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Jump Start Your Joy®

This vibrant show dives into the inspiration, intention, and actions that bring a positive outlook to life, even in challenging times. Lovingly curated as a retreat from the everyday, each episode invites you to step outside routine and engage with uplifting stories and fresh perspectives. Guided by Henri Nouwen’s reminder that “Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day,” the show explores how resilience and purpose can turn ordinary moments into opportunities for joy.
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Now displaying: Category: coaching
Apr 9, 2019

Stasia Savasuk is an amazing style coach, has an outstanding Tedx Talk, and is the founder of Stasia’s Style School. She’s joining me on the show, and I’m delighted to share this interview. We giggled our way through our discussion, and had a hilarious time talking about style, what lights us up, how to find what kinds of styles fit YOU, and, all about Stasia’s inspiring story of becoming an entrepreneur.

In this episode, Stasia and I talk about:

  • Her early entrepreneurial work as a child, collecting and selling worms
  • How she broke up with style, and wore very bland clothing for many years
  • That one size fits all is bullshit
  • How to discover style that works for you and reflects who you really are
  • How to get in touch with who you really are
  • What it looks like to belong to yourself
  • How her differently abled child has taught her so much about inside out congruency
  • Her thoughts on how to jumpstart your joy: asking yourself how you want to show up, don’t participate in body shaming, and getting outside

Resources
Stasia Savasuk’s website
Stasia on Instagram
Stasia’s Ted Talk on “Dressing for Confidence and Joy”: https://youtu.be/L5n3V0VYGNg 

Apr 2, 2019

Liz Applegate is a coach, entrepreneur, founder of Tame Business Overwhelm, and host of Midlife Schmidlife. I feel so fortunate to call her my friend, to share a birthday with her! And to have her on the show this week to talk about how you can tame your business overwhelm, define your own process, and, get shit done.

In this episode, Liz and I talk about:
-Taking action, even when it feels overwhelming
-The wisdom of procrastination
-The difference between self care and numbing out (and how to know the know the difference)
-Dreading the first step of something, or getting started with something
-How to keep projects or work moving when you have a family or other priorities in your life
-Finding a happy medium in process and commitments
-Getting curious about your own process, and listening to your intuition about what works best for you
-How to tame business overwhelm
-Setting up habits to support your process and getting work done

Resources
The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin on Amazon
A Mastermind Shares Proven Ways to Feel More Confident In Your Work and Life - Episode 132
A Mastermind Group Shares About the First Two Years of Being an Entrepreneur with Guests Julie Houghton and Liz Applegate - Episode 100
Finding Connection and Support as an Entrepreneur with Liz Applegate and Julie Houghton - Episode 41

Mar 19, 2019

Kate Bee is a former journalist, and the founder of The Sober School. I’m excited to have her on the show to talk about embracing sobriety, and how she works with women to create an alcohol free life they love. Growing up in England, Kate started drinking as a teen (where the legal drinking age for beer is 18 in a pub), and it was a habit that she continued well into her working life after college.

In this episode Kate Bee and I talk about:

  • Her early love of writing, arts and crafts, blogging, and graphic design
  • Letting go of habits that are holding you back
  • The current culture of drinking, and how it is pervasive
  • What to do when you worry that you are having too much alcohol, regularly
  • Why people numb out, and why alcohol is a popular choice
  • The difference between social drinking and alcoholism
  • The many good changes that come out of making a shift to being sober
  • Learning to parent and mother yourself; how to treat yourself with love
  • Are you really feeling true emotions when you are drinking, or is everything numbed out a little
  • Jumpstarting your joy by focusing on what you are good at, exercising instead of drinking, and self care in the form of turning off your email and leaving your desk

Resources
Kate Bee’s website, The Sober School
The Sober School course, starting April 2019

Mar 5, 2019

Francesca Hogi is a dating and career coach, 2 time Survivor contestant, and a lawyer. She and I met last year in Atlanta, and I loved her take on life and love, and very much wanted to get the chance to chat with her more about the crossroads of joy and relationships. More than anything, I love that the heart of her work is all about love: how to find it in relationships, and how to find love in the work you do. We had a fun and light filled discussion and I feel so grateful that she joined me this week.

 

In this episode Francesca Hogi and I talk about:

-Her early love of reading, and not knowing what she wanted to be for a career
-Working as a lawyer
-How she was interested early on in relationships and dating
-Attending the Match Making Institute
-How baby steps brought her to become a match maker, and later a coach
-Becoming an entrepreneur
-Advice for finding the right relationship
-Celebrating our “unconscious genius”
-Aiming for contentment and joy in a relationship, and looking at what you prioritize in finding a partner
-Jumpstarting your joy by talking to strangers, taking a social media break, and keeping a gratitude journal

Resources
Francesca Hogi’s website
Francesca on Instagram
Francesca on Twitter
Francesca’s free mastermind

Feb 12, 2019

There are so many ways that choice (and your mindset on choice) impacts the level of joy in your life. This week on the podcast, I’m exploring the topic of choice with these five great angles:

  1. You are always in choice
  2. Are choosing love, or choosing fear when you make a decision?
  3. Build in the mindfulness of “awareness, choice, action”
  4. Choose graciousness and spaciousness and allow others the room to do the same
  5. Choose to surround yourself with things that inspire you and uplift you

Resources
Oprah’s interview with Maya Angelou from December, 2000
Michelle Obama on “When they go low, we go high”
Women, Food, and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything by Geneen Roth on Amazon
The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo on Amazon
Wayne Dyer on Choosing Love or Fear

Dec 18, 2018

This week on the show, Andrea Owen returns for a second visit and this conversation is, hands down, the hardest I’ve laughed in quite some time. Andrea is a coach, author of two books (52 Ways to Live a Kick Ass Life and How to Stop Feeling Like Shit), and she’s the host of the amazing “Your Kick Ass Life” podcast. She and I talk about how to be taken seriously even when you’re not a serious person.

 

As an entrepreneur, and a woman out doing business in the world, I am betting that this episode will resonate with you strongly. It’s getting at the heart of some deep seated conditioning, and calling into question something my own personal inner critic is pretty tied to: as a person who does serious work (life coaching, business coaching and project management all require an understanding of deep emotional or business acumen), I often worry that if I present my light heartedness in front of others, my ability to be serious and taken as a credible intelligent person will be dismissed.

What I love is that in this chat, Andrea calls bullshit on this, for both of us. She says it’s “inner critic bullshit” that’s just getting in the way of our being our true selves. And, I agree with her.

I also love that this discussion goes meta and self-reflective on itself, as we start out talking about how we’re both silly people at heart, and how as humorous people we both worry that we can’t ALSO be serious. After laughing our butts off (you’ll have to listen because it is funny, I laughed out loud when I was editing this episode), we then dive into deep and serious territory. We talk about the death of her father, about numbing out, about PTSD, about the serious shit.

In other words, the conversation itself shows us that yes, you can be funny, and serious all in the same 45 minutes.

Inspiration and Intention:

Where are you undermining or downplaying your own natural way of being because you feel like they are not “acceptable” to others?

How can you look at those traits as a gift, using a different lens? Who are some other people you can identify (and maybe even look up to) that share those traits with the world?

In this episode, Andrea Owen and I talk about:

  • Body suits and blazers (and we have a good laugh about this)
  • How humor can be a way of connecting with others
  • That humor can be healing
  • Rumbling with your emotions
  • What happens when we label emotions as good or bad, instead of just letting them be
  • Surrendering to emotions
  • When it’s time to find help with emotions that are overwhelming
  • How to interact with unusual relatives at a holiday party
  • Body suits and blazers (yes, again)

Resources

Your Comfort Zone: A Rant (Episode 257 on Your KickAss Life)

Menudo on Silver Spoons 

Andrea Owen on Episode 115 of Jump Start Your Joy 

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

Dec 4, 2018

Self Advocate, activist, mentor and coach, Christy Tending joins the show with a fresh take on leaning into our uniqueness, owning our imperfections, and waking up to our own freedom.

Nov 20, 2018

Are you having anxiety about the family Thanksgiving dinner, your spouse's company party, or spending the holidays with your inlaws? In this episode, Paula talks about how to create an intentionally joyfilled holiday season.

Oct 23, 2018

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:

  • Her early joy of music as a child, and taking inspiration from pieces like “Night on Bald Mountain.”
  • How Rob Bell talks about grief – that as a society we have difficulty with it being wide, and deep, and we are uncomfortable with grief being a public emotion
  • That music often expresses emotions for us the way that words can not
  • The three main ways to express bravery: vulnerability, creativity / imagination, and improvisation
  • How having defiant expectations can impact the outcome of anything you face
  • The art of letting go as an act of faith
  • Her community and podcast at Bare Naked Bravery
  • Her new book of the same name
  • Resistance as a necessary part of life
  • Ways to jump start your joy: writing, finding community, and finding connection

Resources:
Emily Ann Peterson’s website 

Bare Naked Bravery (the book) by Emily Ann Peterson (pre-order the bravery bundle)

Bare Naked Bravery the podcast

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron (on Amazon)

Oct 16, 2018

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.

Sep 4, 2018

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.

Aug 28, 2018

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

Aug 21, 2018

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

Aug 21, 2018

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

Aug 14, 2018

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:

  1. Doing less, but better - doing the essential few instead of the trivial many
  2. Building in room for down time

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/

 

Aug 8, 2018

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:

  • Her path from working as a social worker to becoming a coach
  • How researching mindfulness and meditation for her son impacted her life
  • Living as an introvert disguised as an extrovert
  • Working with parents who feel overwhelmed and without resources
  • How to get in touch with your core desired feelings, and why you need to
  • How to make a plan and take action on how you want to feel in your life
  • Parenting from the green zone
  • Being a flexible parent
  • Her podcast, Mom is in Control
  • How to jump start your joy: giving back and being in service to others, Asking what you want, what you crave, and what you desire

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

Jul 31, 2018

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.

  1. Create the “obvious” description for yourself: I’m a _____ who ______. What's your day job,or your current title? Example: I'm a project manager who leads projects in digital marketing.
  2. Dig a little deeper. What does your multipotentialite skill set and super powers from the worksheet above say about you? Who is the true you?
    When I dig deeper, I’m a ________ who helps others to ______________.
    Example: I'm a joyful human connector who helps people see the parts of themselves they may have forgotten along the way.

Resources
Past episodes with Emilie Wapnick
Violeta Nedkova on Jump Start Your Joy

Jul 10, 2018

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:

  • Why most creative types resonate with rebellion
  • How creativity is an act of rebellion itself
  • Violeta’s path to becoming a creative coach for rebels
  • What it looks like to strive for “enough” for yourself, instead of making someone else’s ideal your goal
  • Creating a brand that encompasses all of your ideas as an entrepreneur
  • Looking at life and your work as a puzzle, one that we are collecting the pieces of to discover our larger picture and purpose
  • The role of resistance and discomfort, and how that can help create focus, or distract from, the creative process
  • Her earliest sparks of joy: playing with fairies, making up games, and stories
  • How to jump start your joy: gratitude, doing something just for you, and doing things her own way

Resources
Violeta Nedkova’s website
Violeta Nedkova’s podcast: Rebel Reset

Jul 3, 2018

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:

  • How to Stop Feeling Like Shit (her new book)
  • Andrea studying with Brene Brown in 2014 and how that influenced her life and this book
  • how the armor we build up works, until it doesn’t, and what happens next
  • boundaries and how to set them
  • the cycle of pleasing, perfecting, approving, performing
  • how women (and all people) avoid shame, and why we do it
  • the 14 common behaviors that we all do when things get hard in life, and why they aren’t serving us
  • how feeling and acknowledging the pain in our lives opens us up to more joy
  • Andrea’s earliest memories of joy
  • how she will be “stepping up and stepping forward” this year
  • Andrea’s thoughts on how to jumpstart your joy: make room for creativity

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)

Apr 24, 2018

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

Apr 17, 2018

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)

Apr 17, 2018

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)

Apr 17, 2018

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)

Mar 27, 2018

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

Mar 27, 2018

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

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