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Stop Getting In Your Own Way! A Quick And Easy Idea To Take Action On Your Midlife Goals And Get Momentum

Episode 31 | (00:00):
Have you ever had days when you feel like you're just stumbling over yourself and getting in your own way? Then you are in for a treat today. Today, I'm going to give you a quick and easy way to take action on your midlife goals so you can get some momentum and get moving. What do you say? All right, let's do this!

(01:02):
Hey there, Easy Ager. Before I get started, I wanted to let you know that I have some fun things coming up in May, and I wanted to make sure you were one of the first people to receive the information. So if you're not already on the Easy Aging® Insider's list, go to TheEasyAgingShow.com and sign up for the list.

(01:20):
It's the second section down. It's a big, green button so you can't miss it. But I wanna make sure that you don't miss out on anything coming up in May and in the months afterward, all right?

(01:30):
So in the last couple of episodes, I gave you some midlife exercises to help you step into new qualities that you want to have and to help you get clear on what you want in your life. And both of these exercises require you asking yourself a question.

(01:47):
Now, if you haven't listened yet, or you haven't heard these. Or, if you're like me and you don't remember what these episodes were, they were episodes 29 and 30.

(01:56):
So go check those out and get those questions on your radar, okay? Because it requires a little time, a whopping two minutes to begin with. But you know, once you get started doing this, once you really get these questions in your mind, my hope is that you will keep them top of mind.

(02:13):
I hope that you'll be percolating on them and just letting them sit in the front of your mind so you can ponder and consider and think of new ways to answer the questions. Becauase there's always gonna be something new, something different that you can give as an answer to these questions.

(02:29):
I do hope you don't just listen to these podcasts and walk away, because everything I'm giving you is all about taking action. And that's what we're gonna be talking about today. Today's episode is all about an incredibly simple but effective way for you to take action.

(02:47):
Because as much time as I spend talking about mindset and perspective and clarity, you gotta get really clear on what you want and all of this, none of this is going to be happening unless you take an action. And sometimes, isn't taking the action the hardest part of all?

(03:05):
Here's a secret, come closer. Now I don't mean to alarm you, but planning and waiting are not going to get you any closer to your goals...even though I am a very big fan of planning and waiting and really making sure that you're going in the right direction.

(03:25):
I love that. But at some point you're gonna have to take an action. And I can speak about this with great authority. Let me give you a little story about how I used to do this. See if you can relate to any of this.

(03:37):
I would decide I needed to figure something out. I need to get clear. What do I want? And I would pray and I'd meditate. And I would think, and I would pause, and I would journal, and I would ask myself questions, like, "What do I really want? What would make me truly happy?...

(03:53):
What intrigues me? What do I want to experience? What do I want to explore? What do I want to enjoy more of?" And then I would get really clear. I'd go, "Oh, that's exactly what I want." And then I would get a plan, and I'd see this plan coming together in my head.

(04:09):
I would write it down and I would journal about it. I would put it in my electronic calendar and I'd put it into my paper calendar. I would get so excited! I had this plan. I said, "I'm not gonna wait until Monday. No, no, I'm gonna start tomorrow."

(04:25):
And I would get ready for tomorrow. I'd have everything laid out or do whatever it is I was gonna do. And then the alarm would go off and what would happen? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Zilch, zero, nada.

(04:37):
A big reason I didn't take action was because the actions were just too huge. They were too massive. And I had scared my brain so much, it would just move into paralysis. It was not going anywhere. That's why I'm always encouraging fun-sized actions here.

(04:53):
Here, we only use little bite-sized nuggets of action to get you to the next step, all right? So don't ever worry about things being overwhelming here.

(05:02)
If they're overwhelming, you need to take a big deep breath and step back and break up your plan because you should not move into paralysis or overwhelm over any of your action plans, okay?

(05:12):
If you wanna know more about scaring your brain and how your brain works and how your brain really is there to protect you and keep you in your comfort zone, go to episode five.

(05:23)
If you haven't heard that yet or you wanna re-listen, go back to episode five and that's when I gave you kind of the scoop on how your brain works, all right?

(05:31):
Back to my story. I said, "You know, I'm just, I'm overwhelmed. How can I break this up?" So I started breaking things up. I started taking tiny actions, and I started having more success.

(05:39)
Because I knew I needed a way to get me up and taking action, to get me up and moving and to actually get me moving toward the goal, right?

(05:47):
Once I got the momentum, I was okay. But I realized the initial moving from stillness to doing, to taking an action, that was the hard part for me.

(05:58):
Back in 2017, Mel Robbins wrote a book called The 5 Second Rule: Transform Your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage. When I heard about this book, I ran over to the library and checked it out quickly because I was going, "Huh? The five-second rule?"

(06:12):
I don't know about you, but when I hear "five-second rule," I'm thinking about food that has been dropped on the ground. Don't tell anybody, but just between you and me, I still apply this rule. I mean, if it's my food. If it's somebody else's food, I don't really worry about it. (I don't randomly go picking up food off the ground.) ;)

(06:29):
But I said, "Five-second rule? That just sounds...hmm. I wonder what that's about?" So the reason Mel Robbins created this rule because she wanted to stop hitting the snooze button. And the rule is really about making five-second decisions in your life.

(06:44):
Because no matter how much you plan, no matter how clear you are, no matter how developed and ready to go your mindset is, honestly it's really all about taking these little fun-sized actions to get you to your goal.

(06:57):
So let me tell you how it works. Let's use getting out of bed. That's a really good example, right? You're in your bed. It's so warm and so toasty. And then your alarm goes off, and you turn off your alarm and then there's this millisecond where you have to make a decision.

(07:14):
Are you gonna roll over and go back to sleep? Or are you going to get up and start moving about your day? Here's the rule, the five-second rule. All you do is a countdown like they do for a rocket ship.

(07:26):
So for me, for example, getting up out of bed, I'd be lying there and I'd say, "5, 4, 3, 2, 1, up!" And then I would be sitting up in my bed. Then I would get my bearings to make sure I wasn't, you know, dizzy or lightheaded or anything, and I would quickly say, "5, 4, 3, 2, 1, stand up!"

(07:47):
And I would stand up out of my bed, and I would do kind of a quick stretch just to get the kinks out real quickly. And then once I was standing, I would immediately start walking to the bathroom. I'd get to the bathroom, do my business, splash my face with water, grab the toothpaste, grab the toothbrush.

(08:02):
Now, by this point, I've got my momentum. I'm not going back to bed. I've already splashed my face with water. I'm waking up, I'm brushing my teeth, and I've already started my day. So nothing's gonna change. I've already got my momentum, and I'm moving into my day.

(08:17):
Let me tell you one of the best things is about this five-second rule. You can use it for just about anything. I have 54321'd myself into going for a walk when I didn't feel like it.

(08:30)
I have 54321'd myself into getting a glass of water. I was thirsty, but I was being kind of lazy. I was sitting on the couch and I knew I needed to drink more water so I was like, "5-4-3-2-1, get up!" All right, I'm up. Let's just go grab some water real quick.

(08:45):
I have 54321'd myself into calling a friend when I wasn't really sure I wanted to talk. Have you ever had that when you're like, "Oh, I wanna check in on so and so but, hmm, I don't feel like talking."

(08:55)
And then I started thinking about it, and then I started overthinking it, and then I started analyzing it. And it went back and forth. "Should I? Should I not call?"

(09:02)
Let me tell you, when you start overthinking things, that's when you do not take action and this is what this beautiful, little five-second rule is for. It keeps you from overthinking and getting into the muck and the mire of analyzing and figuring it out.

(09:18):
"Well, should I call? Should I not call? Do I feel like calling?" You know, this is ridiculous. I do that all the time, so this little rule has kept me out of that. And I use it for just about everything.

(09:28):
But let me tell you (and you may be experiencing this too). When I heard it and when I found out what it was: it is so simple. There is a part of my brain that wants to dismiss it. It's like, "Oh my gosh, that's so simple. That's gotta be so silly. Really. Seriously? No, that's not gonna work."

(09:46):
But I can testify to the fact that it does work. So I would suggest you give it a try for yourself and then you can decide. How's that?

(09:55)
The folks I have given this to have loved it too, because it's all about action. It's all about getting out of the overthinking and the analyzing and just taking an action.

(10:05):
It is completely action-focused and sometimes, that's really all we need to do to make our dreams come true, right? Take the action.

(10:16):
I do hope this helps you as you are taking action on your own goals and moving yourself forward. So that's it for today. One more time, if you are not already an Easy Aging® Insider, come on over to TheEasyAgingShow.com and sign up today.

(10:33):
And be sure to share these episodes with another midlifer who could benefit because you know what? I feel like once we hit 40 and beyond, we're all in this together, all right? So until next time, peace, love and blessings to you and yours. Take care. Bye-bye!

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