Habits are about automation. Rituals are about joy. I want you to honor that your joy is the whole point. That the meaning you put around things is the part that will actually ensure your future self will actually look back and feel such a deep sense of. I met my highest potential and I showed up at my highest standard.

Welcome to Elevate Daily, the podcast for those ready to elevate their life, one intentional day at a time. I'm your host, Alexia Scard here to give you a permission slip to unapologetically savor the beauty and richness of life. Join me as we explore modern rituals, self-leadership, the gene keys, and the art of elevating your health wealth.

Love and leadership, it's time to elevate. Let's dive in. Hello, hello and welcome back. So, have you ever had the experience where you feel like your life starts to feel like this endless to-do list? And it can be a lot of things that matter a lot to you, right? It can be the client work, it can be doing the writing that matters to you.

It can be doing the speaking that matters to you. It can be checking your finances in a way that matters to you, your family, your friends, right? Yet, if you're honest, you often feel like you're just trying to get through things. You're trying to get through the next task. You're trying to get through the next project.

And frankly, what I've seen with myself is I spent so many years trying to focus on bettering my habits, trying to get more things on automated mode, getting more things on default, trying to optimize, trying to find all the shortcuts and hacks and what I've seen for myself and for so many others that I've worked with who are all high performing leaders, right.

Is that. Habits automate. Whereas rituals are for the intention, they're for the joy. And so I shifted myself into less focus on habits and more focus on rituals and having rituals and ritualizing my life be the foundation and how I operate in all areas of my life because. What I found is at the end of the day, just doing things, just being consistent for the sake of consistent isn't the thing that actually really matters if the joy is lost in the process.

I find that when the joy is brought in with the intention is brought in, not only do you get the results you desire, but you become the person that you deeply value and appreci. The process and in a world that really I find often wants us to go into more default mode and turning ourselves off, there's so many ways we can do that.

We can numb ourselves these days. I am someone who is a massive activist for you choosing your presence, for you, honoring your presence, because I deeply believe. The quality of your life is dependent on the quality of your presence. I want you to look back at your life at the end of it and go, wow, not only am I so enthused by what I created, not only am I so proud of so many special things that I made happen, the relationships I've cultivated, the people that I've really made sure.

See and feel how much they mean to me. I want you to create so many sacred memories. 'cause if there's anything I know, it's that the real richness in life is to fully experience life through the memories you make through the process. And so we're gonna get into it in this episode where I'm gonna show you what the difference is in my language between habits and rituals, and then I'm gonna share with you some specific examples of how I set up rituals and my unique process for how you can choose something in your life that really matters to you right now.

An area, a specific task, a specific activity, and how you can turn it into a ritual that you find joy in. So to begin this. As I shared, I want to name in my language what I see habits are and what I see rituals are. So as I name, habits are what you do as automated behaviors, they are all about the automation, right?

And so, like I said, when I was in my Silicon Valley world, oh my gosh, the, the conversation was so much about. You know, wear the exact same thing every day so you never have to think about it. You know, meal plan to the level where you eat the same thing every single day. Right. And there was always this dynamic of make as many things as possible automatic.

And there's certain things in our life that are powerful to have. As automatic, right? Brushing your teeth in the morning. For me, that's a habit that I go, yes, I'm very happy for that to be a habit. It's not something that I'm like, oh gosh, this really needs to create a lot of meaning for me in my life.

Yet for me, a ritual on the other hand, would be showing up in the morning and journaling, making sure that when I wake up in the morning, I don't just go for my phone or just go to an immediate response to somebody, but to actually take a moment to know my voice, to know my truth, and to be with my body.

Something specifically that I find that a lot of people in my world talk about that they desire to cultivate more of is consistency. And the thing is we can force ourselves, we can effort so hard to become consistent, yet we can be radically honest with ourselves that when we're doing it that way. Not only do we deplete ourselves in the process, often burn ourselves out, feel more numb and frustrated, the version of us who shows up to do the thing is not our best energy.

Whereas what I find is when you ensure you do it from a ritual perspective, when you bring it and infuse it with joy, the consistency naturally is supported. With your energy, because let's be real. When you have joy for something, when you experience that feeling of joy, of pleasure, of excitement for something, you want to show up for it.

You want to experience where it supports you to grow. And so this is what I really wanna activate in you, is in whatever you are experiencing in this season of your life. I want you to honor. Your joy is the whole point that the meaning you put around things is the part that will actually ensure that your future self will actually look back and feel such a deep sense of, mm-hmm.

I gave this my all, I met my highest potential and I showed up at my highest standard. And so where, as an example, I experienced this. I mean, there's many examples I can share with you of where I watched, how I got into default mode, habit dynamic, and the cost it had in my business and in multiple areas of my life, and how I shifted it into a ritual journey and that amazing impact it's had on so many areas of my life as well is.

For my business, for my leadership, creating content is actually a very important aspect of how I serve. How I contribute and also how I become a better leader. And there's definitely been many seasons of my life where, if I'm totally honest with you, I have felt bogged down by the idea of having to create social media content, create content in many different ways.

And a lot of that was rooted in me feeling like I was supposed to do it in a certain way, right? Feeling like, okay, I just need to create more content. I have to fixate on the trends. I gotta. Do it in this particular strategy. 'cause that's what seems to be quotes, working all the shoulds, right? We all know that experience where we just feel like we should do certain things.

We should do it a certain way. We should, should, should, should, should. So because I was rooted in the should and I had lost connection to the real why of it, I was much more susceptible to. Finding myself, just forcing myself to create the things I needed to finding myself, looking to actually find ways to automate it more.

Finding ways that I could just get through it, you know? And the thing that's so interesting, and this is why I really want you to feel this in your life, you know, you could look on the outside and be like, Ugh, Lex just isn't enjoying content right now. That's not that big of a deal. It was having a ripple effect in so many other areas.

Because here's the dynamic, right? Because a huge aspect of what I walk in my journey and what I walk with clients through is getting really clear about what is your highest vision and the biggest aspect of your highest vision is your highest vision is rooted in you knowing from that perspective what actually are.

The tasks, the to-dos, the things you're doing, the aligned actions you're taking that actually support you in the identities you're intentionally cultivating in your growth and what you desire to show up for. And so for me, content is actually a very important part. So what was happening was because I was disconnected from my content and not enjoying it, I noticed that it was making it so I felt less connected to my work as a whole.

I was feeling less magnetic in my sales process because the thing with me and content is content is a way in which I channel my voice. I channel my message. I channel what I care about. I share my values, and more than anything I connect. I connect with myself and I connect with people that I'm here on a soul level to connect with.

And so when I wasn't connected to my content, I was feeling that actually my business as a whole, I was feeling disconnected from. And that's the interesting piece, is we can often try to look in 12 different directions to find all the different things that we feel bogged down in yet. If you can take a moment to really get clear on one area.

That has a massive ripple effect on other areas. You can make it so much more ease useful for you because then if you ritualize that area of your life, you'll watch the way there's an effect in multiple spaces. So what happened was the moment I came back into this realization of, wow, when I was tuning into my vision, I love to share my thoughts, my perspectives.

I love speaking. I love. Writing and creating. And so I had to go back into this perspective of why does it matter to me? And when I got back to that perspective, I went, right, I need to bring my artist first. This is where the Gene keys, again, is such a tool that I use to get really clear on asking us the question so we can find our truth of what really matters.

And so my gene keys helped me understand right. I care a lot about spending time in my imagination. It's one of my gifts, and it's actually one of the gifts linked to my money code. And so when I feel out of connection with abundance resources, things circulating in my business, oftentimes it's because I am not connected to my unique imagination, my unique way of seeing the world, and it's time for me to come back into that frequency.

And so when I came back into, okay, so content matters now, it was like, okay, so what would bring the joy back? What would make it so, this experience of creating content and honing my craft feels so enjoyable. So for me, what I did is before I create content, I light a candle. I don't just write content to write content.

Now it's like, okay, this is my devotional content creation time, and I'm gonna do it. On a daily basis. 'cause for me, that rhythm feels really aligned and supportive. And I'm gonna see this as an opportunity to meet my voice, to meet what I'm walking through, to meet my truth and trust that the more I do this, the more I'm of highest service to anyone who has the experience of receiving what I share.

Even with this podcast, I don't just sit down and click record. I do rituals, right? I intentionally light the candle. I intentionally dance or sing and find ways to just feel like. I'm really in my body and out of my head. I often also take a moment to feel a prayer, to set an intention before I start, and because I do that, I feel not only that I create much more impactful, more resonant content for those who receive it for me.

I feel like so much of that resonance comes because you can feel my joy, you can feel my level of passion and care because I am sure that I am connected to that. And so can you feel that? Can we just land that for a moment? So I want you really, as you tune into my story, I'm sure there's probably been an area of your life that's come up for you where you're going.

Ooh. Yeah. This is an area I often get bogged down in, and I'd really like to feel more joy in that space. I'd really like to feel more lightness in that space. I'd really like to trust that also it has an impact. I can feel in more ways. I wanna share with you a simple three step process that I'd love to invite you to explore, to support you with really setting yourself up with one ritual that can be deeply impactful for you at this time in your life.

And so the first step, which I already started to seed, is one, I want you to take a moment and to pause and to inventory. You might have multiple areas that pop in that you're like, Ooh, I need to ritualize this area and that area and this area. But I really want you to notice right now what is the area.

Of your life, something that you know is really important that you need to do on a regular basis that supports your highest vision in big ways, that right now you're feeling weighed down by or in autopilot on that. If you're frankly honest, the joy is not there. So I want you to first take a moment to feel into what is that specific area.

Then the second step is I want you to reconnect with your why. Why does this task, this activity that you desire to do, why does it matter? Why does it matter? What value does it bring into your life if it's in your business world? I really want you to think about what leverage does it create in your business?

What result does it create in your business? How does it support you with. Investing in your team, investing in other things that you appreciate, like get really clear, like, you know, like my example with content, right? The value is, it really supports me with connecting deeply with my truth, with myself, and really cultivating meaningful, intentional relationships, which.

Naturally creates more alignment in the audience and community. I cultivate aligned speaking opportunities, clients who I absolutely love and deeply appreciate and feel so much resonance with, right? Like connect with that why. Then the third step is to infuse it with joy. I want you to tune into how can you spark more delight, more joy in this particular experience.

And so this could be lighting a candle. Like I said, this could be doing something with movement. There's many ways turning into another example, right? So I think about some clients in my life who I've seen have dynamics linked to getting their kids to go to bed and can feel exhausted by that process.

And so I've watched some of them find a way where every night before the evening ritual and like getting them to bed is happening. They play a specific song every night. For them is a way that helps them to feel more joy and more presence in the process of putting their kids to sleep. But it also has now created this connection between them and their kids.

'cause now they have this shared joy. In this experience. So that's an example, right? Even in business, right? If you're like, oh my gosh, I really need to honor and have a more intimate relationship with my finances, I'm finding I'm really struggling with structure and looking at my finances. Find a way where when you go to look at your profit and loss statement, or when you're going to look at your expenses every month or whatever you're doing, make a ritual that makes you feel joy.

Here's a beautiful ritual, so. Whenever I make an investment in team, in support, in coaching and mentorship, I always take a moment when I send the payment to say thank you, to take a moment to really, I. Think about who I'm sending the money to and also the way that resource will support their mission, right?

So like with team, I'll think about the people in their life and their livelihood and how it supports them. If I'm investing in a mentor coach, a retreat, I'll think about the ecosystem that that person cultivates, their team, their family, their livelihood, and the way it impacts them, right? So I could be someone who just automatically is like, okay, great.

I make this payment. Bye. Yet for me, I like to feel connected to knowing that money is energy, that money is a resource I circulate and I feel much more connected on all fronts when I see that intentional value and joy in what I'm giving the money for. So that's another example. And then I wanted to give, you know, 'cause I think it's fun now that I've given you this framework, I think sometimes it's helpful when you feel some different examples of rituals.

So. To be completely blunt, I have a lot of rituals, so to know me is I have a lot of rituals. I worked on creating so many bespoke rituals for so many people, and that's the other thing I wanna name is. We're also all unique. So one ritual to me doesn't necessarily always have to be the ritual that speaks to you, but it's all about getting really honest with yourself.

And may my ritual examples be inspiration for you to tune into what would be deeply impactful for you? So I wanna give it in a couple spaces, right? So I have quarterly ritual. So one example of a quarterly ritual that I do is my husband and I. Actually go away. We switch off who plans the weekend, and we go away in the beginning of every quarter because we love having a moment where we retreat, where we set intentions, where we have a moment with each other to get really clear on what have been our biggest lessons and challenges from the past quarter.

What are we really celebrating and grateful for? Where do we feel supported? Where did we not feel supported? And then really start to tap into what we want in this next season, because every quarter to us is a season, and we like to live very cyclically, very seasonally. And so then each quarter we ask each other, you know, we name what each of us are focused on.

We ask each other for support, and we name where we're gonna need to support. And what I have found is this really ensures that we feel connected. We feel like we're not just two souls operating, you know, as ships passing in the night. Because the truth of the matter is my husband and I. Are both really passionate, service oriented people who are doing big things, and it could be very easy for us to go into autopilot, and frankly, we've had some seasons where that's happened and it has had a massive ripple effect on our relationship.

You can see how you're just so much more likely to get frustrated with each other to fight more just because you're both wanting something, but you don't have the intentional space. To vocalize to share your desires where you're needing support, and also to talk through as a team, like we are grounded in a truth that we are a team.

And so as a team, right? These quarterly retreat rituals help ensure that we have the structure, a structure of joy that supports us with operating as a team. Then on a weekly basis, I have my weekly ritual tracker, which you can listen to the podcast episode where I go into that. I'll put the link in the show notes where on a weekly basis I have this very specific dashboard that you can also download.

So I'll also put that in the show notes that can support you with writing out the most important rituals for your week, tasks for your week, and where you're focused from an identity level. On the energy you're bringing, who you're focused on becoming in the week. And what I love is I find that I need simplicity.

I, ugh. Truth be told, productivity hacks and productivity tools that are all on tech for me, I just don't stick to it, especially if it's complicated, especially if there's so many facets of it. I'm an analog, I love a piece of paper. I love checking something off a piece of paper. It just makes me feel more connected.

So again, I've learned that this helps me. And so what I love is this Ritual Tracker is a dashboard that I sit down and I plan out on a Sunday. It supports me with ensuring that I give my best energy to what matters most in my week. That I keep it simple, that I keep it clear, and that I also have this compass.

So throughout the week, no matter what wild, external circumstances are coming my way, no matter what's happening in the world, no matter when I get hit with overwhelm, in times where I feel. Over it or I feel like I just don't wanna do things. 'cause that is called the human experience. I've learned. It turns out I can come back and I can review this ritual tracker and feel supported and feel grounded and feel like I have this structure.

Of joy that ensures I do give my energy to what I deeply care about. And then some daily rituals that I am devoted to. And again, these are all just examples is I think what I've noticed for so many of us is where rituals can be especially helpful is when we're trying to start things and when we're trying to finish things.

So lemme give a couple examples, right? So this is why I think morning rituals have become such a big topic. We know that when you shift from your dream state of sleeping into your day. How you start your day there can have a huge impact on how you feel throughout the day. And so we all know those moments where if we're just on autopilot and we just start our day, we go for our phone and like next thing you know, you don't know what just happened, but an hour later you're looking up, you've been scrolling on your phone and you're like, oh my gosh.

Like where's the time gone? I feel weird. I feel like I haven't fed my body effectively. Right? Like we all know those moments. So. When you start your day with intention, and I'm super honest, that depending on what season of life you're going through, just keep it simple to find something that you start your day with that just helps you to first and foremost, have a moment with yourself.

It could just be in your bed to take three deep breaths with your body and just say, I am here. Thank you. It can be something where you do. Some people love something physical. They love to make their lemon water, and they just love that experience of making something that then they enjoy that feels really nourishing for them.

My husband lights an incense for us every single morning. For him. That's this way he initiates to himself and to us as a relationship. Okay? We're starting our day, and it feels like that intentional experience that brings him joy. And then when I think about myself, another thing is when I start work for the day, I like to set again, an ambiance in my workspace.

I like to light a candle. I like to make sure my workspace feels really good that, you know, I'm like watching the temperature, I'm noticing how it feels. If there's any clutter or anything in my space, I like to clear it out just so I can feel like I'm starting with a very intentional energy. I also tend to then look at my weekly ritual tracker, really map out and have clarity about what I'm most focused on for the day.

Right? It just helps it so I don't just go and then I sit down and then I write emails, and then I'm like, Ugh. Like I really love to have clear intention. Then when I end a client session as example, so let's talk about some endings, some closures. So when I start client sessions, I always typically start with some form of a visualization or even a few deep breaths, just something that brings us in our body, something that grounds us.

And to me, it feels like it brings the fullness of us into the space. And so that to me, not only is a way I feel connected and grounds my energy and really invites me to set an intention to feel extra present for our container, I find for my client, it also brings them into, you know, letting go of all the other things going on in their life and their world at that moment and really like extra connect to themselves.

And it lets us, as a unit come into a deep space of extra presence. And then when I finish client sessions, this is the thing that people wouldn't know as much, right as after we finish, I get off the zoom, I take a moment to feel and to connect with a prayer of just gratitude for the session for some of the biggest insights that came through in that session.

Take a moment to really honor and tune into my client. And then I do often also take a shower or a bath, something to rinse energy so I don't carry the rest of. Session with me, especially if you're someone who does a lot of energetic work and you do a lot of emotional work with your clients, I feel like it's extra powerful to have something where you just cleanse.

You can even just go wash your hands. Especially also if you're someone who does a lot of kinesthetic work, like going and washing your hands is one of the things my client loves to do. You know, something that helps you to close off and transition. And the last one I wanted to bring is an evening ritual.

So. For my husband and I, we have found it's really powerful for us to have a way where we don't just like get into bed and you just end your day. Right? Like we like to have intention. So for us, a big part of our evening ritual is that we actually set the space of our bedroom, right? We like turn the lights down, we put on very dim lighting.

We actually make the bed in a particular way that signals to both of us. It's the end of the day, it's the time to turn off. Everything we've been thinking about for the day, all of the different spaces, places, experiences we've been in and really come into it is time to prepare our bodies for deep rest.

'cause all I can say is for myself in particular, if I just go from like activated work mode into sleep, I don't sleep very well. I often find I still have things from. Work that I'm processing in my sleep, I feel much more restless and I just don't feel like when I wake up in the morning, I feel as rested.

Whereas when I set the ambiance, when I create space with intention to actually wind down for the night, you know, again, the different lighting makes a big difference. You know, sometimes we like to play specific calming music, and I always read before bed, I always have, he and I always have some form of a tea, a sleepy time tea or a beverage with specific.

Minerals in it to support us with sleeping better. And we personally both love to read. I love to read before bed. I like to find that it just helps me to really like tap into this experience of like letting go, going into rest and preparing my body for that space. So these are some examples and I just wanted to, like I said, give them to you because I feel like through examples you get these inspirations and activations and invite you based on that framework I shared with you and now hearing my examples to again, go through that process, get really clear.

An honor what right now would be the one ritual? The one ritual right now that if you're honest, would simplify so many other areas of your life that you know that if you found joy in that one area, it would have a ripple effect of joy and lightness in multiple other areas. So overarchingly, the main message, I just more than anything wanna land with you is habits are about automation.

Rituals are about joy, about intention, about you feeling like your life. Is sourced from your soul that you get to. Huh? Feel like you are experiencing your life, that your life is emotionally rich, that your relationships are emotionally rich, that all the areas of your life, you really are bringing your best energy forward.

And so I would love it. If you would share with me what your biggest takeaway is from this episode, what ritual you are devoting to, and why it matters to you. Send me a DM on Instagram. I would love if you would leave a review on this podcast about it and to just know you're not alone to watch how, by you going and creating rituals in your life, it creates a ripple effect to others in your life.

And into all the people who witness you in your leadership. And more than anything, I just want you to take a moment to celebrate who you are, the value of your life, and why you matter. Because the more you tune into this and the more you tune into the power of your joy in a world right now where we can often feel like so much is collectively heavy, so much is changing.

You can honor that your truest, most authentic presence beyond anything else you do is the greatest gift you can give anyone at this time. And until next time, I hope you continue to elevate your life. One intentional day at a time. I'm so grateful for you.

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And most importantly, thank you so much for being you. Thank you for being here. We're really on this journey together. Until next time, I hope you elevate your life one intentional day at a time.