107. From Mindset to Motion: How to Move Beyond Thinking and Start Doing

In today’s episode of the School of Midlife Podcast, we’re diving into how to shift from just thinking about your goals and plans to actually taking action and making progress.

We all know that mindset shifts are important, but they are only the first step. If you don’t couple that mindset change with action, nothing will change.

This episode takes a deeper look at how we often delay action with what we think are necessary preparations and how those tasks may be just another way of procrastinating. Whether you’re thinking of starting a new workout plan, writing a book, or getting more involved in your career, it’s easy to find ourselves caught up in "getting ready" instead of "getting started."

Learn how to move from the overwhelming thought of “I have to” to “I get to” and embrace the power of setting a timer to actually get going. Whether you set a timer for five minutes or 30 minutes, the momentum you’ll gain from simply starting is often enough to keep you going.

Key Takeaways:

• Mindset shifts are essential, but they need to be paired with action.
• We often delay taking action by “getting ready” with things that don't really matter.
• The importance of setting a timer to force yourself to start and gain momentum.
• Learn to shift from “I have to” to “I get to” and create a productive mindset.
• Even a short time commitment (5-30 minutes) can help overcome the fear of starting and make tasks feel more manageable.

If you're looking to push past your procrastination and finally make some forward momentum this year, this episode will give you some practical tools to help you start now.

LINKS + MENTIONS:

Ep. 106: From Midlife Obligation to Opportunity: The Power of Changing Two Words

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Transcript

00:00:00] In this week's episode of the School of Midlife podcast, we're going to talk about a very simple hack that will help you get into motion when you are facing some projects or a workout or anything that you don't really want to do.

You know you have to, but you keep putting it off. This simple hack, I promise, will be a complete game changer for you. Let's get started.  

Welcome to the School of Midlife podcast. I'm your host, Laurie Reynoldson.

This is the podcast for the midlife woman who starting to ask herself big life questions. Like, what do I want? Is it too late for me? And what's my legacy beyond my family and my work. Each week we're answering these questions and more. At the School of Midlife, we're learning all of the life lessons they didn't teach us in school and we're figuring out finally what it is we want to be when we grow up. Let's make midlife your best [00:01:00] life. 

Hey there. Welcome back to another episode of the School of Midlife podcast. I am your host, Laurie Reynoldson, and I am so excited to have you back here today for another episode. Chock full of

midlife tips that you can use, like starting today. I will say one of the reasons that I. delayed going on video is because I didn't want to get ready every single time I had to record an episode. I got to record an episode and today is a perfect example of why I wasn't going to ever use video because I am training for an endurance event, which I'll talk about a little bit more as we get into the episode.

And I just wasn't interested in doing my hair or makeup today after my workout. So, um, Here I am. But here's the other thing is, [00:02:00] this is how I show up a lot of times, so I can't imagine that what I have to say is going to be any less impactful because I don't have my hair and makeup done, or at least I don't think so.

In today's episode, this is a kind of like a follow on episode of last week's podcast episode when we talked about the difference between have to and get to.

So many of you reached out and said you loved that reframe. That it really got you thinking about how many times you actually say to yourself, Oh God, I have to go do this. Ugh, I have to do this. And the reframe really resonated with you, and so I'm, I'm glad that you found a little bit of value in last week's episode.

If you haven't listened yet to last week's episode, I'll go ahead and drop a clickable link in the show notes there. But the entire episode is talking about how you can change your mindset with a super [00:03:00] quick, easy simple reframe by just changing the words I have to do something to I get to do something.

Where get to is intentional and it is action taking and you're the one who controls your actions. Have to is this obligation, it's It's, it, go listen to the episode. I know that you will find it helpful, uh, just because of how I, I know how impactful it is in my own life. And I received so much great feedback from so many listeners.

So make sure you listen to that episode if you haven't already. 

The reason why I feel like today's episode is, is a follow on episode from last week's mindset shift is I feel like mindset shifts are great and they are so important, but. Then you actually need to do something. It's not enough just to change the way you're [00:04:00] thinking about something, you actually have to get into action.

I, to me, that's, that was the whole issue with The Secret. That book about, oh, well, if you can just imagine it and put it out into the universe, then it will happen for you. And, and, and don't get me wrong, I am a huge I'm a huge believer in manifestation, but I, I believe that you have to couple that really clear picture of what you want with getting into action, you actually have to do something.

So how can we take any mindset shifts and you reframes and, and put them into action. And that's what we're going to talk about in today's episode. At the time this episode is dropping. We are middle, like, late middle March, so that means we are at the end of Q1. I love thinking about the year in quarters.

I love [00:05:00] planning in 90 day segments because If something isn't going well, you have an opportunity after 90 days to reevaluate. You can either move in a different direction, you can double down your efforts, or you can decide to approach it a different way. Whereas other people who plan or look at their calendar in an entire year, I feel like There's a lot of waiting to get into motion, to get into action, but you can be really nimble with just a 90 day planning session.

So middle, like late middle March. At the time this episode is dropping, which means we are pretty rapidly coming up on the end of Q1, which also means if you were somebody who said, you know what, 2025 is going to be my year that I'm going to make big things happen this year, and I am one of them. I mean, I feel like this is going to be a breakthrough [00:06:00] year in the school of midlife business.

That means. It's time to get started. I understand that you might have taken January, you might have even taken February to kind of get your bearings on how the year is going to go. To get settled, to get into some new routines, to start some new habits, to just get back into the swing of things after the holiday break.

I 100 percent get that, but that's what January is for, and that's what February might have been for. So in March, We need to start actually doing something, which pairs beautifully with what we're going to talk about.

I wonder, see if this resonates with you. When it's time to start something new, do you make a list of Things that you have to do before you can get started. What I mean by that is say you are [00:07:00] starting a new workout plan. Do you decide that you need new shoes and new tights and a new sports bra and maybe a fancy new watch?

, do you need to. Go find a new gym or research the latest eating plan or Maybe you want to try a new Pilates class you spend a ton of time You spend a getting ready, ready in air quotes, right? You, you, you spend a ton of time getting ready to start. And in your mind, you're thinking, Oh, I'm doing all this work

to move forward in the goal that I'm working on. When really all you're doing is delaying action. Yeah, sure. You, you, you might be doing some things that will help you eventually, maybe. But. You can go and start a new workout program today in the shoes that you already have, in the tights that you already have, [00:08:00] with the watch that you already have, at the gym you already go to, or you can just decide you're going to go outside and go for a walk just by yourself, in all the same clothes and all the same shoes that you already have, right?

Would you agree with me that we don't need to Have all new shiny things before we get started on something. We don't right? I mean the same thing goes with Maybe you are You're working on a new work goal and you think, okay, um, this is going to be the year that I write the book. This is going to be the year that I earn the promotion.

This is going to be that I start teaching my colleagues how to do something. I, if you are, um, an expert in accounting, maybe you start preparing business owners. To keep better records for their taxes. If you're an attorney, maybe

you teach [00:09:00] other attorneys

a specific way to prepare for trial. If you are a doctor, perhaps you speak on stages about a new, Approach to delivering medical care in a certain way. I don't know what your expertise is, but you understand what I'm getting at is that this is going to be the year that you decide you're going to put yourself out there.

You're going to speak on stages. You're going to become a thought leader in your respective career . And to do that, if we're being honest, what you really need to do is just put your hat in the ring, just raise your hand and say, I am available to speak on these topics. But instead, do you go buy a new journal, or do you buy a new laptop, do you make sure you have some new favorite pens, maybe you even buy a new Candle that smells a certain way or your favorite tea so that you can get in the [00:10:00] mood, if whatever, you know, you've got a, a feeling that in order to create the content that you want to speak about on stages, you, you have to be in a certain frame of mind before you sit down.

And all of that includes the new candle and the new journal and the new laptop and the new pens. Is that, is that actually what you need to get started or just like in the fitness preparation, the getting ready? That I talked about before, are you really moving forward or are you just delaying some action by playing busy, by telling yourself you have been busy, by telling yourself, Oh my gosh, I've worked on this for so long.

I've spent six hours today doing this when really you haven't done anything right. You've just prepared to get working. You've just started. Moving in the direction of thinking about getting started. And those are two, [00:11:00] getting started and thinking about getting started, two totally different things. So let's talk about then, how do you actually take some action?

Because the key To taking action is getting started. I, I always say Tom Petty was wrong when he said waiting is the hardest part. I think starting is the hardest part because we have so many excuses on why we can't get started right now. It's not time. It's self indulgent for me to spend time on myself right now.

The timing is not perfect. Uh, I have to wait until someday. Everyone else needs my attention right now. I can't possibly focus on myself right now because it's self indulgent. It's too much. Everyone else needs me way more. And if you think about those excuses, they might also sound exactly why You find yourself in midlife thinking, gosh, is this, is this all [00:12:00] there is?

I mean, I'm so busy. Why do I feel so unfulfilled? I'm so busy. Why do I feel so overwhelmed? I have everything I always thought I ever wanted. Why do I feel like something's missing? It's because we're making excuses. It's because we are delaying. It's because for many of us, we're delaying getting started and we're just adding more things to our to do list, thinking that if we do more, then we're going to feel better.

We're going to accomplish more, even if it's not exactly what we've set out to do. 

This is all top of mind for me right now, because I am training for an endurance event in July.

We are. 16 weeks out, I think, from the event, which means , the daily mileage is starting [00:13:00] to increase pretty dramatically, which means on Sunday morning, the very last thing I wanted to do was Run 10 miles, even though the schedule called for an easy 10 miles. Easy in air quotes there, but it did.

It called for an easy 10 miles, but I had already run seven miles on Friday. I had hiked and run 12 miles on Saturday, so an easy 10 on Sunday. It was, it was the last thing I wanted to do. I, I was a little tired. I was a little sore from a couple of days of, of really going hard with the training. And I, I just wasn't feeling it.

And I found myself in that mindset that I talked about last week, which was, I have to go run today. I have to get my workout in. And the interesting thing about me [00:14:00] walking around the house thinking, I have to go do this was even thinking about the workout at that point just felt heavier. I knew I could do it.

I mean, I, I can go run 10 miles. I had done 12 the day before I had done seven at pace two days before that. So I know I can do it.

It's interesting because when I keep putting things off, they just feel heavier. Right. And by telling myself I have to do this instead of I get to do this, I was just like putting off, I was prolonging the misery. I don't know about you, but have you ever had. A conversation that you knew you had to have with somebody and you just kept putting it off because you were thinking about it in your head and you just knew it was going to be a tough conversation and instead of diving in and addressing the [00:15:00] conversation right up front, you stewed on it a little bit, you replayed how this could potentially go, you might have even role played it either with somebody else or in your mind.

You think about, How is this going to go? You think about what should you say, you just overly prepare for it. But instead of actually having the conversation, you just keep thinking about it over and over and over again, it's the same thing with,

if there are things on your to do list that maybe you've missed the deadline or it. They don't even have a deadline, but in your mind you think, God, I really got to get this done. And you notice that that project or that to do item keeps showing up day after day. Maybe even week after week. Because now it feels like, wow, it has been a really long time.

This has been on my to do list for a while. And now I feel like I've almost missed the opportunity. Like I've got a couple of [00:16:00] clients In the real estate brokerage side have have said, you know, I'm really kind of interested in a property that looks like this So keep your eye out. If you see something that would be great then let me know and For some of those people it has been Almost too long for me to follow up with them.

I mean, weeks, sure. Maybe even months. Because that's not the focus of where I'm spending most of my time right now. And, and I start feeling guilty because I haven't reached out to these people. And it almost feels like it's, it's just overdue. Right? I should've Had this conversation before I should have reached out to them before and then of course I start should-ing on myself and and It's not a productive place to be but if you ever noticed that when you actually get around to having those conversations or Diving in and actually doing the [00:17:00] project that just keeps get getting put off How quickly?

You're able To move past it. I mean, it's like the conversation that you've built up in your head is so big and it's so contentious that when you actually have it, it's really not that big of a deal, or you've built up this project in your mind that it's going to take so much time and so much energy that I will just do it when I get a chance to.

That if you would have actually just done it, you could have been done with it really quickly. And the same thing goes for whatever it is that you have been planning to get into motion with in 2025. Instead of still thinking about it, instead of pre planning, doing the pre busy work.

Just get started and I know that that sounds simple and that sounds just way [00:18:00] too easy because how do you know how to get started? Well for most things there is no right first step. There are a number of steps that you can take. But the only way that you will know if you were even heading in the right direction is to take a step to actually get into motion to take some action, like rip off the bandaid and, and get moving forward, get moving, because you might decide that what you think is forward after you've actually taken the first step and the second and the third step, Maybe you actually want to go in a different direction, and that's totally fine.

But until you can actually start moving in that direction, until you can get out of just the thinking about doing something, then you are never going to actually know if the direction you think you're heading in is the right direction for you.

Does that make [00:19:00] sense? It's, it's exactly the same reason why you can't read about doing push ups and expect to get stronger. Right? You can read about a lot of things. It's great to have some knowledge. But at some point, you have to take that knowledge and actually do something with it. Put it into action.

You, you can't get in shape or stronger or fitter by reading about pushups. You actually have to put in the work. You actually have to take some action.

So if you're someone who likes to pre plan, who likes to spend some time in the busyness of getting ready to do something, and I understand it, I, I've been there myself, I, I end up there a lot more than I would like to.

So here is one thing that you can try to do to see if it helps it works beautifully for me, uh, many of my clients have said that [00:20:00] this one thing, this simple act has helped them get into motion and move past that fear of what if this isn't the right thing, what if this isn't the right time, what if I'm going in the right direction and all of those other Fear based questions that are holding you back, that are keeping you stuck, that are keeping you where you are right now because you're concerned that maybe you would just do it wrong.

Maybe somebody would see you as starting as a beginner and you don't, you don't want that because you don't, you don't like that. You want to be seen as a leader. Someone who knows her shit and knows what she's doing. I I get that, but we all have to start somewhere. So here's what you do. 

Set a timer.

And I I know that sounds simple. Set a timer and promise yourself that you will do the thing. You will start doing something that isn't pre planning, but [00:21:00] you'll actually get into action. And you will do that for the entire time that the timer is going. 

This could be, I don't want to go do my workout today.

So here I am, walking around the house Sunday morning thinking I have to do this. I have to get my workout in. Well, the first thing I did was change my mindset from I have to get my workout in to I get to get my workout in.

And the second thing I did was set a timer. The second thing I did was set a timer for 30 minutes. Because in my mind, if I could just get going for 30 minutes, then I would be between two and a half and three miles into my run, depending on how many walk breaks I took because I'm, I'm, I'm heavy mileage at this point.

I mean, nearly 40 miles for the week. So. Walk breaks are allowed, but I set the timer for 30 [00:22:00] minutes and said to myself, I'm going to go for 30 minutes. Um, and then we'll see, and the thing about when the timer goes off, then you get to choose. Are you going to keep going or are you going to come back to this at another time?

 If the timer goes off and you think I am in the groove, I feel great. I'm in the flow, whether that is moving your body, whether that's starting a new exercise routine, whether that's going for your 10 mile run like it was for me, whether that's working on your work project, whether that's writing the first chapter in your book, whatever it is.

Once that timer goes off, you get to decide, yeah, I'm going to keep going. And I will tell you most of the time you will keep going because remember, Tom Petty's wrong. Waiting isn't the hardest part. Starting is the hardest part. I mean, it's science, right? Sir Isaac Newton was the one who said a body in motion.

Stays in motion, a body at rest, stays at rest, [00:23:00] apologies to the scientists out there if I explained that incorrectly, but getting the momentum to start is much harder than keeping going once you are already in action. So once the timer goes off. You can either keep going, or number two, you can say, you know what, it's not the day for me.

Give yourself some grace, give yourself some latitude to be able to step away and come back to it later in the day, tomorrow, next week, whenever. 

The beauty of the timer is it's forcing you to start. It's forcing you to get into action. And while most of the time, yes, once you are already moving, once you are looking at the progress that you're making, once you're moving your body and you kind of get the niggles out and that soreness goes away, most of the time, you're going to want to continue moving.

You're going to [00:24:00] keep going forward, but not always, and that's okay. That's when you say, you know what, I gave it a great try. Today is not my day, or this moment isn't, it's not right for me. I'm going to either come back to it later or. Later today, or I'll come back to it some other day. And that, that is totally fine.

If there is a work project that I don't really want to do, and 30 minutes just seems like it's too much, set a timer for five minutes. I do that a lot. What, what can I do in five minutes? And it is amazing how much you can actually accomplish when you aren't scrolling social media, or , you're not responding to text messages, you're not answering your phone, but you are heads down, blinders on, committed to working, putting in the reps for the amount of time that you've set the timer for.

It is absolutely shocking how much you not only can [00:25:00] accomplish, but the momentum that you will have that will keep you in motion long after the timer goes off.

And that's it. It's that simple. Last week, we talked about reframing our mindset from, I have to do something to, I get to do something. And now we've just added another layer to that with, I get to do this for five minutes. I get to do this for 10 minutes. I get to do this for 30 minutes. However long it is, you set the timer and then just see how you're feeling.

Once the timer goes off again, at that point, you can choose, you can keep going, or you can give yourself some grace and come back to it some other time. But because you've gotten started, at least you're making some progress that you can feel good about later on. It's not that conversation that you wish you would have had.

 Just, it's so emotionally draining because you know you have to have it, but you just don't want to. So you keep putting it [00:26:00] off. It's not that project that the deadline keeps slipping and you think, I'll get to that some other time. You're actually starting. And so you're gonna stop beating yourself up about it.

You won't feel that guilt that you just keep putting it off. Get in motion. Get in action. It's the end of Q1. This is the time to actually start moving forward on the things that you said were important to you to do in this year. It's the end of the quarter. It's time to start taking some action. Even if they're little bitty steps.

Set your timer for 5 minutes. Set it for 10 minutes. Set it for 30 minutes. I don't care. That's not the point of it. Commit to action. Putting in the time for the time that you have promised yourself that you were going to set aside to do the thing, just start. And again, once you start, because it's science, once you start, it's going to be easier to keep going.

I would love [00:27:00] to hear any other hacks that you have about getting yourself in motion, not keeping yourself in motion. Cause that's the easy part. How do you get yourself in motion when you. If you don't want to drop me a line, tag me on social, let me know, let me know too, if this works for you, because what I will say is just like my clients who really love the reframe from I have to, to I get to, they also love this timer because it's so easy.

All you got to do is pick up your phone, set a little timer and you're on your way. I hope by the time that we are back here next week for next week's 

episode of the School of Midlife podcast, you have set a bunch of timers and started a bunch of small little projects so that next week at this time, you can look back and you can say, wow. I've really accomplished a lot. I, I am so [00:28:00] much farther along towards living the life that I want to live towards living my best life, just because I set those timers for myself.

Thank you so much for being here at the school of midlife podcast. I will look forward to seeing you next week for another episode when the school of midlife is back in session until then take good care.

Thank you so much for listening to the School of Midlife podcast. It means so much to have you here each week. If you enjoyed this episode, could you do me the biggest favor and help us spread the word to other midlife women? There are a couple of easy ways for you to do that first. And most importantly, if you're not already following the show, would you please subscribe? That helps you because you'll never miss an episode. And it helps us because you'll never miss an episode. Second, if you'd be so kind to leave us a five-star rating, that would be absolutely incredible. And finally, I personally read each and every one of your reviews. 

So if you take a minute and [00:29:00] say some nice things about the podcast, well, that's just good karma. Thanks again for listening. I'll see you right back here. Next week when the School of Midlife is back in session until then take good care.