Now that you know what Mindset Upgrade is all about, let’s rage. I have a serious bias for action. You can talk and think and dream about changing your life. Or you can JFDI! I prefer the latter. My philosophy is, even if you fail, you’re still AT LEAST 1% better than you were before you tried. What’s more terrifying? Never trying and wondering what could have been or giving it your very best and potentially succeeding? I think you know the answer. What’s important when embarking on a change journey is to celebrate the small wins, no matter how insignificant they may seem. It’s that 1% that a lot of people talk about. It may not seem like much, but when you improve and push just 1% more each day, over a year, that’s 365% more effort than before. That’s definitely something. So, put the excuses away, no one cares. We all have something that could hinder our change. But if you WANT it, then let’s get going.

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Before you devour the list below, in reality, it’s the combination of many things that create momentum and get the change going. BUT if you can only commit to one thing, then do that one thing. I prefer radical change versus gradual because it’s easier for me. My method is, I make the decision in my mind that I’m going to do something, so I’m locked in, then I execute. No time for excuses. No time for BS. If I do it gradually, always with a back door open to fall back into habits that don’t serve me as well, I won’t be as successful. But, honey, you do you!

Here are my top 15 ways to kickstart your Mindset Upgrade today, broken into 3 categories. Don’t forget to download your free quick start guide today!

DISCLAIMER: I’m only recommending things I’ve done or am doing myself and I’ll continue to share my stories about each as the blog evolves…

Mind

1. 75 Hard / LIVEHARD
   Many people think that 75 Hard is a fitness challenge. It’s actually a mental toughness challenge. Can you stick it out. Can you still live your “normal” life and fit all the daily tasks in AND resist temptations to keep you succeeding on the program? This one itself is a doozy that changes the entire mental game. And you can always up your mental toughness game by crushing the LIVE HARD challenge after that. Talk about a new you! Link to book here.
   
2. Live to be 100!
   I came across Stanford Center for Longevity website and accompanying Century Lives Podcast about 18 months ago. The idea of flipping today’s “cultural prescription” on its head so that we can enable a society of thriving centenarians absolutely blew my mind. Read the study or shortened version or listen to the podcast. You’ll never think about the phases of life the same.
   
3. Think about what you want in life. What do you really want. This is not an easy question. But I guarantee you, if you do something like 75 Hard, you will have the clear mind and focus you need to be able to answer that question for yourself. Btw, there’s no rush to answering this question. I thought about it on and off your years. But after my Mom died this past February, I began to focus much more on what I really wanted in life and what happiness meant to me. For me, happiness is time spent with my family and my loved ones doing fun stuff we love for as long as possible. I then took that uber goal and broke it down into 3 sub SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound). Here’s an example of one of the sub-goals:
   • Specific: time spent with my family doing what we love means I need to free up time, which means I need to be financially free to so I can quit my 9-5. My goal for financial independence (FI) in February 2031.
   • Measurable: my family and I track our finances every month to measure our distance between where we are and how close we are to our FI goal.
   • Achievable: as long as we stay consistent with our savings and investing, we will achieve it. And because I’m not a quitter, there’s no question in my mind whether I’ll achieve it or not. It’s happening.
   • Relevant: Duh. The action I’m taking aligns exactly to my end goal—time with my family doing what we love for as long as possible.
   • Time-bound: see Specific above
   • This is a pretty aggressive sub-goal of the uber-goal. Other sub-goals I have are around physical and mental health so that mind, body, and wallet are in harmony to reach the uber goal. So once you figure out what you really want in life, turn it into a SMART goal or a series of SMART goals. And make sure it’s a goal that slightly terrifies you to take on. If yer not almost shattin yerself, yer not growin! Don’t be a fafa and pick something easy. Push yourself. Even if you think you have failed, you will have grown in the process, I guarantee it.
   • If you need a tool to create and track your goals, I HIGHLY recommend Goalscape. You get a 14-day free trial and this thing is ROBUST. You can make it as detailed or high-level as you want. But most importantly, set those goals and track them every single day!
     
4. Tidy up for f’s sake!!!
   The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up is truly a life-changing book. Why? Because when you tidy up your “stuff,” you end up tidying up your life, your thoughts, everything that is cluttering and hindering your success. And btw, it’s really ok to get rid of the 97 t-shirts you haven’t worn in 16 years. No, they won’t come back in style. They just won’t. Let it go.
   
5. Speaking of decluttering…the “Morning Pages” technique is a really cool one I just learned about to declutter your BRAIN first thing in the morning. As soon as you get up in the morning, just dump your thoughts out on to paper. I type but you can write with pen and paper. Don’t correct anything. Don’t even reread it. Just get it out. It’s a technique to clear your brain so you can be creative and have room to consume.
   
6. Feed Your Brain…now that we’ve decluttered it, it’s time to feed it with good stuff. Just like you should fuel your body with nutrient-dense foods, you should also feed your brain with good stuff, like this website, among others. Anyone who knows me knows I LOOOOOOOOOVE to learn. All I’ll say here is, pick something—anything—to learn, either to better yourself or progress your goal(s) in the right direction. Example: I’m passionate about century-long living, obvs. So, I’m learning all I can about longevity and gerontology. Maybe you want to learn a language? Well, get Duo Lingo or Babbel and git to work! Go on, git!

Body

7. Eat to Live.
   Embrace the monotony of healthy living. I know it seems super boring but OMG you will live to be 100 if you take care of your body. And don’t we all want to live a long time? I sure do! Stop the insanity with fad diets and eat healthy. If you don’t know what healthy really means, I URGE you to read The End of Dieting, by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. He is also the author of Eat to Live. I’ve read both and love both, but if I had to pick one, go with The End of Dieting. Spoiler alert: so many deadly diseases come from your daily diet. Eat clean and experience nature’s magic! Plus, eating clean means you have to get way more creative with recipes and cooking, which I find super fun!
   
8. Move. Every. Day. Pick some sort of movement and decide to love it! These are the things I love:
   • Orangetheory – I’ve been obsessed with OTF for nearly 5 years now. Everyone should try it at least once. Heck, your first class is always free, so what’s your excuse?? Read my Orangetheory review here.
   • Pickleball – nearly every community center in the US has a pickleball court now. If not, then make your own, get a net and some paddles. You can burn over 1,000 calories in one evening session with friends!
   • Brisk walk outside with a weighted vest.
   • Chi Running – I hate running. I really loathe it. But ever since my Dad introduced me to Chi Running, I can run—PAIN FREE!! I can now run longer, faster, and more consecutive days than ever before. I still hate running, but when I do, it’s at least no longer painful! And it’s so good for my body.
   • Hot Yoga – not only do you get to sweat out all the nasty toxins in your body, you get to focus completely on you and your practice for 60 minutes. Plus, you can cry out whatever you need to; no one will notice.
   • Spartan Races – these are so fun, especially as a group! If you and a few friends decide on a race you want to do, you can all work toward that together.
     
9. Watch this Netflix documentary: Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones
   This documentary will inspire you as to what’s possible for your long life ahead. We haven’t moved to Sardinia yet, but that’s the plan! I’m visualizing my future there every single day.
   
10. Make water your best friend. Did you know that water is one of the ‘macros?’ Macros are protein, fat, and carbohydrates…and water. Don’t forget good ol’ water. You also probably have 40,000 water bottles at home, like I do. But I tell you, this Hydracy water bottle is the absolute best. I already drink a gallon (almost 4 liters) of water per day. But with this water bottle, I drink even more. The flow is so smooth but fast. The bottle is soft. I cannot recommend it enough. It goes with me everywhere! Even my sons and husband love the water bottle. They kept trying to drink out of it until they saw my stare of death. They now have their own Hydracy bottles.

Wallet

11. Allow me to introduce you to the world of Financial Independence (FI)! This is not about getting rich quick, or any get rich scams. It’s genuinely about getting smart about your own personal finances and putting a target date on when you want to be financially free, then working relentlessly toward that goal. Some top resources to get you started:
    • This Mr. Money Moustache post was the entry point for many into this world and is quite life-changing. It’s title says it all: The Shockingly Simple Math Behind Early Retirement. And btw, you don’t need to have the goal of “retiring” per se, it’s more about getting to a place where you are no longer dependent on a paycheck, but you can still live your life comfortably. What would you do with all those free hours in the day? Have you ever stopped to think about that? How amazing, right?
    • I came into this FI world by stumbling upon with article: Forget the usual retirement age – I quit work at 35 with £1m in savings, which then led me to complete Katie & Alan’s Rebel Finance School courses. It was about 10 weeks, all free, and 100% amazing! Key changes I made as a result:
      • Determined what we want to do when we reach FI.
      • Determined our FI number and date.
      • Increased the gap between income and expenses.
      • Increased savings/wealth rate.
      • Review monthly.
    • ChooseFI also has a free, multi-week course to get your personal finances in order. It’s like the Rebel Finance School, but specific to the US regarding investment accounts, etc. Get started at https://choosefi.com/101.
      
12. Frugality is fun! And spurs so much creativity!
    • The Frugalwoods 30-day challenge was an awesome way for my family and me to rid ourselves of ridiculous expenses and reset our perspective on what we need versus what we want. And since we did this as a family and constantly calculated our savings in terms of how much that money would be worth in the future if invested versus spent, it was easy for all of us to not spend on stupid stuff. Btw, the formula to use is the rule of 173. Multiply any monthly expense you have by 173 and that is the value of that amount in 10 years if you would invest it versus spend it.
    • Especially where I live in Southern California, everyone thinks they need expensive cars and big, perfect houses. But in reality, no one cares, and it’s only costing you money you likely don’t have, which should be used to save and invest to set you free. Do you want to buy that brand new BMW and prolong your working life another 5+ years as a result or buy something that’s used and good enough and become financially free MUCH sooner?
    • This is also a great article that sums up the beautiful art of frugality: Mr. Money Mustache: How to Go from Middle-Class to Kickass
      
13. Invest. Simply.
    JL Collins is the guru of simplifying how to invest. His philosophy is basically, live well below your means, simply invest the difference, and avoid debt. So simple. His legendary stock series details what investing simply means. Or you can buy/borrow from a library his book: The Simple Path to Wealth.
    
14. Negotiate a better salary.
    I’m always shocked when I hear people don’t even try to negotiate their salary or a raise. What do you have to lose?! The worst someone can say is no. The Financial Mechanic and Tori Dunlap both appeared on ChooseFI (separate podcasts) to talk about salary negotiation strategies, several I have used in the past. Both podcasts were very eye-opening and actionable. Here are both:  
    • ChooseFI How to Negotiate Your Salary Without Burning Bridges | Financial Mechanic | Ep 211
    • Choose FI Negotiate Your Salary With Tori Dunlap | Ep 147
      
15. Start a side hustle. Don’t be scurrred. JFDI! I’m slightly terrified too to start this blog, but here I am! There are endless resources out there to help you find an idea and get started with little to zero capital needed. My three favorites are below and have been immensely helpful for me and my new side gig. (BTW, I was scurred too, but here I am!)
    • Rebel Entrepreneur Podcast: Start with “5 ways to start a business with no debt.”
    • Side Hustle Nation: Nick Loper and team have troves of resources here to help you get started on a side hustle idea. Knock yourself out!
    • Making Sense of Cents: Michelle Schroeder-Gardner blogs about financial independence and helps thousands of people on their journey. She’s also an expert at how you can make money blogging and make money with affiliate marketing. I took her Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing course and I was amazed at how much knowledge and expertise she has. She has literally made millions with her blog. Millions, people! And if you’re not ready to commit to her paid course but still want some tips, she even has a free e-book on affiliate marketing you can get started with. Definitely check it out!

I know this is a lot, but like I said, start with just one or two actions, then build from there. Download my free quick start guide to get you going slow and steady. Let me know if you have any questions about anything above. Email me at [email protected] or book a free 15-minute chat with me. If you’d like to send your questions in advance, feel free to do so! I look forward to hearing from you.

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