Lesley Logan
Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I’m Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I’ve trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it’s the antidote to fear. Each week, my guests will bring Bold, Executable, Intrinsic and Targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It’s a practice, not a perfect. Let’s get started.

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Lesley Logan
Welcome back to the Be It Till You See It interview recap where my co host in life Brad and I are going to dig into the enthusiastic combo I had with Dai Manuel. Well, in our last episode, if you haven’t yet listened that episode, feel free to go back and listen that interview, and then come back and listen this one or you can just let it play backwards. And you can see if you resonate with it (…) do however you want to do it… (Brad: how everyone do it) You know, it’s I’m actually struggling with that kind of like doing it backwards situation. I’ll tell you why. So there’s a podcast I’m listening to and they actually dropped like two or three episodes in a day. And so which is, because of…

Brad Crowell
Episodes, or they’re adding to their, it’s a whole new episode?

Lesley Logan
It’s a whole new episode… (Brad: Oh that seems like a lot of work) it’s like part one, part two, it’s like way too much work. And they also have way too many ads. And like not like we have ads look, a lot of ads is how things go. But they had like four minutes with the same ad and I’m gonna say it but I have it memorized at this point. It’s just like repeats, but I want to know what’s going on. And you cannot go from the back to the front. You have to start with the front and it just too much work. Well. That’s feedback for them. They’re not listening. It’s okay. Anyways… (Brad: Nailed it). Well, I’m so happy you’re here listening to this one.

Brad Crowell
Yeah, we won’t have four minutes of the same ad. Don’t worry.

Lesley Logan
No, no, we have different ends… (Brad: Yes). And, and also, it’s so exciting. So we just got been back for a bit from our Mexico vacation… (Brad: Oh yeah!) which was so much fun. But what’s (…) what’s coming up next was like, we’re definitely in March Matness now. Yes, M A T not M A D. The M A D starts later in the month, which always baffles me because it’s not really March Madness, because it goes in April, but March Madness is where you do the Pilates classical mat exercises one every day for the whole month of March. And so, in honor of March Madness, we are doing a workshop on the roll up this month… (Brad: Yeah) Yeah, I’m really excited. I got my OPC teachers joining me. And we’re gonna do this amazing workshop where we actually really dial in all the different reasons why you might be struggling with this exercise, how to help you do it. If you’re like, what’s the roll up, it’s the one where your legs are together, you try to sit up from off the floor, and usually your legs go flying around.

Brad Crowell
It’s so hard.

Lesley Logan
It’s so hard. Even if you have like a six pack, it’s actually even harder for you most likely. So you’ll want to definitely check out our workshop on that if you have been wanting to understand the roll up in a better way. If you’ve been wanting to dive into your mat, if you just wanted to have like someone, you know, teach you, don’t be a teacher to do it, then that’s workshops happening this month. You can go to onlinepilatesclasses.com to get on that waitlist. I’ll put the link in the show notes. And we are on the countdown. This monthly countdown. We are less than we’re like six months, seven months away from literally seven months away from being in Cambodia. That’s right. Yeah. But I don’t think we told people the story about in Monterrey when we ran into a girl from Cambodia.

Brad Crowell
Oh my gosh. So this was the most fun. We were, so very, whenever we go to these big events, and there’s like hundreds of people and stuff, we’re always with everybody. Well somehow like very randomly, we found ourselves like ready to go to dinner. And we hadn’t made any plans with anyone. And there wasn’t like a big party standard. Like we just were like, oh, let’s go to dinner, just the two of us. So that was actually nice. And we’re like, well, where do we go? So I just Googled gluten free near me and found a burger joint. And it was like, okay, you know, that’s fine. Gluten Free burger buns. And so we walked over… (Lesley: It’s only a block away). So we’re like, that’s right there. And they had kombucha on draft.

Lesley Logan
That hard kombucha on draft which I was like done. And then I saw they had sweet potato fries. I was like, Well, this is just the most amazing thing. I was so excited… (Brad: Yeah). And the girl behind the counter was so excited to see how…

Brad Crowell
She was super cute, she was like really enthusiastic… (Lesley: Yes). And behind her on the wall was a whole bunch of money… (Lesley: It was a bunch of foreign money, I should say) Yeah… (Lesley:And so…) I saw Costa Rica, India, England, Canada.

Lesley Logan
Yeah. So I looked at Brad and I said, Do we have any of our Cambodian money in your wallet? And he was like, looking at me like, I don’t think we have I don’t think I have any from this last trip. And she is like, you have Cambodian money.

Yeah, she’s like, Why do you have Cambodian money?

Yeah, I’m like, Oh, we go there all the time. We lead a retreat. She’s like, I am Cambodian. I am Cambodian… (Brad: Yeah). And so we had the most amazing time. We started speaking to her…

Brad Crowell
Not only that, she only moved to The States like a year and a half ago and only been in Monterey for six months or so. And so suddenly, we began to just talk to her and khmer.

Lesley Logan
Yeah, we started talking khmer, and she was so impressed with our khmer. Of course our khmer was actually this from the same area that she’s from. So the dialect is very similar, and we could understand, and chat with her.

Brad Crowell
She speaks way faster than us. Way faster… (Lesley: Yeah), it was so much fun

Lesley Logan
It was so fun. And so a got us like really even more excited to go back to Cambodia because, you know, it’s just that’s not every day that we run into someone who actually can speak khmer so anyways, we’re going to Cambodia we want you to come with us, lesleylogan.co/retreats to get information.

Brad Crowell
Right, yeah, slash retreats, we’ll add you to the waitlist so lesleylogan.co/retreats. And then that will trip an email that’ll show you what’s going on right now… (Lesley: Yeah), we would love to have you come with us if you’re like, ah, Cambodia? No. It’s not as scary as you think it is. It’s actually…

Lesley Logan
It’s the most beautiful place.

Brad Crowell
Oh, it’s a beautiful place and the trip getting there is actually really easy. I know, it’s on the other side of the world for most of us. But, you know, when you fly internationally, they give you free booze and lots of movies, good to go.

Lesley Logan
Yeah, yeah. And then also it’s been it’s been a week together at my house, at our house. And it’s always a small group. So it’s just like, it’s truly a retreat. It’s like (…). It’s so much fun. So, join us on this next one, because we’re only doing one this year and we want you on it… (Brad: Yeah, bursts). Alright, before we get into Dai’s interview amazingness. Do we have an audience question?

Brad Crowell
We sure do. We, somebody very laughingly asked: wait, you could do Pilates at a wall?… (Lesley: Yeah, I’ve been getting) Wasn’t really actually a question. The question would be, can you do pilates at the wall?… (Lesley: Yeah), the answer is yes.

Lesley Logan
Well, because my mom. And I think three other people in our family have sent me an ad of like people doing Pilates at the wall. And you can see it a lot is an air quotes at the wall. And then it just anyways, the ads that I’m seeing replies at the wall are awesome exercises that are not Pilates but they are low impact, they are body weight, and I don’t think they’re gonna make your butt look like that. I definitely think that that takes some more squats in that. But please, by all means, if you’d like to workout and make you makes you go have fun. But you can do Pilates with the wall, their actual place exercises that you can do at the wall. And I have been doing them at the wall for years, and teaching them and even Joseph Pilates top people pilates at the wall, there were squats at the wall, there was a roll down at the wall. There’s like a lot of things you could do that are really amazing. And so when you only are an airport or at a hotel and you’re afraid to be on the floor there, there are a significant amount of exercises both Joseph Pilates approved and on ones that I’ve taken from being on the ground to be at the wall to challenge our balance and our asymmetries. Some of my teacher taught me and so if you go into the show notes, there is a link.

Brad Crowell
Yeah, we have an entire blog post all about Pilates exercises you can do with the wall over at onlinepilatesclasses.com

Lesley Logan
(…)

And you would do them to really better your posture and help you work. A long lifted tall spine. It might not be as accessible for you on the floor as it is on a wall, there’s the sometimes more feedback on how squishy your mat is (Brad: squishy) squishy. So what what’s so funny is ever since people been sending me this and asking me like, can it like do I have these exercises in a class? My blog post about this these exercises has been going through the roof it is taken the number one blog post off it’s thrown, everyone’s doing this. So I love that people are googling it. I love that they’re coming across our exercises because they’ll keep you strong, safe and they’ll actually be super effective for you having an awesome tall spine, better digestion, better posture, better life.

Brad Crowell
100%… (Lesley: Yeah). Okay, now let’s talk about Dai Manuel. Dai has your back when it comes to sustaining personal change in your life. As a change advocate and coach, he shares how his personal story led him to change both externally and internally. And to maintain that change. That’s the big part. The Sustaining of it. Die has been proudly dating his wife for 23 years. He’s the father of two girls and a and he’s also a lifestyle mentor. As a digital thought leader, author, lifestyle mentor and Ted Talk host, he engages and challenges people to live healthy lifestyles.

Lesley Logan
Yeah, I really enjoyed our conversation… (Brad: Yeah, his enthusiasm was contagious). Yeah, it was so it was, very bubbly energy and then he was like, I was just going off of your and your energy and I’m being real honest. Like, prior to hitting him, like come into that same class. I was like, Okay, here we go. Got this. So you know, so like, so like, maybe it was mutual, but it was, I think we just like kind of fed off each other. So that was a lot of fun. He said so many things that we could talk about forever, like, just go listen to the podcast. But I love this because this is something that I also saw in BJ Fogg’s chapter on, like getting your family to have better habits in your life that you wish that they would do. And so I was I’m out, like how to support other people in their change. So you know, it can be hard to be a bystander when people are trying to make changes, or there’s changes you want to make in their life. And we just want to like do it for them and like, tell them but what Dai was saying is like, complement the things that they’re doing that you want them to keep doing. So like if they’re, you know, if they’re doing something that you’re like, Oh, yes, they made their bed. It’s like, acknowledge that and be very specific. Don’t go great job this morning, like, loved how you made your bed this morning. That is amazing. That’s so great. Like, it’s just Isn’t it so nice when your beds made?

Brad Crowell
He was specifically talking about his daughters and how, how they encouraged and applaud the positive aspects of the things that they’re doing.

Lesley Logan
Yeah, yep. And, and then try to catch them in the act of doing something right. So you can support them. So try to actually like be around for that. And so yeah, so so there was a whole chapter on this in in BJs book. So I love this part. And it happened to do with like this father, who just would like just butt heads with the son. And he would just go, like, can you just clean out the espresso thing and the coffee when you’re done using it? And the kid would like, grunt like of course, and and so one day, he didn’t actually, like completely clean it. But he did, like, partially clean it. And he’s like, Hey, thanks for doing that thing. And the next week, it got better. And then it’s so common to the next step. And and it’s like those baby steps. I wish that it worked on August, I wish that when I complimented him on not barking he would stop but it’s fine.

Brad Crowell
He’s so good at not barking.

Lesley Logan
I saw that. So you just left him alone. And he’s like, Oh, I left him alone wof wof. But at any rate, um, I just I think that this is really important, whether it’s a child that’s in your life or a partner in your life, or a sibling or a parent.

Or someone on your team at work.

Yeah, well, because people like the way our brain works you guys is that we’re going to do everything to lean into what it feels good and get away from what doesn’t feel good. So you’re getting mad at someone or you like, making conflict around something isn’t it going to make them go: You know what I should do right now? like do the thing that like I want my brain wants to vis like run away from so anyway, I just thought it was a really great part of the conversation that we could all use. Because who doesn’t want to like be told good things about themselves?

Brad Crowell
Yeah. And and I think I think you mentioned something in the convo. In the when you as the supporter of someone going through change. We often just have this tendency to see only the bad shit. Why didn’t you do this? You did this terrible thing again, oh, hey, bla, bla, bla bla, right, and we focus on the negative. And when instead you’re focusing on the positive, you’re, you’re passing that perspective along to the person who’s effecting change, because one thing he shared about his personal story was how he felt trapped in his downward spiral, spiral, you know, where he started putting on weight, and he knew he’s putting on weight. And then what did he really just want to do? He’s gonna play video games, watch movies, and eat junk food. So he binge, he would binge eat, which just makes the problem even worse, and they feel even worse about himself. You know, and then everyone’s commenting about him, and he’s feel even worse about himself. Right? But when, if you are able to start sharing the positive “hey, nice job”. You know, like, that sandwich looks really great, you know, if to the sandwich that would be beneficial for them, you know, kind of a thing, then that lets them go. Oh, there are good things that I can focus on… (Lesley: Yeah. Yeah), I think we’re just (…) trapped to you know, we’re getting so stuck on the negative.

Lesley Logan
Oh, well, of course, because that’s what our brains are conditioned to do. But I just mean, like, when he you know, when he told us that he wanted to bicycle his dad didn’t go. Well, you’re just gonna play video, you’re not going to use it. Seriously video games anyway. Said let’s go get a bicycle… (Brad: right). So like, just the people in your life who you can tell are trying to make change. Help them if they’re asking for it in that moment, if you can, and if not, like at least like tell them when it’s going. Yes, someday or this weekend? Like, how about three o’clock on Friday? Like I you know what I mean? Like, the more we can inspire each other, the more people will do it for us. It just that’s the way the world works. What’s one thing you love that, that he brought up?

Brad Crowell
Yeah, so we were talking about this during his his bio, but sustaining change is where the problem usually lies. Because, you know, at first you have this enthusiasm and this excitement around it. And so your willpower is stronger. But he said, and I thought this is really interesting. He said that is a depleting resource, right? So imagine a pile of gold. If you keep spending it, the pile goes away. It’s a depleting resource where your enthusiasm to embrace the change that you may want to see in your life. Right, he said, so some tricks, some tips that you can use to maintain the change is to decide, he said, it all starts with a decision, but get the hardest thing out of the way first, so he talked about the book Eat The Frog… (Lesley: Yep). And if the hardest thing you have to do that day is eat a frog, then you should do it. Absolutely. The first possible thing you could do is eat the frog. Because in the rest of the day, that the hardest thing already, right? And he said, the initial steps to take the most amount of motivation, and activation, and what are you most likely to have the most motivation and activation? It’s probably, you know, in the earlier in the day when your brain is the freshest. So and then he also talks about smart goal setting, which I’ve heard before I thought this was really cool. In fact, I’m sure we talked about it on the pod because I think another guest talked about it. I can’t remember now. But SMART is an acronym. It stands for Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, time based goal setting, right? So what would be a SMART goal? That someone who wanted to become more physically active? What would be a SMART goal that they could set for themselves? So specific…

Lesley Logan 
Something that’s specific… (Brad: measurable) I’m gonna go for a run. It’s like, actually, I’m willing to run one mile.

Brad Crowell
Okay, then measurable?… (Lesley: Yep), one mile… (Lesley: in the mornings), in the mornings, actionable. So that’s something that you can do. It’s not necessarily something that you’re relying on others to do for you, you can go do it. What’s realistic? Is one mile realistic?

Lesley Logan
Well, it depends on the person. But if I add my dog, probably a little bit now I’ve got the dog exercise in there at the same time.

Brad Crowell
Okay. And for me, I can tell you right now running a mile. Maybe that’s not realistic… (Lesley: Well, you know) for me (…)

Lesley Logan
(…) try to run a 5k So I guess I’m gonna figure that out.

Brad Crowell
I can slowly walk, jog, trip, stumble a mile, but running a half a mile? I could certainly do.

Lesley Logan
And then time based for this month.

Brad Crowell
Yeah. When do you want to do… (Lesley:Yeah) said goal.

Lesley Logan
But also like, like, there’s got to be a time setting. So like, when is it starting? When is it ending? Or when you’re evaluating it, so that you, it’s not like I’m doing this for the rest of my life. That’s overwhelming.

Brad Crowell
Right? Yeah. So start now stop when you know, or you’re going to do it before X date? Yep. Yeah. So anyway, that’s, that’s great. So these are, these are some pretty straightforward, you know, action items that we could be taking in our own lives… (Lesley: Yeah, with anything we’re doing). Yeah. So whether that is, I know one thing that you really started doing with your, you wanted to change your mornings up?… (Lesley: Yeah). And so you made a decision to get your own workout in, you know, so you had to make time to do that. And to do that you’ve moved your clients so that you actually have the time in the morning, right. So there’s, these were small steps. Okay, I gotta move this quiet. Okay, that gives me this time. Okay, now I have to make the decision to actually do my workout. And what’s been happening. Now, you, how long have you been doing your morning routine?

Lesley Logan
Forever. And also, I just changed an order of it again, because one of the thing that I was wanting to do, I was like, I could tell I was talking myself out of it. So I lit, I literally was like, Okay, well, we’re just gonna move it up in the morning routine, so that we actually can do the other things that we want to do that we’re not negotiating beforehand. It was just like, you know, it’s the pu… it’s the handstand, push ups and things I had these goals on, and they’re fucking hard. And I don’t I want to I want to be the person who can do them. I don’t want to be the person doing them. So it’s problem right now. But at the same token, like I just moved them up earlier in the morning routine, so that they get done, so I eat the frog.

Brad Crowell
All right. So finally, let’s talk about those Be It action items. What bold, executable, intrinsic or targeted action items can we take away from your convo with Dai Manuel? I’m gonna hop in first here. He talks about celebrating your wins… (Lesley: You know, I’m about that). Oh, we know you are all about that. And I know when he was telling his story about the hill and his bicycle when he was in his early to mid teens. You know, one day he finally got to the top and he was like I did it. Just did it. Right. And the just did it thing is so funny. I think it’s really clever. And I hope he makes merch out of that checkmark a checkmark instead of a swoosh. And instead of just do it, I just did it.

Lesley Logan 
Yeah, Um, if he can do that, though, I want to just be it. I’m just saying, I just I’m fighting with you all, I want to just be it. I just want to just be it.

Brad Crowell
Just be it.

Lesley Logan
Yeah… (Brad: I love that). Okay, anyways, back to the…

Brad Crowell
You know, and the celebration of it. Just like you were just talking about with your morning routine as you are making those adjustments to your morning routine, you feel good about it, right? And if you acknowledge Oh, I felt good about this today, because what you’re gonna want to do tomorrow, feel good again, and it helps build momentum.

Lesley Logan
Yeah, you got to, and I know it sounds hilarious to say it out loud by yourself. But you have to, you have to find some way of actually celebrating in that moment. And maybe (…) to check a box off. Or maybe there’s an app you use that like cheered Monday does this little like confetti thing for done. You know? So you got to find something like that.

Brad Crowell
I mean, you could do this after you leave a workout. I don’t really, I never liked going to the gym, right? And I don’t always enjoy the workouts like sometimes I’m angry at the end of the workout because I hate that I just did that to my body.

Lesley Logan
I really hate when I look at the board. And I’m like, No, these aren’t moves I want to do today.

Brad Crowell
Right. But at the end of the workout, I literally tell myself, I’m glad that I worked out. You know, and I think when I used to work in the restaurant business, when I was in my early teens, my friend always told me, and I don’t know how I remember to do this. But he said when we’re in the kitchen, if you’re gonna walk out on that floor, he said, when you walk through this doorway, you have a smile on your face.

Lesley Logan
Oh, we had that. Also, like with work. It’s like when you walk through the door. It’s showtime, like, you know, like, leave your problems at the door. This is the time to like, have fun. And like, even that can help you feel like you’re celebrating a little bit.

Brad Crowell 
But when I would go out on the floor with a smile on my face, I would have fun on the floor with my guests. Yeah. And then by the end of my shift, I was enjoying my shift… (Lesley: you were being it until you see it). Yeah. And so you know, this momentum this celebrating that win, will will benefit you in all sorts of aspects of your life.

Lesley Logan
All right, um, my biggest takeaway was, this is just like, I love this non negotiable everyday 30 minutes for yourself. So even if you’re like, you guys, I cannot at all get up any earlier. I cannot do these things, whatever, blah, blah, 30 minutes for yourself non negotiable everyday 30 minutes by yourself.

Brad Crowell
Okay, so he casually slid in there. The statistic that you know, all sudden turn my head and I was like double checking his math. He said 30 minutes a day. It’s only 2% of your day. I was like ball… (Lesley: 2%) But it is it’s 2%… (Lesley: 2% of your day). 15,400 minutes in a day. 30 minutes? Is only 2% of 15, 40.

Lesley Logan
Brad, are you gonna start taking 30 minutes every day?… (Brad: I think that I can) I mean, it’s like it’s 2% of your day… (Brad: It’s only 2%) He says move for 15, 5 minutes of meditation and 10 minutes of personal development. Yeah, and so like even that like if you are someone who’s like what do I do for 30 minutes or myself? Five minutes of meditation, 15 minutes to move, 10 minutes personal development.

Brad Crowell
Yeah, he said the 15, he said do it in in the order of movement, that meditation and then the personal development because when you do

Lesley Logan
This podcast can be a personal development by the way.

Brad Crowell
Yeah, absolutely. He said, you become a sponge. After you’ve worked out your body. You’ve given your mind some space and then you learn about you, you work on only you, he said not business development. Personal Development. Yeah. Then you become a sponge.

Lesley Logan
Yeah. And so if you are like absolutely in love with the enthusiasm that Dai had I mean, Brad: It was contagious). Contagious. The good kind, the best kind, the kind you want. And you’re like yeah, I need 10 minutes of personal development, guess what? Check out his book, The Whole Life Fitness Manifesto. You could absolutely set a timer for 10 and get a kitchen timer. And check that out. And let me know if you do.

Brad Crowell 
I love it. My name is Brad Crowell.

Lesley Logan
I’m Lesley Logan.

Brad Crowell
I’ll see you next time. Thanks for joining us today.

Lesley Logan
Thank you for joining us today, Brad’s trying to do my job so I do my own job. We are so grateful that you’re here. We really really are. I hope you enjoyed this interview. I hope you enjoyed this recap. Let us know how you can use these tips in your life. Let’s know if you get and then Dai’s book, and until next time, Be It Till You See It.

Brad Crowell
Bye for now.

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Lesley Logan
That’s all I’ve got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate this show and leave a review. And, follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to podcasts. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over on IG at the @be_it_pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us help others to BE IT TILL YOU SEE IT. Have an awesome day!

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Lesley Logan
‘Be It Till You See It’ is a production of ‘Bloom Podcast Network’.

Brad Crowell
It’s written, produced, filmed and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan and me, Brad Crowell. Our Associate Producer is Amanda Frattarelli.

Lesley Logan
Kevin Perez at Disenyo handles all of our audio editing.

Brad Crowell
Our theme music is by Ali at APEX Production Music. And our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.

Lesley Logan
Special thanks to our designer Mesh Herico for creating all of our visuals, (which you can’t see because this is a podcast) and our digital producer, Jay Pedroso for editing all the video each week, so you can.

Brad Crowell
And to Angelina Herico for transcribing each episode, so you can find it on our website. And finally to Meridith Crowell for keeping us all on point and on time.