Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the beautiful comments, emails, messages, and notes of encouragement you sent in response to Episode 119. I can’t thank you enough for the kindness, compassion, comfort, hope, and support you all offered, and the team and I are beyond grateful for the opportunity to serve you here at LearnDoBecome. We love you.
Today’s episode is designed to help you feel more excited about your life–even if you’re in the middle of some heavy stuff.
I’ll include a few links and ideas below, but I really do encourage you to press “play” above or subscribe to the podcast on your preferred player, if at all possible (we’re on Amazon Music, Kindle, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, and more!).
When we “brighten” our lives, it’s an investment in future generations.
I’m reading a great book right now called “Die Empty.” (I know…it sounds a little morbid, but it’s really good!) The introduction features a beautiful quote by George Bernard Shaw:
I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no “brief candle” for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.
Eric was surprised I hadn’t heard that before, but now that I have, I don’t want to forget it.
All right, so how do we see life as a “splendid torch”? How do we make it burn brighter? I’m sharing just 3 ideas for today:
(1) Create Flexible Control Over Your Daily Routine
The past couple of days felt like we had zero control over our daily schedule, and I was feeling a bit grumpy.
Here are a few things that happened:
- Guest came into town/flight canceled
- Unexpected news needed to be discussed
- Tech issue on computer with Spencer’s scanning—taught him how relabeling works in Dropbox
- Mattress out of stock, new errand
- 4 places for another necessary errand
- Eric and I felt extra tired and in need of a break, so we slept in WAY past our normal wake-up time
- Meeting needed to happen last minute with Alia to plan ARISE because she had another meeting right after
- Son planning biking/needed a waiver signed/coordinated with other parent/time changed anyway…
But here are a few things I’ve learned:
- Priorities in the moment might switch.
- Sometimes we need to create better boundaries and block time for the most important things.
- We can’t be TOO flexible every single day or nothing will get accomplished.
- We also need to recognize that “work” and “value” happens along the way—not just during predefined activities
And here are a few questions I jotted down to help me when I’m in those uncontrolled moments:
- Is this the most important thing for me to do right now?
- When WILL I do the activities I had planned to do today?
- Am I letting unreasonable requests take over?
- Would stronger boundaries be appropriate right now?
- What could I do to anticipate these kinds of things next time?
(2) Invest in Other People’s Learning and Expertise
I just signed up for a course about building a company culture from the Disney Institute. (I used to work at Disneyland when I was 18/19….)
This morning, I got my iPad set up, with Evernote on the right—opened to a note inside my “Courses and Conferences” notebook (that is inside my “Education” stack), and then the online Disney Institute portal on the left.
I went through the first couple of modules, and that alone was worth the cost of the course. So many new ideas came to me, and I started to feel that excitement that I had been missing. It’s amazing what can happen when you open yourself up to training from those who have energy and excitement in the areas where you are needing support.
(3) Learn How to Make Progress…Even LITTLE Steps
I just need to highlight some of our Steps to Everyday Productivity members here. I’ll read a few extra testimonials on the podcast, too, but these are two we got permission to share this week that I know will inspire you:
My phone is literally filled with screen shots of beautiful celebrations like the ones above, and I can’t even tell you how much that means. Isn’t it fun to see progress implemented in such a beautiful way?
Okay, so what do we do now?
So glad you asked! 🙂
ARISE is opening the first week of August.
It is seriously amazing. Come join the interest list, if you haven’t already, and watch for an email letting you know when we open. It is the place to work with us on a deeper level and be a part of a close community of like-minded individuals who are here to support one another!
Building a Command Central has never been easier, and it is going to rock your world. The Mastery Facebook community is nearing 17,000 people, and I have to say it is one of my favorite places on the internet.
If you aren’t ready to purchase a program, but you’d still like to support the cause…
- Please open and click our emails. That helps us to get a good “sender reputation” and makes email deliverability easier.
- Consider leaving a review on our podcast – LearnDoBecome Radio! Some platforms (like Apple Podcasts) have a robust review system. Others don’t really make it easy/maybe don’t have reviews, but we would love your help however you can offer it!
- Share LearnDoBecome with your friends! If you like what we’re creating here and want your friends/family to feel the excitement, please let them know they can visit our site! The Connect Page is a great place to send friends. You could say, “Hey there! Just helping to spread the word about this online community I’m a part of called LearnDoBecome. They have podcasts, videos, a free Facebook community, and great programs to help you get out of the overwhelm so you can wake up excited and go to bed content. 🙂 This introductory page will give you a feel for it, if you want to check it out: https://LearnDoBecome.com/Connect.”
- Think happy thoughts about LearnDoBecome! (Just wanted to add something happy that anyone can do, even if you don’t have a lot of time.)
We love you, and we appreciate you!!!
Awesome 😎
So glad this was helpful, Debbie! Thanks for being here with us!
Thanks for the LearnDoBecome Program! Finally, my house is now organized and I joke about packing my whole house in a couple of days.
I love that you have implemented the program and gotten such success!! Way to go, Grace!!!
This was very helpful!!
You are so encouraging especially when some days I feel like a disorganized mess. Your comment about “We can’t be too flexible every single day or nothing will get accomplished.” really hit me between the eyes. I seem to always bend my schedule to accommodate everyone else. I don’t know if I was feeling selfish if I said no to others requests or wanted to feel needed.
Your program is so good. I am still in a beginning state and I still have piles and messes and tons of papers (I think they multiply when I walk out of the room) but I have some cleaned out drawers and purged spaces to encourage me to keep going. Thank you so much. Barbara Graham PS Thank you for podcast 119. When you shared your vulnerability and honesty was touching and made this so much more real.
Barbara, it sounds like you are doing really well with the program!! So proud of you! And I think you shared some really wise thoughts about why we bend our schedules so readily. My own mother was really flexible and available, and I loved that. And I like to let my loved ones know I prioritize them and that I am here for them. Being a support for others is a beautiful role, I think. But healthy boundaries so we don’t feel like a “disorganized mess” every single day is a benefit to everyone. It provides at least a bit of structure to our own responsibilities and models for our loved ones how THEY can set healthy boundaries too. We are leaders, at the end of the day, and while that does involve being humble, willing to serve, etc., it also means we need to cafe for ourselves so we don’t burn out. 😀 I am grateful for this wonderful community that helps me to better figure out that balance each day. Keep up the great work!!
I purchased one of the STEP programs in December and I haven’t gotten to it yet … how embarrassing 😳 but I’m not giving up… just feeling overwhelmed at times with home life… but your podcast are encouraging me and I really want to figure out the command central. Thanks also for the vulnerability
as it helps as well… sometimes if podcasts are too perfect it can make me feel like I’ll never be able to achieve what these people have done.
I’m committing to Start and finish my STEP training by end of August!
I’ve already done the hard part of purchasing 😉, now I just need to view it and take actions.
God bless and thank you ! Appreciate your encouragements on the podcast.
So proud of you, Phil!! The overwhelm means you care…or you wouldn’t be overwhelmed. 😀 But the Command Central and consistent editing/simplifying/refocusing will definitely make a huge difference. So, so happy you are here!!! And thank you for your encouragement and support!
This was a helpful podcast. I am going to need to listen to it again though.
Hi April,
I enjoyed your chat.
Thankyou
Sonia
Hello, I recently joined and what I have listened to so far has been extremely helpful and much needed! Thank you for sharing and I am excited about all the new steps in your program I’m learning to apply.
Angela, we are so happy you are here, and we can’t wait to hear more about your experience with the program! Keep up the great work! And thank you for your kind words.