5 simple mindset shifts you need to prioritize yourself
How to create time for everything that matters
Welcome to Week 2 of An Insanely Simple Plan to Actually Achieve Your Goals.
This structured, 4-week personal growth plan will help you:
Clearly define purposeful goals with a practical action plan to achieve them
Shift your mindset to prioritize yourself without guilt » you are here
Release the fear holding you back from achieving your goals this Fall
Your Journaling Club membership provides you with a structured, actionable plan to turn inspiration into results.
Dreaming of the life you want is easy, but making time for those dreams amid your busy schedule can be challenging.
One of the most common challenges I hear from Journaling Club members is they struggle to prioritize themselves.
I think we can all relate.
Between juggling a family, job, cooking, cleaning, errands, and taking even a second to catch your breath (or try to decompress on Instagram), finding time to focus on your goals, dreams and desires can feel impossible.
Whether you want to get in shape, pursue a creative endeavor, or work on a business idea, you know if nothing changes, your dreams will languish on the back burner, growing cold while everything else burns.
It may seem like the problem is a lack of time, but the truth is:
You can create time for everything that matters.
If you’re done watching your dreams slip away, it’s time for change. Today’s mindset shifts will empower you to prioritize yourself, find fulfillment and live your purpose.
Why learn from me? I’m living my purpose, having authored six guided journals with more than 300 5-star Amazon reviews, my wisdom gleaned from using journaling and meditation to heal emotionally after early life trauma, depression, and a cancer diagnosis at 27.
My mission is to help you find healing and purpose through journaling, too.
Today, we’ll explore 5 simple mindset shifts you need to prioritize yourself
Later, we’ll explore emotional shifts through healing core wounds and seeing deeper fears like those of judgment and inadequacy through the lens of love, but it’s helpful to wade into this territory slowly because this work is so deep.
Mindset Shift #1 — There’s a 5,286% chance you’re over performing.
A few Thanksgivings ago, I was so excited to cook for my husband and mother-in-law. I adore cooking, and had pinned all the best Half Baked Harvest recipes, ready to go all out.
But my burnout recovery was fragile, and despite my body’s whispers, I pushed myself beyond my limits, all while refusing help because of sky-high expectations. (I even made those little charcuterie roses you see on Instagram!)
Ultimately, I needlessly wore myself out making way too much food for just three people.
Soulful, ambitious creatives often set unrealistic expectations bordering on absurdity, convincing ourselves it's necessary when it only leads to exhaustion, overwhelm and frustration.
The truth is, finding fulfillment — and creating time for everything that matters — means reevaluating your expectations in light of your priorities, values, needs and goals.
» Today’s journaling prompts will guide you through actionable exercises to create healthy expectations, including for how you show up for yourself.
Mindset Shift #2 — Prioritizing yourself makes you happier and healthier, allowing you to give more.
Going all out on Thanksgiving that year toasted my nervous system once again, and I needed time to recover.
That meant I needed to ask my husband for more help than usual, and he already does so much.
Over the years, I’ve learned that sticking to my daily rhythm of Pilates and walking and sunshine keeps me happy and healthy, allowing me to contribute more meaningfully to my family.
It’s selfish not to take care of yourself. When you’re well-cared for, you have the abundant energy and patience to give your best to those you love.
Mindset Shift # 3 — Managing your schedule means managing energy, not just time.
Time management is an outdated way of thinking. The real secret to creating time for everything that matters is managing your energy.
We all have natural rhythms. Some people wake up revved up, and others, like me, hit their stride later in the day.
Traditional schedules don’t account for these energy cycles or the power of intuition in guiding you to complete the right task at the right time.
Living this way opens you up to incredible synchronicities saving you even more time and creating better results.
This is why practices like journaling, meditation, sleep, and exercise don’t cost you time — they create time because they enhance your energy and focus.
This is also why releasing emotional pain is essential. Accumulated, repressed emotions slow you down, affect your decision making and trap you in destructive patterns.
Paid members, look for a deeper discussion on exactly how to optimize the flow of your day through managing energy, not time.
Mindset Shift #4 — When you don’t prioritize yourself, the body keeps score.
After my cancer diagnosis in 2009, I read Cancer as a Turning Point by Lawrence LeShan, a psychotherapist who worked with cancer patients for 35 years. In it, he describes the “cancer personality” — someone who consistently puts others’ needs first, sacrifices personal dreams, and seeks approval while neglecting themselves.
I share this not to scare you, but to highlight something important.
There’s a reason why women disproportionately develop autoimmune diseases, along with mental or emotional “illness.” (Inner troubles are signs from your soul with important messages, not troublesome things to be medicated away.)
My last journal entry before my diagnosis was, “I have lost my zest for life.” I was working a demanding journalism job (well, I made it demanding), driven by a sense of responsibility to save the world, believing it was the proper, adult thing to do.
But our bodies absorb the impact of the sadness and anxiety we feel when our lives aren’t aligned with our authentic selves.
If you love your family or life and want to be around for them, you have to put yourself first. Prioritizing the calls of your heart is about more than self-care, but the very foundation of your health and wellbeing.
Mindset Shift #5 — You have a responsibility to honor your own spiritual journey.
One purpose of life is to grow into the fullest expression of yourself. You have lessons to learn, gifts to give, and potential to explore.
This might offend some people, but I deeply believe women in particular offer the special gift of making a house cozy, cultivating beauty and influencing the energetic tone of the entire home.
But you can only tap into this fulfilling part of yourself joyfully if you also commit to nurturing your creative energy, physical health, and emotional wellbeing.
Honoring your responsibilities is a beautiful, sacred thing, especially in a world where many people run from them.
But finding balance is key.
Devotion to duty is beautiful; losing yourself in it isn’t.
If you constantly wait for a “perfect time” to focus on yourself, years can pass without any change. Spending time on yourself so you can show up for those you love with patience and love rather than overwhelm and exhaustion changes everything.
Prioritizing yourself positively impacts everyone around you.
You might worry that easing up on over-performance or adjusting select expectations will make everything crumble, but the opposite is true.
Over-performing enables others to under-perform, and that doesn’t help anyone.
Not to mention, you probably worry too much about things that don’t matter while ignoring the things that actually do matter.
You have a unique purpose the world needs, and aligning yourself with that is the path to true fulfillment and peace.
Coming up, we’ll dive more into the emotional aspects of prioritizing yourself and explore practical goal-setting strategies.
The real transformation happens when you embody these changes, not just read about them.
Upgrade to the full course to transform insight into results.
This week’s lesson guides you step-by-step through powerful journaling prompts to:
Shift limiting beliefs blocking you from achieving your goals this fall
Identify where you’re over-performing and needlessly stressing out
Discover the best ways to use energy and intuition to guide your daily routine
Empower yourself with better expectations to find fulfillment
The Journaling Club helps you find purpose and healing through guided inner work.
Inside, you’ll shift your mindset and heal past pains to explore your potential.
Membership includes access to structured journal prompts, encouraging community and personalized support.
All the love,
Suzanne
Every thing ringed a bell. Especially mindset #4 your body keeps score. I suffered from major depression and a longer Covid than others in my family and friends. I realized the major thing that differs me from them are I always give and give, never have time for self care, even to enjoy simple pleasures. That was when I decided to prioritize myself before others.
A gem! Saved 🌹