Start Today: Why You Don’t Need January 1 for a Reset
Your Reset Doesn’t Need a Calendar Flip or to be A Life Overhaul
Start Today: Why You Don’t Need January 1 for a Reset
In this episode, I’m calling out one of the sneakiest lies we tell ourselves: “I’ll start in the new year.”
Friend… you don’t need January 1. You don’t need a Monday. You don’t need a perfect moment. You need today.
I walk you through exactly how to choose ONE tiny, meaningful reset you can start right now—something that brings you back to intentionality, alignment, and the life God has already equipped you to live.
For me? It’s drinking my 100 ounces of water daily again. For you? It might be devotions, a 10-minute walk, planning your food, closing the kitchen after dinner, going to bed on time, or tidying your space before bed.
Wherever you are, today is enough.
You’re not starting over. You’re continuing on—stronger, clearer, and more grounded than before.
Tag me @CoachShannaP with your one reset, and you’ll be entered to win an autographed copy of Self-Care as Stewardship.
Watch Here:
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Hello, and welcome to the Christian Life Coach Podcast. I am Shanna, your Christian
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Life coach.
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Okay,
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I'm recording this on December 3rd, and I believe that it will come out on December 17th.
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So, a week and a half or so before…
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the new year.
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And I…
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I'm going to chat with you today.
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About not waiting around.
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If you are ready for a reset, you do not need January 1st. You need 2 days.
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Today.
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Waiting for the calendar to flip.
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is just procrastination that looks justified.
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Oh, I'll wait till the new year. It sounds… it sounds good, right?
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But we don't need a new calendar year.
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We don't need a new calendar month.
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We don't need a new week.
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to restart, to…
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start fresh, to reset.
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We can do it any day.
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We can do it any time of any day.
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Right?
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So, we think that we wait for January because it's a clean slate.
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I'm starting brand new. I'm starting all over again, but we're not.
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We're not starting all over again, we're just continuing on. We love the idea of a big, dramatic reset.
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But if… if everything has to be big and dramatic,
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then… we're gonna fall off, because days get…
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monotonous. Days get repetitive.
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So, we need to be okay with things just being boring sometimes. A reset can just be another day.
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It can be 1 o'clock on a Tuesday.
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January feels like this magic portal.
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But it's nothing. It's… nothing magic happens on January 1st. You get to open a brand new calendar,
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Which is great, and I love.
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I love starting a fresh planner.
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I love a new day, I love a new week, I love a new month, I love a new year.
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And… I know that I can reset any time.
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So some of the things that we tell ourselves is, I'll be more motivated later. I'll be more motivated on January 1st.
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And…
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that could be true, and also,
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Motivation is not required to take action.
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I do not feel motivated to cook dinner. I do not feel motivated to take out the garbage.
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But I do it. So, motivation is not required.
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Motivation can show up,
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As a result of taking action,
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and being consistent, and building momentum.
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So, one of the lies that we tell ourselves is, I'll be more motivated later.
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Well, we don't need motivation.
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And that's not even a guarantee.
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I'll have more time…
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I just don't have time right now, I'll have more time and space after the holidays.
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No, you won't. Life keeps happening.
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You still have the same life on January 1st that you have today.
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So, what can you reset today?
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Your authority to change,
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wasn't handed to a date.
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It was handed to you.
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By God. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
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Stop believing the lies.
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And start reminding yourself of the truth.
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And remember, I know,
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I'm in Enneagram 8, so I say it like it is.
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One of the things that people tell me is, I just love that you say the things that other people only think.
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So, if you're a little put off by my boldness, by my straightforwardness, I understand.
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Also know…
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Anything that I say comes from
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so much love in my heart.
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And so much desire for you to be the person that God created you to be, the person that you want to be,
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to live the life that you want to live,
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And to feel amazing,
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being the person that God created you to be.
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in your body, in your mind,
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in your heart.
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So just know that.
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So, this episode kind of came up for me because…
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As I was thinking through…
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When… when the episode was gonna come out, and it's so close to the New Year, so it's so easy to put it off, put it off, put it off.
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And… for me, I have been…
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Um, I have not been consistently getting the water in.
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that I have for a really long time. And people that have been with me for a long time know
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that I am…
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I'm a little crazy about water.
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And it's one of the things that I preach, and I talk about a lot, is drinking enough water, and being purposeful and intentional about getting your water in each day.
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And to be honest, over the past…
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Oh my word, I would say 4 to 6 months. I have allowed that water habit to be put on the back burner. I have not been intentional about it.
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So, this week…
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I've decided water is…
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prioritized. So, for me,
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I am recommitting.
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I am…
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being purposeful and intentional about getting my 100 ounces of water in every day. I'm not putting off… putting that off until the new year.
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I'll… I'll worry about my water.
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on just… on January 1st.
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But I know that…
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When I drink the water,
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I feel better physically.
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I feel better mentally, I feel better emotionally,
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I feel better spiritually, because I'm doing
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what I know is best for me. I'm stewarding
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my body well, if even in that one little area.
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So when I'm not drinking the water,
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I feel the effects of it.
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And I could put it off. I could say, uh, I'll worry about that later, but…
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I could.
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just be purposeful and intentional about drinking water today.
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And feel better for the next…
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week and a half, instead of waiting to feel better.
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On January 1st, or until the water starts kicking in.
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So what is… what is it for you?
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What's the one thing?
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That you could do.
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And I want to remind you, like, this is not…
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I didn't shame myself for…
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not being intentional about drinking the water. It's not about shame, it's not about judgment,
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It's not about guilt, it's just about awareness.
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Oh. I haven't been doing this.
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And I know, I feel so much better when I do it.
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Let's start doing that again.
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Let's not wait until January 1st, let's do it now!
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And then, what does it look like to do that?
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For me,
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I want to get 100 ounces of water in every day.
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And so, I have a 32-ounce water bottle that I've been using.
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And… before 8 o'clock hit,
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I finished one. So, I drank 32 ounces. And my goal is, before
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10 a.m. hits today, which is in 9 minutes, so I need to get off of this episode and go finish that second
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Um…
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water bottle of water. My second one, by 10, and my third one by noon. So I have an intentional plan
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of how I'm going to get the water in.
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So, I'm encouraging you, and I mean, if you're… if your habits are on lock, and you're doing great, and you're like, I don't even need this,
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Awesome! That's so exciting for you! Good job!
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And, if there's something that you keep thinking, oh, I need to be doing that, why am I not doing that? I said I was gonna do that, why am I not doing that?
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Pick one thing. You don't have to overhaul… overhaul your whole life.
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One thing. Pay attention.
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What's one thing that you've let slide,
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that genuinely makes you feel better, that genuinely improves your life.
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What helps you feel…
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more present? What helps you feel more energized?
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What helps you feel more aligned?
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It could be… and it could be anything, I'm just gonna say some…
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give you some ideas to kind of…
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spur your creativity and your thinking.
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Could be your daily devotion time, or prayer time.
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Drinking water, like me.
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It could be moving your body, if even a 10-minute walk every day.
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Planning your food ahead of time.
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closing the kitchen before dinner,
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going to bed on time?
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resetting your morning routine.
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I tidy up before bed.
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Stretching before bed, a gratitude practice,
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Like, it can be anything. And those were just to…
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to spur your own creativity to think of what would… what it is for you,
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that you don't want to put off until January 1st, because you could be doing it today so easily.
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And this, going… going along with the previous two episodes, this is…
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These are chisel strokes that you can be taking every day to be chipping away those layers that we've added on.
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I am chipping away at inflammation.
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And joint soreness.
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by drinking my water.
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And I'm chipping away
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at the… the distrust of myself.
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that is getting layered back on, because I haven't been doing what I know.
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works for me, and feels good.
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So, name the one thing that you want to be doing.
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Say it out loud, write it down, put it in your planner, put it on sticky notes,
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tell somebody about it.
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And then… and decide. This is… this is what I'm doing. This matters. Why does it matter? Remind yourself of why it matters.
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decide. I'm doing this.
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And then set up your environment. How can you set yourself up for
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For such success that it would be easier to do the thing than to fail to do the thing.
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Set your water bottle out. Fill up water bottles.
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Leave your… leave your Bible, leave your planner out, set up a nice little spot for you to sit in the morning to do that.
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Put your shoes by the door if it's walking.
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Set reminders on your phone.
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If it's closing your kitchen after dinner, put a reminder on your phone. It's time to clean the kitchen, no more eating.
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So set reminders, phone alarms, sticky notes, habit tracker, a calendar event on your calendar that'll pop up.
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Ask your husband to remind you.
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Ask your kids to remind you.
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Set yourself up for success.
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And make it easy…
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For you to win. Make it easy… make it easier for you to follow through and get that win than it is
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not to. And then celebrate, celebrate, celebrate.
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We think, oh, it's not that big of a deal.
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It's not really any big deal to celebrate. Every single little step that you take in the direction that you want to go,
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on purpose is a reason to celebrate.
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We tell ourselves that waiting is neutral, that it doesn't matter, but that's not true.
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Waiting keeps us where we're at.
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It digs us deeper into regret.
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start today.
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And… I would love…
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For you to…
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post on social media. Tag me at Coach ShannaP.
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on Instagram, Facebook,
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TikTok, X,
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Face… not face… Facebook, I already said that, though. YouTube.
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Tag me in a post.
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or in a story.
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telling me what the one thing is that you're going to reset today, before January.
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And I will be doing a drawing to send out a…
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an autographed copy of my book, Self-Care is Stewardship.
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Not where it's at right now. Um, and…
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For anybody that has the book or buys the book,
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I am going to be doing a Facebook group in January.
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And we're gonna go through self-care stewardship 31 days, 1 day at a time.
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In January, so get the book.
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Or if you already have the book,
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Go to the page between
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Day 7 and Week 2?
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And there is a QR code,
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And there is a web address. Go there, sign up to get my daily planning pages,
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And you'll be invited to the Facebook group to participate in
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stewarding ourselves well through self-care during the month of January.
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So, get the book,
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Sign up for the…
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planning tools.
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and tag me on social media, at Coach ShannaP.
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to be entered in a drawing to win an autographed copy of the book.
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Remember that life coaching is life-changing.
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One renewed thought at a time.
