56: The Power of Having a Minimum Baseline

In this episode, I share a game-changing concept called the "minimum baseline," inspired by Brooke Castillo and the book Atomic Habits by James Clear. Learn how small, consistent actions can help you and your missionary create sustainable habits, tackle big projects, and avoid the overwhelm of all-or-nothing thinking.

Highlights include:

• What a minimum baseline is and how it helps create lasting habits.
• Real-life examples of how to use this approach for goals, routines, and projects.
• Tips for helping your missionary transition home with grace and flexibility.
• How understanding your nervous system can keep you overwhelmed at bay.

I  also share how she’s using this concept in her own life to achieve goals like coaching girls wrestling, organizing files, and even losing 30 pounds over a year.

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Transcript

0:29

Hello and welcome to the podcast. So I want to give a quick update of some things that I'm up to just in case anybody's curious. So I coach girls wrestling. And because I've only raised boys. My interactions with girls have actually been quite limited. I've served in like the young women's a couple of times and bolt experiences weren't ever that wonderful. So I didn't know if working with girls was going to be my thing. And I have to tell you. It has been a delight. And I love it. And these girls it's other first year. So we have taken some LA a lot of losses and we've had some wins, but we've had a lot of losses. And it's been fascinating to watch them. Get to be more resilient. And we do a team night where I have them come to my house. I usually make bread. So that they can have a little snack and sometimes somebody else brings something and I try to teach them some of these concepts that I share. In my coaching program and then also in, on my podcast. And so it's been very, very fun getting to know them and watching their brains kind of start to absorb some of these concepts. So that was one of the things that I'm up to very enjoyable. And one of the girls did ask me. If I was going to do a podcast about girls wrestling and I said, I think I will, at the end of the season, I might do a recap of all of the things that I've learned. And. Yeah, we'll see. So stay tuned for that. But today, I want to talk about a concept called minimum baseline. And I learned this idea and this concept from Brooke Castillo, from the life coach school. And. I've been thinking about this. A lot. And so I thought this is a perfect opportunity to share. So if you've ever read the book atomic habits by James clear. And it's a very practical guide to building good habits and breaking bad ones. By focusing on very small incremental changes. And it emphasizes the power of 1% improvements. Talking about like tiny, consistent actions can lead to like these remarkable longterm transformations. And there's some other things that he introduces in the book, but outstanding book, I highly recommend. But I wanted to share it in the concept of a minimum baseline. So. When I want to start a new habit or create one. That I get all excited about and it's all very grand AAOS. And I want to go with 125%. I try to set a minimum baseline. So I'm at like the 1% that James Claire talks about in his book. So like an example. I, you know, you want to start an exercise program. And so you're like super gun-ho. You're like, I'm going to go, I'm going to go to the gym five days a week, but then, you know, something happens life. Right. Normal things. We get sick. We sleep in. Just whatever it is. And so then we stopped going and then it's been months and months and we haven't gone and we can't even remember why we quit. But if you set yourself up with a minimum baseline, then when life comes along. And happens. Then you have no matter what this very bare minimum. Of what you're willing to do. So. Let's just say you have these great intentions of going to the gym five days a week. Your minimum baseline could be that no matter what, you'll go on a walk for 10 minutes. So if you can't get to the gym, that's okay. Or you'll stretch for five minutes or five minutes, you know, 10 minutes or five minutes. It doesn't matter. It's whatever feels like, oh, this is doable. Without creating a ton of drama. In your brain and then also a lot of judgment for yourself. For not doing what you said you were going to do. So it has to be something very, very small. Another example is I have a morning routine that I love. So I usually start out meditating and I pray. I write in my journal and then I try to read some of the scriptures for that week, from the come follow me. And I was running into some issues where I wasn't getting all of those things done. Because I have other things that I have to get to. And so I. Decided that my minimum baseline. Is saying a prayer. So I can always say a prayer. No matter what. And that helped me feel okay. If I missed and it kind of helps separate away from that all or nothing thinking. And it gives you some grace and flexibility in your own life. So it's not quite as rigid. And then there's always room to, you know, if you have time, you can always do more things. But if there's not enough time that's okay. Because you can meet your minimum baseline. And you can meet that 1% that he talks about. And this is really important because think about our missionaries and the way their day is structured and how they come from. A very structured. Environment when they come home off their mission. And sometimes. A lot of missionaries, as I've talked to them, they feel kind of adrift. Like there's, there's not. The strict structure that they've had and they try to self-impose it. And they promise themselves that no matter what, they'll keep up on their personal study or, you know, whatever. And then they stop. They move on with life. They start feeling bad about themselves, about the promise they made to themselves and they didn't keep, we can see this over and over and over in our kids' lives. Our lives. But you can help them. And you can help yourself by setting up a very bare minimum baseline. And so you can explain to them. But it's okay. They don't have to be quite as rigid as they were on a mission. And. Like what feels good to them as a minimum baseline? And making sure that they, they, you kind of help them. Ex explain to them a minimum is not the maximum. So a few years ago, I was working with a lady who's an organizational coach. And I was talking to her about. I have, I have ADHD. So my brain, sometimes isn't very organized and I had a hard time like setting up my computer vials. And even my emails and I thought it was like too much for me. To actually get done. So she mentioned what, if you set up your filing system and she helped me. Set that up because once the system's in place, I can usually follow it. I just have a hard time creating it. And then she said, and then you file eight documents electronically a day. And I was like eight. I mean, like that's not even hard. And she was like, yeah. That's the point. It's just eight things. And so she made the steps so small. Then my nervous system, didn't go into freeze mode, which is what happens. When we do things that are too big. So we owned a freeze mode and we stopped doing them. And so I was able to get my files organized a lot faster than I thought, because honestly, I thought it was going to take a million years and I thought. That I didn't have the capability, but when she set it up like that, just eight things. That was so effective and I was able to meet that minimum baseline. And she also gave me an example of helping somebody go through their pictures. I know everybody has this issue. I have a drawer full of pictures. I have six kids. I haven't organized them. And so she was telling me that one of the gals that she worked with. Set up a box for each kid and then one for the family. And then her minimum baseline was to sort eight pictures per day. And that was it. Eight. And she could always do more. But her minimum was eight. And so that no matter what was happening in her day, overwhelmed didn't creep in and prevent her from doing it because it was eight pictures and she was able to get through. All of her photos. By doing this minimum baseline. So this concept is good for like longterm habits, things that we want to create for ourselves, but also projects that we need smaller steps for. And. Any time you find yourself in your nervous system, getting overwhelmed by something, your nervous system is really sending you a signal and a message that you're attempting, something that's too big. So your brain is going to try to sabotage you and keep you on the couch by feeling overwhelmed. So, all you have to do in those situations is first acknowledge it. I don't no judgment here. We're not trying to club ourselves and we just have to scale the step down. So, if you want to start a walking habit, start by putting your walking shoes on every day and going to the mailbox. That can be your minimum baseline. Something very, very simple. If you want to build a website, open the page every day and type one sentence. So the chances are that you'll start to gain some momentum on this. If it's walking, you're probably gonna walk to the mailbox and then you might walk past it. But if not it's okay. Because you've met the minimum. And this concept has helped me give myself a lot of grace and get away from that all or nothing thinking. And allow myself a ton of room in 2024. One of the things that I did was I lost 30 pounds. I gave myself an entire year to do that. And I did that with setting up minimum baselines of things I was going to do so that it wasn't overwhelming. And I was very aware of my nervous system and when things would get a lot bigger than I could handle, but I always had like some small minimum baseline things set up for myself so that I could be successful. And so if we just give ourselves a lot of room, To grow and expand, and we give ourselves a lot of time. So that we can, you know, meet. Those things. And also we can start to exceed them, but we always can revert back to the minimum. And that gives you a ton of room. To grow and build those 1% habits that he talks about in the book, atomic habits. All right, you guys, I hope you find this helpful. And if you do something in this minimum baseline and you set something up, I would love to hear about it. You can always DM me on Instagram. I always respond. In the show notes, my Instagram handle is listed. You can definitely get it there. And I hope all of you have a great week, put some goodness in the world and be a little kinder to yourself this week. All right. We will see you next time. Bye-bye.