Hey, guys, and welcome back to another episode of your Brain's Coach podcast. My name is Angela Shurina, I'm your host, I'm your Brain's Coach, and it is my job here to bring to you all the most interesting, applicable, well-researched, cutting-edge, entertaining sometimes and definitely life-enhancing brain-body tools so you could take better control of your emotions, of your thoughts and, most importantly, actions, and also have better strategies to achieve your goals, to get closer to your goals and to create life experience that you absolutely love. Living Today is a mix of thing, guys, but the core idea is learning how to focus on progress, not perfection. I just finished another pack of corn cakes a couple of days and they're never on my weekly nutrition plan, but I get them every week at a grocery store that I go to. They are my guardrail. You know, guys, if I learned something about myself and human nature recently, working as a coach with other ambitious, goal-driven high achievers and also looking at my own experience, if I learned anything is that our best aspirations is never how we actually do things every day.
Speaker 1So you might have all these great plans and new year resolutions and thoughts like, oh, this time it's going to be different or somehow you are going to be different. New year, new you. But guess what? Just because over December 31st, the clock changed and it's now January 1st and on the calendar it's 2025. Just because that happened, there is absolutely nothing that changed about you. You're the same person that you were just a few days ago, as you are today, and so if you want to make progress, like with your diet, for example, or with your exercise program, you're going to take that into account. But in order to create new habits, new routines and reach new goals, you need to take you, as you are today, as you were last year, for the ride, and you know better than I do, than anyone, all your shenanigans and things that you do that do not allow you to reach your goals or to change your habits. You know yourself better than me, and so, because you do, maybe it's time to start planning for the perfect nutrition plan, perfect exercise program, perfect business plan, and instead start planning for the times when you're not going to feel your best, when you're going to get lazy, when you're going to come up with excuses and something else is going to look a lot more appealing than what's on your plan.
Speaker 1Now back to corn cakes and why I buy them every week Because, even though I always have a nutrition plan, like for every day, I have my plan with nutrients, proteins and carbohydrates and all that stuff. But I know that there are going to be days when I'm not going to feel all that motivated, or it's legitimately might be a harder day, and I just don't feel like doing everything perfect and I feel like something extra in terms of food. And so what I learned is that, as long as I allow myself to not be perfect but still have something like corn cakes, I just love how they are crunchy and they make me not hungry and also they don't have that many calories and they don't make my sleep worse. So they kind of work for the purpose that they have making me not hungry, enjoy some food and, at the same time, still keep making progress on my health, on my fitness journey. And because I know that there are going to be those days when I'm not going to be feeling like doing my plan because I know that's going to happen for sure I have this plan for when the plan fails or for when I fail the plan, and that doesn't just relate to our diet, it relates to all the other habits that you might have, or aspirations and resolutions. Let's say you want to start exercising and you have this aspiration to maybe run every day, but you're not going to feel like running every day. You didn't feel like it a year before, a year before that, and you're not going to feel that this year just because you said so.
Speaker 1So what is the plan when you fail the plan? Maybe a walk will do, I mean if it's a five-minute walk, usually, by the way, if you do five-minute walk, you end up walking more. But what is the plan? Maybe a walk will do, I mean if it's a five-minute walk, usually, by the way, if you do five-minute walk, you end up walking more. But what is the plan when the plan fails, if you don't feel like cold reach-outs and sending emails for four hours a day? So how about doing two more in the next 30 minutes and maybe call it a day? If that's all you have, it's still going to be more than nothing.
Speaker 1And yesterday I was thinking to myself well, it's January 7th and I feel like I'm already behind all of my goals, damn. But then I looked at what I did like, yeah, I did not do everything perfectly and I did not spend yet six hours on reaching out to potential clients every day that I planned to, but I did a lot more than almost any week in 2024. Progress over perfection. And what's my plan for when I don't feel like doing my perfect plan? If I don't feel like writing and I committed to write every day if I don't feel like writing a whole damn page, then maybe one abstract with a story, a lesson, an insight that I got that day. What is the plan for when you don't have a plan? What will allow you to still make progress while not doing your perfect plan?
Speaker 1And with my clients I also a lot of my clients. Maybe it's the nature of human psyche, I'm not actually sure, because most of the clients I worked with, they all say well, you know, I'm all or nothing person. I either do it perfectly or I don't do it at all. And I used to think the same thing about myself. And then I realized, you know, actually Doing a little bit better Works a lot better. And I learned this also while going through three additional certifications in coaching that having this mentality of what is the next best thing I can do, if doing a perfect thing is not an option, it's just not in me right now. So what is the next best thing? Or even not the next best thing, but the smallest thing that will take you in the direction of your dreams, of your goals, of your aspirations? So what is a little bit better? What is this small step that does move you directionally where you want to go? Whether that's your health, whether that's your business, whether that's your relationships?
Speaker 1I guess the idea that I want you to take away from this podcast is that nobody's perfect and you're not going to be perfect ever, and so a more workable plan actually is to plan for the imperfection. So what is your plan when you fail your plan? And if you do that, I bet you'll end up doing a lot more progress towards your aspirations and your resolutions that you did in all the previous years and your resolutions that you did in all the previous years. So, whether you're trying to work again on your nutrition habits, on your exercise habits, on your sleep habits, on your relationships and communication habits, on your business habits, your learning habits, what is a little bit better step when you fail your perfect plan? So that's the main idea for the podcast and for me, again, to stay on my healthy eating. Horn cakes do the job. If I feel like eating a whole bunch of chocolate, I just add cocoa powder with a little bit of fake sweetener into my yogurt and that hits the spot. And if I don't feel like doing this four hours or six hours of reaching out to potential clients I'm like, well, how many can I do? Can I do one? So let's do that.
Speaker 1If I don't feel like writing, if I don't feel like doing podcasts, I give myself some grace. What if I did it for just two minutes or three minutes? And then I kind of get excited. I'm like, well, yeah, I can do two or three minutes. That sounds easy for exercise. Yeah, I don't feel like working out every day, but I tell myself okay, if you don't want to do anything hard, just get to the gym. I don't know, go for a swim, go for a 10-minute walk while there, do a few push-ups, a few squats and you're done, get out of there in 10 minutes. And that transformed the way I make progress in all areas of my life more than any other method, just always asking myself okay, I don't feel like doing the best, the most perfect, the biggest thing, but what is the smallest step I can take right now, that's still directionally going to lead me towards where I want to go. That is the main concept of today's podcast.
Speaker 1A couple of other things that I'm often asked, whether when I'm working out or when somebody sees my pictures on social media, or when I post my meals, when people catch me talking about protein, which I'm very passionate. Question number one is all protein created equal in terms of supplements? Especially, a lot of women want to take hydrolyzed collagen or just collagen as their protein supplement, but their goal is to build up muscle and to have this lean or toned look. So does it work the same? Actually, when it comes to collagen, it still needs research, solid research, so that it's effective in anything. And you are much better off, especially for muscles, with whey protein supplement powder and the reason is getting a little bit geekier here because each protein, whether that's pea protein or whey protein or rice protein, has different amino acid profile, and that's what your body cares about. Do you get specific amino acids accompanied by other amino acids in specific amounts that happen to be perfectly balanced in animal-based sources like weight protein, or if you eat your chicken, fish or meat, so that perfect combination that gives everything your muscles need and your body need happen to be in animal-based protein sources. So if you go for powder, weight is still the best thing and when it comes to foods eating your fish, chicken, eggs, meats still the best way to hit your protein number in all the right ways and your body can make its own collagen from that protein that you eat. You don't need to eat collagen molecules Again, there is still research and debate going on whether that actually reaches the destination in your body anywhere, because it has to go through a digestive system Again, a little bit geekier. But if I were to recommend you any protein powder, whey is still the gold standard.
Speaker 1Another thing that people often ask me what do you do for weight training? You have such great muscle tone, especially for a woman. Do you train a lot? And actually my workouts, like the workouts themselves, usually don't last more than 30 minutes and not a lot of sets. But what I am a fan of and that is a research-based strategy I'm a fan of time under tension. So when somebody does a few sets, let's say, of squats or bicep curls or even the ab crunches, when somebody does that, they usually do the movement fast and then they have a rest in between sets.
Speaker 1What I do, I just do the movement for three to four minutes so I slow down the repetition, usually on the eccentric phase. So eccentric phase and when you lower down the muscle, so, for example, if you squat, then up, going up going to be concentric, going down, going to be eccentric, and so I just go really, really slow and I create pressure on my muscle for the whole duration of three, four minutes. So when people usually do 30, 40, maybe 50 seconds of movement and then they rest in between sets for two to three minutes, I just do continuously, usually dropping weights for three to five minutes, and I learned that from some trainers who create different workout plans based on research, and so time under tension is that thing that actually works really really well. So, no, I don't spend a lot of time in the gym, but I do know the most effective protocols for the goal that I have having the lean physique, having great muscle tone. And, yes, I do also cardio workouts, but then I also do just two types do also cardio workouts, but then I also do just two types high intensity, internal workouts that are super short, and then long cardio. That is usually for me, hiking, uphill or what else that's about it. That's my favorite type of long, steady cardio is doing hiking.
Speaker 1So, anyhow, guys, this was a mix of things that I believe can be useful on your health and fitness and also self-development, self-growth journey, especially the concept of a little bit better right, you know yourself, you know your shenanigans, you know where you fail. You will not change just because it's now 2025 and we transitioned from one calendar year to another. You will not change that fast. You will have to take yourself, as you were in 2024, for the ride in 2025 to reach new goals, to change your habits, to grow, to improve, and so, knowing yourself, you got to have a plan for when you fail, your best plan and working, implementing this strategy of what is the next, the smallest step towards the destination where I want to go, that definitely works a lot better, based on the best coaching practices in the world, that works best for human change, than the most perfect plan with the most motivated person. Just motivation. Our moods come and go, our energy ups and flows. So what are you going to do when you don't feel like it? That's the most important question you need to have a plan and an answer for? For me, for my nutrition, it's corn cakes, and for you, what is that going to be for your nutrition plan, for your workout plan, for your business plan, for your relationships, for anything that you want to improve and change in 2025? What is the next 2025.? What is the next? The smallest step towards the change that you want to make? And, besides that, choose whey protein to maximize your muscle gains and time under tension for resistance training If you want to have better muscle mass, better muscle tone and better conditioning.
Speaker 1If you love this podcast, guys, please do not forget to share it with at least one other person to spread good information around and to help all of us to do better in 2025. Screenshot it, tell me on social media, email the podcast with the link on whatever you get your podcast, we don't run any ads, probably never going to be running any ads, so please do share, apply. If you have any questions, reach out to Angela at brainbreakthroughcoachcom. Angela at brainbreakthroughcoachcom. And until next time, be awesome and always ask yourself what is the next best thing Not perfect, but the next best that will move me in the direction of the change I desire to create. Be awesome, talk to you soon and you can change one small, better step at a time.