Wendy Amara Strategic Life Coach

It's so easy to get discouraged when you're working towards one of your goals and it feels like it is never going to happen. In the last year, we've been through so much. We had to make decisions we never imagined having to make. We all had to adjust to the new norm. Things we considered "normal" our whole lives have changed! It's important during this time to have compassion for ourselves and our loved ones. ... On the good days, we're still getting things done, even with our masks on everyday And on the bad days, it feels like we are climbing this overwhelming steep mountain. That is OK, in fact that is 100% normal. This is to be expected....and you know what? All this means is an awareness to Shift your Focus. Focus on what YOU ARE capable of Focus on what you CAN DO Focus how you can move towards your goals.... even if it's one small action a day Here are Small Action Steps you can do to Move Forward: Reading a chapter of a book on the subject of your Goal Asking a friend for guidance or referrals Writing down an outline or action steps Doing a Google Search Organizing your calendar so you have time to do the research Sometimes our goals are so big we forget that all it takes is taking One Small Step What can you do this weekend to get you closer to your goals?

Many of us have been stuck working from home more hours than we normally do. This can really be draining on our focus. One of the brain hacks I like to use when I need to focus and find myself starting to get easily distracted is to move locations within my house. ... Even moving from one side of my office to the other side of my office tricks my brain into thinking it's a brand new environment. I also like to take some time and sit outside and work in the outdoors. I know that’s only possible depending on where you live, but even stepping foot in a closet and working from a closet space for 20 minutes will open up your brain. It will do this because your brain interpreted it as a new environment. Anytime the brain is in a new environment there’s actually an increase in stimulus and STIMULUS is the key factor to help you to focus. What helps you focus? See more

Goals are a tricky thing. Our brain tends to underestimate how long something will take us in the short run, and overestimate how long something will take us in the long run. What does that mean? We tend to think we can write 20 emails in 30 minutes when really it’s going to take us an hour and a half to write 20 emails. In the short run, in a short timeframe, your brain tends to think things will be quicker and faster than what we can actually accomplish. You... can relate to this if you oftentimes add too many things to your to-do list and never get to check them off. Sound familiar? Now in the long run it’s a little different. We tend to underestimate what we can get done in six months, or even a year. We tend to think it’s impossible to start a whole new career within a year or that it will take us 10 years to buy our first home when in all actuality it's possible in less time than we think. We tend to underestimate our capacity for hitting larger goals within a larger timeframe. For example, it may be possible for you to buy your next house in the next 2 to 3 years, or for you to hit a particular financial goal for your life for the next 2 to 3 years. And this is all possible even if it seems impossible to have that happen right now. That’s because our brain tends to think of the right now, instead of the long run. You can actually create a whole new life for yourself in a year or a couple of years. It’s all up to you. Understanding how your brain works in terms of time awareness and how your brain interprets how long certain goals will take us is really important when we are goal setting. What goal came to mind when you were reading this caption? See more

We've all heard the saying, "a body in motion tends to stay in motion. A body that is energized tends to stay energized." The key is, how do we create that energy? Especially on the days where we have too many zoom calls, or we picked up the wrong homework packet for the kids There are thoughts that are actually more energizing than other thoughts, and there are activities that are more energizing for us and than other activities but how often do we actually ...check in with ourselves in those moments? Ask yourself "what actions, tasks, or activities energize ME?" Those would be the tasks that by the time you’re finished doing and you actually feel MORE energy. There are simple little brain hacks you can do to increase your energy. Including movement like running in place, or even jumping up and down. Just by standing up from sitting down for a long period of time, you are increasing the energy flow in your body. So if you’ve been sitting for a long time on back-to-back zoom meetings, make sure you stand up and do your next meeting standing up for at least 30 minutes. You will feel a big difference in your energy levels. P.S. Anyone a fan of the Amy Cuddy talk on TEDx: Your body language may shape who you are? See more

We've all been in this situation... We declare a goal for ourselves, give ourselves a time frame, and maybe even break down the goal into to small steps, and then somewhere along the way life happens. We don’t end up hitting the goal, our timeline gets completely dissolved or forgotten about. We all have done this at some point. And that’s because although we spent a lot of time talking about goalsetting, we don’t spend as much time talking about actually achie...ving a goal and what do you do when you don’t reach the goal. The answer is really simple. If you don’t reach a particular goal, just reset. Meaning evaluate why you didn’t hit that goal, and then re-commit. The answer is never to completely quit. The answer lies in evaluating what didn’t work the first time around, making the adjustments necessary, and then recommitting. Recommitting from a place of no self-judgment, and no self beat up. Self beat up is draining for our energy. It's not valuable in any way to us. Especially for when we're trying to reach a goal. If we have a goal we want to reach we need ALL of our energy to get there, and self beat up will take us down a different path. Oftentimes self beat up will take us down a path where we end up thinking really negative thoughts. Don’t allow yourself to go down that path. Save your energy, use your energy instead to evaluate what went wrong, make adjustments, and move forward. The best thing you can do is re-commit to your goal from this new perspective. What's a goal you want to recommit to today? See more