Tag Archives: mindset

Breaking your addiction to stress

By Amira Alvarez Every day we pre-pave the road to our outcomes, to what we experience.We do that by consciously or unconsciously thinking about how things are going to go.Is it going to be easy and flow smoothly? Or hard and a struggle?And we start telling ourselves a story about how things are…
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Every day we pre-pave the road to our outcomes, to what we experience.

We do that by consciously or unconsciously thinking about how things are going to go.

Is it going to be easy and flow smoothly? Or hard and a struggle?

And we start telling ourselves a story about how things are going to work.

Tons of choices come in, especially when we’re doing something new, important, or under a time constraint.

Take a gander at your thinking the next time you’re about to go to do something…

  • What are you imagining is going to happen before it happens?
  • Are you pre-paving what you want or what you don’t want?
  • Are you using this to prep and adjust (i.e. problem-solve) or are you using this to affirm your worries, doubt, and anxiety?

I suggest you start this inquiry with small things as they’re often less loaded than when you’re doing something new, important, or time urgent.

Those added stressors are not conducive initially as stress narrows your focus, not allowing you to have the necessary open-focus for an enquiry like this.

 Eventually though you’ll use this process for all experiences.

In fact, it’s really important to write the story you want even when something is a stressor – new, important, or under a time constraint. These are the most important times to do so. BUT, if you’re just starting this process, these are the times that will be the most difficult, so let’s get our story-writing chops dialed in first with scenarios that are less challenging.

Want an example of how to do this? 

I thought so. :) Here’s one from my own life.

I’m getting ready to go on a trip this afternoon. Last night I reviewed my calendar and realized that the time I had allocated (in my mind) for writing this newsletter was actually filled with the standing branding meeting from the afternoon that got moved up.

I think: When am I going to write this? It’s due tomorrow.

I go to bed and think: It’s all going to work out. It’s going to come to me easily.

Important: This 👆is the story I’m telling myself.

I’m not telling the story that goes like this: F&#k! What am I going to do? I don’t have time. I should have done this earlier. Etc.

I wake up this morning a half hour before I had planned to… with an idea. 

Yay! I can write about that. Yet as I go about my morning, it’s not feeling “right” or easy… but I don’t sweat it.

I continue my puttering… making tea, letting the dog out, etc. Then I settled down to write. 

Right before I pick up pen and paper to write, I read something with the word “story” in it and all at once the topic for THIS newsletter comes to me. In one fell swoop. EASY. QUICK. SEAMLESS.

Totally in the flow of things, just in the moment I needed it.

Zero stress.

I could have made it stressful. I certainly have many times in the past.

But I’ve trained myself to refuse to write the story of stress.

I pre-pave how I want things to go… easy, in the flow, just working out.

When I do this, I always get… easy, in the flow, with things working out.

It feels like magic, but it’s not.

It’s giving a directive to your subconscious mind to search for this. Our brains are wired for this.

But most people are stuck telling themselves stories of what they don’t want inside. Hello, worry, doubt, and fear.

When you get good at this process of pre-paving the road to your outcomes with the story of what you want, not what you don’t want… life unfolds exquisitely.

Problem is… most people are addicted to the story of stress.

In fact, the story they’re unconsciously telling themselves is that in order to be worthy of that which they desire whether in their personal or professional lives, they have to struggle.

Of course effort is required. But stress? Not necessary.

In fact, the places where you’re stressed and struggling and not getting what you want or not living the way you want are your growth edges.

There’s always a place where this is happening but you may not be aware of it. 

It may be normalized to you as “just what’s required,” but if you’re not experiencing ease and flow WHILE achieving your next goals, then this is where you need to do the work.

I would love to help you with that. (Just email me with a quick note.)

In the meantime, ask yourself: Where am I stressed or struggling? What is the story I’m writing about that? Is that serving me?

Chances are you think in some way that it is – but if you’re not truly getting you what you want in all areas of your personal and professional life, it’s not. Don’t let the short-term “rewards” fool you.

It’s time to rewrite the story.

———

Want to experience more as an Unstoppable Woman?

Be sure to check out the Unstoppable Woman podcast. If you’re ready to step into an exquisite life, schedule a call to discuss how we can help.

The Dance Between Achievement and Burnout

By Amira Alvarez If you want to have everything you desire, without running around feeling disconnected or burnt out . . . how much action do you actually need to take?This isn’t a one-size fits all answer. It depends on so many things… including where you’re at in your career, the size of…
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If you want to have everything you desire, without running around feeling disconnected or burnt out . . . how much action do you actually need to take?

This isn’t a one-size fits all answer. It depends on so many things… including where you’re at in your career, the size of your company, what your role is, available funds, and so much more.

But I think a little talked about, but absolutely essential piece to this equation is finding the sweet spot between action taken in the physical world and action taken in the metaphysical world.

By physical world, think matter moving matter. This is where your action makes something happen. 

In business this looks like…

  • Creating and executing marketing plans
  • Making sales calls, negotiating contracts
  • Hiring talent for that second in command position
  • Crunching numbers to create quarterly projections  

You get the idea. All the things that you have “to do” to run a business. 

By metaphysical world, think above matter. This is where energy moves matter. 

In business this looks like… small, gentle prompts to “go here” or “do that” which result in small and large “miracles” occurring.

The more tapped in you are, the more you receive these prompts that create easy, immediate results.

A recent example of this…

I was speaking with a client and she was describing a party she was putting together for her business. She was pulling out all the stops to create something so unique that not only perfectly represented the zeitgeist of her business, but that people would also really want an invitation to come to.

In that conversation, I suggested to her that she invite a wider swath of people and said in an off-hand way, this is where you’re going to find the person for that role you’ve been looking for. I just knew.

And sure enough… after the invitations went out, her ideal candidate REACHED OUT TO HER saying that she wanted to work for her.

THIS? 

This was so much easier than the head hunter who fell down on the job or the job posting that wasn’t getting any traction at all. 

 

To be clear, it’s not that I wouldn’t take those physical world actions. I would. They often work and at a minimum serve as a clarifying process for what you want.

And it’s not that she won’t be taking the appropriate physical world action to vet this seemingly out-of-the-blue ideal candidate. She is.

It’s that when you start to tap into all the energy that is, things become so much easier.

You don’t deny the physical world action. You take that action… but you do so from a place informed by a power greater than you.

This power?

It’s the power of energy.

It’s the creative, vibrational power that is the metaverse.

It is the Oneness, the Wholeness of life.

It’s Order. 

Some call it God, some call it the Universe, Source, Infinite Intelligence.

I don’t care what you call it. 

I care that you know how to tap into it. That you trust it. And that you act on it.

When you live this way, it allows you to keep creating all that your ambition and desires are calling you to, but with ease and grace that you desire.

Do I hear a “Yes, please!?”

———

Want to experience more as an Unstoppable Woman?

Be sure to check out the Unstoppable Woman podcast. If you’re ready to step into an exquisite life, schedule a call to discuss how we can help.

Are you Manufacturing Relevance?

By Amira Alvarez Playing at the same level…We all know when we’re there. We can feel it.Blah. Bland. Listless. A life dialed in.The things that used to challenge us to grow we’ve done enough times that even those “uncomfortable risks” are now squarely in our comfort zone.And yet we often stay there… comfortable. Now…
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Playing at the same level…

We all know when we’re there. We can feel it.

Blah. Bland. Listless. A life dialed in.

The things that used to challenge us to grow we’ve done enough times that even those “uncomfortable risks” are now squarely in our comfort zone.

And yet we often stay there… comfortable. 

Now there’s nothing wrong with a life of ease and grace but not if it’s at the expense of growth.

Growth is a calling. 

We crave it. 

And the ambitious are especially good at actualizing it–undeterred, driven, focused. 

We know that “if you’re not growing you’re dying.”

And this often leads, sadly, to a manufacturing of activity and stress.

Stuff to do, projects to pursue, businesses to create… to fill a void when we don’t know where we want to grow next or how to do it differently.

We even (on more than one occasion if you’re honest) fool ourselves into “brilliant ideas” to stay busy… occupied… relevant.

Why?

Because true growth requires breaking free of how we’ve always done things and owning your deepest wants and desires…

Is not expedient. It takes time.

Is not obvious. It’s nuanced.

Is not what you’ve been habituated to. It’s the unknown.

It will call into question your relationship with yourself and others. 

It will force a radical shift in approach. 

It will challenge you– heart, mind, and soul. 

And yet… 

After success the way we’ve always created it, through the power of our will and the focus of our intellect, it is what we are craving.

So I ask you…

What if relevance, to yourself and others, didn’t come with manufactured occupation? 
What if your projects met your heart’s desires?
What if your activity included the breadth and depth of who you are?
What if living into your growth could come with spaciousness?

What if you could create an exquisite life?

———

Want to experience more as an Unstoppable Woman?

Be sure to check out the Unstoppable Woman podcast. If you’re ready to step into an exquisite life, schedule a call to discuss how we can help.

The Choice of Satisfaction

By Amira Alvarez What drives you?For me it’s many things…Growth, freedom, money, and impact among other both mundane and lofty desires.But sometimes I’m driven by frustration. Let me give you an example…My assistant gave me 2 days' notice on Friday. She has been an amazing part of my team so this was a bit…
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What drives you?

For me it’s many things…

Growth, freedom, money, and impact among other both mundane and lofty desires.

But sometimes I’m driven by frustration. 

Let me give you an example…

My assistant gave me 2 days’ notice on Friday. She has been an amazing part of my team so this was a bit out of character for her. (I still love her but c’mon!)

Needless to say, this initially caused a lot of WTF mental activity…

I’m not going to pretend I wasn’t a bit frustrated.

(Thank gawd for SOPs and my amazing Team, as the handoff all happened seamlessly. Totally grateful.) 

I got on my Peloton rower to let off some steam and you know what? I had the best 20 minute row EVER. Yep. Faster and harder than ever before.

That frustration channeled into the row turned into something incredibly satisfying. 

Hmmm… I transmuted that energy.  

And it made me realize we do that all the time. 

We take something negative and turn it into something positive.

We turn our frustration about being ignored into fame.
We turn our frustration about being poor into prosperity.
We turn our frustration about our weight into athleticism. 

But not everyone does this, of course.

But more importantly, not everyone who has transmuted a frustrated energy into a satisfying success does it with ALL things.

There are aspects of one’s life where we don’t make that shift.

Hmmm… where do you successfully turn your frustrations into satisfactions? And where do you not?

I know that when I was making in the low 6-figures ($138k to be exact), I was really frustrated by working really hard and not making as much money as I wanted.

That frustration and that desire were both strong enough that I transmuted that into business success. 

Once the business started making 7-figures year over year, my frustration became one of time and focus and I transmuted that into a more spacious life, working on the purposeful and key things that I love.

My frustration in the realm of relationships I transmuted into an exquisite relationship. 

And so on…

But here’s the rub…

In each case, in order to transmute my frustration into a satisfying success, I needed to shift my focus/energy and pour it into something satisfying. 

I needed to focus and put my energy on FINDING SATISFACTION, someplace, anyplace, rather than on the frustration.

Because satisfaction breeds success.

And it just doesn’t work any other way.

For instance, I noticed I was carrying some extra pounds. Call it menopause. Call it new relationship love weight. It doesn’t really matter. 

I was frustrated. But you know what?

When I stayed focused on how frustrating this was, all that happened was an increase in weight. Frustration breeds frustration.

When I focused on how satisfying my new rower was, with all the short 10-minute strength classes that I can fit in whenever I want, I started to get success. 

And it’s in that choice, when you choose to go find satisfaction, where the transmutation starts.

———

Want to experience more as an Unstoppable Woman?

Be sure to check out the Unstoppable Woman podcast. If you’re ready to step into an exquisite life, schedule a call to discuss how we can help you step into your next level of growth.  

Want to let go of those 10 pounds? (Yes, I’m talking about weight and the power of expectation.)

By Amira Alvarez Creating what you want in both your personal and professional life requires being clear on what you desire and having an unwavering expectation that it will happen.You can’t want the new initiative to work… and think the person running the project is going to drop the ball.You can’t want to…
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Creating what you want in both your personal and professional life requires being clear on what you desire and having an unwavering expectation that it will happen.

You can’t want the new initiative to work… and think the person running the project is going to drop the ball.

You can’t want to meet your quarterly numbers… and think you don’t have the marketing to support it.

You can’t want to hire that killer employee… and think that good people are hard to find. 

These are all examples of expectations that are in opposition to what you actually want, which I imagine on more generally is ease and flow in quickly creating what you desire. 

Right now I’ve caught myself doing this with my weight. Calling myself out. :) 

I’d love to let go of those 10-15 pounds that have creeped on in the last few months.

It’s not that I don’t think it can happen. Of course it can. 

It’s that I have the expectation… 

That it’s going to be hard.

That I have to struggle.

That I will have to deny myself.

And this I know doesn’t work. You get what you expect, not what you say that you want.

So in this case, I’m simply going to get the hard, the struggle, and the denial, not the svelte body. No bueno!

I’ve had to work through contradictory expectations in so many areas of my life and business. Here’s a sampling of places where in the past I’ve wanted something yet thought it was going to be hard to make it happen: 

Taking Fridays off.
Doing marketing in an aligned way. (No bro marketing!)
Charging higher fees while working fewer hours.
Being professional and taken seriously, while still feeling sexy.
Making money without dysregulating my nervous system.
Running a business while having a lit up, hot relationship.
Finding ambitious, entrepreneurial minded friends.

I’m happy to say that I’ve created all that I’ve desired in all of these and more.

But in each case, I initially thought it was going to be hard and I had to overcome my own contradictory expectations before I was able to manifest the outcome I wanted with ease.

This requires aligning our desires and expectations and is part of the Exquisite Life toolkit I mentioned last week. 

So how do we better align our desires and expectations? 

  • Get really honest with yourself. Where are you actually expecting something you don’t want? Your spoken or unspoken fears, doubts, worries, and complaints related to a topic will show you exactly what your expectations are.
  • Bring moment to moment awareness to when you are expecting in opposition to your desires. This can’t be an afterthought, you must notice yourself in the act.  
  • In that moment, shift the conversation you’re having in your head or out loud to what you desire. Find an outcome that you can actually believe.

Because the truth is… it’s easy to let go of weight, just like it was easy to take Fridays off.

———

Want to experience more as an Unstoppable Woman?

Be sure to check out the Unstoppable Woman podcast. If you’re ready to grow a life and business you love, schedule a call to discuss how we can help you step into your next level of growth.  

From laser-focus to search light and back

By Amira Alvarez If energy flows where attention goes…And the more energy you put towards something the more power there is behind it and thus the faster you will create it…It would make sense then that we’d want to put our attention on what we want to create in our lives.But if you’re…
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If energy flows where attention goes…

And the more energy you put towards something the more power there is behind it and thus the faster you will create it…

It would make sense then that we’d want to put our attention on what we want to create in our lives.

But if you’re anything like me, you have A LOT of things you want to create in your life. You’re always going for more, expanding, and challenging yourself.

It’s a buffet of desires.

So, do you focus on one thing at a time or do you focus on all the things?

Like a laser beam, if you concentrate your focus, your power intensifies.

It would appear then that laser-like focus is the answer. I would hazard that this is what most (all?) of us did to build our companies and careers.

Focus, focus, focus to almost the exclusion of everything else.

We called it our passion. (Which it was.)
We called it discipline. (Which we built.)
We called it a short-term trade off. (Which it may have been.)

And then when we got to “success” and we found that we didn’t know another way.

We had conditioned ourselves to focus predominantly on this one aspect of our life in the name of financial success and mastering the game of business. 

Nothing wrong with that until we ask ourselves, what about the other aspects of our lives? This is where we start searching and asking ourselves…

What happens after “the success”?

What do we focus on now?

And do we even go about it with the same type of laser-like focus?

The answer is yes and no. 

Giving your energy to what you want matters. 

Giving your energy with a high level of intensity matters.

But giving it WHILE GIVING UP on your buffet of other desires does not work.

Your search light beam has already shown you that you have a plethora of desires. 

And at some point, single focus is a game of diminishing returns. It becomes pushing hard and not getting anywhere. The traction (or the fun) is not there like it used to be.

This is the time to broaden your skills and learn new tools.

I’m going to call this the toolkit for an exquisite life. 

Master these and you master the creation of whatever you want.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing more about these tools that allow you (the already successful, driven, ambitious women) to use your focus in a different way… 

A way that allows you to create exactly what you desire so much more easily.

It will feel like magic but it’s not.  ;-)

———

Want to experience more as an Unstoppable Woman?

Be sure to check out the Unstoppable Woman podcast. If you’re ready to grow a life and business you love, schedule a call to discuss how we can help you step into your next level of growth.