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The Positive Voice
The Positive Voice, is a podcast dedicated to helping you live your best life. Our show is all about spreading positivity and inspiration, and we cover a variety of topics that are designed to help you cultivate a more positive mindset. From the neuroscience of positivity to the power of affirmations, we explore the many ways in which you can bring more positivity into your life. Our episodes are full of practical tips and strategies that you can apply to your own life, as well as inspiring stories from people who have overcome adversity to achieve their dreams. So if you're looking for a dose of positivity and inspiration, join us on The Positive Voice and start living life to the fullest!
The Positive Voice
E54: Turning Intentions into Actions: A Guide to Keeping Resolutions Alive Year-Round
Have you ever wondered why, come February, your New Year's resolutions seem like a distant memory? Well, I'm Coach Chef Kim, and in a heart-to-heart confession, I'm peeling back the layers on my own struggles with resolutions. As we sift through the habitual detritus that clutters our path to personal growth, I'm laying out the blueprint for transforming mere intentions into concrete actions. You'll pick up on how the game-changing principles from "Atomic Habits" can revolutionize the way you see self-improvement, through the power of incremental changes and unshakeable consistency. Let's embark on a reflective journey to understand why we falter and how to keep the spark of January burning all year long.
This episode isn't just about sticking to a workout schedule or improving your reading list—it's an intimate exploration of aligning the rhythms of our body with our quest for well-being and professional success. I'll take you through my personal evolution from a conflicted entrepreneur to embodying a harmonious life—where career aspirations simmer perfectly alongside the mastery of culinary arts. We'll discuss the importance of listening to your body's whispers before they become screams, and how tracking my menstrual cycle became a secret weapon for optimizing my lifestyle. Through emotional maturity and mindfulness practices, I've learned to set audacious goals and navigate life with confidence; let me share with you how to weave these threads into a tapestry of fulfillment in your own life.
Welcome to The Positive Voice, a feel-good podcast designed to inspire and uplift through heartfelt conversations and the power of positivity! Hosted by transformational life coach and hope dealer, Kimberly Houston, where we delve into personal growth, wellness, and the beauty of overcoming life's challenges.
Join our creative and supportive community as we laugh, learn, and grow together on this life-changing journey. Subscribe to The Positive Voice and let's spread the joy, one conversation at a time!
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Hey friends, welcome back to another episode of the Positive Voice Podcast. I am your host, coach Chef Kim, and I am so honored, so grateful and so blessed that you are taking a little bit of time out of your day to spend it with me. So listen, I'm not going to hold you for a long time, friends, but there is something that has been on my mind. One of those things is it's the second month of the year. Okay, it is currently February 2024. We just entered the year. My question for you is have you done an audit of where you are so far? So last month we entered into a new calendar year and it was all new year, new me, blah, blah, blah. I would like to know are you still keeping up with those goals? Are you still on track with your fitness plan? Are you still on track with praying and meditating and hugging trees and standing outside in the sun, whatever it was you wrote on your list? Are you still committed to those things? If the answer is yes, good for you, keep going, but also keep listening. If the answer is no, baby, let's have a talk.
Speaker 1:So a lot of times, most times when your new year's resolutions do not make it past January 17th, which is what is actually called ditch day. Please Google it. It takes about 17 days for you to ditch your new year's resolutions, and so, when this happens, the majority of people cannot keep up with whatever it is they said they were going to do. My personal thoughts on this is that the reason that you can't keep up with the resolution is because you didn't actually want it. Don't get mad, hear me out. Many of us are so disconnected from ourselves that we are incapable of keeping resolutions that would require us to evolve into a more advanced version of ourselves, simply because we are comfortable. We are comfortable in the way things have been, and the idea of actually evolving into the version of yourself that you really want to be is going to require too much work. The idea of changing out a meal once a day, moving your body for 30 minutes a day, going to bed instead of revenge scrolling at the end of the day, because the only time you have to yourself is after everybody goes to bed, and so, instead of you also going to bed, you make the decision to scroll TikTok, instagram, facebook, because that is your quote. Unquote me time. See, the problem with that is that when you continue to do self-destructing things like not giving your body the proper nutrition, the proper amount of movement, the correct amount of water, nor the correct amount of sleep. You continue to perpetuate the cycle of not being able to execute the things that you want.
Speaker 1:If you say I'm too tired, I have too much on my plate, there's no way for me to add that to my life. What I hear is I'm unorganized. I don't put myself first in making excuses and living in self pity instead of going towards self. Love is more important to you. Now, if your question is will CCK? How should we adjust this? I'm glad you asked. I have a couple of ways that can help you. Number one I want you to take a real hard look in the mirror and I want you to look at yourself and ask yourself who exactly are we supposed to be? What version of you needs to show up in order to have the life you were trying to manifest? So here's the thing If you say that you want to be a boss, you want to be catching flights, not feelings.
Speaker 1:You want to be out here doing all of these things, how are you going to do them if you don't have the energy to catch the flight on time. You don't know how to go to bed so that you can wake up in enough time to not deal with the stressors and the things that can get in your way from making you catch this flight on time. If you are not going to eat properly, then how are you going to be at a weight that is going to be well enough for you to carry yourself through the airport? If you don't take the time to focus on self, how are you going to be catching flights and not feelings? Also, if you say you catch and flights and not feelings, I got other questions, because why are you not catching feelings too? Why you and your new book can't be on the flight together? But I digress, that'll be another podcast episode closer to Valentine's Day. Okay, we're going to move on. Here's my thought.
Speaker 1:One of the things that I did, I read four books in January. We're off to a good start. One of the books that I read was Atomic Habits. So in Atomic Habits by James Clear, if you haven't read it, I encourage you to read it. It is one of those books that I highly suggest you read more than once. It could be a perfect way to start every year, every new year, january 1. You pick up Atomic Habits and read it again. It's that good.
Speaker 1:Here's why I say that Atomic Habits teaches you that you should not be trying to change your entire life at one time. You should be doing small, incremental things over and over again, repeatedly, that they become habits. The more good habits you introduce to your life, the less likely you will return to the bad habits when you make a decision to completely stop eating this, or completely stop eating that, or you're going to show up in the gym four out of seven days a week. Five out of seven days a week. Knowing you ain't been to the gym in five years, you set yourself up for failure. So let me explain to you what I did.
Speaker 1:So maybe the second week in January this was definitely not a January first thing, because I don't do New Year's resolutions the second week in January, I decided that the way I wanted my year to look was that I was going to be catching flights and feelings this is the year of it, but I decided that I wanted to be traveling more in 2024. I decided that not only was I traveling more, but I wanted to be speaking more. I wanted to be paid to show up at other people's events and inspiring people. That is one of my goals for the year. And so, as I imagine myself in these positions and I imagine myself receiving the contracts to be a keynote speaker, and I imagine myself moving through the airport, thinking about what's my airport outfit? Am I going to be a sneakers girly in the airport, or am I who? Am I kidding? I'm never wearing heels through Atlanta's Hartzville Jackson Airport. I'm going to be a sneaker girly, but I'm going to be cute.
Speaker 1:So I'm thinking about what does that look like when I travel? From the time that I leave my home, I am on. So no, I'm not going to walk through the airport and look like I'm not somebody. I want you to be turning your head, eyeballing me like, oh my gosh, you must be famous. It's Atlanta, we're all famous, but I'm living up to the hype. And so I'm imagining myself going through the motions of doing these things, and one of the things that I realized was okay, girl, we've been through Hartzville Jackson, you know what that's like. Okay, you know what that's like. This is the biggest airport in the US. You know what that's like. We need to be in better shape in order to do that.
Speaker 1:So my thought was well, let's start walking, all right, so boom. So the next thing that I did was I downloaded the app 99 walks. Now I already have a membership to 99 walks because I have done some things with this organization, with this company, a couple of years ago. So I just redownloaded it back to my phone and re-upped everything and I was like okay, this is going to be a great way for me to track my walks. So then I decided three days a week I was going to walk.
Speaker 1:The next decision that I made was what days of the week was I going to walk? So I went with Monday, wednesday, friday. Now I did not do like this whole I'm getting up at 4am. No, I'm not, I'm really not. Like you can't have a conversation with me before 10 or 11am, like I'm never going to put something on my calendar before 10 or 11 in the morning, I'm not up. So, thinking that I was going to get up at 4am and go to the gym unrealistic setup for failure. So I said on Monday, wednesday, friday, within an hour of me waking up, I needed to get dressed, walk downstairs in my apartment, walk across the lawn and go to the gym Monday, wednesday, friday. I have done that every single week and I have not missed a week.
Speaker 1:The next part to this was I told myself that I would have to be on the treadmill for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, I could ask myself do you want to continue? There's only been one day that the answer was no. Now, for some people it may seem like a failure that I got up, I got dressed, I walked across the lawn it was 17 degrees outside and I went to the gym and I was only there for 10 minutes. Let me tell you why that was not a failure and it was 100% a success. Number one I got up. Number two I went through the motion of getting dressed. Number three I made a commitment to myself that Monday, wednesday, friday, I was going to the gym within an hour of waking up, and I did. Then I got there and the rule is once you're here, you must be on the treadmill for 10 minutes. I was on the treadmill for 10 minutes. I did not feel well, this was not working for me, but I did my 10 minutes and then I went back home.
Speaker 1:I listened to my body. I did not ignore the fact that I had a migraine, that I did not feel well, I was not pushing through, because pushing through does not make me a hero. It makes me crazy for ignoring my body telling me that it needs rest. And so my record has not been broken. I have been every week. Because I have stayed on this, a couple of things are happening. Am I seeing movement? No, not yet. As a matter of fact, I didn't even put batteries in the skill till last week, so I don't even know if there has been movement or not.
Speaker 1:That's not what this was for. Do I feel better going up and down the stairs now? Yes, do I sleep better at night? Yes, have I woken up on a day that wasn't Monday, wednesday or Friday and I sat in my window looking across at the gym like dang, I really want to be in there Also. Yes, now there is a desire to go, and not just because I said I'm going Monday, wednesday, friday. Now I want to go on days that are not my required Monday, wednesday, friday and instead of going to the gym last week, when I was going to go on Thursday, it was such a beautiful day I opted out of going to the gym and I went and took the dog for a walk and it was lovely. It was absolutely lovely. I was able to connect with nature and breathe in fresh air. But this is what I need you to understand is because I made the commitment to myself to develop a new habit, and that new habit was going Monday, wednesday, friday for a minimum of 10 minutes. I've only ever been in there one time for 10 minutes. Every other time it was more than that. I beat my January goal. I'm pretty sure I'm going to beat my February goal. I'm hoping so.
Speaker 1:But now that we're in the new month, now I'm going to add another habit. I'm going to add something different this month. So this month I am incorporating more cold food. So if you're into human design, this will make sense to you. If you're not into human design, don't worry about it.
Speaker 1:So in my human design chart it says that I work best eating cold food. Do I know what that means? Not really, no, not really. The only thing I know is that, evidently, I'm going to have a better output eating cold food. So this month I'm incorporating more salads. I'm incorporating more meals that will allow me to eat them and they are not hot. So does that mean I change out what my breakfast looks like? Yes, I can. Also, you know, like, whatever it is that I'm making, I make sure that I can eat it, whether it's hot or cold. So that is the new habit that I will be stacking onto my habit of going to the gym Monday, wednesday, friday. Guess what? If the food is cold, I can just about guarantee you it's going to be healthier. So now I've had it stacked healthier eating.
Speaker 1:That doesn't feel like a diet, that doesn't feel like punishment. It is filling, because I've already started. It's filling is actually more filling than if I were to eat a plate full of spaghetti or something like that. I don't feel sluggish. I get more work done. My productivity is through the roof right now. If you know anybody on my team, please ask them. My productivity has gone through the roof.
Speaker 1:There was one more thing that I did in January which is really new, and once I kind of figure it out some more, I'll share more about it. But I started tracking my cycle and in tracking my cycle I changed the way I'm eating every week based on where I am in the cycle. I also change how I'm working out based on where we are in the cycle and throughout the month of January it works beautifully. So we're going to try it again in February. I'm going to do it for a couple of months before I kind of go into detail on what that looks like. But in order for me to show up as my highest level self when I think about the ultimate version of Coach of Kim, there are several things that I see. She has a certain style, fashion. Wise Nails are always done. If you've seen any of my social media postings in the last month, my nails have been three different colors and after I finish recording this they're going to turn to the fourth color. So we have been keeping up with changing our nail color every week.
Speaker 1:The higher level self of me reads a lot. Last month was four books. We're going to see how many books we get in this month. I drink way more water. I say hydrated. Listen, when you hydrate you don't have time to be involved in other people's business Because all you got time to do is focus on yourself and pee. So being a part of conversations that involve other people and got nothing to do with making me money. I don't want to hear that is fundamentally changed what my DMs look like.
Speaker 1:Okay, another piece of this. She's very organized and very well put together. Am I actually writing in my calendar and my planner this year? Yes, do I have like 12 planners? Yes, I made a decision to work out of one instead of all of them. I have a planner, I have a journal, I have a notebook and then I have a to do list book. Those are the four things that are keeping me together right now, and all four of them are out in front of me at the moment. So these are things that I am actively using every single day.
Speaker 1:Okay, my highest level self sits at the helm of an incredible multimedia company. My highest level self is not an influencer, she's not a blogger. She's not a brand. She sits at the helm of a corporation. She's the CEO. She's a CEO that is compassionate and caring, has on site childcare so that her employees don't have to worry about not being able to get their work done in two to three hours because they have opted to stay home with their kids. She is a CEO that believes in education and will have the company pay for the employees to go to conferences that will make them better. She is a CEO that works from a mindset of abundance, not lack in scarcity, fearful that her employees are going to jump ship at any time and therefore we cannot share how we are getting things done. That is not at all who I am as a CEO, and because I know that my highest level self is this particular version, I can't wait till I get there to put those things into practice. Those things are happening right now. My interns are quite literally watching me build this corporation, brick by brick by brick. They are a part of the process. They get to see how inspired action looks. They get to see what an unlimited access to creativity looks like.
Speaker 1:When you understand that you have been put on this earth for a reason and that there are people tied to your yes, it will make you change how you look at resolutions, goals and the things that you want to manifest. It will make you look at these things with an eye of compassion while also being critical. Is this something I actually want or is this something that somebody else is doing? I posted a tech talk in my Facebook group last week where Tabitha Brown was talking about the difference between a goal and a dream, and in this, I'm sorry it wasn't a tech talk. It was an Instagram reel and in this reel, tabitha Brown stated that a goal is something you create for yourself. A dream is something that is divinely placed inside of you. I have goals based on the dream. You could not have paid me to believe three years ago, two years ago, even one year ago, that my life would look the way it looks right now. You couldn't have paid me to believe that One of the things that I've been very, very intentional about in the last two years for sure was reconnecting with myself, learning myself, loving myself, understanding who I am as a person, understanding what my place is on this earth and why I'm here, understanding what my divine purpose is.
Speaker 1:My divine purpose is to inspire entrepreneurs to show up as the best version of themselves. Because of my background as a chef, that also gives me insight into the culinary arts industry, and I still want entrepreneurs to show up as their best self, even inside of the culinary arts community. And so, understanding those things, what I have been trying to figure out for the last few months is how do these two things come together? It has felt like two trains running for so long. It has felt like I was the conductor and one train was going, the other train was going and I literally am jumping back and forth between the two.
Speaker 1:And this weekend I changed my affirmation, I changed my mantra and I changed my prayer and, very simply, it became that I wanted an unlimited access to creativity, but I also wanted inspired action to follow. I wanted inspire action to accompany the divine revelation that I know has been placed inside of me. I know what the revelation is. I can see my highest level self very clearly, but what I wasn't seeing was how to get there and how to make it happen. And so then I had to change. I had to ask for inspired action to get there.
Speaker 1:A lot of people are focused on how do I get there, who do I need to talk to, who do I need to know, but you never ask for the gift of inspired inspiration. Asking for inspired action, asking for inspired action, you don't worry about the how. When you have a thought oh, I should do this, you go do it. Oh, I should do that, you go do it. You're having a conversation with somebody. They say something. It sparks something, something literally leaps inside of you. You're like yep, I must do that. That is what my life has looked like for the last week and a half. I've had many conversations with people that have said something random that other people probably wouldn't have paid any attention to and it lit a spark in my soul that then turned into a massive brain dump. It has been inspired action after inspired action after inspired action, and here's what I can tell you about finally connecting my head, my heart, my mind, my body, my soul.
Speaker 1:I trust my intuition and I also have the spirit of discernment. I know when it is meant for me and when it is not. The red flags are waving. I don't ignore them. I can see them, I can hear them, I can feel the wind making them move. If you are not connected with yourself and you don't know how to listen to yourself, you don't know how to listen to your body, you can't figure out what's your voice or someone else's voice. That to me, signals the fact that you don't know how to quiet your mind. It signals to me that you do not trust yourself to make effective choices and decisions for your well-being. It signals to me that is something you need to practice.
Speaker 1:I didn't get this way overnight. I made some bad choices Many, many years I won't say bad choices. I've made some unfavorable choices, choices that were out of alignment, and I knew they were out of alignment when I made them and for some reason I figured I could put myself back into alignment. That's not how this works. Because I've experienced that and now I'm on the other side of it, it's easier for me to go oh, mm-mm, they don't feel right. I don't need multiple signs.
Speaker 1:If, at any point, I'm a little iffy about it that happens sometimes then I'll ask for a sign. I'll ask for some sort of supernatural sign. If this is the way I'm supposed to go, show me an owl, show me a red bird or blue bird, show me a frog something that I'm not normally going to see and then they show up everywhere where they don't. It doesn't mean that an owl will fly past, although that has happened before it could be in. I'm walking in Barnes Noble and they randomly have a book with owls on it on an in-cap. A little kid will run past me with an owl on their shirt. A mother nursing her baby will have a baby with owls all over their onesie. It will repeatedly show itself to me where the universe is telling me this is what you're supposed to be doing. At other times I'll be looking for the sign, and then there's nothing there, and that is my answer.
Speaker 1:One of the things about emotional maturity is understanding that when you receive the answer, regardless to if you like it or not, the answer is the answer. The same way, we want to set boundaries with other people, and it's very much so. I said what I said. The universe is the same way. Just because you don't like the answer doesn't mean the answer will change, and so if you are someone who is wishing, longing to be connected with themselves, I would encourage you to really start a mindfulness practice. By that I mean intentionally set some time to dream, intentionally sit down and journal your dreams, write out what you want, write out your desires, write out big, audacious goals, write out those things that bring you joy that you probably won't share with another person. You got to start there. It doesn't matter what other people have to say. Other people's dreams aren't yours. If they were, god would have given it to them and not you. Stop asking people to help you see your vision when you know damn well they blind and can't see anyway. You must start making smart choices and smart decisions. The more you practice it, the better you become.
Speaker 1:This is not something you can pray for and it shows up overnight, but it is something that you can obtain through diligence and a willingness to discover more about yourself, a willingness to go back into the past and resolve some unhealed wounds in your life. You can't show up as your highest level self if you don't heal the wounds of your past. Your highest level self is healed. Your highest level self has done the work. Your highest level self understands her shadow and isn't afraid of it, but the two of them walk hand in hand and guide you through your life. You've learned the lessons through your shadow work and your highest level self is on a level that you only aspire to be. The only way for you to get there is for you to go through the things. Yes, it may hurt.
Speaker 1:Listen, I'm not going to lie to you and tell you this journey was easy. It wasn't. It has come with loss. It has come with loss of people a loss of a marriage, a loss of a parent, a loss of friends, a loss of money, a loss of a home, a loss of an identity, of who I thought I was going to be and, honestly, I do it all over again to get back to this space that feels in such alignment with my highest level self. It was worth it and it will continue to be worth it as long as I continue to honor all of the things that I have experienced, without trying to hide it, without trying to shun it, without feeling like the things that I have gone through, without feeling like life happened to me. I don't feel like that. I've been able to co-create my life and, as I am on this journey and learning to co-create in bigger and better ways, it's easier for me to make decisions now. But before, when I was straddling the fence and I wasn't showing up fully for myself in the way that I show up for myself now, it was tough, it was rocky, it was a back and forth swaying motion that didn't feel real comfortable. And now I can still sit on this boat and sail, but it's beautiful. The winds may rock the boat, but it will not sink the ship. It's okay. The same way I came through, you will as well.
Speaker 1:So if you've fallen off the wagon and you are no longer connected to those things you said you wanted to do at the top of the year, hey, guess what? Today's a new day. Let's start over. Let's come up with a realistic plan. Let's come up with small habits that can continue to add on top of one another in a way that you will be able to sustain it and it becomes a part of who you are, not just something you say you're doing. If you need help, make sure you come holler at us inside of our Facebook group. It is always linked in the show notes and until next time, friends stay sweet.
