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Have you had habits in your life that you feel like?
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I wish I can change these habits for good and what is gonna make me really successful or what are some of the habits that people really use that really help them?
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Welcome to another episode of Super Charge Your Soul's Transformation podcast today, we are super excited to have Cady Hakim with us.
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Cady is a certified life coach specializing in positive mindset coaching and the host of the Happiness Hangout.
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Whether you're seeking to cultivate a happier mindset, find inspiration on your journey or just need tips to become a happier you, Cady has you covered?
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Join us as she shares with us powerful mindset shifts as well as the answer to five habits that can change your life.
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Cady.
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I'm so excited that you're here with us today.
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Welcome to our show.
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Thank you so much for having me.
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So Cady, tell us, let's start by getting to know you a little bit.
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So tell us your story if you can just share your journey and what led you to focus on life changing habits.
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Yes.
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So I have always been very into self improvement.
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I was like growing up that way, any time I would be going through a tough time, I would always turn to self improvement as like a way to help me through it.
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And then a couple years ago I had just graduated college, I was just dealing with a really tough time going through a breakup.
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I just was not happy at all with how I was feeling.
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And it got to a point where I just decided it was time to make the changes in my life.
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And so I started practicing different habits, started being consistent with it.
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And then after a few months when I started seeing the changes in my life, I was like, oh my God, like these were crazy and I didn't even realize how little things that we do every single day end up making such a huge impact in our life.
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Mhm OK.
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You're right because if we are stuck with bad habits back, you know, and if we want to really transform, we cannot see any changes if we don't stick with something.
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So that, that makes me ask you my next question, which is we often hear about the importance of habits like you already mentioned.
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But what do you believe truly sets transformative habits apart from the rest?
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I think it's consistency first off and also realizing that it's not a one size fits all.
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Every single person, one thing might resonate for me and it might not resonate for someone else.
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So it's really seeing what works for you and being realistic about it.
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So if I'm like, every day, I wanna go to the gym and sometimes I'm not feeling up for it, it's just being able to like provide flexibility for yourself and figuring out ways to make it work for you.
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So maybe if you can give us an example, like for example, let's say working out is your new habit and you've been working out three days a week already, but now today is day four, you're like, I don't want to go to the gym, which happens to so many women, right?
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What would you do?
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, well, first off, I think it's important to make it easy for yourself to stick with these habits.
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So when I decided to start going to the gym every day, for example, and I wanted to go before I woke up.
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I mean, like, right when I woke up, I, the night before I would set my clothes out and I would schedule it into my life.
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So it's obviously being aware that some days you're not gonna wanna stick with your habits, but remembering that you're showing up for yourself and being consistent with it and obviously, like even just showing up for a little bit.
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So let's say you're not gonna get that whole hour in, but you're still gonna go for 2030 minutes.
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It's just showing up for yourself in a way that is consistent with how you're feeling that day.
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I love that showing up for yourself.
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Ladies.
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Cool.
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So, could you walk us through?
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And I know the topic of this podcast is through the five habits you believe that have potential to change someone's life, perhaps share a personal story where one of these habits made a significant impact on you.
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The first one is just gratitude and focusing on all the good in my life.
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It's definitely easy, especially when you're going through a hard time to constantly be thinking of all the bad things that are happening, things that aren't working out the lack in your life.
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But every single day I wake up and I'm like, I'm gonna write down three things that I'm grateful for and just doing this consistently.
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I've noticed how much it has changed my mindset because then you're just training your brain to focus on the positive things in your life.
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So now even when something negative comes up, I'm like, ok, well, let's think about what I'm grateful for in this situation.
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I love that gratitude, gratitude, gratitude.
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OK, perfect.
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What's next?
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What's the second one?
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The second one is like no screen time when you wake up in the morning because as soon as you wake up your brain, whatever you're like looking at or consuming that is what is gonna set the tone for the rest of your day.
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And so I'll put my, I still use my phone as an alarm, but I'll put my phone on, do not disturb so that they don't all come up, like all the notifications come up.
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I don't let myself go on social media.
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I have my set morning routine and I'm not able to go on my phone or scroll or do anything until that morning routine is done.
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And it's just made like the biggest impact in my life.
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Oh my God, you and I are so similar.
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And right before this interview, I actually, because I had time, my previous expert had to reschedule.
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I had time and I'm like, what should I talk about?
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And I spoke about digital detox and I literally had like a 20 minute podcast with the listeners we'll listen to.
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It's about no screen time.
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This is really cool and whatever you mentioned that as soon as you wake up don't be on your phone, that's exactly how I do it too.
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And if I had not learned that habit and now it's a habit so no one can ever make me go on my phone and be on my phone at all because now it's like, so ingrained in me, I feel like that really changed a lot of things for me.
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So tell me I would love to know and let's stick with point number two for now before you ever had that this new habit of no screen time and compare it to the previous version of Cady, the Cady who would just wake up and mop, you know, probably be on the phone, right?
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Like, what difference was it in your life before and now?
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Well, I would automatically go on Instagram or like look at text messages and my mood was not as good at all because you're looking on social media, you're comparing, you're not feeling good about your life.
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You're like looking at everyone else's highlight reels and it just would never make me feel good.
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It was just the worst way to start your day.
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And I really truly believe like the quote, like when the morning, when the day, like if you are able to love the morning and just focus on all of the good in your life.
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Focus on you in that 30 minutes, that hour that you're waking up, it just sets the tone for the rest of your day.
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And so since I've stopped going on my phone, stopped scrolling on social media when I wake up, I've just noticed myself also just feeling more calm throughout the day and overall, it's just really been huge for my happiness.
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Oh, I love that.
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Great.
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Yeah, I totally get it.
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Comparison comparison.
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It is huge in girls.
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OK, perfect.
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Let's go to point number three.
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What habit do you recommend?
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The third one is and I don't even know how I used to not do this was making my bed every morning as soon as I wake up.
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Oh, my goodness.
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Everything you're saying, I'm like, oh my God, she's like me.
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She's like me.
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She's like me.
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Ok.
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It's so cool making you a bed, tell us why it's, it's huge for us.
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, I read a quote about this and I'm gonna butcher it probably.
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So I'm just gonna go along the lines of it.
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But it's like when you make your bed in the morning, you're already doing that first.
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Like how like that first task of the day and you're showing yourself that you could do it and also when you come home at the end of the day, at least you're coming back to a made bed.
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And so it's like, ok, look, I'm able to make my bed.
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It's a good way to start the day and you just feel like put together, you deserve to live in like a clean space, a clean environment and being able to have your room tidy and looking good is so, so huge.
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And I think it's really underrated how much of a difference it makes in her mental health.
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Yeah.
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And isn't it also a way like you're putting on makeup on your bed before you go and put, put on makeup on your face talking about?
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Oh, really?
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Yeah, definitely.
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Thank you.
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This is a Yeah, it's, it's very cool and you know, sometimes I go to my friends' homes, like maybe in the morning and I'll see they'll show me their bed and I'm like, it's not made.
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Sometimes I tend to judge them.
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But then I'm like, I feel that how we do everything.
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It's like how you do anything is how you do everything.
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So the bed is not made, their kitchen is like, you know, it's totally messy and the bathroom is messy and then their car is messy and I'm like, they're messy.
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So it's like it really tangles, Every little thing is connected to you waking up and make your bed.
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So that, that's really cool.
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I love that.
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Tell us the next habit.
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The next one is affirmations.
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And I, when I first started doing affirmations would be like writing it down.
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But I also like, put them all around my room in the beginning.
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Because again, like the way we all have these beliefs about ourselves, whether we believe it, like we realize it or not.
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And so putting affirmations and reading them every single day and just like, how I want to feel about myself has been so huge because they really do train our brain to think differently.
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I agree.
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And have you ever heard how some people or experts say, oh, affirmations don't work.
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What would you say to that?
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I think they work if you put like there is a three steps to it, I think, and it's saying it and feeling it while you're reading it, maybe it's two steps.
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But like you have to have emotion while you're doing it.
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I've heard so many people be like, affirmations don't work for me.
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Like that works for some people, but it doesn't work for me.
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But it's really about like looking in the mirror and saying it with your chest and like, even if you don't believe it, eventually it becomes a new thought and you change that other thought that you have about yourself and it is like being consistent about it.
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But I've definitely heard so many people that are close to me be like, I just can't do affirmations.
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Those don't work for me.
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And I'm like, it's probably because you're doing them wrong that they're not working.
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Give us an example on what affirmation you have used, which really changed a lot of things for you.
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I used to struggle a lot with self worth.
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I didn't believe I was worthy of the things that I wanted in my life.
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I would always be like, well, I'm not good enough for that or things like that.
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So even as simple as like I am good enough or I am worthy of the things that I desire or I'm beautiful inside and out and just like saying those kind of things about ourselves and realizing that it's not like it's not in a way of, I don't know why I'm like blanking on the word, but it's not in a way of like making yourself feel better than other people at all.
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And I think that a lot of people have this common misconception about it, but it's just truly believing that you are enough and you deserve the things that you want.
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And we're all so worthy of like, just like and deserving the things that we want.
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But we just need to believe that we are.
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I love it.
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And when you were even seeing those affirmations for all our video podcast listeners, once we have this on video, you probably can see her but do follow her on Instagram and I'm definitely gonna tag her, but you'll see when she's talking about those words, her eyes were lighting up, like your eyes were like lighting up.
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So that shows proof that affirmations do work if you can make it into a habit.
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That's great.
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Thank you for letting us know.
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So what would you say would be the fifth one, the fifth habit that really made a difference in your life.
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The fifth one that we kind of spoke about before too is just like getting in movement daily.
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It doesn't matter what it is.
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And at first, I definitely thought that was like, oh, I need to be working out super hard in order to be getting this movement in.
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But it's like, no, even if you are dancing around your room, even if you are going on a walk and it's not even for like an hour a day, if it's for like 15 minutes a day, I have noticed such a big change in my mental health and like just the endorphins of moving.
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And I can see a difference even in my life on the days that I don't get any movement in, in the days that I do.
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And it really is, again, just being consistent with it and realizing that it doesn't need to be this all or nothing.
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Like there's a middle ground between it and there's so many different ways to get movement in.
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So if you don't like working out, there's still other things that you can do that are ways to move your body.
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Absolutely.
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And I totally echo point number five habit, which actually changed my life too.
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So I was obese, almost £200 started teaching, not teaching doing yoga.
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I was always a dancer but I was still obese, but I did not dance enough.
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And after I started doing yoga, I started walking, going to the gym, I lost all my weight.
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And then now I'm like 130 I feel like movement is something that is super, super important for women who are struggling with so many issues.
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And I feel that is, that is like one of the best habits.
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Thank you.
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So I'm curious, what do you do for your movement?
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I go to the gym a lot but I also do like Pilates, go on walks.
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I've been getting, I've been trying to find like different habits that are fun for like different activities that are fun for me.
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So I've gotten into like pickleball recently and tennis.
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And so it's just like finding different fun ways to go about it.
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And also for me, it's like constantly changing sometimes.
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I'm like, ok, I need a break from the gym.
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This is fun for me anymore and finding different replacements for that.
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Awesome.
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Perfect.
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So, all right.
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So number one was gratitude just to recap.
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Number two was no screen time.
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Number three making your bed in the morning.
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Fourth one, according to Cady was affirmations.
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They do work.
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You just have to be consistent.
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You have to feel it as you're reading it.
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And the fifth one was movement.
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I hope I said this right.
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Yes.
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OK, cool.
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So my next question, Cady is in your experience, what are some of the common challenges that people face when they try to adopt newer habits and how can they overcome these hurdles?
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I think a lot of people get discouraged when they're starting with these new habits or they're just not consistent with them because they feel like, oh, it's ok if I skip a day.
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But I think being able to be honest with yourself and show up for yourself and almost like it's an agreement with someone else that you're keeping, keeping a promise to other people.
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You usually always do that because there's another factor involved.
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And so you need to start treating yourself, like, you're a really good friend, you've made a promise to them to start showing up for them to do these things with them and even like getting a habit tracker or like having a buddy that you're telling like, ok, every single day I'm gonna do this.
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I think that is really, really helpful to stay consistent with them.
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And talking about consistency, as you mentioned already is a key to habit formation.
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How do you stay motivated and consistent in maintaining these life changing habits?
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Like, how do you really be, how are you so consistent in whatever you're doing?
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I definitely think I do my best to give flexibility at times.
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So if I'm really like a new habit that I've really been trying to do more is meditate and it was really, really difficult for me at first.
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But I knew that it would change my life.
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I knew that it would make such a difference.
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And so now I'm like, OK, it's ok if I'm not able to do 10 minutes today, it's ok if I'm gonna do this meditation while I'm walking, but I still need to do it today and I need to schedule that time in.
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And so it's like being flexible with yourself.
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And also I think once you start doing it every single day, eventually it does become second nature.
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And you're like, I can't, I just like wake up in the morning and I'm like, OK, where's my journal.
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It's time to practice gratitude or like do these things.
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And so knowing that, ok, at first, it might take a little bit of time.
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But if you keep going, like anything that we do in our life, it's gonna become second nature.
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Yeah, I agree.
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And how do you suggest, how do you suggest integrating these habits into like a busy lifestyle?
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Especially for those who feel like they don't have enough time, which I know is an illusion because everyone, when someone tells me, I don't have time to do this.
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I'm like, listen, girl, we have all have 24 hours in a day and if we really want to do something, we can do it.
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So what is your take on it?
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I think it's make it easy for yourself to actually stick with it and know again that it's not gonna look the same for everybody.
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So the same way for me, it was going to the gym every morning in the beginning.
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It was how can I make this easy for myself to wake up in the morning, be tired and still want to go or still be committed to going.
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So doing that and also just scheduling it in and it's ok if you even just waking up five minutes earlier and writing down three things, you're grateful for like we all have five minutes.
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And I was actually just like writing an outline for a podcast that I'm doing about.
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there's just like happiness, myths and things like that.
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But I was talking about, I'm like, losing my train of thought.
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But, oh, it's like we always are gonna have problems in our life.
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And so if you are like, I don't have time to do this but I don't like my mindset or I don't have time to do this and I don't like the way I look, but I want to start working out.
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It's like our, we're always gonna have problems but our problems get upgraded.
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And so, but you have to choose your hard and if you wanna stay with where you're at in life and you wanna choose that hard, then by all means like you can go for that.
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But if you really want to change your life, you have to choose the heart of maybe just waking up 30 minutes earlier and going on a walk or waking up 20 minutes earlier and just journaling and meditating.
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Yeah, I, I feel like people don't understand the concept of either way.
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If you feel meditation is hard or working out is hard.
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Wait till you end up in the hospital, wait till you, you are super sick and you have to take pills and wait till the doctor says, oh, I'm sorry, but you are diagnosed with a mental illness.
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It's big because you did not choose your heart, which was meditating consistently or working out consistently or taking care of your body consistently.
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In the first place.
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So people don't realize that but they realize it when they start suffering.
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So I love that, that you know, make it easy for yourself either way, it's going to be hard, but still you can still choose your heart.
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Yes, definitely cool.
20:39
Lastly, my last question to you is what advice would you give to someone who is just starting their journey towards adopting these transformative habits?
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Any tips to keep them on track?
20:51
Yeah.
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So again making it easy for yourself.
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Number two, just like doing your find a buddy if that's easy for yourself, like create a habit tracker to start doing this and celebrate those wins.
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So when you get to five days of doing it, how are you gonna celebrate that win?
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How are you gonna get excited about it?
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Maybe you're gonna book, like go buy yourself coffee or do something exciting.
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So it really is about celebrating those little wins and when you like keep going with it, it just feels so good knowing that you were able to stay consistent with it and just remembering that you can do hard things like you're able to do it and it is just so worth it once you come out on the other side of it.
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Oh, thank you.
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This was great stuff, you know, and we're talking to the happiness expert.
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So, Cady, how can people book a one on one session with you.
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Where can they find you?
21:49
Yes.
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So my Instagram and Tik Tok are at Happiness by Cady and inside my bio, I have a link for coaching and my podcasts and everything else.
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Too.
22:01
Awesome.
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It was wonderful having you on our show, Cady.
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Thank you so much for coming.
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Thank you so much for having me on.
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I really love this and for all our listeners always remember metamorphosis, not medication and nema state for all of our listeners, if you have any question and you really want the answers for it, then feel free to book a 20 minute free consultation with me.
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And if you love this episode, then please give us a review on itunes.
22:30
Thank you so much and see you on another episode.
