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I feel blessed to have been able to spend the holidays with my family—every day, I prayed for all of the military families who were apart this time of year. I know military life is hard. Sometimes, when I’m writing about life and career coaching topics, I feel like I underemphasize what a HUGE accomplishment being a military spouse is. So, take a moment to remind yourself how awesome you are for continuing to support your spouse, family, and country. I feel that a big part of being successful in the new year comes from these moments of appreciating what’s going well in our lives already. So, being a military spouse should be at the top of your list of “what went well in 2017”! You’re already so successful—we’re merely working to build on that foundation of excellence in the year to come. Reflect on Your Blessings as a Military Spouse When I meet with […]

Happy New Year! For those of you that have followed my blog, you know that I can’t help talking about goal setting and the New Year brings goal setting to the forefront BUT this year I am about sitting back and smelling to roses and not pushing ourselves too hard. The holidays were fun, but also a bit exhausting, so I am all about self-care this January. While I love waking up and journaling 2018 goals, this year I am more about praising where we are at while we move forward and thinking of a favorite word helps me. I know lots of people that come up with motivating words too and I love sharing and steeling each others words too. One of the ways that help me to think up my “word of the year” is to think about how I want to feel in 2018 and then think of words. My 2018 word […]

One of the biggest things I work on with military spouses is defining who they are. We have so many titles: military wife, mom, friend, daughter, but how much time do we spend thinking about who we are beyond those labels? It’s so important for us to dive into who we really are and how happy we actually are with our overall lifestyles. Once we start exploring who we are, we start living more purposefully and moving naturally toward the lives we desire. Our Many Identities When it comes to our identities, there are many categories, including: Our social selves Our personal selves Our professional selves Our religious selves One of the easiest ways I’ve found to figure out who I am in each of these categories, and as a whole person, comes with creating a little daily solitude. Practicing Self-Reflection I blogged about this approach to self-reflection in a recent MilitaryNews.com piece titled “Not […]

December is a great time to reflect on your year so far. However, this is definitely NOT the time to beat yourself up! Instead, it’s a month for reflecting on all that you have accomplished. Oftentimes, my clients’ biggest accomplishments in health, wealth, and marriage aren’t running across the finish line of a 5K, having 5K in their savings, or staying married another 5 years—instead, they’re subtle little shifts in their thinking for the better. They involve embracing healthy habits and discovering ways to enjoy military life more. Celebrate Your Successes I dedicate October to celebrating success, but you can continue to make celebrating your accomplishments a priority throughout this holiday season as well. Ask yourself, “What successes have I had so far?” Your answers may include: Joining a new class at the gym this year or even signing up for a gym at all (even if you didn’t go as often as you’d like, […]

I love lists! I make meal planning lists, to do lists for home and work, gratitude lists, and I even have a Christmas gift book where I list the presents I buy for each of my four kids to check off once they’re wrapped. Lists help me stayed organized during this busy season while keeping everything even (something especially important when you have children)! Make a “Me” List All these lists also remind me that we need to make a list of things we can do for ourselves versus just doing, doing, doing all month for everyone else. After all, we’re also members of our families who need and deserve both attention and love. I’m not talking about spending money on jewelry after overspending on gifts for my kids. What I mean is writing down some ways to give myself special permission to do things that uplift me, and then doing them when I legitimately […]

In my last blog post I talked about the challenges of going from a hectic day-to-day existence to a life spent slowing down and living intentionally. Today I want to share another productivity habit that I use to make progress toward my seasonal goals: putting them up on a white board and looking at them each day. My clients and I love goal setting, but we’ve admitted that yearly goals often aren’t enough to hold our interest. So, instead, we make seasonal goals that feel relevant to our current surroundings and moods. We pick one health, wealth, and relationship goal each season before posting these goals up on a white board. The Power of Seeing Your Goals I like to put my white board by my desk so that, when I am writing out my to do list, I can take note if anything I’m doing is connected to my goal—if not, I try to […]

As I write this, it’s only early December, and I already feel exhausted! I’m fighting off a cold, turning writing assignments in late, and nearly forgetting to move the elf on the shelf! It feels like too much sometimes! Whenever I feel bit overwhelmed by all of the duties of the season on top of my regular work, I try to remind myself that there were Christmases in the past that I had to spend apart from my husband. So, now that he’s a retired Marine, I have A LOT to be grateful for. This busy time of year, I may have to schedule it in, but I like to try and take a few minutes most evenings to express gratitude for my health, career, and marriage. I also pray that the broader audience of military spouses have husbands and kids who are safe and sound. Stressors Come in All Sizes Just because the stresses […]

I recently had a client tell me that she felt guilty that she wasn’t working anymore. She kept referring to her actions as “just” or “only” doing certain things. She was “only” walking instead of going to the gym. She was “just” reading with her son instead of reading herself, “only” managing a deployment, “just” watching her son, “only” taking care of the finances, “just” cleaning the house, and the list went on and on. Avoid “Just” and “Only” Statements These kinds of “only” or “just” statements kept coming from her mouth, even though everything she said amounted to a series of huge accomplishments in my eyes. “Angela,” I said, “you’re already doing so much!” And this client, like many of us, really seemed to demonstrate that she was (1) already incredibly successful and (2) expecting WAY too much from herself. Celebrate Your Successes Even our everyday tasks can be hugely meaningful for both ourselves […]

Would you like to wake up confident and motivated to keep taking steps toward your success? In my free November coaching call, we’ll be doing just that—learning how to be excited that we’re on a path toward success the instant we wake up every morning. Take the first actions toward making your success contagious (both to others and yourself!) with these brief tips, below. Then, check back later in the month for my free coaching call to help you make even more progress. Start Small Have you ever gone on a diet and tried to totally change the way you eat overnight, only to quickly give up? We often make our goals too big and our timelines too short. Such huge hurdles can be discouraging, making it hard to achieve success. Instead, I’m going to discuss a new way of approaching goal-setting. This tactic asks us to start really small and make changes that are […]

One of my favorite resources I use with clients is a book called Get Clients Now by C. J. Hayden. It offers some great suggestions for marketing content, developing processes that help you take consistent action toward goals, and holding ourselves accountable. What I love most about the book, however, has nothing to do with business at all! The most beneficial change I see when following Hayden’s teachings is the progress that occurs in our lives outside of business simply from the momentum generated by taking consistent action. Start With an Idea To get the juices flowing, simply start by writing a progress goal (mine was to grow my email list by offering freebies on my homepage, www.militaryspousecoach). This objective can be in any area of your life, from business to your relationships to health. The amazing part is, no matter which area you choose, you will start to see progress across all areas of […]