10 Small Habits that Will Change Your Life

Hi friends!! Today I am sitting down with you and sharing 10 habits that will help you elevate all aspects of your life-- these 10 habits are what lead to the most growth in my life year after year.

What are some habits that were not mentioned in this episode that lead to the most growth in your life?! Share with me on Instagram @samdesalvo

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Transcript

0:03

Hello, hello, welcome back to the podcast. I'm your host, Sam DeSalvo. I'm so glad you are here. I hope you're having a great week so far. We are in the middle of February and this weather is It's getting to me now. Definitely have a little bit of like, seasonal depression, but just also just being so dry. Everything about me is dry right now. And I'm using medicated lip ointment because my lips are just like, cracking off and this is not even helping. So, I'm very excited for the spring and summer and I literally can't wait for it to just be here already. But today, I want to talk to you guys about 10 things To level up your life. So these are 10 things that I have seen the most change in my life by doing these 10 things. And these are 10 things that are very important to me to do daily. So that I can continue to grow as a person and I can become a better version of myself. So, over time, these are the 10 things that I have seen that helped me level up my life. But before we jump into that, we're going to do the journal prompt of the week. And this week, the journal prompt of the week is, who are you? So that might seem like What do you mean, Sam? Like, who am I? I want you to think about who are you, not what you do. Things that you do do not define you. So if you're immediate, like, when I said, who are you? Your brain said, I'm a mom. I'm a teacher. I'm a this. I'm a that. Nope. That's not who you are. That's what you do. I want you to take some time this week and think about who you are. So, who, insert your name here, is. Who Sam is. So, some adjectives that might come to your mind are, I am capable, I am kind, I am compassionate, I am passionate, I am persistent. Things like that. Try to think of who you are as a person and get to know yourself a little bit deeper this week. And the goal for today's podcast is hopefully you can incorporate ten of, some of these ten things into your life and you can get to the next level of yourself and you can elevate your life by doing. These ten things. So jumping into it, the first thing that helped me elevate my life is strength training and not just doing cardio. So Strength training is essential for building muscle and for aesthetics, but beyond that, it's very important for you as well because when you are doing strength training, lifting weights, when your body is recovering and rebuilding those muscle fibers, you are actually burning more calories doing that than if you were to do a cardio session. So, a cardio session, the calories being burned there are basically done once the activity is done. But when you are lifting weights, you are going to continue to burn those calories and your body is like repairing itself in the process. And strength training is not only just for aesthetics as well that's When we see people online that we really love their bodies, they're probably strength training because that muscle definition is what we all crave and want, and that's how you get it. It also boosts your metabolism and enhances your overall strength and endurance as well. So I think For me personally, obviously I'm a spin instructor, so I'm not gonna be sitting on here and say don't do cardio at all. I think cardio is important and doing some sort of steady state cardio could be really beneficial for you along with, that's the key word, is along with doing strength training. So a week doesn't go by in my life that I don't incorporate some kind of strength training, so whether that be going to a group fitness class or doing something on my own, like at home, whatever it may be, I understand the value of strength training over cardio. So that has really improved a lot of different aspects of my life, along with feeling mentally strong too. So when I am lifting weights and like I'm in a CrossFit class and I Like PR my weight that it really empowers me and it makes me feel very strong mentally It definitely improves those aspects of my life as well. Moving on to number two is eating enough protein And I feel like you may have seen this online by now. It's like, oh you need to eat more protein You need to eat more protein But you might be like why like really like what does it matter what I eat as long as I'm eating, right? Eating enough protein is very crucial for various Functions of your body? Which, these functions are including building and repairing tissues, producing hormones that are essential for our bodies, and supporting immune function as well. But along with just like, why we need it essentially for our bodies, it's super important to eat enough protein because that is how you are, again, gonna build muscle. So all the work that you just did in step number one, now we need to make sure we are eating adequate enough amounts of protein so that we can supplement everything we're doing and be able to rebuild those muscle fibers with the protein. Along with that is being satiated. So if you understand the Macronutrients of protein fats and carbs. We need all of them to a certain extent and when we're eating carbs and We are hungry and our body is telling us we're hungry. We will continue to keep eating those carbs So say you have a bag of chips your brain will tell you to keep eating keep eating keep eating because carbs Essentially do those potato chips essentially do have a little bit of protein in them and your body's like nope I haven't hit enough yet. I haven't hit enough yet. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going But you'll never be able to hit those adequate amount of proteins with eating, like say a bag of chips. So your brain's telling you to keep going until you've reached that level of that macronutrient that your body needs. So making sure that you are eating the right food groups in those macronutrients. So you want to eat enough protein, whatever that may be for you. That could be a protein shake. That could be lean meats that could be fish that could be lentils. You gotta figure out what you like and what works for your body, but eating enough protein for me is very crucial because I have a tendency that my blood sugar can get a little bit out of whack, so like I'm feeling shaky or just like your insulin dropping really fast and eating enough protein keeps me, keeps me sustained throughout the day. So making sure I'm eating those. There's three big meals with enough protein and each, each meal helps me stay nice and level throughout the day so that I don't have any dips in my blood sugar and I'm not feeling shaky and I'm not feeling like I have brain fog or I'm kind of out of it because I probably need to eat. So if that sounds like you, I would encourage you to try to up your protein game a little bit. There's so many resources nowadays online that talk about this, so definitely educate yourself when it comes to why you need protein. and stabilizing your blood sugar and your insulin and all that stuff. There's a lot of science that goes into it. It's not just like, hey, eat more protein and be like a bro. No, like there's actually so much science that goes into our bodies. And the last thing just about eating protein is that it's going to support your muscle growth and recovery. So again, doing all that work that we just did in the first piece of this. Podcasts about building muscle. We want to make sure that we are able to recover correctly and adequately and we're just supporting that process. Moving on to number three is having a good morning and nighttime routine. Again, another thing you've probably seen all over social media within the past couple years or so, right? But again, why, why do we need a good nighttime routine? In my opinion, I think establishing a consistent night and morning, nighttime and morning routine can set the tone for your entire day. I think being organized in these two areas of like, I do the same thing in the morning and I do the same thing at night and I know that those two things are going to set me up for success for that day and for the next day. That, that has been very crucial to me and I have to say I've stayed so consistent with my morning routines. Like, the rest, like the middle of my day could, whatever could happen. But I know I do the same things in the morning, I do the same things at night. And it's gotten to the point that it's on autopilot now, so. So, for example, for me, when I wake up in the morning, I go to the bathroom, wash my face, brush my teeth, come back, put a piece of toast in the toaster, put my coffee on while that's being made, I drink a big glass of water so I make sure I have my water before I have my coffee or put anything else into my body. And then I get my coffee and my toast, I come over to my bed and I do my journaling and my Bible time and spend some time with Jesus. And then after that, I get up and I get ready for the day. That's my morning routine. It's not an extreme. Like 12 step thing and I don't have an extensive skincare routine I really do the basic things that I need to do to Set myself up for the day and to feel organized and productive for that day Like I know those things are super important to me like spending time with the Lord is very important to me Before I get into the hectic world that we live in right and then the same thing at night It's a it's a way for me to wind down Get my brain ready to go to sleep and it helps me get into a nice deep sleep Which is super important for us as well. So by establishing a good morning and nighttime routine You might find that it helps you reduce stress and increase productivity and just overall well being I think it just also Really helps you be organized with who you are and helps you organize like Your day and your thoughts into I guess chunks, so it doesn't all just get mixed together moving on to number four is Spending time with Jesus. So I just touched on this but Spending quiet time with the Lord and reading your Bible can provide you with guidance Comfort and perspective in your life so I think regardless of what's happening in your world around you if you set this time aside and you put Jesus in your day, like you set time aside for him. It allows you to connect and prioritize your walk with God. Who God is calling you to be so I like to think of it as like let God tell you who you are before the World does so that's why I put it in the morning But maybe that doesn't work for you like maybe you have kids, and you just can't find that time in the morning I still think like finding a piece of your day Whether it's in your lunch break or maybe when you get home, and you're getting settled down. I think setting time intentionally aside for God And being able to spend that time to connect with him and just talk to him and like, let your mind just free flow to him and yeah, I think that's super important. And maybe another option for this too, I do this sometimes, is going on a, a quiet walk. So no music, no podcast, no phone, just you in nature and you just talking to God. Like you don't have to talk out loud, or you can, I mean, no one's going to know if you're on the phone or not. Maybe put. Airpods in and pretend you're on the phone with somebody and just talk to God and just tell him exactly how you're feeling and have that time to connect with him. I think you will find a lot of peace in this and a lot of purpose of finding out like what God wants you to do. What's God talking to you in this season right now? And listen to that. He's trying to guide you. Moving on to number five is practicing gratitude. So gratitude simply can change your life. Like, this piece really can elevate your life. It changes your perspective on things and it changes how you think of where you're at now and where you're going. Adopting a mindset of gratitude can transform your outlook by you shifting your focus towards the positive aspects of your experiences. So You get to choose how you look through what lens you want to look through life And you want to look through the positive sides of life Or do you want to look through the lens of like the negative sides of life and that's up to you But I guess for me like I know how important it is to practice gratitude and practice Being grounded and like being where my feet are is super important to me And I think by practicing gratitude It increases happiness and reduces stress and it really just helps my mental well being. So this practice for me looks like when I'm doing my journaling in the morning, I write down three things I'm grateful for that day. Sometimes they come to me automatically. Sometimes I sit there for 15 minutes just staring at my notebook going, What am I grateful for today? And it is a practice. Some days, like I said, are easier than others and that's okay. But I think it's forcing that shift in your mind. To look through the, like you're choosing to look through that positive lens of life. So I have this pretty cool graphic here, and it's about how gratitude produces three brain benefits. So gratitude produces dopamine, oxytocin, and prefrontal cortex activity. So it's giving you forward thinking of realizing that you'll never be as young, healthy, or fit again as you are right now. So appreciate that for today. Then there's also backwards thinking, which is remember that you, remember that something that you take for granted today was something that you dreamed of achieving in the past. And also, another activity within it is, imagine that this is the last time that you'll do this activity. So that's been something on my mind lately, like, really embracing the season that I'm in right now. You never know when life will change for you, like, tomorrow you could be Life could change on a dime for you, and this could have been the last time you ever experienced this. So just trying to embrace, like, every single part of the seasons of life, and trying to look for the positives in it, and like, what in the future will I miss about where I'm at right now, and trying to enjoy that. I encourage you to try practicing gratitude daily. Try to think of things that you can express. That your blessings are and what's the beauty of your life right now in where you are, where you're going, where you've been. I think that could have a huge impact on your life. Moving on to number six is journaling. So journaling for me has been huge, huge. I have been journaling. Four plus years now consistently, like when I say consistently, I really mean daily. And it has helped me identify themes in my life. It has helped me identify like problems that keep occurring and being able to say like, okay, like I'm kind of seeing a pattern here and taking charge of that. It makes my beliefs aware to me. So. Sometimes the first time you understand what one of your beliefs is, is when you either say it out loud, or you write it down, or you hear it back to yourself. So, being able to see, like, what, again, makes me me, like, what makes up my thoughts, where are these coming from, it helps me, like, process things a lot. And I guess for me, with journaling, it really helped me uncover my purpose. So I want to do a whole podcast episode on this topic, but It helped me uncover my purpose because I had been journaling, like I said, for four years and there always was a common theme that I like was able to look back and see, which was that I want to help people be healthier and happier. I just kept seeing that over and over again when I looked back and I'm like, okay, I've been saying this for four years now. Like I think there's something to this. What does it mean? And then I was able to take that from there and really like uncover. What it is that I was meant to do, where I'm supposed to be, where I'm heading, all that stuff. So, for me, I think it's really good to be able to look back and reflect. Reflect on your growth, like, see how far you've come. And things that you have overcome, it's a good reminder that you have overcome big things in the past. So if you are going through something big, you have the strength to do it again. You've done it before and maybe you reflect on, how was I getting through it at that time? And what can I apply to this situation that I'm in right now? And I also think it helps you reduce stress. Like, your chaos of your brain. I don't know about you, but my brain can get chaotic and loud sometimes. So by just dumping it out and putting it on paper and it allows me to dump it out and now it's not taking up as much space in my brain. And that really does help me so much. And I think people get caught up with journaling because they're like, Oh, it has to be perfect. It has to be this. Like, oh, I don't even know what to write. Your journal's only for you. And I think you'd be amazed with yourself if you just wrote down very random things and they maybe didn't make sense to you in the moment. You look back later and you're like, I get that now, like I get why I was feeling that way or that was trying to tell me something to where I'm at now. So don't put so much pressure on yourself to be like a great journaler. For me, something that helps me is like having, I guess, prompts. So I always give you guys a prompt at the beginning of this podcast. You can use that. But on top of that, I, I section mine off so I do prayer. I write out my prayers. I do gratitude. I do self love and affirmations. So, write out my prayer, talk to God in the morning. I do three pieces of gratitude, three things I'm grateful for. And then I do three things of self love. So, three things either I admire about myself, Three things that make me me, and make me unique. Three things that I appreciate about who I am as a person. And then affirmations. So, speaking life over myself and reminding myself of things that I might need to hear in the moment. So moving on to number seven is drinking enough water. I don't know if you guys are like, really Sam? Like drinking enough water can change your life? It can. I'm here to tell you it can. So for me, drinking water is super important to me, but it is also super important for your daily functioning of your body. So, if you know a thing or two about why you should drink water, it plays a vital role in various processes of your body, including digestion, circulation, temperature regulation, Also, your brain health, like, washing toxins out of your body, flushing those toxins out. If you know anything about your body, your toxins come out of your urination. So, being able to flush those out completely Also, helps keep you full. It helps improve your skin. So, I feel like I don't have to go on about this one too much, because like, you probably know that you should be drinking water, you don't necessarily need to know the whys, you just need to start doing it. So some things that helped me are, like I said in the morning, I always Start my day with a big glass of water before I, like, quote unquote, allow myself to have coffee. So make rules with yourself, that helps. I always carry around some big kind of bottle with me. I was a Hydra Chug girlie for a long time. Retired her for now. She might come back. I've been a Stanley Cup girl for a little bit now. I have a knock off Stanley Cup. Not buying the real one. But literally, I've had so many just like, water bottles, like the emotional support water bottles you just carry with you. Carry a big enough one around with you that holds enough water, and put it next to you at your desk so you do it mindlessly and you're just like, leaning over and drinking it. Bring it with you literally everywhere, it's gonna be your little best friend. Got it? Got it, got it? Good. Good. Moving on to number eight. Having mentors. So I know some people in my life that won't have mentors because they don't They don't want to, they don't want to challenge their current beliefs. It makes them uncomfortable having someone that might call them out and they want to stay in their own little bubble of how I think is how I think. But I'm here to tell you that having a mentor, having people that you look up to really can accelerate your growth. So, having people that Like I said, you look up to who have either been in your situation and now are past it or they're in a place that you want to be in life. I think there's so much value in that. I think being able to humble yourself and take advice from a mentor or somebody that you look up to is so powerful. By, like, I guess, being able to take Whether it be criticism or guidance, advice, and applying it to your life, I think that is going to push you so much further than you could do on your own. Because you can learn all those lessons on your own, it's just going to take twice the amount of time. And I mean, I'm all for that too, like, I'm the person that, like, I'm going to learn things my way, but I'm also a person that I will let mentors into my life. They might see things about me that I don't understand. I don't understand yet. My brain isn't there yet. I don't have that wisdom that they have. So I definitely allow mentors to come in, speak over my life, and take their advice. And so if you're looking for a mentor, I'm gonna talk about this more at the end, but definitely join the Wellness Hub. Great community of women. We would love to speak life over you and work with you to become the best version of yourself possible. Moving on to number nine, two left guys, is be courageous. So, when I was writing down this list I was like thinking about what has helped me get to different levels in my life that I wanted to be at and I think for me one of the biggest ones was being courageous and doing it and doing it, failing at it, doing it, failing at it and doing it again, doing things, not knowing the outcome, doing things, scared, doing things and not sure like where it was going to take me, but doing it anyways, that I think has been really big for my life and taking the chances and being the person that just like goes for things that they want in life and not letting others hold them back. So, I have two quotes that I want to read and they're from Brené Brown. If you don't know who Brené Brown is, please look her up. She is an author and a speaker and her entire research and studies are mostly about courage. So she just has a lot of powerful stuff and books too that, definitely check them out. They're great. But I want to read these two to you. So the first one is, I want to be in the arena. I want to be brave with my life. And when we make the choice to dare greatly, we sign up to get our butts kicked. We can choose courage or we can choose comfort, but we can't have both. Not at the same time. Vulnerability is not winning or losing. It's having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome. Vulnerability is not weakness. It's our greatest measure of courage. A lot of cheap seats in the arena are filled with people who never venture onto the floor. They just hurl mean spirited criticisms and put downs from a safe distance. The problem is when we stop caring what other people think and stop feeling hurt by cruelty, we lose our ability to connect. But when we are defined by what people think, we lose the courage to be vulnerable. Therefore, we need to be selective about the feedback we let into our lives. For me, if you're not in the arena getting your butt kicked, I'm not interested in your feedback. Amen to that. That is so powerful. And if you've never read Theodore Roosevelt's quote on courage, go check it out. Just look up Theodore Roosevelt quote on courage. That'll explain what the arena means a little bit further. But usually the biggest critics in your life are going to be the people that are too scared to do something and they want to take you down to their level. It's easier to pull somebody off a chair and pull them onto the floor than it is to pick someone up and put them on a chair. So just let that sink in for a second and think about why people are mean anyways and why you might be scared of what they have to say. The next quote that I want to read is again by her. But it says, Stop walking through the world looking for confirmation that you don't belong. You will always find it because you've made that your mission. Stop scoring people's faces for evidence that you're not enough. You will always find it because you've made it your goal. True belonging and self worth are not goods. We don't negotiate their value with the world. The truth about who we are lives in our own hearts. Our call to courage is to protect our wild heart against constant evaluation, especially our own. No one belongs here more than you do. Our brains are fact finders. Whatever we set out to find, we will find it. If someone tells you something nasty about yourself, your brain will cycle through the files to find something that might match up to that. Something that might match up to your childhood. Something that might match up to something else someone has told you in the past that makes it even more validated. So stop looking for those things. Start looking for the affirmations over your life, the good things over your life. Start looking for positive reinforcement. Don't go looking for validation, but stop putting your brain into defense mode by searching for all the confirmations that you shouldn't be doing what you're doing. Yeah. So, do it, fail from it, learn from it, do it again. And the last one that I have for you guys is be part of a community. Being part of a community will help you build relationships and connections with people who are like minded to you and are on the same path as you and that share the same values as you. And they'll be there to support, encourage, and inspire you along your journey. So I think it's so important to be part of a community. Where you're surrounded by people who have similar visions to you and they want to cheer you on. So it's kind of like the cheap seats versus being down in the arena with you. Don't be surrounded by people with a bunch of cheap seats. Find good community of people that you can surround yourself with. BEing part of a community offers a sense of belonging, validation, shared purpose, enhancing overall well being and fulfillment for your life. So I've made it my mission to go and make a woman's wellness community for people who listen to this podcast and are interested in all these types of things. So I have made it a mission of mine to start a wellness ministry and surround m Myself and help other women surround themselves with people Who want to lift them up one second? okay, and Having women to surround yourself with that want to encourage you and push you to that next level So If that is something if you're like, okay, I understand like I want a community I want a sense of belonging and I want to find my tribe of people Then I encourage you to come and join the Wellness Hub. It's absolutely free. You can head to the link in the bio or in the show notes to join the Wellness Hub. It's a community of women who are interested in all things mind, body, and spirit. There is something in here for everybody and within the community we have events, meetups, challenges, which I'm going to talk about that in a second. Challenges, Bible studies, and within the community itself, there is different hubs. So it's called the wellness hub, and then there's different hubs within the hub. So there's a running hub, there's an outdoors hub, there's a social hub want to start a mom's hub, so there's a hub for everybody in there that, so if you're looking for a specific type of group, so that way if like you're a runner, you can be part of the runners hub and get connected with other runners in the area. Or just sharing tips with each other as well. The outdoors one is for like skiing, hiking dog walks, like whatever, maybe anything outdoors. So, I highly encourage you to come and join the Wellness Hub. Again, absolutely free, we would just love to have you and have your presence there. You would contribute to our community immensely and we would, we're missing you there. You're the piece that is missing. And then the Well 30 Challenge. So I created the Well 30 Challenge to help you kickstart these habits into your life. So these are the same exact habits, which I'll go over them in just a second, that I talked about in this podcast that have helped me change my life the most, and I think that they could help you change your life as well. So I wanted to create A challenge that would help you push yourself outside your comfort zone while being supported up by other people that are doing it. And, it creates, it, it takes 21 days to create a habit. This is 30 days to really lock it in. It's one month's worth, that's all it is. And, okay, so the challenge is every single day, you have to complete six daily tasks, which are wake up early, Read one passage in the Bible, so one chapter of the Bible. Again, not a whole book in the Bible, just a chapter or a passage. Journal, including some type of gratitude, which obviously we talked about those two things today and why they're so important. Eat three high protein meals. Get at least 90 ounces of water in, so that's like three Stanley Cups if you're a Stanley Cup girlie. And the last one is get 30 minutes of movement in of your choice. Whatever that looks like for you. So if you are ready to embark on this challenge and you want to elevate your life and push yourself to the next level, and you think this is something that could really help you get there, all you gotta do is head over to TWH online. And there will be everything you need right on that website. You'll get a welcome packet that has so much resources in it, like honestly too much resources for how simple the challenge is. And then you'll be part of the community. You will be in the challenge, again, absolutely free to do this as well. And then when you complete every item each day, you just Just publish it onto either your social media platforms or you can publish it within the Well 30 Hub group chat and just to say, Hey, I did it. Keep yourself accountable. And then that is it. I really hope you guys enjoyed today's episode. This one was special to me. It came right from the heart of things that have absolutely changed my life and I wanted to share them with you. So if you're looking for some sort of pick me up of So, getting out of your own way and getting to that next level of you, I encourage you to apply at least some of these things, if not all of these things, to your life. And let me know if there's anything else that, to you, has radically changed your life that was not on this list. Thank you guys for listening, and I'll talk to you guys next time. Bye. I really hope you guys enjoyed today's episode and real quick if you guys could do a huge favor and share this episode with somebody that you think would be blessed by it and you can catch me during the week on instagram at sam disalvo have a great week guys bye