Samantha Hawley (00:01.154)

Hello, happy new year. Happy 2026. Welcome to journal entries and to today's strategic journaling session. This episode is kind of building off of Tuesday's episode where I shared with you a vulnerable breakthrough that I had personally that really uncovered my performance. And I was doing it because I was trying to

control the perception that other people had of me. And we went over why I was doing it and why you might be doing it as well. But today I want to kind of help you reflect on why you might be performing or maybe you can think of it as being on autopilot so that if you did set New Year's resolutions,

then you can really go after them with full authenticity. And if you haven't set New Year's resolutions or intentions, I actually haven't done any of that yet. I really am just leaning more into embracing who I am, kind of like getting rid of any resolution and also getting rid of any filter, any shoulds that I've been living by and embracing my true authentic self.

But the first step in order to do that is identifying those areas that we have been performing or on autopilot and releasing it, shedding it so that we can then come home to and embrace that authentic version of ourselves. So let's dig in. Prompt number one, where have I been performing or on autopilot this past year in 2025?

Think at work, at home, even in my habits for myself. List them all, there's no judgment, just notice every small area.

Samantha Hawley (02:10.222)

Prompt number two, choose one from your list above. Why does performing this way feel good or why does it feel safe? What am I protecting by staying on autopilot here? Maybe you're protecting yourself from judgment, from failure, from disappointment, or from having to face something uncomfortable.

Samantha Hawley (02:41.198)

Prompt number three, what is this performance or autopilot mode actually costing me? Not just time or energy, but what am I missing out on? Maybe excitement, presence with my kids, passion in my work, connection with my partner, write it all out.

Samantha Hawley (03:06.606)

Prompt number four, if I stopped performing and put everyone else's needs aside, what's one thing I could do differently this week that actually aligns with what I want, even if it feels weird or unlike me and things that I would do in the past, what wants to emerge? What energizes me?

Samantha Hawley (03:33.578)

Amazing job. This is the work that we are doing in 2026 on this podcast, going way beyond awareness of the performance and your perceived solutions into digging

Sorry Effie, I'm trying to not do any edits.

Amazing job. This is the work that we're doing in 2026 on this podcast. We are going beyond awareness of the performance and autopilot and any of the perceived or not perceived, but very real pain points that you have and the perceived solutions and digging into why we're stuck there and why we're not feeling better now, why we're not breaking that cycle.

If you want to go deeper already before the next episode, can download my Calm Mind Blueprint. The link for that is in the show notes. And next Tuesday, I'm announcing something big that has been in the works and I'm so excited. I've got a big smile on my face just talking about it. So follow the podcast if you're not already so that you don't miss it. Thank you for journaling with me today and I will see you on Tuesday.