Episode 3968, when life doesn't go as planned.

Moms, it's time to rediscover, rejuvenate, and renew whom you are in mind body and spirit.

Welcome to Create Your Now, Your Best Selfie, the show that help you do just that.

Here's your host, Certified Life Coach, personal trainer, and nutritionist, Christian Wardo.

Happy Epi day, I hope you're having a fabulous start to your week or maybe you decided to make

this a holiday because you were watching Super Bowl. Yeah, I know. Who knows did your team win?

Well, then life doesn't go as planned. For those of you who are brand new to Create Your Now,

welcome to this incredible family. I'm so delighted of your presence. If you aren't even

had the opportunity, you want to head on over to CreatureNow.com where you can learn more

and sign up for the Kisses newsletter. They keep it simple strategy, everyday solutions,

to live, love, and impact. Well, this episode is brought to you by AIM, Inspiring Connection,

and Community. Okay, so really, did your team win? Did you want to see I'll see Hawks?

Well, if you watched it, you know, I'm not going to be this spoiler here.

See I'll see Hawks beat the New England Patriots. Congratulations to them. But more importantly,

honestly, congratulations to our Olympians. If you've been watching them and the stories are

ready that are coming out of the Olympics, oh my goodness. It's like, when life doesn't go as

planned, but yet then it goes a different way and it goes even better. And sometimes I think

we have to put things in perspective. And so I thought, hmm, maybe we need this Monday

quarterbacking to look a little bit differently when life doesn't go as planned, right? Because have

you ever paused to ask yourself why the goals you want set remain out of reach? Like, why are you not

getting to where you want to go? Why are the plans you carefully crafted seem to unravel,

leaving you stuck somewhere between disappointment and confusion? When life doesn't go as planned,

the fallout can feel like a long, harsh fall very far, right? So just orienting that,

figuring out the next step seems impossible. And yet, we cling to that single burning desire

to push through and reclaim the path we envisioned. You know, life rarely bends to our will.

In fact, usually we're the ones that are caught and we're, you know, with the injuries even because

we have to bend to it. Our decisions set a chain of actions and motion, but outcomes depend on factors

both within and beyond our control. You probably can think about five things right now off the top of

your head. I'm like, oh, yeah, when life didn't go as planned. Yeah, I remember when. I remember.

Maybe it's too fresh for you. Maybe you're in that right now. Success or failure isn't just about

the choices you make. It's about how you respond when those choices don't deliver the results you

aimed for. Because a lot of times what are we working towards? The results let's be real. If it's

your health, you want to be healthier. So you're aiming for the results. If you want to do a career

move, you're aiming for that job or that promotion, right? And when that doesn't happen, it's like,

that's the results. Whoever thought about the in between.

So what do you do when things don't pan out? What have you done in the past? Do you stew and frustration

letting the weight of unmet expectations crush your momentum? Do you quit and just move on,

chalking the experience up to, well, it's just a loss. No big deal. I'll come in a different way

or maybe you just drop it or do you pause long enough to reflect, recalibrate, and then lean back

in with fresh resolve. Urgency and looming deadlines can pressure us into rushing through setbacks.

It's like, we got it. We got to get back in. We got to get back into the game. Did you watch

this Super Bowl? Did you wonder if the New England Patriots would ever come around? I mean,

crazy, huh? Zero for so long for the New England Patriots. They weren't scoring squat.

And Drake May was getting sacked. Maybe that's your season right now. You're just getting sacked.

You're not getting where you want to go. You're two steps up, but you're 10 steps back.

And it's tempting to sweep failures under the rug and act like they never happen. Like,

oh, it's all right, but life is too short. And your dreams, your passion, your purpose is too

important for surface level fixes. Sometimes you need to stop right there. Just stop.

Take time to rest to think, to shift your mindset away from obsessing over the outcome

and toward evaluating your efforts. What are you learning? What's actually coming out of it?

Maybe it has nothing to do with the results and everything to do about value.

Because, yeah, why the value? Why the efforts? Because results can fill like fickle markers of

worth. They don't always reflect your hustle or your learning or your growth. And when you hold

tight to your efforts, rather than clutching desperately to a specific result, you build resilience,

you get stronger. You turn failure into fuel. That is your kiss to keep a simple strategy,

turn failure into fuel. This isn't about having all the answers, all the time and being right,

all the time. It's about saying, this is where I am right now. I may not like the results,

but my effort can still take me somewhere. Big difference. And you know that isn't done by quitting,

right? You got to hold on to determination and diligence, no matter what life throws at you.

So what does that look like in real life? I mean, come on. If you were playing in the Super Bowl,

and you were second runner up, mm-hmm. I know. It's hard. I mean, I can't say I've ever played

in the Super Bowl, but I've had my moments where it was like a Super Bowl. And I didn't come out

on top. It's hard always being the first runner up. It's hard always not making it to the point

where you go, gosh, am I even supposed to be where I'm supposed to be? Right? I mean, that's the

real deal. That's what we think about. I mean, maybe you're looking at your family going, how did I end

up with all these kids? I'm not fit to be a mom. I'm horrible at it. And now I'm trying to think

about this career thing. And, huh, and have you looked at the world? It is a mess right now.

Right? We could go on and on and on. And you're like, the laundry. I've got like 20 pounds of it

in one basket. Yeah, I mean, that is reality, right? How can you have 20 pounds of laundry in one

basket? Oh, you figure away. When you've got about 20 loads to do, oh, that basket can hold 20 to

20, 35 pounds, right? Yeah, I know. Been there. Done that. Sometimes I'm doing it still. But what

does it look like in real life to turn failure into fuel and really to grab a hold of determination

and diligence? Number one, pause and assess. Take a deliberate breath. I literally breathe.

There were times I was watching the Super Bowl. And I got to tell you, I'm going to be honest here.

I know Mama Sports Center here is she's being honest. I was kind of underwhelmed about the whole

thing. I was watching the Olympics more than I was watching the Super Bowl. And I will say I

did find two commercials that I liked, by the way. I didn't watch a lot of the commercials. And

if you're wondering, did I watch the halftime show? I did not. Why? I was doing other things in my

world. And so I just didn't have time for that. I wasn't interested in it. I don't watch the Super Bowl

for the halftime show. I watched the Super Bowl for the game of football. That's what I want to see.

I don't need all this in between stuff, quite frankly. And we could cut the time in half,

you know, if we didn't have that whole regular role. But regardless, that's a sidebar.

But when you think about what you're doing and where you are, sometimes we just need to take a breath.

And I felt like sometimes Drake may just needed that breath, not necessarily on the field. I mean,

I know there's a timer and all that going down right at clock that's keeping you going.

But I think on the sidelines, instead of him getting himself in his own head, like,

wrapping himself going, I'm not doing this right. I just, why can't I connect? And I don't know

what it is. And I'm just, oh, the defense and the Seattle Seahawks, they are just taking me down.

I mean, I think they're like six sacks at least by one person.

Over the game, and I might be misquoting that, but there was a lot of sacks by one guy.

And then you look at the total sacks. I don't know what that final count was, by the way. But

all I saw, I felt like is every single time I looked at the TV, Drake made was going down.

And I thought, I know he can be sacked a lot, but seriously, I've got to tell you though,

this is just my off the record. Seattle Seahawks defense won the game and special teams.

Just saying. Yep. And they're kicker because it wasn't anything else.

But that means what the team won the game, right? It wasn't one person stand out. It wasn't a one

person game. And I think sometimes we've got to take that away when we're looking at our situation.

Are we trying to look at it through only one lens, our own, or do we need to look at it from a team

perspective? Literally, maybe if it involves your family, look at it from a family perspective.

Then if it deals with your career, look at it from, you know, your hierarchy of maybe who your

bosses and their boss, and then maybe a couple of people below you. And so you have a team.

That's a lot different than one person. And quite honestly, we're not here to shoulder everything

in the world. Yet I know we try. So take that deliberate breath, acknowledge what went wrong without

judgment. Again, don't judge. You gotta be kind to yourself. And this moment of clarity helps you

understand your decisions and their impact. So your next action is smarter, not just reactionary.

Sometimes we move too fast that we do not see the struggles before they happen because we're

just running. Sometimes we have to slow down or to speed up. Right? Who won? The tortoise or the

hare? I'm just saying. Okay, number two, reframe failure. Look at failure as a signpost, not a dead end.

Right? It's a way that you learn things. I know that's hard. I'm, hey, I'm human too, right?

When I fail, oh, does it hurt? Man, it bleeds. It does, right? Let's be honest.

But as we grow older and as we mature, it's important for us to look at ourselves even and say,

you know what, a failure, it's not the end of the world. It's okay. But how can we get back up?

How can it be just like this little caution sign that's put in front of us instead of a dead end

do not ever walk this way again? Right? Big difference. It becomes feedback, valuable data on what

didn't work, where the gaps are, maybe where you need to close something up and what you can do

differently. This mindset reduces fear and opens room for growth. So reframe that failure.

See, it is a lesson learned and go from there. And then finally, number three, commit to consistent

action. You got to show up every day, every single day, even when you're tired to show up,

you may not be able to do as much. But when you show up, guess what? Maybe you're taking a nap

is exactly what you need to do. But that's a decision that you made. And that's committing to,

I'm going to do this. And sometimes you have to acknowledge, this is what I really need

and be okay with that. Not to beat yourself up over it. Look at your season and say,

what can I do in this season? That season may last a month. So what can you do in that month?

Chip away at those goals, regardless of setbacks. Because remember, you're not looking at results.

You're looking now from where? Your efforts. What is valuable?

Determination isn't about giant leaps. It's about faithful persistence.

No one reaches greatness overnight. Yes, I know we think they do, but how many games

did it take for the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots to get to the Super Bowl?

A lot of you would say too many. I get it. Isn't it like 16 in regular season? And then there's

what three or four, depending upon where they are post seasons. Are we 18 games or maybe the 18th

game? Anyway, I know you're yelling at me saying, Christian, you should know this. Mama Sports

Center does not know this right now. I'm just saying. But it's a lot of games, right? It's one

that I can't count on just my hands. So what I'm here to remind you of them getting to their Superbowl,

we're trying to get to our Super Bowl. It's not going to happen overnight. It feels like it should

because when we look at everybody else's highlight reels, they got there so fast. They did not.

They had sleepless nights just like you do. Then nights where it went on and on and on.

There were arguments. There were so many setbacks. A lot of people don't want to tell that

side of the story because why? It's not that sexy. It's not. But you see, when you're real with

yourself, that's what matters. It's not about having the sexy, sassy life of like,

oh, look, I've arrived. Have you seen some of those people who've arrived?

Give them five years and see what their life looks like. Yeah, sometimes it just doesn't look good,

does it? Because at arrival, that hello I've arrived doesn't really fit where we're supposed to go.

Sometimes those setbacks can actually be protection. Lots and lots of different ways to look at it.

But here's the main thing I want you to take away from this. Just because you're not getting the

results you want doesn't mean you're not winning. If that's the only thing you hear about that

or hear from me today, take that. Just because your results aren't getting you what you think you

should have doesn't mean you're not winning. You are winning. You're not a loser, you're winning.

But your story just looks different and there's nothing wrong with that. Because remember,

success isn't a straight line. It's a messy path filled with choices that sometimes lead to many,

many stumbles and troubles. But those stumbles and troubles don't have to define you or your

journey. They can teach you sharpen you and they can set you up for an even stronger comeback.

So hang tight, my friend. Stay focused on the effort you pour in daily, not just the scoreboard.

Now I know, if you're at the Seattle Seahawks, you're like, yeah, look at that scoreboard,

eat it knowing the Patriots. Let's be kind, right? It's a game. It's not the end of the world

if your team lost. And even if you look at your scoreboard and you don't feel like you're winning,

let me tell you, look at your heart first instead and you'll see a different scoreboard.

And don't forget, right? It's the next step that you're looking for. So take that deep breath.

One step at a time leads to your miles of greatness. Go in peace, be present, be incredible, be you.

I love you so very much. I cannot wait to see you on the other side.

Blessing Tags and lots and lots of love. We'll talk to you real soon. Have a great day.

Bye-bye. Feeling inspired and ready to train for life and love your journey, visit createyournow.com

for more incredible resources to help you along the way. We'll see you next time on Create Your Now,

Your Best Selfie. And remember, always be sure you consult your physician before beginning any

health and fitness plans.