Leveling up in 2023

So, how do you get yourself on track? How do you get yourself from breaking bad habits? How do you get yourself to stop making excuses? How do you get yourself to stop self-rationalizing your behavior? This is something that I feel like I'm very good at and I think that anyone is very good at it.

I hear people say, “wow, I just could never stop doing something. I can never just stop drinking. I can never just wake up at 4:15. I could never just give up something.” Well, you're bound to not do it if that's what is going through your head. And I've listened to so many self-help things. Motivation, top-performing things.

And it is true that if you are going to talk negatively, you're going to have subpar results. And talk negatively to yourself. It's no different than if you talk negatively to your dog or to your spouse or to your kids, they're going to start believing those negative things that you say. And we do it to ourselves all of the time, and we give ourselves way too many options. 

So today I'm gonna talk about some things that I started in January and how they've helped me and then what I'm working on now. So in January, I went to see Dr. Lovat. She's a board certified pharmacologist as well as a family practice physician trained in Canada, where they have rotations that are three to six months in each department. So she was in the ICU, she was in obstetrics, gynecology, she was in the emergency department. Just, she did rounds everywhere, and so really got to truly understand family medicine. 

And then, she's a pharmacologist, so she did this track where you get your medical degree and then you can get your pharmacology degree, a PhD at the same time. But she did this training called WorldLink and that training is hormone training and it's through MedQuest, you're basically unlearning everything that you learned in medical school and it's for males and females. So she, it's funny because two of these things I'm going to talk about today came from my nail tech. I'm kind of a nail snob, I love to get my nails done. So my first nail tech, Shay, she went and saw Dr. Lovat about infertility. She has a mother that experienced a lot of infertility, and she really wanted to be ahead of the curve and not go through a lot of the heartache that her mom did. 

So she, I actually physically saw what happened to her when she got on these hormones, he lost weight, her skin cleared up, she felt just so much more vibrant. And over a course of four months, it like, happened before my eyes because I saw her every 18 days. Like, I gotta go see this doctor. So I did, and it turns out that you don't have to be living the way that you are. For example, about age 37, I started to have just the worst periods, just really bad. Like I would be down and out.

And I just accepted it, like this is how my life is. And I remember feeling a couple of times like, gosh, this is debilitating, are other women doing this? Well, I'm running a startup, I really don't talk about those types of things. I know shocker, because here I am talking about it on the podcast, but I remember a trip out to New York when I was pitching and it was amazing that I was standing up. I got lightheaded. I had just the worst symptoms. And from there, it was every month I would have to just really be down and out for a couple of days. And I finally was like, maybe I should talk to someone about this. And it turns out that my body wasn't producing progesterone anymore. And I think it happened around age 36, 37.

I also would get so tired in the afternoon, like I would need toothpicks to like, be in my eyeballs because I'd get so tired. Again, low progesterone. Crazy, right? Low libido, low progesterone, as well as my thyroid. Like I had almost a non-functioning thyroid and no one caught this on my blood work.

And I went a year prior to go see someone that said that they were specialized and I was within normal range. And I'm like, I can't, it's sort of the self-rationalizing thing that I'm saying is if you don't feel good then we need to seek out the proper healthcare providers that can give attention to what our needs are. It's not a one size fits all. That's what's really frustrating me about healthcare is that, like, everything is just one size fits all. Oh, here, you can get this pill. Oh, here, you go on this treatment plan. Oh, well, physical therapy for you. Well, it's always the same thing for everyone that just doesn't seem normal, especially with pharmaceuticals. So I went on bioidentical hormones, and it totally changed, was a game changer for me. And I'm continuing once a month, I meet with my doctor and we are altering it. So I've gone on the thyroid and P, I went on progesterone, also a whole line of supplements that I'm really excited to share because we're gonna start incorporating this in Checkable. And then now I've just gone on T3, which is another hormone, which I hope is going to speed up my metabolism because I've had trouble, I just cannot lose the 20 pounds.

And I know that a lot of other women are with me here. So that was the first thing that I did. The other thing I did was I stopped making excuses when I would travel. I acted like traveling was like a vacation. Like, no, you're not going on vacation. You are on a work trip and I should, I was traveling so much, I still am traveling so much, but I would totally get out of my routine. So it'd be like four days, super healthy, wake up, get my meals in, get my exercise in, and then I'd go away for four days, and then it'd be crap. And it was like this vicious cycle. 

So think of it like half of my life was unhealthy. I would always pack the workout clothes. I was super good about packing them. Like, oh, I better have two pairs of leggings and two tops because I'm gonna work out four times and I can wear them each one time.

No, I never wore them. They came back clean. So when I had all of these trips backed up in March, I was starting to feel better from the hormones. Like I literally had more energy. I didn't have this once a month cycle that was like putting me under for three days. I was able then to get my mind around no excuses about working out. Get your ass in the gym when you are on the road.

And wear those workout clothes. And holy cow, it was a game changer. Now I'm like, okay, how many times, how many times can I work out? I just went to a conference. So I've had four conferences since I made that decision and I've worked out every single day since I made that commitment. So I go down, I check out the gym, I look at what am I working with here? And I commit, look at my schedule and I literally pencil in, here's the time that you're going to work out. And I don't make any excuses on it. Here's the time that you get up. Here's the time that you're going to have to go to bed if you want to wake up at that time. So it's like, I am very intentional about the schedule there. 

The third thing that I did, again, here's the nail tech. My new nail tech because Shay left, she went to Utah, so I had to hire a new tech. So my new nail tech, Nashwa, Nashwa has a trainer. She's from Iran and, oh no, she's from Iraq, and her trainer is virtual. And she told me that when she came to this country, that she was like 95 pounds soaking wet and she could not gain weight. She had no muscle. She just felt like skin and bones. And this trainer, Farqad, he said that he could train virtually. I'm going to find his, let's see here, what is his? So if you find him on Instagram, so he says Scorpion, he has on there, like you can have on your title. @Farqadaljubouri. So I'll link it, but he's awesome. And I signed up and for $250 I got the meal plan, I get weekly coaching and then I get him to do my workouts too, like the workout plan. And then I have him on Telegram, so if I have any questions, I can message him.

And so I started out with six weeks and this has been really game changing too. And the reason why is, he is no excuses. The first thing that he said to me was, if you're cheating, if you are not doing your workouts, if you're not giving me effort, I will fire you. You have three chances. And on the third one, we're gonna say, okay, we acknowledged that this would happen and go about your business.

He's very serious. So I've learned so many different things from this, but having that commitment, that accountability partner that's a coach has been game changing for me personally. 

So I go into the gym and I have my plan and I have to record myself. This is what the weird thing is. So you have to record yourself while you're doing the workout and you put it like five feet away and then you do your workout. And then you send him like the third set of every one of your workouts and once a week he goes through each of your items. “Okay, your shoulders weren't back. Okay, you were leaning forward. Okay, you need to arch your back, or you're going too fast. Don't worry about the weight.” I mean, just proper etiquette of how you're supposed to do things. And then you write down the notes in your notebook. And he has videos that he has on there of like, how to help you. So a lot of times, I'll look beforehand and I'm like, oh yeah, that's how I do it. Oh, my hands were too far apart or I didn't get my arms down enough, we need to go all the way up. And he's very serious, like very professional. And for me to have a trainer here just is hard. I understand the benefits of a trainer in person. They can push you, you can have hands-on adjustment.

I know enough about lifting and I've had enough classes, so I don't need that hands on. But the thing is about this is that I stopped rationalizing that my classes that I was taking and my cardio and my time in the gym was enough. No, I needed professional help. And again, I had the energy to do it. So I decided those are the three things that in the first quarter that were magic for my first quarter, personally. 

So personally, I needed to do some things because I kept having this goal of losing this weight. And it goes a lot back to my drinking. When I was not achieving things, I wasn't as productive. It was because I was drinking wine and it was because I would go to happy hours or I would...

I was making excuses. So I decided to do the same thing. I'm almost two years no alcohol by the way. And it's been a game changer. I feel great. I can physically tell unfortunately I haven't lost a ton of weight. I think I was already very heavy cardio. But I think with this T3 I'm hoping that it helps. And just remain consistent with everything and not give up. So it's been five weeks. Okay, I can't give up. That's what happens is, I get frustrated and we end up being very instant gratification. Try something for a year consistently and tell me that you didn't see results. It's not going to happen. It's not. You're going to see results after a year. We have to change our mindset of doing something after a year and then reflecting back. It's not two weeks. It's not a month.It's not like, oh, this isn't working. 

So I'm saying we gotta change that. Everyone has to change that. I'm changing it too. So my next thing that I'm doing is with this podcast and with my personal brand. How can I put content out there on a regular basis? Podcast for 30 days. What does it mean to be a CEO of a startup? Okay, I'm gonna podcast for 30 days. I'm gonna document it. I'm gonna share it. And we're gonna talk about things that we're working on. We're gonna share some discipline things that I'm doing. Just the ebbs and flows of what's happening at a startup. Someday I'll do five minutes, then other days I'll do 20 minutes like this. But overall, I want it to be something that I am personally working on, 30 days of creating content. And then I get in the routine of it. It feels natural. 

Like right now, me going into the gym, you guys, the first three weeks, like I was so nervous. I was so nervous. Like you walk onto the gym floor and everyone knows what they're doing. They're pumping iron and they know each other and they're just so focused. And here I am with my little bar like, oh, here, you know, I was sore. I didn't know if I was doing things right. Then he made me put my camera there. I felt like an idiot, but I got through it.

And now I walk on the floor and I know what I'm doing. And I also know that I can get better. So I'm very focused on myself and I don't care what other people think. And that's what I have to do with this podcast of putting things together. Ultimately, my goal of doing this is I was very inspired by a couple of speakers at these last conferences. And I feel like what I have to say is worthy to inspire others. I think everyone can do what I do. There's nothing special about me. It's just, I like to hack things and I like to dig in and I want to be consistent and I have goals that I want to achieve. And I want to share that with others to inspire them that they have it in them too. So I'm not sure what that looks like yet. I'm not sure.

Who would even want me to speak for them? I mean, I think I can bring a tremendous amount of value, but one, I've got to get over the imposter syndrome. Two, I've got to create content and learn how I'm a good teacher and storyteller. And three, I want to bring value to people. And most importantly, I want to bring value. And through practice, I think I can do a really great job with it. 

I was covering up my check. Got a branded jacket, like the white. Um, so that's what I'm going to be talking about. Um, just anything, anything and everything every day, um, is a new podcast. So we do it for 30 days, see how it goes. And we're going to launch the Patty Post CEO website and you know what? We're going to make it happen. So that's what we're doing. Tune in for the next one. 

Get some value, learn what it's like to be a CEO because you can do it too. And you can have personal development at the top of your list and you can still be an awesome parent and an awesome spouse. And you don't need to hold yourself back. You can do it. So with that, follow me, @PattyPostCEO on Instagram and on TikTok, and Patty Post on LinkedIn. Let's get to crushing, crushing what we want, people. Okay.

See ya.