The Art of Sustainable Resolutions

Ever thought about why your New Year's resolutions don't stick, while others seem to thrive with theirs? Today's episode of "Have a Cup of Johanny" invites you to explore the concept of new beginnings and what truly fuels lasting change. As we kick off 2025, I, Joa, your host and fellow overthinker, reflect on my own journey of growth, revealing that it’s less about when you start and more about how you take those first steps. Imagine breaking in a new pair of boots—it's about small, consistent efforts that eventually lead to comfort and success, rather than diving in headfirst and facing blisters of regret. 

Join me as we celebrate the symbolic motivation of a new year, while also acknowledging that change can start at any moment that feels right for you. Whether you're the type to draw a line in the sand on January 1st or prefer to start when the feeling strikes, it's all about the personalized journey of growth. Discover why embracing gradual shifts, much like easing into a new pair of boots, can make your resolutions sustainable and rewarding. Let’s lace up for this exciting season of growth and motivation, dedicated to making new habits stick with ease and joy.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Oh we could. We could fly. Welcome to this new season of the have a Cup of Chahani podcast. So I want to title this new season that I'm embarking on with. I'm growing, so this is going to be the season of growth and that's what I'm going to share with you throughout the season. So I thank you for coming over here and sitting with me, and I hope you enjoy. Happy New Year's, vasitos, and welcome to the first episode of 2025 for have a Cup of Joani podcast.

Speaker 1: 0:35

If this is your first time tuning in, let me do a bit of an introduction. I am your host, joa. I am a writer, a multi-genre author and a constant overthinker, here to serve you with a fresh brew of inspiration, motivation and reflection every Wednesday. Today's episode is all about embracing change, breaking in new habits and why you should never wear brand new boots to a ruck march Intrigued. Okay, stay with me, then, because this one's for you. So I have to ask this are you ready? So I have to ask this are you ready? Of course you are. I mean, why else would you be here listening to this?

Speaker 1: 1:39

So let's address the elephant in the room New Year's, more importantly, new Year's resolution. Some people swear by them. Others, like me, once upon a time, rolled my eyes at it Because I was of the mindset of why do we have to wait for January 1st, when we can start literally anytime? And that's true, you can start anytime, that is absolutely true. But I've learned and I've wisened up, because this show is all about lessons learned and learning and growing, because if you're not learning, you're not growing, so let's stay growing.

Speaker 1: 2:24

I learned that sometimes the new year, symbolism, the new fresh chapter and the clean slate helps people. It's like drawing a line in the sand and saying this is where I begin again. And you know what, once I wisen up to that, I was like I'm okay with that. Who am I to judge, you know? I mean, we all find motivation in different ways and instead of judging, we listen, we don't judge. Remember that, instead of judging what inspires others, I mean, why not celebrate it Right? Judging what inspires others, I mean, why not celebrate it right, whether it's the 1st of January, like today, if you're listening to this on January 1st, or the 1st of the month, or even just the first day, you wake up and feel ready to make a change. It's all valid.

Speaker 1: 3:21

But here's the kicker, though. This is where the realness is going to kick in, and that is that lasting change doesn't come from one big dramatic moment, as sometimes we see in movies. It does not. It comes from small, consistent actions. Comes from small, consistent actions. I'm going to say it again Lasting change comes from small, consistent actions.

Speaker 1: 3:53

And this brings me to my favorite analogy of the day, and that is breaking in boots. All right, vasitos, picture this, picture this, come on, come on, and you got this big event coming up. Let's say Rock March, let's say it's in your first duty station. Very excited, you want to show off to everyone that you have what it takes to make it. You have what it takes to keep up with the best of the best, the fastest of the fastest, and you wear your brand new, shiny boots. Yes, they are shiny, but they're also very stiff and, honestly, the boots were ready for those miles. So what ended up happening was lots of blisters, pain, regrets and lessons learned. So now I know I will never wear brand new boots to a ruck march or to anything really. I will ensure that I break those boots in, little by little until they're soft enough and molded to my feet.

Speaker 1: 5:14

So the same thing happens when we dive headfirst into new habits without easing into them. I mean, just think about what happened to me. Well, what happened to that fictitional person in my example, if y'all try to go in all quickly like it's going to be overwhelming, unsustainable and, let's be honest, it can hurt both physically and mentally. So that's why breaking in your boots or your habits requires a gradual approach. Habits requires a gradual approach. Start small, wear the boots for short walks around the house, let them mold to your feet, build up to longer hikes and use that same principle to habits Ease into them. But you're probably like, okay, but how do you do that? Okay, so let me tell you. So how do you break in habits? Right, the right way. Let's see. Here are three things that I did that has helped me to maintain sustainable habits.

Speaker 1: 6:35

So, for me, I have my core habits, which is writing, meditating, working out and growing. What I call growing is either reading a book, listening to a podcast, doing something that flexes my mind to learn something new, a new idea, new technique, whatever, and usually I have these phases where my growth has to do with writing. So I may listen to things from authors masterclasses from authors or I listen to books about the writing craft. Sometimes it's about leadership. And then I listen to books about leadership and so forth. For the month of December it was all about Latinidad. So most of the books that I read had to do about Latino history, latino identity and so forth. Those are my core habits.

Speaker 1: 7:21

But I didn't start it out having those core habits. I started out small. I started out first with the writing habit and I started with writing for only 10 minutes and that's it. And working out the same way, I was like just 10 minutes, let me just do 10 minutes of a workout, that's it. And once I did that enough, it naturally kind of stretched that quote unquote habit muscle and I evolved into being able to do it longer. More importantly, I started craving that habit to do it longer. I wanted to do it longer. I wanted to sit but to chair and write or edit for longer than 10 minutes. I wanted to do longer workouts. Eventually I graduated from 10 minute workouts and I was like let me do 20. And then I did 30 and now I'm doing one hour workouts, you see, but it all started with a very small timeframe, a very small effort.

Speaker 1: 8:33

And then the next thing and I kind of gave it to you already with the first step was that I embraced a gradual growth. So it's like breaking in the boots that I was talking about. You don't rush it. You go on short walks until you progress, so that way you don't roughen up your feet with those new boots. And it was the same thing with the habits. I just increased my time slowly, oh so slowly. I think I did like 10 minutes for two weeks and then I was like I can do more and more often than not, during those first two weeks of 10 minutes I did want it to write longer, like an idea would spark or like my juices will just flow, and then I was like I didn't even notice that I had gone past 10 minutes.

Speaker 1: 9:24

The goal here is to grow slowly without burning out, and it's like whenever I think about this and I think about this step and how I did it, about this, and I think about this step and how I did it, I think about that quote of 10% better each day and I felt like that's what I was doing back then and that's what I continue to do Like every day. I just put like a little bit more oomph into what I'm doing, you see, and it's not like I don't go and go and do something like excessive or do something huge right away, it's just I really do chug along, you know, and it's like little by little until I see the progress build up. And when I do see it, here's step three, here's what I do next, and that is that I celebrate my progress because this is big, so big, like lean into this and listen to this. Okay, because when we recognize how far we've come, no matter how small the step is, that's huge for motivation, that is so huge to sustain something. And maybe you gamify it right, maybe you gamify your progress. That's me in the como se dice, on my workouts. So I do the Ladder app, the Ladder workouts. I'm not getting paid for this. So, ladder, if you're listening to this, go ahead and sponsor this podcast. So that's what I do.

Speaker 1: 11:08

And then there is a bit of a gamification of it, because right now I'm like at 33 week streak and I don't want to let go of that streak, like I will feel very sad if I that I lose that streak. And how would I lose that streak If I go below three workouts a week? So I know for a fact. You know I'm going to get those three workouts at the very least right For a week, and that usually happens when I'm really busy or when I'm traveling a lot. I may not get it in, but even when I'm traveling a lot, I fight for my workouts. You just don't understand. Right now I'm in a cabin in the woods enjoying a New Year's Eve. In three hours we're about to ring in the New Year's. I'm over here recording this. But guess what? Before I came over here, I did my workout because I was like I'll be damn if I let New Year's or whatever other holiday mess up my streak. I am not doing that, folks, you see.

Speaker 1: 12:15

So for me, that sort of gamification has really helped me to maintain this habit, and not only that, I mean, it's also reframing of my mindset as well. I mean, I know I feel better, so I remind myself how good I will feel after the workout. I know that it helps me to not only feel good but look physically good as well, and the vanity comes into play as well to sustain this habit for me. You see what I'm saying. So think about what is it that you want to grow into into 2025. So that way you can analyze your goals and attach habits to those goals and then try to maintain some sort of sustainment for these habits every single day, so that way you can continue doing them. And if you follow these three steps, you are on the road, vasito, to having some habits that can help you achieve the things that you want to achieve or to do the things that you want to do.

Speaker 1: 13:18

When it comes to celebrating your progress. It could be gamification. Like me, it could be journaling. I have an analog habit tracker on my journal that I X out the habits as I do them and that helps me to feel motivated as well. And that helps me to feel motivated as well. It helps me to see, like my track record, because I see, like whenever I have an exit out, something it tells me that I missed a certain habit. And then I can go back and analyze my moods, like if I miss my meditation habit for like two days or a week straight, and then I think about that. I was like, ooh, I think I went off on somebody that day or that week. You know what I'm saying. And then I can correlate that, and I've done that before. So I know that certain habits are very conducive to me being a good person, so, but I did that because I was able to look at my habit tracker and do the analysis on it and correlate it to certain things that happen during the week, and now I know how to alleviate certain things, I know how to mitigate certain things and, more importantly, I know that the habits that I have, my core habits, are useful to me. They're needed. They're not like this luxurious thing, no, they're needed. They're part of my life. They make me better.

Speaker 1: 14:41

But first I need you all to figure out who do you want to be in 2025, you know and what habits will get me there. When you figure out those habits, go with these three steps, okay, which is, start small, embrace gradual growth and celebrate your progress. But let's talk about the journey before I leave y'all, because here's the thing about transformation, and that is it is not a sprint, bacitos. It is not a sprint at all, and thank God for that, because I'm not a sprinter. I'm more of a long distance go very slow runner, but transformation is a journey, right? So it's just like breaking in those boots for that ruck march that I had long ago, or this person had long ago.

Speaker 1: 15:32

The key is to take one step at a time. If you rush, you're going to end up with blisters, you're going to end up with messed up feet that you will need to stop to heal from, and all of that. But if you take it slow and steady, you'll reach your destination comfortably and with a sense of pride and accomplishment. So, whether your goal is to I don't know write more, finally write a book, or move more, or just be more present, remember those three steps and I'm going to give them to you again and that is start small, grow gradually and incrementally and celebrate along the way and celebrate along the way. So, before we wrap up, I want to ask what's a habit or a goal you're ready to break in this year? I want to hear from you.

Speaker 1: 16:26

It is 2025. I want to hear from you. Share it with me. You can find me on Instagram, tiktok, on my website, haveacupofjoanniecom, and hit me up. Let's motivate each other and celebrate our progress together, because we're human beings. We don't do this alone. We do not. We need each other. So thank you so much for starting your year with me. I am honored that you're here and if you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review and share with someone who might need a little bit of motivation to break in their own habits. Until next time, take it one step at a time, sip that coffee slowly and remember you got this Facito Bye. You got this Facito Bye. Thank you so much for listening. I want to hear from you. Leave me a comment, do a rating if you can on the podcast, share it with somebody you love, but, most importantly, come back. See you next time. Bye.