It’s been a while since I’ve blogged. I’ve been consumed with 2 things and have let a lot of things slide in the meanwhile. Firstly. And importantly. I’ve been recapping on 2012 and planning in a big, dreamy and highly strategic way for both business and life in 2013, using Leonie Dawson’s (incredible!) workbooks.

 

Secondly. And most excitingly out of anything that has ever happened to me ever ever ever ever! I’ve been finishing my first every Kindle book for Amazon. And – I published it! This is my biggest life dream come to fruition.

My book is called The Secret Life of a Binge Eater – How to Beat Binge and Emotional Eating For Life.

In it I share my story. A lot of stories. A lot of pretty full on truths about binge eating. It’s very raw. My goal with this book is to show you that if you struggle with secret, shameful eating – you’re not alone. You don’t have to be ashamed. It’s not your fault. And you can be free.

If it speaks to you, get the book and if you feel it could help other people I’d love it if you share the link. I’d also love to hear from you after you read the book, either with an email or comment here or if you really loved it then an Amazon review would be amazing!

Yay me!

So – Resolutions. Focus. And Living my Dreams In 2013. Also – Inspiration For You to Do The Same.

I haven’t really done the resolution thing this year. Truthfully I’ve never really done it at all, the reason being that I tend to set goals constantly through the year and so end of year is really no different.

Anyway, as mentioned above I’d already been working for some time on what I want to live my incredible life and incredible business in 2013.

But today, and particular after the last few weeks of reflection, planning and dream-creating, I’m thinking beyond even the detail of goals. I’m thinking of themes. Broad concepts of how I want to live my life and run my business in 2013.

Some of this will impact you, in terms of what you can expect from me. Other parts will, I hope, inspire you to look at your own goals and expectations in a different light. Which is why I want to share this post – essentially I am sharing my personal journalling/wondering about what is in store for this year.

I really encourage you to do the same in your own life, to dream big and make life happen on your terms.

Beautiful Booming Business

I’ve decided to stop running my business like I’m running a race with no finish to it. Truth be told, I’m tired of living off adrenal energy, of pushing myself to do more and more and more in some sort of never-ending quest to prove that I’m successful.

As my business has grown my level of personal input both physically and emotionally has grown accordingly and it’s become the norm for me to operate on sub-par sleep, too much coffee, too much adrenalin, always 8 windows open at once. I’ve thrived on living that way, on knowing how much more I get done in a typical day than the average person.

And it’s what has allowed me to create so many wonderful books and programs within a short period of time.

But it’s also meant that I find it very difficult to ever slow down or switch off. My mind runs with ideas at all hours. My focus can be jumpy and one outcome of that is I’ve wasted a lot of time hopping from one task to the next as well as working reactively – like a bird following shiny objects – instead of working from a deep plan, with calm and focus.

This year, for the first time ever, I’ve created a strategy for my business. It’s not yet complete and I’m sure parts of it will change along the way. But it feels amazing just to be thinking bigger picture. I must admit I’m quite proud to have come as far as I have without ever writing a business plan! But now is the time for me to look at things differently.

My business vision for this year is to inspire at least 10,000 women to change their lives in a big way. I want to do a lot more ‘beyond the body’ stuff. What I am really called to do – and what I’ve found the most transformative for the women I work with – has less to do with the how-tos of getting the body you want and more to do with the whys. I’ve also found that when you start looking at why you want what you want physically, you then start to address what you actually want in your life. And how to create that dream life.

My vision is to be a guide, a source of motivation and inspiration to you in living your dream life, in pressing play in all areas; not just the physical.

As far as how I’m going to work in my business this year – next month The Look Great Naked Cookbook comes out but aside from that I don’t see myself creating any new products or programs. I’m not including books in that; Amazon ones! In fact my big focus for this year is to publish at least one book a month on Amazon. I feel as though I’ve been holding off on this one big dream of mine for EVER and now that I’m *there* nothing is going to hold me back! Of course these books (6 of which are already written!) will help me grow my business and they will also help heal and inspire my readers but I don’t *see* them as business-y projects. I see them as my life’s work.

This is my writing strategy and plan: – 🙂

On a pure business note, I’m also going to be doing some work with Justine Switalla on our joint business Fitness Model Secrets, but that’s different.

Within the business of Katrina Ruth, I’ve already created all the resources you need to change your body and life, or at least all that I’ve been called to create for this time. At some point I’d love to do a deeper program on creating and living your dream life but I don’t know if it will be this year.

So instead of doing more, I’m going to be doing less.

Biosignature and 1-on-1 with Kat

I’m no longer doing Biosignature personally. Instead, my Business Manager Mal – who is a multiple times certified Biosignature practitioner – is as of now officially in charge of that arm of the business. I will still be overseeing your reports and recommendations. And! This is a very soft announcement but we are offering a 33% discount to the first 10 ladies who take up Biosignature coaching in 2013! You can contact us now for more information.

If you’d like to work one on one with me, what I do is I work with you intensively through private coaching sessions. My two specialities are:

Finding the ‘why’ behind your inability to get the body you want (and I do it very very well)

Helping you discover your passion, your purpose, and live your dream life (which I also do very very well; hence these things being my specialties :))

I stepped down from Biosignature as I realised that whilst it’s a fantastic tool it is not what I’m called to do and not what I can best help you with. Also because I realised that a high majority of my Biosignature coaching sessions had actually morphed into life and discovery coaching sessions of their own accord.

It seemed to be what people needed. The figuring out. The breakthroughs. The understanding behind repetitive emotional eating or sabotage. And finding somewhere within themselves, finally, not only the belief that they can change their body and their life but also the big WHY as to why they would want to.

This is what motivates people to change. And I’m pretty darn passionate about helping you to live your dream life. To change your body, yes, but to do so because in doing so you DO change your life.

I work with women who are driven and successful yet feel stuck. Unsure. And as though – this can’t quite be ‘it’. Women who know they want more and know they can have more but yet aren’t sure where to start.

I’d love to help you.

Read more about my coaching sessions here.

What else?

I’m going to blog probably a little bit more, as that’s where my heart is at. My writing is my biggest focus for this year, as I mentioned mainly I want to finally get all the books I’ve written up on Amazon. And now that I won’t be spending a lot of time on course creation and admin, I’ll have more time to write blogs for you as well. You’ll see me write less ‘how to’ posts and more posts from the heart in which I share more of my stories and how I’ve created my dream life in all areas. Up until now I’ve felt that I shouldn’t show too much of myself, in particular I’ve often felt I should hide it when my life is going really well or even play up how hard I work to be successful. And I have worked my butt off to get to where I am, but the truth is that I’m now at a point where I really am living my dream life.

I work often as little as a few hours per day.

I’ve more than replaced my full time income from when I worked 1:1 with clients all week.

I do what I want, when I want. I’m *almost* (!) fully in love with my body and how I choose to maintain it. There’s a lot of other great stuff happening in my life. I’ve had a sense that it’s a fluke, or too good to last. Now I’m realising – it’s simply an outcome of all that I’ve invested in myself up until now. It’s deserved. And it’s okay to show that I’m shining, in fact I want to show you how amazing YOUR life can be, and share what I’ve done to get where I am. If there’s one thing I know I MUST do this year, it’s to inspire you too to create and live your dream life.

Every damn day.

Because you can.

My Body – Love, Hate, Now Time to Just Love and Live

This year my focus is pride. Eating, training and living in such a way that I feel proud of myself. And by that I no longer mean having to do things a set way to get results.

I look back over the past decade, no the past 20+ years if I’m honest, and I’ve spent far too much of it trying to force my body to be what I think it needs to be. And I can see that even at the times where I was physically pretty much perfect, I still didn’t see myself that way at the time.

Love this photo. Feel proud of myself for doing my shoot. But still (felt) flawed. Maybe that’s now ok.

I’ve lived a life of pushing myself to train day in and day out even when exhausted, of putting Bikram yoga or the gym ahead of social stuff or family stuff in cases where I haven’t had time for both, of monitoring and thinking about what I eat both before I eat and after I eat it, and you know what? It’s another thing I’ve grown tired of throwing so much energy at.

I love training, and I love eating well. But doing so does not have to rule my life. And it seems very in alignment that at the same time as realising I don’t have to work 60 hours or even 20 hours a week to be successful, I also don’t have to train every day. I can skip a day or even a week if that feels right. I can trust in my ability to choose the right foods and not overthink each meal. I know how to get a bit leaner in a week if I want to, and I can also trust in my body’s ability to do right by me if I do choose to eat a little chocolate each day! Which I usually do 🙂

By letting go of the need to control every part of who I am physically, I’ve actually found much greater control and happiness.

Funnily enough, I still have been training daily (except for a week off at New Year’s) but I’ve been doing so primarily at home – which saves a lot of time – and primarily in under 30 minutes. I’ve been sweating. Working hard. Loving it. But feeling more free. Feeling as though –

This is sustainable.

So yes, I’ve changed a lot of my beliefs lately about how I have to train and eat. I’ve bought a few more sets of dumbells for home and am doing most of my workouts lately at home. I just feel like – in all areas – it’s time to step down from ‘having’ to do anything and certainly from living in a way in which every hour and minute of my day is scheduled. I can go to the gym because I think I’ll have a better workout there, but it requires 2 hours out of my day really (I always end up wandering the shops a bit!) and means I put my daughter in gym daycare. Or I can do an equally killer session in my garden while she plays around me on the trampoline or naps. Previously this felt too hard for some reason, I felt as though I had to be in the right environment to push myself, and without interruptions.

Now I think … you know what? I’ve spent my entire adult life structuring most of my life around gym. It’s been fun. But it’s not actually necessary in order to get results. Not saying I won’t go to the gym still 🙂 but it won’t be something I do just because I think I should anymore.

And training outdoors is incredibly soul-satisfying, even in the rain 🙂

My relationship

The Great Wall of China! We’ve had some awesome adventures together! This year we have a LOT of big ones in store, including some business stuff together. One goal: take more photos of us as a couple!

My focus for this year is sharing more of my dream life with Enzo – of what I want, how I’m going and how we can make it better for both of us. For years it’s been my dream to make a living as a writer, working only an hour or two per day from cafes and having an otherwise very spontaneous and blessed life.

Now, it’s happening. My hard work is paying off. And for the first time I feel okay about sharing the truth about how I see our lives going, not just with Enzo but also with you and the world. I am choosing to no longer worry about others thinking my dreams are unrealistic. This has meant being open with Enzo about how much money I spend in my business but also about the direction it’s taking, and what that requires of me as well as of him.

We’ve discussed perhaps for the first time as well the wonderful growth of my business and what it’s going to mean for us as a family and yet we’ve also discussed how Enzo too can start up his own online presence as well and learn from my mistakes in doing so.

We’ve started sharing goals and dreams a lot. I used to hold this stuff back from him as I thought he’s not into that sort of stuff, that he would think it a waste of time. At first he resisted … but now we’re having fun planning our dream lives together. Where we want to live. How we will raise our children. Travel.

One plan this year! To revisit Vegas – where we eloped when our daughter was 10 months old – as part of Enzo’s 40th birthday celebration. Whoo!

You know, the stuff that I guess you really SHOULD talk about with your partner! We had become so used to our ‘passing ships in the night’ approach to life that we really hadn’t talked or dreamed a lot though. It’s been incredibly fun to do so, and incredibly exciting. I think this is going to be a big year as a couple and as a family.

Money

I’m working on being okay with making a lot of money. I’m working on being okay with doing so in a way that is effortless, fun and joyful. Logically I know that people can be wealthy without being workaholics and also whilst being nice and giving people! I’m now opening myself to the possibility that that can also be my reality, that I no longer have to keep paying my dues or that success no longer has to be a struggle.

In 2012 I dealt with a LOT of money crap. A crazy amount in fact. I actually participated in 2 rounds of The Lucky Bitch Money Bootcamp and also did some private mentoring with Denise. Best investment I have ever made in anything. Not just in financial stuff but in anything. I highly recommend you check Denise’s bootcamp out if you sabotage yourself with money. There’s a video with me on the bootcamp page, in which I talk about how working with Denise increased my income by over 60% in a 6 week period! All due to clearing mental blocks.

(Changed my life)

The other thing with money for me is that up until recently I’ve prided myself on being busy, a superwoman, doing more than everybody else. It’s simply been how I live my life, to always look for ways to do more and in fact I think I’ve enjoyed making my success a struggle and in some ways it’s probably been deliberate that I created large debts even while making great money.

I’ve held the (false) belief that being successful financially has to mean a LOT of time and emotional sacrifice.

Now, I’m looking for ways to make success – and life – easier. I’m consciously doing only the work that counts, doing only the stuff that makes a big and lasting difference in all areas of my life.

This has meant that my income has been growing faster, with less work, and in a way that is more meaningful as well; in terms of what I’m doing within my business to help people live their dream lives. At first this was a shock, that by letting go and doing less I can create more. Do more. Share more. And live MY dream more. Now –

It’s exciting. And it feels very very right.

For the first time in my life – or at least since childhood – I am consistently saving money each week. I’ve stopped feeling as though I have to pay off all my debt right NOW in order to be a worthy person. I’m daily reminding myself that the success and lifestyle I’m now enjoying is not a fluke, not too good to be true, but instead is a result of everything I’ve invested to get to where I am.

I’ve set some pretty audacious financial goals for this year and I feel really good about them. In alignment.

Lifestyle

Again and again you hear me say Life is Now. Press Play. And yet I’ve realised that in so many ways I haven’t been taking my own advice.

Putting off moving into our dream home until we have all our sh*t together.

Saying ‘I have to work those sort of hours’, or ‘I have to get up every day at 5.30’, or ‘I can’t afford to slow down’ rather than choosing to live life now as I want it to be.

This year my focus is to truly take my own advice 🙂

I’ve looked at all the ways in which I was doing things out of a sense of paying my dues or ‘if I do this, then at ‘x’ point I can enjoy that’. It’s another reason I’ve decided to stop dedicating hours and hours to training. To save time by training at home and often to do less. To skip a workout in favour of spending the day on the beach (yesterday!).

In my business this ties in with what I said above, about choosing to work less, to work on the 20% that makes a difference and to trust that after all I’ve done I do know what that 20% is. And I don’t have to rush around like a headless chook simply because that’s how I’ve always done it or because that’s how so many other so-called successful people do it.

Because really, what is success?

To me it’s living your ‘one day’ life now.

Part of that is spending a lot more time together as a family. Cutting back on social stuff that’s more of an obligation than a want. And it’s deciding to go for it with moving into our dream home right away. We’re going to move to the beach! Now it’s just a matter of waiting until we find the right place 🙂

We’re also talking about things like taking off for a year and traveling the world, or maybe 6 months traveling Aus. We’re talking about a lot of mini-retirements. About running an entirely online business for both of us at some point soon. And lots of other cool stuff.

It’s really time to press play!

Social

Socially I am becoming more picky with how I spread my energy. Facebook is something I both love and hate, and my focus for this year is to distinguish between when I want to be on there and really feel called to communicate or chat versus when I think I have to for my business or when I’m just being reactive to my personal news feed.

In the next week or so I’m going to be unfriending most of the people who I don’t actually know. And I’m definitely unfriending those who are always negative. I’ve already culled a few. It’s not about being uppity, it’s all about protecting my space, and surrounding myself with the right people.

In terms of my real life friends, and my family, my focus for this year is to spend more time just hanging out. Enjoying each other’s company. I’m counting the days until my annual extended family holiday in Central Victoria. And I’m planning to organise an overnight ‘girls retreat’ for all the amazing women in my life.

I want to do lots more stuff like that this year, as well as lots more little weekends away. I’m making living my dream a daily habit rather than something we do when we have time or when everything is done. Is it ever?

Socially I am also surrounding myself online with the kind of women who I aspire to be like and who have similar aspirations to me. I’m part of an amazing mastermind of women who are all hugely successful entrepreneurs. It’s a very small group, but a very powerful one. Hanging around those ladies has caused me to rise to a higher level, to see things I previously thought fantasy as norm. And to start seeing those things become reality in my life.

It really is true that you’re the average of the people you hang around.

Letting go.

For some time now I’ve been working on letting go. This year it’s an even bigger focus. Anything that does not come under the title of being something I do best and also love to do is being deleted, deleted or diminished.

I have a weekly house cleaner, a Business Manager, an at-home PA, a store manager and now a book editor. The money I pay all these amazing women to help me do the parts of my life that I don’t like or want to do comes back to me multiple times over in that it frees me up to do what I do best. To make a greater difference. And to live more of my dream life every day.

This year, if I can quit or let go of at least one thing each day I’ll be a very proud girl!

Gratitude, and appreciation

Cultivating an attitude of gratitude is one of the most powerful things that any of us can do to create our dream lives. You get what you focus on.

I often write a list of things I’m grateful for in my journal, but my focus for this year is to practice all-day gratitude and appreciation. Just to notice how blessed I am. How fortunate.

And when I say appreciation, I’m also talking about learning to appreciate myself. It’s been tough for me to get out of the mindset of self-punishment, of thinking I have to do more in order to be worthy or successful. Of feeling as though I’ve fluked it or don’t deserve it when I do well.

My focus this year is to consciously and I hope also automatically be grateful to myself for all that I’ve done to create my dream life. To be proud of myself. This doesn’t necessarily mean listing out all my achievements – although that is something that’s great to do in your journal! But it does mean to remember the girl I’ve been in order to become the woman I am.

To remember how I spent night after night after night in 2008 holed up on my laptop creating my first blog. How when all the other personal trainers I knew were out having coffee in between clients I was writing and writing and writing. How I’ve invested so much time and money in coaching and business mentoring to help me find my dreams and then create them. How I’ve sacrificed but mainly how I’ve invested in myself. Believed in myself.

Now, it’s time to accept that I was right to believe in myself.

And that it doesn’t have to be a struggle anymore.

It’s time to accept that I – yes I – can live my dream life now. Can create the income I choose. In the way I choose. Can help thousands and thousands of women. Can love my body. Live in my dream home. Can say ‘no’ to the tasks I don’t want to do.

The only rule in all of this, is that there are no rules. The way the world says it has to be is just a way of thinking. Success, happiness, abundance, joy, peace – all of those things are there for the taking. And not only that but the creating of those things is something that can become effortless, and automatic.

When it comes to the end of 2013, I very much doubt I’ll be setting any resolutions. Why would I? I already get to choose to live my dreams every day.

I’d love to hear what your focus is for 2013. Don’t hold back, hmmm? Make it one that makes you feel amazing.

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