Expectations and Intentions

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Hey, It has been a hot minute.

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I think it's been six weeks since we've had fresh content.

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And our last couple of seasons have had, you know, a theme to them or an

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overarching topic that we're covering and breaking down into smaller

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digestible details while that will absolutely be the case going forward.

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We're going to have an intermission.

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Probably one to three episodes.

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And that's what this is today.

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I'm going to chat with you about some, some things that are near and

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dear to my heart and have kind of a candid conversation about what

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I'm feeling is really important.

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And what I think a lot of you probably need to hear right now.

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So if you prefer this style of podcast, make sure to either send us

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a message on Instagram or as always leave a review in apple podcasts

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One, because we really want to know, I want to know how you

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best like listening and learning.

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And that's the whole reason that I'm putting this out there.

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And to anytime you leave a review, you are entered to win a monthly session

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So I'm going to dive in and I want to talk about expectations today.

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Expectations that we set on ourselves expectations that we allow others

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to set on us because I had well expectations and intentions, I

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think would be more accurate.

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I had intentions.

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Of taking no more than a week off between the last season, which I

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think came out on tax day, April 18th and starting the next season.

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I had planned to do a mini season, which we were still

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going to be doing on home buying.

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And to be really honest, I overestimated the amount of

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available time I was going to have.

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In April to make that happen for a lot of you listening.

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I, a lot of times record my podcast episodes sometimes the week that

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they're coming out, but generally no more than a couple of weeks

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ahead of time, I would love to be the person that can batch content.

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And, you know, I may be working on that in the future, but for now

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it's felt most authentic to do this.

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Kind of more in the moment as I go.

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And what that meant was April is a really busy month for me, for the

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team, for our business it's tax season.

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And we're a full service accounting firm, which means.

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That I just had a lot less available time.

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And we rolled from that into our team retreat.

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Everyone flew out here to Boise and we hosted everyone at my house.

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Had a wonderful time, got together as a team did a team photo shoot

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recorded a bunch of tech talks.

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It was wonderful and then rolled into the following week, which was my

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birthday and then rolled into what looks like might actually be spring here.

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For those of you that don't know I'm a sunshine person.

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We moved in November of 2019 from a little bit outside of Portland, Oregon to

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outside of Boise, out in the mountains.

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And it was looking for sunshine for property.

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And to get out into the mountains, we used to go play in the mountains

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all the time, get away and enjoy being outside of the city.

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And we now live where we used to go play all the time, which has been.

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But something that I have noticed, is it very easy to not step away from my work?

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Especially now, when I used to go to the mountains beforehand, we'd go, David

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would pack everything up in the truck.

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He'd get snacks, he'd have drinks.

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And I would have to show up, which was amazing.

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I would show up.

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We would go out in the woods for sometimes to today, sometimes a couple of days.

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And he would get me out of the house at least once a month, especially during

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our busy season so that I could live and unplug and give my brain a break.

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What I hadn't realized is between the pending.

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Being at the house, more adjusting to living in a new area, living in

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the place that we used to go play in and having connectivity, Starlink

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a little bit of cell phone service.

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All of those things are fantastic for my day-to-day life.

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They're not as fantastic for maintaining what I consider to

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be healthy work-life boundaries.

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And I found myself getting through the end of a retreat and the end of tax season.

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And feeling absolutely an utterly exhausted and drained

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and.

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The podcast is what could give, you know, we have client work that has to happen.

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Uh, we have a wonderful human that is doing a killer job running social media.

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Shout out to Katie.

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You guys there's so much content.

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She puts out so much more information and knowledgeable content

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than I was putting out before.

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So if you're not following us on Instagram at the freelance CFO, you should be.

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And I realized that I could just take some time to exhibit.

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And then that was probably what I needed.

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I have a team, my team doesn't always need me, which is wonderful.

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Um, it's, it's an interesting feeling to simultaneously feel relieved and then

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feel a little bit like, oh yeah, they don't need me, but that's a good thing.

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And that's what I wanted.

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And that was the whole point of hiring.

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Competent amazing compassionate individuals was to eventually

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not be needed in the business.

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And so I took some time really this entire month of may to do the

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absolute bare minimum in my business.

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I have a really exciting group program that you're all going to hear about

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at some point planned to launch that May 1st, that has not launched.

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I have the podcast that has now taken six weeks off.

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I.

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Needed this break.

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And what it reminded me of was we set so many expectations for ourselves,

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artificial expectations and deadlines.

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All of these were in my head.

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No one said I had to put a podcast episode out of.

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No one said I couldn't take six weeks off.

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No one said that I had to launch a group program immediately after tax

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season and following the retreat when I was absolutely burnt out and

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exhausted, I was pressuring myself.

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I was pushing myself to what end is the product that I'm going to put out, going

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to be my best work, if I'm exhausted.

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And I pushed through it.

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And I didn't even know if I was going to record this today or not.

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I'm recording this on Sunday, May 22nd.

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And I finally decided because I was having a tough time.

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I wasn't feeling inspired with an entire full 12 episode season right now.

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And I really wanted to toy with the idea of talking about what was kind of on my

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mind, on my heart at that moment in time.

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And I had been spending time outside gardening.

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Which if any of you know me, I had a focus of sustainable agriculture in college.

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And so being outside, being in the garden, watching things grow

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has been really nourishing for me.

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And something that I look forward to in the seasonal cycles that

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come and go throughout the year.

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And I was working outside this morning and realized this was

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exactly what I wanted to talk to.

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I wanted to talk about letting those expectations drop, but not just letting

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those expectations and those artificial expectations and deadlines that you've

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put on yourself drop when you need to, but also dropping the shame around them,

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because I absolutely have had some ups and downs over the last month of oh,

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but you said you were going to do this.

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You said you were going to do that.

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You said you were going to get this out.

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You said you were going to get that group program.

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How could you not, you know, you're, you're lazy or you're

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all these beliefs pop up.

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Right.

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Kind of those nasty things that, you know, you, you told yourself or

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other people had told you, or you were worried about people thinking.

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And what I realized was that wasn't serving my best good that wasn't serving.

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We can say your highest self.

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You can say whatever that wasn't serving my best.

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Good.

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And so I decided that.

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Ignore it, push it away and let it roll through.

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Yeah, I see that, but I don't hold that as being true.

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I'm taking care of myself.

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I'm walking, I'm eating food that makes me happy.

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I'm getting outside.

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I'm spending time in the sunshine.

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I'm making my space, our house.

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Which includes the garden, which includes doing all the chores with

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the chickens yesterday and cleaning up brush that has been bothering

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me and getting through my office.

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I've almost finished decluttering my office.

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I went through my closet.

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It's been a season for me of arrest, but also decluttering.

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And so what I want you to take away from this episode is

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that where are you putting.

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Artificial deadlines in place that are not actually serving you.

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Where are you hustling for the sake of hustle?

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For the sake of shame, for the sake of why I said I was going to do this, so

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I'm going to, and don't get me wrong.

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There is a time and there is a place for us that's tax season

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and we get better every year.

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We get better systems.

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Every year we get better communication with our clients.

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Every year we have.

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Improvements year over year, over year, but that always still has

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left us with tax time stress.

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Those are the deadlines that matter.

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Communicating, getting people's taxes, filed, getting all of that taken

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care of is what is most important for what we do within our company.

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A lot of the rest of them.

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The content creation, the podcast, the group program.

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But I want to launch that can wait.

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That's going to be something that I'm really excited to work on probably

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this week, because I'm tired of constantly looking to the next

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thing and my intention for this one.

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And beyond is to focus a little bit more on being in the now instead of on that

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next mark, that next milestone, that next thing that I have to get done, but I

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need to get done that I want to get done instead of appreciating where I am, where

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our company is, what my life looks like, all of these things in my life that I'm

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incredibly grateful for and slowing down.

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I'm over hustle.

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I hustled, I did it.

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There will still be moments, seasons, days of hustle of getting shit done.

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There is a time and a place I'm here for it, but I'm not

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here for it all of the time.

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I'm not here for it every day.

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What I'm here for, or now.

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I actually set that, um, in the beginning of may, I was talking with my trainer that

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I worked with a couple of days a week.

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And I told her that my goal was to try and nap at least a couple times a week.

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And without fail, I have napped at least twice per week, every week of may.

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And it has been wonderful half an hour to an hour nap.

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And I'm so happy with it.

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I'm so happy with napping.

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I'm so happy with getting outside.

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I'm so happy with the seasonality of life of where we're at in business of the

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person that we're hiring of the growth of the team and the businesses, having

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of the support that we're able to give our existing clients now, but also the

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support we're going to be able to do.

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After the summer with some things that are changing with some updates that are coming

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through with some exciting improvements, but it doesn't all have to be done this

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month, this week by a certain deadline.

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So where in your life?

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Personal business?

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I don't care.

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Maybe both.

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Can you be letting go of those self-created boundaries?

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Of those deadlines of those

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stressors that are unnecessary.

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And where can you be embracing more joy, more fun, more, ease, more laugh.

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And not just for the sake, and I'm really passionate about this, but not just for

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the sake of, so you can show up better in your business so you can show up

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better for your employer, but because you deserve to find joy, to find contentment,

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to have peace, to have ease, and to also unpack who you are outside of work.

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I think so many of us get caught up in being.

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That we make it our identity or that we lose some of the things and some of

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the aspects that make us who we are.

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We don't acknowledge those.

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We don't shine light on them.

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We don't nurture them and we could go full plant analogy here.

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But what do you want to be providing more sunlight, more water, more

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nourishment, more care to in your.

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And what needs to be removed, weeded, pruned, et cetera, cleaned

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what will bring you the most mental peace and the most mental ease?

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Because I think we all need to be, if you're not already need to be

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taking a little bit of a step back from the hustle from the exhaustion.