Emily Ann Peterson joins to share about how to follow your heart, tap into "Bare Naked Bravery," and nourish and nurture yourself while living with an illness.
What we talk about in this episode:
Resources:
Emily Ann Peterson’s website
Bare Naked Bravery (the book) by Emily Ann Peterson (pre-order the bravery bundle)
Christy Tending joins the show to talk about how to go beyond self care, and to work with self advocacy. Learn how to take the steps to get what you need to nurture and nourish yourself and live a life you love.
Learn all about how to cope with grief and make space for what you need during times of loss in this interview with Debbie Augenthaler. This episode is part of the Nourish & Nurture series.
Host Paula Jenkins is counting down the top 10 most downloaded episodes on Jump Start Your Joy, Season 3. From coaches, to musicians, to authors and several solocasts, get a feel for the show and YOUR most favorite guests.
Who will be #1? Tune in to find out!
Joy and Grief are two parts of our human experience. Join Paula as she revisits the most impactful and joyful discussions of Season 3, and learn about mindfulness, making space for joy, and embracing all of your emotions with three important guests.
As Season 3 comes to a close, and Fall is just around the corner, I'm finding that I'm ready to slow down. Our summer was purposefully jam packed: We visited England, we went on a family trip to San Diego, and I traveled to Atlanta for a conference. It was fun, it was exciting, and it was exhausting. As the seasons change, I'm longing for a slower pace and an I'm finding myself tired of the busy-ness. In this week's episode, I'm looking back at the first episode of Season 3, which was all about the steps to slowing down and savoring joy.
Are you feeling the same way? With returning to school, and winding down from summer, do you feel the shift in perspective?
Somewhere in the midst of traveling, creating, connecting, loving, and following my heart, I think I got wrapped up in the busy-ness and distraction of other stuff, too. Promoting the show. Finding the perfect stock image and the quote to go with it. Staying up too late as I danced with perfectionism. Joy was getting intertangled with shoulds and being perfect and it got heavy.
What I needed to do was re-set my perspective.
Have you read the book, "Chasing Slow," by Erin Loechner? She says “It takes work to change your perspective. Work that is not easily done when you’re looking everywhere else.”
In the midst of sitting with a slower pace, and getting re-acquainted with joy, I found that these six steps are a great foundation for slowing down and saving joy:
1. Agree to slow down. Give yourself space.
2. Take a good hard look at the thing that is no longer bringing you the joy it once did, and take note of why.
3. Reflect on what about this thing used to bring you joy. Write it down.
4. Ask yourself what would make this thing joyful again?
5. If a break from the thing sounds good, take it, and let it be a true break. Notice what you miss about the thing if anything.
6. Check back in after a month or so and see if you want to return to doing the thing. If so, make your plan. If not, let it go.
Resources:
The book list from Episode 101: (includes affiliate links)
Paula recommends:The Spy: A Novel of Mata Hari by Paulo Coehlo
Laura recommends: Commonwealth: A Novel by Ann Patchett
Kate recommends: The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
Deb recommends: White Hot Truth by Danielle LaPorte
Michelle recommends: Chasing Slow by Erin Loechner OR Tim Gunn's Guide to Style
Listen to Episode 101, where Michelle shares about Erin Loechner's book.
This week on the show, let’s talk about some great ways to discover the right time to follow your dreams.
How to discover the right time to follow your dreams:
1. Have Patience
Sometimes, we think we are ready before we are.
What if, behind the scenes, the universe is making that path smooth for you?
What if there is something else you need to learn before you are ready for the next step?
Tune in to the podcast to hear a lot more on this.
2. Trust that the universe is looking out for you
I like to tell a story about my son, when he was 18 months old. He used to be obsessed with extension cords, wanting to chew on them if he found them in the house. We baby-proofed to make sure he didn’t harm himself, and I learned a lot about the human spirit in the process.
There have been plenty of times when I have been upset because I didn’t get what I wanted. Plenty of times when I was obsessed with something, and yet it was kept just out of my reach no matter how hard I tried to get to it.
Is it possible that the universe is looking out for you and me, and that there are things that are kept an arm’s length from us for our own best interest?
3. Try a different angle
If you’ve come up against something that feels impassable, Is there another way you can approach your work, or the dream you’re working on?
Could you begin taking action on a different portion of the work related to your dream?
Action, in the way of taking the next step toward the dream you are working on, is important. If you’ve hit a place where you’re not getting traction on one part of your work, it may be valuable to switch up your approach.
You’ll learn new things, and keep your momentum going.
Resources:
Want to hear more from my friend Christy Tending?
Want to learn more about Byron Katie? Tune in to Mollie Larkin
Loving What Is by Byron Katie on Audible
The Work by Byron Katie
Feeling stuck and like you have no momentum sucks. The truth is you will more than likely feel stuck at some point in your life, whether that be in your business or around personal growth, or at a full time job. I often feel it, and find myself questioning if I’m “on the right path,” even four years into the podcast. This week on the podcast, I’m sharing about how I had an aha moment around “How to get Unstuck.”
At a recent conference, I attended a break-out session entitled “How to get Unstuck in Your Business.” My aha moment did not come from the speakers or the info that was being shared in the room, and it’s something I want to share with you, this week on the show.
I went into that room thinking that to be successful or to be well received or to be on the “right” path that I should be further along than I currently am. That I needed to have it all figured out, and that somehow my current situation wasn’t enough.
And then I started thinking. I like having time with my son, while he’s seven. I like having some space to breathe and to think. I love the clients I work with and I love the work I do.
And while it may seem super simple, or overly obvious, and very zen, I decided to ask my own intuition a few questions, and answer these questions in the form of a letter (you can learn more about it from Jess Lively.)
Instead of focusing on this idea that I’m stuck, or if you’re listening, instead of focusing on the idea that YOU are stuck… what if we stop fighting reality of what is, and accept that we are OK right now, just the way you and I are?
What if we change the Story in our head, or, the narrative, from “I’m not far enough along” to “I’m enough right where I am”??
What if instead of “I’m not far enough along,” I say “I’m learning and in the process, and I’m becoming exactly who I dream of being”??
As I was writing this letter, I found my intuition asking me if I was really stuck. I want to share this with you because I feel like it may be helpful for someone out there. Here’s what I wrote:
“There’s wisdom in staying put. In being OK with what is, right this moment. You want more time. The only fear based statement here is the false belief that things will not work out for you. Let that go. Your son is only going to be 7 once, and you want more time with him. This time you have now, it is a blessing.
About your business, there’s only one you. That’s the thing to focus on, and the thing to sell the shit out of. Because there is only one you and your services are valuable. You absolutely won’t find another client you love if you don’t put yourself out there. And there is wisdom in slowing down and letting this time be what it is.”
Here ere are four other ways to get unstuck.
1. Journal it out
Two Questions to Journal On:
So I’ll put that question back out to you. What is the truth of this time for you?
If you are feeling stuck, is it true that you are actually stuck?
2. Have Faith that you are just where you should be, right this second.
One of my mentors, Sister Michelle, used to teach us that “the right people will come, at the right moment, and with the right information.”
What happens if you shift how you view your current situation, and have the faith in the truth that things are happening, at the right time?
3. Do ‘The Work’
One of my favorite ways to work through what Byron Katie calls “painful thoughts” is to go through the steps of doing “The Work.” When you think of the thing or situation that is making you feel stuck, stop and ask yourself:
is it true?
And then you ask, is it really true?
Who am I when I believe this thought?
Who would I be without this thought?
You can learn more about this one at Byron Katie’s site.
4. Take Action and Turn up the Crossfade
Action is the quickest and most direct way to get unstuck. While you may currently be feeling stuck, I’m betting you have taken some steps, somewhere along the way, to start working towards your dream (or business, or personal growth).
One of my past guests, Matt Wood - a sound engineer for Skywalker sound, talked about how having the patience for things is a lot like turning up the cross fade in our life. He explained that the thing that you’re working on starts out at an almost un-perceivable level in your life. You know it’s there but you can’t quite hear it. Then, as time goes on, that thing gets more perceivable in your life. Like music in a cross fade, that thing gets louder, and then you can hear the melody of that thing in your life.
Before long, the crossfade has happened, and whatever dream or thing you’ve been following is now present, really and truly present in your life.
If you want to learn more about this, I have some resources for you:
Want to hear more about Byron Katie? Tune in to Molly Larkin in Episode 10.
More on turning up the crossfade? Matthew Wood in Episode 3.
Discover your accountability type via Gretchen Rubin’s Four Tendencies
Listen to "Loving What Is" by Byron Katie on Audible
A Thousand Words for Joy by Byron Katie on Amazon
Playing Big by Tara Mohr on Amazon
The Work by Byron Katie
Feeling stuck and like you have no momentum sucks. The truth is you will more than likely feel stuck at some point in your life, whether that be in your business or around personal growth, or at a full time job. I often feel it, and find myself questioning if I’m “on the right path,” even four years into the podcast. This week on the podcast, I’m sharing about how I had an aha moment around “How to get Unstuck.”
At a recent conference, I attended a break-out session entitled “How to get Unstuck in Your Business.” My aha moment did not come from the speakers or the info that was being shared in the room, and it’s something I want to share with you, this week on the show.
I went into that room thinking that to be successful or to be well received or to be on the “right” path that I should be further along than I currently am. That I needed to have it all figured out, and that somehow my current situation wasn’t enough.
And then I started thinking. I like having time with my son, while he’s seven. I like having some space to breathe and to think. I love the clients I work with and I love the work I do.
And while it may seem super simple, or overly obvious, and very zen, I decided to ask my own intuition a few questions, and answer these questions in the form of a letter (you can learn more about it from Jess Lively.)
Instead of focusing on this idea that I’m stuck, or if you’re listening, instead of focusing on the idea that YOU are stuck… what if we stop fighting reality of what is, and accept that we are OK right now, just the way you and I are?
What if we change the Story in our head, or, the narrative, from “I’m not far enough along” to “I’m enough right where I am”??
What if instead of “I’m not far enough along,” I say “I’m learning and in the process, and I’m becoming exactly who I dream of being”??
As I was writing this letter, I found my intuition asking me if I was really stuck. I want to share this with you because I feel like it may be helpful for someone out there. Here’s what I wrote:
“There’s wisdom in staying put. In being OK with what is, right this moment. You want more time. The only fear based statement here is the false belief that things will not work out for you. Let that go. Your son is only going to be 7 once, and you want more time with him. This time you have now, it is a blessing.
About your business, there’s only one you. That’s the thing to focus on, and the thing to sell the shit out of. Because there is only one you and your services are valuable. You absolutely won’t find another client you love if you don’t put yourself out there. And there is wisdom in slowing down and letting this time be what it is.”
Here ere are four other ways to get unstuck.
1. Journal it out
Two Questions to Journal On:
So I’ll put that question back out to you. What is the truth of this time for you?
If you are feeling stuck, is it true that you are actually stuck?
2. Have Faith that you are just where you should be, right this second.
One of my mentors, Sister Michelle, used to teach us that “the right people will come, at the right moment, and with the right information.”
What happens if you shift how you view your current situation, and have the faith in the truth that things are happening, at the right time?
3. Do ‘The Work’
One of my favorite ways to work through what Byron Katie calls “painful thoughts” is to go through the steps of doing “The Work.” When you think of the thing or situation that is making you feel stuck, stop and ask yourself:
is it true?
And then you ask, is it really true?
Who am I when I believe this thought?
Who would I be without this thought?
You can learn more about this one at Byron Katie’s site.
4. Take Action and Turn up the Crossfade
Action is the quickest and most direct way to get unstuck. While you may currently be feeling stuck, I’m betting you have taken some steps, somewhere along the way, to start working towards your dream (or business, or personal growth).
One of my past guests, Matt Wood - a sound engineer for Skywalker sound, talked about how having the patience for things is a lot like turning up the cross fade in our life. He explained that the thing that you’re working on starts out at an almost un-perceivable level in your life. You know it’s there but you can’t quite hear it. Then, as time goes on, that thing gets more perceivable in your life. Like music in a cross fade, that thing gets louder, and then you can hear the melody of that thing in your life.
Before long, the crossfade has happened, and whatever dream or thing you’ve been following is now present, really and truly present in your life.
If you want to learn more about this, I have some resources for you:
Want to hear more about Byron Katie? Tune in to Molly Larkin in Episode 10.
More on turning up the crossfade? Matthew Wood in Episode 3.
Discover your accountability type via Gretchen Rubin’s Four Tendencies
Listen to "Loving What Is" by Byron Katie on Audible
A Thousand Words for Joy by Byron Katie on Amazon
Playing Big by Tara Mohr on Amazon
The Work by Byron Katie
In this week's solocast, I'm sharing about the profound impact the book "Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less" by Greg Mckeown has had on my life. As a project manager and a life coach, I love that this book is both pragmatic on one level, and very philosophical and inspirational on the other. The two key areas that I focus on in this week's show are:
I'm sharing about how I've been focusing on doing less, but better, and focusing on the essential few instead of the trivial many.
Resources
Purchase "Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less" by Greg Mckeown on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2MkaQRy
Greg McKeown’s speech at Google Talks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQKrt1-IDaE
Logan Nickleson in Episode 27 and “Creative Minimalism”: http://jumpstartyourjoy.com/2016/03/episode-27-logan-nickleson-on-creating-music-for-makers/
Michelle Ward on the Friendpreneur Series in Episode on “Right Sizing the Effort”: http://jumpstartyourjoy.com/2018/04/michelle-ward-ten-years-entrepreneur/
As the host of Mom is in Control, and the amazing “Dying to be a Good Mother” Tedtalk, I’m thrilled to have Heather Chauvin joining me this week to talk all about abundance, ambition, time management, and how she found her way to a career she loves after being diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Heather is a true inspiration, and I’m delighted to feature her as the last guest for Season 3.
In this episode, Heather and I talk about:
Resources
Heather Chauvin’s podcast: Mom is in Control
Heather’s website
Time Freedom Challenge – Heather’s freebie mastery program
The Magnolia Story by Chip and Joanna Gaines on Amazon
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert on Amazon
As someone who has always been drawn to a myriad of interests and passions, you probably already know that I self-identify as a “multi-passionate” or “multi-potentialite” - which simply means that I’m the kind of person who is drawn to a myriad of interests and have a hard time narrowing down my interests and my career into just one thing. It’s a topic that comes up often on the show, and this week on the show I’m sharing all about the power of owning your expertise as a multi-potentialite.
The term multi-potentialite (or multipassionate, or scanner, or renaissance soul), is one that describes anyone who has more than one interest and has a hard time choosing to do “just one thing” with their life or career. Many creative entrepreneurs can relate to this trait - if you’re curious about many things, if you enjoy dabbling in many disparate topics, and if you find yourself picking up a lot of new hobbies / interests and moving along from them after a short amount of time, you are likely a multi-potentialite.
It’s a wonderful thing to be, really. It means you’re a quick study. You synthesize the various disparate things you have spent time learning about in new ways. You often approach life and the world with a beginner’s mind, seeing yourself as a life long learner, instead of someone who sees themselves as a narrowly defined expert. Things stay fresh and new to “multipods,” and you probably see things in a very different way than those around you who are specialists.
What about being an expert?
One of the key things that comes up for multipotentialites is that with all of the going from topic to topic, it can also be hard to see yourself as an expert. At least in today’s society, experts are often labeled as such because of their long, linear path of study. Our schools teach us to be specialists, they’re even set up to have a clear linear path from one topic to the next, which generally yields someone in the workforce who is a specialist in a single area.
Multipotentialites can also be experts, although the definition of your expertise might require that you look at what it means to be an expert in a slightly different way. If you look back at the many things you’ve dabbled in, whether that be in your career, or in your hobbies and interests, you’ll likely start to see a pattern emerge. It might be that you are good with organizing people, or inventing things, or that you are an excellent project manager because you have the ability to be a quick study.
For multipotentialites, our expertise lies in the abilities we’ve developed to be interested in many things. While the interests might not seem to have a common thread, if you dig a bit deeper, I’m betting you will recognize it in your own work and interests.
Name your “human job description”
In addition to knowing your multipotentialite super powers, it’s also really important to be able to name your own human job description.
Resources
Past episodes with Emilie Wapnick
Violeta Nedkova on Jump Start Your Joy
This week on the show, I’m excited to be talking about taking messy action with Christine Blubaugh. Christine is a copywriter from Ohio, who has had a very interesting path. She works with entrepreneurs to help other people in being objective about themselves, and craft copy that represents their offerings to the world.
Having been a health coach, and food blogger for many years (along with a personal chef), Christine had a realization that this was not her true calling. She was well established in her role, and found herself saying “this health and wellness thing isn’t a thing anymore. I don’t know what I’ll do with myself if I don’t do this.”
I find this so very relatable, and it probably is for many of you, as well. I have found that many clients spend a fair amount of time establishing themselves in a career, and after awhile they are tired of that industry. Or they find that a role they once loved doesn’t fit them as well as it once had. And here’s where I see the frustration or confusion arise: when your identity is wrapped up in that role, it’s hard to visualize yourself elsewhere, doing anything else.
In the face of feeling stuck, Christine made the decision to leave health coaching. Of that decision, she reflects “I had to just let go and practice just being.” And that is when she got her first client as a copywriter. A friend asked for input about some headlines, and over a text conversation, Christine shared some ideas. It lead to that person being her first client.
Joy comes from taking action, and being open to the unexpected
And that is what I love about this conversation. Christine didn’t know what was next when she left her role in health and wellness. She moved back to Ohio from the West Coast. She took a chance on it all working out, and it did. She opened herself up to the unexpected, and took what she calls “messy action” to figure out what was next. Instead of getting wrapped up in the notion that maybe she had to have “it all figured out” before taking a next step, she jumped in and started trying new things.
In this episode, Christine Blubaugh and I talk about:
This week on the show, I’m excited to be talking about taking messy action with Christine Blubaugh. Christine is a copywriter from Ohio, who has had a very interesting path. She works with entrepreneurs to help other people in being objective about themselves, and craft copy that represents their offerings to the world.
Having been a health coach, and food blogger for many years (along with a personal chef), Christine had a realization that this was not her true calling. She was well established in her role, and found herself saying “this health and wellness thing isn’t a thing anymore. I don’t know what I’ll do with myself if I don’t do this.”
I find this so very relatable, and it probably is for many of you, as well. I have found that many clients spend a fair amount of time establishing themselves in a career, and after awhile they are tired of that industry. Or they find that a role they once loved doesn’t fit them as well as it once had. And here’s where I see the frustration or confusion arise: when your identity is wrapped up in that role, it’s hard to visualize yourself elsewhere, doing anything else.
In the face of feeling stuck, Christine made the decision to leave health coaching. Of that decision, she reflects “I had to just let go and practice just being.” And that is when she got her first client as a copywriter. A friend asked for input about some headlines, and over a text conversation, Christine shared some ideas. It lead to that person being her first client.
Joy comes from taking action, and being open to the unexpected
And that is what I love about this conversation. Christine didn’t know what was next when she left her role in health and wellness. She moved back to Ohio from the West Coast. She took a chance on it all working out, and it did. She opened herself up to the unexpected, and took what she calls “messy action” to figure out what was next. Instead of getting wrapped up in the notion that maybe she had to have “it all figured out” before taking a next step, she jumped in and started trying new things.
In this episode, Christine Blubaugh and I talk about:
This week on the podcast, I’m sharing one of my favorite topics, 8 great reasons to start a podcast. While this episode is a solocast, I’ve shared this information in various other formats: webinars, as a guest instructor in other courses, and in my own podcasting class, Jump Start Your Podcast. And, I think it’s a great perspective for anyone who is considering starting your own show, especially if you are a a service provider of any type (coach, doctor, VA, or someone who works supporting others).
I’ve found that there are a handful of reasons that you should start a podcast if you are considering it. Here are the top eight reasons you should start a podcast.
1. It Helps You Get Super Clear on Your Niche
Laying the groundwork for the show goes hand in hand with defining the nature of the show, and the topic that you want to spend (a lot of) time with. In marketing speak, the topic needs to be “campaign-able,” meaning it should be something that is vast enough for you to spend time exploring, but narrow enough that the audience understands what the container is for it.
For you to start a show, you’ll want to spend time with that niche. What is it?
What do people interested in that niche want to hear more about?
How can you serve the population that is interested in that niche?
And, what is the crossover between your WORK and how you can provide service to that group of people?
2. Find and/or Develop Your Online Voice
For many, it is much easier to ease into their “voice” when they are actually speaking (as opposed to writing.) It’s a natural way of communicating, and it’s easy to use it. I find that many of us who are service providers are an excellent fit for being a podcast host because you and I are working in a field where interacting with others is part of what we are already comfortable doing.
A few other considerations around becoming a podcaster:
One thing I like to ask people when they are considering a podcast is “Are you an ‘external processor’?”.
(Do you like to work through things verbally, with another person? Do you “talk it out” as opposed to thinking it through on your own?)
Have you enjoyed doing drama or speaking in the past? (in some ways this is much easier as you don’t see your audience).
For me, I found my true voice and comfort with being on air several months in. I could feel myself easing in to my personality with guests, and then it extended in to my doing what I call solocasts. The interesting thing to me is that I also use that voice now in blogging, and in writing my weekly newsletter.
3. Become More Confident in Your Speaking & Presenting
Once you’ve edited yourself a couple of times, you’ll be very aware of your verbal tics and catch yourself doing them, You’ll hear the “ums” and “ahhhhs,” and notice your speech patterns. And once you notice those things, you’ll also start self-editing as you speak.
The other confidence building aspect of being a podcaster is that pitching and interviewing VIPs is life changing & a huge confidence booster. After having a big name person in whatever industry you’re in say yes, and then actually having a full conversation with them? Your confidence will increase in your art, and in what you do.
If you are in a field like coaching or consulting, you’ll notice that you are more in tune with how you say things and become a better active listener.
4. Up Your “Know, Trust, Like” Factor with Potential Clients
Podcasting offers a way for potential clients to “get to know you” by listening in on conversations and hearing your point of view on topics. I know many podcast listeners who say they feel that they know a podcaster. They listen to them in the car, while gardening, while cooking or doing other work around the home. These are spaces and places that are personal to the listener. And, there’s no other media that invites and allows a person (like you, the host), into a person’s routine the way that podcasting does, because podcasting is “portable.”
5. Marketing Stops Being “Icky”
Before I started a podcast, I will admit that I found marketing to be kind of “icky.” It didn’t feel natural, and it often felt forced.
Here’s the cool thing about podcasts. Once your show is live, it provides weekly inspiration of stories you’re excited to share across social media. You have something you want to talk about and share, and it comes from a place of authentic excitement. Add to it that similar to having guest posts on your blog or site, guests are excited to share their conversation with you.
All of that points to marketing, and reaching new potential clients, in a way that is organic and feels natural. It’s exciting when the ick factor is gone.
6. Expand Your Skillset As You Interview Experts
If you have an interview show, you will be lining up conversations with experts and learning more about the field they represent by:
This adds to your continuing education on a topic, and allows you to share what you learn with others. You’ll also find that when you expand your knowledge in your show, you’ll have new things to share with your client base.
7. You Have an Important Message to Share with the World
As a service based business owner or blogger, you’re likely already focused on a mission. You’ve discovered your “Why” and want to share it with the world, and make an impact. Podcasting offers you a platform to share this, and leave a mark, and find other like minded individuals that also share your point of view.
8. Naturally Grow Your Network
In addition to learning with each guest, you also make several kinds of connections:
Professional connections with other experts in your field (or your podcast’s area of focus) allows the following things to happen:
Already in the midst of creating a show? You’ll get a free month of hosting from Liberated Syndication (Libsyn), using my (affiliate) code: JOY.
This week, I’m thrilled to be speaking to Violeta Nedkova on how to embrace the life of a creative rebel. Violeta is a coach and a creative rebel who believes you can stop following everyone else’s rules, be your own boss, and do things your own way … and make a living doing it. She offers courses, coaching, and classes for creative rebels at her website, www.violetanedkova.com.
Living in Bulgaria, Violeta and I met during the 2018 Multipassionate Must-Haves, where we were both participants. I could tell by visiting her site that we’d get along famously, and I’m thrilled to have her on the show this week. I think you’ll love her rebel attitude, and the fact that she truly embraces the ideology that there are no rules in building a business.
How it fits in to the tenets of joy: Action
Violeta and I talk a lot about what it means to be a creative multipassionate entrepreneur. Many of us get stuck as we try to narrow down what to focus on, and how to make that into a business. It’s not easy, especially when you have so many interests, to narrow them down.
“If you’re a multi-passionate,” says Violeta about marketing, “How can you niche down? Go with an umbrella brand.”
What she recommends is to see your business and your life as a puzzle, and approach both as if you are collecting the pieces. The key here is action. Look for the next piece of the puzzle, follow the nudges you have to find what interests you, and give yourself the space and permission to build the picture as you go. Our conversation takes a very interesting turn near the end, when we talk about how resistance and exploring the things that piss us off can both be a way to get in touch with the things that matter, and the things we want to change or work on in the world.
Violeta Nedkova and I talk about:
Resources
Violeta Nedkova’s website
Violeta Nedkova’s podcast: Rebel Reset
This week’s episode is a lookback lesson with Andrea Owen on "How to Stop Feeling Like Shit." This episode originally aired earlier this year, when her second book came out. Andrea Owen is an author, mentor, and certified life coach who helps high-achieving women let go of perfectionism, control, and isolation and choose courage and confidence instead. She has helped thousands of women manage their inner-critic to create loving connections and live their most kick-ass life.
I loved this episode because Andrea and I talk about people pleasing, perfecting, approving and performing, and our experience with all of them. What I love is that near the end of this interview, we talk about the myth of having to “be strong” as women, and how that can be both a habit and burden that is not necessarily serving us.
We also talk about:
Resources:
How to Stop Feeling Like Shit by Andrea Owen (on Amazon)
52 Ways to Live a KickAss Life by Andrea Owen (on Amazon) – her first book
Your Kickass Life – Andrea’s website
The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level by Gay Hendricks (on Amazon)
Jill Stanton of Screw the 9 to 5 is my guest this week on the podcast. She’s a true force to be reckoned with in the online lifestyle entrepreneur space, and I’m really excited to be speaking with her about how she has created a lively, exciting brand and community that’s built from an authentic and interesting space. Having started in 2012 with an affiliate skincare site, and changed and shifted the focus and approach of her business, Jill and her now husband Josh, have grown their business into a full time gig with a team. And now, with their new son, Kai here, they are looking at how they shift their business again to include time and space for a child.
Jill and I have a very fun, fast paced discussion about how she has evolved her online business over the past 6 years. She started in the beauty and skincare business, and met her husband Josh who was using social media to support venues while he was a bartender. The two joined forces, and took their collective knowledge to create the business “Screw the 9 to 5,” which started as a dream on a beach in Thailand.
Jill has a lot to share about HOW to start an online business, and what helps move the needle.
In general, the mindset pieces she shares are:
Some of the more tactical steps she sites are
Jill also shares about how having a child changes things:
This week on the podcast, I’m revisiting the conversation with singer and songwriter Morgan Bolender. Morgan is known for her song entitled Mary Oliver, which has gone viral on YouTube. She started her career as a 3rd grade special education teacher and then started on a journey to quite literally find her voice, and listen to her heart. We met at Danielle LaPorte’s White Hot Truth event at Grace Cathedral, where Morgan opened the event for Danielle. I’m so thrilled she’s here today to share about the amazing journey she’s taken to find her voice.⠀
In this episode, Morgan and I talk about:
- How she was introspective and oddly serious as a child, with solitude bringing her joy
- Her song writing process with partner Scott
- What brings her joy: little joys, hugs, and setting intentional time
- Her journey from being a teacher to becoming a singer and song writer that started with her saying “Take me where I need to go”
- Living on an organic farm and hearing her own voice singing for the very first time
- Following your fears and growing
- How she pitched Danielle LaPorte and all about her singing in Grace Cathedral
- Her blog, The Unraveling
- What resistance has looked like for her: trying her very hardest in her creative pursuits, and breaking down the BS that comes with being self taught (and feeling like that is a badge of honor)
Resources:
Mary Oliver on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGCelKTH5I0
Morgan Bolender’s Website: https://morganbolender.com/
Danielle LaPorte’s White Hot Truth (on Amazon) http://amzn.to/2jxQCn1
Morgan Bolender’s music: https://morganbolender.com/music
Morgan on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MorganBolender/
Morgan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/morganbolender/
This week on the podcast, I’m delighted to speak to Debbie Augenthaler on grief, trauma, and healing. Debbie is a psychotherapist, the author of You Are Not Alone: A Heartfelt Guide to Grief, Healing, and Hope, and she has a private practice in New York City. After losing her husband, she was unexpectedly faced with grief, and found that losing someone that close to you causes ripples of effects; and that the impact of grief does not neatly follow the stages that we’ve all read about. Grief strikes everyone differently, and grieving is not a linear process.
Yes, you go through waves and stages, but the day to day experience of profound loss was not something she found referenced in books. Debbie was grateful to find a therapist during her own time of grief, one who held space for her to grieve.
Working in the financial field for many years, Debbie was in New York for September 11, 2001. She saw the impact of loss again, among her friends and coworkers. This time, however, she also saw that since she had already been through that kind of loss herself, she was able to “be there” for people as they faced loss in their own lives. In her words, “I wasn’t afraid of their grief. I wanted to help.”
Debbie shares all about her book and her journey through grief, and to becoming a psychotherapist on this week’s show. She also talks about four ways to reconnect in the midst of grief:
Debbie Augenthaler and talk about:
Debbie Augenthaler’s Website: http://www.debbieaugenthaler.com/
Debbie’s group on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DebbieAugenthaler
Debbie Augenthaler’s Book: You Are Not Alone: A Heartfelt Guide to Grief, Healing, and Hope (on Amazon) https://amzn.to/2kRJKlB
Nicholas Wolterstorff’s Book: Lament for A Son (on Amazon) https://amzn.to/2JAcA7O
Julia Samuel’s Book: Grief Works (on Amazon) https://amzn.to/2Hs3pBf
Julia Samuel on Jump Start Your Joy http://jumpstartyourjoy.com/2018/03/julia-samuel/
This week on the show, I’m exploring the 4 pillars of joy: Inspiration, Mindfulness, Action, and Fun. If you’ve been listening awhile, you know that I think of joy as a wayfinding emotion. I have seen joy dance with people, reach out for people, even when they are in their darkest times or most difficult times. Joy can look like a tiny inkling of hope, a little nudge to call a friend or a doctor; joy looks like that second in your life, like several guests and so many of my clients have sited - that you know that there is “more” to your life than whatever your current crappy circumstances are. That you know you want more, desire more, that you personally are meant for more than what you’re experiencing right now.
This week we’ll look at one of the quotes that inspired my show, and I’m going deeper with it around HOW to find more joy. What I’ve seen in the fact that joy is a choice is that there’s more to it. Joy can be lived out in multiple ways. I see that there are patterns in how I’ve danced with joy in my life, and how I’ve seen joy be jump started in other people’s lives. That part is fascinating. I’m focusing on my favorite four patterns today, the ones I’ve started calling the four tenets or four pillars of joy.
The four pillars are:
1. Inspiration
2. Mindfulness
3. Action
4. Fun
Resources
Kate Swoboda on Episode 135: The Courage Habit
The Courage Habit: How to Accept Your Fears, Release the Past, and Live Your Courageous Life by Kate Swoboda on Amazon
Suzan Colon on Episode 133: Yoga Mind
Suzan Colon’s book: Yoga Mind: Journey Beyond the Physical, 30 Days to Enhance Your Practice and Revolutionize Your Life From the Inside Out
Episode with Fred LeBlanc on Jump Start Your Joy
Episode with Julia Samuel on Jump Start Your Joy
Andrea Owen on Episode 115: How to Stop Feeling Like Shit
How to Stop Feeling Like Shit by Andrea Owen (on Amazon)
A Thousand Names of Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are by Byron Katie on Amazon
The Power of Intention by Wayne Dyer on Amazon
This week I’m so excited to have Doña Bumgarner on the show as part of the Friendpreneur Series. This series highlights conversations I have with friends, who are also entrepreneurs, and we dish the behind the scenes realities of starting a business, and what it looks like in real life.
Doña Bumgarner is the powerhouse behind the “Nurtured Mama” blog, the voice of the “Nurturing Habit” podcast, and an amazing coach. Doña is a dear friend who I met through coaching. She and I share so much in common - we are both project managers, both coaches, both podcasters, and both moms to first graders. I really loved getting to talk to her about her journey and where she’s at. We also talk about her experience in my “Jump Start Your Podcast” class, which is where she got her start for her show, which is in its second season.
Why you need to listen:
There’s a lot of becoming an entrepreneur that’s about highlighting your strengths, and leaning in to what you already know and what you’re an expert at. The thing is, there’s a lot of “noise” out there that will tell you there’s a certain way to do things. A certain way to market yourself, a way to be a coach, what a coaching practice looks like, and what it means to be big or to have “made it.”
There’s so much noise, in fact, that it can be easy to second guess what you know. Or to make busy work for oneself trying to fit that mold. Even when you KNOW marketing, you KNOW how to run a project, and you are a darn good SME “subject matter expert” in many fields. The doubt or the noise or both will throw you for a loop and make you think maybe there’s a different or better way than the one you’d naturally follow.
Here’s why you need to listen to this episode
Dona’s doing a couple of things that are very different than what all that noise might want you to do. First, she’s looking at ways to layer in her project manager background with her coach training, and creating something brand new with the marriage of these two specialities.
Second, she’s actively working on creating structure in her day to mindfully do LESS with her time. You read that right. She’s using time management and prioritization to make room to do less, and to ditch the busy work. This allows her the space to breathe, to be, to spend time with family.
The project manager in me really loves this, both that she’s leveraging what she knows and is so good at (creating structure in chaos, a la project management) and creating something new with it with her more recently acquired skill set, putting a “why” behind the structure. She’s focusing on structure to leave more room for the other things that matter in her life.
In this episode, Doña Bumgarner and I talk about:
Resources
Nurturing Habit: Doña Bumgarner’s Podcast Website
Nurtured Mama: Doña Bumgarner’s Coaching Website and Blog
Overwhelmed by Brigitte Schulte on Amazon
Get to Work Book by Elise Blaha
Kerri Powers is a singer, songwriter, and musician, and she has just released her latest album, Starseeds. I’m so honored and delighted to have her on the show this week to talk about her creative process, about getting honest and telling your truest story, and about how music is a connecting force.
It was a real treat getting to speak with Kerri, who is as soulful as the blues music that she writes and loves. What I love about Kerri is her deeply intuitive nature. She’s “present” like no one I’ve ever met, truly in the moment with you, and speaks her heart.
Kerri opens up about her love of blues, sharing that it resonates with her soulfully. I can relate to this, as part of the mission of the show is to talk about what happens when someone chooses joy, even in the most improbable and difficult times in their lives. There’s a deep truth we each can find when we “go there,” into the dark, into the hard stuff, and see what’s waiting. Kerri gets this too, sharing that “there’s a lot of beauty in darkness and joy that comes from it. We have to hit rock bottom to find true joy.”
Starseeds by Kerri Powers is a beautiful album that has a hauntingly gorgeous sound to it. I heard bits of Patty Griffin (When it Don’t Come Easy). They are songs that (as I say in the interview) I can “fall into” - they are deep and wide in meaning and in musicality. Her voice is a balm and her lyrics speak to things I can relate to on a soulful level. My favorites on the album are “Somewhere on the Vine,” and “Free Bird Flying.”
Inspiration: Connecting from an honest and authentic place.
Much of what Kerri shares about her creative process, which is one of my favorite things to ask about when speaking with musicians, artists and entertainers, is that she strives to connect from an honest place. “If songs are written from an honest place, they connect,” she says, “Don’t shut things out. If it’s your truth, it will touch people in the right way. Work through the uncomfortable feelings.”
Her wisdom here is something each of us can take to heart. So many of my clients are drawn to work that is vulnerable in some way, whether it be podcasting or writing, or leading at work. Stepping into a role that is more visible is always going to be more vulnerable.
The key is that you have to work through the uncomfortable feelings to get to that place of connection. While in the beginning, it might not feel like any one is watching / noticing / listening, you will connect. You will find your right people. Kerri shares that when that happens with a song, it’s almost as if you are reflecting a person’s truths back to them, or sometimes, transporting the person to another place that feels like home.
Kerri talks about writing the song “Free Bird Flying,” which is about her mother. As a visual artist, she sees vignettes of moments as she writes the music. She told me that she wrote this song in two phases, knowing that after she wrote the first two verses that the work needed to rest. Then, in France, the song came back to her and she wrote the last verse. It’s a gorgeous song, that I’ll play at the end of the episode.
In this episode, Kerri Powers and I talk about:
Resources
Kerri Powers’ album, Starseeds on Amazon
Kerri Powers’ website
Kerri Powers on Facebook
Kerri Powers on Twitter
This week on the show, I’m joined by Emilie Wapnick, Jamie Ridler, and Melissa Dinwiddie for a roundtable on being a multi-passionate person. As a multi-passionate, or multi-potentialite (or scanner, or renaissance soul), we can relate to having lots of different interests and not wanting to narrow our work or creativity down to focus to just one thing. This roundtable focuses on the unique challenges of putting structure and planning around the creativity and myriad of interests that each of us have. It’s a great discussion!
This episode is airing this week in honor of the Multi-passionate Must Haves bundle, which is on sale from May 15-17, 2018. It includes 17 amazing courses, programs, and resources specially created for multipotentialites, like you. If you bought all of these goodies separately, you would pay $1585, but you can snag it all for just $97 during this sale.
Here’s why you need to listen to this episode:
I know that from working with a lot of creative people, many of whom identify as a multi-passionate, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. From having a hard time narrowing down the next thing to focus on, to feeling anxious about picking one thing (when it feels like it means you’re saying no to the other things), it can be hard to put structure around the multi-passionate brain, and reign in all of those great ideas.
This week, four experts talk about creating structure that works for you, so that you can create and complete projects that align with your many passions. We talk about focusing on taking action, and not getting stuck before you start work, which in turn and enables you to work past the overwhelm, and get moving. By putting some simple structure in place, it means you have more room to play, to explore, and to bring some of your many ideas to life.
In this episode, Melissa Dinwiddie, Jamie Ridler, Emilie Wapnick and I talk about:
Resources
How to Be Everything by Emilie Wapnick on Amazon
Emilie Wapnick’s website, Puttylike
Melissa Dinwiddie’s website
Jamie Ridler’s website
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott on Amazon
Refuse to Choose by Barbara Sher on Amazon
This week on the show, I’m thrilled to have Lindsay Ambrose and Natalie Sager joining me to talk about their new book, Peaceful Mamas: The Mind, Body, and Baby Connection. The two joined together to write this book after meeting at a conference in Chicago, and bonding together over their love of Hal Elrod’s book, The Miracle Morning. Seeing how it could be tweaked, evolved, and applied to the transition around motherhood, AND seeing their like-minded approach to being moms, the two came together to create this new and unique offering for parents.
Why you need to listen:
Natalie, Lindsay and I dish a ton of very actionable and useable ideas for moms and parents. From both the mindset shift that we all encountered upon becoming parents, to other practical things, like how we go about setting a routine, and how we’ve helped growing children process their own emotions.
This is especially poignant for me as I’d struggled with a morning routine quite a bit when my son was younger. There was something about the transition between getting up, to getting out the door to daycare that was very painful, as my son is a “dawdler.” (he takes FOREVER and gets easily distracted). Now that he’s 7, we have it down to a science (and he understands the routines, thanks to a great visual checklist we posted on the refrigerator.
My favorite part of our discussion was when Lindsay brought up the idea of “plan tight, but hang loose” as a way of approaching parenting. As a project manager, of course I love a good plan. The reality of becoming a parent is that the plans don’t always come together as expected, and so often there’s improvisation and humor required as life throws some unexpected curves at you.
Like that time you discover the backup shorts you’d packed for your son for a day at the beach are last year’s size, and do not fit. At all. And of course, this discovery happens when he is wet, sandy, very cold, and you’re about to get into the car for a two hour drive home. In that case, a stop by Target was the solution as we headed out of town.
The trick is finding peace in the moments. Or, if overwhelm hits (and it does hit), finding ways to slow down, reset, and come back to a situation with a fresh perspective. It’s all in the mindset, and I loved getting to talk about some of the realities of motherhood with Natalie and Lindsay.
In this episode Natalie Sager, Lindsay Ambrose and I talk about:
[bctt tweet= “Take tiny moments to restore and rejuvenate.” @peacefulmamas @ambroselinds @modhippiemama #podcast #mindfulness #peacefulmamas #happymom]
Resources
Website for the Peaceful Mamas community
Natalie Sager’s website at The Modern Hippie Mama
Lindsay Ambrose’s website at Everyday EveryMom
The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM) by Hal Elrod on Amazon