7 Unconventional Habits I'm Adopting in 2022
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When we think about habits we want to adopt, we often think of habits like wake up earlier, put our phone away at night, read more, drink more water…you know what I’m talking about. As great as all these habits are, there are many other habits we should consider prioritizing.
I took some time to put together a list of habits, that are a bit more unconventional that your typical habits, that I believe are extremely important, at least for myself, to implement. Tune in to learn all about them.
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TRANSCRIPT:
Hey, there beautiful human. You're listening to Embrace Your Real with me, Julie Ledbetter, a podcast where I empower you to just be you. With each episode, I dish you a dose of real talk and actionable advice 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, and let's go.
Hello and welcome back to another Embrace Your Real podcast of seven unconventional habits that I'm adopting in 2022 and I'm excited to take you along this journey. I think often times when we think about habits that we want to adopt, we think about one's like waking up earlier, putting our phone away, reading more, drinking more water, eating better. You guys know the common ones that we always go to. And while, of course, those habits are great. There are many other habits that we should consider prioritizing and so I took some time to put together a list of habits that are a bit more unconventional than your typical habits, but I believe are extremely important, at least for myself to implement. So I'm going to be sharing seven of those. But before I do, I wanted to share the super sweet reveal that comes from BethyD87.
She says gratitude. When I hear, hey there beautiful human I know I'm about to gain some knowledge in the best way possible with real talk. I can't thank Julie enough for being the movement, nutrition, and life coach we all need. Oh, I love that so much. Thank you so much, BethyD87, you are amazing. This whole community is amazing. The fact that you guys show up every stinking week, every Monday and Thursday to tune into the episodes just truly brings my heart so much joy. And also, I just want to thank you guys for sharing out this podcast to your friends and family, the easiest and best way that you can do that is to screenshot whatever episode you're listening to and post it up on your story. You can tag Embrace Your Real and just recommend it to a few friends. If every single listener recommends it to one or two people, we will overnight double our community.
And our goal is to continue to reach hundreds of thousands of women to encourage you to live authentically and embrace your real. So thank you guys in advance for sharing the podcast and listening and supporting all of the things, you guys are incredible and you guys are why we do what we do week in and week out here. Okay. So let me dive into the seven unconventional habits that I'm going to be adopting in 2022. Habit number one, I'm going to stop filtering myself as much. In particular, I personally realized at the beginning of last year that I didn't really talk about my faith as much as I would like to. For the entire time that I've had my platform I've interjected it here and there, but I have really held back in certain areas this upcoming year, you can expect me to talk a lot more about my faith and this has been something that has always been a huge priority in my life.
Something that has helped shape me into the person that I am today. It is honestly the number one most important thing that helped me reach the point to where I am and allowed me to embrace my real and live in this confidence that is not shaken, but it's also something that I believe for so long the enemy led me to believe that I wasn't qualified to share it. Like it wasn't my place, people weren't following me for fitness and self-love and advice and all of those things and they didn't care about faith, but I actually came to the realization, especially last year as I was working my way through the entire Bible, which I'm actually doing again this year. If you guys to join me, a side note, this is not sponsored, but go to Biblein365.com, that's Biblein365.com.
You can sign up and you can read through the entire Bible, but I can tell you that hands down, it was the most transformative thing I have literally ever done in my life. And during that time, as I was just reading God's word, every morning and prioritizing that, I just came to this aha moment that my audience is an audience of one. And the most important thing in my life is God and my faith and I would be doing myself and this gift of the platform that God has allowed me to have a disservice if I wasn't sharing my faith. And so that's why I have really just been trying to find ways to incorporate faith into a healthy lifestyle and how those two are intertwined because they truly are. And I never really truly realized how much faith and fitness can be intertwined and it honestly makes things so more purposeful.
And so I'm really excited to continue sharing what I'm personally learning and just seeing God work through that. I know that this example in particular is extremely personalized to me, but I want to know what about you? What parts of yourself are you currently filtering? What are things that you love, but you don't talk about enough? What do you pro prioritize but don't showcase? What is stopping you from showing up as your real self and not some filtered version of yourself? What false beliefs are holding you back or making you feel like you shouldn't share more of yourself? Or what are some of the limiting thoughts that are keeping you from sharing your full self to this world? Those are just some reflection questions that you can write down and ask yourself, because I believe that we are on this earth to be ourselves.
God wants us to walk in the ways that he's called us to and live in the calling that he's called us to, and we each have a unique purpose and we are not here to be another carbon copy of somebody else. So I want you to stop filtering yourself as well, so that you can live in your fullest potential. Unconventional habit number two, hustle less. You guys have heard the term no sleep before. I believe so many people find so much validation in that saying, and I know for me personally, when I first got into entrepreneurship in 2013 after quitting my first job after college, that was something that I really found validation in and I found so much of my identity in that. I would try to work as much as I possibly could and I thought that was the absolute best way to be successful.
And it really led to just burnout. It's not something that we should celebrate, but in today's culture, I feel like it's praised upon to constantly hustle. If you're not hustling, you don't deserve to rest. If you're not hustling, you don't deserve to succeed. If you're not hustling, you're not doing it right. It's so easy to fall into that mindset that we need to hustle in order to be validated. And if we aren't hustling, we are being lazy. But what I've realized you guys is that is a complete lie and it is a load of crap. Hustle doesn't lead to happiness. It ultimately leads to burnout like I said, I've experienced it more times than I'd like to admit. It leads us to missed experiences. It leads us to miss out on the small things in life. It leads us to more stress that we don't need, and it ultimately leads us to unhappiness, and unfulfillment.
So this year I want to slow down. I want to actually enjoy the moment. I'm still headed in the same direction. I still have the same goals. I still am going to, of course, put my hand to the plow and be a hundred percent dedicated and determined and motivated but I'm just going to get there a little bit slower, and do you know what? I'm so okay with that, because I think that for me, enjoying the journey is most important. If hustling and rushing to the journey adds more stress and anxiousness and unhappiness and slowing down eliminates the stress, eliminates the anxiety, eliminates the unhappiness and allows me to truly experience things as they come, then I'm going to choose to slow down this year. Life is meant to be lived, not rushed. And so I want to encourage you if you're struggling with this to break this mentality, it's not easy.
It's going to take time. It's going to take you to force yourself some days to allow yourself to slow down, to try to change the pattern that you've been doing for so long, but it ultimately will be so rewarding. Unconventional habit number three, realize it's good enough. I find myself slowing myself down a lot because I think things need to be 100% perfect before I put them out into the world. But I truly realized that working for things to be a hundred percent is using more energy than I actually need. I was actually listening to a podcast episode by Jay Shetty, he has a podcast called On Purpose and he said that he never waits for things to be 100% before he puts it out into the world. Once it's 70%, he calls it good and moves on to the next thing. He says that only a very slim percentage of people will actually notice a difference between 70% done and 100% done.
So it doesn't feel like it's worth his energy to work to reach 100%. I love this mindset and this is something that I'm really going to work hard to adopt this year because I say it all the time in terms of honoring your body with consistent imperfect action is so much better than perfect and consistent action while I do apply that daily to honoring my body, this isn't something that I find applying in the rest of my life, especially in the content that I put out, the things that I pursue, I am a perfectionist when it comes to certain things and it really holds me back and I believe that I am limiting my potential simply because I am trying to make it a 100% and I'm asking so much about every small detail that truly is not worth it in the grand scheme of things.
So this year, instead of being inconsistent with putting out 100% perfect things into the world, I am going to be consistent at putting out my 70% and calling that good. So I want you to think about what it is in your life that you are allowing your perfectionist personality to hold you back from accomplishing your goals. And can you work on reaching 70% and then moving on? I know it's not easy. I know it's going to take some time, just like the hustle less mentality, but it's so important. And this is why you guys have seen me just put out more goofy reels and funny reels and things that I normally didn't put out because you guys, I cared so much about what people thought for so long that I am no longer giving that thought. I am no longer trying to be perfect in every little thing and have a perfect curated feed.
Those days are long gone and I couldn't be more excited to see what happens over this next year as I really just stay consistent and to really be consistent at putting out my 70% and see where it takes me. Unconventional habit number four, give more compliments. I've talked about this on the podcast before, but I think people are too quick to criticize and not quick enough to compliment. Actually, most people never compliment and this is myself included outwardly to people, especially in public. Most of us are thinking really nice things about others, but for some reason, we don't tell them. Maybe that's because we're too shy. We're too afraid to be vulnerable or we think that they will think that we're weird. I don't know what it is, but for whatever reason, we don't compliment enough. And so that's why this year I'm going to make it a priority to say something nice about someone everywhere I go.
I know that sounds crazy. But if I get an opportunity, I am going to jump on it. I'm going to tell them no exceptions, if I'm going to drive through and I love the barista's hair, I'm going to tell her. If I think the cashier's eyes are stunning I'm going to tell her. If I randomly think something's sweet about my friend or family, I'm going to text them and tell them. If I appreciate something that my husband does for me, I'm going to thank him. One compliment no matter how little it is, can truly change someone's day and better yet, it can change the way that someone views themselves. It takes me no effort at all, yet, it can have a significant impact on someone else's life. So why not? I want to challenge you to start small. I want to challenge you to start to give four compliments per week, wherever it is at whatever time, just four compliments per week.
Once you consistently hit four compliments per week for a month, I want you to up it to five and then do it for another month. And then I want you to up it to six and then do it for another month. Watch how much, not only does it change other people and the way that they react to you, but it's incredible how we feel when we get those things off of our chest and we see that love radiate in somebody else's eyes. And the best thing is, the more love that we send out, the more love you truly get in return because I believe that we are fed by giving and not receiving and so the more that you can put out into this world, you will get it back tenfold.
Unconventional habit number five set clear boundaries. Boundaries are something that I've always personally struggled with. I'll be good for a week or two, and then I'll let them slip and get back into this unhealthy pattern of working late or bringing work into a date night or allowing a person or thing to stress me out more than it should. Boundaries are hard because they require us to set loving limits in our relationships, or be honest with how we're spending our time, but they are so important to maintain a healthy work-life balance. They're so important to maintain healthy relationships and overall a healthy mindset. So this year I'm becoming a lot better at setting clear boundaries and I want to encourage you to set the boundaries in the areas of your life that you feel you need more boundaries to help you have a healthier 2022 mentally, spiritually, relationally, physically, and emotionally. Unconventional habit number six, go-with-the-flow more often, although I am a type-B personality through and through, I'm just going to say it. I do personally have some control issues.
I like to control situations. I do not like it when I do not feel in control of certain things and it's a struggle for me honestly, and it's something that I feel like I've had to release more and more to God, because at the end of the day, there are some things, of course, in my control that I'm called to sewer, but then there're other things that are completely out of my control and it does mean no good to focus on things outside of my control. It does mean no good sitting there trying to control every little thing. It just adds stress, anxiety, and unhappiness. And so when something is out of my control, which is oftentimes you guys, a lot of things are out of our control. I personally am going to commit to having faith in God and just trusting that they're going to work out in the way that they're supposed to work out.
There are two phrases that I'm going to really hold onto this year as I remind myself of this go-with-the-flow mentality. Number one, it is what it is. I have to accept what it is. It is the situation whether I like it or not and having resistance to it is truly not going to change the situation. So I have to let go of the resistance, and accept it for what it is and just let it flow. When I do this, I truly find that things naturally figure themselves out so much smoother without me having that added anxiety or stress and the second mentality that really helps with this go-with-the-flow mentality is this too shall pass. Whenever I'm in a situation that I don't like, I have to remind myself that this will likely not be my situation forever.
In one hour, in one day, in one week, one month, one year, it will be over. It will have passed. And I truly really find so much comfort in reminding myself of that. So this year I'm going to commit to reminding myself this too shall pass, and I'm going to allow God to take the wheel in this situation. Unconventional habit number seven, make sure the meaningful relationships in my life are being nourished. So I shared this on Instagram, on January 1st, but my word of the year is intentional and what intentional means to me is done on purpose and I feel like that's something that I lacked in 2021. I did certain things and I did get better in certain areas of my life, but I don't feel like I was totally intentional with relationships, with my business, with the things that God has allowed me to be involved in.
And so I personally am committed this year to be more intentional. And so this goes in with this unconventional habit number seven of making sure that the meaningful relationships in my life are being nourished because honestly guys, most of us have people in our lives that we would truly die for. We love them so much. We would do anything for them, but most of the time we don't prioritize nourishing the relationship that we have with them. And I had this realization recently that I don't want to get to the end of my life and regret not nourishing those most important relationships. I honestly think that would be one of my biggest regrets and I know that I'm not going to wish that was skinnier. I know that I'm not going to wish that I worked out more and weighted less. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt though, that I am going to wish that I spent more time with the people that I loved and making memories and experiences.
And so even if it's inconvenient sometimes this year, I'm going to make the effort in 2022. I'm going to call more. I'm going to show up more. I'm going to create more memories. We cannot get time back so I'm going to ensure that I'm making the most of it with the loved ones that I have in my life. We never know what each day is going to bring or when we're going to lose somebody. So shoot a text to your mom and tell her that you love her more and make a quick call to your grandma and check in with her more. Nourishing these relationships don't need to be big or grand gestures or buying plane tickets all the time. It can simply be FaceTiming more, texting more, calling, more, sending more photos, sending more updates, quickly checking in on them, and sending them a short sweet message.
I've realized that it's not hard to do. You just need to be more intentional with doing it. So I want to ask you, who are the people in your life that you really want to nourish your relationship this year? Is it your family? Is it your friends? Is it your coworkers? I'm sure you have at least one, two, or three people that you immediately identify in your brain. Those are the people right now that I want to encourage you to stop and send them a quick text message. Give them a quick call, send them a photo. I know personally that I always love sending little voice messages just because I can hear their voice and it truly makes my day when someone does that to me so I can't imagine how another person feels. And like I said before, we always feel better when we give to people because it is better to give than it is to receive.
And so when you do give yourself and when you are giving yourself intentionality, you will always get it back tenfold. Okay. So let me recap those seven unconventional habits that I'm going to be adopting this year in 2022, number one, I'm going to stop filtering myself. For me, that personally is sharing my faith more on my platforms. But what does that mean for you? What are the parts of yourself that you're filtering from the world? Number two, I'm committed to hustling less. I want us to start praising rest and happiness instead. Number three, realize it's good enough. I'm going to be shooting for 70% and be okay with that. Remember that it will save you so much time and energy and that done is better than perfect. Number four, give more compliments. One simple compliment can change the way that someone views themselves and literally it takes no energy to do.
Remember that challenge that I had for you, the first week for a month, try doing four compliments per week for a month. When you hit that, bump it up to five compliments for a month, and then when you hit that, bump it up to six compliments and so on and so forth. Number fives, start setting clear boundaries, look at the areas of your life this year that you need to set more boundaries to help you have a healthier 2022 mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. Number six, go-with-the-flow more often, if it is out of your control, say it is what it is and this too shall pass and number seven, make sure the meaningful relationships in your life are being nourished. At the end of your life, you're not going to regret not weighing less. You're going to regret not nourishing your relationships more. So there you have it.
Those are the seven unconventional habits that I'm going to be adopting in 2022. I would love to hear if any of these resonated with you, which ones you're going to adopt, or if you have some other unconventional habits that you plan to adopt this year, I would love to know. So be sure to screenshot this, post it up on your story, tag me, Julie Ledbetter, also tag Embrace Your Real. And I would love, love, love to hear from you. If you have a friend or a coworker or a sister or someone in your life that you feel like would really benefit from this episode. I just ask that you share that with them. You can copy the link, send it to them in a text message, or you can simply post it up on your Instagram story like I mentioned earlier, and you can tag those friends as well and encourage them to tune in to this episode. Thanks again for tuning in and I'll talk to you in the next one.
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 are not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so, at juliealedbetter. Yes, it's with a name in the middle. For that daily post-workout real talk, healthy tips and tricks, and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart and 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 to me 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.