This episode of The Karen Kenney Show was inspired by the famous Lao Tzu quote, "A journey of 1000 miles begins with the first step."
I share a personal story about another simple and effective tool I use that helps me to get big stuff done – by taking tiny actions!
I’ll also talk about and explain a little bit about Kaizen – which is the fun philosophy of continuous improvement through small, incremental steps.
Then, we discuss how breaking things down into small manageable tasks, can help us overcome those big feelings of overwhelm and tip-toe past fear.
I also encourage you to celebrate small wins along the way as they can add up to create meaningful progress! Yay!
KEY POINTS:
• Big Goals
• Tiny Steps
• Tip-Toe Past Fear
• Kaizen Philosophy
• Building New Habits
• Start with 1-Minute
• Celebrate Small Wins
• The Nest - Group Mentoring Program
Karen Kenney is a certified Spiritual Mentor, Writer, Integrative Change Worker, Coach and Hypnotist. She’s known for her dynamic storytelling, her sense of humor, her Boston accent, and her no-BS, down-to-earth approach to Spirituality and transformational work.
KK is a wicked curious human being, a life-long learner, and has been an entrepreneur for over 20 years! She’s also a yoga teacher of 24+ years, a Certified Gateless Writing Instructor, and an author, speaker, retreat leader, and the host of The Karen Kenney Show podcast.
She coaches both the conscious + unconscious mind using practical Neuroscience, Subconscious Reprogramming, Integrative Hypnosis/Change Work, and Spiritual Mentorship. These tools help clients to regulate their nervous systems, remove blocks, rewrite stories, rewire beliefs, and reimagine what’s possible in their lives and business!
Karen encourages people to deepen their connection to Self, Source and Spirit in down-to-earth and actionable ways and wants them to have their own lived experience with spirituality and to not just “take her word for it”.
She helps people to shift their minds from fear to Love - using compassion, storytelling and humor. Her work is effective, efficient, memorable, and fun!
KK’s been a student of A Course in Miracles for close to 30 years, has been vegan for over 20 years, and believes that a little kindness can make a big difference.
KK WEBSITE: www.karenkenney.com
It's the Karen Kenney show.
Karen Kenney:Hey you guys. Welcome to the Karen Kenney show. I'm super duper, uh, excited to be here today, and I'm gonna share with you, if you listen to last week's
Karen Kenney:episode, I feel why am I whispering like I'm telling you a secret? If you listen to last week's episode, I shared a little tool with you that I found wicked helpful. And I
Karen Kenney:started thinking I was on my walk today, and I went out for a walk with my sweetie and with with bunchy and scoots magoots. And I started just thinking about like, how
Karen Kenney:sometimes we have to take, like, smaller steps to kind of get where we're going right, because, because the way that they were walking, whatever. It's just the way my
Karen Kenney:brain works. But I started thinking about this, and I started thinking about that quote by loud sue that says A journey of 1000 miles begins with the first step right.
Karen Kenney:A journey of 1000 miles begins with the first step. And all of a sudden I always say s, t o, t, J, spiritual team on the job, my brain started making some connections about
Karen Kenney:that quote. So we went from basically walking dogs to that quote to a story I want to share with you to kind of illustrate my point today. So I think I'm calling this
Karen Kenney:suck up, break it down. And what I really mean about that is breaking things down into smaller steps, and that will lead to victory, that will lead to change, that will
Karen Kenney:lead to new habits. So I'm gonna explain it to you in a couple of different stories, and I'm gonna share a little bit about, again, a tool that I love to use, like, and that's my
Karen Kenney:big thing is I always say, like, on this show, like, I think to myself, this, if I were to die tomorrow, right? If I were to like, knock on wood, God willing, I'm still
Karen Kenney:here, but if I were to die tomorrow, hopefully I will have used this, this show, this podcast to share things that people actually find helpful and find can find
Karen Kenney:valuable and to their own life and applicable to their lives, their businesses, their relationships to themselves, right? And so I was just like, Yeah, I'm gonna go
Karen Kenney:on a little little little sharing spree of, like, some tools that I have found wicked helpful. And this is also what I do in the nest. And I will say this so the nest is my
Karen Kenney:spiritual mentoring program, my group and community, and it's fantastic, and I have so many beautiful people in there. But one of the things that I do really well, as I'm
Karen Kenney:going to give myself a little pat on the back, is because I have been doing this work for a wicked long time. I have curated so many fantastic tools, exercises, practices
Karen Kenney:and resources, and that's what I always say. One of the great things that amended does just one of these things, is that we save you time, energy and money, because a lot of
Karen Kenney:times we've gone first. So now it's like when you come into the nest, right? I share so many resources and tools and practices and stuff, so I curate these things that
Karen Kenney:save you time. So then you just get to try them. You know what I mean? You get to decide for yourself. I always say, don't take my word for it. Get some get some first
Karen Kenney:hand experience, and decide for yourself. But this is one of those tools that I found to be wicked helpful, so I want to share it with you. And so I'm going to stop by
Karen Kenney:telling you a little story, and then I'll share with you the philosophy of which I'm speaking, this tool that I use. So so here I am, 55 I'm about to turn 56 in like a week
Karen Kenney:and a half, two weeks, 10, four, good buddy, my birthday is on October 4. Oh, my God. So here I am in the throes of like, menopause, right? And so I take HRT hormones, which
Karen Kenney:have saved my ass, right? And so, but I know everybody's different. This is not a medical program. I'm not telling anybody to take them or not take them. I'm just saying what
Karen Kenney:has worked for me. So thank god. Thank god for those little, those little pills. And I'm not a big fan of like taking meds, right? Knock on wood, on wicked healthy
Karen Kenney:whatever. But I experienced life in menopause without hormone replacement therapy. And let me tell you, so not fucking soothing. So that's just me. I'm telling
Karen Kenney:you. It works for me. But here's the thing, the way that I get my my little estrogen pills is that they're one little time and they're small. They're these little, teeny,
Karen Kenney:tiny pills. But I take a pill like I split a pill, and I take half in the morning and in half at night, right? And here's the thing, I'm looking at these things. And because I
Karen Kenney:like to lay out, like, my pills for the week, so I don't forget to take them or whatever. I feel like, like, you know, like, like seniors who like take, take meds or
Karen Kenney:whatever, and they have the little pill boxes, like, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. I have a. Little pill box. It's so cute. So I fill it up, like, I fill it up
Karen Kenney:every week. So I'm looking at these fucking pills, and I'm like, Oh my God, there's 90 of them, and I have to split these in half. And, yeah, I could do it each day when I
Karen Kenney:take the pill out, and I could split it and do the whole thing. But I'm the kind of person, like, to prep. I like to be prepared. I want shit to be ready when I
Karen Kenney:want to need it, right? Like, that's my personality. So I'm standing in my bathroom and I'm looking, I'm looking at this little pill bottle, this container, and I'm like,
Karen Kenney:Oh, my God, I have to do this 90 times. Now, here's where the tool comes in. Okay? So there's a philosophy. It's an ancient It's an ancient philosophy, and it's called
Karen Kenney:kaizen. It's K, a, i, z, e, n, okay, and it's basically the philosophy of continuous improvement. And but the way that they do continuous improvement is by taking really
Karen Kenney:small steps. This is just this introducing this concept to you, right? So this is how I applied it. Okay, now we'll talk more about Kaizen in a minute, but just so you
Karen Kenney:understand where I'm coming from. So I'm looking at these 90 pills, and I'm like, oh my god, I'm not using the pill cutter. We have a pill cutter for the dogs, like, when
Karen Kenney:they get a little mad, if they get something they have to take for, like, pain med or something happens, or whatever, right? But I'm like, I am not sitting here that pain,
Karen Kenney:that pain chopper, is like a pain in the ass for these 90 small pills. And I'm like, Okay, I'm just gonna snap them in half on the corner of the sink, like, whatever. But
Karen Kenney:when I dump out the bottle and I look at all 90, I immediately start to feel overwhelmed, and I start to hear in my head this voice. It's like, this is going to take so long. I
Karen Kenney:don't feel like doing this right now. I'm going to have to stand here and do 90 of the like. I the chat. I write the whiny, you know, that whiny pot I still haven't named
Karen Kenney:that part of myself, that whiny part of myself. I was just like, Oh my God, I don't want to do this. So immediately, thank you, Jesus. Thank you for the part of my brain,
Karen Kenney:for that part of me that loves to problem solve. Okay, I love that part of me with a little she's like a little librarian with her little glasses and her hair up in
Karen Kenney:abundance. She's like, got this, I've got this. I've got a solution. So I'm like, I'm gonna break this down into smaller bits, more less scary, right? Because that's what
Karen Kenney:it is. Even though it feels like overwhelmed to me, anything that is not love is fear. So I realized, like, Oh, my brain's going to a fear thing of like, this is going to take so
Karen Kenney:long. Oh, my God, I gotta stand here all that complaining and bitching and moaning that was happening in my head, and I'm like, Fine, let's just break it down. And I start
Karen Kenney:to make a deal with myself, and the deal sounds something like this, you can do seven today, and then next Sunday, you or whatever, you can do another seven, and then
Karen Kenney:the next day you can do but then there's another part of me that loves to just get shit done on the spot, like, let's go. So I'm like, Okay, I'll make a deal with
Karen Kenney:myself. So this is what I did. I take the 90 pills and I break them down. Now this sounds some of you are going to be laughing, but I'm just breaking down how my brain works
Karen Kenney:and how I take ancient philosophy, ancient spiritual principles, ancient things, and I apply them practically to my daily life. I'm just showing you. So in Kaizen, we're
Karen Kenney:basically taking tiny, small little steps. And remember Lao Tzu said A journey of 1000 miles begins with the first step. So I'm like, what's the first step here? I'm like,
Karen Kenney:Okay, well, 90 freaks me out. I like the idea of doing seven, right? Once a week. But then I'm like, Nah, I just want this done. I don't want to have to come back and do this.
Karen Kenney:So I'm like, I'm going to trick my brain. I'm going to help my brain be less scared. I don't like to use the word trick, but it is like, it's a way to kind of like, tiptoe
Karen Kenney:past the fear my I'm going to break this down. So I make nine rows of 10, and I make a deal with myself, and I said, you only have to do the first 10. You can do 10. And
Karen Kenney:I was like, ah, yeah, I can do 10, no problem. And I sat sliding the pills over, and it's like, snap, snap, snap, snap, boom, 10's done like that. Now I remember I made a
Karen Kenney:deal, and I think to myself, you can stop right now. You don't have to do any more than this. You did your 10. And I thought to myself, but that went fast. I'll do 10 more,
Karen Kenney:and it's so satisfying taking those pills.
Unknown:Maybe I'm just a total weirdo, but it's so satisfying. I'm like, Okay,
Karen Kenney:I did that small little step. I did 10. Boom. Now Kaizen would even say, all you have to do is one, right? That would have been true. Kaizen, right? Just like,
Karen Kenney:snap one. I just did one. I did enough for today. I did what I needed to do today, but I could handle a little bit more of a challenge. So I said, I'm going to do 10,
Karen Kenney:and then I did 10, and then I was like, I can do another 10, and then I do another 10, and I do. 20, and I see that pile right, those rows, instead of nine rows, now I got
Karen Kenney:seven rows. And I start to get a little excitement, I start to get a little momentum, and I'm like, Ah, I did 20. I could do 30 before you know it, okay, before
Karen Kenney:you know it, I do 30. And then I'm like, Okay, I'm getting a little jazzed. And then I do 40, and then I look and I only see three rows left, and I go, let's just do
Karen Kenney:this. We'll just bang these out. And boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, done. And I got it done. And the way that I got it done is I chose to do it in really small increments,
Karen Kenney:so I basically did continuous improvement, but like, as my friend Linda Tai would say, sip, sip, I didn't try to guzzle. I didn't try to guzzle and blast myself, I broke it
Karen Kenney:down into less scary, more manageable bits. Because I think this is where so many people get hung up and they get stuck when you're trying to create change, when you're trying
Karen Kenney:to create a new habit, when you're trying to start something new. Because remember, the brain likes familiar. The brain, even if it's good new, right? It's going to be a
Karen Kenney:good new, healthy habit. It's going to be something you've been talking about wanting to do for a long time. I want to drink more water. I want to, I want to stop going to
Karen Kenney:the gym. I want to whatever the thing is, right? I want to stop meditating. I want to start having a DSP, a daily spiritual practice. I want to whatever. Okay, even,
Karen Kenney:like, think about it. How many people we've all been there. We all been there. We see how it is with the new year's resolutions, and everybody, like, is going to go frigging
Karen Kenney:gun Ho, right? They're just going to, like, all of a sudden they're gonna like, do you know? Oh, I'm gonna stop going to gym and start eating better. I'm gonna set No,
Karen Kenney:you're not, for most people, for most people, no, you're not, because you're trying to do too much, too soon, for your nervous system, for your brain, your brain
Karen Kenney:is gonna pump the brakes. It's going to be like, resistance. Who here, who here has felt resistance one moment, moment you're like, wicked excited, like, you're totally
Karen Kenney:like, into it, and then all of a sudden you're like, Nope, it's too much. So Kaizen is a way where we get to, like, stat small. And I'll give you some examples, right? A
Karen Kenney:few more stories. So there have been times in whether it's I've been injured or I've been focusing more on my flexibility or mobility training, or I've been running
Karen Kenney:like, whatever it is, but there are times when my strength training program, you know, has shifted back to being a little bit less than I would normally like. So when I
Karen Kenney:decide, like, Oh, I'm gonna start training again, I'm gonna start lifting again, more consistently, or whatever the thing is, I'm going back to the gym, whatever the thing
Karen Kenney:is, I know well enough now, at my age, that if I were to just go back to the gym and on day one, start lifting heavy, start doing some crazy Like, and I actually that's not
Karen Kenney:true. I mean, I think because I have the kind of brain that I have, I'm really good at being able to discipline myself. And when I say I'm going to do a thing, I do the
Karen Kenney:thing. So in this example, maybe not as good, but I could apply this to writing then, and maybe I'll use both those examples. But let's just say you are the
Karen Kenney:kind of person that the thought of going back to the gym and all of a sudden doing, like, bodybuilding splits, where you're doing like, 345, exercises per muscle, and
Karen Kenney:you're in the gym for like an hour and 15 or an hour and a half, and you're just like, it's too much. You're not going to do it. But if you were to say to yourself, and this
Karen Kenney:is a very Kaizen approach, all I have to do right now is drive to the gym. I don't even have to go in. All I have to do is drive, go into the parking lot and be here and like,
Karen Kenney:then I can leave right? And that might sound crazy to you, but what you're going to slowly do is you're going to start to break down the resistance to driving to the gym,
Karen Kenney:and then it might be like, I'm going to go in and I'm going to go in and I'm going to walk on the treadmill for five minutes, or I'm going to go in and I'm going to do one
Karen Kenney:exercise and I'm going to leave. And again, it might be like, what a total waste of time. But it's not because what you're doing is you're slowly starting to train your
Karen Kenney:brain. Oh, this is what we do now. We go to the gym first, you might just pack your car, then you're going to walk into the building, right, and slowly, and then it's like, we're
Karen Kenney:going to do one exercise, right? Some, I know of some people who said you're going to go, but you can't even work out. All I want you to do for the first week is just go. But
Karen Kenney:what happens is something magical. And I've used this, right? I've used this. I read a book called The Kaizen way, way back. I think the first one came out in like 2000
Unknown:I think it's four, 2004
Karen Kenney:and then I read it the the new edition of whatever it was, in 2014 I think a little paperback one came out called the Kaizen way. Oh. Look here. I have the book
Karen Kenney:over here. I'll find it, and I'll look at the date, but doesn't matter. But I used to do this with my yoga students. So when I had a brick and mortar yoga studio, and we would
Karen Kenney:close for like, let's say Christmas, and we'd be shut down for like, four or five days, whatever it was, and people would be like, well, I want to practice at home. What
Karen Kenney:should I do? And I would say, Here's all I want you to do. Here's your yoga practice. I want you to keep your mat in a place where you can see it. That's number one. Can you
Karen Kenney:do that? And they'd be like, Yeah, I'll just leave it. Leave it next to my better. I'll leave it right wherever I do yoga. But okay, I said, here's what I want you to do. Here's
Karen Kenney:your practice. I want you to roll it out, roll out your mat. Can you roll out your mat? And they'd say, Yeah, I can roll out my mat. Like, don't talk to me like I'm an
Karen Kenney:idiot, right? Can I roll my mat? Yes, okay, all I want you to do is stand on your mat. Stand on your mat, maybe sit on your mat, whatever's more comfortable for you. Can you
Karen Kenney:do that? And they'd be like, yeah. And they're like, then what? I'm like, nothing. Just stand on your mat. Because I knew if I could just get them to agree to this very
Karen Kenney:non threatening practice of like, I'm just gonna roll out the mat and stand on my mat. I knew that once they got on the mat, something would probably happen. They'd
Karen Kenney:start to breathe, they might stretch a little bit, they might do a sun salutation. They may lay down, do a knee down, twist, I know, like, if I can just get them to stand
Karen Kenney:on the mat, they'll be like, Well, I'm here. I might as well do something right? And it's a way again, of like, kind of like tip, like, teeny, teeny, tiny steps, like tip
Karen Kenney:toeing past the amygdala response in the brain, where the amygdala starts to fire, like fight and flight and goes into fear responses like, oh my god, this is too much.
Karen Kenney:Like, I'm at home and I got to figure out a whole yoga process. No, just go stand on the mat, stand there and breathe for five I don't know, stand there and breathe for five
Karen Kenney:minutes. I don't know, do a couple of stretches. I know you've been to enough yoga classes that you can think of like, two or three things that feel good. Like, don't,
Karen Kenney:you love when we do this? This is what I'm saying. So again, we have this. We have this ancient philosophy that is still so applicable, right? And it's very, it was
Karen Kenney:very big in, like, Japanese culture, in in in in, I always think of Toyota. I don't know why when I think of this, but the way that they kind of change the way of doing
Karen Kenney:things in their factories, in the way that they created cars and stuff like that, is it's like continuous improvement through these really small steps. Because over time,
Karen Kenney:these small little steps lead to massive, big change. So use one small step at a time. Okay? So you just do one little thing. Let's talk about it like from a spiritual
Karen Kenney:perspective, like somebody who wants to create a DSP, a daily spiritual practice. Well, rather than saying to somebody, okay, because to me, a DSP, once we commit to it,
Karen Kenney:it's non negotiable. But in the beginning, it can be a lot for your brain to wrap around, oh, I'm supposed to sit here. Again. That word supposed to I'm supposed to sit
Karen Kenney:here for like, 30 minutes and and meditate or pray or journal or contemplate or read something spiritual or whatever somebody's DSP might entail, right? And I always say,
Karen Kenney:start with five minutes. Can you do five minutes? And if five minutes, if even five minutes seems like too much for somebody. I'll say, Can you do it for a minute? You
Karen Kenney:can't bullshit me. You cannot tell me that you cannot find one minute in your because if you're look at if you don't have one minute for yourself and your spiritual well
Karen Kenney:being, then you're like, you're, there's more going on there, right? That I'd be like, okay, then I gotta call bullshit at some point, right? You do have a minute,
Karen Kenney:because at some point you're going to bathe, at some point, take a shower. At some point you're going to be falling asleep or wake up. There is a, there is at least one minute
Karen Kenney:a day that you can commit to doing something, and that's what I'm saying. So we break it down into the smallest, teeniest, tiny step so we can sneak past because what
Karen Kenney:happens is, when your amygdala starts firing right, when that part of your brain starts firing and it goes into that fear or that overwhelm, or that, oh my God, that's the
Karen Kenney:thing that's going to pump the brakes. That's the things that's going to start to, you know, bring resistance and procrastination and overwhelm and all those
Karen Kenney:things. But if you can make the step so teeny tiny, because slow change, tiny, incremental, slow change is better than no change. You know what I'm saying, and you
Karen Kenney:know, I've used this with people who have goals, like, let's say you have a project, or you have a room you need to clean up, or even your desk, let's just say your desk.
Karen Kenney:You're like, I gotta clean up my desk. There's papers everywhere. And I'll be like, okay, describe to me what's on the desk. And they'll be like, I got pens everywhere. And.
Karen Kenney:And pay us. Okay, we're going to start with one thing. All I want you to do is, can you handle picking up all your pens and putting them in the drawer, putting them in your pen
Karen Kenney:cup or whatever? And they'll be like, oh, yeah, I can do that. I can do pens. I'm like, great. Today. All you're going to do is pens. Right? Start with the pens. Okay, I
Karen Kenney:can do that. And then you get a little victory, and then you get a little feel good, and then you get a maybe a little dopamine hit. You get a little like, yeah, a
Karen Kenney:little momentum, right? Great. Tomorrow we're going to handle post it notes. You don't even have to organize them yet, meaning, like, find a place from all I want
Karen Kenney:you to do is just stack them in a pile, and we start to break things down into the teeniest, tiniest steps that are still leading in the direction we want to go,
Karen Kenney:still bringing us right, still bringing us improvement. But it's not so so much all. It's not like this, because people do these like bursts of activities. It's like I want
Karen Kenney:to train for a 5k so I'm going to go out and run every No, no, you're probably not. But you can use the Jeff Galloway method, where you basically walk for 30 seconds and then
Karen Kenney:you jog or run for like 1020 seconds, and then you walk for 30 seconds, right? Tiny, incremental things. So then you tell your then you're maybe building up to your
Karen Kenney:running for seven minutes and walking for three minutes. You know what I mean, but teeny, tiny steps to sneak past. They're so small that your brain can't even resist
Karen Kenney:picking up a few pens like that's not threatening, right? For most people, I'm not going to say across but for most people, you can start to train your brain to not be
Karen Kenney:afraid of starting new things, because we do them like really small, little, tiny, teeny steps. And it's really important. I'm going to read something from Hold on a second. Let
Karen Kenney:me. Let me. Let me. Grab it. All right, so here's the little Kaizen, little Kaizen way book that I'm sharing with you about and this is by a guy named Robert Marr, M, a, U,
Karen Kenney:I, E R. He's PhD. It's called the Kaizen way. One small step can change your life. Okay, so here's, here's how he kind of looks at it. He says, so the word, these are the
Karen Kenney:words large goal, and then there's an arrow, means it's leading to, okay, large goal leads to fear, leads to
Karen Kenney:access to your cortex, the front of your brain, where creativity happens, problem solving happens where shit gets done, right? So large goals often equal fear, which often
Karen Kenney:equal access to your cortex being restricted, which often equals failure, okay? So large goals often, for a lot of people, lead to failure. Okay? Because
Karen Kenney:again, the brain, the you lose access to the creative and playful and imaginative and problem solving part of the front of your brain, the cortex, but small goals, right?
Karen Kenney:Then there's an arrow, leads to bypassing your fear, which leads to your cortex, the front of your brain, being engaged, which leads to success, which is so fantastic. And
Karen Kenney:that's kind of like what I'm trying to say, you know, you and what happens is you start to and you with me, like you heard in my story of like the pills, I started to get
Karen Kenney:excited because I saw my pile getting smaller and smaller. And then I was like, oh, all of a sudden I switched from overwhelming to I've got this. I can do
Karen Kenney:this, right? So for a lot of people, big goals can trigger fears. And so the little steps of Kaizen, he says, are a kind of a stealth solution to this quality of the
Karen Kenney:brain where we can get around those fears. So small. Kaizen is a way to get around these little fears, and so small easily achieving achievable goals. He's here's his
Karen Kenney:such as picking up and storing just what, oh, that's where the paper clip probably came from in my brain, such as picking up and storing just one paper clip on on a
Karen Kenney:messy desk. You can tiptoe. You can tiptoe. He says, right past the amygdala. And that's what I'm talking about. It's just like you kind of like, moonwalk, like, burp, burp,
Karen Kenney:burp, without, without your amygdala even, even suspecting, and what you're really doing is you're sneaking past your bypassing resistance, because, again, it's so small
Karen Kenney:that that you can't fail. And that's the other thing. I think I remember a story I'd have to go back and read the book. But I think when I first read this book, a story
Karen Kenney:that stayed with me is he had a woman that came to him who really wanted to lose weight and for her health and well being. I mean, I don't remember the particulars she kind of
Karen Kenney:needed to lose weight, right and, and so she had wanted for many years to to want to start exercising, but she found the whole con. Except so completely overwhelming. So
Karen Kenney:one of the things he asked her to do, and I don't remember the amount, he started to try and, like, mix things together. She had, like, a favorite TV show that she watched
Karen Kenney:each night, or every night. She had a favorite TV show. So he knew that she spent at least 30 minutes, like, sitting in front of the TV after she was done eating and all
Karen Kenney:this stuff. And I think he started reckon, I think I'm getting the story straight. But he started to recommend to her, like, hey, while you're while you're sitting in front
Karen Kenney:of the in front of the TV, could you commit to I think it was like, at first he said, like, five minutes of just marching in place. You don't have to drive to a gym, you
Karen Kenney:don't have to buy fancy clothes, you don't have to even go outside. Can you just match in place for five minutes. And I'm pretty sure her answer was no, she would not commit
Karen Kenney:to that. But he said, Do you think you could do it for a minute? And she was like, Yeah, I could do that for a minute. And that's what she started to do. She started to match
Karen Kenney:in front and match in place, right? Just lifting her legs and swinging her arms for a minute a day in front of the TV. Well, after doing that for a particular amount of time,
Karen Kenney:she's like, Oh, I could do two minutes. And then before she knew it, she was doing five minutes. And then before she knew it, she was doing 10 minutes. And then before she
Karen Kenney:knew it, she was walking outside. And then before she knew it, she was now identifying. This is why I talk about identity so much. I might do a workshop on identity, but she
Karen Kenney:started to identify as I'm somebody who moves my body. And then once that change takes place, then she found herself starting to go to the gym and eating better and like
Karen Kenney:the thing. But what she did is she tiptoed right past her resistance and her fear, and she bypassed it. And it's so funny, because, again, you know this is how, this is how,
Karen Kenney:what I'm about to read to you, this is how my spiritual team works, right? I go out for this walk with the dogs I sat to think about the tiny steps. It triggers the memory of
Karen Kenney:that phrase, right? A journey of 1000 miles begins with one first step, right? That small, tiny first step, which makes me remember the whole Kaizen thing and the
Karen Kenney:story about the pills. And I was like, all the dots are firing. Well, then I went online this morning to post something, and I saw this post, and I was like, Oh, I'm going
Karen Kenney:to share it with this with you guys. So I saw this on again, I curate con like, this is what I do. I love to curate resources and content and quotes and things that hopefully
Karen Kenney:you'll find helpful. This is what I do for my people. I do it for myself, but I also do it for the people and the nest in any of my clients, right? So remember, if you want to
Karen Kenney:join the nest, if you're intrigued, if you're interested, if you've been thinking about it for 1000 years, just go to Karen kenney.com/nest, N, E, S T, all the info is
Karen Kenney:there. If you have questions, shoot me a message. Send up a flare. Okay, here's what the quote says. It's by the account. Is N, A, S, Nas, neuro, n, e, u, r, O, in
Karen Kenney:neurological, right? It has to do with the brain. So he shares stuff about brain science and stuff, and this is what he said. He says, Your small efforts still count. I
Karen Kenney:mean, the timing of this, like you can't plan it. This is like, sto GJ, you cannot. I can't make this shit up. Okay, your small efforts still count. He says, When
Karen Kenney:discussing neuroplasticity, so this is neuroplasticity, is like thinking about your brain's pliability, your brain's ability to change, okay? He says, When discussing
Karen Kenney:neuroplasticity, we often think of brain changes that occur following weeks or months of practice. You start daily walks, and within weeks, it becomes a crucial part of
Karen Kenney:your day, or you stop putting your phone away earlier at night, and after some time, your brain rewires so you automatically spend less time on it. This is great, but
Karen Kenney:neuroscience Experiments show that even within 40 minutes of careful practice, brains can adapt how they function to boost your efficiency. This is evidence. He says
Karen Kenney:that even, and this is the important part, that even the small actions or changes you make are meaningful and can have rapid impact on your brain and behavior. Let me
Karen Kenney:say that Pat again. This is evidence that even the small actions or changes you make are meaningful and can have rapid impact on your brain and behavior. This is such
Karen Kenney:fantastic news, and I'm so glad that I saw this. No coincidings Right. It's just how it works, the signs and the help is there, if you can just like, slow down, enough, shut
Karen Kenney:the up, get quiet, right? And be open. Be open, because the help is there. Okay, so in my group, I always say to them, like, no amount of effort is ever. Said, you know, in
Karen Kenney:the Bhagavad Gita, there's a line that says, basically, you know, no amount of effort is ever wasted on the spiritual path. And that, to me, is the thing, right? No amount of
Karen Kenney:effort. So the smallest little steps, the smallest little changes, lead to big changes lead to big habits, right? New things happening. It's just we can start so small
Karen Kenney:and the steps are so small that you can't fail. I just know that somebody out there, because I know, if I feel passionate enough to share something, I am like, I know
Karen Kenney:because all minds are joined. I'm like, I know somebody out there needed to hear this today. If it's you, please drop me a line and let me know that it's landing. You know,
Karen Kenney:that's the thing about doing a podcast sometimes is you're just kind of like, I kind of joke. I'm like, you're just like, saying stuff out into the into the ethers.
Karen Kenney:And sometimes you're like, has this helped anybody? Has it made a difference? Like, did it land? So some of you are wicked good about writing to me and letting me know. And
Karen Kenney:some of you I know are silent listeners. I know some of you just kind of like you, like the kids at the dance who like hug the wall and never go out on the floor, but you're
Karen Kenney:there, you're there, and you're enjoying it, you're having fun and you're sipping the punch, but you're not maybe ready to dance on the floor. So I appreciate you. I
Karen Kenney:appreciate all my listeners, but if you're somebody who has been enjoying the show, please let me know, like send up a flare. Send me a little note. It means so much to
Karen Kenney:me, and I appreciate it. And those of you who use the tip ja to show your support of the show, thank you so much. And if you're somebody who wants to support the show, that
Karen Kenney:way too, just Karen kenney.com/tipja, and you can send a little love from your hat to mine. Okay, so I hope this has been helpful in some way for you, and if there's
Karen Kenney:something that you've been wanting to accomplish, whether it's a big goal or whatever, because we know, like, the New Year, I can't even believe it, the new year
Karen Kenney:is going to be here before we know it, and everybody's going to start getting a little kooky about all their like, big changes they want to make. But you can start today with
Karen Kenney:the teeniest, tiniest little step, the teeniest, tiniest little step, so that your brain does not start going like, danger Will Robinson, and it starts to like, oh, I can
Karen Kenney:do this. And just, know, you just break it down. Break it down into smaller chunks. Break it down into the littlest, littlest step, non threatening step, right to your
Karen Kenney:amygdala that you can do. And these little things are all going to add up. And there was one more thing I wanted to share.
Karen Kenney:Let's see. I know I highlighted it here. Let's see if I can. Okay, here's the thing. Small actions are at the heart of kaizen by taking steps so tiny that they seem trivial
Karen Kenney:or even laughable, you'll sail calmly past obstacles that have defeated you before. How great is this? Slowly but painlessly, you'll cultivate an appetite for continued success
Karen Kenney:and lay down a permanent new route to change. It's so powerful, you guys. So thank you for tuning in. Thank you for listening. I hope you have a fantastic rest of your
Karen Kenney:day, your night, your week, whenever you're listening. I appreciate you so much. And you know, one of the other goals always is that I love to connect with you like one of the
Karen Kenney:ways that I think about this show is literally, literally trying to spread more love in the world at a time when we need it more than ever, don't we? I mean, there have
Karen Kenney:always been times in history where I think we, I mean, there's no, let me put it this way, there's been no time in history when we couldn't use more love, right? But I feel
Karen Kenney:like, really, right now going into an election, and just so much stress and so much bullshit over social media is just so much crap that is so trying to drive wedges
Karen Kenney:between all of us, and I really want our time together to be meaningful, and I don't mean valuable, like I'm creating value like that, like just but that it's valuable, and
Karen Kenney:we're not wasting time in that. You know, you walk away from this. What do I What have I been saying always at the end of every show, right, wherever you go, may you leave
Karen Kenney:the people, the place, the animals, the environment, better than how you found it. I've been saying this for years and years and years, right, wherever you go, may you
Karen Kenney:be a blessing. But also I want, I want our time together that I'm also leaving you better than how you found it. So I hope you found this episode to be be helpful and
Karen Kenney:purposeful and meaningful, and that if this was the last time, like I said, God forbid I dropped out or something happened, and I never did another show, that I actually left
Karen Kenney:you with something that will make a difference in your life. So thank you for tuning in. I appreciate you so much. I love you. I'm sending you just so much, just a
Karen Kenney:wish for so much happiness and. And ease and connection and a sense of knowing that you matter and that and that you being here makes a difference, because it does all
Karen Kenney:right you guys, wherever you go, I'm going to just say one more time, wherever you go. May you leave yourself in the people, in the place, in the animals, in the environment,
Karen Kenney:better than how you found it wherever you go. May you in your energy, your quality of thoughts, words and actions, may your presence be a blessing. Bye. Hey. Thanks so
Karen Kenney:much for listening to the show. I really love spending some time together. Now, if you dig the show or know someone that could benefit from this episode, please share it
Karen Kenney:with them and help me to spread the good word and the love. And if you want to be in the know about all of my upcoming shenanigans, head on over to Karen
Karen Kenney:kenney.com/sign up and join my list. It'll be wicked fun to stay in touch.
Unknown:Bye. You.