Hello friends! You’re listening to This Quote Changed My Life, a podcast about inspired action. My name is Tracey and I”m the host of the show.
Thank you again for joining me for this week’s podcast episode – number 84. If you are new here, hello! I am a Wellness Coach and a Creative Arts therapist and also a wife and a mother and if you couldn’t tell from my accent, I live in Sydney Australia. You can find me on instagram under @makesunshineco and don’t forget to subscribe to keep track of new episodes of the podcast.
I love to talk about inspirational quotes I’ve come across in books, on the internet, in life, from conversations – I think we’ve all got one or two that really reasonates with us but it’s the action we take that can really change our lives.
So let’s get stuck into this week’s quote which is all about developing good habits so we can reach our goals.
The quote is – you get what you focus on, so focus on what you want.
I really love this quote because it’s simple and straight to the point. You get what you focus on – so focus on what you want.
This quote can apply for just about anything – from your career, to your relationships, to your health – anything where we’ve ever thought ‘i wish it could be different’. Well wishes are great, but won’t get you to your goal unless you start taking action.
When we’re able to get really clear about what we want – our focus becomes clearer and our intentions become more purposeful. I’ve talked about getting clear on our goals before – we ask ourselves who we are right now, what do we want and then create a plan on how we’re going to get there. What do you want & how you’re going to get there are such good questions to ask yourself when you’re feeling a bit lost and need a focus.
As an example, I had some sort of minor back injury in the last month – I don’t know what happened but I was in ALOT of pain and took myself off to see a physio because I have injured myself in the past and I knew that was the best thing I could do for myself straight away. So after we made sure I wasn’t doing more damage to my back and rest of my body, I made the decision that right now – I need to make sure that I heal properly and that I form better habits to keep myself physically strong. I admit that I had let that part of me slide for months – so how was I going to get there? I need to do my physio exercises every day as I healed, and then I need to add back in Pilates and strength work. I want to be strong and need to be physically strong for as long as I can – it helps me stay healthy, but also it helps me take care of my daughter. So my focus here will be maintaining my strength and building on it – and to keep that focus, I’ve built habits around it – in this case, I prefer to exercise right before bed – which seems like a terrible time to exercise, but it seems to relax me and I know my kids don’t need me because they’re asleep and the house is quiet and packed away for the day. If I thought I *had to* exercise first thing in the morning because everyone else is, I would probably really hate it because mornings can be really rough for me lol, so night time it is! Forming repeatable habits, means you are creating specific focus, and focus will get you to your goal!
If I could share 1 more thing I’m focusing on right now – it’s painting. I’ve never thought of myself as an artist, and definitely not a painter. I still cringe at the paintings I tried to do in high school art class, even the teacher was disappointed LOL and so I steered away from painting and got more into photography and computers. But as I learn about creative arts therapy and explore ways to teach others to express themselves through art, I find myself drawn to wanting to create artwork that isn’t digital. There is something about selecting paint colours, squeezing it out onto a palette, mixing colours and applying it to paper or a canvas. I love seeing the textures come to life, it’s different from working digitally. So my goal is to become more confident with painting, to learn how to paint large canvases and share that journey along the way. My focus will be to paint regularly, daily if I can.
I mention this a lot – but repetition is the key, so even if you think you’re not good at something you like doing, practicing and showing up regularly and making bad art or failing at whatever it is that you want to do, is another notch in your experience towards being better at something. You have to start to somewhere, and most of us will need to start at the bottom, before we reach anywhere higher. So always look at yourself as a student, be willing to learn, stay focused on what you want and you will get there.
The quote this week again is – you get what you focus on, so focus on what you want.
If you focus on being ‘bad’ and won’t try on improving, then you will stay bad and won’t improve.
If you focus on being sad about a situation you can’t change, you will stay sad AND you still can’t change the situation.
If you focus on being stuck and maybe behind where you thought you’d be, you will stay stuck.
But if we focus on the things we can do, we will start to see things in our life change.
If you focus on learning how to cook, you will learn how to feed yourself.
If you focus on becoming healthier and stronger, you will become healthier and stronger.
If you focus on building better relationships, you will have better relationships.
It’s really as simple as that – focusing on what you want, instead of what you don’t have, will make your life better. Not perfect, but better, because you are the one using your energy for something you deem worthwhile. And I think that’s a huge part of living your life, the decision to be intentional with your time will determine the outcome of your life.
You get what you focus on, so focus on what you want.
What do you want right now? What do you want to create? How do you want to feel?
What is important to you today?
Come and find me on Instagram and let me know – I’m under @makesunshineco – I hope you are happy healthy and safe where ever you are in the world, and if not, I hope you’re on the way.
Thanks again for listening to my podcast, I’ll speak to you all again next time. Bye!