Pursuit of Wellness - Motivation vs. Discipline Mash Up: Why Habits Win

Episode Date: August 25, 2025

Ep. 199 - Motivation fades, but discipline lasts. In this mash-up, Mari, Sami Spalter, Tom McCarthy and Michael Chernow dive into one of the most important questions for anyone chasing growth: how do you stay consistent when motivation runs out? This episode blends real stories, practical strategies, and inspiring lessons around the theme of discipline as self-love. From the power of small wins to the “Three C’s” of transformation—Commitment, Confidence, and Courage—this episode gives you the tools to create lasting change in fitness, mindset, and life. This episode is packed with encouragement, actionable steps, and wisdom to help you recommit to your goals, show up for yourself, and keep going—even when it’s hard. Whether you’re working on your health, your career, or your mindset, you’ll walk away with tools to create wins every day and become the person you want to be. Leave Me a Message - click here! For Mari’s Instagram click here! For Pursuit of Wellness Podcast’s Instagram click here! For Mari’s Newsletter click here! Sponsored By: Upgrade your kitchen with Caraway’s non-toxic cookware. Visit http://carawayhome.com/WELLNESS10 or use code WELLNESS10 for 10% off your next purchase. Hungryroot makes healthy eating easy! Get 40% off your first box + a free item for life at hungryroot.com/POW with code POW. The first 1,000 to join at http://functionhealth.com/POW or use gift code POW at sign-up get a $100 credit toward their membership. Blissy is offering 60-nights risk-free PLUS an additional 30% off when you shop at Blissy.com/POWPOD. Experience skincare that targets acne and aging—without clogging your pores. Get 20% off your first order at clearstem.com/POW with code POW. Topics Discussed 00:00:08: Motivation vs. Discipline - building habits that stick (Solo) 00:03:40: CrossFit, accountability, and discipline as self-love (Sami Spalter) 00:11:06: Fitness teaching work ethic & pandemic walking 00:15:34: Mindset shift – leaving victim mentality behind (Tom McCarthy) 00:18:08: Visualization & subconscious reprogramming 00:22:42: Steps after visualization – focus, story, action 00:25:43: Identity shift – becoming an “athlete” & sobriety story 00:29:29: Discipline & asking for help – structured daily plan 00:38:27: Fitness in sobriety – daily wins, 3 C’s: Commitment, Confidence, Courage (Michael Chernow) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Pursuit of Wellness Podcast, and I'm your host, Marie Llewellyn. What is up, guys? Welcome back to the show, and we are talking motivation and productivity tips. We all have had feelings of motivation before, but they don't stay very long. Motivation is a fleeting feeling and discipline is a consistent habit that allows you to take action even when you don't feel like it. It's all about building habits that you do regardless of whether you feel like it or not. This will allow you to do anything in life. When I first started my journey, I struggled to wake up early because it was new for me. I struggled to pass up a sweet treat because that was new for me.

I struggled to get to the gym when I was tired or it was cold. I struggled getting in all my steps because I didn't want to. I struggled driving back and forth from New York to Philly to get my degree. I struggled sitting at the front desk of Orange Theory Fitness at 3 a.m. I struggled with everything. But after a while, I stopped even thinking about it. It stopped being a choice and it just started to be my lifestyle. Things started to feel way more comfortable. And that's how it becomes your life. It's how it becomes who you are. Your habits become your new identity. What is currently holding you back? Is it that you need to wake up earlier? Are you not achieving enough?

in the day? Do you need to create more hours in your day? When I first started my fitness journey and I started all these new habits, at first it was so uncomfortable. But the more I did it, the more comfortable it became. The more I kept my own promises, the more confident I got. What are some things you can do to set yourself up for success every single day? I am someone who absolutely loves the calendar. If it's not in the Google calendar, I'm not doing it. I like to time block. I like to see everything that's happening from workouts to socializing to meetings to podcast recordings to vacations to flights every single thing is in my calendar what can you do to make things easy for yourself for me every time i went to the gym i needed to bring a plan otherwise i'd end up going feeling

confused overwhelmed and leaving early go to the gym with a plan maybe you struggle with nutrition go to the grocery store with a meal plan and a list this was huge for me when i started my weight loss journey. Looking up meals that I wanted to make, making sure they were healthy, high protein, writing down all the ingredients I needed, going to the grocery store with a plan, meal prepping on Sunday nights, making sure everything's ready to go. Get yourself ready and in a headspace where things are easy to check off and easy to achieve. It's not just about checking boxes, but doing things that make you feel whole. When I was going through my fitness journey, Yes, I was definitely eating healthy. I was exercising. I was doing all the right things. But I also was

mentally improving. I was getting more and more confident every single day. Finding happiness in doing hard things. I think this is an really important piece of the puzzle. And finding tools that keep you happy is so important. Having the power to control our time, our minds and get the most out of our days. It's really one of the most powerful tools we have. I don't do things lightly. I don't try to do anything in life. Like, if I'm saying yes, I'm saying yes. And like, I'm not going to try to work out. I'm working out five times a week and like I'm going to be super disciplined in that.

Day one, I join a CrossFit gym. And it was really intense. But what I loved about it was the community. And when you're early on, like, y'all, I didn't even own a pair of walking shoes at this point. I maybe had one pair of leggings and then went to Target and bought these same workout top in three colors. It was basically a tight bra that then like popped out and was like loose around my stomach. Yeah, like a peplum. Because God forbid, I felt like a stuffed sausage in every single workout outfit.

And I'm wearing like extra extra larges. Like I didn't even have any association with my size at the time. But I asked them, I'm like, what sneakers do I need? What equipment do I need? They're like, you need these no bowl sneakers. You know that brand? Yes, yes. They're like the flattest shoes ever.

So I was wearing these all black no bowl sneakers. I had three tops and got a few more pair of extra, extra large leggings. And I was in there five times a week. Damn. And that's cool. That community was something. Well, they like hype you up. They really hype you up.

And like they push you. I mean, it's like it felt almost like military. Like you're competing for something. Yes. Not that I could compete with any of these people. I mean, truly on the days where it was like run a mile, do 10 handstand pushups, the modifications that my coaches would do for me. was amazing.

But that's, can you speak to, like, did you feel any intimidation or insecurity walking into an environment like that? At first, yes. My brother would actually come with me. Frankie was super freaking fit at the time. Frankie, like, also goes through phases, but, like, Frankie was jacked at the time. Really? Yeah.

And he was such a great accountability partner for me because all of my friends at the time were, like, my party friends. I wasn't in a relationship. and Frankie, like, was holding me accountable. So that was really great. And then I got to the point where I could hold myself accountable. And, like, I had partners in that community that, like, knew my name, knew what I was up to, knew about, like, what I wanted to accomplish.

And I have always been someone who wanted to surround myself with people who were doing more and doing better. And it's really motivating. Like, I always say in business, I never want to be the smartest person at the table. And when I was signing up for CrossFit, I definitely wasn't walking in there wanting to be the fittest person in the room. So it was really cool to see these. these like literal athletes doing the same shit that like I wanted to do.

It's kind of like me looking up to the IFBB pros in bodybuilding. You were around these insane athletes. Like shoot for the stars, be around the best. And I would crush myself in those workouts. Damn. I was going for it. Like really, really going for it. And then after that year, I...

Question. Yes. Did you go into your journey saying, I want to lose eight. No. I never thought 85 pounds was possible. I had been overweight my whole life. I was the heaviest kid in my first grade class. I don't know why and what happened in first grade. We were all put on a scale in front of each other. Straight up. No. No. Oh my God. That's the type of thing that you never forget. And yeah, I'm literally 23 years later still remembering this moment of being the heaviest kid when I was in sixth grade. I won't forget little moments of, like,

like my doctor's growing up saying like Sammy like you're only 13 you shouldn't be carrying this much body fat just you know across the board so many moments that were so telling so no I never thought that like who you are seeing here today was a possibility for what I could look and feel like like I think a lot of people move their body to look a certain way at this point in my journey I was addicted to movement because it made me feel a certain way because it was fulfilling a promise that I was making to myself because it was allowing me to get to know myself to a deeper level than I had ever learned before. And it wasn't about how hard the workout was.

It was about walking away and feeling like my cup was fill, not empty. And I think a lot of workouts can kind of empty your cup. Totally, totally. And I do think like the discipline you learn from an intense workout like a CrossFit. I mean, I was super intense for a while with my workouts. perhaps that's what we needed at the beginning because it teaches you pure discipline. Discipline is self-love. Like you'll hear me say that all the time.

When you learn self-discipline, that is the number one form of self-love because if you can't show up for yourself, how are you going to do great things for yourself? In anything. In anything in life. This is not weight loss. This is life. Yeah, period. You guys know Greg and I love to cook up.

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I love that they are super high quality. They screen for over 200 additives, including high-fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners and preservatives. They only source high-quality meat and seafood with no hormones or antibiotics. Greg and I personally are really focused on proteins, so we love finding high protein snacks on hungry root and planning our meals to focus on protein that way take advantage of this exclusive offer for a limited time get 40% off your first box plus a free item in every box for life go to hungry root dot com slash pow and use code pow p o w that's hungry root dot com slash pow code pow to get 40% off your first box and a free item of choice for life hungry root I think fitness taught me everything I know about work ethic like it is the reason I'm able to

show up at my job every day yeah because you just show up you know what I really want everyone to hear if you have the privilege to move your body you are doing your entire life such a disservice by not embracing movement and if you haven't found the movement for you keep looking because it exists. I agree. It is such a privilege. It is the best form of therapy. What happened for me after class pass was COVID. We were in a pandemic. There were no more classes. I became obsessed with walking. Yep. I think a lot of girls are using, like even if they don't like working out, walking's there. Walking is a gift. You get to go outside. You get to get sunshine in or just fresh air in. You get to have it stack. So many other.

things you love. You get to invite your friend or call the person who makes you happy, listen to a podcast, like pursuit of wellness that betters you. Like whatever you want to do, you can do while walking. And if you have legs that move, walk. It is a gift. Oh my God, I'm obsessed with walking. I still walk 10 to 20K steps a day. I'm obsessed. Guys, Sammy walks like 10 miles a day and does calls and gets her whole day done. My team knows, like, if I want to be, like, as mentally active as possible, I should be moving. I had a few internships throughout college, and my memories of these internships were me shaking like a leaf, terrified my boss was going to talk to me, hiding in the bathroom, feeling like

I didn't know what was going on. Like, I had zero, zero, zero confidence in myself in what I thought, didn't even really know what I wanted. And then I worked at Orange Theory Fitness. I was at the front desk, getting heart rate monitors thrown at me, ducking sweaty towels, cleaning toilets. It's funny because, of course, I was unsatisfied with that, but it taught me so much.

Like, it was, I'm so grateful I had that little season. I'd show up at 4 a.m. to open up the studio. That was mid-fitness journey. It was a way- Which is also a crazy level of discipline, if you think about that. Insane. I used to be insane. Like, I know I still have it in me,

But it's funny when you're in like, like hitting rock bottom and feeling like I have to fix this. Like I do not have a choice. It's crazy what you can do, honestly. When do you feel like you found that first like oomph of confidence? It was the second that like I realized I was not wavering on my plan. When I kept showing up at the gym, when I kept waking up at six in the morning, when I kept eating the food, I was like, oh, I'm not quitting. like I was afraid I think for the first couple months that I was going to quit because I had quit everything else I'd ever done and then the second I realized I wasn't quitting I was like oh

I think I can do anything so for me at the time working at Orange Theory and showing up at four in the morning and sticking to that was a challenge like I had never done anything like that before like I would skip class in college I wouldn't show up to internships like I was very accountability for yourself no like I really didn't hold myself to a high stand showing up at orange theory and cleaning the toilets was like I am fulfilling a promise to myself and it was during that time I'm serious I'm just picturing you like deep in your toilet being like this is for me this is for the greater good no but like my future self is so grateful it's kind of crazy and sometimes I go in a gym and I smell the cleaning smell of the same

same cleaner I would clean the toilets with and I'm like oh my god like that was kind of the crux of my work ethic and I was getting my degree at the time and I remember my Instagram began exploding while I worked there and the trainers at the gym coming up and being like oh my God like what happened like how did you do that will you say that I trained you like they wanted to be involved in it and I had a fear of quitting orange theory because I was like no no no this is my normal job like this this can't go anywhere and it took me a minute to kind take that leap of faith. And it's funny looking back, I'm like, how did I push through those years of not leaving the house, not leaving my computer, just working, working, working? I didn't have anything

to lose. I was like, let's just freaking go. It's orange theory or this. It's cleaning toilets or this. You've got to try. You don't know until you try. That's like my dad always saw me. Right. And now look where we are. I've noticed, just even in my comment section or online, a lot of people feel feel like life is happening to them, not for them. Yeah. And that victim mentality is really prevalent today. And it's something that I went through too on my journey. I, before going through what I went through, I would look around for people to blame or

situations to blame, feeling like a victim. And I think taking responsibility and looking inward is kind of the first step on that journey for many people. Yeah. And then one of the big things that really changed my life was when I understood or when I learned that you can choose how you feel. The outside event is going to happen. But we all have, like you and I could have the same thing happen to us and you would go, wow, thank God. Like that really moved me in a good direction.

And I could still be sitting here going, you know, gosh, darn it. That's so unfair. Why did that happen to me? It's not the thing that happens that really determines whether it has value or not. It's your way of looking at it, your way of perceiving it. And it is very easy to be a victim. I mean, there's so many shows on TV that you watch, you know, victim this, victim that, people blaming. I think we're in a time right now where, you know, so many people are pointing the finger at other people

and trying to say, you're the reason I'm not successful or, you know, you need to change, I'm fine. And when we truly take responsibility, it's not easy. It's so much easier to be a victim. So that's the challenge. But when you go against the grain and you just say, look, I take responsibility for anything that happens to me and I'm going to use it in a way that makes me better,

your life changes and you become powerful. And what my book was about is how do you shift reality? You shift reality by taking responsibility. And when you do that, reality starts to bend in the direction you want it to. And I have a quote in the book that, and I do this on my emails too, average conforms to reality. Oh, that's bad. Everyone says it's bad. Yeah, that's bad.

That's average, right? Greatness creates a whole new reality. What I like to do is when you focus on a result at the beginning of the year, we should say not just my intention to fix some part of me, but what do you want to create? What do you want to create in your life? Stop focusing on what you want to fix. Nobody's broken here. And so what I like to do at the beginning of the year is come up with three, usually three or less, but big things I want to do during the year that would really be fun. For no other reason that other than I just want to create that. I would love to create that, not because I'm broken. I need that to feel better about myself.

but then you focus in on that and then when you focus in on it you visualize it right you use your imagination Einstein said the imagination is a preview of coming attractions and so you just get in and you go you know I really love creating this I see it I feel

it I believe it and then you start to notice is there part of you that's not in love with it like really going for it even though it's really cool there's part of you that might not have the level of self-esteem and the subconscious like oh you know I don't know this must, it might be too much or I'm not deserving or it's too hard.

And when you start to feel that, then you know that's what you need to go in and start working on with the subconscious. The subconscious mind is tapping into what are you really seeing? What are you visualizing? Are you seeing yourself fall short? Are you seeing yourself enjoying it and really now having this amazing thing that you've created? What does it feel like? Do you feel confident? And the other thing, you have to notice, is the subconscious in love with what you want to create?

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That's thereelreel.com slash pow to get $25 off. Start shopping now at the realreel.com slash pow. When you talk about visualizing what we want, what are the steps we need to take after the visualization? Like, how do we make it a reality? I've got three big ideas in the breakthrough code. One is you've got to focus on less and then obsess. But I really wanted to be more of a subconscious obsession. I want you to train your subconscious to naturally be looking for answers and actions and things like that.

The second thing you've got to do, and by the way, the way that you, do that is you see it, feel it, and believe it a couple times a day. You see it, so you're visualizing it. I actually like more of the word you're imagining it. Like I'm imagining myself in this. And I sometimes I talk myself through it. I'm imagining myself accomplishing this and loving this and having so much fun doing this. So that might be helpful versus just trying to see it, see it, see it. Some people say they can't visualize. So imagine, imagine it. Just say I'm imagining it. And then that kind of takes the stress off having to see it so clearly. You're just imagining it. And then you're feeling it. And then the next step is you've got to upgrade your

story to upgrade your life. So the way you think about who you are, what you're capable of, that's an action you have to take. You've got to say, all right, what part of me has to die in order to create space to create an upgraded version of me or a new version of me, the version that, you know, I want to move forward with. We want to stay the way we are, but have our life get better. It doesn't work that way. If you want to advance and create more, the old part of you can't do it. Now, here's the good news.

You're under no obligation to be the exact same person you were five seconds ago. You can shift, you can change, takes courage. And also, the subconscious mind will fight to stay the same. because it's trying to protect you. Don't wander off too far, Mari, you know, stay the way you are. Come on, it's great. But we want to create.

We want to do more. So we've got to let part of us die, right? Part of our personality, not part of your body, but part of your personality, part of the way you think, part of the way you view the world has to go away in order for a new part to come in. And then after you've done that,

then you've got to take effective action. You've got to pack your day with effective action. So if you and I work, let's say, eight, nine hours in a day, but you are twice as, and we're trying to get the same thing, but you're twice as effective with your actions, like they're really moving the needle, and you're even doing some things that you don't necessarily love, at least right now, you probably will love them later, but you're doing some things that I'm avoiding, because I don't want to do that, right? But you're doing it, but we're still only working the same amount of time. You're going to get there twice as fast. I may not even get there. You said, you have no obligation to be who you were five seconds ago. Yeah. I love that. And it was something, you know, reflecting on my fitness journey, I don't think I fully knew what I was doing.

Now I have more verbiage about my journey. Yeah. But I had to stop believing that I was a failure and someone who was average and someone who was overweight in order to move forward. I just spoke about this on a solo episode I did. but I almost convinced myself I was an athlete in that moment because to get myself to the gym and do hard workouts every day and eat clean, I had to tell myself I was training for something

and I fully like took that on. I love that. And I still like if I wake up at five in the morning to go work out, I'm telling myself I'm an athlete. I'm doing my training. I feel like we have to really change the way we think about our identity. Absolutely. Yeah, we always revert back to our identity.

You know, back when I was working with Tony Robbins, there were studies that we were looking at that would watch people or that would observe people when they were losing weight, trying to lose weight. And most people will lose weight when you try to lose weight. You lose a little bit. Sometimes you lose a lot. And then typically what happens if you do not change your identity is you revert back to your identity. I'm a person who overeats, right? I'm a person that doesn't like working out. So I love your, and same thing with cigarette smoking, right?

Or when you're smoking, like if you are a smoker who's trying to quit, if you see yourself as an overweight person who's trying to lose weight, you will lose weight and you'll probably quit smoking. But then eventually your willpower is not strong enough to fight against your identity. You just will lose that battle. That's when we say upgrade your story. we're talking about upgrading your identity, who you see yourself as.

I love what you did. I'm an athlete. And you know what? When you first said that, your body was probably, or your subconscious mind was probably BS. You're not an athlete. But then you've got to keep at it.

And you've got to stick to that story. Most people will start out, okay, I'm an athlete, I'm an athlete, like two days, three days. They say most people, when they set intentions for the year, by the second week of February, gone, like the majority. It's true. The gym clears out after two weeks for sure.

Yeah. Because they had this intention, but they didn't, the intention didn't match the story of who they really thought they were. And then I knew one person who I respected who was sober. And it was a woman named Karen who was like an older sister to me. She worked in this nightclub that I was a bar back at when I was. was like 16 and her and I just clicked and she would always just take me in whenever I was down and out like if I was strung out and just like I needed to like be somewhere that was not in the street I called her because I knew she was sober and she was like wherever you are stay I'm going

to send my boyfriend and she called her boyfriend Marcus and Marcus showed up and Marcus changed my whole entire life. He introduced me to, well, certainly sobriety, but he introduced me to the world of wellness through fitness and nutrition. So at this point, did you enter a program or was it like a self-directed program? Program. The night that I spent with Marcus that first day, he sat down with me and he just said, I just want to, he's like, just tell me your story. Like, you know, and at that point, no one had really asked me that question, right? Tell me your story. like what is it and of course like I wanted him to think that I had had it like like the worst life ever right like I was like it's probably lying you know trying to sound tough all those things

but he didn't say a word for like four hours and then when I was done when I kind of had gotten to date like this as then today um he was like okay I'm gonna help you that was it and he's like this is what we're going to do and um he had no judgment he didn't like i mean he was he definitely like had had made some notes on the story but he wrote me a plan and it all happened this day it was nuts but basically the plan that he kind of drew out for me was he's like this is what i want you to do i don't i'm not going to chase you and i don't um care whether you choose to do it or not because there's enough people that I've worked with to see how successful this kind of system is to know that like you're only going to do it if you're ready and it sounds like you're ready

but I just just know that like I'm not going to chase you around to do this so he basically said look I want you to wake up as early in the morning as you can I don't know what that looks like for you but like if you're waking up at four o'clock in the afternoon now which I'm sure you are try to wake up earlier than that and the first thing you're going to do when you get up in the morning is you're going to stand up you're going to turn around and you're going to make your bed as soon as you make your bed you're going to go into the bathroom and you're going to brush your teeth wash your face put on your contact lenses take a piss and get on your knees and ask god for help I don't care if you believe in God. I don't care if you have a bad experience with God. I don't care if you think somebody's listening or not. But, like, you need help, dude, and you don't know how to ask for it.

Your version of asking for help has led you to this point. So, like, we're going to kind of change direction. And then right when you're done with that, do as many push-ups as you can. When you're done with that, you're going to put on a pair of sneakers. You're going to get out of the house immediately. Take a walk. Probably not jogging anytime soon. but like get out and walk around, walk for five blocks, and then come home.

And when you're done with that, I want you to make a big bowl of oatmeal. And you can add whatever the hell you want to it. But you need to start putting positivity into your body, nutritionally, in the beginning of the day. So you create a nutritional win. And I promise you it's going to make a difference. Right after you do that, I want you to go to this 12-step meeting. Get there. It's going to be weird.

Introduce yourself. Tell them who you are and why you're there. and then right when you're done with that I'm going to train you how to be a man and that's going to be in the rings of moitai and I was like what the fuck is moitai have you know what you're talking about but he was just like come meet me at this gym and I'm thinking like as he's saying this I'm kind of like gym pushups walking I'm like yeah but I'm like I haven't like exercised in in 10 years are you like super skinny at this point I'm like bloated and swollen and just uncomfortable.

So then he says, you know, we're going to go, we're going to train. We're going to train for two hours every day. And after we train, you're going to have chicken and broccoli. And then you're going to take a nap. You're going to go to work. You're going to have chicken and broccoli again. And you're going to go to bed as early as you can. And right before you go to bed, you're going to drop on your knees.

You're going to say thank you. Rinse and repeat. And that's the plan. You were basically on the brink of death. Like you needed this rigorous discipline plan. And it honestly reminds me a lot of myself before I went on my weight loss journey. I ended up losing 90 pounds. But when I was coming, I dropped out of school.

I was binge drinking, overweight, unhealthy, never had a goal in my life. Like I wasn't an addict. But I mean, I'm sure people listening, you know, if they're in a dark place, you need instruction. Like you need to have a plan. And I basically gave myself a very similar plan. I'm sure people listening to this podcast, like, They want to walk away with something, right?

People are looking like, is there a silver bullet? Is there a pill? Is there a switch you could flip? Like, is there something? And I'm here to say, no, there's not. However, if you don't try certain things that you hear, the chances of that being the thing for you don't exist, right? And so that's why I talk about prayer a lot

because it's not a religious thing for me. it's it's an ask for help thing for me because of how consistent i've been with prayer in every other aspect of my life i am so comfortable with asking for help like i i used to be ashamed especially as an early early entrepreneur like i used to have like this weird feeling with like asking for help because i'm like man i'm the entrepreneur like i should be know how to do this stuff and i just sort of shook that off pretty quickly asking for help is like the key you know and and believe or not you know specifically when you ask others for help it empowers them totally you know what i mean like when the boss or the owner or the whatever asks someone for help

that's not in that position that totally fires them up you know like makes them feel like needed yeah you know and so i really i feel like the prayer for me was like the first step into like giving myself grace and in the ability to ask for help. I think it's such a good tool. I have been really focused on my hair health lately. I want it to grow and that's why I now use a silk pillowcase by Blissie. You can see healthier skin and hair in weeks. It's much better than satin, which is made from synthetics and is rough on hair and skin and cheap for a reason. It has anti-aging properties, it reduces fine line and wrinkles over time, and eliminates frizz and preserves

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Blissy.com slash power pod, P-O-W-P-O-D. That is B-L-I-S-S-Y.com slash powpod and use code PowerPod to get an additional 30% off your skin and hair will thank you. You guys have heard me talk about ClearSem so many times. It is a staple in my skincare routine. It's the first clinically effective skincare wellness routine formulated with zero poor clogging ingredients ever. If you've dealt with breakouts like me, I've had acne for over 10 years, you know that typical acne. products dry and damage the skin, while traditional anti-aging products can clog your pores. Clear stem is an all-in-one approach addressing both acne and aging without compromising your

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discover the clear stem difference and experience clear healthy skin for life go to clearstem.com slash pow for 20% off your first order that's c-l-e-a-r-s-te-em dot com slash pow for anyone listening who's needing like maybe still forming a routine or they have goals for 2025 or they just don't even know where to begin I feel like that's such a great start What role did fitness play at the beginning of your sobriety journey? Like, how did it help you heal? Obviously, I've chosen not to use drugs a day at a time. Fitness saves and had saved my life in that moment.

When Marcus knew what he was doing, I don't know how, but he just did. And he brought me into this Muay academy. And he was like, this is where you're going to spend a lot of time. because you need to be able to redirect the energy that you spent destroying yourself into building yourself. And the beauty of like getting into a fitness protocol of some sort, especially when you're struggling in life, is no matter how you slice it, if you commit to it, every single day you get progress.

So there's very few things that you can do on a daily basis or four to five days a week where every single time you're done with it, your steps further than when you started in an hour and a half period of time, hour period of time, right? There's very few people that will get done with a workout and be like, I wish I didn't do that. you know like people walk out of a workout of any kind it could be yoga it could be walking it could be running it could be lifting weights it could be moitai could be anything and you're done and you're like yes you know and so what what i what i was taught there is we have the ability to create wins yeah nutritional wins awesome you feel good after eating a healthy meal physically and and mentally you feel good after a training session physically and mentally you have the ability to control that there's what we can control maybe 5% of our lives right like whenever there's another person or

thing in our world we've kind of lost control that person can hate us we can't control that that person can say something that's going to impact us we can't control that that person can take a swing at you something can happen like we have very little control over the things in our lives lives. However, when it comes to what we put into our body and how we move our body, in most cases, we do have control. And if you can make those things wins, now the ability to commit becomes easier. There are these things that I think are important to say because it's been so real in my life. And I call it to three Cs. Commitment is the first C and probably the hardest of all the seas. Commitment is the gateway to happiness, right? Like, you want something,

the only way to get that, to get it is to do it, period. Like, there's one way to get from want to have, and it's to do, right? And that means commitment, just commit. And then with enough commitment consistently, you will build confidence, because commitment really does breed confidence you know people will say to me oh my god you like eat the same thing all the time and you do the same things all the time and I'm like yeah but I get better and better every single time like it just gets better and better and better I get stronger and stronger stronger I feel better internally you know like with the the things that I do so commitment breeds breeds confidence and and there's a big difference I think between confidence and ego you know like people think

oh confidence like that guy's got a lot of confidence that girl's got a lot of confidence Really, there's a difference between confidence and ego. In my opinion, confidence gives you the ability to make better decisions, right? Because if you don't have confidence, you're always on the fence, right? It's coming from self-love. Coming from self-love, right? So, like, self-confidence is super-duber important. And the way you develop self-confidence is you make decisions that are ultimately going to impact self.

And that's where self-love, self-care comes in. so commitment confidence and then with enough confidence you know courage is is is inevitable and and so the the commit confidence courage sort of trifecta has really kind of like established this if I'm not like I'll check myself and I'll be like all right dude will have you like are you committed like if you say you're going to do something you got to check yourself and see are you actually doing it because if you want this thing and it's not coming easily, and let's backtrack and see what step we're missing. You know, the fitness component of my life,

like my body really changed quick. You know, within like the first three months of training with Marcus, I was like a different human. It really gave me purpose, right? And I think that is ultimately what fitness did and has done for me. You know, no matter what's going on in my life, I can rely on fitness as a way to win. And I think humans in general are,

we're wired to want to win. We just are. We do want to win. And it's not like be the best. It's not like win the race. It's just like a little win. Keep your own promise. I love that.

Yeah, it just goes a long way. The wins that we control, the little ones are the ones, are the ones that make the biggest impact because typically the big wins you can't do alone you require other people like bloom right like the big huge win right massive win how many people do you think it was required to create it hundreds yeah yeah you know the little wins are the ones that like actually get us in a position to have the confidence and courage to do bloom 100%. 100%. I think that's such a great thing to say here for people listening who maybe

want to be an entrepreneur or whatever have these big goals. If you can show up for yourself, sleep well, eat well, even if work's going badly or something out of your control is going badly, you can show up and control those things and make sure they go well. Totally. Beginning of a new year, right? Like people make all these commitments, all these resolutions. And by the way, like, I'm not one of these guys that says, oh, screw New Year's resolutions. I'm like, no, actually make them. Make them. Why not?

Like, put something in your path to work towards. Nine out of ten people, if they fail once, they just stop, you know? And, like, I know for my life, like, the only one thing, again, that I have to do perfectly is just get back on. Just get back on. Thank you for joining us on the Pursuit of Wellness Podcast. To support this show, please rate and review and share with your loved ones. If you want to be reminded of new episodes, click the subscribe button on your preferred podcast or video player. You can sign up for my newsletter to receive my favorites at marilowellan.com.

It will be linked in the show notes. This podcast is a Pursuit Network production, brought to you. by Michaela Phillips, Joel Contartese, Daviel Waldena, and Mackenzie Myzel. You can also watch the full video of each episode on our YouTube channel at Pursuit of Wellness Podcast. Love you, Power Girls and Power Boys. I will see you next time. The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for individual medical and mental health advice and does not constitute a provider-patient relationship. As always, talk to your doctor or health team.