Inspired by The Sunshine

Welcome back to the Be Inspired blog where our goal is to inspire, inform, and include you. I’m Kati Whitledge, the founder of Be Inspired Salon. I am so happy to be here with you today. When I was thinking about what blog topic would be inspiring this week, I thought—how about Wisconsin weather? Yes! LOL.

Do you feel more positive and hopeful this time of year, and especially this year? Spring is on its way and the sun is shining more often. It feels like a new beginning. A new season. More warmth, sun, and growth all around us. More opportunities to get outside and more opportunities to be with others.

What are the things you’re looking forward to this Spring?

For me it’s the simple things. I’m excited to go for walks, take our son to the park, have BBQs, bonfires, and patio chats with our neighbors. There’s something invigorating about breathing in the fresh air—except now we now live in Waunakee, so the fresh air seems to always have a hint of cow manure here —but we’ll get used to it. Haha!

At Be Inspired Salon, we are looking forward to seeing more guests who are starting to venture out more often. We are excited to see new faces as well. We’re already experiencing more phone calls, interest, and appointment reservations. We are very thankful for this!

Three Spring Tips

In an effort to provide valuable information in this blog, I’ll share my top three tips for a healthy, happy Spring season.

1.       Continue taking Vitamin D

Though we are going to get more sunshine, I’ve learned that we never have enough vitamin D—especially in Wisconsin. Here’s an informative video on why Vitamin D is one of the most important supplements we can take. And if you’re in need of a highly effective and trustworthy supplement source, I highly recommend our friend and neighbor, The Healthy Place! Tell them we Be Inspired Salon sent you and you’ll receive 15% savings at your first visit!)

2.       Remember your Sunscreen

I’ve not been the poster child for sunscreen. I always thought that since I wasn’t out in the sun for long periods of time, or actually sunbathing, that I didn’t need to worry about it. I always wore sunscreen if we were at the beach or at an outdoor event for an extended period, but I never thought it was that big of a deal to skip it on a regular basis. That was until the owner of Aneu Med Spa, Amie Neumaier, handed my rear-end to me. What actually happened is, she told me that my injections and dermaplaning investments were worthless if I didn’t wear sunscreen. It was the worse bad-skin-habit I could make. It was an intense conversation and education—and I loved it! From that day forward I started wearing sunscreen a couple times. LOL. Kidding—I wear it regularly in the Spring and Summer now. Hey! It’s a start.

3.       Breath In, Sweat Out

I’m thrilled that our friends at Dragonfly Hot Yoga have reopened! This is their slogan—breath in, sweat out. I learned the importance of breathing after beginning my yoga practice at Dragonfly. We all tend to breath too shallow and fail to experience the substantial benefits that deep breathing does for our health! And I don’t’ know if you’re like me in that I need to attend the class to do the thing. Meaning, I’m not faithful to taking time to focus on breathing everyday unless I’m in a class and they prompt me to do it. Whether I’m in one of their on-demand virtual classes or in-person. I feel incredible and revived after breathing through a yoga class!

The movement is also so good for our long-term mobility. I once heard a quote that you’re as young as your spine is flexible. I’m not a great Yogi in the sense of looking super flexible or super fly while doing yoga, but I feel awesome—and that’s what it’s all about 😊

Let the Sunshine In

I hope the sunshine inspires you this Spring! Here’s to a bright, healthy, and inspired week, and season ahead.

Until next time.

Stay strong!

Welcome to the Be Inspired Blog

Hello everyone! I’m Kati Whitledge, the founder of Be Inspired Salon. We may or may not have met, but I want you to know I am grateful you are here! I’m beginning an initiative to share inspiration and at times, motivation, because we are all heavily distracted so what’s one more thing to pay attention to? LOL. But, for real, we have many negative distractions and I wanted to have a proactive hand in something positive to lean into, share, and think about. Do you ever just take time to think?

I’m sure we’ve all had plenty of thinking time in the last year, haven’t we? I don’t know about you, but I tend to get paralysis by analysis. I found myself so overwhelmed that I didn’t know what to do or where to start. I lived a reactionary lifestyle and as a result I found myself aged and worn down. But this is not a victim’s blog. This is a blog to rebound ourselves and find the victory we either once had or need to take hold of now.

To live victoriously, we have to choose taking ownership over excuses. Responsibility over denial. And accountability over shifting blame. Only then will we reap abundantly the positive things we sow. Or to put it plainly, we will get what we want in life!

Back to the Basics

I recently met with a friend to catch up and share how things have been going this new year. I’m grateful to share that this year is off to a fabulous start. It hasn’t been without bumps or bruises, but it’s new, it’s refreshing, and it has the potential to be whatever I believe it can be. What do you believe is possible this year?

Meeting for coffee seems so subtle and yet what an impact it is to have face-to-face human connection, especially with someone who knows you—like the real you—and still loves you. When you are with someone who genuinely cares for you and wants to see you win at life, you’re able to gain perspective that you may not otherwise see. Think of it as a thirty-foot view of your life. How often are you taking time to look from that vantage point?

The beauty of our friendship is, we do this for one another. We share our hopes, fears, and challenges with one another and then give each other feedback—never dressed up or down—always raw and honest. My friend has seen me at my best and my worst. Who’s the friend in your life like this?

To give you a backdrop here, there was once upon a time when I had shed over 95lbs of weight. I was a fitness machine and working machine. I was growing Be Inspired Salon while simultaneously starting a software-as-a-service company, and an industry business podcast. I felt unstoppable. That was, until we got pregnant. That was a curveball I hadn’t prepared for. What I mean is, I wasn’t prepared for pregnancy to be a trigger for food. Lots and lots of food. We were thankful to start a family, but I was not ready to respond to the temptation of hiding behind a belly bump. Long story short, I’ve not bounced back from the baby weight and my baby starts 4k next year—so that’s embarrassing.

Fast forward to 2019 and I had trimmed up a bit. I was definitely more active and starting to feel pretty darn good about myself again. But then—Covid. Another debilitating trigger that caused me to spiral down like a kid on twisting park slide. Down and down I went. Or should I say, up and up the scale went.

So here I am at coffee with my friend, not living my best life, and ashamed of the defeat against myself. I shared with her that with all the struggles that presented themselves in the last year, what I’m most upset about is, my self-sabotaging behaviors. And deep down I desperately want to get back to the real me that’s somewhere inside this oversized shell. Do you have behaviors you’d like to eradicate this year?

In such a simple way, as it often is, my friend asked me, “what did you do the first time you changed your life in a significant way?”  Boom! This is what we refer to as a blinding flash of the obvious. Just because we are living in a new season of life doesn’t mean that there’s some new magic process to achieving goals you’ve achieved in the past. Or new goals for that matter! The lightbulb went off.

I shared with her that what I did before was I started reading The Compound Effect, by Darren Hardy. I started writing down everything I ate, every workout I did, and I joined a support group. She listened and lovingly said, “it sounds like you just need to go back to the basics.” And she was right.

I hurried home and opened my Audible app, downloaded The Compound Effect, and started listening. I got out an unused notebook and marked off pages with dates to track food and workouts. I started a little competition with my brother-in-law that if I miss my goal of five workouts per week, I will pay him five dollars per day that I miss. He’s doing the same for his goal of waking up at 5am every day. There was no significant meaning of the number five here, just happens to be a similar trend.

When I started listening to this book again it was a divine reminder of all the most important things I had forgotten about. And having new experiences and years under my belt, it was also like hearing it for the first time. Isn’t it funny how perfectly timed things can be? It has all reinforced my mission. Timing matters. And the time is now.  

Is it time for you to go back to the basics? What one or two positive habits would you love to see compounded over the next twenty-four months? Who can you reach out to that will genuinely support you and hold you accountable?  And again, what do you believe is possible for your life?

Let’s do it!

Until next time,

Stay strong.

Two Areas You Must Master If You Want to Be Successful-Part 1: Time

We all desire success, but success has many meanings. For some, success will mean we are high-achievers, earning multitudes of accolades. For others, it will mean massive financial success. And for many, it will mean having flexibility with their day-to-day routines. Finally, there are a lot of us that define success as having healthy, positive relationships with family, friends, and their community.

The real question is this – what does success mean to you?

Regardless of what success means to you, there are two major areas you must master if you want to be successful. The good news is, we all have the option to make these decisions. Everyone qualifies. There is not one person reading this who lacks the power in their circumstances to choose wisely in these two areas.

Time

The first decision you must make if you want to be successful is how you will spend your time. Have you seen the social media gif that says, “We all have the same hours in the day as Beyoncé?” It’s true! We all get twenty-four hours a day to maximize. Time is the one commodity we don’t get back. It’s so precious!

Some of you may be thinking, “I don’t have power over my time. I have to take my kids to daycare, show up to work, pick my kids back up after work, go grocery shopping, make dinner, do some laundry, put my kids to bed, and at some point, I need to sleep.”

While I won’t argue that you may have tremendous responsibilities, I will argue that you still have the power to prioritize your time. For example, you can choose to get up before your kids do in order to get your workouts in. You could spend your early mornings reading books on salon business or development prior to starting your day. After work, you can choose to hit the gym before going home. You can choose to substitute television for planning your digital marketing each week. We may have a lot on our plate, but we still have the ability to maximize our time. Depending on what success means to you, how will you choose to spend your time?

I personally choose to get up before my ten-month-old son does, so I can have a quiet time. I also start work before my salon opens, so I can make it to a 4 p.m. yoga class – which I do so I can make it home before my husband is home from picking up our son from daycare. Additionally, I go to bed by 9 p.m., so I can easily wake up early and refreshed. Every choice has to be purposeful because there are many tasks to complete and many events I need to be accountable for. I once heard that success is simply making a few value-based decisions and managing those decisions each and every day. I make sure I book no more than two in-person meetings per day, while giving myself at least two uninterrupted weekdays to accomplish tasks. I’m mindful about only scheduling one afterwork event per week so I’m not neglecting my family time, and I’m especially intentional about getting enough sleep. I’m sure there are many other little things I could share, but you can get a great picture of what this means to me. The question is, what does prioritizing your time mean to you?

For the next month, consciously think about how you are prioritizing your time and start making changes. But, remember that time is only one of two areas that you must master for success, so make sure to check back for Part 2 when I share the second area!  

Finding Your Time

Have you read any productivity books or blogs lately? Productivity is a HOT topic and one that we can all learn from. But, with all of the information circulating about increasing your productivity, you might be wondering where to start!

If quitting your multitasking habit or only checking your email three times a day is too scary, I have one exercise that is easy and can make a huge difference in your work! This practice is all about finding the best time of day to work on certain tasks—finding your time.

Pay Attention to Your Body Your first step towards finding your time is to begin noticing and paying attention to your body. For example, do you wake up early to respond to emails, but already feel exhausted by 9:00am? That’s a sign that you should either sleep later or save emails for the afternoon. On the other hand, are you the most creative after eating lunch, around 1:00pm? Then, start scheduling your creative projects for the afternoon. Are you catching on? By scheduling specific tasks for the time that you’re best suited to work on that project, you will save time, frustration, and you’ll create better work!

Be Patient & Practice. Finding your time will take some practice and patience—this is OK. Spend a few weeks experimenting with your tasks and scheduling. Maybe you’ve always wanted to exercise in the morning, so you give it a try but you’re ready for a nap by lunch time. Recognize that what you want and what you need might be different, so try switching your workout to the afternoon. You won’t find the perfect time the first time, but don’t give up!

Be Flexible. If you’re lucky enough to be a leader and have a team who reports to you, be flexible with their needs. As you may know, I am the founder of Be Inspired Salon in Madison, WI and my team of stylists are ALL millennials. After building my team, I quickly realized that their work preferences differ—often significantly—from mine. Sometimes as leaders, we expect others to follow in our footsteps simply because we did it this way and we know it works. However, I’ve learned to compromise, set boundaries, and be flexible. If you have an employee who wants to come into the office at 6:00am and leave at 2:00pm, be open to their needs! Don’t get stuck in a traditional mindset at the expense of happy and productive employees.

Are you ready to find your time? Give it a try, and share your results and other productivity tips with me on social media!

Say NO to FOMO

What Is FOMO?

Have you heard of FOMO? Recently, I've been seeing this term everywhere! I've heard it in podcasts, on my favorite Instagram accounts, and even in finance articles. So, what the heck is FOMO? 

No, it's not a scary genetic illness. FOMO stands for "Fear of Missing Out." Yep, you know the feeling. Here's a very real example: a group of your friends invites you out on Friday night. Even if you were planning to stay in and watch a webinar, you become so scared that you're going to miss out on a fun night with friends. And, here comes the FOMO. 

You don't want to be the one who misses a hilarious inside joke or is excluded from all the fun Instagram pics. So, you spend hours agonizing on whether or not you should go. This is FOMO, and it can kill your energy and happiness. 

My FOMO Story

I first learned what FOMO means during a sermon about being face-to-face and fully present in the lives of those who we care about. Many people can relate to this feeling of being pulled in so many directions that some of your personal connections suffer. But, my fear of missing out is related to missing business or educational opportunities. Now, you might be thinking: “That doesn’t sound like Kati—she is always on the top of her game, constantly learning, and building her business!” Yes, that is me, but my priorities have recently shifted.

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that my husband and I recently welcomed our first baby boy to the family! Baby Nash has become the sunshine of my life and fills me with joy. But, I've become a victim of FOMO.

I'm constantly worried about education and business opportunities that I might be missing out on while staying at home with my family. With a newborn, I’m limited in the events that I can attend and be present for. I know the working-mamas can back me up on these struggles: Where do I find a decent babysitter? Will I be mom-shamed for attending an out-of-state conference with an 8 week old at home? How could I miss baby’s first smile, laugh, words, and the list goes on!

Say NO to FOMO

Now, it’s not fair for anyone to experience FOMO—especially when you’re a hardworking, thoughtful, and compassionate person. So, how do you combat these feelings and say no to these negative emotions?

• Gratitude  

A great place to start is with gratitude. For me, I think about how thankful I am for a healthy baby boy, a loving husband, and amazing friends and family. When I’m present for Nash’s first words, I will be thankful for that moment.

For you, this practice might look different. If you’re a graduate student and your FOMO is related to going out with friends, take time to write down how thankful you are for having the opportunity to further your studies, attending the university of your dreams, and learning from top minds in your field. Everyone has something to be grateful for.  

• Take Your Time

FOMO will not disappear immediately, but it can get easier with time as you begin to define or realign your priorities. For example, I recently received an invitation to volunteer for an event that I really care about, but the time and location are totally inconvenient for my life. On the first day that I received the email, I had a bad case of FOMO. I kept thinking about the participants who I would let down and how much fun I would have at the event. But, when I came back to the email a day later, I didn’t feel FOMO and politely declined the invitation. Oftentimes, you can come back to an idea or feeling with a fresh mind and a clearer perspective on your priorities. Make a decision and don’t look back.

• Trust

As a follower of Christ, I trust God’s timing and the path for my life. I know that I am exactly where I’m meant to be right now, and I know it’s true for you too! Remember to treat yourself kindly, stop comparing yourself to others, and enjoy exploring the unknown.

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Do you have a FOMO story, or tips to combat these fears? Share below or reach out to me on Instagram! Together we can say NO to FOMO!

A New Way To Think About Your Influences

Do you remember that children’s song that goes something like, “be careful little eyes what you see”? What about being careful with our adult eyes?

We're all influenced by outside sources. In fact, thanks to technology, our exposure to outside influences is greater now than it has ever been. If you open up your Facebook page, you’re going to have multiple opportunities to be influenced. How many of you are on Twitter, Instagram, or the internet in general? We cannot completely avoid what it placed in front of us.

Isn't this why parents are so mindful of what their children are exposed to seeing and hearing? As adults, do we plan or prevent our own influences?

Who or What Are Your Biggest Influences?

You may have heard me talk about the fact that we are who we hang around. “Birds of a feather flock together.” Or, you may have heard that we’re the sum total of the five people we spend the most time with. We are failing to recognize that if we’re hanging out with our iPhones more than humans—this becomes one of the top five people we’re the sum total of. Are you with me on this? In other words, who or what we’re hanging around within technology will become the five people we’re most influenced by.

If I follow certain people on social media, I’m going to learn from them and it will inevitably start to shape my mind—if I’m not mindful of filtering them.

Listening to a certain genre of music will start to influence us. By the way, I use this to my advantage. If I need to get in a certain mood, similar to athletes prior to a big game, I will play a specific style of music to influence my mind and body. It can help build adrenaline, and on the flip side, music can help calm and soothe.

There have been shows I’ve started and had to discontinue because I was getting hooked on the lives of the people in the show—how embarrassing! It would impact the way I spoke, how I responded to people, and eventually it impacted decisions I made. I’m grateful to have recognized this sooner than later.

Now, I have a list of shows that I love to watch on Hulu each week. These are escape from reality shows, such as “Grey’s Anatomy” and “How to Get Away with Murder.” Once I’m caught up on those, I’m done with TV for the week. It’s time to get away from the couch and do other things. Because if I search hard enough, I’ll find something mind-numbing that will not add any value to my life. And trust me, as much as you may need to read this, I need to write this. I have had periods in life when I’ve been completely enthralled with a show and watching it was all I wanted to do. I would binge watch every episode, season after season. It can be very addicting! Now, I have those allotted shows for a reason. They’re entertaining and fictional. But there’s a handful, and that’s it.

What if you developed rules that you were to abide by, as if you were parenting your teenage self? For example, I will listen to positive podcasts that offer personal and professional development as well as reading similar books.

What About Your Time?

It’s really about recognizing the value of our time. What do you want to do with your time? How will seeing, listening, or reading, whatever it is, going to affect your life? Is it bringing you closer to who you want to be? Or distracting you from all that you could accomplish?

I once saw this social media post and it said, “We have the same 24 hours a day that Beyoncé has.” And that my friends, is true. Let’s filter out the crap and proactively pour in the purposeful.

Comment below and let me know your takeaways; what you have—or will apply to your life!

Affirmations that Work to Your Benefit

When you think of affirmations, you may typically think of standing in front of your mirror and saying something like, “I am powerful, I am beautiful. I am fit. I am [fill in the blank].” While those may be true, what if they aren’t? Meaning, what if you say, “I am a millionaire. Or, I am a triathlete”. What I want to guide you on is how to make sure that those affirmations work to your benefit.

You see, your mind recognizes when you’re telling yourself something untrue. It’s basically calling your bluff. So if you were to say, “I am a millionaire,” and you really aren’t yet, your brain will call you out for that. And it definitely doesn’t sit in the storage compartments of the brain as an honest truth about yourself.

So here’s a quick tip for you: Change the ways you say your affirmations so that your brain says, “Ah, that’s true”, instead of recognizing it as false.

You can do that by saying, “I am in the process of becoming…”

You look at yourself, maybe in the mirror at home, or however you like to approach your affirmation. Then take what you started with before, and adjust it to say, “I am in the process of becoming powerful, I am in the process of becoming fit, I am in the process of becoming a millionaire”, and so on. You can fill that in with whatever you may be striving towards, but no matter what, when you use the words “I am in the process of becoming...”, your brain responds with, “Yes, yes you are.”

How many times does it take for an adult to retain new information? The answer is, twenty-one times! This is why we are pounded with certain advertisements over and over again. Repetition is key to associating a message with a brand. Hence, I encourage you to stick with your affirmations until it becomes your brand and your belief about yourself.

What are you in the process of becoming? Share in the comments below!

What is Your Daily Agenda | Part 2

A couple weeks ago we talked about the book, "Today Matters" by John C. Maxwell. The key to success is found in your daily agenda. In other words, what are your daily priorities? Are you running your day or is your day running you? 

I wanted to share my musts for each day. I literally create an agenda sheet and print a new one each week. It's my version of checking off my goals. Am I the only one who loves doing that? I thoroughly enjoyed having a curriculum in school or when I was off to a sports or bible camp. I found that I struggled with consistency once I became an entrepreneur. It's not that I didn't work. I actually worked day and night. So much so that I lost balance and family time, among other areas, suffered. 

Each day I must: 

• have a daily quiet time/devotional
• post to my own social media sites
• work out
• read or watch an educational video
• write
• plan (blogs, podcasts, mastermind topics, social media, etc...)
• laundry-- ha!  "It's easier to keep up than catch up"

In addition to my daily musts, I have weekly goals and/or restrictions as well as monthly tasks. Oh, and like most of you, I have an ongoing to-do list that is dependent upon upcoming events, speaking engagements, etc... I once was told that I needed to focus on the behaviors that lead to results rather than the results themselves. It's a practice. It's continuous. And it works.

P.S. what I mean by restrictions is I set boundaries for my schedule. Okay, an example would be that I only allow myself to have two one-on-one meetings per week. I know if I go beyond that, the consistency of my daily routine will suffer and other important tasks or goals may not be met. I pre-plan open spots each week for those times when someone wants to get together for coffee. You dig?

Please reach out with yours or share on my Facebook page so we can high five one another and hold each other accountable :)