Ep. 118: 4 Habits That Changed My Life

In this episode of Maybe I Can, I’m sharing the four habits that have had the greatest impact on my life over the past several years: meditation, journaling, gratitude practice, and waking up early. I’ll take you through how each habit has transformed my mindset, reduced stress, and helped me create a more intentional and fulfilling life. Whether you're looking to find more clarity, build resilience, or simply start your day with more purpose, these habits can make a difference. Tune in to hear my personal experiences, practical tips for getting started, and why small daily shifts can lead to powerful long-term change.

Debbie Weiss
 https://www.debbierweiss.com
 https://www.facebook.com/groups/maybeican
 https://www.instagram.com/debbie.r.weiss
 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNi8Frz-SsR9Mv_h0CNjB9w
 https://www.tiktok.com/@debbierweiss
 https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/maybe-i-can-with-debbie-weiss/id1676123222

Transcript

Welcome to Maybe I Can

Speaker 1 0:00

Hello and welcome to Maybe I Can , exploring possibilities , one sprinkle at a time . If you've ever found yourself asking is this all there is to life , then you're in the right place . I'm Debbie author , speaker , entrepreneur and coach , and every Tuesday , I'm here to share a sprinkle of hope and inspiration . Together , we'll uncover the more More joy , more fulfillment , more prosperity , more fun . We'll share stories of transformation , actionable tips and that little nudge you need to take the next step . So let's embark on this journey of discovery and say maybe I can to a life filled with more , ready to find out . Let's get started . The Maybe I Can Show starts now . Hello , everyone , and welcome back to the Maybe I Can Show . I am your host , debbie Weiss , and thank you so much for joining me today . I truly appreciate it . I know how many choices podcast choices there are out there , so the fact that you're tuning in to me just means a lot . So thank you .

Embracing Authenticity Over Perfection

Speaker 1 1:15

I was thinking just before I came on the air boy , have times changed ? And what I mean by that is when I first started , even before I started podcasting , when I started making videos and showing up on social media the very first time that I made a video . I can't even tell you how nervous I was . I made sure I had the right outfit , I had the right makeup , my hair looked good . I didn't know what I was going to say . I tried to memorize it . Then I made little five by seven index cards . I recorded it over and over and over again and I thought to myself oh my goodness , this is exhausting . And I did that a couple more times until I realized this is not for me . And one day I was walking my dog , yogi , as I do every day , and every morning in particular , and in the morning I don't wake up with my hair and makeup done . So I'm out there , no makeup , hair , all crazy . And I had something that I wanted to share . So I just opened my camera , pressed play or record and started talking . And once I had that freedom , like gosh , I know me . I don't like to see those people who are in the right outfit , with the right hair , with their makeup done . Yeah , sure , sometimes , of course , but I want to know that real person . And from all the feedback that I've gotten , it seems like authenticity seems to be associated with me and my brand , which I'm glad .

Speaker 1 3:05

And the reason I'm saying how I've evolved is that now a half hour show I'm coming on . I got no makeup . I don't even have a pink shirt on today . If you're listening , then you can't see . If you're on YouTube , obviously you can see this . Usually I am always decked out in pink . This morning I got up , threw my hair up , threw on a sweatshirt one of my big comfy sweatshirts and the day just kind of got away from me .

Speaker 1 3:34

The other thing is is that I am just talk off the cuff . Now you know , yeah , I have some main points that I know that I want to make , but other than that , there is nothing scripted which you might be able to tell by listening to my episodes . The other thing I thought before I came on the air today was that , knowing what this episode is about , which I'll share with you in a second I know I'm going to repeat myself Meaning , if you've listened to previous episodes , if you've read either of my books , I'm going to probably say some things that I've said before , and in one way , I was a little bit insecure about that . And then , on the other hand , I thought now look , hopefully you're someone who lives and breathes everything I do , but chances are , most people , including probably my mother might be the only person right , mom , she's the only one who tries to listen and read everything . You haven't heard it all , and even if you had , even if I'm going to say something that you've heard or read before , tell you a story , I don't know what's going to come out of my mouth , so maybe it's going to be in a different way , maybe it's going to land with you a little differently today , because every time that we hear or read something , we ourselves are in a different place . So you just don't know . So I'm letting go of that too . All right , here we are . What was that ? Free to be , you and me ? That was some old catchphrase from something I don't even remember . If you know , dm me and let me know .

Speaker 1 5:19

Okay , so the topic for today are the four habits that have had the greatest impact on my life since I kind of started this transformation about

Four Habits That Changed Everything

Speaker 1 5:34

a decade ago . The four things are waking up early , meditating , journaling and gratitude . Meditating , journaling and gratitude . I was not a believer of any of those things , so I want you to keep an open mind . If you hear that list and you're like I don't meditate because that was me Journaling yeah , not a chance . And gratitude . I had no idea why anybody , what even that was . So I just ask you to keep an open mind , because what I've learned along the way is that when you do keep an open mind and you give something a try , sure , some things might not be for you , maybe the way you first try it isn't for you . But try a different method . You just never know . I have discovered more about myself in the last decade than I have in the 50 years prior . So hopefully you're listening to this podcast because that's where you are . You're just looking for some inspiration , some spark of something , because you know that your life , maybe you have a good life I mean , hopefully you have a good life and even if you have a good life , that doesn't mean that you can't add color to it . It can't be more fulfilling . You just don't know what else is out there for you until you go and try and find it and explore . So these four things they really have been a catalyst for me for everything that has come since .

Speaker 1 7:22

All right , so let's start with number one waking up

Waking Up Early: Setting the Tone

Speaker 1 7:27

early . That could mean something different for each of us . I'll just tell you that I'm a morning person , so it's not like . Well , sure , as a teenager , yeah , I'd like to sleep in until noon or so , but as an adult , no , I am definitely a morning person . However , I did like to eke out every last minute of sleep that I possibly could . So I would say to myself okay , I have to leave for work at 8.15 . What time do I have to wake up to leave for work at 8.15 . What time do I have to wake up ? Or what is the latest I can wake up to ? Be out the door at 8.15? . And then I would backtrack . So , let's say , an hour , so get up at 7.15 , then , all right , maybe hit the snooze once or twice . And now , right , I'm off to the races as soon as I hit the ground running , because maybe I'm a few minutes behind and if I do one thing five minutes longer , I could be late . And you're looking at that clock . You know you're like okay , the next thing , the next thing , whatever it is brush my teeth , take a shower , eat breakfast , whatever it is that your routine is .

Speaker 1 8:40

And when I was , I think it all started . You know first let me stop that train of thought for a minute . When all of this started , with my whole beginning of my transformation . I didn't really know , I wasn't like had this big picture back then , realizing what I was doing . I slowly started like attacking different parts of my life to change and then , kind of , you know , it was like a domino effect Once one thing happened and I was like , oh boy , I feel so much better , I feel so much better about myself . Maybe I could try this , maybe I could try this . And then that's how I went down this path and I got to waking up early because I had a friend who , I don't want to say , made me try yoga . That's a whole other story that I have talked about . But kind of , with my new open mind , I tried yoga .

Speaker 1 9:49

Eventually I found myself signed up for a 5.30 am yoga class three mornings a week . When that was first presented to me , I laughed out loud Like seriously , how early am I going to have to wake up and I'm going to be exhausted , like I had all the excuses right Until I tried it . And it was hard , don't get me wrong . It was not easy and this was not like this was before COVID . This was not in my house in a video . Luckily , the yoga studio was right around the corner so I could literally leave my house at 525 , or I usually would leave at 520 , roll in there five minutes early to get set up . But I thought it was impossible . But once I got into the habit , I loved it .

Speaker 1 10:46

Forget the yoga part . I just loved having that extra time realizing , oh , every morning doesn't have to be this intense rush off to the races and it feels nice to kind of breathe for a minute , like , oh , I have 10 extra minutes . What am I going to do with those 10 extra minutes ? And I will tell you what you're going to do with those 10 extra minutes . And I will tell you what you're going to do with those 10 extra minutes in a moment . But just to be able to take a breath , I mean , maybe for you it's having 10 minutes to just sit there with your thoughts , drinking your coffee , looking out the window , whatever it is . But having that extra time , waking up early , being able to just not start your day in this mad rush like this intense off to the races , like it's stressful . It really is stressful and when you leave yourself enough undistracted time in the morning , it really sets the tone for the rest of your day and it's a very different tone than hurry up .

Speaker 1 12:01

I got to get up , I got to take a shower , I got to eat , I got to get dressed , I got to put my hair dry and you're in the car . Let's go . Oh my gosh , and what if there's traffic ? And what if there's this , and all the things ? So it really really does set you up for success . The way to get started is not to make a huge shift at once , right ? So if you usually get up at 7.30 , tomorrow are you going to get up at 5.30 ? No , probably not . It's too difficult . You've got to backtrack and take a look at your night and say what time do I go to bed ? Don't start with a two-hour difference or a one-hour difference . Start with a 15-minute difference . If you usually go to bed at 11 , try to go to bed at 1045 and then get up 15 minutes early in the morning . You know you've got to slowly incorporate these things .

Speaker 1 13:00

All of these things , all changes , and I think this is why sometimes people don't do them , because they look at people who incorporated these changes and have been doing it for a long time and it seems unreachable to most of us . And then what ? Why am I even trying ? I'll never get there . So everything really has to be done in little small segments , little small sprinkles , little small increments . So start with that 15 minutes .

Speaker 1 13:31

Now I don't go to yoga anymore , 5.30, . That class no longer exists since COVID , but now I have a 6 am exercise class . I go to three mornings a week . It's 15 minutes away . So I'm pretty much on the same time schedule that I was in the past and what I do is I think about it the night before . What am I going to wear ? I lay out all my exercise clothes . My shoes are out , Like my drink , you know , my cup is out . I've got everything ready to go . So , all right , that's the first thing .

Speaker 1 14:04

The next is meditation , meditation , oh

Meditation: From Skeptic to Daily Practice

Speaker 1 14:09

my , I mean . I think about all of these and each one I can say , oh yeah , I was never going to do that when I did first start yoga and at the end you're in Shavasana pose , which , if you're not a , close your eyes and relax after exerting your mind and your body through all of the yoga class . And I remember when I first the very first class I went to in yoga and I was like what , close my eyes In this room full of people . I was beside myself , jumping out of my skin . I didn't know what to think . Everyone else I was like . They were so relaxed and it made me uptight . And the same thing happened when I thought all right , the world seems to be talking about this whole meditation thing . I don't get it . I thought , all right , the world seems to be talking about this whole meditation thing . I don't get it .

Speaker 1 15:19

I listened , I think I I don't know if it was the Calm app or Headspace or one of them , and maybe it was just a two minute timer with music and again , two minutes felt like two hours . My mind was racing . I was thinking , oh my gosh , I'm doing this wrong . What am I supposed to be doing ? You're not supposed to be thinking . I'm so bad at this . I could never do this . When is the buzzer going to go off ? All of those things , for whatever reason . I stuck with it and I tried different methods and I eventually switched to an app and , oh gosh , and now I wish I could think of a name and I know it's like something happier , and it's Dan , what's his name ? Who was on ABC . Okay , I'm going to have to get back to you on that .

Speaker 1 16:04

And in that app they offered different length guided meditations Guided meaning and you could choose right . They weren't all like this , but what made it easier for me was guided meditations where someone was giving you instruction . They weren't talking continuously , but they would talk enough and then they wouldn't talk . And then they would come back in I don't know how often a minute later and just remind you to refocus whether you're concentrating on your breath or that was the other thing . Like most things were concentrating on , you know , breathing in and out , which is fine , and maybe that works for you . But some of them gave me alternatives . So one of the alternatives that I found really helpful was focus on sounds that you hear , like that was my anchor , so to speak , so that when I noticed that my brain was drifting or I went down that rabbit hole , I could go oh , think about your sounds instead of thinking about your breath . So it offered other alternatives , because not everything works for everyone . After a while I did really enjoy that .

Speaker 1 17:29

I then moved on to transcendental meditation , where you actually go to get trained by a certified trainer and they give you a personal mantra and Technically it is supposed to be that you meditate twice a day , 20 minutes a day , and that is silent and you're just repeating the mantra silently in your head or you can repeat it out loud , and that was really really tough at first . It was really tough and I tried to do it twice a day and I never could seem to get the afternoon one in . I couldn't find the right place for it . But instead of just ditching the whole idea , I stuck with it and stuck with the 20 minutes in the morning . I did that probably for about a year and a half and then I started with another app , I don't know , and I got on this app for another reason I don't even recall why and I have to say that I seem to be back to more of a guided meditation .

Speaker 1 18:53

I seem to be back to more of a guided meditation and if I have the amount of time that I would really like in the morning , it's about 25 minutes long and I have to be honest , I could do it longer , especially with the guided meditation . I could definitely definitely do it longer . I love it . It's so funny how the difference now I crave it . I literally crave it .

Speaker 1 19:16

But if I don't have 25 minutes , if I have five minutes or 10 minutes or 15 minutes , I really try to make sure that I do something every day when possible , and what I found is is that over time , look , my mind still wanders . It's not about not thinking , and so I think we have to get past that . It's really about being able to notice . When you're drifting , when your thoughts are like I said , I just see myself going down that rabbit hole and sometimes something pulls me out and it's like , oh , my goodness , how long was I down there ? But each time maybe you come out a little bit quicker , a little bit quicker . What I find is is that now I drop in faster , meaning I don't have kind of like this nervous anxiety thing when I first close my eyes , like , oh , am I going to be able to do it ? Am I going to feel nervous ? Am I going to get antsy ? Nope , it's like boom , I turn the app on , maybe I hear a little two seconds of music . I close my eyes and I'm like Two seconds of music . I close my eyes and I'm like , come , I'm ready , bring it on , and that's a great feeling . And I think that you're able then , with that practice during your day , to draw from that feeling and to be able to then get back there there , whether it's when you notice that you're getting uptight or stressed , that even if you just close your eyes for 30 seconds and if it's taking a breath , if it's listening to the sounds quieting your mind , whatever it is , it can really , really help . Oh , my goodness , five minutes left . This time flies All right . Now I got to go fast .

Journaling: Discovering Inner Thoughts

Speaker 1 21:13

Habit number three journaling , journaling , journaling , journaling . I don't know which one I thought was going to be harder or didn't want to do . I started journaling in a course that I took and the facilitator sent us in the mail because it was an online course her own journal with some prompts , and I don't have them in front of me , but they were simple Some of them . I wasn't sure what I was supposed to answer , which got me kind of uptight , and I was annoyed because she kind of didn't tell us what to put there . And then in the end I found out she didn't tell us because it was personal to us , and so that's when I really discovered that I loved having that five , 10 minutes first thing in the morning to not plan my day , because it's not like a planner , but set intentions . What did I want to make sure I got accomplished today ? What were important things . What did I want to remember ? What were some daily affirmations I wanted to keep with me during the day to remind me of whatever being confident or something about goal attainment or whatever it was that I was working on , and I really really liked that and just kind of like waking up early and setting the stage for my day . That's what I found journaling to be , and I did that for a year or so and then I expanded to different journals , tried different prompts and those kind of things and really , really enjoyed the exploration .

Speaker 1 22:55

Until one day I heard a podcast of somebody talking about the benefits of like free flow or free form journaling , which gave me anxiety . Meaning open up a blank notebook and just start writing . I'm a good student . You better tell me what am I supposed to be writing . I had a lot of questions over this and the woman in the podcast said if you don't know what to write , just start writing . I don't know what to write . I don't know what to write . I don't know what to write , over and over again , and eventually you'll start to write something else . And that's exactly what happened , and the very first time I did it , I think , I looked up at the clock and 15 minutes had gone by . My hand hurt because I was writing so quickly and like pressing down so hard , and it was cathartic . I discovered things about myself that were going on in my brain that I had no idea . And now do I get to do it every day ? Unfortunately no . Those days I go to my exercise class , I honestly don't have time for everything before I have to get ready to go to work , and I haven't made the shift to get up at four o'clock in the morning yet . I don't know if that will ever be a thing . But I also know that when I'm not sure of next steps , I'm not sure what's bothering me . I just know open your notebook and start writing and it'll come to you . It'll come to you and it's been a great tool .

Speaker 1 24:32

Last but not least is a gratitude practice , something else I had zero buy-in

Gratitude Practice: Seeing the World Anew

Speaker 1 24:37

. When I first heard it it was in another course . I'm like what are they talking about ? Of course I'm grateful . I'm grateful for my house and my job and my family . You know , like all the things that I think most of us are grateful for . What am I going to do ? Say that every day , write it every day . It seemed like a big waste of time and like some woo-woo nonsense , quite frankly , until my coach , shana , sent me a gratitude journal in the mail , which I was annoyed because I was like , oh no , it's a gift . Now I see her , she's going to ask me how I like it . I'm going to have to fill it out .

Speaker 1 25:19

And what I found was is that , yes , in the beginning I did write the same things over every morning . I'm grateful for this . I'm grateful , same stuff . And after a while I started noticing things that I never noticed before . I hate to say it , I never noticed the wind blowing or what the trees looked like . Of course I noticed the wind blowing , but , like you know that breeze , what it did to the trees , or the sound of birds , or certain shapes of clouds in the sky , or just like all these things , and it became like I was almost on a search . And it has completely changed my outlook , it's improved my mindset . It really , I think , has just made me a happier person .

Speaker 1 26:12

So , even if it's not a journal , if , before you get out of bed , or before you go to bed at night , as you're drifting off to sleep , just think about three things that you're grateful for , and if you do it consistently , I'm telling you it's going to change your life . All these things are going to change your life . They're going to give you more time , more happiness , more just just each in so many different ways . But , as I said earlier , don't expect to jump in and do everything

Start Small and Make the Promise

Speaker 1 26:52

all at once . Start small , start with one new habit , five minutes a day , maybe it's not even every day , a few times a week . Don't get discouraged . Try a different way , try a different setting . Experiment , promise me . Promise me you'll try , because I'm telling you that these have the power to change your life . These habits have changed my life and I would love to hear from you .

Speaker 1 27:26

What is one small change that you're willing to make ? Dm me at debbierweiss on Instagram or email me , debbie , at debbie r weisscom , and let me know how your life has shifted . Thanks for listening and I'll see you next week . Thanks for spending part of your day with me here on Maybe I Can , exploring possibilities , one sprinkle at a time . It's been great having you and I hope you're leaving with a spark to light up your journey to more . Remember , every big change starts with a single maybe If you're ready to kickstart that change but not sure where to begin . I've got just the thing for you . Head over to download my free guide , the One Critical Step to Kickstart Change and take that all important first step . Let's make those maybes into reality , one sprinkle at a time . Catch you next Tuesday at 4 pm Eastern , 1 pm Pacific , with more stories , tips and that extra push you might need . I'm Debbie saying goodbye for now , but always remember maybe , just maybe , you can .