5 Ways to Reboot your Energy
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Fairface Podcast transcript / show notes
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Fairface Podcast! I'm so happy you're here.
We're just barely 2 months into this new year and I'm wondering-
- How are things are going for you?
- Did you make any new year's resolutions?
- How are those going?
- How is your energy right now?
- Are you still full steam ahead or do you need a little bit of a reboot?
Quick January Recap
The running joke for 2022, which you've probably heard, is that it's 2020 too (as in 2020 also, again)... after the couple of years we've had, honestly, it's hard not to live a little fearfully, wondering what's around the next corner.
Some of you are still living in areas with restrictions and other places are kind of life as usual.
Whenever I see pictures of people gathered like at concerts or school athletics, and no one is wearing masks, it's kind of a shocker.
Here in WA state we are still required to wear masks indoors, and I haven't gone anywhere in a gathering for the past 2 years. which I don't mind because there are still lots of cases of COVID all over the place.
I know some states have gone back to home schooling...so life may or may not be "normal" where you are.
So far, this year for me, is going pretty smoothly.
- We had some problems and delays for the first part of January, because of our late December snow storm, but we were fine.
- We've had family members from other states who got COVID in January, but thankfully, they all got through it pretty smoothly.
- I've dealt with businesses-related delays, a ripple effect of the pandemic, but luckily I've been able to get what I've needed.
- It's been a bit surprising to me that many companies I have depended on for years still don't have enough people working, or systems that have worked for years, have suddenly all but fallen apart.
- I had a bad experience with FedEx trying to get an expensive fabric shipment here and that caused me some major stress, but other than that...we've had a few sunny days, and around here lately, that seems to make everything better.
So at this point, early on in the new year, this will come out in February, you may be either running or dragging.
I've honestly felt a little of both and I'm guessing I'm not the only one.
I've thought a lot about what I wanted to share with you this month, and I decided we all could use a little boost.
So lets take a look at
5 Ways to Reboot your Energy
to help you keep moving forward with a little more motivation and positivity.
The first thing you can do to give yourself a little boost at this time of year, is to
1. Take Time To Recognize Your Accomplishments
I don't mean just quickly thinking about it. This activity involves sitting down with a pen and paper and writing it down.
Go grab your calendar, flip back to January, and start making a list of all the things you did last month. Whether you're listening to this in February, you flip back to January, or maybe it's later sometime in the year. Just look back through the months that have already happened and write down all the things you've accomplished. Whether in the previous month or in all the months since the year started.
Maybe you've gone on a certain number of morning walks, or you made dinner so many nights that month, or you got your kids to school every day, or maybe you homeschooled every day, or you survived a snow storm and kept everyone alive.
Maybe you accomplished some business goals, person goals or family goals.
Maybe you made some goals.
I guarantee, if you feel like you're already falling behind, you're doing much better than you think you are and you really did much more than you think you did last month.
I do this quick inventory at the end of each year for my business *which I shared in Episode 28 and it feels really good to acknowledge how much I accomplished.
It also helps give me a boost when I look back over everything I have accomplished this year so far, when I wonder if I'm really making any progress.
At the time I'm recording this, I have already made and posted 5 new videos for our Fairface Washcloths YouTube channel, written and posted 6 blog posts, and recorded 2 podcast episodes (this will be the 3rd for the year). I look back and think, that's not bad for the first full month of 2022!
I was actually surprised at how much progress I had made and I wouldn't have seen it for what it really is, unless I had stopped to think about it and write it down.
If you do this activity, I promise you'll be surprised at all you have accomplished and it will feel really good. It can also help you see where you are going and give you that much more motivation to keep going.
Which ties right in with my next point.
Another way to help reboot your energy is to:
2. Simplify Your Goals
If you are someone who made goals for this new year, whether you call them new year's resolutions or not, how are those going so far?
It is often the case, that when we make lofty goals at the start of a new year, we can start out strong but it is often only a matter of time before we lose steam and go back to our old ways.
Maybe that's not you. And if not, I congratulate you for your perseverance!
If you have lost a little steam, (I have a tendency to do this too), don't worry.
I'm about to share something with you that will change the way you think about goal setting or new year's resolutions, forever. I'm not even kidding, this blew my mind.
>>>And it's all based on what I learned from Holistic Psychologist, Dr. Nicole LePera.
I have shared things I've learned from her in the past, like in episode 26 about How to Hear your Inner Voice, so you can go back and listen to that if you want to.
This really resonated with me.
I love the information she shares because she teaches based on research-based psychology, and how the brain works, so it's not just opinion.
Plus she teaches it in a simple way that makes sense.
Some of what I'm about to share is directly quoted and other parts are paraphrased, but this is all from Dr. Nicole LePera. @the.holistic.psychologist
Dr. Nicole LePera's work on the Importance of Simplifying Your Goals-
she says,
"...resist all urges to make [big resolutions] because your brain is not designed to keep them.
We make New Year resolutions with good intention, but without understanding the brain, we set ourselves up for failure.
[---okay, listen to this ---- ] When we make resolutions that are too far off from our current habits, our brain feels like it's in danger.
it "...sends the brain into fear mode because they're too far from our familiar life experience."
Woah. That makes sense though, doesn't it?
Let's say I exercise every once in a while and my new year's goal is to exercise 5 days a week.
That is a great, healthy goal, but it is very far from my normal life experience, so my brain is basically going to revolt.
Though it is a positive goal, and good for my body, I will feel a lot of stress as I try to incorporate this new routine.
As I feel the stress, my brain will try to save me from my stress and try to get me back to feeling "normal again" as soon as possible...which is to not exercise and feel low stress.
I am in shock that all the years I have lived on this planet, I never really understood why new years resolutions were so hard to keep. And now my mind is blown, and I finally understand.
So how can we still make goals and intentions to make positive changes, but in a way that our brains won't cause us so much resistance?
Dr. LePera says,
True transformation takes place through SMALL DAILY promises that you know you can 100% keep.
Celebrate yourself every time you keep your promise. Stay committed, and you'll be amazed at what a few months of this can do."
She says, [smaller more realistic goals]...will restore self trust and because these changes are small, the brain will not act as if it's in a threatening situation."
So again, she suggests making one small promise to yourself for the month.
Small enough that you know you will keep it.
And that is what you will hold yourself to, for that month.
And because the change is small, and doable, you will build trust back within yourself and your brain won't sabotage you by trying to go back to old habits.
Does that make sense?
Your brain can't handle such huge new changes and basically rejects it as dangerous, and does everything it can to get you back to what feels safe, which is why you feel so much resistance.
What feels safe and normal to your brain, are your OLD routines, NOT doing all the new things you're trying to do.
So make and keep one small promise to yourself every day to ease your brain into new habits so there is less resistance, and you can be more successful.
It's all based on the psychology of the mind.
This is completely fascinating to me and has totally changed the way I think about setting big goals.
Another thing you can do to give yourself a reboot and begin feeling more rejuvenated again is to
3. Do One Thing Each Day You've Been Putting Off
*Procrastination is the death of motivation.*
So whether it's making the appointment you've been putting off for months, or even years, or putting away the stack of stuff at the bottom of the stairs you've been tripping over for a month or more.
Just do one thing every day big or small, and you will start to feel SO much better.
I was visiting with a woman several years ago, who I can't remember, I think she was around 87 or 88 years old. She and I were standing in her kitchen and she was telling me, whenever I get overwhelmed with a messy kitchen, I just have to stop and say to myself, "Just one dish at a time Lois."
I think of that ALL the time.
Whether I'm staring down a stack of dishes in the sink or an entire house to clean up or a big to-do list.
Just one thing at a time.
*Small progress is still progress.*
And progress can jump start your motivation and then maybe you feel like doing more than just the one thing. That's up to you.
Small progress is still progress and that feels good.
The 4th way you can reboot your energy and outlook is to:
4. Keep Things Tidy
There's nothing that kills my motivation or productivity or positivity more, than looking around and seeing stuff everywhere. Clutter makes me crazy.
When my house or kitchen is a mess, or my office has gotten messy, it sucks the energy right out of me.
Like a dirty kitchen in the morning puts me in a funky negative mindset because I'm starting the day cleaning up yesterday's mess. No thank you.
I've told my husband, the only thing I hate more than cleaning up my own mess, is cleaning up someone else's. Please put your dishes in the dishwasher that I just ran and emptied...there's plenty of room for your cereal bowl.
So I recommend tidying up your home and your work space because it will make a huge difference in how you feel and the energy you have to put into the work you do and into the family you love. It will affect that. It will change that.
It's like I feel a huge exhale when I walk around a clean, tidy house or walk into my clean, office...
It makes me want to do work there.
It makes me feel like I can breathe.
It's amazing how much clutter affects me, so keeping things tidy has always been something I try to do...and if I fall behind, I just need to stop and take some time to tidy up because it always makes me feel better.
I suggest tidying up each night so it doesn't ever grow into something that feels unmanageable, and so you can start each day with a clean environment that invites a positive mindset.
The last idea for helping you to feel more rejuvenated is to
5. Connect With Someone Or Something That Makes You Happy
I often get caught in my own habitual patterns and don't see how much I might need something different.
As a small business owner, I work a lot and if I take time away from working, I often feel guilty, because I know there's no one else doing the work if I am not working. So it's hard for me to justify taking time away from my work.
But life is a balance of a million different little things.
I shared back on Episode 7, The Self-Care Super 6 (if you want to go back and listen to that), about how important it is to care for your whole self in areas of personal, spiritual, emotional, psychological, physical and professional care. I'll link to that episode in the show notes.
So my point is, I know I always feel better and happier after connecting with my mom and dad and my sisters, and my brothers when they come to visit, whether it's a phone call or getting together...but I often think beforehand, I don't know that I have time to do that because of work or because of this and that...
HOWEVER, my perspective becomes much too narrow when I'm in my day-to-day zone and I get caught up in that. I get caught in those patterns, and after I've spent time reconnecting with the people I love, I NEVER regret it.
I never think, "Oh I wish I had stayed home and kept working on that thing I've been working on forever that never seems to get finished", or having a conversation with someone. I've never regretted those decisions to step away and connect with the people I care about...or places that I care about. I love being outside in nature, seeing the beauty of this area. It just breathes fresh energy into me.
And when I come back to those same old projects after connecting with people or after taking a break I always feel more energized, and reinvigorated and ready to work with a better mindset than I had before I took that time to connect outside of my regular routine.
Connection is so important for your sense of wellbeing. So make sure to make time for it.
Energy Reboot Review
So let's just quickly review these 5 things
by
1. Taking time to recognize what you have already accomplished so far this year
2. Simplifying your goals to make them more achievable
3. Doing one thing each day you've been putting off, not matter how big or small
4. Keeping your surroundings clean and tidy
5. Making time to connect with someone or something that makes you happy
I hope you start feeling re-energized and rejuvenated about your life and the things you want to accomplish!
We can all acknowledge that the last 2 years have taken a toll on all of us, and many of us are still trying to get back to a sense of normalcy in a world that in many ways is still far from the normal we used to know.
Give yourself grace.
Be patient with yourself.
Add more to your life than can energize and rejuvenate.
Take care of your sweet soul that just needs a little TLC.
I promise you are doing much better than you think you are.
I would love to know how you're doing.
I'd love to know the things you're doing this year that have helped give you a boost and energize you and motivate you.
Reach out to me
-Through our website, FairfaceWashcloths.com/ContactUs
or
through Instagram @FairfaceWashcloths and I will get back to you personally.
I really do hope you're doing well this year so far!
I really appreciate you being here and I look forward to the next time we chat.
I'll see you next time
xo Shannon
SHOP our luxurious washcloths for sensitive skin
thru our Etsy Shop
Or
WATCH our YouTube video on Rebooting your Energy!
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