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It has been a few weeks since my last post about implementing the actions behind my acronym P.O.W.E.R..
Last time I talked about Planning and this time it is the letter “O” for Own It.

Over the past 12+ months of COVID restrictions and lockdowns, we have all had so much time in our own heads. At least it seems to me like more and more of my friends are engaging in meditation, journaling, listening to audiobooks and podcasts or practicing other means of mindfulness.

If you are like me there is much reflection of how I got to this point of my life and an even greater amount of thought to where I am going. The one thing is for sure; I 100% own the journey to date and the road ahead.

No matter what it is we decide we are going to adopt or change moving forward, it is up to us to do the work and show up. It is important to own our stuff, good or bad and realize that it is the person in the mirror that we are accountable to. It isn’t going to come from your friend or partner or a motivational video or a blog.

If we have done our planning well and established smaller habits and bite sized actions to get momentum, owning the experience is certainly easier. The wellness journey is a collection of daily decisions that are all aligned to deliver your desired result. If we can get the first few big ones done, the remaining actions fall in place as they are congruent with the earlier empowering decisions you have made.

At the end of the day we own our attitude and our actions (or inaction), it is a personal decision how we show up. I am always amazed at the degree of personal power we all have. If we put our minds to something the sky can truly be the limit. When we accept this and take ownership it makes our growth mindset so much simpler.

WHAT CAN WE DO:

• Implement a growth mindset
• Hold yourself accountable to your objectives and commitments
• Re-set your objectives as you achieve them
• Take control of your day from the start
• Get out of your comfort zone daily
• Be proud of achieving even the smallest goals
• Great reads – Own the Day by Aubrey Marcus, Atomic Habits by James Clear, Mindset by Carol Dweck, Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins

Jason Zaran, Fit Kitchen Owner

I have been thinking a lot lately about the P.O.W.E.R of personal decision as it pertains to feeling great. The wellness cocktail so to speak, that can help people maximize their energy, mindset and productivity.

YOUR PERSONAL P.O.W.E.R PLAN FOR FEELING GREAT!

P lan ahead

O wn it

W orkout daily

E at well

R eward yourself

Lets tackle the letter P

PLAN AHEAD – Fail to plan, plan to fail

• Passionate – tap into why taking care of yourself and feeling great is important to you
• Pro-active – establish your goals and commitment, sign up for a race or competition
• Visualize – see yourself as the healthy and fit person you want to be
• Traction – establish empowering smaller habits to gain momentum
• Prepare – set your daily objectives and intentions the night before
• Purposeful – lock in your success by journaling daily

Jason, Fit Kitchen Owner

Whether your goal is to live a healthier life, lose weight, gain muscle, or save time in your week…Fit Kitchen is your all in meal prep partner!

Whenever I need to give myself a good Pep talk to feel Phenomenal, I always fall back to the Power of the letter “P’. Being an entrepreneur you are always looking for that edge to keep you Positive, Prepared and Prolific.

I have come to realize that the road to Prosperity and realizing your Potential isn’t about overnight success. You have to be Patient as you work on yourself and your business Pro-actively establishing habits that allow you to Practice your craft. Yes you will need Persistence and Perseverance, and to be Purposeful and Productive, but what will carry you through this good kind of Pressure will be strong Principals along with a vision and mission that will energize you!

Use this energy to Promote your business and yourself with Presence, Passion, Pride and Persuasiveness while still being Poised, Professional and showing Posture.

We can all Profit by learning from the Possibilities of the Power of “P”.

Fit Kitchen has been touching more peoples lives than ever over the past six months and it got me thinking about why. Strangely this shouldn’t have been too difficult given why I started the business in the first place!

Anyway, so I stopped thinking about if it was Google ads or social media or an influencer or my amazing workout posts …. Ha-ha. Funny thing is that when you start “playing business” you can lose track of the driving WHY that led to the passion to start the business and send it out into the world. And the WHY often comes from some unmet need that you experience personally and then figure out that there are others that probably are dealing with the same frustration.

In my case over 16 years ago it was the fact that healthy convenient eating options were very hard to come by but yet we could all get crappy fast food just about anywhere. Why couldn’t a healthy beef stir fry be as accessible as a Big Mac and fries?

So back to my original thoughts, I think more people than ever right now understand the simple importance of feeling great physically and mentally. More importantly I believe that more people are understanding that food and how we eat plays a massive role in how we feel and how we feel about ourselves. It is the foundation of so many things along with regular activity but those in the know say diet is 80% of that formula.

When we get up, feel great and are ready to take on the day ….man that is a grateful moment, it is a blessing! We all have been through times when we don’t feel great and certainly know stories of what life can be like when someone has their health taken from them. We should be treating our bodies like a high-performance machine because it is. Many people take better care of their cars or possessions than they do themselves.

When people want to feel better, they are willing to take action, embrace new habits and chase goals and objectives. This just isn’t about meal replacement or convenient delivery of any food; this is about changing the way you think about food and committing to having food tailored to what you need to achieve your results!

Boom this is what we are all about at Fit Kitchen and have been since day 1. We are passionate about enhancing peoples lives through healthy food. We are your partner in achieving your goals and that is why we have so many great stories and relationships from helping clients be there best selves.

So, the answer has been staring me straight in the face all along and we just keep doubling down on our original promise and vision helping you “eat fit and feel great!”

Ask yourself what might you be overthinking in your business? Many times, there are more straight lines to success than we realize, and we get in our own way by overcomplicating. Look for your straight lines!

– Jason Zaran, Fit Kitchen Owner

I have some good friends doing a crazy fundraiser called “embrace the suck” where they are challenging their mental and physical toughness every day in February. 5-mile run, 100 deadlifts, 100 push-ups. Now that sucks!

It has been said many times and I am a believer ; growth, success and fulfillment come on the other side of fear, pain and being uncomfortable. Like Navy Seal and Author David Goggins says; callous your mind by doing something daily that gets you out of your comfort zone. Stress test yourself so you are ready for any challenge that life throws at you, mental or physical.

I decided to stop drinking coffee and alcohol for the whole month of February plus doing ice cold showers to start the day. This wasn’t because I had a beverage addiction problem (some close to me may disagree … haha) but I wanted to see if I had the resilience and mental toughness to do it. And it sucks as well by the way so far.

Now my version of embracing the suck is way less than the boys crushing deadlifts but none the less it is testing my ability to manage my mind and challenge my comfort zone.

What sucks that you can do every day to test yourself? Give up a bad habit? Do burpees or push-ups? Go for a run? Make cold calls for your business or do cold showers … what scares you a bit that you don’t want to do? Then go do it anyway!

Do something that sucks every day for the rest of February! It will change make you mentally tougher and change your personal and professional trajectory.

Embrace the suck!
Jason Zaran

Fit Kitchen Owner/Founder

As a Calgarian, Alberta and Canadian, President Bidens recent action to cancel Keystone XL is more than disappointing and yes it hurts. This province has been treated unfairly for years and it makes me angry. It also got me thinking about my recent posts focused on business pivoting, mindset and looking forward not on the past or obstacles. So after much thought my message today is that despite everything, I remain optimistic about Calgary.

Calgary is clearly not the same city I started my business in 2006. We have lost much of that swagger and can-do attitude that made this place magic. Our economy is certainly not the rocket ship it once was, and we have one third of our downtown office space sitting empty. I have had to close businesses and teetered on the edge of losing it all, but I still believe in this city. Despite the adversity we remain, in my opinion, the best city to live in and start a business. We enjoy a high standard of living compared to other large Canadian cities and enjoy lifestyle amenities on our doorstep that others can only envy. We have an amazing well educated young population that are willing to take risks and chase opportunities and a dynamic, collaborative business community that is passionate about our community. Our worst of times would be other cities best of times. Calgary is just a very cool place to be.

Our leaders should take a lesson from the mindset small businesses have incorporated to reimagine the future of their businesses in order to survive this pandemic! I am tired of hearing leaders complain while traditional and social media streams amplify doom and gloom about why we are where we are economically and rant about who is to blame and how we need help. How many hits to the oil and gas business do we have to lament and fret about? Our leaders have had the better part of a decade to see this time coming and we are still hanging onto history to define our success. Newsflash – it is not getting any better and we have little control over it.

Business leaders and entrepreneurs believe in our future and want to play a role shaping it however we need our leaders to lead. It is time to move on because Calgarians are waiting, and they will not wait forever! What is the compelling future of Calgary that we can all be energized to be part of? We need to start living our future selves and be absolutely ALL IN driving forward this new vision, then taking action on the new brand for this city. Leadership from the front is critical so our cities future tactical and strategic decisions are congruent with the new vision.

City leaders it is time to step up to the plate, move us forward and start controlling our own civic destiny. Let’s stop getting pummeled by the waves and start riding them!

Jason Zaran

Fit Kitchen Owner/Founder

Our team at Fit Kitchen have been leading Calgary’s healthy, convenient movement for 14 years, and we are more passionate than ever. Over that time, we have worked hard, innovated, improved our craft, and ultimately helped to pave the way for growth in Calgary’s health and wellness business community.
We realize that this past 3 months of staying at home has shaken up many of our lives, along with the routines that we may have relied on daily. This has, in turn, emphasized the importance of proactively taking care of ourselves mentally and physically as they are so intertwined anyway.

If you haven’t done so already, we think it’s the perfect time to reset your health and wellness goals to get yourself fitter and stronger than ever!  Whatever your circumstances, Fit Kitchen is here to support you on your journey.

1. SET GOALS WITH A DEADLINE – tell people your goals and/or sign up for something!
2. GET YOUR HEAD RIGHT – practice a gratitude and intention ritual along with journaling and meditation
3. BLOW UP BAD ROUTINES TO ESTABLISH NEW EMPOWERING ONES – Get up a bit earlier than you normally would, start your day with some light activity such as cardio, stretching or body weight movements!
4. CRUSH YOUR DAILY ACTIVITY – getting after it even when you are struggling builds that mental toughness
5. MAKE IT EASY TO EAT WELL – Fit Kitchen offers convenient meal plans to help you reach your goals; lean plans for weight-loss, performance plans for active lifestyles, and everyday plans for general wellness