The Power of Learning Something New

by | HABITS & GOALS | 2 comments

I’m always learning something new! And I love that!
Learning is the process of acquiring new or modifying existing knowledge, behaviours, skills, values or preferences.

If you think about it, learning does not stop when you finish school or university. Learning presents itself in everyday activities, in engaging with people at work, in reading an article online or in the newspaper, a good book, or having great conversations with friends & family. We hold the power of learning something new!
We can always learn something new from a situation or from someone’s point of view. 
It’s through learning that you get in touch with who you are, you discover what you are capable of and you realize how much potential you have to grow, expand your views, experience new things and help others along the way.
It’s an amazing feeling to learn something new, whatever that new thing might be and be able to share it with someone else.
Spend some time with yourself and learn from your own experience!
Perhaps you want to create new habits, get rid of the old ones that don’t serve you anymore!
Get rid of the fear of starting something new, invest in yourself, you deserve it!
Don’t let yourself live in “I don”t know”. If you really don’t know, create a plan to figure it out. When you live in “I don’t know”, you stay stuck. The cure to being stuck is taking action.

Learn something new! It’s an amazing experience!

Ulrich Boser says:
“Learning is a learned behaviour.”
“Many people mistakenly believe that the ability to learn is a matter of intelligence. ” 
“A growing body of research is making it clear that learners are made, not born. Through the deliberate use of practice and dedicated strategies to improve our ability to learn, we can all develop expertise faster and more effectively. In short, we can all get better at getting better.”
Today I want to share with you a few things that I’ve been learning from 3 amazing speakers I follow on social media.
Their stories are fascinating and their love for sharing their knowledge to help other people is captivating. They share the struggles, the tricks, what works, what doesn’t work, and the ways that we can live a better life, a more fulfilling life.
I follow these mentors on Instagram and YouTube and I can honestly say my views on a lot of topics have expanded tremendously since I started learning from these incredible human beings. They are truly an inspiration! 
Here they are;

Robin Sharma

Inspiration from Robin Sharma;
  • If you can be grateful every day, your life will change every day.
  • Dream Big. Start Small. Begin Now.
  • Celebrate your blessings. Write down the good things in your life.
  • Consistency is the mother of mastery.
  • Focus on the good instead of what is scarce.
  • Vague plans lead to vague goals.
  • With better awareness, you make better decisions.
  • Clarity breeds mastery.
  • Invest in mindset, heart set, ability, knowledge base.
  • What you do every day is far more important than what you do once every decade.
  • Small daily improvements over time will lead you to stunning results.

Mel Robbins

Inspiration from Mel Robins;
  • Learn to be kind to yourself. You are good enough. Enjoy and celebrate small winnings.
  • Don’t beat yourself up. Don’t let any unkind thought linger. Autocorrect as many times as you need.
  • Think thoughts that inspire you. Savour it out loud. Practice gratitude. Be proud of yourself.
  • Build the skill of happiness. Choose what you want.
  • It’s your job to push yourself. Do it! Trust yourself, don’t hesitate.
  • You can’t choose how you feel. You can’t control your feelings. But you can understand it.
  • You can always choose how you respond to how you feel.
  • You can always choose what you think and do. Feelings are natural.
  • Your behaviour and thoughts are a choice. This is where your power is.
  • Confidence is not the assuredness that it turns out, it’s the willingness to try.

Jim Kwik

Inspiration from Jim Kwik;
  • All great things begin on the inside.
  • Be responsible for how you feel!
  • Write in your journal every day. Practice gratitude every day.
  • Monitor your self-talk. Don’t listen to negativity.
  • You win the first hour of the day, you win the whole day.
  • Create a good morning routine to set up your day for success.
  • Motivation is the key to learning something new.
  • Manage the first hour of the day and the last hour of the day.
  • Set up your environment to win. 
We all need to feel inspired to learn something new, to make a change, to make the next move, to pursue those dreams! Empower yourself and go read, research, learn and execute! 

Take away

We need to cultivate the desire to learn in ourselves and in our children. 
One of the best ways to gain knowledge is through self-education. Period.
Never. Stop. Learning! Take action! Enjoy the ride! Share the learning with someone else!
How about you?

What have you learned lately?
Let me know in the comments, I would love to hear from you!

Creating New Habits To Change Your Life

by | HABITS & GOALS | 0 comments

Let’s talk about forming new habits. But first: What is the definition of a habit?

A habit is a routine of behaviour that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously. Habit formation is the process by which a behaviour, through regular repetition, becomes automatic or habitual.

I’m sure you will agree that there are so many areas in our lives that could be improved and made easier if we just created new habits. We all have times in our lives where we intentionally want to change our behaviour for the better and create new habits for ourselves.

This could be getting in the habit of eating healthier, getting up earlier and drinking more water. Or it could be moving more and taking the dog for a daily walk. Or it could be work-related, or spiritual, or…

We seem to acquire bad habits without any effort, but getting into a “good” habit can be a little more challenging. A good habit is a key to achieving health, success, financial stability, retirement and whatever you dream of achieving.

Getting into the habit of doing something is often easier said than done. Doing the work requires discipline.


Robin Sharma says: “It takes 66 days to install a new habit before it becomes automatic.” 66 days! Can you believe it?

Some people develop a new habit in 30 days or less, but the important point is, it’s no joke, it takes time and repetition to develop a new habit.

You need to have the can-do attitude to make a change.

If you are serious about creating that change for the better, then you are in the right place. I’m about to show you the 3 easy steps I follow to create change in my life. 

Now…
Let’s break down these 3 steps to make it even easier to follow until we’ve internalized the new behaviour and made it a true habit – something we do automatically without having to think about, like brushing our teeth. 

1. Decide What You Want To Do


The first step is to decide what you want that new habit to be. What do you want to change? Be as specific as possible.

We all have behaviours we want to improve. Think about that one thing that you want to change, remember to be specific. Don’t just tell yourself you want to exercise more, that’s too broad. Instead, say something like “I will go for a 30-minute walk every single day” or “I will get up at 5:00 am every morning”. 

Deciding what your new habit will be and committing to when and how you’re going to do it, is half the battle.  

2. Remind Yourself To Get It Done 

You’re motivated and excited to get this done. Sticking to your new habit isn’t an issue. But a few days in you’ll notice that it’s easy to slip back into old habits. Do you know why? Because it’s easier to do what you have always done!

If you always do what you have always done, you’ll stay the same way.

Change is hard, it requires patience and persistence! Don’t give up! I know all the excuses, believe me, I’ve used these many times too. Maybe it’s raining and you don’t really want to go out and walk. Or maybe your day just gets too busy and you don’t feel like doing the new thing.

This is when it’s important to have a daily reminder. Set an alert on your phone or add the new habit to your daily to-do list for a while.

Remember WHY you want to create this new habit, focus on the end goal! Stop making excuses! Excuses prevent you from living the life you want. Just do it! 

3. Make It Part Of Your Routine Until It Becomes A Habit 

It takes some time before a new behaviour becomes a true habit. Until then, a routine will work to your best advantage.

Even before the new behaviour becomes automatic, a routine will help you get it done without having to spend a lot of willpower or relying on daily reminders. Make that daily walk part of your after-dinner routine, or change from grabbing a snack at the vending machine at work at 10:00 in the morning to packing a healthy snack. Do what it takes to create the change! 

For me, getting up early in the morning is something I routinely do, it has become a habit. I’ve been waking up early for so many years, even when I want to sleep in, I can’t and instead of being annoyed I just embrace it. I love that!  

Take away 

Decide to create the new habit, practice the routine until it’s second nature and you’ll be well on your way to forming a new good habit.

It’s simple, it’s easy, it’s fun!

Say that to yourself out loud a few times and I’m sure you will get all pumped up to start creating new positive habits. LOL 🙂

What new habits would you like to create starting today?

Let me know in the comments below, I would love to hear from you!

Creating New Habits To Change Your Life

6 Simple Hacks To Help You Create New Habits

by | HABITS & GOALS | 0 comments

Creating new habits isn’t easy.
 
Here are six simple hacks that will make it a little easier. Use them until you’ve internalized the new habit and don’t need them anymore.
 
 

1. Schedule It And Put It On The To-Do List

 
Sometimes we forget to do that new thing we were trying. Maybe we forget that we’re supposed to be having eggs for breakfast instead of a stack of waffles, or that we need to get that daily walk in.
 
Schedule your new habits or make them part of your daily to-do list until they become something you do automatically.
 

2. Make It Public and Be Accountable

 
Let family and friends know what new habits you’re trying to establish. They will call you out if you don’t stick to your plan and get you back on track.
 
You may even go as far as sharing it publicly on Facebook or write a blog about your new journey. Knowing that others read it and know about it might be just enough to keep you going when you feel like throwing in the towel.
 
 

3. Piggyback On A Habit You Already Have

 
Whenever possible, add the new habit to the one you already have.
 
For example, if you fix a cup of tea or coffee at 4 pm, and you want to get in the habit of taking a daily walk, make the new ritual to go for your walk and then come back and enjoy your tea.
 
It’s much easier to amend an existing habit or ritual than creating an entirely new one.
 
 

4. Make Slipups Costly

 
Here’s a fun idea. Put a jar on the kitchen counter and each time you slip back into your bad habit or forget to stick to the new one you have to put five dollars in the jar.
 
It will quickly help you remember to skip that sugary food and motivate you to go out for that walk.
 
For extra motivation donate the money to charity at the end of the month or hand it over to your spouse to go spend on him or herself.
 
 

5. Find A Partner and Help Each Other Along

 
Find someone with the same or similar goal.
 
This could be a workout partner or a diet buddy. Keep tabs on each other and encourage each other to keep going.
 
It’s much harder to skip a walk if you know someone else is depending on you being there.
 
 

6. Make It A Group Challenge

 
If one accountability partner is good, a whole group is even better. And they don’t even need to be local.
 
Find a supportive group online and challenge each other to stick to your new habit for the next 30 days or so. Not wanting to be the first one to give up will keep all of you going until you establish that new habit.
 
Give these simple little hacks a try.
 
Keep using the ones that you find helpful until you have made new habits you can stick with without the help of any tools or support. 
 
These hacks will help you get started on your journey to living a more balanced, stress-free life.
 
Let me know how it goes in the comments below;
I would love to hear from you!
 
 Take care,
 
Giselle