Ep #2 - Actions Come Before Motivation
Welcome to the balanced business woman podcast.
I am your host, Hannah Hutson, a functional fitness, balanced nutrition, and mindset coach.
And I am going to help you hit new levels in your business by building wellness and balance into your life. Listen, along as I teach you how to get rid of brain fog, balance your hormones, improve your energy levels, lower your stress and become the CEO of your health.
Because we all know if you don't take care of yourself, you won't be able to take care of your business.
Hello, everyone! And welcome again to the balanced business woman podcast. I'm your host, Hannah and we are on episode two. So excited to have you guys here today. I want to talk about motivation because when it comes to your health, I find that so many people think that they're lacking motivation or that they're lazy when it comes to their health.
But in reality, motivation is not going to be here for us, unfortunately. And so I want to challenge that thought and let you guys know that really actions need to come before motivation comes. If you're a business woman, CEO and executive, someone who works all the time, who, you know, your career is your baby, your business is your baby and you want it to do well, that's amazing. I am the same way with my business, but I also know that my health is important for me to be here a hundred percent with quality ideas, quality content in order for my business to thrive. And so your health really does determine your wealth and it might not feel like that at the moment.
You might feel like, no, I can continue to do this. I can continue to put my health on the back burner, but it's eventually going to catch up to you. And I want you to know that we got to take action first, before we find motivation, because 99% of the time, you're not going to be motivated. It's just the truth.
I get this question asked a lot. Everyone's like Hannah, you're a coach. How do you stay motivated? How do you work out all the time? How do you eat these nutrient dense meals? How do you cook for yourself? And the truth is, I work out five days a week. I cook mostly all of my meals, except for like a couple of days a week, I'll eat out or do you take out because I'm human and I don't want to cook every single night.
Um, however, this doesn't come from motivation. I'm not motivated to work out every day. In fact, most days I'm unmotivated, I'll be, you know, on the couch and I'm just like, nah, today doesn't really sound like a fun day. You know, especially in Seattle in the winter time, we don't get a lot of light. It gets dark out at like 4:00 PM and it's really unmotivating, but the truth is, it's not motivation that I'm looking for. It's that I know I'm going to feel better after I work out. And I know once I get started, it's going to be easier. And the truth is, is that I do it because I've been building these habits for years. When you perform an action over and over again in your daily life, those actions become.
And they become easy for you to do. You don't need motivation to do them at that point. You do them because they're part of your daily routine and you see the benefit in taking those actions daily. And so when we talk about daily actions, when we talk about taking action in order to maybe find motivation or just taking action, because you know you’re gonna feel better, it's important to note that those actions don't need to be huge or done perfectly. Some of the most meaningful progress is made from tiny imperfect actions taken daily. So what I want you to think about is focus on building the momentum rather than focusing on the speed at which you were moving.
Okay. So it's not super important that we, you know, find these quick fixes that are making us take these huge actions because in the end it's not going to be sustainable. And we want to take actions that are going to be sustainable. If you want to change, if you really want to change, if you're ready to take those steps to better your health so that you can be there for your business, you can be there in your career.
You can be there for your kids, whoever you need to be there for, then, you know, you have to take action. If you want to build new, healthy habits. If you want to feel energized, if you want to be clear minded, if you want to maybe change your appearance, maybe you want to lose a little weight. Um, maybe you want to stop eating as much sugar or drinking as much alcohol or, you know, being able to just think clearer for your business, then the truth is that you just have to take action. Stop looking for motivation because it's not going to be there.
But what I want to focus on today is how we take action. What actions should we be taking that is actually going to help us move the needle in the right direction. And the truth is, is that the actions you need to take are these simple, basic ones that honestly sound boring.
Those are the actions that are going to actually help you build behaviors or change your behaviors. Build those habits. And have long-term success with whatever your goals are. And one thing I want to note before we move on to some examples of this is that change is scary. I totally understand that there's many reasons for us not to change.
And that's actually something I just want you to think about what is good about not changing for you because change means stepping outside of your comfort zone. Change means doing something you might not necessarily be good at. And doing something that you're not good at, especially as we get older, that is scary. That shit is scary. And so I totally understand that change is scary and that change feels uncomfortable, but it's truly something that we have to do. And we have to push outside of our comfort zone if we want to change. And I know that is just, that is like a whole another topic and a whole another episode that I'll be talking about. But I just wanted to notate that. Before we move on to some examples of small, basic, simple actions we can take daily.
So moving into that, I'll give you a few examples. Let's just start with exercise. So exercise, you know, It depends on the person. So you might be someone who maybe you've just never moved most of your life. You were just kind of sedentary and now you're trying to find movement in your life, or maybe you took a break from it because you, you know, got caught up in your career. And so now you're trying to build some kind of exercise routines into your life. I find that it's really easy to look for the fun workouts.
Like you go on Instagram, you go on YouTube, you go to all these social media platforms and you see people doing what they call the cool workouts. You know, the exercises that look interesting, that look fun, that looked challenging and while you might want to do those. I'm going to challenge that they're actually not going to be the best for you. They're not going to give you more results. A more complex workout routine does not mean that you're going to have better results. And so instead of focusing on these complex programs and exercises, Or even just changing your workout daily, which I find some people they say they get bored with their workouts.
The truth is, is if you want results, you need to do the basics. You need to understand how to move correctly. You need to learn the movement patterns correctly. And if you go to my Instagram, get up with Hannah. You'll notice that that is one of the biggest things I focus on, um, specifically with kettlebells, but kettlebells relates to every other movement pattern with a different tool. It relates to barbell work. It relates to dumbbell work. It relates to anything in the gym. And I'm really big on form because like I mentioned, in episode one, I broke my back and I have a bulging disc. So I have to be very cautious. About how I move and I understand my body. I know when I need to tone it down, I know when I can push myself, um, and I don't push myself to the limits of getting injured, but if you're new to exercise, this might feel very new to you and you might not know when to stop or how far to push yourself.
And so it's important to really own those movement patterns. Know what a hip hinges know what a squat is, know what oppresses know what a pull is. So really owning those movement patterns and then sticking with them consistently while over the weeks working on progressive overload and progressive overload is literally a simple way of saying increase your weights over time as your body gets used to those weights and as you get stronger. So let's say you're starting with like a 25 pound squat with a dumbbell. As that becomes easier, you can increase the. Or increase the weight to challenge your body more. And these are simple actions that you can take.
Also having consistent routine. Let's say you're doing like a Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and you're doing the same workouts on Monday, Wednesday, Friday for eight weeks. That's typically like what a program would look like, the routine is going to help you. You're going to go into those days, knowing exactly what you're doing.
And there's no question about it versus doing random workouts every day, and then not really knowing what you're getting yourself into. Sometimes that can be a little bit scary. So allow yourself to learn the movements. Allow yourself to start with the basics. And then also, I just want to know, cause some of you might not even be ready to start a workout routine.
If you're starting from scratch, maybe you just like have not worked out in years, start with walking. The best, most underutilised tool is walking. It's good for your physical and mental health. It doesn't inflame your body or cause stress on your body. So it's so beneficial. You could start with five minutes a day. So that's your action plan, five minutes a day of walking. Once you get that down consistently, then you can step up and do 10 minutes a day and then 15, and then maybe you're working up to doing, you know, 30 minutes of walking per day or every other day. That is going to be more beneficial than trying to do a crazy complex workout that's probably gonna get you so sore that you're never going to want to work out again.
Okay. So that's what I want you to focus on progressive overload, basic exercises, or even just getting into the idea of movement through walking.
Let's talk about this in terms of nutrition. I think it's very easy for us as a society because of what we see on social media. And we see these quick fixes, it's all over. It's funny because I'm really, while I want to help people lose weight, if that's what they choose, I'm all about doing it in a sustainable way. And I still get those ads that are like, loose 20 pounds in a month. And I just scream every time I see it because it's just so unsustainable. And I know that those diets are basically having you follow, you know, 10 food rules that are just like, eat chicken and broccoli every single day. Don't touch sugar. It's bad for you. Like sugar it’s not bad for you in the sense of like it went and stole something from someone that's that's that's bad, like stealing is bad, eating sugar, it's just a natural part of existence and you shouldn't feel bad about it.
Yes. It's less nutrient dense than let's say broccoli, but also your health is more than just what you eat. You're you have emotional health, you have physical health. Do you have your mental health and then you have different areas of health surrounding, you know, your environment, um, your social health, like how are you with your friends and your family? So there's a lot more to health than just, you know, cutting out foods. And the biggest thing I could say with that is to really focus on creating a routine with your food and what I mean by that. If you're new to nutrition, like you don't really know what a carb, a fat and a protein are. You're not really sure how many calories you should even be eating in a day.
Maybe you've lost all of your ability to understand what your body signals are. So your biological feedback for when you're even hungry, maybe you've lost the feeling of being hungry, or you don't even trust your body anymore. Going directly into a diet is just going to make that worse. So instead if you're a busy business woman and you are skipping meals because you don't have enough time, then start with the basic skill and the basic action of eating three meals a day, without focusing too much on what that is. And I know that might sound boring or it might sound counterintuitive, but the truth is, is we have to build up the basics before we can move on to more complex actions.
So if you are new to nutrition. Don't do calorie counting. Don't do macros, which I'll have another episode on that because I have counted macros in the past and it did lead to disordered eating, which I don't think it does for everyone. I think it does act as a useful tool, but if you're new to nutrition and you don't even have the basics of eating three meals a day down, that's where you need to start. You don't need to start with some complex diet.
Once you get that down and I suggest even like, putting it in your calendar so that you get a notification to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, then you can start saying, okay, so now that I feel like I have this simple action down, how can I make this slightly more complex?
Now what I'm going to try to do is I'm going to try to add color into my food. So fruits and vegetables, how can I add more color? Because color equals more micronutrients. You need those vitamins. And so that's how you can add layers on top of it without feeling like you're doing this fad diet that we all know is not going to be sustainable.
So when we're thinking about actions, I want you to think about how this action will be in the long-term. Is it gonna be sustainable? Or am I going to fall off? So, you know, like I mentioned, before we, as humans, we just, we want those quick fixes. We want to find fast results. And the reality is that the boring, simple, basic actions are what is going to get you results in the long-term.
So I want you to think about this in terms of a pyramid. So if you have like, you know, the pyramid, I know the example of this I can give is like you remember the food pyramid they showed you as a children. The bottom was, I don't remember what it was. I think it was grains at the bottom, which is funny. It should be like veggies and fruits. Um, I think the bottom was grains. And then the top, as you get to the top, it's like sugar. So it's saying like the bottom of the pyramid is what you should have more of. And then you can have less as you get to the top or that's what you should follow. So I want to talk about this in terms of a pyramid, but at the bottom of this pyramid is your simple, basic actions and skills that you need to learn.
So things we can think about at the bottom of a pyramid would be, having a sleep routine because sleep, which is a whole nother topic is so important for your health. It is so underutilised. It is your ability to recover. And, um, again, we'll get on, we'll talk about that on a different episode, but you know, creating a sleep routine, that's at the bottom of the pyramid, that is a basic skill that we need to learn how to implement into our lives.
Other skills would be, you know, tools to cope with stress, eating three meals a day. Like I just mentioned, learning how to build a balanced meal with carbs fats, veggies, proteins. So you've got to understand what, what is a macronutrient? How does it apply to me? How does it make me my body feel? Moving daily in a way that makes you feel good, thinking more mindfully. So instead of thinking irrationally, when certain issues come up, um, or experiences happen, how can I think more mindfully in this situation? So I can treat myself with compassion versus tearing myself down. Cause we all know that leads to unmotivation. Um, and I want you guys to know that. Like I mentioned before you got to take imperfect steps consistently because the more consistent you can be, even if those actions aren't perfect, the longer you're going to be able to sustain those actions and it's going to help, you know, bring you long-term success.
So bottom of the pyramid, those are your basics, those skills alone. Are going to help you see results, rarely do you need to move up in the pyramid? So if you're moving up in the pyramid, those are going to be more complex actions. So you can think about like calorie counting, macros, maybe you're doing, even in this could be for someone who does sports specific training. So maybe you have to be more specific with your nutrition because you're an endurance athlete and you're doing like 200 mile bike rides or 50 kilometer runs, whatever it is that you're training for. But the point is is that you can see results. When you stick with the basics, you don't even need to move up in the pyramid to the more complex actions, you can stay at the bottom of the pyramid and do the basic actions and still see results.
So what I want you to know is that 10% effort done consistently, even if it's imperfect is going to get you results. Okay. And 10%, that is not a lot of effort. And so that's what I want you to understand is you don't have to stress yourself out with a diet.
You can add in these small actions that are going to lead to bigger results in the end. Yes. It's going to take longer. But it's also going to last longer. So when you think about your actions, I want you to pick your actions based on sustainability. And this is just a question for you to take away with you today.
What actions can you do right now that are going to be sustainable? How can I change today? What is one action I can take that will be sustainable and, you know, going in, it's December right now, so going into the new year, what can I do daily? What action can I do? That's going to be sustainable that I can hold through the holidays.
It could be as simple as drinking your body weight in water in ounces every single day, because that's about how much water we need. So like, I am sure that most of you guys. I feel confident that you can drink more water. So I just want you to take that question and I want you to think about that and write down those actions of what will be sustainable, what can you actually handle, and then notice how your body feels when you do that action. Because we're so focused on the scale. Sometimes that we don't pay attention to our biological feedback. When I add this small basic action in, over time, how does it make me feel? Do you feel more. Do you have better sleep? Do you feel more clearheaded? So these are all the signs that we are moving in the right direction, even if our weight isn't dropping. Because your health is not determined by your weights. And a lot of the times it takes a while and. If you want to lose weight sustainably.
So in conclusion, I want you to think small.
I want you to think in terms of the small actions that you can take, that will lead to big results. So I want you to have big goals. I want you to see the big picture, you know, the end goal, the two year goal, whatever it is. But I want you to focus on the small wins along the way. And when you've reached a milestone, when you have a small win, I want you to celebrate those wins.
When we don't celebrate our small wins, it takes away any motivation or momentum moving towards that big goal. So focus on the wins. And then lastly, understand that you're going to fail. Yes, you are going to fail. You're probably going to fail really hard, but guess what? Failure is a part of life. Failure is feedback. And I want you to use that feedback for the future. How in the future, during this exact same situation, could I change my actions so that I don't end up where I am right now?
I’ll give you a small example. Let's say you forgot to eat all day because you were really busy. And you end up bingeing and you get really down on yourself because you went home and you binged and you felt out of control.
Now, if we take a step further to actually think about that action, the binge happened because you didn't eat. And when you don't eat your body senses that as starvation. And when your body's senses starvation, it releases hormones, hunger, hormones. So that you feel like, your body wants you to eat because it's a survival mechanism.
And so looking back, it wasn't even really a failure. It was just that your body was explaining to you that you didn't eat when you needed to, or when your body needed you to. And so you ended up bingeing. So instead of getting mad at yourself, how can I plan ahead? Better in the future. So that's an example of how we can be more mindful when certain situations come up.
And instead of thinking irrationally, like I just binged now I needed to starve myself tomorrow. We can think more mindfully and then respond to a situation rather than reacting to it. Okay. So just remember that small actions that are imperfect. Or what's going to get you long-term results and that you need to stop focusing on trying to find motivation to change, and you need to start taking action.
All right, guys, that is it for today. Please reach out if you have any questions, you can find me on Instagram at Get up with Hannah. I would love to hear what you're struggling with and how I can help you. Um, and you know, maybe that will be on another. So don't hesitate to reach out and I look forward to seeing you on the next episode.
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