work hard and we persevere every single day to get closer to becoming that picture in our head, but it’s not always about the end goal. There is so much to be proud of yourself for while you are on the way to where you are going. Take a moment right now. Look at yourself; look how far you have come. Remember that person who chose to start? You are that person. Be proud of that person. Celebrate that person.

Next time you get stuck thinking about how far you still have to go, challenge your perspective. Regardless of how far you are from the person you want to be and the place you want to go, you have come so far and that deserves recognition!

Don’t let the person you want to be stand in the way of celebrating the person you are now. Even though you may have more to go, your hard work is worth it, your hard work shows and your hard work has paid off!

3. You are your own kind of beautiful.

Stop comparing yourself to others. We are all guilty of this—I’ll be the first to admit that I do it too! Truth is, we were all born with different hair textures, eye colors, metabolisms and body frames, and every one of these things makes us beautifully unique. We are our own person. No one is just like you—how cool is that? You are you, and no one else can be you no matter how hard they try. We have to remember this when we find ourselves wishing we had what someone has or could do what someone else does. When we strive to be like someone else, it is a million more times difficult to be happy with who we were uniquely made to be.

If you take away anything from this blog post, I want you to know that who you are, every single part, is unbelievably beautiful. You are too pretty and too smart to act like you are not. You may look at yourself in the mirror and not think twice about the reflection you see, but what you aren’t seeing is the beauty others see in you. It’s time for you to look at yourself in a new way—we see it, now it’s your turn. Go ahead and tell yourself how beautiful you are! Do it today, and every day after that.

4. Who you are as a person is way more important than the way you look.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that no one is going to love you more for losing 20 pounds or having a six-pack. Those things are great goals, but the things that have a lasting impression are your character, values, actions, positivity, happiness, love and everything that’s inside you.

That five pounds you gained or lost weighs a lot less than the smile on your face and the passion in your heart. People around you don’t care about the number on your scale and probably don’t even think about it. So, stop torturing yourself and letting the way you look dictate your attitude. It’s more important to live a life that keeps you smiling and keeps others smiling than a life that keeps you obsessing over your weight. Remember what really matters.

5. You are strong, capable, beautiful, significant and more than enough.

You are! Stop telling yourself otherwise. Even when it feels like you aren’t, I hope there is at least a small part of you that believes you are. You may not be able to see it today, but others see it every day. Others see every ounce of greatness within you—more greatness than you will ever know. Never forget that.

If you know someone who needs to hear one of these reminders, share this post with them. If you’re more of a podcast person, you can download the podcast episode that goes along with this post and listen to it on those days when you need a pick-me-up.

Also, if you didn’t know, I have a cooking show called Morgan Makes It where I show you how cooking and eating healthy can be simple, quick and still so delicious. I release a new recipe every single Monday, which can be found on Burn Boot Camp’s YouTube channel. Go check it out if you are ready to start eating healthy and don’t know where to begin or if your diet is feeling stale and you are looking for new, fun and healthy ways to change it up!

If you liked this post, you’ll also love…

Sean Barcellona

The future can be a scary place.

There are unknowns, uncertainties, and challenges waiting for us. Sometimes, we prevent ourselves from thinking about the future because it can give us anxiety, depression, or doubt. But when we prevent ourselves from planning for our future, we prevent ourselves from creating the future we want.

What do you want to do with your life? What are your dreams, goals and ambitions? Ask yourself those questions. You have to know what you are working towards in order to put together a plan to get there. Reaching our goals takes hard work and persistence.

When we prevent ourselves from planning for our future, we prevent ourselves from creating the future we want.

To be successful, it takes doing the right thing day after day, month after month, and year after year. We’re all capable of doing this if we’re passionate about what we do, and we remind ourselves why we’re doing it.

Let’s break it down. Keep the following tips in mind when you’re setting goals and taking the steps to achieve them.

1. Don’t be afraid of failure. Instead, use it as a learning experience and apply those lessons to your future.

2. Break it up. Create smaller goals on the way to your larger goal.

3. Don’t dwell in the past! Whether something good or bad happened, give yourself 24 hours to reflect and learn, then move on.

4. Take it day by day. Focus on giving your best effort today! Don’t focus on what you have to do tomorrow.

5. Give your dream purpose. When you set a goal bigger than yourself it holds you accountable and gives you that extra push when you feel like giving up.

Working toward a dream can feel a lot like hiking a mountain. Our goal is to get to the top and enjoy the view, but we have to start at the bottom and work our way up until we get where we want to be.

There are plenty of up’s and down’s, unexpected challenges, and setbacks during the journey, but we have to stay focused on our goal and continue putting one foot in front of the other.

The easy thing to do is turn back and head down the mountain. It’s not easy to keep climbing when you’re tired, but nothing worth achieving is easy. You have to push yourself outside your comfort zone, you have to keep taking that next step, and eventually you will get to the top and get to enjoy that view you worked so hard to reach.

Anyone is capable of accomplishing great things—it just takes patience, determination and an unyielding optimism.

Looking up at the mountain from the bottom can be intimidating and can even prevent you from starting your hike to the top. But don’t let it.

Instead, when you have a big goal you’re working toward, break it down and focus on taking that next step—don’t think about the entire journey. Anyone is capable of accomplishing great things—it just takes patience, determination and an unyielding optimism. Make the choice to take that next step!

Sean Barcellona is a trainer at Burn Boot Camp Cornelius (North Carolina) as well as a Burn HQ employee. He began his journey with Burn in 2017 and is the man behind the daily protocol, continually creating unique workouts for all Burn Boot Camp locations across the nation. He is passionate about hiking, exercise, and spending time with his wife, Lindy, who also works at HQ.