Beginning with the End in Mind with Tanja Shaw

Subscribe to Motivation Made Easy! Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | More

Episode 55. Today I have the pleasure of talking with Tanja Shaw!

Tanja Shaw has a Bachelors in Kinesiology (graduated in 2004), completed the Nutritional Therapy Practitioner Training (2017) and is a Certified High Performance Coach (2018) through the High Performance Institute.

We cover the following topics (and more!) in this week’s episode:

What Tanja learned about wholistic health from her experiences with pistol shooting
How she used to think about health as eating habits, exercise, and mindset, and how she considers several other key factors that have made a huge difference for her
Tangible tips to get out of shame-based thoughts related to body or otherwise

“I used to pistol shoot, and I never looked at the target. I focused on my stance, I focused on my breath, I did this great meditation practice at the line, but I didn’t look at the target. And until you let the shot go and pull it back and you see where you’re at, THEN you make some tweaks…but you can’t control what happens out there. All you can control is what’s happening here and that’s so important because when you start to focus on that, you start to build more trust within yourself.”
Tanja Shaw

Want To Support Local Bookstores Near You?

Buy your books from Bookshop! Support local bookstores near you and this blog and podcast and help prevent Amazon from completely squashing the local book market.

Are You New Here?

Welcome! I’m so glad to have you. You might be wondering what this blog and podcast are all about.

We relate everything in this podcast back to motivation, but not the hustle and grind kind. Truly sustainable motivation that keeps you feeling energetic and engaged in your life for the long haul. We talk about why “I’m just not motivated” is a myth, and why the TYPE of motivation you have is so important to fully understand. If you are ready to learn about motivation and respecting your body in an effective way so that you can live a life you truly love, you are in the right place.

Check out the Foundational Episodes of the Motivation Made Easy Podcast here!

Introduction: What is this podcast all about?
Episode 1: Want to Get & Stay Motivated? A Crash Course on Motivation, Weight Loss, and Health
Episode 2: How Dieting Steals Our Motivation
Episode 3: How To Get Motivated To Improve Your Health (Motivation 101)
Episode 4: How to Transform Health Fears Into Forward Progress

Do you ever worry that you are wasting your life?

I definitely did. In fact, I wrote that in my journal many years ago when I was in the middle of the diet-binge roller coaster ride.

I woke up every day thinking about food, my body, and what I would eat that day to “be healthy”
The notebooks I had filled with calories and points could fill up a spare bedroom
Social events and vacations immediately prompted the thought “they will notice I gained weight” or “I need to lose weight by then”
Deep down I knew I wasn’t living life the way I wanted to, but I didn’t know how to pull myself out of it.

If this is you, I want you to imagine what it would feel like to feel empowered in your body and proud of your choices on a consistent basis. I promise you, it isn’t too late.

Dieting steals our motivation. It makes us ineffective. It keeps us spinning our wheels in a system that was never built to work.

If you are ready take the first step to motivating yourself with what matters to you, download my free Create Powerful Motivation guide (which is quite beautifully designed if I do say so myself), and walk through the 3 simple steps to create motivation that works for YOU in 15 minutes or less. You will get a simple formula to write ONE SENTENCE you can use to motivate yourself on a daily basis.

You can write it on your bathroom mirror, put on the background of your phone, or just read it and repeat it in your mind.

Look, I know how much it hurts to live a life worrying you are missing out, not stepping into the person you were truly meant to be, vibrant, passionate, curious, vulnerable, and brave.

You can listen to the podcast all day, but taking that first step, putting pen the paper (or typing on your phone) is required for true lasing change. It’s time to start living my friend.

It’s 100% free, so what are you waiting for? Grab your free copy of the guide today at DrHondorp.com/Motivate

Main Takeaways From This Conversation

Begin with the end in mind. Tanja realized this when reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. She realized she would be on her deathbed if something didn’t change, and she would have sacrificed not fully enjoying her life in the pursuit to be the smallest size.
When you give your body what it needs, it gets to the size and weight that is perfect for you. It might not be the smallest size, but it’s the size where you can function optimally and truly experience life. Tanja mentioned that many of her clients’ primary focus is weight loss. She stated that she works on reframing the idea of weight loss and that it can be a natural consequence of taking care of your body.
Focus on the process instead of the outcome. Prioritizing the process over the outcome can be so freeing and help shift your focus to what really matters—moving from fleeting external motivation to long-lasting, sustainable internal motivation.
So many factors play into achieving our healthiest selves. Tanja said that when she shifted to a more holistic view of health, she realized that so many factors play into our well-being. She explained that breaking free from shame-based diet cycles allowed her to truly get in touch with her feminine side.
Shame isn’t a switch; it’s a dial. It isn’t as simple as flipping off a switch when you decide that you don’t want to be driven by shame-based motivation anymore. By challenging those thoughts like “I should do this” or “I shouldn’t do that,” we can turn down the dial of shame. And in the future, you now have the tools and awareness to turn the dial back down when shame creeps up again.

Support Independent Bookstores Near You!

Did you know that that if nothing slows their momentum, Amazon will have almost 80% of the book market by the end of 2025?

Look, I love the convenience of Amazon, but I’ve got a super cool way that you can support local bookstores and my blog and podcast simply by buying books like you already do! You can choose any bookstore on the list in the US and Canada (they plan to expand to other counties in the future) OR you can just let the donation get split between all stores. As of this recording, they have raised 15 million dollars for local bookstores. On my bookshop, you will see my absolute favorite books related to health and wellness, courage and vulnerability, and even my favorite fiction and kids books!

My recent favorite related to improving the quality of our lives was Digital Minimalism. Our family actually has decided to do an optional screen free August to re-evaluate the role of screen time in our lives.

So if you believe in supporting local businesses, please consider buying your books through Bookshop from now on!

The Psychology of Wellness Bookshop Link.

Disclaimer: This blog and podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for individual professional advice or treatment, including medical or mental health advice. It does not constitute a provider patient relationship.

Disclosure: Using the Bookshop.org links in this post means that I would get an affiliate fee if you purchase from the online bookshop (this supports my business, and local bookstores too!).