If you are looking to take your motivation, consistency or progress to the next level, today's podcast is full of ways to do just that! If you need help setting expectations that are ambitious enough without setting you up for disappointment or failure, you don't want to miss this episode! A huge part of success in any goal is improving your responses to temptation, frustration, setbacks or emotion. I'll be sharing lessons I've learned in my new yoga practice to help you set appropriate expectations, avoid comparison, build consistency and fast track your results. http://primalpotential.com/239-setting-expectations/ Improving Your Responses & Setting Expectations As I've recently shared on the podcast, after being diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis and some stress-related health challenges, I'm making some changes in both my diet & lifestyle to help my body heal. One of those changes is yoga. I am not a yogi, I do not like group exercise, but I've taken on a legitimate mental, physical and logistical challenge: 45 yoga classes in 45 days. I've walked out of every single class so far feeling like I've learned something beyond the mat, beyond the yoga pose, and I'm planning to share those lessons with you each week for the next 45 days. So, I'm two weeks into my yoga challenge and I've learned some good stuff! Always come back to stillness In life, more often than not, when we experience tension, frustration, emotion, anxiety or temptation, we react, respond and make things worse. We do the opposite of returning to stillness. We kick up a frenzy. We panic. We perseverate. We worry. Instead of saying to ourselves, "Wait, slow down, take a breath, be still, don’t react",  we eat. We distract ourselves with food. We yell. We make snarky comments, we withdraw. We manufacture drama. We are an instant gratification society and unfortunately that means we feel like every thing must be reacted and it must be reacted to NOW. This idea of “come right back to stillness” can be a game changer no matter what your goal is. When you feel rattled, return to stillness. Don’t react. Slow down, be still and understand that often times, the best response is no response. However, you can't return to a place you don't know. If you don't know what stillness is or where to find it, you can't go there when you need it most. You need to practice moments of stillness so you understand where to go instead of reacting. You can practice by meditating, praying, journaling or simply focusing on your breath. You can practice for 30 seconds or 30 minutes, just practice. Set expectations based on YOU It's easy to set your expectations and standards based on other people. It's easy to look to someone who is further along than you are and decide that you need to perform at their level. Don't. In yoga, striving to match the practice of someone who is more advanced doesn't mean that you're a motivated hero, it means that you're likely to get hurt and set yourself back. In fat loss & fitness, setting expectations based on someone who is further along than you are could mean setting yourself to feel not good enough, to feel defeated, overwhelmed and then give up. Set your standards and expectations based on YOU. Build consistency to see improvements The fact that I am practicing yoga every day for 45 days makes it really easy to see my improvements. Since my last class was just yesterday, when I sit in class today I can easily see what is different and better from the day before. The daily practice allows me to see my improvements and my progress. If I was going once or twice a week, not only would I probably not make progress as quickly, I wouldn’t recognize as easily. Both making progress and being able to recognize and observe and notice the progress you make – it’s so motivating! And it drives the desire to continue practice and then you get into what I call the cycle of accelerated returns. The same is true with consistency in improving your food choices or co