Today I’m going to be hitting you with some hard truths and I’m not going to pull my punches.
There are 5 limiting beliefs I see or hear regularly that are actively getting in peoples way and preventing them from levelling up their performance.
If you are doing one or all of these things there is a good chance you could be doing so much more, if you just stopped these mindsets.
So hopefully, after this episode, you’ll have some awareness of how you have been holding yourself back and will be on the next step to finally achieving.
In this episode I share:
- Why limiting beliefs can affect you
- How the limiting belief of ‘I’m too busy’ is stopping you
- The ways to prevent being overcome by feeling busy
- What happens when we think “I just need more time in the day’
- The small ways we use up our time if we don’t plan
- Why relying on 6-8 week challenges is detrimental to long term success
- My strategy to use instead of the 6-8 week programs
- Why saying “I’ll start when I’ve achieved a certain goal” actually undermines you
- How you can avoid putting in the real work when you believe there is a magic bullet or supplement
- Self-awareness is crucial for overcoming limiting beliefs and achieving personal growth.
Key Quotes
“There are no magic bullets, there is no magic diet or supplement that is coming to save you.”
“Self awareness is the greatest super power that we can all have”
“If we don’t take steps towards where we want to be, we are just kicking the can down the road”
Episode Resources
Jessica Spendlove Website – www.jessicaspendlove.com
Jessica Spendlove Keynotes – JessicaspendloveKeynotes – Jessica Spendlove
The High-Performance Profile Quiz https://jessicaspendlove.com/quiz/
Jess Spendlove Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jess_spendlove_dietitian/?hl=en
Jess Spendlove LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-spendlove-64173bb8/
About Your Host
Jessica Spendlove | Wellbeing Speaker & High Performance Strategist
Jess Spendlove is an international wellbeing and high performance speaker, coach, and advisor. With over 15 years of experience across corporate leadership, elite sport and the military she is known for helping ambitious leaders and teams optimise energy, build resilience, and sustain peak performance.
As one of Australia’s leading performance dietitians and a trusted voice in executive wellbeing, Jess delivers science-backed strategies that empower individuals, teams and organisations to thrive under pressure and achieve long-term success.
Episode Transcript
The following transcript has been automatically generated and not checked for accuracy
Jess (00:22.766)
Welcome to another episode of Stay At The Top. Today I wanted to take you through five limiting beliefs that I commonly hear, see or observe people making that are getting in their way of leveling up their health, their wellbeing and their performance.
Jess (00:50.99)
My hope is that taking you through each of these limiting beliefs might uncover some of the roadblocks that you’re unconsciously putting in your way. And because you know how I like to operate, I am a very solution for solution focused person. So I’m going to be giving you some tools to help override them as well. I truly believe that self -awareness is the greatest superpower that we can all have. And if we’ve got blind spots or we’re just not able to see,
to see the things getting in our way, then how were we meant to overcome them? So I really hope today really is about raising self -awareness. It might be a little bit of tough love, but that’s also just, but it might be a little bit of tough love because you know I’m a very straight to the point sharp shooter and.
It’s all coming from a place of love and it’s all coming from a place of you wanting to level up and become the best version of yourself who has great energy, who is thriving and who is achieving their goals that they want now while also considering future you as well. Now let’s get in to today’s episode.
Jess (02:19.023)
Alrighty team, we’re diving straight into it today. Limiting belief number one is I’m too busy. Team, busy is a mindset and we do not subscribe to this. It is subjective. We are in the busy. I feel like 2024 is the year of the busy. And I know for myself, I am consciously trying not to use this word.
because the reality is every single one of us has the same amount of hours in the day. Yes, we have different commitments. Yes, our lives look differently. But when we get caught up in thinking about how busy we are, I find these are the people on the reactive rat race that I often speak about. And the goal really needs to be that we’re being proactive and we’re setting our day up for success and we’re putting steps in order.
that are going to leverage off each other to gain more energy, to gain momentum, rather than be caught on the back foot, complain that we’re busy and just be reactive and then go on the downward spiral. So what we wanna be doing is smart. What the goal is, is to be smart and informed and to be proactive. We want to run our day. When we take that control back, everything else gets easier.
Now, the challenging thing here can be finding that circuit breaker, finding that first domino that you need to push to push in the right direction to gain momentum. But the thing is, when you do find this first domino, this is when this happens, time slows down, white space appears, more energy is available for you, more bandwidth, everything else gets easier.
Now if I can give you one piece of advice, if you’re not sure on where to start, start as early in the day as possible. Because what we do in the front end of our day determines what happens in the back end of the day.
Jess (04:29.488)
So if we can sort out the front end of the day, whether that’s our own morning ritual or routine, depending on if you’re a morning person or if you’ve got space for that, whether that is standardizing and having a consistent breakfast at the same time or within an hour, whether that is waking up and doing a meditation or not scrolling on our phones, it really is just dependent on what speaks to you.
But one thing I would encourage you to do if you’re not sure and if you haven’t done my high performance profile quiz, you can take that, the link is in the show notes, and it will tell you if you’re an overachiever, an all or nothing human or a ticking time bomb. And then based on that, it will give you the clue on what your next or first most important domino is. Now, if you’re an all or nothing human or a ticking time bomb,
and you’re getting fixated in like the little one percenters like should I have an ice bath or should I have a sauna or should I take this magnesium supplement before bed you’re worrying about the wrong thing. If you’re an overachiever we can get into the nitty -gritty but if you’re an all -or -nothing human it’s really just hoping you find consistency within your days and weeks and that’s regardless of what that day looks like whether you travel for work whether you work at home or in the office.
It’s really just helping you find consistency in the inconsistency. And for my ticking time bombs out there, it’s helping you find that first behaviour that’s gonna set the rest of your day up for success, that will help take that proactive approach. And for most people, like I said, I’ll give you a clue, it’s either what you do first thing in the morning, or it’s also what you do the night before.
Said it once and I’ll say it again, to win the day you need to win the night. And they are the two biggest areas which if we can improve, if we can optimize for your life, regardless of whatever that is, then that is a huge step forward in giving you more consistency, in giving you more energy and helping you get out of this I’m too busy cycle and start to have those proactive strategies. So limiting belief number one,
Jess (06:39.057)
This one might hit home for a lot of people. I really need to consciously not use this word. I feel like, as I said, we’re in the busy epidemic and it’s really easy just to go, you know, when people say, hey, how are you going? How you been? I’ve just been so busy. Let’s stop using that word. Let’s stop telling ourselves that narrative because it’s just perpetuating behaviors that we probably don’t even want to. We don’t even want to when in fact we get to choose each and every day, do I choose?
how I’ve been operating or am I looking for a new way of operating and an opportunity to reset. So that’s limiting belief number one.
Jess (07:29.777)
Limiting belief number two, which is in a similar lane is if I only had more time in the day Okay, so here’s the thing that’s not going to happen similar to the I’m too busy We all get the same amount of hours in our day. It’s how we choose to spend them and it’s so amazing how It’s so interesting people’s outlook on different
activities or even expenses. So an example is someone who maybe is not consistently exercising and the idea of doing a 45 minute class or session or whatever it is even an hour might just seem like mission impossible. How am I going to commit myself to that? But at the end of the day the same person spends at least an hour if not two on the couch watching TV. So
Really, we need to shift our mindset and we need to look at activities that are going to be supportive. Now, I’m not saying don’t watch TV, but if you’re staying up late watching a few episodes, maybe we can set an alarm, maybe we can go to bed a little bit earlier, and maybe we can wake up and get that movement in in the morning so it’s out of the way. Or if you’ve got a family, it’s before everyone gets up.
or maybe it’s when you drop people to school, you really need to find those pockets and those opportunities in your day because you’re not gonna get more time. We’ve all got the same amount of time, but it really is about looking for those opportunities. Now, similarly, I hear people complaining about the cost of groceries, which look, I totally understand. The cost of living right now is astronomical. Groceries are through the roof.
But if you are also one of those people complaining about the cost of healthy groceries, but you’re also not planning and you’re ordering Uber Eats a few nights a week, or you’re eating out most of the time on the weekend, unconsciously or subconsciously just tap, tap, tapping, you are going to be spending so much more than intentionally planning out your week, planning out your meals and doing a big shop.
Jess (09:43.985)
Now there’s just a few examples. So…
Jess (09:53.65)
So what I really wish for all of you is to help you find the needle moving tasks and to spend time on them. Because when you do that, you improve your energy, you add in behaviors that elevate your wellbeing, that give you more bandwidth, and when that happens, everything else gets easier. It is like…
It doesn’t, it isn’t even just one plus one equals two, it multiplies. It’s like an amplification, it compounds. And the longer we do it, the more we gain that momentum and the easier it gets. And all of a sudden we have so much more space and time in our day because we have set ourself up with behaviors that are creating more energy, that are giving us more white space, that are getting rid of the chaos.
Jess (10:56.979)
And the other thing is, for most of you listening, here’s the real kicker. It’s actually not about you doing more. It’s more than likely about you doing less. But…
when you’re in a state of survival or feeling tired or feeling just okay, it can be really hard figuring out what those needle moving activities are. And even though I talk about a lot of them on stay at the top, the next level is not just knowing them, but applying them and customising them and personalising them to your life. So if that’s something that you need, if that’s something that you would like help and support with, please head to the show notes. You can have a look at the different,
offers that I’ve got. The main one I want to call out is my brand new group coaching program which is launching later this week. So there’s not much time left to snap up one of these final remaining spots in this beat around program, which means you get the highest access, most amount of support from me at the absolute lowest price it will ever be.
I’m talking less than 50 % of what it will be when it launches officially later in 2024. So now is the time to make this move. Now is the time to choose. Now is the time to choose you. Now is the time to find those needle moving behaviors and customize them to your life so you feel like you’ve got more time in the day because yeah, just ended it, more time in the day.
Jess (12:37.587)
Now another limiting belief I see and hear about is that someone just needs another six or eight week challenge.
Jess (12:57.972)
Team, I’m here to set the record straight that what you don’t need is another six or eight week challenge. What you need is a new operating system. You need something that feels supportive, something that feels sustainable, and something that allows you to be consistent. Because as we just said before, when we are consistent with these routines and behaviours that are supportive, they amplify each other and they compound. Now,
The other thing with this is when we go on a six or eight week challenge, we’re often just following the set meal plan and the set training schedule and we’re just following that. We’re really relying on that willpower and dedication, which I spoke about last week. And the thing that happens when that stops, most of the time we don’t speak about how do we reintegrate? What is the strategy after that? And so while things might go seemingly well for six or eight weeks,
By the time you get to the end, you’re so in such a depleted state, you’ve pushed at a level which is so far from what your current operating system is that it’s not sustainable. And then they fall off the wagon or they’re back to square one. These are these common statements that people tell me. So my strategy is, well, what if there is a different way? What if there was a way that assess where you’re starting from, assess what your current life looks like?
takes into consideration your preferences, factors in your goals and where you want to get to. And imagine if it was tailored to that using science backed principles that are proven to work. When.
Jess (14:38.612)
When we do this, the power of compounding is really seen. We might start slow and start to feel better, but then as we start to feel better, we start to layer in more behaviors. When we start to layer in more behaviors, then we might start to see some of these objective goals that we’ve got, whether that’s body composition, losing fat, gaining muscle, getting stronger, training for an event. But most importantly, along that way, we…
have good energy, we have good quality of life. Because when we just sacrifice and go on something really strict and we follow something that we’re not gonna sustain, it only lasts for a really short period of time. And for most people, that has them being in a worse spot sooner or later than where they began. Now, when we think about compounding and the effects, we understand this in most other areas of our life.
Jess (15:36.757)
So this might be in property or investing or in superannuation. With all of these things, it’s about time in the market. And the longer it is in, the greater compounding effects we get from capital growth or the compounding effects of superannuation. I want you to start thinking about your health is exactly the same. A six or an eight week challenge might short term get you to a lighter weight or fitter or more fitter than where you were.
But if you don’t then sustain it, you don’t then have a maintenance plan, you don’t then have an operating system for how to continue with a strategy that is sustainable, then it’s short lived. And this is why you don’t need, this is why you don’t need to be given some sort of set and forget meal plan. You actually need to learn how to adjust what you’re currently doing.
how to apply principles that support the goals that you want, how to have better health, more energy, longevity and performance, and how to do it in a way that feels easy, that feels like it’s the path of least resistance, and it feels like something that you can stick to 80 % of the time.
Jess (16:51.701)
Now the fourth limiting belief is I’ll start when and insert any of the following. You lose weight or you get fitter or you find more time. It’s often kicking in the can down the road. And I think the important thing here is newsflash that I think the important thing to call out here is that this doesn’t just happen. If we don’t take steps towards.
where we want to be, we are, as I just said, kicking the can down the road. So it really is about prioritising yourself and finding something that works. It is about choosing and committing to a lifetime of habits to get to this point. And what isn’t going to get you there is a cleanse or a fast or a challenge. It isn’t going to be the solution for both the current you and the future you.
What you need is a new operating manual that is customized to your life and goals. And it’s not about just saying, I’ll start when, what we need to do is we want to take action now. When you’re saying, I’ll start when, you’re kind of dancing between these different phases of behavior change. You’re dancing between pre -contemplation and preparation. Now,
Jess (18:13.43)
And often we can be looking for that short -term fix. I can’t tell you the amount of times people have said, I’ll start, I just want to kickstart this myself and then I will join the new gym or then I’ll come and see you or insert any other example. And here’s the thing.
I think when it comes to our health and our fitness, we have this level of, I should just be able to do it. We have kind of a level of pride and this expectation on ourself. And I know I’ve called this out a few times before, but knowing the thing isn’t enough. If we all just did everything we knew, we would all be.
We would all be sweet, we would all be killing it, we’d all be saving heaps of money, we’d be training every day, we’d be the fittest version, healthiest versions of ourselves. But it’s not even just about knowing the thing. It is about finding a way to do the thing. And we often set very unrealistic expectations for ourselves. We get very caught up in what everybody else is doing, whether that is social media,
whether that’s comparing a version of ourselves to a past version of ourselves. The amount of times I see people in their, I don’t even know, late 30s, 40s and 50s talking about the fittest time in their life, which when we dig deep is like their late 20s, when they had no real commitments, when they had no family, when they’re senior already in their job or they hadn’t grown their business. So we need to stop. Well, it’s important to know what’s possible.
We also need strategies and systems and we also need strategies and systems that are going to work for the current version of ourselves. And the other really common one I’m seeing at the moment is people are, the other really common one I’m hearing about at the moment is how much COVID changed things for everyone. And personally for myself, I’ve spoken about it before, COVID changed a lot for me. I got really sick in COVID and it took me,
Jess (20:28.087)
12 to 18 months to heal from that, to get answers, to have surgeries and take all these medications to heal and get better. And the other thing I’m hearing is that COVID really changed a lot of people’s health behaviors, changed how they exercise. When they exercise, it changed how they ate. And a lot of these habits are still stuck and they haven’t been able to break that cycle. And…
This is why in a couple of days I’m launching my brand new group program, Reclaim Your Energy, because it is about starting to take back that control and starting to find the path of least resistance. And it is about putting proven, it is about putting science backed proven principles into your life and help and having my support to help you customize and personalize and make sure that they fit like a glove, because it should feel easy.
And when it feels easy, we’ll continue to do it. And better yet, when it feels easy and we continue to do it and we also understand how we can get that same outcome with a few different strategies, well then it becomes really sustainable. Because we’ve got options. We can weave out, we’ve got options. Our day can change and we still know what we’re doing. And that is the ultimate goal. And that is why it is about starting today. It’s not about starting when.
It is about choosing yourself and starting today. If you start today, every day is a step in the direction of the person that you want to become and the person that you get to become. If you’re not surviving, if you’re not, sorry, if you’re not thriving and you feel like you’re surviving or you’re okay and you know that you could feel better, it’s about choosing today. It’s about choosing a person or a program or getting the type of support and accountability that’s going to work for you. And…
It’s also about, it’s okay for you not to do it on your own. We’ve got too many commitments, we’re being pushed and pulled in too many directions to just expect that we’re gonna figure it out on our own. That’s why we have expertise and support. And that’s why I’ve created this program specifically for the types of people who are ready to choose themselves and are ready to find a rhythm and are ready to update the way that they’re living their life.
Jess (22:51.064)
update their operating system into a way that’s going to serve either the version of themselves that they really want to be or the next level version of themselves that they know that’s out there.
Jess (23:07.704)
Alrighty, and the fifth limiting belief today here is, and this one I probably see more than I hear.
and I know it’s gonna hit home for a lot of you is there is no magic bullet or diet or supplement that is going to solve all of your problems. It is not about one thing. The amount of times I get asked, what do you think about this? Or how does this compare to that? And my answer is it’s all relative. It’s relative in the context of your life, in the context of all of your behaviors. How do you eat? How do you sleep? How do you move?
Jess (23:49.4)
What are your stress management principles like? How often do you get sick? Like it’s just not like one or one. And this is why it’s really about proven principles and practices. And there really are science -backed proven principles that you can apply to your life that are gonna elevate them. So I’ll give you an example in the nutrition realm.
No matter who you are and how you eat, if you’re plant -based or vegan, if you’re pescatarian or if you eat everything, I am still going to tell you that you need to pulse your protein. You need higher protein requirements than what the RDA, sorry, what the RDI tells you, about double. And I’m still gonna tell you that at every meal and snack, we wanna be getting about 0 .3 grams of protein per kilogram of body mass, or between a range of at a minimum,
10 to 20 grams for breakfast and snacks, but to be honest, I would much prefer we’re up around 20 to 40 grams. That is a universal principle. That is grounded in so much, that is grounded in you being the best version of yourself now. That is grounded in you maximizing your skeletal muscle mass. That is grounded in you retaining that skeletal muscle mass as you age, particularly for women.
What we now know is we do not just gradually decline in muscle mass, which is known as sarcopenia like men, which just decline over the decades. For women, there is acute skeletal muscle loss when we’re perimenopausal or menopausal. Because we’re having changes to our hormones, in particular our estrogen, which is very protective of our bone mass. If we do not have a multiple,
a multi -level strategy aimed at maintaining and gaining lean mass and strength and maintaining our bone mass that is going to decline very rapidly. So we need to know what these proven principles are if you want to have your best health and wellbeing now and also consider future you as well. And this is why 2024 it is time to say goodbye. There are no magic bullets.
Jess (26:08.441)
There is no magic diet or supplement that is coming to save you. There are a multitude of proven principles that we can layer on top, that we can customize to your life, that we can put in place that are gonna support you. And if that sounds like you and you want to know what those proven principles are in detail, customize to your life. This is the last time I’m gonna say it, but my brand new group program, Reclaim Your Energy, begins in a few days or a few spots left.
Send me an email, so you can send me an email, jessatjessicaspendlove .com, or you can click the link and join the wait list and you’ll get some more information. Team, I would really hope that today’s episode was a little bit of an eye -opener, maybe an opportunity for you to see some of your blind spots, but also opportunity to see the growth that’s available to you, an opportunity to see that it is possible.
for you to achieve your goals now, but consider future you. You know I’m all about having it all. I want you to thrive now, but I also want you to thrive across your entire life. And when we put proven science -backed principles into our life that allow us to gain more energy, optimize our health, prioritize ourselves, it’s not only gonna…
be advantageous for the current version of us, but it’s also advantageous to anyone in our orbit, work -wise, life -wise, family -wise, and it’s also serving the future version of yourself. So just to quickly recap, the five limiting beliefs are I’m too busy, if I only had more time in the day, I need a six or an eight week challenge, I’ll start when…
I lose weight, get fitter, find more time, whatever it might be. And the last one is that there are no magic bullets, diet or supplements. And that it really is about behaviors, sustainability, creating habits and applying science back to proven principles, but customizing them and personalizing them to your life so they fit like a glove, that you can do them with ease and that they compound.
Jess (28:24.442)
and that they compound over time. Team, thank you for joining me for another episode of Stay At The Top. If you’ve liked this episode, I’d absolutely love for you to share it with a friend or share it on social media and tag me. If you haven’t already subscribed, please do that and you’ll get first access to the episode each Tuesday. For those who’ve left rating and reviews, I’m so very grateful. And if you haven’t, but you’re willing to do so, it would mean…
so very much to me and it really helps get the podcast out there. Team, that’s all for this week. I will be back again next week with more tips, tools and tactics helping you not only reach the top but sustainably stay there.