2950: Challenging Your Inner Voice AND Why You Should Make Time to Celebrate Your Achievements by Chalene Johnson

[00:00:00] This is Optimal Living Daily, Episode 2950, Challenging Your Inner Voice and

[00:00:06] Why You Should Make Time to Celebrate Your Achievements both by Chalene Johnson of chalenejohnson.com

[00:00:12] and I'm Justin Malik, the guy that reads to you every single day of the year including weekends and holidays

[00:00:17] two posts today so let's get right to them as we optimize your life

[00:00:22] Challenging Your Inner Voice by Chalene Johnson of chalenejohnson.com

[00:00:32] Lasting success is powerfully tied to your beliefs.

[00:00:36] Your beliefs are also shaped by the conversations you're having all day long with others

[00:00:41] and most powerfully by the conversation you're having in your head.

[00:00:45] It might be time to start challenging your inner voice.

[00:00:48] What does your sound like? What does it say?

[00:00:51] Do you hear, you're a loser, you're fat and the only chance you have of people liking you is if you're skinny.

[00:00:58] You'll never be strong enough to do this so just give up.

[00:01:02] Bright Side

[00:01:03] The good news is that this cruel punishing voice that crushes your spirit can be silenced.

[00:01:09] If you make a conscious decision to succeed, those words will be silenced by challenging that inner voice.

[00:01:16] You'll have the strength to silence it.

[00:01:19] Whether you believe you'll reach your goal and maintain a happy wait for the rest of your life

[00:01:23] or that you've wasted time listening to this post either way, you're right.

[00:01:27] Your mentality going in dictates your outcome.

[00:01:31] Whatever you believe about dieting, you're probably right.

[00:01:35] Whatever you believe about your abilities, your good luck or misfortune,

[00:01:39] your opportunities, the condition of your relationships, you're probably right.

[00:01:44] Those who believe they can lose 100 pounds but also worry they'll gain it back are correct.

[00:01:49] Those who believe they can lose 100 pounds and will keep it off also correct.

[00:01:54] It starts with what you believe.

[00:01:57] Habits

[00:01:59] Your beliefs are also shaped by your habits.

[00:02:02] What you believe about yourself shapes the course of your life.

[00:02:05] So along with swapping that negative inner voice for a more positive, powerful one,

[00:02:10] you must forge new, positive habits.

[00:02:13] Now I've got your back.

[00:02:15] I'll teach you simple, daily habits that will lead you to lasting success.

[00:02:20] Once you decide to succeed, you must give up thinking like a lifelong dieter.

[00:02:25] You've got to lose the dieter's mentality.

[00:02:28] That dieter's mentality has conditioned you to view dieting as a temporary prison sentence.

[00:02:33] You end up cheating with bad food and then you get judged and punished by yourself.

[00:02:39] And you can handle it for a while until one day life deals you an insane amount of cr-

[00:02:45] and you just can't take it anymore.

[00:02:47] You rationalize that you're entitled to a cookie and scarf it down.

[00:02:51] But you've just had the worst day ever so screw it, you deserve another cookie.

[00:02:55] Then just one more.

[00:02:57] A sleeve of cookies later you concede.

[00:03:00] You've blown it just like you knew you would.

[00:03:03] You might as well enjoy that bag of chips and a few spoonfuls of ice cream at this point.

[00:03:08] Discuss it with yourself.

[00:03:09] You decide you'll start over but you'll wait after your upcoming vacation.

[00:03:14] You're disappointed in yourself, unmotivated, and certain you'll never get off this roller coaster.

[00:03:21] Break out, challenging your inner voice.

[00:03:24] Bust out of the prison of shame and guilt, the one you built.

[00:03:29] You're a winner.

[00:03:30] From this day forward, success is your only option, it's the only choice you have.

[00:03:35] If I told you your family's life depended on you going the next five days with no food,

[00:03:41] no water, and no sleep, could you do it?

[00:03:44] Yes.

[00:03:45] Sit up straight, smile, and have the confidence of knowing you've already mastered the first step.

[00:03:51] You've just realized this whole thing hinges on your decisions to do, not to try.

[00:03:57] So let's do.

[00:03:59] Take a moment and think about the challenging conversations you've had with that inner voice.

[00:04:04] Make a conscious decision to put that voice to rest.

[00:04:08] That voice can only be quieted by your decision to believe in you.

[00:04:12] I want you to believe so strongly in whatever's in your heart that you're willing to shout it from the rooftops.

[00:04:23] Why you should make time to celebrate your achievements by Shalene Johnson of ShaleneJohnson.com.

[00:04:30] If you think of life like seasons, most people do two out of four.

[00:04:35] What I mean is that people typically create and work if we get to celebrate.

[00:04:40] It's easy to get caught up in endless projects and being constantly on the go,

[00:04:44] but if we don't take time to celebrate, we'll forget why we're working in the first place.

[00:04:49] I'm hoping that I can teach you how to add a harvest season into your life

[00:04:53] and remember to celebrate your successes instead of reaching milestones and just moving along to the next one.

[00:05:00] What is a harvest season?

[00:05:02] I typically approach work in four seasons or categories.

[00:05:06] Creation, Growth, Harvest and Fallow.

[00:05:11] The first two are pretty easy to understand. Creation is where I come up with new ideas

[00:05:16] and growth is where I work on turning an idea into a reality.

[00:05:20] Harvest is where I celebrate my achievements.

[00:05:23] It may sound strange, but sometimes you just need to stop and enjoy what you've accomplished

[00:05:28] much like farmers do in the autumn during harvest season.

[00:05:31] We have to celebrate what our ideas grew into and give ourselves a pat on the back.

[00:05:37] Without this celebration, we only have working time and not working time, which can be very daunting.

[00:05:43] I used to see harvest as scarcity because I felt like if I wasn't working, I was wasting,

[00:05:49] but that's the exact opposite of harvest.

[00:05:52] Now, I make sure to take time off after a huge accomplishment

[00:05:55] and it's helping me enjoy the whole process.

[00:05:59] How to add a harvest season?

[00:06:02] Now that you know what I mean when I say harvest, it's time to change your habits

[00:06:06] to allow yourself some downtime to celebrate.

[00:06:09] It all starts with gratitude and praise for yourself.

[00:06:13] I know this can be hard, but start small and work up to something larger.

[00:06:18] As an example, if I spend my day filming videos, the next day is a harvest day

[00:06:22] where I may get my hair done or lounge around the house.

[00:06:26] Typically, if I have a really full day with lots of work, the next day is a harvest day.

[00:06:31] I use my time to mentally reflect on the big deal all that work was

[00:06:36] and take a moment to celebrate.

[00:06:38] You have to realize what you accomplished and let yourself enjoy it.

[00:06:42] This can be tough at first, but it was for me.

[00:06:45] To hold yourself accountable, try enlisting someone else to help you celebrate.

[00:06:49] It could also be helpful to make a list of things that are worth celebrating

[00:06:53] which can help you see why it's okay to take a day off and reflect.

[00:06:57] There are tons of ways to celebrate from small stuff like more computer time

[00:07:02] or lounging around and watching a movie to large celebrations

[00:07:06] like family vacations and spa days.

[00:07:09] The important thing to remember is that it's okay to celebrate

[00:07:13] and you deserve to because you earned it with your hard work and dedication.

[00:07:17] You must give yourself permission to celebrate

[00:07:20] because you want to be a role model who celebrates success.

[00:07:24] Too often we think it's counterproductive to celebrate success,

[00:07:28] to take time out to reflect and have downtime,

[00:07:32] but it strengthens our work ethic and reminds us that we're amazing.

[00:07:36] So take time and make room in your life for harvest season.

[00:07:45] You just listen to the posts titled,

[00:07:47] Challenging Your Inner Voice

[00:07:49] and why you should make time to celebrate your achievements

[00:07:52] both by Shalene Johnson of ShaleneJohnson.com

[00:07:56] Take it to Shalene, with the first post about challenging your inner voice

[00:08:00] she had a little challenge and this is to write out something

[00:08:04] your inner voice is saying that isn't helpful.

[00:08:07] As an example it might be you weren't strong enough to do this

[00:08:10] so just give up and then write out something challenging it.

[00:08:14] So in this example it could be I believe I'm strong enough

[00:08:18] and I refuse to give up.

[00:08:20] It can definitely help to write it out

[00:08:22] maybe even cross out the first sentence and circle the second.

[00:08:26] As for the other post, it's something I could do more of

[00:08:29] and it makes a lot of sense.

[00:08:31] Acknowledging these moments and really celebrating them

[00:08:34] no matter how big or small

[00:08:36] can be a reminder of what we're capable of

[00:08:39] but also be sort of rejuvenating

[00:08:41] and if we're always celebrating those good behaviors

[00:08:44] there's likely a much bigger chance that we'll continue those

[00:08:47] and push out the bad in the meantime

[00:08:50] which relates back to the first post

[00:08:52] kind of cool how that worked out

[00:08:54] but with that wishing you a great rest of your day

[00:08:57] thank you for listening and optimizing every day with me

[00:09:00] and I'll be back tomorrow where your optimal life awaits.