The Art of Sustainable Resolutions

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Ever thought about why your New Year's resolutions don't stick, while others seem to thrive with theirs? Today's episode of "Have a Cup of Johanny" invites you to explore the concept of new beginnings and what truly fuels lasting change. As we kick off 2025, I, Joa, your host and fellow overthinker, reflect on my own journey of growth, revealing that it’s less about when you start and more about how you take those first steps. Imagine breaking in a new pair of boots—it's about small, consistent efforts that eventually lead to comfort and success, rather than diving in headfirst and facing blisters of regret. 

Join me as we celebrate the symbolic motivation of a new year, while also acknowledging that change can start at any moment that feels right for you. Whether you're the type to draw a line in the sand on January 1st or prefer to start when the feeling strikes, it's all about the personalized journey of growth. Discover why embracing gradual shifts, much like easing into a new pair of boots, can make your resolutions sustainable and rewarding. Let’s lace up for this exciting season of growth and motivation, dedicated to making new habits stick with ease and joy.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oh we could.
We could fly.
Welcome to this new season ofthe have a Cup of Chahani
podcast.
So I want to title this newseason that I'm embarking on
with.
I'm growing, so this is goingto be the season of growth and
that's what I'm going to sharewith you throughout the season.

(00:21):
So I thank you for coming overhere and sitting with me, and I
hope you enjoy.
Happy New Year's, vasitos, andwelcome to the first episode of
2025 for have a Cup of Joanipodcast.
If this is your first timetuning in, let me do a bit of an
introduction.
I am your host, joa.

(00:41):
I am a writer, a multi-genreauthor and a constant
overthinker, here to serve youwith a fresh brew of inspiration
, motivation and reflectionevery Wednesday.
Today's episode is all aboutembracing change, breaking in

(01:02):
new habits and why you shouldnever wear brand new boots to a
ruck march Intrigued.
Okay, stay with me, then,because this one's for you.
So I have to ask this are youready?
So I have to ask this are youready?

(01:29):
Of course you are.
I mean, why else would you behere listening to this?
So let's address the elephant inthe room New Year's, more
importantly, new Year'sresolution.
Some people swear by them.

(02:07):
Others, like me, once upon atime, rolled my eyes at it
Because I was of the mindset ofwhy do we have to wait for
January 1st, when we can startliterally anytime?
And that's true, you can startanytime, that is absolutely true
.
But I've learned and I'vewisened up, because this show is
all about lessons learned andlearning and growing, because if
you're not learning, you're notgrowing, so let's stay growing.
I learned that sometimes the newyear, symbolism, the new fresh

(02:31):
chapter and the clean slatehelps people.
It's like drawing a line in thesand and saying this is where I
begin again.
And you know what, once I wisenup to that, I was like I'm okay
with that.
Who am I to judge, you know?
I mean, we all find motivationin different ways and instead of

(02:54):
judging, we listen, we don'tjudge.
Remember that, instead ofjudging what inspires others, I
mean, why not celebrate it Right?
Judging what inspires others, Imean, why not celebrate it
right, whether it's the 1st ofJanuary, like today, if you're
listening to this on January 1st, or the 1st of the month, or
even just the first day, youwake up and feel ready to make a

(03:18):
change.
It's all valid.
But here's the kicker, though.
This is where the realness isgoing to kick in, and that is
that lasting change doesn't comefrom one big dramatic moment,
as sometimes we see in movies.
It does not.

(03:38):
It comes from small, consistentactions.
Comes from small, consistentactions.
I'm going to say it againLasting change comes from small,
consistent actions.
And this brings me to myfavorite analogy of the day, and

(04:01):
that is breaking in boots.
All right, vasitos, picturethis, picture this, come on,
come on, and you got this bigevent coming up.
Let's say Rock March, let's sayit's in your first duty station
.
Very excited, you want to showoff to everyone that you have
what it takes to make it.
You have what it takes to keepup with the best of the best,

(04:25):
the fastest of the fastest, andyou wear your brand new, shiny
boots.
Yes, they are shiny, butthey're also very stiff and,
honestly, the boots were readyfor those miles.

(04:46):
So what ended up happening waslots of blisters, pain, regrets
and lessons learned.
So now I know I will never wearbrand new boots to a ruck march
or to anything really.
I will ensure that I breakthose boots in, little by little

(05:09):
until they're soft enough andmolded to my feet.
So the same thing happens whenwe dive headfirst into new
habits without easing into them.
I mean, just think about whathappened to me.
Well, what happened to thatfictitional person in my example
, if y'all try to go in allquickly like it's going to be

(05:33):
overwhelming, unsustainable and,let's be honest, it can hurt
both physically and mentally.
So that's why breaking in yourboots or your habits requires a
gradual approach.
Habits requires a gradualapproach.
Start small, wear the boots forshort walks around the house,

(05:55):
let them mold to your feet,build up to longer hikes and use
that same principle to habitsEase into them.
But you're probably like, okay,but how do you do that?
Okay, so let me tell you.
So how do you break in habits?
Right, the right way.
Let's see.

(06:15):
Here are three things that Idid that has helped me to
maintain sustainable habits.

(06:35):
So, for me, I have my corehabits, which is writing,
meditating, working out andgrowing.
What I call growing is eitherreading a book, listening to a
podcast, doing something thatflexes my mind to learn
something new, a new idea, newtechnique, whatever, and usually
I have these phases where mygrowth has to do with writing.
So I may listen to things fromauthors masterclasses from

(06:57):
authors or I listen to booksabout the writing craft.
Sometimes it's about leadership.
And then I listen to booksabout leadership and so forth.
For the month of December itwas all about Latinidad.
So most of the books that Iread had to do about Latino
history, latino identity and soforth.

(07:18):
Those are my core habits.
But I didn't start it out havingthose core habits.
I started out small.
I started out first with thewriting habit and I started with
writing for only 10 minutes andthat's it.
And working out the same way, Iwas like just 10 minutes, let

(07:42):
me just do 10 minutes of aworkout, that's it.
And once I did that enough, itnaturally kind of stretched that
quote unquote habit muscle andI evolved into being able to do
it longer.
More importantly, I startedcraving that habit to do it

(08:06):
longer.
I wanted to do it longer.
I wanted to sit but to chairand write or edit for longer
than 10 minutes.
I wanted to do longer workouts.
Eventually I graduated from 10minute workouts and I was like
let me do 20.
And then I did 30 and now I'mdoing one hour workouts, you see
, but it all started with a verysmall timeframe, a very small

(08:31):
effort.
And then the next thing and Ikind of gave it to you already
with the first step was that Iembraced a gradual growth.
So it's like breaking in theboots that I was talking about.
You don't rush it.
You go on short walks until youprogress, so that way you don't
roughen up your feet with thosenew boots.

(08:52):
And it was the same thing withthe habits.
I just increased my time slowly, oh so slowly.
I think I did like 10 minutesfor two weeks and then I was
like I can do more and moreoften than not, during those
first two weeks of 10 minutes Idid want it to write longer,

(09:13):
like an idea would spark or likemy juices will just flow, and
then I was like I didn't evennotice that I had gone past 10
minutes.
The goal here is to grow slowlywithout burning out, and it's
like whenever I think about thisand I think about this step and

(09:35):
how I did it, about this, and Ithink about this step and how I
did it, I think about thatquote of 10% better each day and
I felt like that's what I wasdoing back then and that's what
I continue to do Like every day.
I just put like a little bitmore oomph into what I'm doing,
you see, and it's not like Idon't go and go and do something

(09:58):
like excessive or do somethinghuge right away, it's just I
really do chug along, you know,and it's like little by little
until I see the progress buildup.
And when I do see it, here'sstep three, here's what I do
next, and that is that Icelebrate my progress because

(10:23):
this is big, so big, like leaninto this and listen to this.
Okay, because when we recognizehow far we've come, no matter
how small the step is, that'shuge for motivation, that is so

(10:44):
huge to sustain something.
And maybe you gamify it right,maybe you gamify your progress.
That's me in the como se dice,on my workouts.
So I do the Ladder app, theLadder workouts.
I'm not getting paid for this.
So, ladder, if you're listeningto this, go ahead and sponsor

(11:04):
this podcast.
So that's what I do.
And then there is a bit of agamification of it, because
right now I'm like at 33 weekstreak and I don't want to let
go of that streak, like I willfeel very sad if I that I lose
that streak.
And how would I lose thatstreak If I go below three

(11:26):
workouts a week?
So I know for a fact.
You know I'm going to get thosethree workouts at the very
least right For a week, and thatusually happens when I'm really
busy or when I'm traveling alot.
I may not get it in, but evenwhen I'm traveling a lot, I
fight for my workouts.
You just don't understand.

(11:46):
Right now I'm in a cabin in thewoods enjoying a New Year's Eve
.
In three hours we're about toring in the New Year's.
I'm over here recording this.
But guess what?
Before I came over here, I didmy workout because I was like
I'll be damn if I let New Year'sor whatever other holiday mess

(12:08):
up my streak.
I am not doing that, folks, yousee.
So for me, that sort ofgamification has really helped
me to maintain this habit, andnot only that, I mean, it's also
reframing of my mindset as well.
I mean, I know I feel better,so I remind myself how good I

(12:30):
will feel after the workout.
I know that it helps me to notonly feel good but look
physically good as well, and thevanity comes into play as well
to sustain this habit for me.
You see what I'm saying.
So think about what is it thatyou want to grow into into 2025.
So that way you can analyzeyour goals and attach habits to

(12:54):
those goals and then try tomaintain some sort of
sustainment for these habitsevery single day, so that way
you can continue doing them.
And if you follow these threesteps, you are on the road,
vasito, to having some habitsthat can help you achieve the
things that you want to achieveor to do the things that you

(13:16):
want to do.
When it comes to celebratingyour progress.
It could be gamification.
Like me, it could be journaling.
I have an analog habit trackeron my journal that I X out the
habits as I do them and thathelps me to feel motivated as
well.
And that helps me to feelmotivated as well.

(13:39):
It helps me to see, like mytrack record, because I see,
like whenever I have an exit out, something it tells me that I
missed a certain habit.
And then I can go back andanalyze my moods, like if I miss
my meditation habit for liketwo days or a week straight, and
then I think about that.
I was like, ooh, I think I wentoff on somebody that day or

(14:00):
that week.
You know what I'm saying.
And then I can correlate that,and I've done that before.
So I know that certain habitsare very conducive to me being a
good person, so, but I did thatbecause I was able to look at
my habit tracker and do theanalysis on it and correlate it
to certain things that happenduring the week, and now I know

(14:22):
how to alleviate certain things,I know how to mitigate certain
things and, more importantly, Iknow that the habits that I have
, my core habits, are useful tome.
They're needed.
They're not like this luxuriousthing, no, they're needed.
They're part of my life.
They make me better.
But first I need you all tofigure out who do you want to be

(14:45):
in 2025, you know and whathabits will get me there.
When you figure out thosehabits, go with these three
steps, okay, which is, startsmall, embrace gradual growth
and celebrate your progress.
But let's talk about thejourney before I leave y'all,

(15:05):
because here's the thing abouttransformation, and that is it
is not a sprint, bacitos.
It is not a sprint at all, andthank God for that, because I'm
not a sprinter.
I'm more of a long distance govery slow runner, but
transformation is a journey,right?
So it's just like breaking inthose boots for that ruck march

(15:29):
that I had long ago, or thisperson had long ago.
The key is to take one step at atime.
If you rush, you're going toend up with blisters, you're
going to end up with messed upfeet that you will need to stop
to heal from, and all of that.
But if you take it slow andsteady, you'll reach your
destination comfortably and witha sense of pride and

(15:51):
accomplishment.
So, whether your goal is to Idon't know write more, finally
write a book, or move more, orjust be more present, remember
those three steps and I'm goingto give them to you again and
that is start small, growgradually and incrementally and

(16:13):
celebrate along the way andcelebrate along the way.
So, before we wrap up, I wantto ask what's a habit or a goal
you're ready to break in thisyear?
I want to hear from you.
It is 2025.
I want to hear from you.
Share it with me.
You can find me on Instagram,tiktok, on my website,

(16:34):
haveacupofjoanniecom, and hit meup.
Let's motivate each other andcelebrate our progress together,
because we're human beings.
We don't do this alone.
We do not.
We need each other.
So thank you so much forstarting your year with me.
I am honored that you're hereand if you enjoyed this episode,

(16:57):
don't forget to subscribe,leave a review and share with
someone who might need a littlebit of motivation to break in
their own habits.
Until next time, take it onestep at a time, sip that coffee
slowly and remember you got thisFacito Bye.
You got this Facito Bye.

(17:18):
Thank you so much for listening.
I want to hear from you.
Leave me a comment, do a ratingif you can on the podcast,
share it with somebody you love,but, most importantly, come
back.
See you next time.
Bye.