When Is The Right Time To Add In a NEW Habit? Learn How To Go From Starting Point to Stepping Stone
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If you're committed to the process of CHANGE that we teach here on the The Tough Love Mom Podcast, I know you're taking on ONE change in your journey at a time so it STICKS! Yay! Because I know you don't want to chronically fall off the wagon a few weeks into your complete lifestyle overhaul. No thank you.
But the big question... once you feel like that change is starting to stick, how do you know when it's the PERFECT time to add in another change so you can continue down this path to true lifestyle change? That's exactly what you're going to find out here!
At the start of my postpartum journey, I always started with a focus of doing a certain number of workouts a week. 4 to be specific.
After I mastered that, my focus became upping it by a day to 5 days a week.
Then, I began focusing on working out at a consistent TIME of day instead of just whenever I could fit it in.
All of this took a solid 4-5 months and it wasn’t until about 6 months postpartum when I transitioned to focusing in on nutrition more diligently.
My Starting Point was workouts per week.
A Starting Point is ONE action you get consistent with to get the ball rolling on your journey.
It takes time to master your Starting Point. Sometimes just a few weeks, sometimes a month or 2. It all depends on level of difficulty for you, your unique circumstances, and your past experiences with that piece of your journey!
So… what comes next?
Your Stepping Stone!
A Stepping Stone is the next ONE action you take on in your journey.
Notice the key word in all of this — ONE. Just one new action (or habit) at a time!
Your Starting Point and following Stepping Stones are normally within the same path. For me that was exercise and THEN I transitioned over to the nutrition path after a handful of months.
3 things to consider when determining if it’s time for YOUR next Stepping Stone i.e. adding in another action to your journey and truly making it HABIT —
How big of an obstacle was this action/Starting Point before?
A lot of women I work with tackle the BIGGEST obstacle first because that momentum you build snowballs and starts impacting other potential Stepping Stones
The bigger the obstacle, the longer this will take
How long have you been working at this habit?
The level of difficulty of this obstacle for you determines the length of time it'll take to become more natural and more ingrained
How do you REACT when you don't FEEL like following through?
There is a difference between reacting and responding
At first it will take a lot of intentional, conscious RESPONDING, but over time as it becomes a habit you'll be able to REACT naturally in the way you want to ideally
Before mastering this Starting Point, your reaction is likely putting off that habit — it's hard, not your norm, not EASY (which is all normal!)
Once you start to master it and make it part of who you are, your reaction will become more of an "it's hard but I can do it!"
In essence, you'll notice it's starting to feel easier
I want you to realize from all of this that YOU are unique!
Your experiences, your past, and your current journey all are pieced together to create where you're at TODAY. What you need to tackle first, how long it will take, and what your journey will look like is all unique to you!
That's a beautiful thing, so don't look outside of your journey to define what that might or SHOULD look like.
Blinders on!
Each habit will take different lengths of times, you'll have to factor in certain seasons of life or the year, take breaks from discipline, and take things more seriously at other times. RESPOND to where YOU are at and address what YOU need to address.
And above all, remember to take it on ONE thing at a time!
Are you ready to go from overwhelmed and stuck to disciplined and consistent in your journey?
Book your Starting Point Session and let's get you on track to your healthiest life!
FULL TRANSCRIPT
[00:00:00] If you're committed to the process of change that we teach here on the tough love mom podcast, I know that you're taking on one change in your journey at a time so that it sticks. And so you don't chronically fall off the wagon because none of us wanna do that just a few weeks into your completely lifestyle overhaul.
Like no one wants to do that. Right. That's stressful. It's frustrating. You wanna stop falling off the wagon? So if you've already bought into the hole, I'm taken. One change at a time, pat yourself on the back. But the question is, once you feel like that change is starting to stick. How do you know when it's the perfect time to add in another change?
So you can continue down this path towards true lifestyle change. Like how do you know when, okay, I've mastered this it's time to move on. How do you, how do you know that's the right time and not question? Is it too soon? Is it too late? You know, how do you know when it's the right time? That's exactly what you're gonna find out today.
So if you're on this path, girl, let's get into it.[00:01:00]
Hey, mama. Welcome to the tough love mom podcast. I know you're here because you're ready to get consistent and finally lose that weight. And you're not afraid of a little tough love, you know, what to do to lose weight. But following through on those things feels impossible. You wish you could just feel like you're strong, confident self again, and want to be good example for your little ones, but you get thrown.
By mom guilt and the unpredictability of motherhood. It's frustrating taking on your journey. Postpartum is hard, but it's not impossible. Hey, I'm Liz and I've been where you are. I gained a lot of weight in my pregnancies, 90 pounds, and then 60 pounds. I needed to lose that weight to take control of my health.
And honestly just wanted to feel like myself again, with the sustainable approach to weight loss. Simple consistency in working on my mindset. I lost it all in just over a year, both times. And I'm here to help you do the same. I believe that we have an ingrained ability to figure out what we need to [00:02:00] do, make it happen and do it in a way that AWS the world, if you're ready to stop falling off the wagon, create solid routine and healthy habits and finally feel your best inside and out all while enjoying D nuggets on your salad, you are in the right place.
We're about to transform your journey. My. Get pumped up. It is tough love time.
All right. Before I go into teacher mode, I wanna remind you that if you're at this point where you haven't even started, you need to figure out what your starting point needs to be. Maybe you're just overwhelmed with the thought of everything that you wanna change or. You've tried to change it all.
Maybe once, maybe 10 times and you fall off the wagon a few weeks in, if either of those things are your situation, or if what we're talking about today, this whole I got off on the right foot. But now I feel kinda lost. I'm floundering. Maybe you backs a little, little bit in your journey. You took a few steps back and you just don't know where to go next.
You don't know if you started in the [00:03:00] right point right place, or maybe you did. Maybe you started in the right place and you've got habit or two down, but you don't know how to like, build on that. You don't know how to level up to the next piece of your journey. Whatever situation that you're in, that is the whole purpose of the starting point sessions.
And like I said, maybe you already figured your starting point out. That doesn't mean that we can't talk about what comes next and create an actionable game plan for that. Every single client that has a starting point session, whether they book one or they book a package of three for the long term accountability, no matter what they choose to do.
whether it's one call or whether it's three, they come away with an actionable plan. It's a step by step process. Hey, this is what you wanna tackle. This is the habit that you wanna get in place. This is the thing you wanna stop doing. This is what you wanna replace it with. How do you make that happen?
You and I come up with that plan and then you get my accountability to make sure that you follow through and do it. Yes, me one on 1 45 minutes at a [00:04:00] time for each starting point session call, or like I said, if you've got. Your foot on the right path. And you started that walk. You just dunno where to turn next.
We can talk about that too. And again, come up with your actionable plan. So you actually know what to do next. Ooh, it's so fun. And it's so cool. Walking away. Every single client I have worked with makes progress in these habits. And it's just so neat to hear like the relief. There's there's not a better word for it, but I can hear the relief in their voices when they're like, yeah.
It feels easy now. Like it actually feels like part of who I am. I'm not having to think twice about this. It doesn't feel like this big struggle anymore. I'm ready for what's next. And it's so cool when you can get to that point. So let's talk today about what's next. How do you know when it's the right time to add in a new habit?
So if you know my post story at all, if you don't, I'm gonna give you a quick rundown. I started focusing first after both boys were born. My first focus, my personal starting. [00:05:00] which I didn't know it at the time, but after having worked with so many women and kinda like rehashing my own journey, a starting point is the perfect phrase for what this was.
But my starting point was focused. My focus was a certain number of workouts per week. I started with four because as a new mom, transitioning into motherhood and then having two under two, four was doable for me. It allowed me to meet my body where I was. Trimester four workouts. It was perfect for that season for the first like month or two working out.
So my first starting point was no matter what, by the end of the seven day week, I'm going to have worked out four days now for me. I chose to do that because for me, working out creates momentum in the other areas of my journey. For some women, they need to start with nutrition to create momentum in the other areas, or maybe they don't have the time to work out consistently because of work and motherhood and all that.
So you start [00:06:00] with nutrition. It doesn't matter where you start. It's the ma what matters is that you identify your starting point. So actually, if you have like, no idea what I'm talking about with starting points or how to figure out what it should be for you, when I'm talking about paths, when I'm talking about stepping stones today, if you wanna understand.
What all those mean? I'm gonna link an episode below for you. It's actually episode 90 where I really get into what all of that is. So go, listen, go cue it up for your next play next, because you'll wanna understand all those concepts. Maybe go listen to that episode, then come back to this one. But nonetheless, my starting point was focusing on a certain number of workouts a week.
My stepping stone, after that, my next habit that I wanted to master once that felt. Down pat was upping it by a day. So from, I went from four days a week to five days a week, it seems like such a minor transition, but that was the only, other than like being a mom, a wife and, you know, taking care of my basic needs, like showering and eating food and sleeping as [00:07:00] much as I could.
That was the only other thing I focused on. I did not focus on eating clean, like eating super clean. I didn't eat junk, but I wasn't focused on like being perfect with my diet. I was not focused. Working out at 6:00 AM every day, I was not focused on trying to do it all and have all these other things in place.
In my routine, I was literally just focusing on working out four days a week and my next stepping stone. My next thing I mastered was five days a week. Didn't care what time of day? It was honestly, it was like 20, 25 minutes. I just wanted to get it done so I could build that momentum in my journey again, after I, I mastered five days a week, I started focusing on getting a consistent routine down.
So simply around working out at the same time of day because it pre created predictability for my kids. For myself. It kind of gave me my energy levels back, cuz I was engaging my body physically at the same time of day. So. My third stepping stone. The next thing I focused on was that [00:08:00] consistent time of day for my workouts.
And that took me, that whole process took me a couple months and it was not until month, about month six postpartum. When I really got focused on my nutrition again and got really just like, I don't know, what's the word buttoned down, Batten down the hatches. Like that's when I really started to do that with my nutrition was not until about six months post part.
Like I said, some moms do it earlier. Some moms are superwoman and I guess can do it all. I'm not one of them. I had to take it one thing at a time and a majority of moms need to do the same, but because we feel this pressure to like change it all at once so we can actually see progress. Again, maybe you'll see some progress, but then you fall off eventually, cuz it's just not sustainable.
So that's why I took it one thing at a time, a starting point followed by simple stepping stones that were gonna keep me moving forward. Instead of like this shaky. Do you ever picture in the Amazon those like shaky wooden bridges with the planks that are falling off and it's like a rope bridge and it's this huge, vast chasm that you're [00:09:00] trying to walk over.
That's what I picture someone who is trying to. All of the changes at once trying to cross that bridge. When instead you can go over this, like solidly built brick bridge that isn't even that long, but it just, you know, it's kind of steep because it goes over this river and you have to like, take your time going over it.
You wanna take into sight, you wanna enjoy your life at the same time. Okay. That's the difference. I love my like random metaphors that come into my brain. I hope you enjoy them too, but that's just what comes to mind. Like, don't go over that shaky bridge in the Amazon, that's like super sketchy. Let's go over the cons, well constructed bridge that, you know, you can trust.
And it's like surrounded by these beautiful sites that you get to take in along the way you can breathe. You can relax and you can trust the fact that you will get to the other side of that bridge. But you're just gonna take your time along the way. Enjoy life, enjoy the journey and you'll get to the other side.
It just might take a little bit longer. You know, on that creaky bridge going over the Amazon where there's planks falling off. And there's monkeys trying to jump on [00:10:00] you, AKA your toddlers. had to do that. You don't even know if you're gonna make it to the other side. Right? Like you don't even know if that, that end point of you finally feel like you're living this healthy lifestyle that.
You see other people living, but you figured out how to make it work for you. You don't even know if you're gonna get there, cuz you might fall off the bridge on your way. Right. We don't wanna do that. so like I said, starting point and then simple stepping stones. I promise you go across that bridge. That is a good metaphor right there.
I need to figure out how to like, draw that picture because that was real good. So nonetheless, pat myself on the back, it's like late, I need to go to sleep so I'm really proud. My brain's working right now. All right. So it was about six months postpartum when I could finally focus in on nutrition and I knew that was sustainable and I could actually make the changes that we're gonna stick because I waited because I got the momentum going with my workouts first, but that's just what I needed.
So, how can you determine when to move on to your next habit when to move on to this next stepping [00:11:00] stone and from there, continue on your journey. Continue on down this road. So my starting point again was a number of days per week that I worked out a starting point is simply one simple action that you're going to master first simple as that.
And the time that it takes to master your starting point will vary for some moms. It just takes a couple. For other moms, it can take a couple more weeks. It doesn't take too many weeks. It's not gonna take you like months and months and months to master. If that's the case, you picked the wrong starting point, or you picked too big of a starting point, you need to pick something again.
That's simple and sustainable. That means it's not huge. It's not massive. And it's something that you can continue being consistent with. It's not this huge thing that you're Ty trying to take on and. You'll fall off after three weeks. It's something that is so simple that you can sustain it in the long haul.
It needs to be a little challenging, but not too much over your threshold. Okay. [00:12:00] So that's a starting point. It's just one simple action that kicks you off on your journey. You only have one starting point ever because it's where you start. You don't need to keep going back to your starting point, right?
We wanna keep moving down this path. So what comes next is your stepping stone and your stepping stone is likely within the same. For me, that was exercise. There's three simple paths in your journey, exercise, fitness and routine. Okay. That's the only three. So when you're thinking of what, where should I start pick one of those paths?
There is rhyme and reason to how to pick those paths. And that's what I walk people through on their starting point sessions. But you pick your path and, and figure out which starting point you're gonna work. for me, that was exercise. And I upped it by a day. And then I started to focus on the time of day.
I stayed on the same path for like six. And then I started to transition over to the nutrition path about six months postpartum. So your stepping stones come next. They're the next pieces in your journey that you add on picture like [00:13:00] building, uh, Duplo Lego blocks. And you're trying to build up big pyramid building with your kids.
You're not gonna want to build a straight up narrow tower cause it will fall over. Right? You wanna build a base. And so that starting point is that big base that you build, so you can continue to build upon it. And each stepping stone afterwards. Obviously, it's not gonna be as wide and long as the base is as your starting point was, but you can continue to build on that.
So you can build this big, huge, strong pyramid building thing with these Dulo Lego blocks, boy, mom, and boom. Your journey is so much more solid than it would've been. Had you built this tall, you know, the like single Dulo Lego blocks, just a single one. That's gonna fall over. If it's like 10 blocks high, we all know that.
So. You wanna stay on the same path? You wanna make it sustainable. That's what the point of stepping stones are. You're keeping it simple. You're keeping it sustainable. So what do you need to consider when you're like, okay, I think I've got this [00:14:00] first one down. How do I know if it's the right time to add in a new habit to transition to my next stepping stone on this journey?
How do you know when it's right? Cause a lot of the time self-doubt can come in concern, worry. , you know, I've got life going on circumstances, this and that. This is when our head gets in the way. And so I want you to be very objective about. Again, this is something I walk my clients through on these starting point sessions.
Especially if you get a package, we can talk through your next stepping stones and what should come next. We can make a game plan for like months down the road. So you, you know what you're doing, it's such a beautiful thing to see, but I want you to objectively consider these three things when it's time to determine.
If it's time for your next stepping stone, AKA just adding in another action on your journey and truly making it habit. So the first thing is how big of an obstacle was your starting point. So we're, we're gonna talk from the point right now, just for simplicity's sake of your [00:15:00] going from your starting point, that initial.
To the next one to your next stepping stone. So we're just talking step one to step two. We're not like five steps down the road into your journey. We're just saying, okay, you mastered this first habit. Give yourself a pat on the back, because this will speak to those of you who haven't started yet, who haven't figured out that starting point.
And it will also speak to those of you who have mastered that first thing in your journey, but you were not sure where to. Or when to take the next step. So that's where we're speaking from this for simplicity's sake. So you've done your starting point. You've mastered it. It feels pretty natural by now.
So again, that first consideration is how big of an obstacle was that starting point for you? How big of an obstacle, how difficult was it for you or how difficult was it before your journey started to make this starting point a habit? A lot of women that I work with tackle. Biggest obstacles first.
Often when we're like going [00:16:00] through, what's your journey like right now? Why is it difficult? What's holding you back the most? What frustrates you the most? We just go through all these questions, you know, you talk, I listen for about 20, 30 minutes and we figure out what that biggest obstacle is. And I say, okay, Is this what you wanna tackle first.
And it often is because that momentum, once you start to tackle that big obstacle, the momentum starts to snowball and starts impacting and get its little fingers into all these other areas in your journey, all the potential stepping stones that could come next, all the different paths. You just notice that like, do you ever notice on days that you don't work out, you like don't really want to eat healthier, even though, you know, on the days you should work out, you should eat as healthy as you do on days that you do work out.
It's that kind of thing. When you're building momentum in one area of your journey, especially if it's the toughest one, it's gonna start making the other areas a little bit easier. It's such a cool little mindset thing. I'm not gonna geek out right now on it, but it's really cool. So the bigger, the obstacle, what I want you to know [00:17:00] and give yourself some grace with is the bigger the obstacle is for you.
The longer it's gonna. which leads me to my second point. The second thing I want you to consider is how long have you been working at this starting point? So the first thing again, help just, just recognize, identify how big of an O like, was this the biggest obstacle for you? Is it the biggest obstacle for you?
Or is it one of like middle level ones or was it a PR pretty easy thing for you to master. It, there's not a right or a wrong answer. It's just identifying that for yourself because it leads me to my second point. How long have you been working at this? How big your obstacle is relates to how long it will take for you to master that starting point?
It's gonna determine the length of time for it to become more natural, more ingrained in who you. So those two kind of go along together and I want you to consider those two things objectively. There's no right or wrong answer. You just have to identify that. So you can take a step back from your journey real quick and go, [00:18:00] okay.
I see how difficult that was for me or how that was a really, it was like an easy starting point for me. It only took me about a week or two for me personally, I started with the easy one. A lot of my clients start with the hard one. They're amazing. But I started with the easy one because I ju that's where I needed to start.
Personally, everyone is so unique in this, and that's why it's important to have that outside perspective to help you identify these things. But I decided to work out four times a week. That was my starting point. It was a simple one for me. Honestly, it took me a couple weeks max, to feel like it wasn't ever easy, easy, but it felt more natural.
It didn't feel like I was forcing it four days a week because man, even for someone as consistent as me that first like couple weeks working out postpartum was so hard. Not just physically, but mentally. I was like, I don't wanna do this. My body doesn't feel like my body I'm not comfortable working out.
So just know that. Even with an easy starting point, it will not feel great. so that's how it was for [00:19:00] me personal experience, but it only took me a couple weeks to really get that going. I was like, all right, let's add enough, fifth that took me like one or two weeks. And then I was able to start getting consistent with a time of day.
And that's what took me a while. That was difficult. so we figured out those two things. How difficult was it and how long have you been working at. the last thing I want you to ask yourself, and this is where you took those things into account, and now you can start being like, how do I feel, how am I feeling about this habit?
And specifically, I want you to ask yourself, how do you react when you don't feel like following through? So, for example, when I was working out five days, a. I, I kind of started to determine a few weeks in that it would be right for me to start getting consistent with a certain time of day for everyone's sake, for everyone's sanity, for everyone's just like day of, you know, consistency of the day.
It was just good for me [00:20:00] to find a time of day that I could work out consistently. At that point it was not 6:00 AM or 5:00 AM. It was like 9:00 AM. After we had breakfast, our morning was like cook the boys B. Keep them happy. Get a workout in, put them down for naps. that was my day. That was like my only focus again.
I kept it simple, but you wanna start noticing how are you reacting when you don't feel like following through? Because even though that was an easy starting point and second stepping stone for me, I didn't feel like doing it five days a week, every single time. And the first in. Doing a fifth day, honestly, like doing five a week.
I didn't feel like it every day. I probably felt like it maybe two days a week. And then the next week it was maybe three or four days that week. So you wanna start recognizing how do you react when you don't feel like following through? Cuz you're not always gonna feel like doing the things that are good for you.
Heck I'm two years postpartum from my last kid and you know what? I don't feel like working out every single day. I don't feel like eating [00:21:00] healthy and fueling my body. Well, every single day, sometimes I just wanna go buy some donut. But I don't choose to follow through on that, even though I don't feel like following through on what's best for me, my reaction isn't to go buy the donuts.
My reaction is, huh. Well, I'm not gonna feel great if I go eat like three donuts. So I'm just not gonna go buy any, I'm not even gonna go buy one. Like. I'm gonna get logical here. It's a waste of time for me to drive over there. It's also kind of a waste of money because I don't need donuts right now. It's not anyone's birthday.
I might want donuts, but I don't need them. So how are you reacting? Are you getting logical? Are you just like reacting and going and doing something that you know, not following through or following through on something that you don't wanna be doing objectively ask yourself. How are you reacting when you don't feel like following.
There's my example for you. I got real there. Your girl loves some donuts and some cookies, but again, how are you reacting when you don't feel like following through on what's best for you? There's a difference [00:22:00] between reacting and responding. When I told you that now what I do is I think through this, I get objective.
I get logical. That's a response. A reaction is what you just react, right? You. Do something in response, but it's more of like this innate biological reaction. Again, you're just doing something versus thinking it through. At first, these changes, you're making your starting point. Your stepping stones are going to be, you're going to need to engage a lot of intentional presence of mind responding.
You're gonna have to fight against that innate reaction that you have to do a certain thing, but over time, when you do have to be intentional about responding, that way of thinking is gonna become more of your reaction. Okay. I hope I didn't lose you here. Let me backtrack. So you'll probably you, I hope you've listened to more than just this episode, but if you're new here welcome and I'm gonna explain this real quick, but when you're used to doing something one [00:23:00] way, your brain creates this neural pathway, it strengthens it, and it makes it easier for you to go down that neural pathway.
It makes it easier for you to continue doing that, whether it's good for you or bad for you. So if I have this like feeling of, I don't really feel like eating healthy today, I just wanna go buy donuts. If. Every time. I think that way every time I feel like buying donuts, if I go buy donuts, it's going to be easier for me to keep buying donuts.
But if I interrupt that thought train, if I interrupt that response, that, that response that is truly just a reaction. If I interrupt that and I let myself get more objective, I let myself be more intentional with my mind and my thoughts. And I start taking things captive and respond. instead of just reacting and going and getting donuts, I start to strengthen a different neural pathway.
That leads me to a choice that is just the one I want to be making for myself instead of buying donuts every single time, I feel like buying donuts. So [00:24:00] when bringing, let me bring this back to the starting point, when you're trying to master the starting. there's gonna be plenty of times. You don't feel like following through.
There's gonna be plenty of times. You don't feel like being disciplined or consistent, and there will be times that you fall off and that's fine. We are humans, but there will also be times when you don't feel like it, but then you choose to follow through. Your're responding. You're thinking through this and you're saying this is better for me.
So I'm going to choose this way. You're strengthening, strengthening that neural pathway. that? Yes, it's taking a little more energy to make that choice, but each time you do that, it strengthens that neural pathway, your brain gets better at making that choice and eventually over time, instead of reacting and not following through your reaction.
Will be that choice that you made your reaction will become how you were responding when you were being intentional, that will just become innate. That will become [00:25:00] how you start to think instead. Okay. You're going from, Ooh, this is hard. The starting point is hard. It's not my norm. It's not easy, which is all normal to feel that way.
When you start to master. Make it part of who you are, your reaction will be more of a, it's not hard, but I can do it. It's not hard, but I know this is better for me. And I know I'm capable. I know I want to feel this way. You start to think about how it makes you feel versus how you feel in this moment when you're not wanting to do it.
So in essence, all of that to be said, you will notice that this starting point is starting to feel easier. And when you can start recognizing that when you start realizing. It's not as hard for me to whatever your starting point was, whether it's cooking dinner for family four nights a week, or working out five times a time, five times a week.
I almost said five times a day. Oh, that does not sound fun. working out five times a week, whatever it is, you're gonna notice. Oh, this is feeling a little bit. Easier sweet. [00:26:00] These are all things that you wanna consider again. I'll wrap it up real quick. How big of an obstacle was this starting point before you got going with it?
How long have you been working at this? Because the longer you've been working at it. you know, the bigger the obstacle probably was if it was a small obstacle and you've been working at it for a long time, you need to change it up. You need to figure out, you need to pivot to a different starting point.
You're not at the right one. And then I want you to ask yourself, how are you reacting when you don't feel like following through, what is your brain doing? How are you feeling? What are you thinking about? What choice are you making instead? Okay. And last thing I want you to do, this is like not one of the steps I want you of considerations.
I just want you to realize this. you are unique, your experiences, your past and your current journey, your journey right now today, where you're at, they're all pieced together to make you where you're at today, all these things. Now, what you need to tackle first, your [00:27:00] starting point, how long it will take you to master that and what your journey will look like.
All of those things are also unique to you. Okay. That's a beautiful. , it's not something to be frustrated about. Yeah. It's unique. So. There's no definition for it. I can't tell you exactly what that will look like. I can help you come up with the plan, but because it's unique to you, I want you to stop looking outside of your journey to define what that timeline or that trajectory or that process step by step might or should look like, put your blinders on because each habit will take different lengths of time each starting point and stepping stone.
For one mom, you might, you might pick the same starting point as the mom, you know, five houses down. I don't know what I'm saying right now. You might pick the same starting point as another mom. It's gonna take you different lengths of time to master it. Y'all might pick different stepping stones. Y'all [00:28:00] oh my gosh.
I'm getting ready to move to Alabama. You hear that? Come outta me. It's just like natural. take me back to the south, I guess. So your, your next stepping stone might be different. And then maybe you're like on a similar timeline and your third stepping stone is like the same one, but then it takes different times to master your journey is unique.
Okay. You'll have to factor in certain seasons of life. Maybe you've got a five year old who's going to kindergarten. And the, the other mom that you're like comparing yourself to this is her first kid. Like there's different seasons of life. There's different seasons of the year. We're coming up on the holidays in a few months.
Well guess what? It's gonna be a little more difficult. It might take a little longer. To master a starting point or a stepping stone that if you were doing it in March, instead of in October, you know, that timeline might look different because of the time of year. That's fine. You might have to take breaks from discipline when you're on vacation for two weeks or totally out of your norm.
You know, these are all things that are so respond [00:29:00] to where you are at address what you need to address. And I want you to remember to take on one thing at a. Simple and sustainable, simple and sustainable. Say it with me. Simple and sustainable. One put up your finger right now. Put up the number one. I'm going to pick one thing.
It's not, I'm gonna start working out consistently and eating a healthy dinner. No one pick one of them. I know it doesn't feel good cuz you don't feel like you're gonna make the progress, but you will stay consistent. And that is the key. So if you need help identifying which starting point to start with or which stepping stone to navigate to next, because maybe again, you're off to a good start, but you feel like you've plateaued in your progress or your discipline and it's getting boring or slow or you're losing motivation.
In that case you might need to pivot to. Stepping stone. Let's figure that out. Okay. Either way. The purpose of a starting point session is to identify what your big [00:30:00] biggest struggle is right now. So we're gonna look at your journey objectively, like it's literally a zero judgment zone. I've probably been there and like struggled with what you're struggling with.
At some point, what we'll do is from there. Identify what that biggest obstacle is and come up with an actionable plan to address that I literally will. I'll have it written down for you a step by step. If it's stuff you've gotta do daily and be consistent with great, you're gonna have a tracker to keep consistent with that daily.
You're gonna have me checking in and you're gonna master that new habit. So that obstacle becomes a thing of the past for good, not just the thing of the past for a few weeks, but a thing of the past for. if you've done that, if you've already like done that with one thing or two things, even you could even use your starting point session to figure out your stepping stone.
I like to call them stepping stone sessions. I know. So, so logical. Right. So anyway, you've got step one down. Yay. Great. Let's figure out your next step. Let's [00:31:00] figure out where to go next. So you can keep down this track. Not plateau, not stall, not move backwards, but keep moving forwards. Yes. Will there be times you dip?
Will there be times you go backwards a little bit. Yes, but we're not going back to the beginning. We are not falling off that wagon and it's speeding off without us. That's not happening. Okay. And you don't have to do this alone. You do not. I'm here for you. I will be your accountability. I will be your guide and we will figure this.
You will make this lifestyle change. Okay. Go book your session today@thetelofmom.com slash coaching, all the info is there with summer and our move coming up, the time is limited. So go grab your spot ASAP because again, the times the spots are very limited, but I want to see you succeed in this journey.
I want you to go into the fall and the end of the year strong. I don't want you waiting till January. Do not do that to yourself because waiting is only gonna move you backwards. You need to keep moving forward. Even if it feels like it's super small progress because it's [00:32:00] craziness this time of year. I, I understand.
I mean, we're moving and then we're going right into the holidays. Talk about crazy town. Okay. I understand. But I want you to keep moving forward. And the best way to do that is with accountability and with clarity on what you need to do next. And that is what that is what I am an expert at. That is what we will figure out together.
And that is what that is what you're gonna do to change your lifestyle. And I can't wait to see it happen. So until then, Get after it, I will chat with you Monday and it's gonna be so good before you go. Thank you for spending this time with me on the tough love mom podcast. If this episode encouraged you in any way, the number one way you can thank me is to leave a review, letting me know how the show has impacted you.
Then. Send this episode to another mom friend, or take a screenshot, post it on social media and tag me so I can personally thank you for helping me on this journey to impact thousands of moms. I'm so grateful to be on this journey with your sister until next time. Get after it.[00:33:00]
