Pod Insights Change Wired Stop Falling Off The Wagon: how Mental Contrasting is the best kept secret of people and companies doing their best when sh*t hits the fan. Stop Falling Off The Wagon: how Mental Contrasting is the best kept secret of people and companies doing their best when sh*t hits the fan. Change Wired
Original podcast
About this episode The moment you feel stressed, tired, or overwhelmed, do you suddenly “forget” all your healthy plans and slide back into old patterns? We’re tackling that frustrating loop of falling off the wagon and why it happens across nutrition, fitness, business, and relationships, even for smart, high-achieving people. The problem isn’t knowledge or ambition. It’s that our plan only works in "good weather". We unpack a deceptively simple mindset from Jim Rohn: “When it’s summer, think winter." Summer...
Transcript 0:09 Speaker 00 Hello and welcome back to another episode of Change Wiring Podcast. My name is Angela Sharina, I'm your host, I'm your partner in change, transformation, and doing your absolute best, whatever that best is, on any single day. I'm also a master health executive, sleep stress management, self-actualization, life coach, heck, there was a lot of coaching I did in my life over 18 years. And most importantly, guys, here today, we are dedicating some of our attention, our time and our learning capacity to learn how to do a little bit better, even if it's 1% or less.
0:54 Speaker 00 But when we focus on doing, on choosing and figuring out how to move towards our visions and aspirations every single day, you'd be blown away by what you can achieve and create in this world and in your life. Today, guys, we are talking about a very important topic, falling off the wagon, whether that's health, fitness, nutrition, your business, your relationships. Why so many of us, and I was one of those people who kept just going through the slopes of doing better and then falling back into patterns that didn't really work for me?
1:38 Speaker 00 Whether that's, you know, I would go on a nutrition protocol and it would go so well, and then, you know, something would happen in my life or in my work that was stress or I was too busy or something, and I would not do that well with my nutrition. Very often, getting myself back to where I started, or sometimes even worse. And the same thing would happen in my business and in my fitness and in my relationships. And now that I...
2:11 Speaker 00 Totally see it and I learned from people wiser than myself from my coaching certifications and all the good stuff that we were taught there. When I learned how to deal with those moments, I'm actually still scared to see how far I can go when I don't have down moments, when I don't slide back into, you know, my worst, not doing my best, when I don't slide back into my bad habits, whether that's again, relationships or business or my fitness and my nutrition, anything, when I don't self sabotage, I'm kind of scared what I'll be able to achieve and I'm now starting to tap into that into all areas of my life.
2:55 Speaker 00 So today you're gonna learn a science-backed approach, a life-tested approach, tested by entrepreneurs and by athletes and by all kinds of high-performing people that I get to either work with or interview for my podcast, or I read their books, biographies, listen to their podcasts and watch videos. So you get to learn this very simple strategy that has even been documented in this like old sayings that we have in many different cultures, which can be summed up in one phrase that I'm quoting from a transcript of my podcast, ChangeWire podcast that you're listening to right now.
3:37 Speaker 00 We had William Venter, one of the entrepreneurs that I interviewed recently, listen to that episode, it's just the amount of gold nuggets of life wisdom there, it's just insane. So the quote from this, from the podcast that William brought up, it actually comes from Jim Rohn, who is an entrepreneur, a motivational speaker, author, the quote, "When it's summer, think winter."
4:08 Speaker 00 So in other words, when it's going well, think winter's coming, but also when it's winter, think summer. So William shared this on Change Right Podcast. Again, listen to this episode. It's a couple of episodes back. And it works just as well in business and entrepreneurship that William was talking about. It works just as well in your diet, in your fitness, and in your relationships. And in Russia, where I'm originally from, we have this old saying, then when it's summer, prepare the ski things for winter. And when it's winter, prepare,
4:53 Speaker 00 I forgot what it is you needed actually to prepare for summer, but always think the next season. How it applies to your diet? To, let's talk actually about the diet as an example. I used to struggle with my nutrition a lot. I would go on this beautifully designed nutrition meal plans, and I would follow them for a bit with great energy and motivation and just feeling really good. And then something would happen in my life, and I wouldn't feel that great. I wouldn't have that much energy. I wouldn't feel that motivated. Everything felt like hard work.
5:33 Speaker 00 And I didn't want to do even a little work. And I would slide into overeating, I don't know, on cookies, on ice creams, what I was available, right? And because of that, I couldn't really see the progress to the next level of my health, of my fitness, or where I wanted to be. And also, it consumed quite a lot of my mental and emotional energy. The next day, you wake up and you're like, not feeling that great. And you're having this guilt and shame trips. And that consumes a lot of your energy. And you're like, oh, next time I'll do better. And again, you are with this like high energy, high motivation, and you do your best. And then you'll, yeah, I'm just gonna be continuing this time. It's gonna be different. And then,
6:13 Speaker 00 again, the slow moments hit, winter, and you aren't that motivated, not that energized, and not prepared to deal with it. So how did I escape that?
6:26 Speaker 00 I am at the point where I don't even remember the last time that nutritionally I did anything that I didn't plan. So what I did differently, the same thing that William talks about in his quote, when it's summer, think winter. When we are feeling our best, when we have the most energy, when we are motivated, when things seem to be flowing our way. Part of the time, we absolutely must dedicate towards building systems and habits and structures. Our safety net, so to speak. So when we fall, we didn't really fall.
7:09 Speaker 00 And ideally, we keep doing what we do in our best times, or at least much better. So in terms of diet, when you're feeling motivated, when you're full of energy and you have this great capacity to do a lot of things. Don't just do well in those moments. Ask yourself, how can I prepare my fridge? How can I create accountability? How can I create systems that are going to support me when I'm going to be having my roughest day? When I'm going to be low on energy, when something happens and emotionally I'm going to be drained.
7:48 Speaker 00 What are the systems, the things that need to be in place in order for me to have the highest chance to actually do quite well? It can be as simple as only keeping in your fridge, ready to go, ready to be eaten, ready to be enjoyed. All the things that are good for you and making only them available and easy. That's why I still don't keep ice cream or any sort of cakes or cookies in my place. Because if I want one in my good moods and with my good energy, where I'm celebrating something. I'm going to get one and go to a cafe or I'm going to be on the beach with my friends and I'm going to enjoy it there.
8:29 Speaker 00 Right? In this mindful amount, having great times versus self-medicating myself through tough times. When actually what I needed and what I need is sleep, is good nutrition, is my routines to nourish me. Not to bring me even more down, down, having guilt trips or shame or indigestion on top of that.
8:56 Speaker 00 Systems that you build during summer, these are, those are the ones that will carry you through winter. You know, I made a few notes for this podcast episode to remind myself what I also wanted to talk about. And one of the reminders is about Body of Work by Jim Collins. He wrote Built to Last, Good to Great, Great by Choice, and recent How to Make a Life. It's about how to create more meaningful life experience. But he wrote a lot of books about companies and entrepreneurs and leaders who lasted for decades, seemingly just growing and building up, up, up, right?
9:41 Speaker 00 Built to last. And what Jim Collins learned from all these great companies and entrepreneurs and leaders is that they are different from a lot of other people who don't last that long or a lot of other companies by preparing for winter in summer. So when the times are good, and that's what William is actually talking about in his quote, when it's summer, think winter. Winter will always come like a season.
10:14 Speaker 00 And the same for our low, our worst moments. When it's summer, think, and that's what Jim Collins writes about, what makes companies endure. Think about the bad times and what systems you can put in place, whether that's financial cushion or guardrails to prevent your worst decisions when you are emotionally not capable of making great decisions or when your energy is really low or when you're really stressed. Build systems that can catch you. So then you can still do quite well, if not your best, in your worst moments.
10:55 Speaker 00 And when you learn how to transform your worst moments into an upswing or into upward spiral versus downward spiral. When you learn how to make the best out of your worst moments, that's when things really start to last and take off.
11:20 Speaker 00 Momentum is something that you get when you keep building up and up and up. And at a certain point, it's like a snowball. It catches up and carries you towards your wildest dreams and visions. But in order for that to happen, what Jim Collins noticed and what I noticed in eighteen years of my coaching and my personal life and going through these experiences. In order for that to happen, you need to create systems. You need to learn how to build resilient systems that in your worst moments will help you to do your best.
11:58 Speaker 00 So the most important question to stop falling off the wagon, that is also actually called mental contrasting in psychology. So the most important thing to start succeeding, even in your worst moments. The most important thing is to ask yourself when you are feeling motivated, when you are feeling full of energy and resourcefulness. Ask yourself first, think about the goal, think about the vision, the positive destination. And then ask yourself, how can I set myself up to do my best in my worst moments? Not how can I do more while now I'm feeling that great?
12:41 Speaker 00 But how can I build that safety net that's gonna catch you in your worst moments? Right? It's when people trying to get sober for life or break a negative relationship pattern or this up and down swings in their business. That is the same skill that you gotta learn when you keep falling off the wagon with your diet and your fitness. You gotta learn and practice the skill of building systems when you are in your best moment or in a good moment for your worst moments.
13:21 Speaker 00 And once you again learn how to do better and your best, even when you feel the shittiest, that's when life really takes off. Because then you're not dependent on good weather, bad weather, rain, shine, good mood, bad mood, motivation, no motivation.
13:40 Speaker 00 You just do great in any season. And that's when you start building momentum. That's when things really start take off. I was listening to another podcast that was about public speaking. And Michael Gervais, he is a very famous high performance psychologist, was talking to a communication expert from Stanford. And they were talking about how if you want, let's say you're on stage and you blank out. You don't remember what you were going to say. And you're in front of, you know, a lot of people. And, you know, obviously the stress there is, is yeah, quite considerable.
14:18 Speaker 00 If you want to do well in those moments, when you blank out in front of people in high stake moments, you gotta train when the stakes are low. And Michael Gervais was talking about how the, at the beginning at his speaking career, he had this moment when he was on stage and something happened and he got really nervous. And he started uh do, he started doing what he knew he needed to do breath work to calm himself down and to still show up and do well. And he realized at that moment that actually it wasn't working. And the reason it wasn't working, because he didn't put in the work.
15:03 Speaker 00 He didn't put in reps. He didn't train it so that it could work when he needed it the most. And that is another way of saying what Navy SEALs also noticed a long time ago. We don't rise to the level of our expectations. We fall to the level of our systems. So when you're doing well, when you're feeling amazing, when you're on top of your game, when you have your motivation, when you have your energy, when you have everything going your way. Think, as William and Jim Rohn would say, think winter. Think how you can build capacity and systems and safety nets to catch yourself
15:47 Speaker 00 from doing your worst in your worst moments. And that's when things really start taking off. And that's when you stop falling off the wagon.
15:59 Speaker 00 I hope guys you learned something and it made you think about your worst moments and when you tend to screw up. So the work to stop screwing up and stop self sabotaging yourself is in the now when you feel good. So when you feel not so good, you have everything you need to succeed and it pulls you up of this lower moment. Thank you guys for tuning in. Thank you for listening. Please do share, review, rate this podcast to help me help more people. And till next time, keep growing.
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