The Menu: A Game-Changing Tool to Revolutionize Your Energy and Goals

In this episode of STOPTIME: Live in the Moment, I’m excited to introduce you to a powerful new tool I’ve developed called The Menu™. The Menu is designed to help you take control of your energy and revolutionize the way you approach goal setting and mindful living.

The Menu™

The Menu is my trademarked practical framework that allows you to organize your daily energy choices much like you would a literal menu—giving you the freedom and flexibility to choose actions that align with your energy level and personal goals. It offers a fresh way to break down your day, from small, easily achievable actions to more significant, intentional choices. Whether you're looking to make "snacks," "main courses," or even indulge in "desserts," this tool gives you the power to create meaningful shifts in your life, one choice at a time.

In This Episode, You’ll Learn:

• How The Menu works and why it’s different from traditional goal-setting methods.
• The different categories within The Menu—from simple "snacks" to major "main courses"—and how to apply them in your daily life.
• How to use The Menu to manage your energy, avoid burnout, and make progress toward your goals, no matter the size.
• Why The Menu is a revolutionary tool for anyone looking to cultivate creative possibilities, live more mindfully, and create lasting change.

If you’re tired of rigid, one-size-fits-all approaches to goal setting and are ready to try something that adapts to your energy and life in real time, The Menu is the tool you’ve been waiting for.

Tune in and discover how to transform your life, one mindful choice at a time.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Creating a Personalized Daily Menu
• 15:16 Personalized Self-Care Menu

Transcript

Lisa Hopkins: 0:23

Hey there. So I've been working on this tool that I think you guys might find really interesting and I'm going to sort of talk you through it a little bit here, and it won't be the first time, probably, that you hear about it, but I just want to introduce it here today. It's called the Menu. So this concept kind of developed during my coaching sessions. I started talking to my clients about goals and guilt and guilt around not doing goals and so on and so forth, and somehow out of that this evolved. So the idea is that you have a menu, something that you create. All the items on the menu are yours, you are the chef, and the goal here is simply, each day, to choose something from your menu. That's it. Now I'm going to break down what the items might be on your menu, but what this does is it takes off the pressure of whether you did or did not do something that might be a bigger goal, like going to the gym five days a week, or, you know, reading two books or you know whatever. It might be writing a song or finishing this or that. Okay, so you may or may not want a pen and paper for this. Also, if you reach out to me. I'm happy to send you a template. So the menu stands for mindfulness, energy, notions and unwinding. I'll say it one more time so you can write it down the menu is an acronym for mindfulness, energy notions and unwinding. It's all about choice, you guys, conscious choice. So mindfulness will include activities that help you ground yourself, reflect and connect with the present moment. These can be anything you want and I'm going to talk to you about how we break it down in a moment. So again, mindfulness includes activities that help you ground yourself, reflect, connect with the present moment All right. The E in menu is for energy, and energy includes anything that gets your body moving and raises your physical energy levels body moving and raises your physical energy levels All right, and we'll talk about all the ways and things that we can include on your energy category of the menu.

Lisa Hopkins: 3:39

The N in menu, as I said, stands for notions Notions. So notions are anything that we're cultivating creativity and ideas, personal growth, professional projects, anything that encompasses, well, your creative self, and this is not relegated to actual creative acts. It can be, you can include those in there, but it can be thinking creatively, it could be expanding your mind. Learning fits into here, you know, taking new courses or trying new things, anything that really stimulates cultivating a creative mindset and ideas and newness, right. Okay. So that's notions.

Lisa Hopkins: 4:37

So so far, we've got mindfulness, which are the activities that help you ground yourself, reflect and connect with the present moment. We've got energy, which is anything that gets your body moving and raises your physical energy levels All right. Then we've got N is for notions, which is that creative space, right, that space of creatively working through problems, of just, you know, giving yourself some time for personal growth and ideas, all right. And finally, we've got unwinding. So unwinding is all about anything that you find enjoyable, that you consciously choose to relax and decompress. Again, the important thing here is that these are enjoyable activities that you consciously choose, not that you default to, to relax and decompress. What comes to mind right away is watching your favorite program. Now, a lot of us default to that when we crash on the couch and just flip it on and start watching by default. Now, this is a great way to unwind if it's conscious. So that may or may not be on your menu under the unwinding category a bubble bath or whatever it might be but whatever it is, it's important that each of these things, especially in the unwinding category, is conscious and not done by default.

Lisa Hopkins: 6:17

Okay, now here's the thing about a menu. Like in a restaurant, it's all about choice. What you choose is what you get. What's different about a restaurant, right, is that you are the chef. No longer will you ever feel like you're at a great restaurant and you're worried about ordering the right thing, right, because you don't know, maybe you haven't tasted it or you haven't experienced it. Or maybe being at a restaurant and never ordering anything but the same thing, because you're nervous that it might be something different and that would be called a default, right? So in this, in our menu that we're creating, your menu that you're creating, you're going to have different. Like a regular menu, you're going to have starters or appetizers, if you like, a main course, a dessert and a snack okay, in each category.

Lisa Hopkins: 7:29

So, for instance, for mindfulness, a starter might be a 10 minute meditation session or a short journaling session, maybe two or three prompts, maybe it's reading a chapter of a book or listening to a guided meditation. Whatever it is, it's up to you, but it's a, it's a starter. It's a small bite, right? It's a teaser, it's not going to take a lot of time. So in the mindfulness category, you can put whatever you want on your menu. Be sure to put several things, okay, so that you have choice, even more choice.

Lisa Hopkins: 8:07

Now. A main course in mindfulness might be a yoga class or a long mindful walk in nature. It might be well, you fill in the blanks whatever it might be, but the main course is a little more substantial, right, like a main course is in a restaurant. So it's probably going to take a little bit more time. And then you've got dessert on your menu, right? So in the mindfulness category of your menu, a dessert might be oh, I don't know, an indulgent bath with bubbles, music, glass of wine. Okay, that was mine. It can be whatever you want, right? Might be a guided visualization or a gratitude practice, whatever you want. The sky is the limit. There are no rules here. Finally, you've got a snack right. Snacks are things that well like a snack that can be done quickly and really at any time. Okay, so you might get to the end of your day.

Lisa Hopkins: 9:20

And if your goal has been to choose something from your menu, particularly in the mindfulness category, and perhaps you haven't done anything yet, no worries, you might look at the snack section of your menu, which might include, in the mindfulness category, deep breathing for three minutes. No worries, it might be a roll down as you brush your teeth, it might be writing down a thought or a feeling in a journal, maybe it's just closing your eyes for a one minute body scan or reading a page of an inspiring book. Whatever it might be, these snacks are not going to take a long time, but they make it easy for achieving your goal, and so, as you're creating your own menu, you'll do the same thing with each category. We just did mindfulness together, and again, I encourage you to make it your own. Then you'll do the same thing with energy. You'll have a starter or an appetizer, you'll have a main course, you'll have a dessert and you'll have a snack, and again, I encourage you to have multiple choices within these categories.

Lisa Hopkins: 10:27

And, as a reminder, energy is anything that gets your body moving or raises your physical energy levels, right. So what might fall into this are things like well, your starter might be 10 minutes of stretching or yoga, might be a brisk walk around the block or going up and down the stairs in your building. It might be a light workout session, a main course in the energy category might be a full workout at the gym, right? Or taking a class or a home workout session. Maybe it's going on a hike or cycling for 30 minutes or an hour. Maybe it's taking up a physical hobby or going to a dance class, right. These things, again, are more substantial, like main courses are, and you can choose. So, with that goal of going to the gym five days of the week, that's no longer the goal.

Lisa Hopkins: 11:24

The goal is to choose something from your menu. So you may then decide to choose something from your energy menu each day, and it may very well be something from the main course which might be a workout, in which case you might end up working out five days a week. But if you don't, well then guess what? You don't fail. You might have chosen a dessert instead, because you were shorter on time, and a dessert might be a fun outdoor activity or a dance party with friends, trying something new, like rock climbing or swimming. Desserts are flavorful, right and delicious. Or maybe you've had a busy day, like we so often do, and as you're coming to bed, you think about the menu and you think oh yeah, I had a goal to choose one thing from my menu today, and if energy was in your goal set, then you might say well, I have time for a snack, because you always have time for a snack. So be sure on your menu to put something on here that is totally doable, right In a very short period of time. So a roll down or a quick stretch routine, a five minute yoga break, maybe walking up and downstairs for five minutes, whatever it is. Whatever it is, you've achieved your goal that day. Do you see how this works? So you'll go on and you'll do the same thing for notions, right, and I can take you through those.

Lisa Hopkins: 12:56

A starter might be a short creative session drafting a brief outline for a project or a new idea. Who knows? A brainstorm? Maybe it's improvising or journaling, or maybe it's simply daydreaming. That might be a starter in your notion category. And again, the menu is yours to create. You are the chef.

Lisa Hopkins: 13:18

A main course in the notion section might be a deep dive into a creative project. It might be participating in a creative workshop or a course, or taking painting or knitting or, who knows, maybe trying photography or something new. A dessert in the notion department? Well, that could be a fun outdoor activity or doing something with friends. Maybe it's trying a new recipe, trying something new. These are all creative endeavors. Thinking about something differently makes things twice as sweet, and a snack in the notion department might be, again, simply wondering about something. Might be listening to a little ping, or writing yourself a note or a post-it and putting it up about something that you want to look into later. All so very doable, you guys.

Lisa Hopkins: 14:20

Finally, on the unwind section of your menu, it's all about unwinding, right, and we all do it, but the key thing is do we do it consciously or do we unwind by default? This is a really, really great area to work on in your practice. A starter, a conscious starter for your unwinding, might be journaling, getting your thoughts out, could even be singing. Maybe you're not a singer, but maybe singing in the shower is how you like to unwind. Maybe it's doing a craft or I don't know, collaging. It could be anything. It could be listening to music that calms you, or putting on cozy sweats, having a cup of tea, having a glass of wine. Whatever it is, it's important that it's conscious. Those are starters.

Lisa Hopkins: 15:16

A main course might be who knows, taking again, taking a yoga class, and you'll see some of these intermingle right. Or doing a yoga stretch yourself, and you'll see some of these intermingle right. Or doing a yoga stretch yourself. It might be calling your friend and walking around the lake talking to her for an hour. That's what I do. Whatever it is, guys, it's yours to create. A dessert might be a fun outdoor activity right, it might be going out to look at the stars. It might be a stroll after dinner Unwinding as a snack.

Lisa Hopkins: 15:54

Well, that could be anything, guys. That could just be a shoulder roll. It could be a deep breath. It could literally be smiling and thinking about all that you accomplished that day. It might be playing the top three things game that I love so much and just thinking about gratitude for three things that you're grateful for from that day.

Lisa Hopkins: 16:22

So, guys, this is just a quick kind of walkthrough of what my menu is, and I encourage you to start playing around with it. I've got other aspects of how you can incorporate it into your life, which I'll talk to you guys about in a future episode. Please, please, reach out to me and let me know. Let me know how this resonates with you and share it with somebody else, if you think somebody would benefit from this idea of not setting yourself up with daunting goals and only setting yourself up with the goal of choosing something that you created from your menu, some more ambitious than others, all of them completely doable, depending on what you choose and your context. I can't wait to hear what you think about this guys. I'm rolling it out and I want you to try it, so let me know, let me know what your experience is. Hashtag the menu. Lots of love. I'm Lisa Hopkins. Stay safe and healthy, everyone, and remember to live in the moment.