Hi! And welcome to the You CAN Change Your Life podcast!

Before we get down to business, I want to let you know that my fabulous new program, Your 90-day Change Plan, will be opening for enrollment in just a few days! If there’s something in your life that you want to change but you haven’t been able to change, this is the program for you.

Maybe you think that you can’t change because you don’t have enough willpower. Or maybe you realize that you just don’t know how to change. This program can change everything for you. In Your 90-day Change Plan, you’ll build change skills, and the skills you build through this program will empower and equip you to change whatever you want to change in your life…now, and for the rest of your life. That’s right…learn it once, use it forever! To learn about this truly life-changing program, click here. Now, on to the podcast!

Today I’m going to let you in on a life secret that truly happy people know. Are you ready? With a few understandable exceptions, you don’t ever have to have a bad day.

Seriously, for the most part, I don’t have bad days, and I’m going to tell you how. Listen now to learn how!

Can a planner really help you change your life? This one can. Because this isn't just any planner. Inside this planner is a powerful, life-changing, program that you can use to change anything you want to change about yourself. You CAN change your life, and this planner not only makes it possible, it makes it easier than ever.  Click here to learn more.
 

Hi, and welcome to the “You CAN Change Your Life” podcast! I’m your host, Gina Hunt, and I’m so happy you’re here!

One of the things I hear most often from people who are trying to change something about themselves or their lives is that they have trouble believing they can do it. In other words, they have trouble believing in themselves. But believing in yourself is so important, so today I want to talk about 10 things you need to help you believe in yourself.



In a nutshell, those things are:

1. Be intentional about the people you surround yourself with.
2. Remind yourself of everything you've already accomplished!
3. Set small goals then work to achieve them.
4. Prioritize self-care (put your oxygen mask on first!)
5. Watch out for overwhelm.
6. Question destructive thoughts and beliefs (like "I can't do this!")
7. Face your fears.
8. Learn something new.
9. Look for the paths to success...and if you can't find them, create them.
10. Don't take yourself so seriously!
11. BONUS! Expect to succeed.  

Listen now to learn more.


If you’re working to change something and feeling overwhelmed, you need to run now and grab my free download called “Overcoming Overwhelm.” This short but powerful pdf will help you get out from under overwhelm and get back in control. Click here to request it. 

And if you’re not already in our private Facebook group, pop over and join us. Click here.
 

My new program, Your 90-Day Change Plan, is launching soon. You can learn more on my website. Click here to check it out!

Finally, if there’s something change-related that you’d like to hear me talk about on this podcast, please send me your suggestions. Email me at gina@ginamariehunt.com

Make sure you’re subscribed to the You CAN Change Your Life podcast, and I’ll see you here next week!

If you’re listening to this podcast, you’re probably interested in personal growth. And this probably won’t be the first time you’ve heard someone say, “Growth doesn’t happen inside your comfort zone.” It’s been said a lot, but there’s a reason for that. It’s true. If we want to grow, we can’t do it by staying comfy cozy. We have to stretch ourselves, challenge ourselves, get uncomfortable. So today I’m talking about how to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.  

We human beings are biologically programmed to take the path of least resistance. In fact, most things in nature are programmed that way. 

But here’s something interesting. We think that water always takes the path of least resistance, right? But, that’s not always the case. See, water doesn’t always follow the path of least resistance because as it flows, it picks up momentum. And as it gains momentum, it can build up enough momentum to overcome the force of gravity which can make it run a course that is no longer the path of least resistance. Aha! 

We humans are the same. Once we start moving toward a goal, we build up momentum, and as we gain momentum, we can overcome the forces trying to keep us on the path of least resistance and find ourselves defying gravity too.  But first, we've got to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Listen to this episode to learn more.

Can a planner really help you change your life? This one can. Because this isn't just any planner. Inside this planner is a powerful, life-changing, program that you can use to change anything you want to change about yourself. You CAN change your life, and this planner not only makes it possible, it makes it easier than ever.  Click here to learn more.
 

I’ve been reading an excellent book that I may have mentioned here before. The book is called “Personality Isn’t Permanent,” and it’s by Benjamin Hardy. 

Hardy starts out by telling us that all those personality tests we just love to take are bunkum. They’re meaningless, he says, because personality isn’t a fixed thing. 

Now if you’ve heard me talk about mindset before, particularly the difference between having a growth mindset and having a fixed mindset, you already know that personality isn’t fixed. You already know that we can grow and change in all areas of our lives including our intelligence, our abilities, our character, and our personality. 

This book reinforces the fact that the growth mindset is the mindset we should all have because regardless of a personality test that might tell us we’re flamboyant or reserved or talkative or quiet, we have the power to change those things. In other words, we aren’t our characteristics. The truth is that we exhibit certain characteristics but we aren’t those characteristics. We behave in certain ways, but we aren’t held to those behaviors. We can always choose to change our behavior. I’ll give you a personal example.

As a kid, I was painfully shy. I didn’t make friends easily, I didn’t like being the center of attention, and if there was some sort of play or performance that I had to be in, I was in it against my will. I remember one play that I was required to be in where I went after the role of…chair. That meant that I had to hold up a piece of paper board onto which a chair had been painted. No speaking lines, no showing my face, none of that. I hid behind the chair and was perfectly happy to play that role. 

But I didn’t want to be shy. I wanted to make friends and to not be so intimidated by so many situations. Think about it – this world is hard for shy people. Whether it’s being called on to read aloud in class or being expected to participate in college or being required to make presentations in our professional lives, there’s a lot of putting ourselves out there in life. And for shy people, that can be extremely painful. I was tired of feeling that way, so one day, I decided that I wasn’t going to be shy anymore. 

I decided to change my identity, to shed my identity as a shy person and put on the identity of an outgoing person. How did I do it?  Listen to this episode to find out how I did it and how you can too!


If you’re working to change something and feeling overwhelmed, you need to run now and grab my free download called “Overcoming Overwhelm.” This short but powerful pdf will help you get out from under overwhelm and get back in control. Click here to request it. 

And if you’re not already in our private Facebook group, pop over and join us. Click here.
 

My new program, Your 90-Day Change Plan, is launching soon. You can learn more on my website. Click here to check it out!

Finally, if there’s something change-related that you’d like to hear me talk about on this podcast, please send me your suggestions. Email me at gina@ginamariehunt.com

Make sure you’re subscribed to the You CAN Change Your Life podcast, and I’ll see you here next week!

Today, I want to talk about one of the most important elements of to being ready for change. If we want to change anything about ourselves or our lives, we’ve got to be ready. If we try to change without being ready, we’ll end up right back where we started only more frustrated and disappointed than ever. 

In order to be ready, we need to have the right mindset, and one of the most essential elements of a change mindset is the willingness to take personal responsibility. We have to take responsibility for ourselves and our lives before we can change anything about either one those things.

Taking responsibility for ourselves means that we are responsible for our decisions, our circumstances, where we are and where we’re going. We’re responsible for making our lives what we want them to be. When we take responsibility for ourselves, we don’t blame other people for the state of our lives. We don’t blame the universe either or the gods or bad luck or society for what’s not working the way we want it to. Personal responsibility means acknowledging that it’s up to us to create the lives we want to live.

Give this episode a listen now and make sure to unwrap the gift of personal responsibility in your life!

Can a planner really help you change your life? This one can. Because this isn't just any planner. Inside this planner is a powerful, life-changing, program that you can use to change anything you want to change about yourself. You CAN change your life, and this planner not only makes it possible, it makes it easier than ever.  Click here to learn more.
 

Do you often find it hard to focus your attention where it needs to be focused? Are you easily distracted? Like so many episodes of this podcast, this topic is one that I’ve researched because I myself have challenges with focusing. So today I’m going to share some things you (and I) can do to build focus skills. 

You’ve probably heard me say before that change is a skill. What I should say is that change is a skill-set that includes skills like identifying problem situations, creating strategies for dealing with them, determining and using the appropriate change tactics, focusing our attention, and so on. 

And the great thing about building change skills is that change skills are life skills. You use them when you want to change something about yourself or your life as well as in non-change situations. Focus is a great example of a multi-purpose life skill. 

When I say focus, I’m talking about the ability to direct your energy and attention to doing something that you need to do until it gets done. Now, it may not get done at once, but it eventually gets done, in a reasonable amount of time. 

I can’t tell you the number of times that I’ve sat down to write a podcast episode and gotten distracted before I finished. Heck, I sometimes get distracted before I’ve even started. I’ll sit down at the computer and suddenly decide that it’s important for me to take a look at what’s going on in the world before I get to work. And then my phone will beep, and I’ll pick it up to read and reply to a message. Then I realize that I’m thirsty or I forgot to make an appointment or any one of a million other distractions.

So today, I've got some tips to help both of us focus our attention. Listen to this episode then try them out!

If you’re working to change something and feeling overwhelmed, you need to run now and grab my free download called “Overcoming Overwhelm.” This short but powerful pdf will help you get out from under overwhelm and get back in control. Click here to request it. 

And if you’re not already in our private Facebook group, pop over and join us. Click here.
 

My new program, Your 90-Day Change Plan, is launching soon. You can learn more on my website. Click here to check it out!

Finally, if there’s something change-related that you’d like to hear me talk about on this podcast, please send me your suggestions. Email me at gina@ginamariehunt.com

Make sure you’re subscribed to the You CAN Change Your Life podcast, and I’ll see you here next week!

Do you worry? About your health, the health of your loved ones, about your future and whether or not you’re doing what you need to secure it? About money or your career or what people think of you? For so many of us, the answer is yes, yes, and yes!

 Why do we worry? There are many reasons. Sometimes we think that by worrying that something bad will happen, we’ll prevent that thing from happening. Sometimes we think that by worrying, we’ll find the answer we need to fix whatever it is we’re worrying about. We sometimes worry as a way to prepare ourselves for when something bad does happen. We think that if it isn’t a surprise, we’ll be better able to deal with it. Or we worry because we think it’s a way to show we care. Or we worry to keep ourselves on our toes, to keep ourselves motivated. We’re always working to either avoid pain or get pleasure, and we often see worry as a pain-avoidance tool, although that’s actually the opposite of what’s true. Worrying doesn’t help us avoid pain. It causes us pain, often physical pain. 

 In fact, worrying raises our cortisol levels, and high levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, lead to a variety of health problems including weight gain, increased blood pressure, increased blood sugar, heart disease, suppressed immune system, and many others.

 In addition to raising our cortisol levels, worrying leads to tension in our bodies, and that tension can lead to headaches or other physical symptoms throughout our bodies.

Worrying can also lead to stomach and digestive problems, lower testosterone in men, worsened period or menopausal symptoms in women, and sleeping problems for both. 

So is the worry worth it? Does worrying actually do any good? Of course not! Worrying about bad things happening won’t stop them from happening. And in the meantime, we die a thousand deaths. And worrying as way to fix things or to stay on our toes is also ineffective. Reflecting, thinking, and problem-solving can help us solve problems, and positive reinforcement is much more effective at motivating us than worrying is. But mind-spinning worry just gets up stuck even deeper. And no matter how much we think worrying will prepare us for bad things, in truth, all of the worrying in the world doesn’t stop the bad parts of life from feeling awful. And rather than worry to show we care, how about if we actually do something to help – even if that just means calling the person we care about – instead? 

So how do we stop worrying? Give this episode a listen for a few ideas.

Can a planner really help you change your life? This one can. Because this isn't just any planner. Inside this planner is a powerful, life-changing, program that you can use to change anything you want to change about yourself. You CAN change your life, and this planner not only makes it possible, it makes it easier than ever.  Click here to learn more.
 

Sometimes you’re the windshield, sometimes you’re the bug. Or as a colleague of mine once said, peacock today, feather duster tomorrow.  Today I’m talking about Riding the Waves of Life. 

Life isn’t a straight line and it’s not a smooth one either. When we’re on top, it can feel like we’re surfing an awesome wave that’s exhilarating, invigorating, and even easy. But when we’re between waves, or worse, crashing against the shore, it can feel awful.

The thing about life is that we all have periods in our lives that are harder than others. I happen to be going through one of those hard periods right now. And I’m going to tell you, it’s hard on a number of levels. 

So first I want to talk about the difference between self-imposed hard paths and the times when the hard path is imposed on us, and next, I'll talk about why you should choose the harder but more interesting path more often.

If you’re working to change something and feeling overwhelmed, you need to run now and grab my free download called “Overcoming Overwhelm.” This short but powerful pdf will help you get out from under overwhelm and get back in control. Click here to request it. 

And if you’re not already in our private Facebook group, pop over and join us. Click here.
 

My new program, Your 90-Day Change Plan, is launching soon. You can learn more on my website. Click here to check it out!

Finally, if there’s something change-related that you’d like to hear me talk about on this podcast, please send me your suggestions. Email me at gina@ginamariehunt.com

Make sure you’re subscribed to the You CAN Change Your Life podcast, and I’ll see you here next week!