Some of you are probably already thinking I am crazy, or that I must like burning money and trust me I totally get that. On title alone I would think I was a little crazy myself, but I'll hold my hands up and be honest I have lied to you a tiny bit. Although the Facebook group is a huge part of it I do also get more than just that for my £38 a month such as;

• High quality training videos.
• Action Plans that come with every training video.
• Live Q&As with the creator of the plan.

There are other general benefits but those are the main ones, and for those curious and do want to learn more you can visit the site and make up your own mind, I'll leave it below but for this post I'm going to jump into why I decided to give it a go and how my first month has gone.

The Program - https://alexcostastyle.com/innercircle/

Why?

I live in the UK and my birthday was on the 24th of March, some of you will know lockdown started on the 23rd of March. Safe to say I didn't have the best birthday, and then the following two months I fell off the wagon completely with exercise and my diet - both of which at the time were the best they had ever been. My productivity levels crashed and I was spending far too much time feeling sorry for myself. There was one point where I had 10 take away boxes stacked up in my front room because I was being so lazy I didn't want to cook. Generally as someone who lives alone, lockdown hit me harder than I gave it credit, towards the end of May my personal trainer began doing outdoor sessions, and after one of those I felt re-energised and ready to go again. I wanted to take action and it so happened a YouTuber I followed was offering a program that sounded like it could really help me get out of the rut I was in and at the price of £1.25 a day, there wasn't much to lose by giving it a go.

So that's what started me off, I am now a month in so lets see whats happened in that month.

My Mindset became more Focused

While there is definitely still room for improvement I was categorically a person who would jump from task to task, project to project without seeing the previous one to the finish. It was common for me to start a new side project and then give up the second something more interesting took my eye. As part of the training videos mindset is actually covered and there were some valuable lessons there, which I have been applying for this month. Of course I could just be saying that, so here are two examples that I can share with you that have literal evidence:

• I started posting weekly YouTube videos on personal development, and have currently maintained that for four weeks since starting, and I am already working on the fifth video.
  Evidence: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCskrXHystox8adeKLx1Cidw

• I started running a minimum of 20km a week, part of the lessons made me realise that in every future image I had of myself I was in shape, so I decided to up my efforts and really commit to making that image a reality.
  Evidence: https://www.strava.com/athletes/12785830

I'm Surrounded by Motivated People

There is a good quote worth addressing here:
“You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with”

I want to say this quote is originally by Jim Rohn but if I am wrong feel free to correct me. Essentially within the Facebook group there are a lot of us who are trying to improve and push for, ultimately, a better life. By being around people trying to do the same as you, especially with you encouraging each other, you really do feel a drive to do what you should be doing - not what you want to be doing. There's also a bit of healthy competition involved and more importantly a level of accountability. You don't want to be that person who falls behind or doesn't do what they say they were going to do so you really try hard and push yourself. That effort is worth its weight in gold because over long periods it's going to make the difference.

My Comfort Zone Expanded

While I enjoyed public speaking, standing in front of a camera and putting that out for the world to see is something I was very hesitant about. From day one within the group I posted videos of myself discussing my goals, where I want to be and a lot more to complete the action steps. It felt a bit awkward at first but I received plenty of encouragement. It became more natural, and even fun. I'm far from an amazing presenter but it's something I'm working on which I wouldn't have before joining the group. You may have also noticed the photo of me posing on this site, that is the first time I have ever tried to pose for a photo because I always thought I would look daft, but I did it and I was actually pleasantly surprised with the result. The point I'm making is that we grow a lot by venturing outside our comfort zones and this past month I have had the chance to do that a lot despite the fact I'm stuck in my house for most days.

My Happiness Increased

This is not something I can really put a tangible point on but I will say for the past month I have been much happier. I have been completing tasks I set myself and I can see the progress I'm slowly starting to make towards my goals. That sense of achievement of what you have done is a great way to increase your happiness, and more than that it's a great way to keep focused and powering ahead with what you want to do. One of the key aspects I think that has been really important is that I have stopped searching for instant gratification and instead enjoying the grind and reward that becomes apparent along the way. When I start getting close to a goal or hit it, the feeling of achievement now is so much higher because I know I put in the hard work to get there. That increased sense of achievement when I look back on the past day, week or month has really made a difference, I'm no longer thinking about all that time I wasted in front of Netflix, or just lounging around doing basically nothing productive - and when I do time some me time to relax, I can enjoy it much more because I know I earned it.

Would I Recommend it?

Well I haven't cancelled my subscription, and I'm excited about what the following months are going to bring. So that'd be a yes from me. What I will say is that my philosophy in life is that we all make our own choices, and those choices are the reason we are where we are. Sometimes we take the easy path and try to blame our current situation on other people, or the environment or some other scapegoat, but in every situation I have come across there has always been at least one success story, and if there's one there can be two. I've chosen to invest in myself because I want to work harder and achieve more, if that's not the type of person you are, if you would rather take the easy path and relax then this probably is not for you. There's no magic solution out there to get you where you want to be, it just comes down to hard work and commitment.