If your success is not on your own terms,

if it looks good to the world but does not feel good in your heart,

it is not success at all. - Anna Quindlen

It’s spring. It’s a time for renewal, rebirth, starting fresh. And if you’ve been to the grocery checkout line and read the woman’s magazine headlines you’ll know it is also time “For a New You,” “To lose 10 lbs Fast,” and time “To Get the Beach Body You Have Always Wanted!”

How do you feel when reading these headlines? Are you excited to grab the latest on losing 10 pounds fast? Sure that if you follow the “5 Easy Steps to a More Fit You,” that your abs will look like the celebrity fitness trainer pictured?

I used to feel rotten after looking at certain magazines. Instead of seeing helpful or inspiring articles and tips, I saw examples of all I wasn’t doing. I’d think, “Here I am again, not where I wanted to be”. Not thin enough, organized enough, successful enough. I was essentially comparing myself to some ideal and it would put me in a funk that affected all aspects of my life.

I’m not against tips and strategies from a professional or passionate person who has the ability to synthesize and simplify a lot of information and create some actionable steps. That’s awesome. Why reinvent the wheel? But if your mindset doesn’t change, the actions won’t stick. The change won’t stick.

Here’s the deal – you probably already know what to do to improve your health or to be more thin, get more clients, sell more products, interact more patiently with your kids, have a cleaner house, find more time for friends, or to be more available for your relationship. You’ve read the articles, so why don’t you do it?

Based on my own experience as a multi-passionate entrepreneur, and from what I have observed with my clients, here’s my guess of what gets in the way of taking action:

All the seemingly competing interests – like parenting, owning a business, taking care of a house and self-care. Add in confusion about what to eat, sleep deprivation, and a general lack of clarity about our own sense of success and it becomes easier to just stay where we are. Taking “3 Steps To Be Healthy,” loses as a priority when there is a blog to write, emails to reply to, products to ship, calls to make, accounts to reconcile, laundry to do, and kids to carpool. Adding one more thing may seem impossible.

But what if there is a new way? A way to create a lifestyle that was uniquely your own? One in which being healthy and successful were the same thing? Where running a business and raising a family went hand-in-hand?

As a mompreneur that was your intention wasn’t it? To make money, follow your passions, be available for your kids – to have it all.

That was my intention, and when I began to see food and nutrition as tools to achieve the life I want I began to see real results. I began to eat for energy, clarity, and well-being – instead of just calories, fat grams, and fad diets with big promises.

A shift happened and I began thinking in terms of Total Wellness – a wellness that integrates all the aspects of my life, that embraces my imperfections, that allows a fresh vitality to run through me.  I began to let go off  a definition of success created by others and to create my own.

This is where Mompreneur Wellness came from, this desire for Total Wellness.

Below are the 7 components to the Mompreneur Wellness Program. I encourage you to create your own definition of success. Create a food, nutrition and lifestyle plan that is uniquely your own. Actually, make it less of a plan and more of a manifesto for living that evolves and strengthens over time. A way of living that gives you the energy and time to create your vision for a successful and healthy life.

The 7 components below are the backbone to Mompreneur Wellness. With these components, you can explore what Total Wellness means to you and begin to integrate that into all aspects of your life. Use the components as a guide for creating wellness and success in your life.

The 7 Components of Mompreneur Wellness:

• Personalize Everything – As a mompreneur, you dare to live your way. This approach will make a huge difference in your health.
• Real Life Application – Though I enjoy cooking, a 20-minute quick-n-healthy meal made with a few real food ingredients and eaten together as a family is far healthier for me than an intensely prepared gourmet meal that stressed me out (and created a ton of dishes). I keep it simple, elegant and applicable to real life.
• Eat Less Junk – Period. Understanding the transformational power of food, and how to use it, is like having a secret weapon.
• Upgrade Your Mindset – Underneath all of our food choices is a pattern of thinking that is driving you. Upgrade how you think and say goodbye to guilt- laden eating for a breakthrough in your wellness.
• Small Changes Create Big Results – You don’t have to turn your life upside down to become more energized, focused and on purpose. What’s actually much more sustainable is to make small changes that easily integrate into your life.
• Make it Pleasurable – Enjoy what you eat and the choices you make.
• It’s More Than the Food – As an ambitious, conscientious entrepreneur mom, you understand that health, energy, and vitality are assets to your success.  Focusing on wellbeing, and getting support when you need it is not a luxury; it’s a marker of successful living.

I’d love to support you in trying out any of the 7 components of Mompreneur Wellness. I’ll reply to any comments, or at http://twitter.com/cydneysmith or on facebook @ http://tinyurl.com/mompreneurwellness.

Mompreneur Wellness leads clients to create a total wellness plan through learn and implementing new health and nutrition strategies that make getting real food on the table a snap. Get support with creating total wellness with the Mompreneur Wellness e-zine at http://mompreneurwellness.com. There you will find more information about the 8 Weeks to Mompreneur Wellness Program, which begins in May.

Cydney Smith is a certified health coach and owner of Mompreneur Wellness. Her programs and coaching lead participants to discover, learn, and create a lifestyle of wellness and success. She lives in southwestern NH with her 2 daughters and husband.