Interview with Lidia Chmel

I'm Lidia Chmel, 46 years old, and I moved to Tel-Aviv, Israel in summer 2022.

I'm a Certified Habit Coach and Professional Coach. I help working moms find time for what matters with the power of habits.

I'm a solopreneur doing coaching/ teaching  for the last 8+ years.

In 2019 I published a book on female midlife crisis. Before, I was working 15 years in Finance, left as successful CFO and got EMBA from LBS. On the personal side, I am a mother of 4 children, married for 22 years.

What’s something that has been helping you be consistent?

Pandemic hit me pretty hard. With kids being at home and the whole world going upside-down. I stopped going outside for sometime and it had impact on my mood and productivity. So 2 years ago we got a dog and I took the responsibility of walking it in the morning. I have missed maybe once or twice since then only when I was really sick.

These morning 15-20 minutes walks created such a big change in my life and practically saved me from depression.

Getting sunlight, breath of fresh air, and just simply getting outside of the apartment, sets the tone for my day!

Which habits or goals are you currently working to make progress on daily?

I joined Twitter in April with the intent to start writing online and build my English-speaking coaching practice as well as build and launch digital products in English. I was missing some days, until I made it a priority. Right now I am running a 41-day streak. Although I am not a big fan of streaks, because they can backfire and make it difficult to re-start the habit. If you keep this drawback in mind, it is a great thing to be able to keep the consistency.

I still struggle with making regular pauses for rest & recharge, as I get too excited about work. So, I am trying now the new Flomodoro method to make sure I have proper breaks. Still a work-in-progress. Another important habit I am working on is Saying No to opportunities, apps and tools, requests that are not directly aligned with my current priority.

How do you deal with times when you struggle or get stuck?

The best way for me to get unstuck is to get accountability and support via People: get a coach, join a mastermind and/or a community of people with the same goals as me.

In January in 2023 I made a decision to pivot into English speaking market. Even though I knew what to do, I could not decide on the exact niche, which platform to use, who is my client and what not. After struggling with it for few weeks, I hired a business coach to help me define a strategy and also to keep me accountable on actions. It helped me to move forward, but I was lacking consistency and support. That's why in April, I joined #Ship30for30 cohort, to get extra accountability and support. I met some great people with whom I still in touch and we grow together.

Any methods, tools or tips you recommend for your habits, goals or productivity?

Tracking tools & (self)reflection. I think tracking is one of the key contributors to success in habits and goals. It helps you to make it less emotional and more data driven. It also brings clarity.

I call tracking a "lie detector". To make it work, you also need a regular time to analyze, make conclusions and change course, if necessary.

This is the hardest part, so a habit-coach could be a great add-on. Right now I use time tracker (just google sheet), fasting time tracker (Zero), sleep and activity (Oura ring+Apple watch) and Saying No tracker (Notion).

A favorite quote?

I believe it's important to rely on internal motivation.

External motivation is like fast food, very quickly wears off. Internal motivation comes from knowing your values and living in alignment with them on a daily basis.

Having said this, as everyone, I love quotes. The favorite one for this period in life:

"Winners never quit, quitters never win." - Vince Lombardi

It solves my previous mistake of not doing something long enough to see a great result. Important to note, that "quitting" I read it as "capitulating". So, it's perfectly fine to change direction, pivot, when things do not move in the direction of your goals. It's also important to take breaks for rest and recharge, which is something I am activity working on as a recovering overachiever.

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