How to Make Your Life Easier!

That’s what everyone wants, right? Easy peasy. The easy button. Less work. Less stress. Sound good?! One word for you.

Habits.

“Ugh! Yeah, yeah, I need better habits, I know!!!”

Great! Let’s break it down. Here me out… 🙂

Habits

Habits – they form our daily routine. Day in. Day out. Our daily routine determines our efficiency, our effectiveness, our productivity. That determines our success.

Not succeeding the way you’d like? Take a close look at your habits. An honest look.

Habits (good ones) = Success

Okay. What’s a new skill or task you recently learned? Picture it. Remember how long it took you to learn it? It was soooo muuuuuuuch woooooork! It took a ton of effort. It was exhausting! Not necessarily because it was physically tiring (although maybe it was), but because it took so much mental effort!!

If we don’t create and rely on habits, we are using too much mental effort and running on empty!

Now what’s something you do every day that you don’t even think about? Driving? Brushing your teeth? Making your breakfast? Easy, right? Half the time we don’t even realize we did it! It takes that little effort and practically zero mental toll!

More habits > less mental stress > more energy for other activities!

Chaos

How chaotic is your life? Are you the one always searching for your keys? Where are your glasses? What happened to that sweater? Where’s the baby?! Lol! Let’s hope not! OR do you know exactly where things are? Does it take very little effort to find what you’re looking for?

Now I know some of you are already saying, “That’s not who I am! I’m just not organized!” Pause. 🙂 We are not born organized or unorganized people. We are not born tidy or chaotic. And whatever we think we are, can 100% change.

Are you the same person you were 10 years ago? Doubt it. You changed!! 😉

Have you done anything new in your life ever?! Yes! And have you adopted any of those things?! Probably! And if so – you have changed – you are a “different person.”

Here’s the thing: we are constantly changing and evolving. If it’s not the direction we want, we might find ourselves saying “It’s not meant to be” or “This is just how I am.” But that’s not necessarily true – it’s an excuse. And excuses keep us stuck. If we wonder why we’re not hitting goals, making progress, achieving what we want in life – excuses. I know…we’re getting real.

Dig deep. Be honest. Is something holding you back that you are unwilling to let go of for whatever reason? If that is keeping you from getting to where you want to be, you need to cut it out, let it go, and move on.

How?

Whew, deep. Okay. So, yes, you can change. The story with which you define yourself can change. But here’s the important thing. Really important. Go big or go home.

NOOOOOOO!

Because you will go big, and then you’ll go home and cry because you failed. Then you’ll say all sorts of nasty things to yourself. And then you’ll never want to try again!

Instead do this: ***take the teeniest, tiniest step you could possibly take.***

“Seriously?! What is that going to do?!”

Let you succeed. That’s what it’s going to do. You will succeed. You will feel encouraged and really proud of yourself. You will say nice things to yourself. And then you will be motivated to take another teeny, tiny step. Repeat.

“But that’s going to take forever!!!”

But it’ll stick.

How many times have you “gone big or gone home?” And how has that worked out for you? I’m going to guess that most of the time you ended up right where you started, or worse.

So how about try a different way?

Drink one glass of water each morning. Do that for a week. Watch yourself succeed. Then see what else you want to do. And then the next thing. And these little tasks will become habits and start compounding. And you’ll be surprised how teeny, tiny moves can impact your life in one year.

Teeny, Tiny Steps in Real Life

Some of you know that I completed a Half Ironman. (Whoohooo!) Guess how that idea came about? The crazy influence of friends! 😀 “Hey, know what we should do? A triathlon! No, even better! A Half Ironman!” “Okay!”

What?!

So yeah, go big or go home IDEA! But such teeny, tiny steps to get there! We set a 5 year plan. (What, don’t die? – Please tell me you know the movie quote! Also, applicable here!) I did it in 2, but that was still TWO YEARS!!! Two years of teeny, tiny steps. Let’s note – I didn’t swim – at all. So I signed up for an Adult Masters Class and my kind, kind instructor gently encouraged me to take some private lessons, as clearly I was dying! So off to private lessons. Back to Masters Class. Then open water swimming.

Joined a Tri Group. Read a book. Researched training plans. Asked one million questions. At least. Bought stuff. Bought more stuff. Bought even more stuff. (Not a cheap sport, fyi.) Learned about brick training. Did a baby tri. Learned about nutrition. Did another little tri. Did a bigger tri. Bought a new-to-me bike. Trained more. Got a bike fit. Kept training. Revamped my training. Altered my nutrition. Slept – a lot.

And FINALLY competed in my Half Ironman and crushed my goal and placed 3rd in my age group!

All because of a lot of teeny, tiny steps – and a load of love and support from the people around me. But I went from not being able to swim across the pool to competing in a Half Ironman!

Set big goals. Break them down into teeny, tiny steps.

Chaos in Real Life

Let’s return to that chaotic life bit. I purchased a foreclosure and started a full-house renovation. Normally, I’m a very tidy, organized, everything-has-its-place type of person. I emptied this house and started over, so I had a bedroom and bathroom to live in. I had things stored in my bedroom, POD, basement, garage, and storage unit. Absolute chaos.

Nothing had a “place.” I had no space to even attempt to organize until I finished more of the house. And I was shocked at the person I became!

My friends joke when we meet, “Okay, you say 2:00, so I should show up at 1:30?” I hate being late. And I was now late!! Not once, not twice, but consistently!

So why was I late? Because my life was chaos! My routine was completely thrown off. Really, what routine at all?! I didn’t know where things were. Things I thought I had, I couldn’t find. I usually spent about 15 minutes searching the house for items before making it out the door. Chaos! The anxiety and guilt I felt from keeping people waiting was so stressful! And some people live like this always!!

It’s incredibly unhealthy to live life in such a stressful state. Is it going to change overnight? Of course not. But take one step. Whatever it is you misplace regularly, assign it a place and be consistent. And find out just how lovely it is knowing exactly where that item is that you are always searching for!

My life isn’t nearly back to the level of organization I would prefer, but every day is improving! I’ve gotten more done on my house and things are finding their place and my anxiety and stress have greatly diminished! And I’m back to being an early bird! 🙂

This is a perfect example of how being late is not “who I am!” It’s simply a result of the environment I created! Big difference.

Challenge

So here’s your mission, should you choose to accept it! 😉

Take one step this week. One teeny, tiny step. Find a designated spot for those keys. Take your vitamin daily. Go to bed five minutes earlier. Read 10 pages of a book. Teeny, tiny. Do it for a week. See what happens.

Resources

If you want to dive deeper, read Atomic Habits. A phenomenal book about building habits, why it’s beneficial, and making them stick. I’ve read it once, and will absolutely read it again, and likely again. There is so much to learn!

Me. If you’re looking for a coach to guide you and keep you accountable, let’s connect. I’m a certified Health and Life Coach, and I specialize in helping women gain confidence in making themselves a priority! Your first thought is it sounds selfish, right? So far from it. A healthier, happier you has immense benefits for those around you! If this sounds like something you want in your life, I’m excited to offer you a complimentary one-on-one session to explore your goals and see if we are a good fit to achieve them! You can sign up here.

Buddies. Find an accountability partner! Pick your teeny, tiny step and check in with each other! Maybe even make a contest out of it! Whatever you need to do to make it easy and fun for yourself! Because THAT’S how you’ll get it to stick!

Happy Habiting! 😉