This might come as a surprise, but woven into the multiple Ted Lasso subplots involving power dynamics, the suffering inherent in being human, and of course football, is some damn good parenting advice. Stick with me…

If you’re a parent, you know that the topic of sleep is a HOT ONE, especially in the early days of postpartum.

Piecing together even a mediocre stretch of sleep is PURE GOLD, and you will most likely get to a place where you will do anything to get it.

In my journey with sleep training, one of the things I learned, (aside from the importance of getting advice from the pros—looking at you Nurture by NAPS!) is that the most important piece of the strategy is my belief in the outcome.

If I put my kid to bed with a doomsday attitude and think to myself, There is no way she is going to sleep through the night. I’m going to have to go in multiple times … again. UGH! That belief shows up in my effect and my energy. And kids are smart, intuitive little buggers, so they pick up on that. They don’t know words at that age, they can only communicate by felt sense.

On the flip side, if I think to myself, She can do this. I believe in her! My role as a parent is to teach her to sleep, and we’re working on it. I carry myself with a WHOLE lot more confidence and ease. The tone of my voice and my body language are much different.

And guess what? They feed off of that too! They feed off of your confidence and ease. They feel safe and believe they can do it too. In other words, believe in believe! 

This was a game changer in my sleep training journey for me and my kid. And did you know that it applies to other situations too? From newborn stuff like sleeping and eating to bigger kid challenges like educational skills or social/emotional development, your confidence in them helps them more successfully do the thing.  

And the best part is that science backs this up. It’s shown that expectations can influence performance.

So let’s bring this back to YOU. The same belief strategy can be applied.

What beliefs are blocking you before you have even given yourself a chance?

Do any of these sound familiar?

• I can’t set boundaries in my life that I desperately need.
• Taking care of myself as a mom isn’t possible for me.
• No matter what I do, I will never change how I feel about my mom/our relationship.

One way to stay stuck is to believe that you will always be stuck.

While shifting your beliefs isn’t as simple as flipping a switch, it’s actually not as hard as you might think—ESPECIALLY when you have support and accountability to help you along the way. We do this in The School of MOM’s core programs – UNTETHERED and Mothering Oneself Mindfully.

If any of this resonates with you, I’d love to hear about it. And if it doesn’t? That’s ok too. 

I’ll leave you with one other critical life lesson courtesy of Ted Lasso that is sure to hit home with any parent. Mistakes are inevitable, so be a goldfish. 

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