Hi guys! Welcome to Episode 204 of the Wildly Successful Lifestyle podcast! I want to first of all thank you so much for sharing episodes with your friends and people that love self growth as much as we do! I appreciate it and I know they do too. So thank you from the bottom of my heart.
This last week, I was getting some coaching and I was talking about success and my thoughts about it and she asked me if I have a clearly defined idea of what success looks like for me so that I actually know when I reach it.
That was a simple question but pretty insightful because I had not specifically defined it actually so how would I ever know.
Well. That made me think about other areas where I could get specific on what I wanted. One thing I write in my journal every day is I want to be the best version of myself daily. Every day I want to show up as the best version of me. I asked myself though, how exactly does that look? Because there are a few things I make sure I do every day…meditation and journaling for starters but that’s a very small portion of my day. Now that helps me show up better but it doesn’t define exactly for the entire day how the best version of me looks. So I got specific. The best version of me starts my day with meditation, journaling and a positive input of some kind to calibrate my mind to good things. The best version of me now exercises at least 5 days a week. (Used to be 6 but I found with my nutrition being what it is, that’s unnecessary.). The best version of me is present with my friends and family when I’m with them and is intentional about my time. I won’t go through all of them but you get the idea. And then I thought why don’t I show up like this sometimes?
What stops me from that? What gets in the way? And I realized I was missing a piece of the puzzle. I also needed to do a list of what the best version of me does NOT do. And boy when I started that list it hit me, how unconscious we can be to the things that we do that are hindering our success. So the best version of me does NOT spend more than 30 minutes accumulating per day on social media across the board. This is such a big one because that little phone, and all those little “harmless” so we think, social media apps were one of the biggest reasons that hinders me being the best version of me. You’re dying to know why so I’ll tell you.
It’s often the first place I go if I’m feeling anxious or if my mind sees a break in action. You see instead of allowing my brain to rest or create, it often wants to be entertained or distracted and it’s so easy to allow that distraction because it’s just the norm now right?
Social media also makes me feel anxious. I have found that my anxiety level is in direct correlation with the amount of social media I allow in. Everyone’s raging at something and if they aren’t raging they are showcasing their perfectly filtered body or face. Everyone is pushing their agenda. It’s not harmless anymore. It’s the reason so many of us are anxious. I don’t know if it ever even was harmless as I see the damage we are doing across the board.
And if it doesn’t make you anxious at the very least it is taking you away from being present with your friends and family. I was in line at Starbucks this week and you know how those lines are…they’re like Chic fil a without the efficiency. But the car in front of me and the car behind me both had an adult in the driver seat and a kid in the passenger seat. Both adults were heads down on their phone and both kids were doing the same. What could be more important than that precious time with your teen after you pick them up from school? I remember that being a time where my mom or dad and I and my brother and sister would just talk about our day and what was going on. Is that a thing anymore?
So obviously, the best version of me does NOT include unlimited time scrolling. A little bit here and there is fine, if I can manage it without going down a rabbit hole. Moving my apps to the last page of my iPhone has been a lifesaver. But it’s too big of a deterrent to everything on the other list. In fact it’s the biggest deterrent. The main one. There’s other things on that list as well. Choosing 2 days a week that I allow myself to drink. Alcohol that is…Eckart Tole says there are two ways to quiet the negative thoughts in your brain…which we all have one is to rise above it, the other is to fall below it. Drinking allows you to fall below it, meditation allows you to rise above it. So both are effective, which means the mind will want to continue in whatever habit we pick up…One is good for you long term, the other not so much.
Don’t say unkind things. My mind just the other day saw an outfit on someone that I judged in my head and I was about to say out loud to my friend my thoughts, but then I remembered…If it’s not kind, I’m not saying it. You see? It makes you very aware when you know what the best version of you doesn’t do. Another thing…I quit when things get hard and I don’t say yes when I want to say no. Let me tell ya. I could keep going but you get the idea.
So those two things…what the best version of you DOES do and What the best version of you Doesn’t do…that’s the way you know when you’re being the best version of you and when you’re not.
So my challenge to you for today is to make a list of what the best version of you does and then make a list of what the best version of you DOESN’T do. And don’t skip that second list..it will surprise you how aware you’ll become of the things you do regularly that subtly hinder your success.
Share this episode with 3 people, if you want to do more that’s fine too. I love you guys and I’ll talk to you in a few days.
