How to Show Up As A Powerful Woman with Transformational Success Coach, Olivia Cook
Today, I am blessed to be joined by Olivia Cook.
Olivia Cook is a Transformational Success Coach for spiritual female entrepreneurs. Her story is so powerful because she has taken the experiences that she has had to go through and used them to help support other people.
In today's episode, we talk all about finding the brightside in difficult situations, how to implement new habits post-pandemic, how to get rid of the things that aren't bringing you joy and much more. Tune into today's episode!
“Protect your peace at all costs" – Olivia Cook
Listen on iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube https://www.daniellecobo.com/podcast
Highlights
💫 1:53 A little about Olivia's story
💫 7:43 Getting rid of the things that aren't important
💫 11:16 The one habit that you need to implement post-pandemic
💫 19:08 Do you check in with yourself?
💫 27:07 Three takeaways from today's conversation
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Building Healthy Habits That Contribute to One’s Success
I love creating habits, especially because coming out of the year from a pandemic, everyone took a different approach. And sometimes we kind of shifted our approach throughout that timeframe. So I know that like, you know, some people worked out a lot, some people enjoyed a lot more wine. And some people, you know, started doing these Zoom groups, and, you know, everyone took a different approach to it. And where we kind of find ourselves now is okay, how do we have our new normal? What habits are we going to keep? What are we going to remove? And what is this new life going to look like for us? Because there's a lot that we learned during COVID that we're kind of going, do we need to approach things that way? And maybe we don't. And, you know, there are ways where we've said, hey, look, we can do a lot of meetings versus, you know, in Zoom, that can really be time efficient for us. And then there's still some meetings where there's value in having that personal interaction, you know, that energy? And so tell us what is the one habit that you're finding, that could really support people now as we're coming into a new phase, within our lives post-pandemic?
Drinking water, honestly. Drinking water and eating healthy are some of the most important habits that I believe everyone should have. It goes without saying, you know, health is our most important asset. Because if we don't have that, it doesn't matter how much money we have. And it's so simple to just eat lesser portions. And also mindfulness. I feel like there are so many other habits that you need, but as far as like, I guess the consumption habit that you have, needs to be 80% healthy options. That's what works for me and a lot of my clients is that 80% healthy options. I'm not saying do not live your best life and try all the things, you know, go ahead and do that – but within reason.
Financially speaking, budgeting is a very good habit. I have now recently adopted a lot more of knowing where I spend my money, looking at all of the itemized expenses that I have, all of the little miscellaneous things that I spend money on, and all the gifts I spend a lot of money on.
Budgeting habit is good for finances, and spiritual habits. I'm a Christian. I spend a lot of time with God. I start my mornings with devotionals that really help center me throughout the day. So having my morning routine, I agree to a devotional. I read 10 pages a book out of a book, I sit under my facial steamer. And it was the best $16 investment from TJ Maxx because it's just a little cheap facial steamer. But it brings me so much calm. To just start my day facial steamer I can be reading my devotional I open up my book and listen to a motivational video as well. And then I listen to praise and worship while I get ready or something in that combination because it really helps boost my mood throughout the day and then my midday is with Jesus because I also I get so stressed out in the middle of the day, and my stress is not anybody else's problem. I honestly feel like the skill for women to manage their emotions throughout the day is one of the biggest skills for women to learn. And my middays with Jesus helped me do that, like just whether it be listening to music, or whether it be just opening up another scripture and just meditating on that for five minutes. Everybody has that five minutes to take that amount of break, to really just recenter and reconnect.
And then nighttime routines are really the boundaries, it's setting the boundaries that I'm not going to be on my phone after 10 pm. I don't talk to anybody before 730 In the morning, you know, having. So I think it's a combination of a lot of them.
It sounds like these are really good habits that you're establishing throughout the day, and it's starting with I know, oftentimes, people will gravitate towards a wakeup. The first thing they do is go to their phone. And what happens is when you go to your phone at beginning of the day, you're already almost creating that anxiety and overwhelming feeling, because you're thinking of all the things that you need to do. So what I'm hearing you say is, start your morning focused on you, and what makes you happy. And really what fuels you, fulfills your soul. And that mid-day – that's another important habit because you're right, we go through these days and, and what will happen is kind of emotions will build up throughout the day. And what I call those moments are clarity moments, those moments throughout the day, where you just get to take 15 minutes to yourself, and just get clarity moments. And there's power, sometimes we get so focused on what we need to do. And when we take those moments, we actually are more effective and productive throughout the day when we give our brain just a second to relax.
Oh, definitely. Because it's letting so much into your life when it's not really. That's not your life. Like it can wait in that same thing with the news. I don't allow my news plays last in the morning. So at 7:30, that's when the news goes off. Because the news will make you depressed.
I agree. I take the news in bite sizes where I spend just my morning listening to, you know, inspirational videos, podcasts, things that are going to lift my spirits and start the day with positivity. And the news comes on alerts throughout the day. Very rarely is it you know, watching the news because, at the end of the night, there's just so much negativity out there.
Yes, and guarding my peace, that's another habit that everybody needs – protecting your peace at all cost. So regardless if you know that might be going on a hike for you going on a walk for you sitting by the beach, or you know, just shutting your phone off for an hour intentionally. You know, whatever that might be for you. Protect your peace at all costs.
That's great advice. Because you're right. I mean, sometimes we consume, consume, consume, consume, and I always say, comparison strips us of joy. And when we're not protecting our peace, then we just let that negativity in. And it's important that we take care of ourselves, doing check-ins with ourselves as well. And that's another habit that I feel has been neglected.
I feel like people leave so much of their emotions out of their habits and manage their emotions out of their habits. And I think that that's a true disservice. Considering we make most of our large purchases based on emotion. We live our lives based on emotion, but we kind of want to ignore those emotions. I see that so much amongst people because then they turn around, “No, it's just business. No, that's just the way life is.” But in actuality, we choose a president based on emotions. We choose our partners off on emotions, and our friends also.
That's another thing, having the habit of decluttering the negativity from your life and that goes into protecting your peace but really having only choosing to have friends that uplift you that you can have those true authentic conversations with. And just be yourself around. That made the biggest shift in my life personally – just being intentional about the people that I surround myself with, and not allowing them influences that can deter me from my goals.
That’s powerful. Because, you know, it kind of goes back to that old saying, “Show me your friends, and I'll show you who you are. And as we get older, we start to realize it's not about the number of our friends, it's about the quality of our friends and those deep connections that you can have with people where you can be vulnerable, authentic, and, you know, have those moments where you have those feelings, and you get to share them with them, and you get to lift each other up. And not let other people's negativity get shifted onto you or somebody else's insecurities get shifted onto you, you get to surround yourself with uplifting people that are like-minded in the goals that they have.
Examples of Habits that Can Help you Take Control and Power
My favorite habits are, so very similar to yours, in the sense that on some days I'm great at it and on some days I'm not. So I would say that this is always a work in progress. But the first one is not grabbing for the phone. Not grabbing for the phone, because I noticed if I start my morning with drinking water first, yes, this is a big one that I've learned. I was not hydrating enough.
So if I start my morning with water, it increases my metabolism, it fuels my bar, my body, I do my 30 minutes, you know, I'm compassionate and race with myself, I don't need you an hour, 30 minutes, you know. And then I start my morning with a podcast, I listen to a podcast as I'm getting ready. And those are really the morning routines that I pretty consistently stick to.
And I always have breakfast with my kids. That has been one thing consistently, where I always have breakfast with my kids. And I also always shift from work to personal with an intentional shift. So if I wrap up my day, I always give myself an hour to spend quality time with my kids. And the first thing I do is let's get outside, let's go to the park, let's go for a walk, let's do bubbles, whatever it is, it's let's spend some time quality time together outside fresh air. And that really helps transition me into that nighttime routine of you know cooking dinner and things like that. So those are really the habits that I stick to consistently over the years.
Finding that Reason for Waking Up and Living Each Day
I love that I love eating breakfast together with my kids. Like, I was looking forward to that when I became a mother. And when my husband gets home from deployment, I'm really looking forward to having that family time. When he was deployed, it was funny because my kids were a year and a half when he was deployed, and I would have full-blown conversations with them. And they weren't speaking, you know, I mean, they were developing their vocabulary, but I would just, “How is your day?” And sometimes somebody answers for them because those are the only people that I would talk to in the evening and in the morning, but it created such an incredible bond with my kids that is unbreakable and special. And you get to start your morning with the reason why you wake up every day. You know, just like you could just start your morning when he's back from deployment with your husband, and you get to end your day with your husband. And that's really, you know, living a life worth living and spending it with the people that we want to, that's why we get to work. You know, we get to work to live, not live to work.
And for a long time. I was living to work, you know, when I set up my life. When I first got to St. Louis, my focus was I'm going to work all the time, work, work work. And that's exactly what ended up happening. But I wasn't happy. And I volunteered in the Bahamas in February of 2020. And I realized that I was not coming home to spend time with family, I wasn't coming home to do the things that I wanted to do, I was coming home to go to work. And that was having more of a quality of life while living in a tent with three other strangers using a portable potty for 10 days straight and doing manual labor for eight hours a day, I have more of a quality of life there than I did on my own in my own life.
And so, intentionally planning for your future, and for the life that you want to have is your responsibility. It is nobody else's, you know, our lives are all created by design. So many people just don't realize that everyone chose the job they had, everyone chose where they live, you know, if you're an adult, you make these choices.
And I guess now that I'm thinking about it, my biggest, most important habit is intentionally choosing for my life. And you have and it's a habit because things change, life changes, life is a fluid process. Even though we go in a cyclical cycle, it's fluid, especially if you're growing. There are so many moving pieces. And intentionally planning for my life has been the most helpful, you know, doing my Sunday resets. That's when planning Olivia kicks in telling you just follow what she does. She's perfect.
That is great advice, I really can resonate with that intention, and that intention towards making the choices that you make. So tell us what are three things that you really want people to take away about creating healthy habits.
Three Key Components in Achieving Transformational Success
Be self-aware.
Really have a conversation with yourself, and define what you want in your life; figure out what's working and what isn't working and where you can make the changes in your life to get it where you really want it to be.
Surround yourself with the people that support your lifestyle changes and allow you to have healthier habits.
Let's say, for instance, you got into the habit of drinking. You know, let's say that you don't want to do that anymore. So you choose to be around people that will respect the fact that you don't want to drink anymore, you want to maybe go and work out instead of go and get cocktails. Find the people that support your new habits and lifestyle changes.
Testing yourself throughout the process.
So many times people will make these plans. And they want to do these things. And it's so ambitious, and then they end up miserable. Because it really doesn't work for them. So give yourself time to actually be flexible and find out what works for you. You can listen to so many people talk about their morning routines and nighttime routines, but it takes you to actually figure that out. Like I thought for the longest time I needed it to work out early in the morning. And I found that no just waking up and spending that time with God and somebody and I work out every day, you know, but I found that that was a shift for me. And everybody's different. And respect the fact that you're your own individual, unique person. And we're all just on this journey of life and enjoy the ride.
