The Habit of Winning, Tech 4 Routines, & Vacation Misuse (UNRESTRICTED in 3)

I started this newsletter to share what I was geeking out on after leaving behind my life and career in London in 2019 to live with a circus collective before starting UNRESTRICTED while building my dream life.

In this newsletter, I share the news, hacks, resources, books, podcasts and more that I’ve been devouring and experimenting with in my quest for UNRESTRICTED life & business optimization.

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1/3: THE HABIT OF WINNING

This week I watched a film called Queenpins. It was ok, a nice little escape for a few hours into a world where a housewife started a multi-million dollar coupon "business". I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it however, one moment in the movie stood out to me.

The main actress said that according to science winning can become a habit. And the more you win, the more you WILL win.

It stuck with me enough to research it as I wrote this newsletter and I ended up with a list of podcasts and books I’ll now be consuming to explore the subject further.

But the cliff notes of what I discovered is that the "winner effect" is a term used in biology to describe how an animal that has won a few fights against weak opponents is much more likely to win later bouts against stronger contenders.

This applies to humans too.

Not surprisingly, success changes our brain chemistry.

It’s one of the reasons why I spend so much time with clients helping them set themselves up for those little wins.

It sounds ridiculous that you would be super happy about starting a morning routine that just involves drinking a glass of water every day. But when you set out to do something, and you do it, you feel like you’ve won.

It’s why making your bed in the morning can make you feel like a badass. You already won before you started your day.

But the habit of winning, that’s a curious one to ponder. We all know those people who just win, time and time again and we wonder how they do it.

It sounds like the secret is rewiring, which means we all have the capabilities to be winners.

I’ve been acutely interested in neuroscience and rewiring this year. Having read Rewire For Wealth and practicing the techniques around my old money wiring, I’ve had significant results in just a few months.

So therein lies the next rabbit hole Athena will be going down.

If you want to go down the rabbit hole with me:

I’ll be reading?The Winner Effect: The Science of Success & How to Use It by Ian Robertson

And I’ll be listening to?The John Maxwell Podcast about Making Winning a Habit?where he talks about the importance of preparation and separation––preparation for the things that increase your chances of winning and separation from the things that hurt your chances of winning.

Let’s go win!

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2/3:?USING TECH FOR ROUTINES

Speaking of habits and routines, one of my clients recently said she was struggling to remember everything she wanted to be doing.

This is something that can hold us back from solidifying a routine, not automating the process while we’re in the habit creation stage.

The way we create new habits is with consistency. It can take up to 254 days to create a new habit. If you automate the process of habit creation, then you have more chances of success.

You waste a lot of time and brain power trying to remember things. One way to free up space is to create a checklist of the things you want to do so your brain isn’t responsible for recalling the steps.

In an earlier newsletter, I talked about post-it notes.

I keep post-it notes on my fridge of the habits I’m working on creating, so every day, I just look at those as a reminder (and accountability!).

If you are trying to create a series of habits, like a morning routine, you can create a checklist that you follow every day.

Doing them in the exact same order every day will help you solidify the routine as a habit - you’ll know it’s working when you start doing the routine on autopilot without referring to your list.

There is some tech you can use to automate the checklist.

I am weary of suggesting this because I know how easy it is to get distracted by your phone and forget the original task you were on there for.

If you can create rock solid boundaries and blocks with your phone while you’re learning your routines, then you can use an app like?routinery.

It creates the digital checklist, reminds you at the time you set, and even lets you set timers for the tasks you want to complete or habits you’re trying to create.

The way your habits will stick is with consistency, so make sure you’re establishing routines that set you up for success.

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I’ve created a process for automation and creating habits for self-care, movement, work, and morning and evening routines in my signature?UNRESTRICTED Bootcamp program?for women. If you have had inconsistent results with trying to create routines & habits and want someone to show you how to make them stick (and make winning your day a habit!) check it out.

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3/3: HOLIDAYS ARE NOT FOR RECHARGING

As of today, I’m officially on vacation (ah the joys of automation).

While I was researching the winner effect for this newsletter, I was reminded of?a post by Adam Grant?who said that holidays should be a time to celebrate, not recharge. And that if you’re using vacation as a time to recharge, you have a burnout culture.

Eek. When you’re a solopreneur, you are the culture. No organization to blame it on.

Burnout is something that I’ve been acutely aware of and have actively studied and experimented with how to prevent and overcome it since leaving behind my workaholic life in London in 2019.

Those tendencies, to work too much and burn yourself out, they’re internal. They will and do follow you unless you actively reprogram yourself out of the habits and mindset that causes you to work too hard.

I have created a work schedule I’m fairly strict with. 4 days a week. Lots of down time and off time, so that when I do work, I have lots of positive energy towards it.

I often say that my life is a vacation, despite starting a new business and having advantageous goals for it while I live the dream life.

But that can only be done when I am also taking care of myself. Movement, connection, fun time, taking care of my body . . . it is a daily, active practice.

This week, my energy was noticeably lower than usual. I have been looking forward to the vacation to recharge.

And then, serendipity, I see the post that reminds me, vacation should be enjoyed and fun. If you go into your vacation with no energy to enjoy it, then your daily life should be evaluated for how you can manage your energy flow.

I’ve got a pretty good idea of how I’m going to do that upon my return.

But it involves saying goodbye to some things which can be a challenge in and of itself when you’re a recovering perfectionist.

It involves accepting that some of the activities I do, I am ok to remain mediocre at.

It involves accepting that I’m a human, doing my best, and life is worth enjoying every single day.

In?Adam’s words,?the pursuit of happiness is a right, not a reward.

So what can you do right now, today, to make yourself happy?

Is there something you need to say goodbye to?

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Thank you for continuing to share with me about how this newsletter, the podcast, and the content I put out about has helped you. It makes my day, I read and cherish all of it and keep it coming.

If you want to get your shit together mentally, physically, and at work, check out my signature?UNRESTRICTED Bootcamp program.?I’ll be accepting a few more women into the program when I get back from vacation.

I hope you got something useful out of this newsletter, if you didn't or you're getting tired of hearing from me please unfollow or unsubscribe!

Lots of Love, Athena