Author: Monica Reinagel

I met Kelly Howard a few months ago, when she invited me to be a guest on her podcast.

I loved the concept of her podcast, which is that fitness is not just another chore that we’re supposed to do. It is a gateway to more freedom. Kelly takes that message beyond her podcast and into the real world, where she runs a company that offers hiking, biking, backpacking, and kayaking adventures, as well as fitness coaching programs to help people prepare for those adventures. 

In other words, fitness is not the real goal. Fun and freedom are the goals, and fitness makes those possible. 

It’s a perfect example of something we talk about all the time here, which is how important it is to have a compelling why, and to align our goals to our larger objectives.

In this conversation, you’ll hear how Kelly applies those principles to the work that she does. But these insights apply just as well to any other goals that you may be working on.

Continue reading “Feeling uninspired or unmotivated by your goals? This could be the missing element”

Part of living your best life involves thinking–at least a little–about how you can set yourself up to live a good life in the future.

If you’re of a certain age, you might keep track of things like your cholesterol or your blood pressure. Or, you might keep an eye on your 401K balance, with an eye toward ensuring future well-being.

But there’s another lesser-known metric that can also be predictive of both your current and your future health and longevity. Just like those other markers, it’s a number you should know.  

Continue reading “How satisfied are you with your life?”

This podcast is based on the premise that –with the right tools, insights, and support, we can create meaningful lasting changes in our habits, improve our health, and take control of our lives.  The podcast Tiny Leaps, Big Changes by Gregg Clunis is based on the same premise. But in this episode, Gregg and I explore some uncomfortable questions:

• What are the limits of our personal agency?
• What are the forces that lead us to believe that creating healthy, safe, and secure lives and environments is primarily up to us?
• How do we reconcile our personal work with the need to create better systems and healthier and more equitable societies? 

Continue reading “How much can we realistically do to improve our lives?”

Have we put habit formation on too high a pedestal?  Dr. Michelle Segar is an NIH-funded researcher who has spent close to thirty years studying how to create healthy behaviors. that can survive the complexity and unpredictability of the real world. We talk about why healthy behaviors are often particularly resistant to habit formation, and what may work better.

Continue reading “Better habits aren’t the solution, according to this behavioral expert”

I’m convinced that watching Wimbledon actually improves my game. Granted, when you’re as bad as I am, it doesn’t take much. But there is definitely a lot to be learned from people who are good at something that you’re trying to get better at.

Which is why I want to share with you some of what I’ve observed in my most successful clients. These are qualities and attitudes that you can adopt and emulate to enhance your own progress and success, whether you’re working with me or another coach, or on your own, using this podcast and maybe some of the self-study tools that we’ve created for our listeners. Think of this episode as a roadmap for how to succeed.

Continue reading “How to succeed: What I’ve learned from my most successful clients”

Change doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Whether you are trying to create positive changes in your personal life or in your workplace or community, you are more likely to succeed if you are working in a supportive environment.

You’ll often hear this referred to (especially in workplace settings) as “creating a culture of wellness.” But our efforts to instill a culture of wellness very often miss the mark. In this episode, we’ll talk about why and how to fix it.

Joining me is Rebecca Johnson, co-founder and Chief Integrator of ViDL Solutions, a woman-owned consulting, training and coaching firm that fosters connection and courage in the workplace.

Continue reading “How do we create the conditions that foster positive change?”

Working toward a big goal takes a lot of grit and discipline. You may imagine that everything will be so much easier once you reach your goal.  You can finally relax and enjoy your accomplishment. But that transition, from active change to maintenance, can be really tricky. And we’re often completely unprepared for that.

If we’re not careful, we can let what we’ve attained slip through our fingers, simply because we don’t feel as motivated or rewarded by maintaining the status quo as we did by making progress toward it.  

In this episode, I have a few suggestions for how we can prepare better for what happens after we’ve achieved our goal. 

Continue reading “Change is hard. Maintaining the status quo can be even tougher.”

This is a must-listen episode for anyone contemplating a career shift, But even if you’re not necessarily looking for a new job right now, this conversation will be highly relevant to anyone trying to live a life of greater purpose and meaning.

Dr. Elizabeth Campbell, better known to her clients and students as “Dr. Bethy,” is a clinical psychologist, a marriage and family therapist, with special expertise and certification in career development counseling.  I know you’ll appreciate the resonance between the approach we take in this podcast toward working on behavior change and her approach to career counseling. 

Continue reading “Designing your Future: How to Make a Successful Career or Life Pivot”

If you are an insight junkie like me, always wanting to learn more and understand better, this episode is intended to be the tough love we both need.

A lot of the coaching I do involves helping people better understand what is (really) driving their behaviors. These things are frequently invisible or unacknowledged–and this can result in our acting in ways that aren’t aligned with what we say we want. 

Without insight into why we do the things we do, change can be very difficult. But the point I want to make today is that insight alone isn’t enough.

Continue reading “Insight is worthless unless you’re willing to do this with it”

Not only is it fun to share success stories, but there’s always something valuable to learn by hearing how people navigate the process of change. In this episode, one of our clients share some reflections on how has she approached her goals– and some of the surprising benefits that happened along the way.

Two things that I want you listen for:

Stephanie wasn’t just looking to create a certain result. She was specifically interested in making a change that would be durable. She didn’t just want to hit a goal, she wanted to create a new way of approaching challenges. (Spoiler alert: she succeeded!)

The other thing I want you to hear is the decision Stephanie made to not let discomfort be an an excuse for giving up. As you’re listening, ask yourself what discomfort you might be willing to lean into in order to achieve something meaningful to you. 

Continue reading “Pushing past discomfort: How to create behavior change that sticks”