A Fail-Proof Way To Actually Break The Habits Hindering Your Goals
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When we're on our health and fitness journey, we have certain habits and routines we want to stick to, right?
Because when we’re on track, we’re feeling great, we’re energized and we feel like we’re really thriving. But then we do something that doesn’t align with the journey we’re on, and it makes us feel super crappy. All of a sudden, we have zero energy, we feel super weighed down and we just feel gross. And after we do whatever it was that made us feel this way, we say, “Never again!” And in that moment, we think we learned our lesson and that we actually WON’T ever do it again.
But then next time comes and we do it again. We say never again…AGAIN…yet we continue to repeat the cycle over and over again. Regardless of whatever that thing is and how that thing is making us feel, we KEEP DOING IT.
WHY?!
That’s exactly what I want to dive into today in this 5-Minute Bonus Episode of Embrace Your Real. And I want to talk to you about what you need to do to ensure you actually NEVER do it again….for real this time.
If you loved this episode, I know you’ll also love...
TRANSCRIPT:
Hey, hey beautiful human. Can I steal five minutes of your time? I have something super important to share with you, but I promise I'll be really quick. You're listening to my weekly bonus episode of Embrace Your Real with me Julie Ledbetter. I'm about to give you a quick tip for building your confidence, honoring your body and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned if you're ready to embrace your real, let's get it, let's go.
Hello and welcome back to another bonus episode of the Embrace Your Real podcast. I'm so grateful that you are here spending some time with me today for the next few minutes. All right. So, I'm about to get real with you. And I want to chat with you about something that gets in our way. And I'm going to refer to it as it, because I want you to fill in the blank for whatever it is that is hindering you. But what I have found is that when we are on our health and fitness journey, and we have certain habits and routines that we want to stick to, and we're on track, we're feeling great, we're feeling energized, we really feel like we're thriving and we're like, yes, we just feel like this momentum is going. Right? But then, something happens or we do something or make a decision that doesn't align with the journey that we're on, which then leads us to feel crappy.
And all of a sudden we tell ourselves we don't have any energy. We feel super weighed down. We feel gross. We feel guilt. We feel shame. And after whatever it is, that it, that made us feel that way, we tell ourselves never again. And in that moment we think we actually learned the lesson that we won't ever do it again. But the next time that it comes, we do it again. And then we tell ourselves again, never again, yet we continue to repeat this cycle over and over. Are you with me? Regardless of whatever that thing is and how that thing, or it, is making us feel we keep doing it. But why? That is exactly what I want to dive into in this five minute bonus episode of the Embrace Your Real podcast. And I want to talk to you about what you need to do to ensure that you actually never do it again, like for real this time.
But you know I have to share the super sweet review comes from Kelsey Deegan. She says, "My favorite podcast. Julie is a great source of encouragement, truth, and knowledge in life, especially for wellness and fitness. When I found her podcast, I listened to all the episodes within a week or two because I just couldn't stop. I so look forward to Mondays and Thursday so I can listen to the new episodes. Thank you, Julie, for your words. They have helped me in more ways than you know." Thank you so much for the review, Kelsey. If you haven't already rated and reviewed the podcast, you can literally just rate interview and it can be a small little blurb. You can just say, "Hey, I loved episode 70, or I love episode 75." Or if you've already rated and reviewed it, you can actually leave another review on a specific episode. So you can just tell me what episode you really feel spoke to you.
This is a great way for me to get feedback from you on what episodes you really have felt connected to. And it also does help us out so incredibly much in the podcast world. So if you can just scooch over to Apple podcasts, you can click rate and review. Okay. So, let's dive in. I want you to bring to mind that thing that you just keep doing over and over again, that is not aligning with the momentum that you are having in your health and fitness goals. That thing that you wish that you could just stop doing once and for all. Maybe it's eating food super late at night making it hard for you to fall asleep and also wake up in the morning. Maybe it's going out binge drinking with your friends, leaving you feeling super hangover for the next few days.
Maybe it's constantly skipping your workouts making it impossible for you to reach your goals. Or maybe it's not eating all day and getting so hungry by the time you get home you eat every thing in sight. Whatever it is, you fill in the blank, I want you to clearly identify it. Identify the thing that you continue to do even though you don't want to keep doing it. Next, I want you to identify the obstacle. So, if you said, "Yes. I relate so much. I drink so much on the weekends. I feel hungover. I don't feel great." Drinking too much with your friends isn't actually the obstacle. The obstacle is the peer pressure that you are allowing yourself to feel from your friends that's leading you to make that decision.
Or if you really connected to you not eating all day, and then once you get home eating everything in sight. You not eating all day is not actually the real obstacle, the real obstacle is the lack of planning ahead or the mentality that you're in where you're telling yourself, you shouldn't eat, you shouldn't eat, you shouldn't eat. And then by the end of the day you're so fed up with it, and your body is so hungry that you eat everything in sight. The obstacle itself isn't skipping your workouts, the real obstacle is the lack of motivation to work out. And when we say, "I'm never going to do that again. Or next time I won't let that happen." There's nothing actionable attached to that. So, you're never really identifying what you're going to do to ensure that you don't do it again.
Simply telling yourself or saying out loud, I'm not going to do it again, isn't enough. When you say, never again, you're only addressing the thing you don't want to do again, but you're never actually addressing the obstacle that is triggering you to do it again. Does that make sense? So you need to address the obstacle and then put a clear plan in place so when the next time comes, not if, but when, the next time comes you actually won't do it again because you're armed with both identifying what the obstacle is, and then having a plan of action to ensure that you don't fall victim to that cycle again. For example, the next time you want to eat food late at night even though it doesn't make you feel good, have a plan. Don't just sit there and try to have enough motivation not to eat. Have a plan ready to go so that you know exactly how you're going to navigate the situation next time it arises.
This could be you having a cupboard full of delicious flavored teas that help you curb that appetite. Maybe it's asking those who you live with, if this is applicable, it could be your partner, your roommate, or whatever, to hold you accountable, maybe putting up sticky notes in your kitchen or in your cupboard reminding you that this is a cycle that you want to break. Maybe it's visualizing. Visualization is something I've talked about a lot on the podcast. But visualization can help so much because you are allowing your brain to vividly imagine it, the scenario, whatever it is, whatever the habit is that you're trying to break, you're vividly imagining that scenario. And in your vivid visualization, you are imagining yourself navigating through that with a plan to overcome it, so the next time you actually face it your brain remembers that scenario that you vividly imagined.
Because remember this, your brain cannot determine or decipher what is vividly imagined and what is actually real. So, if you can vividly imagine yourself overcoming that habit that you want to break, step-by-step, going through, like walking down the stairs, walking into your kitchen, what do you see? What do you smell? What are you thinking? Walking into your cupboard, vividly imagining yourself overcoming it and having a positive outcome, the next time you are faced with it in reality your brain is going to help you to remember, "Hey, look? Remember, we overcame that already. If we overcame it once we can overcome it again." So never, never, never forget the power of visualization because, my girl, it is strong and it really works.
Or if your friends want to go out for drinks, have a plan on how you're going to navigate the situation so that you don't end up hungover for the next three days. Whatever you continue to repeat, identify the obstacle and then find the solution for overcoming the obstacle, and be prepared with a plan so that you don't have to think twice about it. And this is cool, because you can literally use this in any sort of negative habit that you want to break. It could be procrastination. It could be the bad habit, whatever it is that you're like, I want to just stop doing that. I want to overcome that. This simple exercise of, number one, identifying what the true obstacle is. And number two, following up with a plan that is a bulletproof way to ensure that you are able to overcome and actually stop doing the things that you want to stop doing.
If you love this episode, I know you will also love episode 39, Three ways we self-sabotage. We fall victim to our stories, our thoughts, our beliefs about ourselves which typically leads us to self-sabotage. So, in this episode I help you recognize things that you might be self-sabotaging and what to do to overcome it. I have linked it in the show notes. So be sure to listen to episode 39, Three ways we self-sabotage. If you have somebody in your life that you feel like would really benefit from this episode, I just ask that you share it out with them. You can send it in text message. You can post this up on your story. Tag me, Julie Ledbetter, tag, Embrace Your Real account. I love connecting with you guys, and seeing your aha moments, and hearing what your notes were from this podcast. I love you so much, and I will talk to you guys in the next episode.
All right, sister. That's all I got for you today. But I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you're not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so, juliealedbetter. Yes, it's with an a in the middle, for that daily post-workout real talk, healthy tips and tricks, and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check. The second thing, be sure to subscribe to Apple podcasts to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world, and I'm going to leave you with one last thought. The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface. So, go out there and embrace your real because you're worth it.