5 Habits to Improve Yourself Right Now (The BraveHearted Woman’s Guide in Midlife)

Thanks for tuning into the podcast, bravehearts. It’s wonderful to be with you again today. And you know I am committed to helping you and me, for that matter. Stay the leading lady of our life who will stay young at heart. I think it was. Clint Eastwood, who said once, I'm never gonna let the old man get on the inside of me. Well, it's the same for us. We can't let the old lady get inside of us. We have to remain sharp and focused.

But what I've noticed is that we have to stay energetic and enthusiastic about life. This is not our season to start winding down and giving up and letting things go. Oh, no, no, no, no. This is our time to lean in to the most significant season of our lives. I wanna flourish in this season. How about you?

One way you can do that, by the way, is to get my book, if you don't have it yet, The Making of a Bravehearted Woman: Courage, Confidence, and Vision in Your Midlife. Stay tuned to the end of this podcast because I'm gonna let you have it for $3.99. If you grab it on Amazon, it's gonna be $17. But because you are a faithful listener, I'm making it available for you.

So today, how do we stay that leading lady? How do we stay flourishing? Well, there are 5 habits. You've heard them before, but I'm not afraid of repetition because that's how we grow. Repetition shapes our identity. The more we see it, say it, believe it, do it, and act on it, the more we become exactly what we want. And these are the five habits that I'm gonna share with you today that will improve your life and keep you from letting the old lady get on the inside of you. Okay?

So, ladies, let me remind you that we don't just change overnight things, don't just transform overnight. We know that, but changes come with the daily little things that we choose to do all the time. Consistently and habitually doing these things over and over again, and we start to see transformation taking place in our lives. We start to get excited. You know, it's hard to do something if you do it over and over and see no results, but these are the things that if you do them. You will see a change, you will see results, and that motivates you to keep going. You feel the reward you're seeing and feeling and noticing differences.

So let's get started. I'm gonna give you five habits, and number one is, and it's one of my favorites, to start your day with intention. You know, if you've watched or listened to my podcast that I'm a big believer in the morning routine, the 6:00 am rise. I get up in the morning, and I do these six things every morning, and I don't want the world to set the agenda for me. I wanna set it, and if you've missed my podcast episode on the seven things that you need to say every morning, make sure you. Go back and listen to that episode, but begin your day on purpose with purpose. In fact, that's one of the things that I say every morning. I want you to say it too. I am made with a purpose and for a purpose. There's nothing random about your life. God has amazing things in store for you, and you unlock them each and every day when you start your day with the intention of I will see God at work today. I will have success today. Beautiful things come my way. I attract goodness every day. And so begins your day. I like to use The BraveHearted Planner, which is my journal, and you can get that off of my website also, but it's a guide. Each tab that I flip through leads me through the routine, and then finally, ultimately, I get up and I go and I exercise. But begin your day with prayer. Begin your day with gratitude.

As I said a moment ago, begin your day with declarations. I say they're not just declarations or affirmations, they're activations. It just sets you right. Today, I will live my life on purpose. So that's the first thing. In fact, I'd love it if you would just take a moment and write down what the one or two things are that I can begin to do. Small inch by inch, everything's a cinch. Start small. What are the daily intentions that you can begin? And you're gonna do it every day? Do it every day for 14 days, and let's see if we start noticing some transformation. The six things that I do. I pray. I read. I journal. I meditate. I give gratitude. I exercise, and in the journal portion, I also read my goals, my quarter goals, my three-year goals, and my health goals.

Okay. Number two, habit number two, move your body. Move. I was taking a pickleball lesson the other day, and I've been a little slow on the pickleball front. I do a lot of exercising, but the pickleball thing, I was like, I don't know. I don't wanna be that old person playing pickleball. That's just it. Psychological block. So I said, okay, I'm gonna take a lesson. I water ski. I dance. I do lots of things. I lift weights. Fun, but pickleball, I dunno. So, okay. But my coach, as I was taking the lesson and she was training me, one of the things that she said to me was, came storming up to the net to talk to me, and she said, Move your feet. They're not cement. Well, apparently, I was just moving my upper body, but I was slow to move my feet. I didn't wanna sprain an ankle. But you know what? That's good advice. Move your feet. They're not cement. Okay? Your feet don't work. Move your arms, move your hands, move your shoulders. Move your neck every day. Move your body, get on the floor, and stand back up. Energy creates momentum if you rest. You rust. All of the cliches we know, but they're cliches because they're true. Especially now, we cannot allow ourselves to be sedentary.

Even a 10-minute walk, it will clear your mind. Oh my goodness. Just getting outside in nature and breathing in the air. Lifts your spirit is good for your body and your soul, and it's good for your spirit, and it will remind you that you are strong. Your body will respond. To exercise, it will respond to getting outside and moving. Yeah, you might feel it in some muscles you didn't even know that you had, but your body will begin to crave that.

So habit number two, and you can do small things. Here we, here again, we're gonna. Start small. We don't go to the gym and say, Okay, I'm gonna start this new bootcamp. What about you can do a bootcamp if you've been sitting on the couch for six months? So what if it's I'm going to park far away and walk into the store and come back out? Small things. I'm gonna just walk around this neighborhood, or I'm gonna take five-pound weights, and while I'm watching TV, I'm gonna lift those weights. But get your body moving. Make it a habit, and you will love it, and maybe you already do, and congratulations. I know I'm talking to a lot of bravehearted women, so you're well into it. You're running five kilometers, you're moving, you're lifting weights, you're crushing it. That's good.

But how about habit number three, you're moving your body. That's good. Are you moving your mind? Are you feeding your mind? Are you moving your mind in such a way that says, Ooh, I didn't know that. I just learned something new. I learned a new skill. Whatever comes into your mind is what's going to come out. So I like to fill my thoughts with wisdom, faith-building messages. I like reading things that are challenging for me to read. Authors that are heady, and I don't understand it, and I have to read the same line four times in a row to understand what they're saying. I don't feel like I'm fruitful in the moment, but I discover later on that it was good for me. I read poetry that, at first glance, I don't know what that means, but I begin to feel the inspiration and expand my thoughts and my mind. So I like to fill my mind with God's word. Every day I read God's word, and then I try to read, and I do read a book that's either a business success or a faith inspiration type of book.

Right now, I'm reading the Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster, and that's go, that's a throwback. That's from the seventies, but it's good. And I'm enjoying reading one of the classics, but I like it. Things in my mind that I meditate on and think about how to begin to bubble back up because my thinking starts to grow. You're expanding your life, you're expanding your thoughts, you're, you're taking territory, so grow your mind. I also do a lot of learning on YouTube, basically learning new programs. I'm learning artificial intelligence. I'm using it at a pretty competent rate right now, but it's. Changing so quickly. There's so much I don't know. But learning AI, learning different programs, learning, writing programs, setting new goals for myself, about I'm gonna teach this, I'm gonna train some people how to do that. Well, I have to learn it myself first, so I'm constantly feeding my mind. I hope that you are too, and I wanna do it more.

By the way, this isn't one of the habits, but it's one of the ways that you'll make sure you keep doing these habits. Make yourself accountable to someone. Start small. Be consistent, but invite somebody to be your accountability person, or just say, Would you be willing to check in with me to ask me how I'm doing in this? I need that accountability. I need to tell someone, Hey, I've made a commitment to myself, a challenge. Would you just ask me how I'm doing on that? I'll tell you when I know that I have to answer that question. I find myself, then my competition sets it up, and I'm like, yeah, I am gonna win this. I'm not gonna lose this one.

Habit number four: practice gratitude with positivity. I know we hear a lot about this, but a merry heart doeth with good like a medicine. And it's really true that you cannot be bitter. Grateful. At the same time, it's very challenging to hold unforgiveness and gratitude. So when we practice gratitude, being thankful, gratitude turns whatever you have into enough, whatever you need. If I'm grateful for what I have, I find that. Might not have everything I want, but I'll discover I have everything that I need. And positivity shifts our eyes from the problems to the possibilities, and faith is ignited by that. When I look at what's wrong, I find it. When I look at what's good. I find it when I look at what's possible, I believe it. I get excited about it. My faith begins to rise up inside of me, and then my mindset of gratitude makes me unstoppable. Your mindset of gratitude will make you unstoppable, but conversely, your ratitude, your mindset of not being thankful, of not having enough, of being pessimistic. Stoppable, it will make you stoppable. It'll make you fold up and quit and pull back and walk in gloom and despair ultimately. So that's a great habit. It also curbs your criticism. When I'm grateful, it's hard to complain and be critical because. Gratitude is knocking right there on the soul, uh, of my heart or my, the door of my soul, I should say. Whispering. Be grateful. Be grateful because it's become a habit and it's part of me. It's not just something that I remember to do, but it's something that's taken root inside of me, and it's growing, and it brings fruit. So be grateful, be positive.

Remember to put a big old smile on your face in the morning when you wake up, because you will release endorphins and send messages to your brain. When your lips and your smile and your muscles go up, it says, Oh, she's happy. Send more of those Good emotions come in your way, so make sure that you smile as well.

And habit number five, build meaningful connections. Don't try to do this life alone. You know that, right? Surround yourself with people who believe in you, who bring out the best in you, who will speak truth in love to you, meaningful connections. That person who is safe and helps you wanna be a better person. I know that I have a list. I call them my eagles, and I make a list of those that are soaring, and I think I wanna soar with the eagles. I don't wanna be scratching around down with a bunch of chickens, not reaching my goals, and just letting undisciplined get in my life and sloppy living and haphazard excuse-making living. Let's not be that, no, that's not us. That's not the direction we choose. Success is a direction we choose. Flourishing is a direction that we choose. And so is being unsuccessful a direction? So is poverty a direction that we can participate in and start to choose, and we'll find ourselves impoverished in soul, impoverished in relationships, impoverished in doing things that. Feed our heart and our mind, and our soul can be impoverished. Those are directions that we choose. Those are things that we allow to begin to happen to us because we didn't stay intentional about our lives. So be with some people who will nudge you and push you and encourage you to be the very best version of your life. And so remember, with these small, consistent habits, they lead to big changes. Leads to a big transformation, and if you want a better future, then practice better habits today. Right now, don't delay. The best time to start these habits was yesterday, but the next best time to start these habits is right now, today, and your life will. Thank you for it, you and your future self. She will say thank you for walking with discipline. Thank you for seeing me down here, 10 years from where you were, and loving me enough to live this kind of life. Thank you.

I wanna give you two offers today. I promised you that I would offer you my book for $3.99. If you just go to themakingofabraveheartedwoman.com/book-bhw. That's all one link. There you will find the book for $3.99. I also wanna tell you that my course on The Bravehearted Transformation Course is also now available for you. It is an eight-week course. I think you have two weeks of bonus, so 10 altogether: videos and a workbook, the book, and some coaching involved that will help you in your transformation. That accountability person, maybe you're looking at her, I come to you through video. I can't wait to support you and help you reach these goals. And before you know it, you're writing your books, you're standing on stage, you're speaking, you're starting that business. You've got that dog babysitting company up and running. You are a beauty stylist. Whatever it is that you are dreaming of, you're flourishing in it because you said, Now's my moment, now's my time. I'm not gonna quit.

Okay, bravehearts. So that's what I have for you today, and I am encouraging you. Today is your day to begin. I wanna leave you momentarily like I always do. This is Dawn Damon, your Braveheart mentor, encouraging you to find your brave and live your dreams!