Day 1 of 30: Your Mindset

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #71CCD5;”] “A[/dropcap]lways think what you have to do is easy
and it will become so”
– Emile Coue

I LOVE this quote.

It highlights the key lesson for today.

The biggest factor influencing whether you will get results is your mindset.

The actual lessons you’ll be learning around simplifying eating well are important.

But if you don’t approach it with the right state of mind, you aren’t going to see real, lasting changes in your life.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you haven’t yet taken the 7-Day Meal Planning Kickstarter training, I strongly recommend pausing this program and focusing on getting the meal planning habit fully embedded before you tackle this larger simplification project.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN TODAY:

• What to expect from this program
• Your compelling reason
• 5 Mindset Management Strategies

What to expect from this program

Every day for the next 30 days I’m going to send you an email with a daily lesson focusing on simplifying a different area of cooking or your approach to food.

Each week we’ll be focusing on a different theme as follows:

• WEEK 1. Getting Organized
• WEEK 2. Habits
• WEEK 3. Nutrition
• WEEK 4. Simple Skills

Most of the daily lessons will also contain a short activity or ‘homework’ exercise. Most can be completed in 5-10 minutes but some will take a little longer.

I strongly encourage you to actually do these activities. Ideally as each day goes by.

It’s one thing to learn new concepts.

If you want to see changes in your life, you must do the work.

I can’t stress the importance of this enough.

Your Compelling Reason

Change is hard!

If you’re going to stick to your resolve to achieve your goal, you need a motivating reason to get you through the tough times.

It’s important to understand your compelling reason – why you want this change.

All of the big changes I’ve made in my life from stopping over-drinking to ending my struggles with food have all happened when I’ve been crystal clear on my reason to change.

Today’s activity will help you uncover your personal ‘why’.

5 Mindset Management Strategies

1. You Must Believe You Can Change.
If you don’t believe you can change the way you eat, it’s not going to happen.

But there is good news!

Everyone can get to a healthy place.

The key is to manage your thoughts and beliefs.

If you have thoughts like ‘I’ll never be able to use a meal plan‘ or “There’s no way I can get organized“, you won’t achieve these things.

So how do you overcome limiting thoughts?

Turn it into a question.

So instead of ‘I’ll never be able to…’

Ask ‘How can I make …. for me?’

2. Only You Can Find What’s Best for You.

You are a unique snowflake!

Only you have your particular blend of taste preferences, genes, biochemistry and habits.

These subtle differences are why there isn’t an easy one-size-fits-all solution.

It’s up to you to determine what’s best for your life.

It can be scary.

But it’s also empowering.

Just keep ‘experimenting’ until you find the approach that works.

3. No Guilt or Shame.

I refuse to feel guilt or shame around what I eat.

When something doesn’t go according to plan, I explore what happened like a ‘gentle detective’.

I investigate what went wrong.

And think about what I can do differently next time

This way I’m always learning and improving instead of spinning in circles beating myself up.

4. Your health is a journey not a destination.

Your health is the accumulation of your food and lifestyle choices over the weeks and months.

Not one point in time.

The good news is there’s room for all the delicious and decadent foods you love in your healthy lifestyle.

You can have your cake and be healthy too.

It’s all about finding a sustainable balance.

And build habits for the long term.

By taking small steps you’ll not only get where you want to go.

You will to stay there!

5. You only ‘fail’ when you stop trying.

Making changes is hard.

There will be setbacks.

You only ‘fail’ when you quit.

So treat ‘failures’ as learning experiences.

Keep trying!

When you find yourself feeling like you’ve failed, that’s not the time to quit.

Use it as a chance to ‘double down’ on your commitment to achieving your goals.

SUMMARY:

Here’s what we’ve covered:

• How the program is going to work.
• The importance of connecting with your ‘why’ (+ activity below)
• The key mindset principles to set you up for success including:
• – 1. You must believe you can change
• – 2. Only you can find what’s best for you.
• – 3. No guilt or shame.
• – 4. Your health is a journey not a destination.
• – 5. You only ‘fail’ when you stop trying.

ACTIVITY: Connect with your ‘why’

STEP 1. Ask yourself why you want this change? OR what’s going to happen if I don’t make this change?

STEP 2. Either write in your journal or leave a comment below sharing your big ‘why’. Be as detailed and specific as you can be.

Don’t be tempted to gloss over this exercise in your head.

This is seriously the most important lesson in the program.

The only time I’ve made sustainable changes is when I’ve been crystal clear on my ‘Why’.

Tomorrow we’re going to be taking the first steps to getting organized by making space for you to create!

Keep it simple (and fun) in the kitchen!

With love,
Jules x

ps. If you need help with anything, leave a comment on the Ask Jules page.

I check them every day 🙂

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