Pocketful of Mojo
Pocketful of Mojo
Routines: Friend or Foe?
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Ever wondered why some routines propel you forward while others feel like a chore? Discover the secret sauce to creating personalized routines that truly unlock your potential. We promise you'll walk away with practical tools to tailor your daily habits to align with your unique goals and values. Listen in as we dissect why rigid routines often fail and how starting small, even with just five minutes a day dedicated to a daunting goal, can build momentum and confidence over time.
Reconstructing your life during vulnerable times isn't just possible—it's essential. In this episode of Pocketful of Mojo, I share personal stories of incorporating joyful activities like Pilates and dance parties to lay a strong foundation for my day. Learn why protecting time for self-care and treating routine deviations with grace is crucial for mental and emotional well-being. We also explore the concept of "zipper merging" in both driving and life, emphasizing the need for mindfulness and intention. Your routines should not be burdens; they should inspire and uplift you, ensuring they align with your values and personal goals without becoming overwhelming. Tune in to find out how you can make your routines work for you.
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Welcome to Pocketful of Mojo, where you're, you and I'm, steph, and we tune in here to tap into some Mojo. Well, what do you mean? What's mojo? You see, mojo is that unshakable feeling of confidence, booming self-worth. Like you're an unstoppable force of nature, and I'm here to show you how you can have that feeling every single day. You see, I think I've cracked the code to being happy. I'm happy all the freaking time every day, at least most of the day, possibly to an annoying degree, but hey, it wasn't always this way. And not to flex, but I've had breakdowns on multiple continents and in two languages, but by paying attention and living with more intention, paying attention and living with more intention. I've curated a self-love first aid kit full of amazing tools that help me out of life's most sticky and stressful situations, and I do so with grace and self-care. And I'm not here to gatekeep. In fact, I'm on a mission to help you tap into your best stuff and remember that you have everything you need to live life on your own terms. So settle in. We are here for some positive change. So let's dig in to where your mojo beats the road.
Speaker 1:In today's episode, I'm going to review our mantra for the week, and then we're going to go and dig into today's main topic, which is routines friend or foe, and plot twist. We're taking it on the road again, this time with better audio. Thanks for hanging in there, folks. So you stick around and I'm going to make sure that you're glad that you did. Let's get started with today's mantra and get tuned in, tapped in and turned on. Hello, hello, hello and welcome.
Speaker 1:This is the 32nd episode of Pocketful of Mojo. Once again, I'm Steph, how you doing? I'm your mojo maven, your soul sister, your emotional Sherpa, and I'm so glad you're here. I'm here to reflect your awesomeness and your potential back to you. So let's settle in.
Speaker 1:Let's start by digging into today's mantra, and that mantra is my routines, help me grow into my potential. Ooh, this mantra is locked and loaded for today's topic, so let's unpack it together, shall we? My routines, help me grow into my potential. Your routines, that's right, they're yours. You get to decide what they are. So often we get bombarded with gurus and experts that prescribe to us what a good daily routine or morning or exercise routine can look like, and then we get so defeated and frustrated when they don't work out the way that we want them to. You know why? Because you're not them. Newsflash, babe what's good for the goose is not always good for the gander. And these all come to us because we have a shared desire for an end result. But maybe the formula just isn't right. This is your chance to take back ownership of your routine and make sure that it's working for you. My routines help me grow into my potential.
Speaker 1:Routines are designed to help you, not add more to your to-do list or make you feel like shit, and so often that ends up being the case with routines, which just makes your routine feel like your enemy. A good routine is rooted in you, your goals, your values, what's important to you. So you gotta ask yourself what is my goal here, how do I want to feel, where do I want to go and how do I want to get there? So figuring out what works for you may take a bit of trial and error. So making sure that your approach is flexible and adaptable will give you the permission you need to design a routine that serves your goals in all aspects. A routine that makes you feel like you're doing something for the sake of doing something has missed the point entirely. A good routine should propel you forward and contribute to your goals. The goal is not the routine. Write that down. My routines help me grow into my potential.
Speaker 1:Growth is dynamic. Growth means that you are in constant motion by learning, paying attention, setting intention, measuring success and making sure that there are checkpoints so that the desired end result is the driving force. In this exercise, sometimes we set routines in place for comfort, for security, for predictability. We know what we want to get out of a routine, but it's important to remember why we are doing these activities. The spirit and the energy that we bring to everything we do matters. Routines are no different, so it's natural to assume that, as you leverage your routines to move yourself and your goals forward, it's paramount that you allow some flexibility and adaptability to your routines to grow with you, and as you do that, you're going to be able to point out and identify the things that need a tweak from time to time. There are no rules here, my friend, so the key ingredient to a good routine is that it works for you and not the other way around. My routines help me grow into my potential. Your potential is limitless and I truly mean this and believe it with every fiber of my being. You can do anything, but you can't do everything. So leverage the power of routines to serve you and your potential, even if that means stepping outside of your comfort zone.
Speaker 1:One of the best routines I ever started began with simply putting five minutes a day towards a huge, scary goal. That's it five minutes. Some days that was all I had the courage to do, but over time I was able to build momentum which gave me confidence and motivation to maybe put in 10, 15, 20 minutes towards my goal. And you know what? Now my big, scary goal has bloomed into my full-time passion. But I had to start from where I was, and now you have all the tidbits so that you can too. Where will you start? Mojarrino, the secret to your future is hidden in your routine. My routines help me grow into my potential.
Speaker 1:And now over to our correspondent on the road, safely and hands-free, thanks to her new lapel mic. Ladies and gentlemen, and everyone in between, your Mojo Maven Steph on the Road. Okay, I hope this is working. We're doing it again. This is Mojo on the Road and we're talking about routines, routines, routines friend or foe. This is what we're here to decide and I don't think this has to be a debate. I don't know if I feel super strongly to like, be like it's all one thing. I think it can be both.
Speaker 1:When I think about routines, I think about when I used to work at Starbucks. We had these things called repeatable routines, and it was the way for us as, like a multi-store operation, we were trying to get the same end result every time. And that's where routines come in really handy. It takes a big task, it breaks it down to little tasks and it's repeatable and it's designed I think routines are designed to be efficient and effective and you can count on it, and so it serves a really good purpose when you want a repeatable end result and you want to be able to count on it. So it's almost like a routine, is like a formula.
Speaker 1:And when I come back to the theme of like friend or foe well, how could that be bad? Well, I'm here to discuss and unpack a little bit of the idea that routines may be limiting our potential. So how do we take the idea of a routine and break it down in such a way that it can be our friend without limiting our potential, without limiting ourselves and our mindset? Because I think sometimes what happens when we get into a routine is that it can turn into a rut if we're not paying attention, if we're not being mindful, if we're not paying attention, if we're not being mindful, if we're not connecting our routine to our goal right, like I think about my morning routine that I need to do a better job of. Well, my morning routine is not the problem, it's my night routine. I have no problem executing my morning routine, but my night routine is big time getting in my way. So you know, we we sometimes fall into routines without meaning to like, if we're not paying attention, we could just find ourselves like oh well, when I finished dinner, I I do the dishes and then I watch TV and then I fall asleep in front of the TV. Like I do the dishes and then I watch TV and then I fall asleep in front of the TV, and I do that every single night.
Speaker 1:That may or may not be the story for you, but the question is is that serving you? Is that helping you? Is that aligned with your goals and where you want to go? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe that's how you exercise your downtime. But this conversation is really designed for us to be able to start asking these questions Are my, are my routines working for me? Are my routines limiting me? Because I think that there's also like for me. I love structure. You give me some type of plan structured. I love checking boxes, I love doing things in order. But that's got. It's got to be centered on something that I really want to do, because the danger is to get stuck in your routine and have your routine not serve you.
Speaker 1:And when I was putting my life back together slowly and I was still kind of in my zombie state of grief, I honestly couldn't make a plan for tomorrow or next week, like that's how. I was just really really vulnerable and really in a cocooning stage. So making short term plans, medium term plans, I it was just beyond my capacity, and so I started to collect things that made me happy. I started to just collect things that I liked to do and it started really simple. I mean, it started with doing the crossword. I liked doing the crossword every day and so I would do the crossword, like while I was getting dinner ready, and then I found that that wasn't why would I take something that I really want to do and like multitask my way around it Like. That didn't make sense.
Speaker 1:So my routine of doing the crossword while I was making dinner didn't serve me because that activity of doing the crossword wasn't in the right place. It was the right activity. It just wasn't in the right time of day because I wasn't able to start it and finish it in one sitting. I would have to, like, get up and, you know, flip the burgers or turn on the oven or whatever it was. It wasn't uninterrupted, it wasn't protected. So I added something to my routine but I didn't protect it.
Speaker 1:So then I figured out to put all the things that I do for myself at the top of the day, and this was a really big aha moment in being able to develop and craft my own morning routine simply by paying attention to things that made me feel how I wanted to feel. So I broke it down into like mind, body, soul. For my mind, I do the crossword and the Sudoku. For my body, I do Pilates or a good old-fashioned dance party and those are so fun. And so doing that meditation, doing that visualization, and I found that it doesn't have to be a big production. I can simply go downstairs, sit crisscross applesauce on my couch, look out the front window and just let that be my meditation, just sit in my body for five minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes, whatever I feel called to. But that's protected time.
Speaker 1:And when I did all these activities, at the end of my day, it was really easy to talk myself out of it. It was really easy to be like, oh, I've done too much today, I don't have time for this, I don't have the energy for this. To be like, oh, I've done too much today, I don't have time for this, I don't have the energy for this. So I'm sending myself the message that I don't have time for my own wellness routine. Oh. So that quickly got shifted and I said let's do this at the top of the day. Let's start the day with intention, with the wind at my back, set up for success, and I get to actively show myself that what's important to me matters most. So that's what's getting my best energy, it's what's getting my first energy.
Speaker 1:And what I found out was that that gave me more energy to then go and do the things that I needed to do, whether it was for other people or to work on my own projects or whatever it was. I was able to do whatever those things was from a place of being grounded, aligned, charged, tuned in, tapped in, turned on. And that was a huge game changer, because from there I was able to navigate problem solving from sturdier footing and be able to see things a little bit more clearly, because I had already kind of scratched that itch. I wasn't chasing it anymore. I didn't spend my day waiting for my me time to come. I filled my cup first, at the top of the day, and boy do I ever wish I'd learned that 10, 15 years ago.
Speaker 1:So I think routines can be friend and foe as long as we do it with intention and mindfully. And the great part about this is that there's no rules. You get to make it up. Sure, I'll let you go ahead. Oh, he waved. Yay, oh, that's a good Winnipegger. See, zipper merging works as long as everybody's paying attention. Zipper merging and routines all mastered with intention and by paying attention. So yeah, routines can be friend and foe. Because another little sneaky part about routines is that if they don't go according to plan, or let's say you skip a day without engaging in your routine, that's when your self-talk really gets tested and that's where your ability to navigate the deviation from the plan. That's going to put your self-love to the test, because if we're not treating these variations with grace, we can end up being really hard on ourselves, and I would hate to think that you're, you know, committed to this vision, vision but putting all the pressure on your routines to solve the problem.
Speaker 1:I just had a great conversation with someone about. You know, there's doing the thing for the sake of doing the thing, but the second that it becomes like an item to check off your to-do list. You've kind of missed the point. So if you're going on a mental health walk and you're like I need to go on my mental health walk, I have to go on my. Okay, great, I'm doing my mental health walk. Great, I've done my mental health walk. How come I still have mental health issues?
Speaker 1:Well, I say this with love, dear friend, what were you hoping to get out of the mental health walk? Right, it's about going into it mindfully. It's. I'm going to take this mental health walk to give myself some space to breathe. It's about taking the thought and extending it into an intention. I am taking this mental health walk so that I can slow down and get back to my natural, normal rhythm, so that I can regulate my nervous system so that I can go through life with more ease and peace, so that I can show myself some self-love and grace.
Speaker 1:Right like, if we're not actively participating in these kinds of thoughts and intentions, actively and having these kinds of conversations with ourselves, then ticking the box of going on a walk for 20 minutes is going to do jack shit for your mental health. So it's about the thing, but it's about. It's about the what, but it's how we combine the what and the how there's some real magic in that potion and how we put it all together and how we go about doing the thing, how you go about doing your routine, because a routine is intended to serve you, my friend. It is there and it is designed not for you to be a slave to it, but for it to truly serve you. So I guess what I want to do is throw it out to you to be like to reflect on your routines. What are your routines? Are they still there? Because it's just simply the way we've always done it.
Speaker 1:So this is a chance for us to interrogate our reality, to ask some questions. Yeah, yeah, sure, you can change lanes in the middle of an intersection yeah, that's a thing. All right. Uh-oh, construction Okay, I'm going to put the windows up. Hopefully it doesn't sound like jackhammering, because you've gone through enough. Audio nonsense. Hopefully that's all good. Audio nonsense, hopefully that's all good.
Speaker 1:So, when it comes back to the routines and it's time to interrogate them, look at them, because here's the beauty. There's no rules. Well, the rule is whatever works for you is the right routine, and maybe the routine is every morning you get up and you decide what your routine is. But this is a process, it's an evolution, but it comes with asking those really great questions what lights me up, what makes me feel unstoppable, what makes me feel lighter, what makes me feel inspired? These are the things that we want to begin to incorporate into our routines, because that's going to be the fuel that allows our inspiration to guide our actions, which allows us to achieve our goals.
Speaker 1:Whatever those goals are, this method and this systemology applies whether your goal is to get the big promotion, or your goal is to start your own business, or if your goal is to go back to school. This will always apply, because what I talk about with mojo mastery is all about building your toolbox to be able to navigate your life, and I'm not here to say that everybody's life needs to look the same Au contraire, mon frere. But your life should look like whatever you want it to look like, and hopefully these are the tools and methodologies and practical tips that you can continue to weave into your day toto-day, because it's not about blowing up your life in order to find happiness that's not how it works but it is a little bit about peeling away the parts of you that aren't working for you. So bringing routines into the conversation allows us to put our routines under the microscope for a minute and not judge it as good or bad, but simply ask the question is this serving me? Could this serve me better? What am I missing? What am I doing for the sake of doing, and what? If I let this go? I'll have a little bit more room to add something that maybe serves me a little better, maybe propels me forward a little bit faster, without any extra hard work, because more isn't necessarily more. So maybe your routines are too jam-packed, and taking that one thing away allows you to navigate your routine with a little bit more balance and allows you to feel like you've completed your routine because there's just the right amount of things on there.
Speaker 1:I have a five-step morning routine and my commitment and my agreement that I make with myself is my best days. I do all five things, but I don't do anything else unless I've done at least three of them. Because we need to be able to give ourselves some flexibility and adaptability, because the last thing I want is for you to go through this routine process and then you come across a day where you can't get it done and then you beat yourself up about it. That's not the point, my friend. We need to be able to know that a routine is rigid and life is not, so being able to have the heads up and see it coming that yeah, there's going to be days that I don't get to do my routine, and the answer to that is that's okay, god willing, there will be a chance to do it again tomorrow. And so when we let ourselves off the hook and we don't put all of our eggs in that basket, it kind of lets us navigate life with a little less stress and a little more freedom and a little more forgiveness and a little bit more self-compassion, because nobody's going to come to you and take away your gold star because you didn't do your routine today A hundred percent. What you can do is give yourself a gold star for not doing the routine and not beating yourself up about it. Make that part of the goal.
Speaker 1:I really struggled with my Pilates routine for a while there. So I just made the goal to myself well, I can skip one day, but I can't skip two days in a row. And that gave me a little bit of wiggle room to navigate and really tune into my body and say do I want to do this today, yes or no? Because that's what it's all about. It's about honoring yourself, your body, and we know that that is not a static state. There's going to be ups, there's going to be downs. So knowing that and giving ourselves the forgiveness and the permission to be able to navigate it, because we are doing what we are living life on our own terms, my friends. And so routines are there to help us steady the ship a little bit. Make sure that our compass is always pointed in the direction of our values and our goals, but we know that there's going to be waves that we don't see coming. So make sure that your routines are adaptable and flexible, but that comes with you and how you talk to yourself about these routines, self about these routines.
Speaker 1:So I would love to hear more about your routines, what you find successful things, little aha moments of things that you've added to your routines that have really made a big difference to you. I'm dying to hear what those are. So I'm going to wrap this up, but I would love to hear from you I'm going to shoot it back to myself in the studio where we're going to wrap up this episode but I really appreciate you tuning in to Mojo on the Road. It's been a slice and I can't wait to talk to you next week when we talk about balance. Ooh, hot topic balance Is it a myth or is it the secret sauce? So I got lots of juicy things to talk about with balance. Make sure you tune in next week and, by all means, if this is the kind of stuff you like to sink your teeth into and want to talk more about oh man, have I got something exciting coming up for you?
Speaker 1:I am currently developing the mojo method. This is the first time I've said it out loud on the airwaves, so you heard it here first. It is going to be a groundbreaking, game-changing course that is going to be available, so please stay tuned. Keep your eyes and ear balls open. I'm going to have a special episode dedicated to what that's going to be all about, so if you're curious, stick around. I got lots more to share with you. So thank you so much for coming on this road trip with me. It's been a blast. Oh, and look at that, just for nostalgic sake somebody else changed lanes in the middle of an intersection. Aw, isn't that sweet. At least I got a wave, all right, toodalooaroo, ciao for now. And that was pocket full of Mojo Road Trip Edition. Tune in next week to see if we do it again. But seriously, thank you so much for tuning in and I hope that this has helped you tap into some of that mojo of yours. You're worth it, baby, and now you've got the soundtrack in your head. That knows that too.
Speaker 1:When you feel like your mojo could use a tune-up, I've come up with a lot of ways that we could do this again sometime. If you like to read, I've got a weekly blog. Sign up today and you'll also get a weekly mojo magazine. That will be the best thing in your inbox all week. If Instagram is where you go for your inspo. You can also find me there as well. I got mantras, I got live connects and some insights that look you know just pretty. So you can find me at most definitely. And finally, if you're an action taker, then the seven day mojo makeover is for you. You're going to want to grab it now, before prices go up. All these cool links are easily found in the show notes, so go have a look. You're here anyway. I've got so much great stuff to share with you guys, so make sure you tune in next week and until then, stay classy, stay kind. Ciao. For now you.
