Reading about all the ways you can create more balance in your life is great. So is rocking up to a workshop room and learning more about the tips and strategies. But what really makes the real difference and the actual change take place in your life – is when you do the work.

I notice in my own self all the resistance and self-talk that shows up when I want to create some kind of change in my life. No matter how big or small it is. Or even how much I want the thing to happen, the resistance is there. For me it can be in the form of distraction – suddenly my inbox becomes my number one priority, instead of sitting down to get cracking on ‘the change’. Or I find the voices in my head telling me “why would you do this? That’s not going to work. You’re not [X] enough.”

When I’m there I know that I’ve been caught into the vortex. The whirlwind of fear that sucks me right in to a spinning cycle. Enough to make even the toughest of bellies dizzy. The vortex happens because you get what you focus on. So if I’m focused on all those voices, they magnify. If I’m focused on all the distractions and things I could be doing (instead of knuckling down and doing the work), they magnify too. Your to-do list grows and grows as a way of keeping you in the vortex.

Insert that feeling of stuckness.

The willingness to get out of it is there, and yet you’re still looping.

Taking action and doing the work is the only thing that’s going to create the change in your life. Regardless of how many books you’ve read of workshops you’ve attended. Yet if you keep getting swept up in the vortex of distraction and listening to those inner voices, not much will change.

If you had a go-to list of options to interrupt the vortex, to short-circuit it, or to help you immediately switch that pattern of self-talk, that moment of getting ‘sucked in to the cycle’ could change entirely. And if that could change, what else would that impact in your life?

So, although the following list is going to seem incredibly obvious to you in terms of ways super quick ways to freshen up, snap out of it, and reset your focus, they’re here to make it super easy for you to reach out for something different right before the vortex takes hold. These will all take less than 3 mins too. Easy. Peasy. Your mission is simple: interrupt the cycle.

1. Breath in deeply and let it all out loudly.
2. Pick up a book (preferably inspiring) and read a few sentences.
3. Text a friend. Tell them you love them or share something funny.
4. Ask yourself: How do I feel right now? (Focus in on your heart space).
5. Stretch.
6. Cover your room, hallway, desk with post-it note reminders. Read one.
7. Three deep breathes. Slow. In. Out.
8. Stand up and do one sun salute.
9. Call a friend. Or leave a voice or video message (not text).
10. Move your body. Jiggle up and down. Spin around.
11. Write yourself out a permission slip then put it in direct eyesight.
12. Laugh out loud.
13. Have a go-to soundtrack. Put on a tune and dance.
14. Read out loud an affirmation.
15. Journal. Pick up a piece of paper, write, anything. (Get thoughts out of head).
16. Have a go-to list of interruptor questions for yourself. Answer one.
17. Write out three things you’re grateful for right now.
18. Send some appreciation to someone in your life (even just visualisation why you appreciate them and sending them that energy).
19. Turn on a podcast. Listen for a few minutes. (There are lots that do super short episodes under 5mins even).
20. Chant Om. No idea what this means? Breathe, say out loud Om. Or, even hummm (like a bee) with your mouth closed.

Send some freshening up vibes to a friend today! Share this post with them. ?