The BG Odyssey: Recent Episodes

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Getting involved with our communities in charitable ways is a fantastic way to motivate us in dealing with clutter, especially with regards to letting go. This week, we discuss all the ways to contribute on a local level, as well as how to deal with some of those hard to donate items. Check out our shownotes for an extensive list of donation resources and recycling guide!

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Why are deadlines important? What’s the best way to use them effectively? How do we keep ourselves accountable when we are setting our own deadlines? This episode, we dive deep into using deadlines as a productivity tool, as well as outlining a couple different prioritization systems you can use to stay on top of pending tasks. Try our “Master Dump List” exercise and work through a prioritization challenge of your own.

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What are some techniques for getting past procrastination resistance we all struggle with occasionally? This week we discuss how to reframe negative thoughts, the five-minute rule, using lists to combat overwhelm, and more! Accept the 5-5 Challange and see if you can turn overcoming procrastination into more of an automated habit in your life.

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What’s the best way to use a planner? How can we make the most of monthly, weekly, and daily views? And what about managing our ever shifting tasks and to-dos? In this episode, we break down the different layouts you typically see in a planner and the best way to maximize them with regards to everything that needs to get done. Learn how to do some research on your habits to find your maximum productivity window!

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This week, Bianca and Ginni battle it out and break down all the different reasons you might choose to use a paper or digital planner. Tune in to find out what’s to love about each, as well as issues that may arise depending on what kind of system you’re using. Plus, we’ll do a quick run down of some of our favorite planning products on the market. Check out the shownotes on our website to find all the product links!

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What’s the best way to find the optimal planning tool for you? Figure out your learning style! In this episode, we discuss the differences in visual, auditory, reading/writing, and kinesthetic learners. Determine yours using “The IKEA Test” and start customizing your tools to maximize information intake and productivity!

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Season 1, Episode 2: Habits

Welcome:

• Almost any goal can be broken down into a habit.
• Creating good habits in our lives automates some of those annoying but necessary tasks. When we aren’t consciously thinking of these things so much, we are freeing up space in our minds for more big picture thoughts.
• This episode we’ll be talking about how to change your habits, how to start good ones and how to break bad ones.

The “Habit Cycle”:

• From The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg (available on Amazon)
• Three different parts of the habit cycle:
  • Trigger: What makes you want to do the habit
  • Behavior: The actual action of the habit
  • Reward: Something that makes you feel good that makes you want to repeat the habit
• The key to breaking a bad habit is to isolate and notice both the trigger and reward, then change the actual behavior of the habit, while keeping the rest of the cycle the same.
• For example, when trying to quit smoking, chew a piece of nicotine gum instead of smoking a cigarette when certain triggers are activated. Doing so maintains the same chemical reward as the cigarette while transplanting the behavior onto a healthier action.

Deal with Triggers:

• To give yourself the best chance at breaking bad habits, try to minimize triggers in your environment wherever possible.
• For example, if you are trying to eat healthier, eliminate junk food in the home. Try replacing candy with nuts or dried fruit.
• Another example might be trying to improve sleep hygiene. Eliminate technological distractions that could be keeping you up at night. Replace computer or phone time before bed with a book or magazine.

How to Cope when Triggers Happen:

• Establish new less damaging behaviors in place of old bad habits when your trigger occurs.
• For example, drinking a soda, tea, of mocktail instead of an alcoholic beverage.
• This is great because it mimics the behavior of drinking, still giving you something to hold and sip in a bar or restaurant setting.
• For bonus points, choose a beverage that mimics the glass shape and color profile of your favorite drink! (i.e. cranberry and soda water instead of a Cosmo)
• Try to reframe the “when” of your habit in your mind.
• For example, instead of having a late-night snack just before bed, think about incorporating this into your evening “wind-down” routine, like watching a show.
• Instead of an after-dinner cigarette, think about brewing a cup of tea (chamomile can help you relax and mimic the de-stress of a cigarette). You can even enjoy this outdoors if it helps to imitate taking a smoke break!
• In the end, it’s about trying to maintain as much of that original habit behavior as possible, while eliminating harmful elements.

Use Your Support Network:

• Rely on your friends and family to help you out! It’s so important to have someone you can lean on in tough moments. They can listen to you complain about the things you are missing, as well as help keep you accountable in sticky situations.
• Resources for support can include (but are not limited to!):
• Friends
• Family
• Join an in-person support group
• Join an online forum
• Find a role model or mentor you can spend time with
• Remember, there is absolutely no shame in leaning on others when going through this journey. Changing our habits is really hard!
• Often, finding someone who has shared a similar experience can be helpful, because they are going to understand what you are going through much more than someone who hasn’t gone through this experience.
• This is why 12 step programs are so popular.
• Reassess your environment if necessary. If you can’t find anyone in your life to help you improve your habits, is it time to make some big changes in your associations?

Keep a Record:

• Keep track of how long it’s been since you acted out the behavior of whatever habit you are trying to kick.
• This can be audio, visual, or through writing. (There are many apps out there that can help with this!)
• Reward yourself when you meet certain milestones on your tracker. This reward will help your brain to rewire itself for new habits and will help you maintain your abstinence moving forward.
• Tracking sheets can help you analyze the data of how long you’ve gone without, which can be a feel-good reward in itself!

Use Existing Routines:

• Use existing behavioral patterns to trigger a new habit. By basing new steps within already established rituals and routines, our brains pairs activities and new behaviors will become automatic more quickly.
• For example, if I’m trying to drink more water to stay hydrated, I might take a few gulps every time I get up from work to use the restroom. Alternatively, maybe I take a sip every time I check my phone (assuming that wouldn’t overhydrate me by the end of the day!)
• Choose something that you already do pretty regularly to tack new habit behavior onto.

Start Small:

• It’s unrealistic to try and change all of your habits at once.
• Because the brain is used to whatever habits you have in place and prefers to be piloting you along on automatic whenever possible, if you try to change everything at the same time, it will be forced to think too much, and will start to rebel. This can result in everything from mood swings to physical symptoms like pain.
• Pick one small thing you can change at a time and give yourself time and space to practice, practice, practice.
• Typically, it takes about 90 days for a new habit to form in a truly solid and automatic way.
• Think about concentrating on one behavior for each 3-month period of the year. Then, by the end of 12 months, you’ll be able to point our four new good behaviors you’ve established in a super concrete way.
• Don’t forget to track behavior and choose milestones upon which to reward yourself for a job well done.

Plan for Obstacles:

• Not everything will always go your way, so it’s important to plan for those inevitable changing plans and environmental factors.
• For example, if you have planned to go to the gym on a certain day, but wake up to find it storming and now you don’t want to leave the house, have a system in place so you can at least get some working out in at home (i.e. a mat for sit-ups and other floor exercises).
• When trying to cut down on sugar, have a back up “replacement” snack on hand in case you are missing your go to. For example, if you run out of your sugar free chocolate, try to have a yogurt with fruit.

Focus on Value:

• It’s easy to think about what you’re sacrificing instead of what you’re gaining. By focusing on the benefits of behavioral change, you are giving your brain another reward that can be used to cement the habit cycle.
• For example, instead of thinking, “oh, I’m going to be so sore after my session at the gym,” think about how good your body feels after working on, or focus on the mental benefits, like reduced stress and anxiety, that can come with it.
• This is another way to re-train the brain and move towards more positive thinking. Be mindful of those positive thoughts!
• It’s easy to get overwhelmed by complaints. Reframing our thoughts to focus on our blessings can be highly motivational in continued self-improvement.
• Moving towards positive thinking like this is just another good habit we could develop in ourselves. Think of it as if you are working out at the “brain gym”.

Give Yourself Reminders:

• To help stay on track, surround yourself with reminders and avoid letting your brain slide back into autopilot mode.
• You can use tangible reminders around the home (think, post its, or a big notebook). Or, try digital reminders on the phone with automatic visual and audio cues.

Schedule Time:

• Schedule time in your calendar to accomplish new habits. Remember, it may be necessary to make room in your schedule by sacrificing something not serving you if it’s already full!
• Use a structure and try to maintain it so that it becomes easy and automatic
• For example, make the lunch hour on Tues and Thurs your sacred gym time.

Action Item:

Use our Habit Tracking Worksheet to track your progress in changing your habits. In the left-hand column make a list of good habits you are trying to form and bad habits you are trying to break (for example, “went to gym” or “didn’t drink coffee). Then, use the squares on the right to check off whether or not you stuck to that habit for each day in the month. You can even get creative and color code if you wish! By the end of the month, you’ll have a great visual representation of how you did. You’ll know what went well, as well as understand which habits you struggled with that may want more focus and attention moving forward.

Have any questions or comments? Want to learn more? Is there a topic you’re interested in hearing us talk about?

E-mail us at bgodysseypodcast@gmail.com

For additional tips, tricks, and worksheets visit our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/bgodysseypodcast

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Season 1, Episode 1: Goals

Welcome:

• This week we are talking about how to set realistic and effective goals, as well as making sure your day-to-day life is in line with these goals.
• Each episode will finish with an Action Item you can use to put some of the concepts we spoke about to work.

Working Backwards:

• Having your big end goal in sight first
• You don’t want to try and figure out what your daily tasks are before you know where you are going
• Write down your big “far-away” future goal Then, think about all the little steps you need to take in order to reach that goal. These smaller, specific sub-tasks can be viewed as little mini-goals to get you where you want to be.
• For example, let’s say our big goal is “I want to get healthy.” Some smaller sub-tasks might be:
• Working out, getting better rest, or eating more consciously.
• Next, take a look at each one of your smaller “mini-goals” or subtasks. Think about what each will mean for you, specifically, and how you can best fit it into your life.
• For example, in the mini-goal, “working out,” does this mean hitting the gym? An at home exercise program? Signing up for some yoga classes? Or going for a run or hike?
• By continuously breaking down your goals into specific bite-sized pieces, you are creating manageable tasks that can be more easily incorporated into your existing habits and routines. Keep creating sub-tasks until you have a detailed and pin-pointed description of something that feels realistically accomplishable for you.
• Think about the culmination of these specific sub-tasks as a staircase that’s helping you reach your big ambiguous future goal. This can help us feel like we’re making constant momentum towards what we’re trying to achieve and keep motivation strong, as well as act as a deterrent for overwhelm.
• If you are visually stimulated and struggle with maintaining motivation when working towards larger more complex goals, try drawing out your staircase and labeling the steps with some of your sub-steps (this can be done digitally or on paper). Use a little person icon (or whatever suits your fancy!) to move yourself up the staircase as you make progress. This gives a great visual representation of how far you’ve come.

Asses Commitment:

• Now that you’ve outlined both your broad goals, check point “mini goals”, and specific sub-steps, take a look at how big your staircase is. Once you see everything this goal entails, ask yourself these questions:
• Is this something you are passionate enough about to commit to?
• Do you have the time in your schedule to devote to this endeavor?
• What kind of sacrifices are you willing to make to ensure you reach your goal?

Prioritize Multiple Goals:

• If you have multiple goals that you want to achieve, decide which one is most important. Which goal do you want to achieve first?
• Often, the best candidate is whatever thing has been bugging you the most. The sense of accomplishment that comes with finishing something you’ve been thinking about frequently can be a great motivator in getting more and more done!

Getting Life in Line with Your Goals:

• Weekly Intention Setting Session: Once a week, take some time to write down all the things that you want to accomplish.
• This can include everything from critical “crisis management” tasks (such as accomplishing deliverables for clients that are due soon), to ongoing chores and maintenance items (grocery shopping, oil change, etc.), to personal and social commitments (like spending time with family or friends).
• Make sure to include some of those sub-tasks for large end goals that you have outlined for yourself.
• Look at the balance between “crisis management”, chores, self-care, and time set aside for reaching your goals. How much time in your week are you really setting aside for those sub-tasks that will help you get to where you want to be? How much time are you spending on things that aren’t necessarily important to you?
• If there is never quite enough time to accomplish those sub-tasks that will help you reach your goal, you’ll need to asses the other items in your to-do list. What can get sacrificed so that more of your time can be spent working towards something meaningful to you

Using Deadlines to Chart Out Your Goals:

• Deadlines help you hold yourself accountable and gives you structure in the work you’ll be doing to reach your goals.
• Scheduling time in your calendar will make it more likely that this work gets accomplished.
• Using regular cycles is a great way to get into the habit of working towards those things you value. For example, take a “mini-goal” as outlined above, and give yourself a deadline of one month. Then, use some of those sub-tasks to fill in the weeks, say you’ll complete one or two each week, depending on how much time you have to commit.
• Don’t forget to block out time in the calendar for this!
• For example, let’s say you have a goal of losing 5 lbs this month. Maybe your tasks for week one are, “research local gyms”, “sign up for gym classes,” and “pre-pay for gym sessions” (Note: sometimes the a financial commitment in advance can be an incentive for follow-through!). Then, week two tasks can be “go to gym twice a week” and “don’t eat ice cream”.
• Commit to showing up for yourself the way you would show up for any other professional or social obligations. This is sometimes the hardest part, but just remember, if you don’t do it, no one else will!

Rewarding Yourself:

• Use rewards to train your brain in continuing to work towards your goals. Giving your brain a reward will teach it that doing this work will result in something good and pleasurable.
• Not only does this make it more likely that your work will continue in the future, but as you keep moving up that staircase, it should get easier and easier to accomplish your sub-tasks.
• Chose either specific sub-tasks that you’ll reward yourself for, or instead try picking out certain “landmarks” on your trajectory that you will reward yourself for reaching (i.e., 25%, 50%, 75%, etc.)
• Use “guilty pleasures” to try and motivate yourself to get things done. For example, only allow yourself to watch the next episode in the Netflix show you are bingeing if you go to the gym.
• Alternatively, use certain measurements. For example, when you reach certain goal weights, or save a certain amount of money.
• The best way to ensure the pairing in your brain is to make these mile-stones small and frequent.

Monthly and Quarterly Review:

• Every month or quarter, check in with yourself and make sure that these goals you’ve set out for yourself are still meaningful for you and still work for your life.
• Repeat your commitment assessment, especially if you feel like you’ve stagnated in the work you’ve been doing.
• What in your life has changed? Has something happened to make this goal that you’re working towards feel more secondary to you?
• Remember that daily tasks should be moving you towards something that you really want.
• If you want to get a little wu-wu with Ginni, you can use the phases of the moon as an easy indicator to check in with yourself. This is great for those folks who would rather tune into the natural environment than some fancy paper planner or app!
• When the moon is full, it’s a time of harvest. Celebrate those things you’ve accomplished, cross things off your to-do list, and give yourself a pat on the back for the path you’ve walked.
• When the moon is new, take the time to sit down and engage in some introspection. See if your goals are still in line with your life and think about setting some new intentions for the weeks ahead. Things you (ideally) will be able to celebrate when the moon is full again!
• Use quarterly sessions to asses where you are at with larger goals. Specifically, with larger goals, they will have different “stages” in the process of mounting your staircase.
• For example, if you are writing a novel, you’ll have different phases such as “writing the rough draft” and “revising the rough draft”. As work progresses, it’s likely that workflow patterns and needs will change. Make sure you are staying on top of what your requirements are in your intention setting, your deadlines, and your scheduling!

Action Item:

Write down 3-5 broad goals that you want to accomplish this quarter. This can be something like, “get healthier,” “save money,” “learn to cook,”, or even “spend more time with friends/family”. Leave some space between each of these goals (1-2 inches). Then, populate that space with a few concrete steps that will lead you towards your goals. These should be specific action items that you can check off (like on a to-do list) as you accomplish them. For bonus points, set some deadlines on these and block off time to get them done in your calendar! If you like what you see, think about posting this paper up on a bulletin board someplace you will see it often so that you can cross off steps as you get through them and feel good about the progress you’re making.

Have any questions or comments? Want to learn more? Is there a topic you’re interested in hearing us talk about?

E-mail us at bgodysseypodcast@gmail.com

For additional tips, tricks, and worksheets visit our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/bgodysseypodcast