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:

1. Discover a small bit of hope
2. Meditate and look for reasons to be grateful
3. Be kind to yourself and others. Smile at other people, look for connection
4. Be in nature

Debbie Augenthaler and talk about:

• Growing up the daughter of a marine and moving quite a bit as a child
• Her early joy of going to the library and finding joy and connection in books
• How and why she became a psychotherapist: her love of discovering what drives people and makes them tick
• How her husband died in her arms, and the impact of that unexpected loss
• Her experience of September 11, 2001 in New York City as part of the financial industry community
• The hero’s journey from victim to victor
• What to do if you’re faced with unexpected grief in your life
• How taking comfort in small things is good and affirming for you when you are in the grief process
• That it’s “OK to not be OK.”

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:

• Her journey to becoming a coach
• Her experience with having breast cancer and being a survivor
• How society places worth on women being able to “do it all,” and how judgements (internal and external) arise when doing it all is not sustainable (and it never is)
• Time Management, and how it’s generally the pursuit of getting it all done (but doesn’t need to be)
• Doña’s goal of teaching productivity so people can focus on doing less (instead of more)
• Who Doña loves to work with in coaching, and how getting unstuck makes all the difference
• Podcasting! And her approach to seasons; doing one season on grief and the next on self care
• Dona’s approach to maintaining a podcast, by doing bi-weekly episodes and setting a time limit on how much time she spends on each episode
• Healing emotional scars of the past
• The crossroads of productivity and self care
• Her 3 thoughts on jump starting your joy: look to the past for clues on where you are headed in the future, allow the shift to happen, get help if you need it to process change, and create structure to make space for the things you want to do

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:

• Her earliest sparks of joy in music, art, and seeing things in color
• Playing harmonica with her mom, and winning talent shows as a child
• Her love of the blues, which she says resonate with her soulfully
• The darkness that can lead to great joy
• That writing and honoring the creative process from an honest place create connection
• Her love of performing live, and the energy and connection that come from that
• Her writing process, which she lets unfold over time for each song
• Advice for those starting out as a songwriter
• Why it’s important to work throught the uncomfortable feelings
• The resistance she’s met along the way, of people not fully understanding her drive and need to do the work she does
• Her thoughts on jumpstarting joy - participating in art, music, and culture, practicing gratitude, and practicing unconditional love

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:

• Being a Multi-passionate, and working with having more than just one passion you want to focus on
• Our earliest sparks of Joy:
  • Emilie: making things
  • Jamie: concocting things, dancing, and improv
  • Melissa: dancing, playing with animals, operas
• The challenges of being a multipassionate: finding balance, while still maintaining variety
• The offerings we each have in the Multi-passionate Must Haves bundle:
  • Emilie: 5 interviews from her book, “How to be Everything”
  • Melissa: Erase the Chaos, how to work through your mile long to do list, and provide yourself with more space and ease
  • Jamie: Planning Day, her most popular product, which provides form, structure and freedom around your multi-passionate and creative interests
• Why Multipassionates often stop doing something before it’s what is considered traditionally “finished” - we often get what we need out of the interest, and are done when we’re done
• What we do when we’re faced with a long list of things we want to try or do, and worry we’ll lose track of the ideas
• How to jumpstart your joy:
  • Jamie: dance, photography, eating without distraction
  • Melissa: doodling, gratitude, generosity
  • Emilie: singing karaoke, swimming in a natural body of water, the ritual of coffee
  • Paula: singing made up songs, cuddling puppies, wearing sparkly shoes

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:

• How they met in Chicago over a shared interest in Hal Elrod’s book, The Miracle Morning
• Their own new spin on how to bring more peace into your day as a Mama
• What MAMAHH stands for: Mindfulness, Affirmations, Movement, Abundance, Health and Heart and how this can be put into action in your own life
• Tapping into little moments that will help to restore and rejuvenate you
• Finding the wisdom in your own heart, and focusing on that as a mother
• The “surrender” of parenthood
• What happens when you let go of the outcome needing to be a certain way as a parent
• Learning to trust that little voice inside you (your intuition) as a mother
• The RAIN method for approaching things: Recognize, Accept, Inquiry, Nurture / Kindness - and how this plays into mindfulness
• “Dealing” with the emotions and feelings children have
• Jumpstarting Joy for Lindsay: filling yourself up first, being more present and getting out of her head, and using her imagination
• Jumpstarting Joy for Natalie: setting intentions, releasing worries, and getting back to gratitude

[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

Suzan Colon is a yoga expert and speaker, and the author of the book, Yoga Mind: Journey Beyond the Physical, 30 Days to Enhance your Practice and Revolutionize Your Life From the Inside Out. I’m thrilled to have her on the show this week to talk about her work and her book. Suzan Colon is a former senior editor for Oprah magazine, Details, Jane, and Harper’s Bazaar, and I have found so much inspiration in what she shares with us this week.

In 2002, shortly after becoming a yoga instructor, Suzan’s friend Francesco had a diving accident that rendered him unable to use his legs or arms. Suzan felt a strong sense that she could help him, and that he could use the properties of yoga to help him heal from the mental, emotional, and physical trauma he’d endured. In her book Yoga Mind: Journey Beyond the Physical, 30 Days to Enhance your Practice and Revolutionize Your Life From the Inside Out, she chronicles the first 12 months after Fran’s accident, and, artfully weaves in the lessons of practicing a Yoga Mind for the reader.

In this episode, Suzan Colon and I talk about:

• Her earliest sparks of joy as a child: getting new books and reading them, spending time with her grandparents, and experiencing the art of contentment
• Working as a senior editor for Oprah, Details, Jane, and Harper’s Bazaar
• How working at O Magazine influenced her to follow the spiritual side of teaching yoga
• Training as a yoga instructor, and her desire to teach about the spiritual path of yoga
• Fran’s accident, their friendship, and how Suzan wanted to work with Fran
• Asana as the physical practice of the spiritual
• Maitri and kindness as part of life, and the way we interact with ourselves and others around us
• The role of intuition in following your heart and purpose
• The “Art of Contentment” – and how being content is a noble and joy-adjacent experience
• Finding “Pockets of Santosha” – those moments when you feel a giddy, universal connection with someone or something and act on it in some way
• Moments of joy, and how they make it easier to deal with the rest of life
• How Suzan approaches resistance: Fear and enthusiasm are twins holding hands. She suggests that even when you are afraid, you “do it scared”
• How to Jump Start Your Joy: by being kind, generating peace as part of our job on the planet, and taking the risk to do something you’ve always wanted to do

Resources
Suzan Colon’s Website
Suzan Colon’s book: Yoga Mind: Journey Beyond the Physical, 30 Days to Enhance Your Practice and Revolutionize Your Life From the Inside Out
How We Choose to be Happy: The 9 Choices of Extremely Happy People - Their Secrets, Their Stories by Tarcher Parigee (on Amazon)
Rick Springfield's interview with Lori Majewski on SiriusXM
Episode with Fred LeBlanc on Jump Start Your Joy
Episode with Julia Samuel on Jump Start Your Joy
Practicing the Vibration of Joy episode

A recent hot topic with my mastermind has been that of confidence. About two months ago, we did a webinar for the first time on it, and found that it was such a deep and wide topic. This episode is a two-part one … today you’ll get to hear part one on my show and on Wednesday, part two is airing on Liz Applegate’s show, Midlife Schmidlife.

There are a couple of things I know to be true about confidence: nearly everyone, at some point, struggles with feeling self-confident. While it’s not unusual for other people to look and act extremely confident, the thing I’ve found (especially in talking to so many guests for the podcast) is that at some point or another, everyone doubts themselves. And I want that to sink in for you. Even published authors, even rock stars, even the front man of a band, or the voice of a super villain – every single one of them has shared with me that they don’t always trust in themselves, and, they feel like other people likely have it more together than they do.

The other thing that’s tricky, and interesting, about confidence is that it’s an emotion you only feel after doing the thing that scares you. This is also universally true – even with outwardly confident people – that you’re going to run into things (often those things that are most important to you), that scare you. And, doing whatever it is for the first time? You won’t feel so confident about it.

The tricky thing? The confidence comes AFTER you do the thing that is scary. It’s a bit of a leap of faith, and that’s what makes it so tricky, so scary, and why so many people stop in their tracks before even trying to do the thing that they are scared of.

There’s another way of thinking of this – it’s not so much that you don’t have confidence in yourself, it’s that you’re feeling fear and that’s uncomfortable.

In this week’s episode, Liz Applegate, Julie Houghton and I are tackling the questions of confidence. I hope you’ll join in.

In this episode we talk about:

• How confidence shows up for us in our lives and work
• What it means to reconnect and claim your voice when you’re not feeling confident
• How being kind with yourself about your human experience of feeling afraid is a key component to working through your fears
• That everyone experiences not feeling confident
• The myth of comfort and safety vs discomfort
• How people pleasing, boundaries, and being afraid to speak up play into confidence
• Learning to communicate more effectively to feel more confident
• Identifying what is in your control, and how that builds confidence

Resources
Sign up for our Workshop on April 20th
Listen to Part Two on Wednesday on Midlife Schmidlife
Liz Applegate’s Website and Podcast
Julie Houghton’s Website
Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life (book on Amazon)

A recent hot topic with my mastermind has been that of confidence. About two months ago, we did a webinar for the first time on it, and found that it was such a deep and wide topic. This episode is a two-part one … today you’ll get to hear part one on my show and on Wednesday, part two is airing on Liz Applegate’s show, Midlife Schmidlife.

There are a couple of things I know to be true about confidence: nearly everyone, at some point, struggles with feeling self-confident. While it’s not unusual for other people to look and act extremely confident, the thing I’ve found (especially in talking to so many guests for the podcast) is that at some point or another, everyone doubts themselves. And I want that to sink in for you. Even published authors, even rock stars, even the front man of a band, or the voice of a super villain – every single one of them has shared with me that they don’t always trust in themselves, and, they feel like other people likely have it more together than they do.

The other thing that’s tricky, and interesting, about confidence is that it’s an emotion you only feel after doing the thing that scares you. This is also universally true – even with outwardly confident people – that you’re going to run into things (often those things that are most important to you), that scare you. And, doing whatever it is for the first time? You won’t feel so confident about it.

The tricky thing? The confidence comes AFTER you do the thing that is scary. It’s a bit of a leap of faith, and that’s what makes it so tricky, so scary, and why so many people stop in their tracks before even trying to do the thing that they are scared of.

There’s another way of thinking of this – it’s not so much that you don’t have confidence in yourself, it’s that you’re feeling fear and that’s uncomfortable.

In this week’s episode, Liz Applegate, Julie Houghton and I are tackling the questions of confidence. I hope you’ll join in.

In this episode we talk about:

• How confidence shows up for us in our lives and work
• What it means to reconnect and claim your voice when you’re not feeling confident
• How being kind with yourself about your human experience of feeling afraid is a key component to working through your fears
• That everyone experiences not feeling confident
• The myth of comfort and safety vs discomfort
• How people pleasing, boundaries, and being afraid to speak up play into confidence
• Learning to communicate more effectively to feel more confident
• Identifying what is in your control, and how that builds confidence

Resources
Sign up for our Workshop on April 20th
Listen to Part Two on Wednesday on Midlife Schmidlife
Liz Applegate’s Website and Podcast
Julie Houghton’s Website
Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life (book on Amazon)

A recent hot topic with my mastermind has been that of confidence. About two months ago, we did a webinar for the first time on it, and found that it was such a deep and wide topic. This episode is a two-part one … today you’ll get to hear part one on my show and on Wednesday, part two is airing on Liz Applegate’s show, Midlife Schmidlife.

There are a couple of things I know to be true about confidence: nearly everyone, at some point, struggles with feeling self-confident. While it’s not unusual for other people to look and act extremely confident, the thing I’ve found (especially in talking to so many guests for the podcast) is that at some point or another, everyone doubts themselves. And I want that to sink in for you. Even published authors, even rock stars, even the front man of a band, or the voice of a super villain – every single one of them has shared with me that they don’t always trust in themselves, and, they feel like other people likely have it more together than they do.

The other thing that’s tricky, and interesting, about confidence is that it’s an emotion you only feel after doing the thing that scares you. This is also universally true – even with outwardly confident people – that you’re going to run into things (often those things that are most important to you), that scare you. And, doing whatever it is for the first time? You won’t feel so confident about it.

The tricky thing? The confidence comes AFTER you do the thing that is scary. It’s a bit of a leap of faith, and that’s what makes it so tricky, so scary, and why so many people stop in their tracks before even trying to do the thing that they are scared of.

There’s another way of thinking of this – it’s not so much that you don’t have confidence in yourself, it’s that you’re feeling fear and that’s uncomfortable.

In this week’s episode, Liz Applegate, Julie Houghton and I are tackling the questions of confidence. I hope you’ll join in.

In this episode we talk about:

• How confidence shows up for us in our lives and work
• What it means to reconnect and claim your voice when you’re not feeling confident
• How being kind with yourself about your human experience of feeling afraid is a key component to working through your fears
• That everyone experiences not feeling confident
• The myth of comfort and safety vs discomfort
• How people pleasing, boundaries, and being afraid to speak up play into confidence
• Learning to communicate more effectively to feel more confident
• Identifying what is in your control, and how that builds confidence

Resources
Sign up for our Workshop on April 20th
Listen to Part Two on Wednesday on Midlife Schmidlife
Liz Applegate’s Website and Podcast
Julie Houghton’s Website
Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life (book on Amazon)

As an illustrator, designer, and artist, Mandy returned to drawing after a fairly long absence. What I’ve noticed about people who have a grasp on joy is that they often are actively making space to do the things they love in their lives. They take the time to listen to what their heart is saying to them, and they are open to the nudges that they get from the universe along the way.

In the last month, I’ve been talking a lot about this - and  I’m calling “Practicing the vibration of joy.” In a nutshell, it means that joy is more than a simple choice, but it’s also a choice that you must take action on to really feel the benefits of the emotion of joy. Simply put, you’ve got to DO something joyful in order to then feel the emotion of joy, and so, I’ve been looking at ways that people have made an intentional point of actively following joy. Mandy Ford and her work really stood out for me, and so this week I’m re-sharing the interview with her (that originally aired in Season 2 as episode 97).

Link: http://jumpstartyourjoy.com/2017/08/inspiration-doodling-becoming-illustrator/

I started putting this all together after speaking to Fred LeBlanc, in episode 125. He made it a point to get curious about what was missing from his life, when he noticed that he was not feeling connected and joyful. He then made an active and purposeful choice to find his way back to joy. I see a ton of similarities in his approach and the way Mandy found her way back to drawing.

I love how Mandy has said yes to this inspiration, and following the many nudges she’s gotten from God and the universe along the way. As she says about that moment that she returned to drawing, “my soul knows something that it isn’t ready to tell me yet.” I know you’re going to be delighted and inspired by Mandy.

In this look back episode (which was originally episode 97), Mandy Ford and I talk about:

- how she loved collecting rocks as a child, along with  Lisa Frank stickers and all things “Poochie”

- how working at a Earlham College (a Quaker seminary) has changed her life and shaped her drawing

- that her journey of taking a writing class brought her back to her love of drawing

- how she got a licensing deal just four months after she returned to drawing

- how she approaches the creative process

- her work with Illustrated Faith, creating scrapbooking kits

- her tips for Instagram and finding a community there

- the work she's most proud of to date (spoiler: it's being a mom to her twin boys)

- what harmony looks like for Mandy, in her life

- her thoughts on jump starting your joy - taking time to look up and notice the world around you, being kind, and giving freely to people

Resources

Mandy Ford's Website

Mandy Ford's Instagram feed

Mandy Ford's "Create Your Own Crazy Doodle" class on Skillshare

Jessica Swift's website (including the link to her Pattern Camp)

This week on the show, I’m excited to share a solocast all about why joy matters. I recently had a series of aha moments around the interviews with Fred Leblanc and Julia Samuels, along with the work I’ve been doing in Tiffany Han’s Inner Circle - that led me to a realization that joy isn’t just a choice, but it’s a necessity and it’s something we need to make room for everyday, in some way.

This big aha moment has roots in four places:

1. Living a joyful life, and being dedicated to joy means going beyond choosing joy. This first part comes from the Henri Nouwen quote, “Joy is a choice and we must keep choosing it.”
2. It means actively practicing joy and spending time with joy. Joy is energy, and we can choose to engage with this energy. (Fred Leblanc from Episode 125)
3. We can carve out time for joy, making it something we add to our days, purposefully. Life will continue to throw difficult things at us. (Julia Samuel, Episode 127)
4. This ties in with the Law of Attraction, and setting aside time to “play” with joy, you are “Practicing the Vibration of Joy.”

In this episode, I talk about:

• How we decide to focus our energy, and how emotions are tied with energy
• The impact that my discussion with Fred LeBlanc had on me, around making choices of how we spend our energy
• How in grief work, those who are grieving are encouraged to spend pockets of time feeling something besides grief (along with other practices)
• That we need to make room for, and carve out time to interact with joy every day, before we get to the place of feeling detached or distracted
• That we can develop a practice of joy, and build it into our days
• How scout ants set out to find things, daily, and the purpose is exploration (just as you should set out to discover joy). They don’t always find food, but they keep going.
• Once you’ve discovered joy, accessing it and growing on it may feel more in flow.
• Being careful not to judge yourself about how you practice joy, what it looks like, or if finding joy is a worthy practice. Put negative self talk aside, and keep going.

Resources

Fred LeBlanc on Jump Start Your Joy (Episode 125) http://jumpstartyourjoy.com/2018/03/fredleblanc/

Julia Samuel on Jump Start Your Joy (Episode 127)http://jumpstartyourjoy.com/2018/03/julia-samuel/

Julia Cameron’s book, The Artist’s Way, on Amazon https://amzn.to/2H1GYEx

Sign up for the Confidence Webinar by visiting this link. https://app.convertkit.com/landing_pages/359391

This week’s interview with personal stylist and coach, Rayne Parvis is one of those special and fun discussions that really feels more like a chat with an old friend than an interview. Rayne and I hit it off from the start, and we laugh so hard in this interview that it’s a total delight to be sharing it with you this week.

Rayne has been very joyfully styling clients now for the past few years, and she taps in to her own gift of being able to “see you in your best potential.” She loves helping people pair down their own clothes, pick out what works, and shop with them to find new pieces to compliment their style.

What I love about Rayne is that she took the time to answer my own bizarre questions , including - what styles look best on someone who is 4 foot 10?
Do these ¾ length sleeves make my butt look big?
Why can’t I let go of these shoes I bought in Boston 20 years ago, but have never worn?

You’ll want to tune in for the answers, because Rayne and I have so much fun going through all of these questions and more.

Rayne and I talk about:

• Her book: Ultimate Guide to Style: From Drab to Fab by Rayne Parvis
• Rayne’s earliest spark of joy - riding a bike with her friends, and surprising / not surprising herself herself when she took off on two wheels for the first time
• The difference between fashion, and personal style, and why you need to know what works for you (and not just what’s trendy)
• How to dress for your body type
• That you should take a picture of yourself in an outfit, to see what it looks like on your, and update from there
• Why you need to find style icons that are a match to your own body type, and use them as inspiration.
• The magic of outwardness and inwardness of fashion
• Rayne’s past career as standup comedienne Raynecat, including her time doing a TV pilot with CoCoa Brown
• Her take on standup comedy - being the highest of highs and the lowest of lows
• How she got started in her styling business - by saying yes, following her heart, and speaking in to what she knows she is good at
• Where she has seen resistance

Resources
Ultimate Guide to Style: From Drab to Fab by Rayne Parvis
Rayne Parvis’ Website
Rayne Parvis on Instagram

This week’s interview with personal stylist and coach, Rayne Parvis is one of those special and fun discussions that really feels more like a chat with an old friend than an interview. Rayne and I hit it off from the start, and we laugh so hard in this interview that it’s a total delight to be sharing it with you this week.

Rayne has been very joyfully styling clients now for the past few years, and she taps in to her own gift of being able to “see you in your best potential.” She loves helping people pair down their own clothes, pick out what works, and shop with them to find new pieces to compliment their style.

What I love about Rayne is that she took the time to answer my own bizarre questions , including - what styles look best on someone who is 4 foot 10?
Do these ¾ length sleeves make my butt look big?
Why can’t I let go of these shoes I bought in Boston 20 years ago, but have never worn?

You’ll want to tune in for the answers, because Rayne and I have so much fun going through all of these questions and more.

Rayne and I talk about:

• Her book: Ultimate Guide to Style: From Drab to Fab by Rayne Parvis
• Rayne’s earliest spark of joy - riding a bike with her friends, and surprising / not surprising herself herself when she took off on two wheels for the first time
• The difference between fashion, and personal style, and why you need to know what works for you (and not just what’s trendy)
• How to dress for your body type
• That you should take a picture of yourself in an outfit, to see what it looks like on your, and update from there
• Why you need to find style icons that are a match to your own body type, and use them as inspiration.
• The magic of outwardness and inwardness of fashion
• Rayne’s past career as standup comedienne Raynecat, including her time doing a TV pilot with CoCoa Brown
• Her take on standup comedy - being the highest of highs and the lowest of lows
• How she got started in her styling business - by saying yes, following her heart, and speaking in to what she knows she is good at
• Where she has seen resistance

Resources
Ultimate Guide to Style: From Drab to Fab by Rayne Parvis
Rayne Parvis’ Website
Rayne Parvis on Instagram

This week, I’m delighted to have Lara Heacock joining me for the second installment of the Friendpreneur Series. This series focuses on conversations with friends, who are entrepreneurs. Many of the people are friends I’ve met either through the show (and have been on before!) or through contacts in coaching. I’ve found that starting and running a small business is something very new to many of us, who have grown up without examples of people who are entrepreneurs in our day-to-day.

I had the pleasure of meeting Lara in coach training over three years ago in the Courageous Living Coaching Certification program. She’s so full of life and joy and I have loved getting to know her better, and seeing her grow her coaching practice. She’s joining me this week for the Friendpreneur Series to share about her new book - Practical Kindness, and balancing a 9 to 5 job with her coaching. We laugh, we share lots of entrepreneur tips, and I know you’ll love getting to know her.

Lara and I talk about:

• Bringing kindness and joy to corporate settings and work
• Recognizing that there will always be fear in pursuing our dreams
• How to work with fear
• Holding ourselves accountable for kindness
• Lara’s experience in writing her new book, Practical Kindness
• The courage of being imperfect
• Creating boundaries and having difficult discussions
• The rise of the gig economy and how it ties in to 9 to 5 jobs
• Masterminds and the importance of connections as an entrepreneur
• Tips tricks and tools: finding a mastermind, figuring out what works for you energetically, don’t pick up your phone first thing in the morning when you wake up, and getting in touch with what you need in each moment

Resources
Lara Heacock’s site: Kind Over Matter
Practical Kindness by Lara Heacock (on Amazon)
Amazing alarm clock on Amazon
Gretchen Rubin’s four tendencies framework test
Emilie Wapnick’s “How to Be Everything” on Amazon

Past Friendpreneur Series:
Christy Tending on Self Advocacy, Going Beyond Self Care

This week, I’m delighted to have Lara Heacock joining me for the second installment of the Friendpreneur Series. This series focuses on conversations with friends, who are entrepreneurs. Many of the people are friends I’ve met either through the show (and have been on before!) or through contacts in coaching. I’ve found that starting and running a small business is something very new to many of us, who have grown up without examples of people who are entrepreneurs in our day-to-day.

I had the pleasure of meeting Lara in coach training over three years ago in the Courageous Living Coaching Certification program. She’s so full of life and joy and I have loved getting to know her better, and seeing her grow her coaching practice. She’s joining me this week for the Friendpreneur Series to share about her new book - Practical Kindness, and balancing a 9 to 5 job with her coaching. We laugh, we share lots of entrepreneur tips, and I know you’ll love getting to know her.

Lara and I talk about:

• Bringing kindness and joy to corporate settings and work
• Recognizing that there will always be fear in pursuing our dreams
• How to work with fear
• Holding ourselves accountable for kindness
• Lara’s experience in writing her new book, Practical Kindness
• The courage of being imperfect
• Creating boundaries and having difficult discussions
• The rise of the gig economy and how it ties in to 9 to 5 jobs
• Masterminds and the importance of connections as an entrepreneur
• Tips tricks and tools: finding a mastermind, figuring out what works for you energetically, don’t pick up your phone first thing in the morning when you wake up, and getting in touch with what you need in each moment

Resources
Lara Heacock’s site: Kind Over Matter
Practical Kindness by Lara Heacock (on Amazon)
Amazing alarm clock on Amazon
Gretchen Rubin’s four tendencies framework test
Emilie Wapnick’s “How to Be Everything” on Amazon

Past Friendpreneur Series:
Christy Tending on Self Advocacy, Going Beyond Self Care

This week, I’m delighted to have Lara Heacock joining me for the second installment of the Friendpreneur Series. This series focuses on conversations with friends, who are entrepreneurs. Many of the people are friends I’ve met either through the show (and have been on before!) or through contacts in coaching. I’ve found that starting and running a small business is something very new to many of us, who have grown up without examples of people who are entrepreneurs in our day-to-day.

I had the pleasure of meeting Lara in coach training over three years ago in the Courageous Living Coaching Certification program. She’s so full of life and joy and I have loved getting to know her better, and seeing her grow her coaching practice. She’s joining me this week for the Friendpreneur Series to share about her new book - Practical Kindness, and balancing a 9 to 5 job with her coaching. We laugh, we share lots of entrepreneur tips, and I know you’ll love getting to know her.

Lara and I talk about:

• Bringing kindness and joy to corporate settings and work
• Recognizing that there will always be fear in pursuing our dreams
• How to work with fear
• Holding ourselves accountable for kindness
• Lara’s experience in writing her new book, Practical Kindness
• The courage of being imperfect
• Creating boundaries and having difficult discussions
• The rise of the gig economy and how it ties in to 9 to 5 jobs
• Masterminds and the importance of connections as an entrepreneur
• Tips tricks and tools: finding a mastermind, figuring out what works for you energetically, don’t pick up your phone first thing in the morning when you wake up, and getting in touch with what you need in each moment

Resources
Lara Heacock’s site: Kind Over Matter
Practical Kindness by Lara Heacock (on Amazon)
Amazing alarm clock on Amazon
Gretchen Rubin’s four tendencies framework test
Emilie Wapnick’s “How to Be Everything” on Amazon

Past Friendpreneur Series:
Christy Tending on Self Advocacy, Going Beyond Self Care

This week, I’m delighted to have Lara Heacock joining me for the second installment of the Friendpreneur Series. This series focuses on conversations with friends, who are entrepreneurs. Many of the people are friends I’ve met either through the show (and have been on before!) or through contacts in coaching. I’ve found that starting and running a small business is something very new to many of us, who have grown up without examples of people who are entrepreneurs in our day-to-day.

I had the pleasure of meeting Lara in coach training over three years ago in the Courageous Living Coaching Certification program. She’s so full of life and joy and I have loved getting to know her better, and seeing her grow her coaching practice. She’s joining me this week for the Friendpreneur Series to share about her new book - Practical Kindness, and balancing a 9 to 5 job with her coaching. We laugh, we share lots of entrepreneur tips, and I know you’ll love getting to know her.

Lara and I talk about:

• Bringing kindness and joy to corporate settings and work
• Recognizing that there will always be fear in pursuing our dreams
• How to work with fear
• Holding ourselves accountable for kindness
• Lara’s experience in writing her new book, Practical Kindness
• The courage of being imperfect
• Creating boundaries and having difficult discussions
• The rise of the gig economy and how it ties in to 9 to 5 jobs
• Masterminds and the importance of connections as an entrepreneur
• Tips tricks and tools: finding a mastermind, figuring out what works for you energetically, don’t pick up your phone first thing in the morning when you wake up, and getting in touch with what you need in each moment

Resources
Lara Heacock’s site: Kind Over Matter
Practical Kindness by Lara Heacock (on Amazon)
Amazing alarm clock on Amazon
Gretchen Rubin’s four tendencies framework test
Emilie Wapnick’s “How to Be Everything” on Amazon

Past Friendpreneur Series:
Christy Tending on Self Advocacy, Going Beyond Self Care

This week, I’m delighted to have Lara Heacock joining me for the second installment of the Friendpreneur Series. This series focuses on conversations with friends, who are entrepreneurs. Many of the people are friends I’ve met either through the show (and have been on before!) or through contacts in coaching. I’ve found that starting and running a small business is something very new to many of us, who have grown up without examples of people who are entrepreneurs in our day-to-day.

I had the pleasure of meeting Lara in coach training over three years ago in the Courageous Living Coaching Certification program. She’s so full of life and joy and I have loved getting to know her better, and seeing her grow her coaching practice. She’s joining me this week for the Friendpreneur Series to share about her new book - Practical Kindness, and balancing a 9 to 5 job with her coaching. We laugh, we share lots of entrepreneur tips, and I know you’ll love getting to know her.

Lara and I talk about:

• Bringing kindness and joy to corporate settings and work
• Recognizing that there will always be fear in pursuing our dreams
• How to work with fear
• Holding ourselves accountable for kindness
• Lara’s experience in writing her new book, Practical Kindness
• The courage of being imperfect
• Creating boundaries and having difficult discussions
• The rise of the gig economy and how it ties in to 9 to 5 jobs
• Masterminds and the importance of connections as an entrepreneur
• Tips tricks and tools: finding a mastermind, figuring out what works for you energetically, don’t pick up your phone first thing in the morning when you wake up, and getting in touch with what you need in each moment

Resources
Lara Heacock’s site: Kind Over Matter
Practical Kindness by Lara Heacock (on Amazon)
Amazing alarm clock on Amazon
Gretchen Rubin’s four tendencies framework test
Emilie Wapnick’s “How to Be Everything” on Amazon

Past Friendpreneur Series:
Christy Tending on Self Advocacy, Going Beyond Self Care

On the show this week, I’m delighted to be joined by Julia Samuel. She is a British psychotherapist who specializes in grief and bereavement, and founded the UK Child Bereavement charity, that works with children who are grieving, as well as those who are grieving the loss of a child. She is the author of Grief Works: Stories of Life, Death, and Surviving.

Julia is a truly delightful person and I really enjoyed getting to speak with her. At first blush, grief may seem to be a strange topic to be covered on a show about joy, but, I see the two emotions as beautiful bookends to each other. Both states are vulnerable in their own ways, both grief and joy are deeply personal things, and each of us experiences them in our own ways.

What I love so much about Julia Samuel’s book is that she honors and understands that the journey of grieving is different for each person, and that it’s different based on who you have lost in your life. She chose to divide the book up into sections based on the person’s relationship to the deceased.

Julia explains in the interview that she chose to do this because grief is different for each person, and because she wanted the book to be a companion for people who are grieving. She made it easy to pick up, easy to read a bit at a time, easy to see yourself in one of the people she shares about. She also includes the explanations, from a clinical perspective, of what is happening in the bereavement described - the patterns, what to expect, how you might feel. It’s a book crafted for people when they are experiencing something that makes them feel separate, disconnected, alone, and isolated, and gives them support and insights during a difficult time.

Julia and I talk about:

• Her first love of swinging on her garden swing as a child Starting Child Bereavement UK, and her work as a patron
• Her early influences, including the bereavement of her parents
• Her love of personal connection, and how that led her from a role in publishing to becoming a grief and bereavement counselor
• The roots and starting point for her book, Grief Works: Stories of Life, Death, and Surviving
• Why people shut down and isolate when they grieve, and why they judge themselves on a right or wrong way of grieving
• Why allowing yourself to feel the emotions of grief is important
• How to feel the emotions of grief and loss without being overcome by it
• The impacts of losing important figures like Princess Diana to society, and why so many people are deeply stirred by these tragic losses
• How a country processes the loss of children in tragedies like school shootings, as it raises the questions of “the existential cruelty of life”
• How Julia reacts to resistance, by continuing on her path
• How to jump start your joy: by enjoying her grandchildren’s giggles, getting in touch with nature, and watching romantic comedies and The Amazing Miss Maizel

Resources
Julia Samuel’s Website
Julia Samuel’s book, Grief Works: Stories of Life, Death, and Surviving on Amazon
If you are grieving: Julia’s 8 pillars of strength (a free download)
On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss by Elizabeth Kubla-Ross
Waking the Tiger, by Peter Levine (a book on healing trauma)
The Marvelous Mrs Maisel on Amazon Prime

This week on the show, I'm explaining the basics and tactics of content planning and strategy for your retreat, podcast, or blog on this solocast. Learn how to take your idea to a solid plan that you can execute using project management and inspiration. It's one of my favorite topics: Figuring out the building blocks of content strategy for your own brand. I’ll be explaining how this can be applied to planning a retreat (which is where I first started playing with this approach), but it’s also something I teach in my podcasting class about how to define your show and what it will be about. It’s a little bit project management, and a lot of defining your brand and creating the building blocks of marketing, which are both things I do in my day job.

In short, this episode looks at how to get the ideas you have in your head, the one that you want to turn into something to share with the world, and get them out, on paper. From there, you'll see how you can take the idea, and begin to plan how you will share it - whether that be in a podcast, a retreat, or a blog. The basics in mapping out your idea and content are all similar, and this method can be applied to other things, too.

I'm also super excited about the download I've created for this episode, which is quite literally an entire mini-course. <a href="https://app.convertkit.com/landing_pages/358096" target="_blank" rel="noopener">You can reach it by clicking here</a> (or at the bottom of the post). You will LOVE the free content planning calendar that is included.

Here's what I'm sharing in this episode:
- the basics of understanding your "what," or, what you want to share with the world
- establishing your focus for your podcast, retreat, or blog
- how to brainstorm your ideas and get them on paper (along with a printable to do that!)
- why you need to draw a line in the sand for your creation around what you want to include, and what you don't want to include
- what you need to consider as you look to right size the content for a podcast, retreat, or blog
- how narrow down content when you want to do all the things
- how creating a podcast, blog, or retreat is tied to spreading joy in the world

All of the resources for this episode can be found in the download packet. It's a super helpful tool that you won't want to miss (and includes a custom Google set of worksheets that you can re-use year after year!)

Get your packet here: https://app.convertkit.com/landing_pages/358096

This week on the show, I'm explaining the basics and tactics of content planning and strategy for your retreat, podcast, or blog on this solocast. Learn how to take your idea to a solid plan that you can execute using project management and inspiration. It's one of my favorite topics: Figuring out the building blocks of content strategy for your own brand. I’ll be explaining how this can be applied to planning a retreat (which is where I first started playing with this approach), but it’s also something I teach in my podcasting class about how to define your show and what it will be about. It’s a little bit project management, and a lot of defining your brand and creating the building blocks of marketing, which are both things I do in my day job.

In short, this episode looks at how to get the ideas you have in your head, the one that you want to turn into something to share with the world, and get them out, on paper. From there, you'll see how you can take the idea, and begin to plan how you will share it - whether that be in a podcast, a retreat, or a blog. The basics in mapping out your idea and content are all similar, and this method can be applied to other things, too.

I'm also super excited about the download I've created for this episode, which is quite literally an entire mini-course. <a href="https://app.convertkit.com/landing_pages/358096" target="_blank" rel="noopener">You can reach it by clicking here</a> (or at the bottom of the post). You will LOVE the free content planning calendar that is included.

Here's what I'm sharing in this episode:
- the basics of understanding your "what," or, what you want to share with the world
- establishing your focus for your podcast, retreat, or blog
- how to brainstorm your ideas and get them on paper (along with a printable to do that!)
- why you need to draw a line in the sand for your creation around what you want to include, and what you don't want to include
- what you need to consider as you look to right size the content for a podcast, retreat, or blog
- how narrow down content when you want to do all the things
- how creating a podcast, blog, or retreat is tied to spreading joy in the world

All of the resources for this episode can be found in the download packet. It's a super helpful tool that you won't want to miss (and includes a custom Google set of worksheets that you can re-use year after year!)

Get your packet here: https://app.convertkit.com/landing_pages/358096

This week on the show, I'm explaining the basics and tactics of content planning and strategy for your retreat, podcast, or blog on this solocast. Learn how to take your idea to a solid plan that you can execute using project management and inspiration. It's one of my favorite topics: Figuring out the building blocks of content strategy for your own brand. I’ll be explaining how this can be applied to planning a retreat (which is where I first started playing with this approach), but it’s also something I teach in my podcasting class about how to define your show and what it will be about. It’s a little bit project management, and a lot of defining your brand and creating the building blocks of marketing, which are both things I do in my day job.

In short, this episode looks at how to get the ideas you have in your head, the one that you want to turn into something to share with the world, and get them out, on paper. From there, you'll see how you can take the idea, and begin to plan how you will share it - whether that be in a podcast, a retreat, or a blog. The basics in mapping out your idea and content are all similar, and this method can be applied to other things, too.

I'm also super excited about the download I've created for this episode, which is quite literally an entire mini-course. <a href="https://app.convertkit.com/landing_pages/358096" target="_blank" rel="noopener">You can reach it by clicking here</a> (or at the bottom of the post). You will LOVE the free content planning calendar that is included.

Here's what I'm sharing in this episode:
- the basics of understanding your "what," or, what you want to share with the world
- establishing your focus for your podcast, retreat, or blog
- how to brainstorm your ideas and get them on paper (along with a printable to do that!)
- why you need to draw a line in the sand for your creation around what you want to include, and what you don't want to include
- what you need to consider as you look to right size the content for a podcast, retreat, or blog
- how narrow down content when you want to do all the things
- how creating a podcast, blog, or retreat is tied to spreading joy in the world

All of the resources for this episode can be found in the download packet. It's a super helpful tool that you won't want to miss (and includes a custom Google set of worksheets that you can re-use year after year!)

Get your packet here: https://app.convertkit.com/landing_pages/358096

Fred LeBlanc is the powerfully energetic drummer and lead singer of the band Cowboy Mouth from New Orleans, Louisiana, and I could not be more excited to have him on the show this week. What draws me to Fred is his true dedication to joy, to choosing it, spreading it, his dedication to elevating the vibration and awareness of everyone at his shows. From his lyrics and the way he gets a crowd excited to the way he encourages others, Fred is an amazing example of positivity, love, and good energy. I feel so very lucky to have gotten to speak with him.

If you see Fred perform live with Cowboy Mouth perform live, you will witness how his dedication to bringing joy to every moment permeates the show, the music, and by extension, the crowd. Fred talks about how he made the decision early in his career to leave the successful punk group Dash Rip Rock because he could feel that the anger and firey energy of the group and music were killing him. Around this time, he was reading The Power of Positive Thinking, and he was inspired to create a new band, and do things in a different way than what he’d been seeing in the music scene. And in every show, in each interaction, in the songs, Cowboy Mouth continues to live out this positive message of believing in yourself, in choosing love, and in having faith in the greater good.

So what stood out for me in this interview? It’s Fred’s mindfulness, along with his dedication to following his intuition, having faith, and finding joy in the midst of life. We talked a lot about energy. “Playing music is a way of releasing energy,” he said, “How can I be a good source of energy, the kind that lights me up, the kind of energy I need and everyone needs? What do I bring to the game that I LOVE?”

Performing and drumming are ways that Fred taps into joy. Even during difficult times, such during his recent divorce, or when he’s worried about the potentially difficult financial side of making ends meet, he gets back in touch with joy and inspiration by taking stock in simple things. Fred said that when he’s feeling disconnected, or when he notices that he’s let ego take over, he enjoys “the feeling of a drumstick in my hand,” or feeling the power of hitting the drums. With small, mindfully chosen steps, he re-connects and can move back into a place of joy and positivity. “I find ways of growing on joy, on the simple things.”

Fred and I talk about:

• His being born deaf and how he feels that music was his first way of communication
• His approach to getting a crowd fired up during the Cowboy Mouth shows
• How intuition is an important guide
• The impact of Norman Vincent Peale’s Power of Positive Thinking
• How he was impacted by his divorce three years ago, and the depression that hit him during that time
• How following what you love leads you to satisfaction, and how material things and fame can be hollow
• Following love, over fear
• His take on God, and the energy inside all of us
• Their upcoming album (The Name of the Band is...Part 2), due out May 5, 2018
• What happens when you don’t follow your intuition
• Having faith in yourself and your ability to learn
• That joy is “so easy, but it’s the hardest choice you’ll ever make.”
• Plus, listen to the song, "I Believe" by Cowboy Mouth at the end of the interview.

Resources:

Cowboy Mouth’s Website

Cowboy Mouth’s Tour Dates for 2018

Cowboy Mouth’s Album: The Name of the Band is … Greatest Hits So Far

Cowboy Mouth’s Album: Fearless (includes ‘I Believe’) on Amazon

Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale on Amazon

On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss by Elizabeth Kubla-Ross on Amazon

Power of Intention by Wayne Dyer on Amazon