10: Before You Give Up...Do This!

Feeling discouraged and ready to quit? We've all been there! Don't give up just yet! In this episode of the Build Strong Women podcast, we'll explore powerful strategies to reignite your motivation and keep moving forward. 

We'll delve into the importance of remembering your "why," reframing failure as a learning opportunity, celebrating your wins, and cultivating a mindset of perseverance. Tune in for a dose of inspiration and practical tips to help you stay committed to yourself! 

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Transcript

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Hi, I'm Laura Orlando and welcome to the Build Strong Women podcast. I believe as women that we are the role models for the next generation of girls. So how do we become the best role models for these young girls? We work hard to become the best version of ourselves, whatever that means to you. It's not easy. It takes work. It takes learning, trying new things, falling down and getting back up again. But that's what we do on the show. We dive deep into how we can grow on the inside. We will learn from women that are on the same journey as us. Just trying to become the best version of themselves. Let's learn together, build our confidence, learn to love who we are so that we can teach the next generation of girls to grow up to be strong and confident women. Hi guys and welcome back to another episode of the Build Strong Women podcast. Thank you so much for being here for this week's episode. I am recording this at the beginning of March. It has been a crazy two months and I am just recording March's episode on March 1st, which is kind of crazy, but that's okay. I'm getting it done. I'm getting it in and I'm trying to give myself grace for just being a little behind. But I wanted to remind you to head over to the show notes and make sure that you're on my email list because every week I send out a new email and And it just gives you tips and ideas and just some fun things for you straight to your inbox. I would love to connect with you that way. And if you have a topic for this podcast episode, go over to the show notes because right at the top it says text us. And all that means is you can just send us a message, which is me, only me. I'm a one woman show over here. And just let me know a topic idea that you have for the podcast or even anything that you would like to share with me. I would love to connect with you over there. So So head over and get on my email list and make sure that you send me a message and let me know a great topic that you think that women would really like to hear. And even if it's something that you're just struggling with, it's all anonymous. So it's a really cool feature and I'd love for you to check it out. Okay, so before we dive into this week's episode, I just really want to say that Thank you so much. And it just means the world to me because doing all of this work is not easy and really putting myself out there isn't easy and I'm sure that you know that but I just have to say whenever I get these messages it just means the world to me. It means so much. It means that I'm actually doing something great in the world for other people and I'm touching their hearts and it's really beneficial to them and it just makes me so happy. I honestly cry every time I read a message because I just can't I can't even believe it that I'm helping someone. And I just hope that you're loving this podcast as much as I love doing this podcast. And if it does mean a lot to you, let me know because I would love to hear your story. And I just get taken back every single time someone lets me know. So I just had to mention that because it has meant the world to me and I thank you so, so much for being here. I thank you so much for sharing this podcast with any woman that you know. So thank you so much. I just had to say that because it has meant the world to me. Okay, so let's dive into this week's topic. This week's topic is all about the moment before you give up. So we are in a season, we are way past New Year's and we might still be working on something for ourself or maybe you set a goal for yourself and it's getting really hard. It's been two months since the new year and times like this is when working on a goal or working towards something that means a lot to you that you really wanted to do starts to get really heavy and hard. So I really wanted to do an episode on something that can help you before you say it. That's it. I'm done. I give up. I don't want to do this anymore. So this is an episode before you give up. This is what the things that I want you to do. These are the things that I want you to think about before you throw in the towel. For me, I know getting up early in the morning in the dead of winter actually is torture for me. I'm in my warm bed. I'm tired. And the last thing I want to do at five o'clock in the morning is get up, get dressed and go to the gym in the freezing cold. But I do it anyway. And Sometimes I just want to throw in the towel and say, I'm done. I can't do this anymore. This is too hard. This is too much. You know, especially with life every single day, it's just very busy. But I keep doing it because I know that it's going to help me inside. Like I said, I always work out for my mind and I have to keep pushing through. So another thing that's coming up this season is Lent. So if you're Catholic, there is a season before Easter that you can make sacrifices and give things up. And my daughter and I have decided that we wanted to give up sugar because we want to really you know do something that's a sacrifice for us because we both love sugar and chocolate and things like that so we're like let's do this together let's give something up and really work on this goal together so I'm honestly getting a little nervous because I love sugar I love chocolate and so does she and I know there's going to be a time where we're going to go a little cuckoo because that sugar like just takes the edge off for us sometimes which isn't always a good thing but that's okay And I know there's going to be a time where I'm going to want to throw in the towel and say, I'm done, I'm not doing this, but I don't want to give up. I know I'm like completely psyching myself out by saying all this, but I'm a little nervous about it because I know how much I like sugar and chocolate and donuts. But I know there's going to be a moment where I want to give up and I really wanted to do this episode to talk to you about what we can do before we give up. There are so many strategies out there that we can turn to during that moment where we're like, I'm done, I don't want to do this anymore. And I know that it's easier to take that road of just giving up, but I really want to talk to you about stopping in that moment right before and We want to give up. It's at that moment where you can change your mindset and what lies ahead of you and your goals and how you feel about yourself. So the next time you really want to give up on something, maybe you can even come back to this episode time and time again and listen to the things I'm going to be sharing with you because I know we've all been in that moment before and we know that that moment is going to pop up for us over and over again. And I really wanted to help you with some strategies right before that moment so that you can really move past that Nope. I'm done. I'm not doing this anymore. Throwing in the towel. Why is such a powerful word. When you know why you started something in the first place, it can change everything. Why did you want to try yoga? Why did you want to change jobs? Why did you want to start eating healthier? Why did you want to run that 5K? Ask yourself why. It all starts there. If you think back to why you started something in the first place, I bet that you remember that you wanted something more for your life. Maybe you wanted to try something new. Maybe you wanted to show your family that you could do something amazing. Maybe you wanted to prove to yourself that you have what it takes. Maybe it was all about yourself that you wanted to do something that was just for you. Every time you do something new, there is always a why behind it. We may not always think about it like that, but there is always a why. You just have to dig a little deeper to find out what it was. Maybe you need to write your why on a post-it and put it on your mirror. Maybe you need to put it in your journal every single day. This will really help when you start getting those thoughts of wanting to give up. You can go and read that journal entry. You can go and read that post-it that you made. So the next time you want to give up, I want you to think about why you started this in the first place. Your why will always keep you going. Your why has to be so strong that it can keep you going when you want to give up. When I hear that alarm go off at 5 a.m., I know why I want to get up because I know that my mind will go crazy and cuckoo if I don't get up and go work out. I know I have to do it for my mindset. I know what I have to do and I just have to push through those hard times and imagine how I'll feel after, not that starting point. So remembering your why is a really powerful strategy and tool in every area of your life. There's a really good book. It starts with why by Simon Sinek. And if you haven't read that book, it is absolutely amazing. It is honestly one of the best books I've ever read. So Go to the library, go to Barnes& Noble, get that book. It is so good. So remember why you started. That's my first strategy. The second strategy is don't quit. I don't want you to quit and give up because you failed. Failure is going to happen. And this is something that took me so long to learn and to understand that failure is okay and that failure is a bad thing. Does failure feel good? No. Absolutely not. Failure happens to all of us. I don't care who you are, what you do, what you say, how famous you are. It doesn't matter. Everyone fails. So stop thinking just because you failed that you have to quit. Any successful person is sitting on a ton of past failures, a ton of them. When things get hard or you failed or maybe you went back on your promises that you made to yourself, it doesn't mean you should quit. And you know, for women, it's really hard for us to move past that. I know sometimes we get really hard on ourselves and we're like, you know what? I'm done. I already messed up. I'm just going to keep going. I know that I can be for example, an emotional eater. And if I like overdo it and go crazy, I will just keep going because I'm like, oh, it's already done anyway. I don't know if any of you have ever been in those shoes as well, but I'll just keep going. I'll think, oh, well, I'm just going to keep going because I already ruined it anyway. That's not what you're supposed to do. And I know that's really hard. You don't just quit because you fell down. You get back up again. I know so many women that feel guilty when they don't follow through on the things they wanted to do. But I want to remind you just because you may have broke a promise to yourself or you didn't go all in on a goal that you said that you wanted to do for yourself. It doesn't mean you can't get back up and start again. That is one thing that I've really learned with the promises that I've made to myself in that whole journey that I went on last summer when I had a bunch of promises that I was making to myself and I was going to keep those promises for 90 days. I didn't keep every promise perfectly and that was part of the journey. Absolutely not. There were so many times where I didn't go and do the things that I wanted to do or I didn't keep the promises that I made to myself and And sometimes I felt really guilty inside, but that was the work that I had to do on myself. What I really worked hard on, though, was trying not to have those guilty feelings get me down. Telling myself it's okay. It's okay to get back up and go again over and over. I didn't wait till next Monday or Sunday to start. The very next day, I just looked at it as a new day. And that's what I want you to do with your failures. Even the next moment, just look at it as a new beginning. Just because something is hard or you had a setback or you fell down or you failed, it doesn't mean it's over. I know so many women that just take that to heart so personally when they make a mistake or they don't follow through on something that they wanted to do. It wrecks their entire day. And I have been there too. I have been there so many times and that is why I have to continue to keep working on myself and the guilt that I have sometimes. I don't want to feel like that. I want to give myself grace and that's what you need to do as well. Failure is just part of the journey for everyone and every human being. Just tell yourself right now that failure is going to happen, but you can't quit because you fell down. You got to get up and you got to keep on going. You will never be perfect. And that's what I learned so much through my promise journey and making promises to myself that I'm not going to be perfect. And perfect isn't the goal. Remember that setbacks and challenges are a natural part of growth. It's going to, when things get a little hard and you want to quit and you want to back down, know that that's part of growing. It's part of getting outside your comfort zone and pushing through. Don't let perfectionism paralyze you. I have let it paralyze me so many times in my business, in my podcasting journey, in my own personal life. It has paralyzed me. You need to learn from your mistakes and just keep moving forward. And remember that perfection is just a myth. Perfection is unattainable and it's not something that you should be striving for. Okay, so moving on to the next strategy for what to do next. The moment before you give up. The next thing I want you to do is I want you to remember all of the accomplishments that you've already had in your life. I want you to celebrate your wins. No matter how big, how small, you need to take some time to recognize and really appreciate the progress that you've made in your life. Think about all the times that you followed through on something in your life and you didn't give up. Or if you did fall short, that you got back up again and you went again. So you really have to start celebrating those little moments where you took a step forward. And it's really worth celebrating those little accomplishments because you are going to feel so proud of yourself and it's really going to get you to not give up on the thing that you're working towards. Celebrating those little accomplishments... and all the progress that you've made will push you through when you want to give up. I also think that having a gratitude practice every morning or even at night is so powerful because those are the times that you can celebrate your progress. You can write down the things that you're proud of about yourself. You really have to start looking inside yourself and seeing the things that you love about yourself and like, oh my gosh, you know what? I really pushed through and I did this thing. I'm so proud of myself. Write those in your gratitude journal every single day. It is so important. It will help you to remember all the times that you did something small, you did something big, and you can really appreciate the progress that you've made. All of those little accomplishments and all of those little wins, even if it's just one step forward, is going to help you when you want to give up. So like I always say, if you don't have a gratitude practice yet, I think you need to start doing one because it is going to change your life. It literally takes three seconds, three minutes, I should say, every single day to help you really appreciate who you are, what you have done, and the things that you are so grateful for in your life. It really changes your mindset and helps you feel so good. Just that reflection is amazing. I love doing it. I don't always have time to do it in the mornings because I'm rushing around going crazy going to school, but I really love when I get those few extra minutes to really write down the things that I'm grateful for. And if I don't have that time to write it down, I just kind of think about it in my head or before I'm going to sleep. I kind of think about the things that I am so grateful for for that day. So really celebrating your wins is a huge huge way to help you before you want to give up on something okay another one that I wanted to talk to you about is I want to remind you just to keep working hard one thing that no one can take away from you or from anyone is how hard you work or how much effort you put in on something I really want you to keep at it because you never know what lies on the other side of that hard work you don't know what lies on the other side of that comfort zone no one ever got to the top or finish something without putting in the work it feels so good to accomplish something because it takes a lot to get there it takes a lot from you sometimes if it was easy it wouldn't be so rewarding in the end if it was easy Everyone would be doing it. I know sometimes we think that it's just too hard and I don't want to push through but getting on the other side of that discomfort is where change really happens. Growing up and even into my adult life I always thought if I was uncomfortable when something was really hard or if I was scared it meant that I should quit. I never understood that that uncomfortable feeling is just part of growth and that I needed to push through that to get to the other side. Your comfort zone wants to keep you safe It wants to keep you comfortable. Your goal or whatever you're working towards is waiting for you on the other side of that uncomfortable feeling. You have to push through that comfort zone and you can't reach it unless you get a little uncomfortable. So it's kind of funny that I'm doing this episode this week because my son, who is 15 years old, he just started working out at a new gym. And when I pick him up from his workout, he's completely exhausted and honestly like work to the bone. And sometimes in the car, I even ask him When he's talking about it, I'm like, oh, do you really want to keep doing this? Is it too hard for you? Do you want to like maybe try something else or maybe work out at home? But after he comes home, he takes a shower and it's all done. I ask him how he feels and he always says, oh, I feel so great. So I ask him, do you want to keep going back? Do you want to do something different? What are you thinking? And he always says, no, I want to go back. I want to go back again. And I'm just so proud of him because I know that his workout is really hard and it's really changing him, but he wants to keep going. He wants to keep doing it. He wants to push through. He knows that getting on the other side of that uncomfortable feeling is going to change him. So I'm really proud of him. And I just thought it was really funny because I was going to be talking about giving up and sometimes I think oh my gosh he's so exhausted and I can't believe how hard he worked and I think he wants to quit but he never does he wants to keep pushing through and I'm really proud of him for that so I really wanted to follow up this talk about working hard and pushing through and getting on the other side of our comfort zone with I know that I'm talking to women here and I want to say this to myself as well as moms we are working really really hard whether you have kids at home or you're working full-time, we can get to the point of burnout. And if we keep pushing and not doing the things we need to do to take care of ourselves, we are going to just feel so overwhelmed and burnt out and we will never achieve the goal that we have for ourselves. We will never keep going and getting back up again. So we really have to make sure that we are taking care of ourselves, that we are incorporating our happy habits into our life and giving ourselves grace because that is so important. and I don't want you to quit on your dream or your goal but I do think that you need to take some time if you are feeling burnt out or overwhelmed to recharge and gain a fresh perspective on the things that you want in your life but don't quit on your dream or your goal I just want you to take a step back and get back into it when you're ready I hope this episode was helpful and I hope that you'll come back to this episode whenever you're feeling like, okay, I want to give up. I don't want to do this anymore. I want you to do these things before you give up. So as a recap, number one, remember your why. Remember why you started. Why is such a powerful word and you really need to go back to why you wanted to start in the first place. That is going to help you to not quit on yourself and your goal. Number two, don't quit because you failed. Don't quit because you messed up one time or 10 times. Get back up again and go again. Just because you failed doesn't mean that you are a failure. It doesn't mean that at all. Perfection is not the goal. Look at the progress that you've made. Look at all the times that you went towards your goal. And yeah, you're going to stumble and you're going to mess up. Failure is part of the journey. I really want you to remind yourself of that. Okay, number three is acknowledging your accomplishments. I want you to celebrate those little wins, even if it's something really small. If you took a step forward, I want you to take the time to recognize that and appreciate the progress that you've made. And your goals that you have for yourself. And every little step forward is worth celebrating. And I want you to do that. And number four, just keep working hard. One thing that no one can take away from you is that hard work that you're putting in on something. And you never know what lies on that other side of that hard work that you're doing. You have to push through that comfort zone. It's going to be a little uncomfortable, but it's okay. It doesn't mean it's a bad thing. It means that you are growing and that you're moving in the right direction. And as always, I want you to remember when you feel that you are going to be burning out and that you are going to be so overwhelmed that you can't even take it anymore and that you just want to give up on that dream and goal, I want you to stop. I want you to take a step back, recharge, start doing more of your happy habits to get you back to a place where you feel like you can really focus on your goal or your dream that you have inside of you. Because the worst thing that you can do is to give up on something and then regret someday that you gave up so easily When all you really needed was a break and a fresh perspective on what you are focusing on and what you want to do with your goal or your dream. I know that this is going to be hard work and yes, you may want to quit some days. We all have those days that we want to quit. And you might get frustrated. But remember, it's all part of the journey. Do not give up. Do these little things before you want to say, no, I'm done. I'm cheering for you and I hope that you'll remember this episode and these words when you feel like giving up and that you're done. I hope that you'll remember these things and it will help you and push you through those hard times because your success, your dreams, and your goals are going to be so worth it. I promise you. So I hope that you enjoyed this episode and if it was helpful for you, it would mean the world to me for you to share it with someone. Every share every subscribe, every review means the world to the podcast and to me, and I would be so grateful for you to do that. So as always, I want to end this episode with a powerful affirmation to get you through your week and your day, and I hope that it is helpful. So remember, great things never come from comfort zones. I hope that you have a wonderful day, and I can't wait to see you on next week's episode.