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…

Imagine we are sitting on your couch…

Let’s start today by doing an exercise that I personally do about 2-3 times per week. This will really help you separate your thoughts and is the foundation to the rest of our conversation…

1:00 Minute Mental Reset: Living Your Dream

Okay, sometimes we need to step back and get some clarity on what we really want in life. I want to you close your eyes, relax, and ask yourself this question.

“In 20 years from now, what do I want my life to look like”?

Now think about this for 1 minute without letting other thoughts creep in. Paint yourself a mental picture that is so detailed you can see yourself living it in the future. You will start to notice details about your life that are the most important to you and things that you may want, take note of these. Things, like a better job, more money, bigger house, better health, good work relationships, a great marriage, successful grown children, living in a different state, try to notice as many details as you can…

Ready…1 Minute…GO!

Okay that was easy, right? The simple part is knowing what you want out of life. The hard part is getting there. I am going to teach you two principals that are a prerequisite to thinking backwards from your dreams and taking action steps to inevitably reach your goals.

Work Ethic and Massive Action

You have that perfect picture painted in your head, right? You still might not know exactly what steps you need to take to get there but one philosophy that trumps all uncertainties you may have, and that is…

Working hard and taking imperfection action is better than taking no actions at all.

There is no substitute for a strong work ethic. Working hard will get you whatever you want in life as long as you are striving to make better decisions on a daily basis.

Here is my advice…

If you apply hard work, passion, and excitement to your dreams there is no way to fail. These things will trump sitting around and doing nothing every day of the week.  You will mess up along the way so expect failures. Anyone who is successful has failed or screwed it up 1,000 times before getting it right. Make quick and calculated decisions and take massive actions on them, if you screw it up, shake it off and don’t make the same mistake twice!

One of my favorite quotes comes from a book I have been listening to on the philosophy of exceptional athletes. This one comes from Julius Erving.

“Success as a professional is doing the things you love to do, on the days you don’t feel like doing them.”

That quote can apply to EVERYTHING in your life, so next time you don’t feel like getting your workout in for the day, remember this moment and why it is so important to make yourself do what you put your mind to. Taking action each and every day towards that vision in your head, right or wrong action, will take your reality to places that used to be only in your dreams.

Building Your Action Steps

Now that you have your mental picture and you know that you have to work hard and take massive action, wouldn’t you want those actions to be more precise? Let’s talk about how to create a list of action steps on a daily basis to reach your life’s goals.

For this example, we will consider that your life’s goals consisted of the following things when you did your 1 Minute Mental Reset: to be extremely healthy and fit, to have a great marriage, to have a bigger house, and to be retired. 

First off, you HAVE to have a to-do list. The list is king when it comes to changing your path to a more productive one. And in this to do list you have to write down 3-5 things that will work TOWARDS your dream. I have a list I call my, “Get Stuff Done” or “GSD List”. Each night before I go to bed I write my 3-5 tasks for the next day down. I ALWAYS get them done each day. Even on the days I don’t feel like it, I make myself do it. I take actions regardless of any excuses I can muster up. If you write down your “GSD” list the night before, you will be sub-consciously more prepared to conquer the tasks the next day.

Here is how you build your action steps. 

Go back to your mental picture, and revisit the most important things. For our example I will show you how to build action steps using an average list of what most people like you may want out of life. Next to the bolded “dreams” will be three examples of a “daily action steps” that you can take. The 3 examples are interchangable and can be an example of a “GSD” list for one day.

In 20 years…

I want to be as fit and healthy as possible: I must work out today, I must go grocery shopping today, I must find a personal trainer to help me today.

I want to have a great marriage: I must arrange a surprise dinner date for Saturday, Tell my husband/wife I love them 5 times, Bring lunch by his/her office

I want to have a bigger house: I must create a unique idea and present it to my boss, I must actively search for jobs that make more money, I must read a book that teaches me about making more money.

I want to be retired: I must have a meeting with my financial advisor, I must put money away in my 401 K, I must stay an hour after work to get ahead of the game.

See how simple that was?

This is REALLY easy if you just work backwards and start with your dreams! New ideas, more specific action steps, and more efficient planning will come with practice!

What’s Your Legacy Going To Be?

You get one chance on this Earth, one chance with God, one chance to raise your children, one chance to have a long and lasting marriage, and one chance to take care of your own body. I often visualize what I want my legacy to look like when I am gone and it tends to put a serious focus on what is really important. If you want to leave a true legacy you must have influence over others.

We are talking about life in general, today. But you probably follow me for health, fitness, nutrition, fat loss, and motivational reasons so this aspect of life is obviously important to you. My question is what actions are you going to take to make yourself healthier? If your legacy leaves behind a healthy person who cared about others you must first be healthy yourself.

Use this Newsletter today to do just that. Get yourself right first. 

Take a step back and read this a couple times. If you truly dream to be a healthy and fit person then it is also part of the obligation to your dream that you teach others what you have learned. Others will not follow if you do not practice what you preach. I want to have a legacy as a Fit Moms Community who changed the world one city at a time but cannot do it without you!

You are the movement.

You have the passion.

You have the power.

Now, make yourself right and go teach others what you just learned!

GET STUFF DONE!

Keep Moving,

Devan Kline

PS – It’s actually, “Get Sh*t Done”, makes it sound cooler and more urgent

PPS – …And by the way…I AM CRAZY…check out this video of me and you’ll see why!