A beautiful thing happened three weeks ago, my husband and I closed on our very first purchased home! A very exciting time to say the least and one that I under estimated by way of time it takes to settle into your home vs a rental.  For anyone else that is a home owner, I am sure you can relate to all of the unanticipated "things" that come from the rental, to ownership transition.  News flash, you need a mailbox, trash cans, and on and on... :-)

The other night I was in the car with my husband and I tell him, you know, I have not written my follow on blog for goal setting and intentions, and I realized today that it's because I have not done my own intentions setting for this year! (GASP)!!! It is January freaking 26th and I have failed to create my typical visioning session that happens for me the first week of the year.  He looks at me and says, "We have had a bit going on you know", me, of course I know this, and then there is the immediate guilt and shame surrounding letting my own "process" down.  And then, it dawns on me, the most obvious thought but something I had totally overlooked.  I can pick my "start" of the "year" whenever I want, of course January is the beginning of the calendar year, but how about this year I pick February as my start! 

You see, the advice I would happily grant another would be that you don't have to wait for a calendar role over, a fresh quarter or a birthday to create a new way of being.  You can start anytime, anywhere or way you want to! I have had more than one conversation with someone wanting to start a workout plan and they want to wait until Monday, a fresh week.  My thought, so what if it's Wednesday, start! Start now! 

I write this article to share with you that I do still plan to share with you my goal planning process, and, I want to share it with you as I am creating and visioning my own 2017 plan.  And this year, my "new year" at least when it comes to this process, is starting NOW and more specifically this weekend when I have blocked off the time in my calendar.  

Another "tip" or thought that came for me when marinating on this topic is this; each of us have things we do all the time because we choose to, we workout if we have a routine around it, we do or don't drink excessive amounts of coffee.  All of your existing chosen commitments continue to role on day after day no matter when it is.  What I find enjoyable about goal setting, visioning and intention setting is that it is an act of giving myself the space to wonder and dream about what I want to do next, that is not part of my current daily commitments.  How do I want to create a plan to expand my abilites and by when.  I love Mr. Thiel's quote below, and I think that giving yourself space to dream allows for this type of plan to become reality. 

"How can you achieve your 10 year plan in the next 6 months?" 

- Peter Thiel, co-founder of Paypal and Palantir

So stay tuned for my next post about my process, and in the meantime, if you have created a new plan, and already need to re-commit to it, get to it! Stay on your chosen path.  If you mess up a few days of your new workout plan, that's okay, get up and start again tomorrow! Don't throw out your whole plan over a few missed days.  

The theme of this post is to be and considerate of your process, while also staying vigilantly dedicated to what you most want, do not loose sight of your end goal! 

Cheers, and Happy New Year ;-)

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Lindsey Rainwater, also known as Lindsey RainH2O, is a sought-after business consultant, leadership coach, writer and presenter to the fitness and wellness industry. For more information about Rainwater, follow her on Twitter @LindseyRainH2O

I remember being  a teenager and hearing my parents talk about their friends having a "midlife crisis." It seems these days that yes, having a personal meltdown in response to circumstances can certainly happen at any age.  A lot of friend's are going to grad school in their 30’s or traveling the world before marriage and kids, amongst many other journeys, and seem to be chasing something. Similarly to my parents’ friends who were chasing something in their 40’s and 50s. 

At the root of that thought process, I believe the principle is the same:  People at some point in their lives will crave something different, something new, something unknown. But is that really what they’re after? Could it be that what is really happening is people reach a point in their life where they just need more? More juicy flavor to life that they are not finding in their day job or current relationships, more fulfillment out of their everyday lives.  It seems like the description is “I know I am capable of more, I want more out of life, I want to feel excited to wake up in the morning.” Any of this sound familiar? 

It did to me, for sure! But I don’t think becoming an entrepreneur or traveling the world is always necessarily the answer. My experience is that wherever I go, there I am. So if I want to have new experiences- I have to do something differently, not just change my surroundings or temporary circumstances. 

In order to really know what it is that you want to do to make your life feel less like a “Crisis” or a slow-motion-to-nowhere train ride, you have to know yourself and who you really are in order to know what you want, regardless of how old you are.  A fantastic starting place is self awareness. 
Oxford defines self awareness as “Conscious knowledge of one’s own character, feelings, motives, and desires.” Gary Vaynerchuk talks about Self Awareness as knowing your strengths and weaknesses, and letting that knowledge inform your decision making. I love the narrative he puts it in. Watch the video here.

What do you think? Is self awareness it? Or is there more to it? 

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Lindsey Rainwater, also known as Lindsey RainH2O, is a sought-after business consultant, leadership coach, writer and presenter to the fitness and wellness industry. For more information about Rainwater, follow her on Twitter @LindseyRainH2O

Have you ever looked up to someone and wished you could take on their character traits? For me, I have always had a handful of people that I admire or want to "be like when I grow up."

I had a really meaningful experience in my early 20's that I want to share, a helpful exercise to tap into what you see in others, and to begin taking on those traits.

You will need a blank piece of paper or possibly a page in your journal to start.  

Begin by making a list of all of the attributes you admire in others.  This could be actual characteristics, or simple ideas.  Mine looked something like: Kind, Humble, Intelligent, Risk Taker, Humorous, Adventurous, Athletic,  Practical... The list went on and on.  

Once you have your list, really take it in, read it over, notice if there are any words that stand out to you or if you left anything out.

 Now here is the fun part, start to evaluate the list from the perspective of what attributes do you currently embody, and which ones do you honestly not currently display? Make a list, of the ones that are currently not a part of your make up, sometimes it can help to ask a friend as we can be our own worse critics.

Once you have your list, pick an attribute per month and put energy into embodying that trait for that month.

 For instance, if kindness is something you would like to be more known for, look for ways to be kind.  Open doors for others, drop off soup to your friend that has the flu.  Go out of your way to hone the skill of being kind and before you know it by the end of the month you will find yourself a kinder person.  You will find it is much like going to the gym to exercise your muscles, the more you use the muscle the stronger it gets. The same principle applies when integrating an attribute, the more frequently you flex your kindness muscle the stronger it will become.  Once you have integrated kindness, move onto the next attribute.  

The moral of the story being this; seeing what we want to aspire to be in others is important, creating a plan to evaluate the things we admire in others and a plan to integrate them is something very different.  For me, active change happens when I create a plan and a system to make the new idea a working part of my life.  When I made the connection that all of the attributes I admired in others were options for me too, if I practiced, I have been able to become what I most admire in others. 

By being the qualities I see and admire in others, I become the person I aspire to become. Or more so, get to know the person I already am more intimately.  

Do you have a role model? Someone you aspire to be like and would like help doing the exercise I listed above? Send me a note by clicking here: and let's chat about your aspirations.

Click here to chat with me

connect with me!

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Lindsey Rainwater, also known as Lindsey RainH2O, is a sought-after business consultant, leadership coach, writer and presenter to the fitness and wellness industry. For more information about Rainwater, follow her on Twitter @LindseyRainH2O

Have you ever had a word sneak it's way into your vocabulary and with time you finally begin noticing that you say it? This happened to me recently with the word "just" - I became aware that I was tagging "just" on to "JUST" about everything (yes, that was planned there!)

I did some research on the context of “just” and how this word truly has more detrimental force than you might think. Check out this post from Business Insider. It’s an interesting perspective on the word and the weight it can carry, especially for females in leadership roles.

“Just checking in to get a status on that…” Preceding anything with “just” is almost apologizing for what you’re doing and taking an automatic subordinate stance. There is no apology needed for how you do your job and get things done. You can follow up with someone without the “Just wanted to follow up on the [insert whatever it is you’re following up on].” Just as when speaking to someone you should have good posture and hold your head up confidently, so should your written words come across as strong and confident as well.

Once I picked up on the usage of the word, I began to realize that I tagged “just” onto almost everything and that’s when I decided to perform a JUST-ectomy, a complete removal from my vocabulary.  This is harder than you would think; it means demonstrating the self awareness to stop mid sentence, back up and re-state what you were planning to say, only removing “just.”  

My point in sharing? I wanted to give a personal story from my own life that really demonstrates the subtle ways we undermine our own power and authority. We all do it if we’re not aware. That little four-letter-word addition, without my knowing, can downplay what I am wanting to say and take away from my emphasis or point.

I encourage you to be on the lookout for the subtle ways you might downplay or reduce your message by adding words that do not help you convey your thoughts. If it’s unnecessary, leave it out. Concise and to the point can be strong!

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Lindsey Rainwater, also known as Lindsey RainH2O, is a sought-after business consultant, leadership coach, writer and presenter to the fitness and wellness industry. For more information about Rainwater, follow her on Twitter @LindseyRainH2O or check out her website www.linseyrainh2o.com. ​

Personal branding is about managing your name
- even if you don't own a business -
in a world of misinformation, disinformation, and semi-permanent Google records.
Going on a date? Chances are that your "blind" date has Googled your name.
Going to a job interview? Ditto.
-Tim Ferriss

I remember years ago reading the book Four Hour Work-Week by Tim Ferriss and after having read it, being in an alternative universe where anything is possible and everything goes.  Fortunately for me, the idea that anything is possible has grown exponentially and I still believe that you create the world you live in.

Tim’s quote is about the importance of caring tremendously about your digital footprint and your online image.  Where I left off a few weeks ago (you can check it out here if you missed that post) was that there are a handful of foundational points that need to be taken care of before you can carry on with streamlining your message and beginning to create content online.  Once you have the details in place to create your online presence, it is important to take a break, step back, and reflect upon your lifestyle design and goals before moving forward with your brand. 

After you have a beautiful headshot, brand continuity across platforms, and a general idea of what you want to be known for, the next step is to discover what you want the most in life and why. 

One of Stephen Covey’s famous quotes is “begin with the end in mind.” When applying that to your personal brand, the magic to a solid beginning is knowing where you are going.  When you know where you want to end up and why, your writing, personal brand, and daily actions begin to fall in line very quickly.  

Once you have laid the framework for your brand and online presence, the next two steps are for the purpose of syncing up your personal brand and the beginning stages of creating your lifestyle design; I found these two points to be very important in my own journey. 

• Find a role model and online presence to watch and take notes. 
• Create your end goal.

While marinating on those two action items, reading Four Hour Work Week and 7 Habits of Highly effective people to begin to create and focus on the type of lifestyle you want and how that plays a huge contributing role in your personal brand.  Lifestyle design is covered in great detail in Tim's book and I will be focusing on it intentionally in my next post, covering how my own lifestyle design led me to where I am today. 

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Lindsey Rainwater is a consultant and coach to the fitness and wellness industry.  She specializes in business development and leadership. Currently she is working with the Fitmarc Team helping Health Club owners all over the south central region of the united states propel their business forward via group exercise solutions.  For more information about Lindsey, follow her @lindseyrainh2o, all content posted at www.lindseyrainh2o.com