Feeling unmotivated? Use the Toothbrush Rule

You’re ON one week ... focused, productive, getting shit done.
Then the next? You’re avoiding everything, overthinking, and wondering how you fell off so fast.

And if you’re like most women I work with … you make it mean something about you.

That you’re inconsistent.
That you lack discipline.
That you just can’t seem to follow through.

(That's bullshit of course ... and we're going to change it up starting NOW)

In this episode, I break down something so simple but it WORKS.  It's called the “toothbrush rule" and once you hear it, you'll see exactly where you’ve been making things way harder than they need to be.

Because here’s the truth:
You don’t brush your teeth because you’re motivated… you do it because it’s who you are.

So what if your goals worked the same way?

We get into why motivation is actually a terrible strategy and how shifting your identity changes everything, from how you show up to how much mental energy you waste debating yourself all day.

This is the kind of episode that will have you looking at your habits and going… “ohhh, I’ve been negotiating way too much.”

Inside, we talk about:

• why that “on/off” pattern keeps happening (and what’s actually causing it)
• the toothbrush rule and how it flips the way you think about discipline
• how to stop relying on motivation and start building something that actually sticks
• the identity shift that makes follow-through feel way less exhausting
• why your brain is burning energy on decisions you shouldn’t even be making anymore
• how to start showing up as the woman you say you want to be, before you feel like her

If you’ve been stuck in that all-or-nothing loop… this one’s for you.

And if you love it, send it to your friend who’s also tired of starting over every Monday.

And if you feel like it (see what I did there 😏), leave a review. It helps more women find this and get out of their own way a whole lot faster.

Also - in this episode I talk about The Powerhouse membership where I go even deeper into this topic.  The link is below ... it's WORTH it's weight in gold, if you're wanting to change your damn life.

Journal strategies email series:   https://www.thefengshuichick.ca/journaling

"THE WORK"  90 day challenge:   https://www.thefengshuichick.ca/thework

The POWERHOUSE Membership:  https://www.thefengshuichick.ca/offers/XqxzxUBB

WEBSITE with other cool stuff:  https://www.thefengshuichick.ca 

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Join my email list:  www.thefengshuichick.ca/newsletter

Transcript

No Fluffy Intro Just Truth

SPEAKER_00 0:06

I'm so glad that you're here. You're listening to What the Fuck Did She Just Say? With your host. That's me at the Foods Table. I'm all about living our best life and finding our zone of brilliance and then removing the resistance so that we can go all in. I say random crazy shit, which is why I called this podcast the way that I did. And I really hate long, drawn-out intros. So let's fucking go. Welcome back to another episode of What the Fuck Did She Just Say? And today is going to probably hit a nerve a little bit, but you know, as always, that's what this podcast is about. It's not about making you feel good and patting you on the ass. It is really about kicking you in the ass, right? Because we get one life and one go at this, and you're made for more. Bottom line, you're made for more. And you're not gonna realize everything that you could achieve by sitting on your fucking ass eating potato chips and dip. I should know because I love the chips and dip. Anyways, so today I want you to think about if you've ever felt like you are either a hundred percent focused or a hundred percent a shit show. You know, if like you're on fire one week with all of the things, doing all the things that you always wanted to achieve. And then the next week it's like sitting on the couch wondering what the hell is the matter with you. If that is how you feel this inconsistency, this episode's for you. And P.S. It's also for me. I was on the TikToks the other day or Instagram or something, I don't know. I was on some sort of social media, and this woman was talking about how she was so frustrated. She was wanting to travel to Finland and she was trying to learn Finnish. She would go all in and she would be so focused on learning Finnish every day. And then all of a sudden, her motivation would disappear and she wouldn't open the app or do whatever. You know, she would stop learning it. So some weeks she was all in, she was focused, productive, feeling good, and then other weeks not. I mean, if I think back to my university days, there were days where I would literally like I was choosing clean, I would rather clean my clean the toilet with my tongue than study for my exams. You know what I mean? Like I would procrastinate. I remember I wrote a stats exam and I had that stats exam at 8:30 in the morning, and I started studying for it at two o'clock in the morning. How did I pass? I do not know. I think I walked into that exam not having a clue what I was talking about, but yep, I did really well. I think I ended that class with an 80. Was it the curve? I don't know. Maybe the prof accidentally switched my marks with someone for real. Anyway, I did do well in stats, but back to this chick learning finish. So she went to her grandma saying, like, I just don't know how to fix this. And so her grandmother said, Motivation is like the wind. It comes and goes, and you can't build anything lasting on it. So she asked her, Do you brush your teeth every morning? And this chick is like, well, yeah, of course, obviously I do. And her grandma says, Does that depend on your motivation? Obviously, no, it does not. You don't wake up and just, you know, wonder, do I feel inspired to brush my teeth today? And if I don't, you know, you just decide not to. You just do it. You don't debate it. There's no decision, do I or don't I brush my teeth? You're just the person who brushes her teeth every fucking morning. As soon as I heard it, I was like, oh right. Yes, this is how we should look at everything, right? I just did in the powerhouse, I just did a whole month on identity, identity shifts. I talked about things that you can do every single morning to shift your identity and to reprogram your subconscious mind. And then I talked about um how you can sort of reprogram that every day, like keep keep um repeating it every day. And then also taking action that coincides with the identity shift. And of course, as always, every single month, I talk about feng shui. So I also talked about how the small things that we could do feng shui-wise, that helps us to reprogram our subconscious mind so that we could shift our identity and achieve the dang thing. I mean, it's not just I want to achieve this, and so I'm going to muscle through it. It's a lot to do with changing who you are, who you believe yourself to be, changing the identity. You are the person that brushes your teeth in the morning, and you are also the person who focuses every single day on the goal that she has set for herself. Like this is what we're changing. And so when I heard about this toothbrush rule, it was like, oh yes. What things can I look at within myself, within my daily actions, that I am kind of waiting for motivation. I did a post the other day and I said motivation is an emotion. So whether you want to see it as motivation is like the wind, it comes and goes, or motivation is an emotion where sometimes we feel like it and sometimes we don't. So we can't rely on going for our goals, going to achieve everything that we even uh that we've ever wanted. We can't rely on motivation for that because it's fucking fleeting. So we have to see it as brushing your teeth. I am the person who brushes my teeth. I am the person who releases a fucking podcast every single Monday. So here I am. Here I am announcing to the world I will be the person who releases a podcast every single Monday. That just flew out of my mouth when I was when I was recording the Powerhouse um live video today. And so uh now I am showing up here to tell you the same damn thing. It just has to be the thing that I do. I can't wait for inspiration. I can't wait for motivation. Those things are fleeting. But just like my brushing of my teeth, it's just going to be the thing that I do. So if you're listening to this podcast, I want you to think about something that you've really wanted to achieve and you're working towards it inconsistently. And I want you to think about it every single time you think I should do this, but I don't really feel like it. Just see it as a simple task like brushing your teeth. I am the person who brushes my teeth. I am the person who goes to the gym. I am the person who releases a podcast episode every Monday. I am the person who focuses on my goals every single day. You can't just do it when you feel like it. You've got to do things because it's part of who you are. Motivation gets you started sometimes, but it's the identity that keeps you going. If you think about athletes for a second, they don't wake up and think, do I feel motivated to train today? Do I feel like getting up and going for a run? No, training is who they are. Training is their identity. They are the person who goes to the gym. They are the person who goes for a run. They are the athlete that shows up. Whether they want to or not, they just get up and go. Just like brushing their teeth. Identity leads. Feelings cannot. So pick one thing and decide who are you when you do this consistently? And then stop debating it in your head. Don't wake up and go, do I feel like recording a podcast today? Because every time you ask that question, you hand your power over to your mood. You hand your power over to the amount of motivation you have, but that doesn't get us to our goals. So brush your teeth and build your life the same way. Go be the woman who follows through. And I'll see you in the next episode. Thank you so much for listening. I hope you've had some laughs, maybe some ideas, and that you've been inspired to take some type of action toward the life you've always dreamed of. If you feel so called, I would love it if you would share with your besties. Leave a review down below. I look forward to bringing you along with me, and I will see you in the next episode.