April 3, 2021 • 49 mins
On episode 37 of the show, I have Sarah Gregg, a psychologist, coach and author of two highly-practical books - Find Your Flow and her upcoming book Choose Happy which is being released next month. We talk about the science behind gratitude, what rules and routines can create flow in your work day and how you can actually make decisions to be happier.
Resources:
- Connect directly with Sarah Gregg on Instagram and follow her useful daily tips here @thepowertoreinvent
- Sarah's website detailing all her work, coaching and workshops on flow and happiness here
- Find Your Flow book - an awesome highly-practical book to burn from within more each day by entering your flow state.
- Choose Happy - Sarah's upcoming book here.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Matt Garrow-Fisher (00:28):
On this week's episode, I have Sarah,
Greg.
A psychologist, coach and authorof two highly practical books
find your flow and her upcomingbook choose happy, which is
being released in may nextmonth.
We talk about the science behindgratitude, what rules and
routines can create flow in yourWorkday.
(00:49):
And how you can actually makedecisions to be happier.
The full show notes and videosof other interviews are
available@burnfromwithin.comforward slash interviews.
So listen all the way through.
And enjoy your brand is calledThe Power to Reinvent and Burn
From Within is really aboutcareer changes about redefining
(01:10):
your life, essentially what yourbrand's name is, the power to
reinvent.
Where did that name come fromSarah?
And how have you reinventedyourself?
Sarah Gregg (01:23):
Yeah, great question.
A lovely kind of start to theinterview, I think did put a bit
of context around it.
So the power to reinvent wasreally born out of my own
personal journey that at 33,nearly 34 years old, married and
for a couple of years, threebedroom house in the Cotswolds
(01:44):
Look like I had a life allfigured out.
That was the point when Idecided that it wasn't working
that things just didn't feelright.
So life looked good on paper.
And I think if you were to, goback to friends and family at
that stage, they would say thatthere wasn't a problem.
But inside something felt off,it just didn't feel right.
(02:08):
I felt unfulfilled and justdisconnected from myself.
And so I went on a bit of ajourney of reinvention and
that's where the name came from.
However, it has evolved in a bigway because I think the biggest
aha moment of my whole journeyto date has been that I don't
(02:29):
need to change myself thatactually.
It's the rules of happiness andsuccess that need to be
reinvented.
And when I look back, I can seehow the rules that I followed
generated the results that I gotin my life.
So rules and results are alwaysreflected.
So the rules that I lived by forexample, was"I'll be happy once
(02:52):
I once I lose the weight, once Iget that job promotion, once I,
earn this figure, once I buythat car, have that object".
So because of that rule, I'll behappy when that automatically
dictates that I'm not happy now.
And I can't allow myself to behappy now.
(03:12):
So that was my life.
It was a constant pursuit ofhappiness, always on the go,
always searching for more,always trying to fix myself and
be better and improve.
And actually what this journeyhas taught me is it's brought me
back to the wholeness that wehave, everything that we need to
be happy to be successful thatwe can have happiness and
(03:33):
success as part of the journey,but a huge part of going on that
journey to reinvent yourselfheavily involves reinventing the
rules that you allow yourself tolive by, even small things in my
life.
I used to think.
If you said no to people that,that made you a bad person.
So of course, if that's therules that I live by the result
(03:56):
is that I have no boundaries andI'm a people pleaser.
My diary is filled with otherpeople's priorities and not my
own.
So bringing that awareness tonot only what I want and who I
really was, but also how therules that I was living by were
restricting me from experiencingthat reality that I wanted to
have.
Matt Garrow-Fisher (04:17):
And so you took some time out, you were
working like trainingbusinesses, I think high growth
businesses.
Talk me through, that stage inyour life.
In the corporate world beingvery busy with lots of meetings
and all sorts of priorities.
And then you actually took sometime out.
How was that decision made andhow did you start to reinvent
(04:42):
and start redeveloping, theseroutines, these rules to
actually, find yourself againand be happy.
Sarah Gregg (04:51):
Yeah.
So my job was with a biguniversity in the UK.
I worked as a business coach.
It was really my dream job.
I worked with high growthbusinesses, startups, and did
some consulting work withEuropean Commission.
And it really was my dream job.
My background's in psychology.
I'm a psychologist member of theBritish psychological society,
(05:11):
NLP practitioner.
And my dream was to work withcorporates in a really fast
pace, innovative environment,which was everything that I had.
And the job necessarily wasn'tthe problem.
It was all the behaviors thathad, that had made me successful
up until that point.
Business was my it was like adrug.
(05:31):
It made me fail alive and great.
I loved nothing more than to be,frantically running into meeting
with my folders, piled up high,jumping into the car to race
off,"Oh, can't book in becausemy diary is so full".
It made me feel important.
That's what busy-ness did forme.
(05:52):
It gave me, it was like a statussymbol.
And I loved it, but the pricethat I paid for that was, I lost
myself and life was always onthe go.
And I rarely took moments toactually sink in and enjoy
happiness.
(06:12):
And I remember in work, theyoffered mindfulness classes.
And I remember going to thismindfulness class and it was
like my worst nightmare sittingalone with my thoughts for 10
minutes, I had to leave.
I just, I couldn't stand it.
And it was great until it wasn'tthat's the only way I can
(06:34):
describe it.
It was great until it wasn'tand.
Things started to happen in mylife.
I think circumstances arise andI think it starts off the
universe gives you a littlewhisper that things are off.
And then eventually it turnsinto a roar or a scream.
And that was very much myjourney.
And I started to really becomemore aware that I didn't really
(06:56):
know who I was and not evenreally know what I liked to do
or what I enjoyed.
And I wasn't really sure if Iwas enjoying my life.
And I felt really confused.
I remember going to amotivational seminar and the
lady who was running it, said,okay, now write down three
things that you love to do justfor you.
(07:19):
And I sat with this notebook infront of me, going I really
don't.
I really don't know.
And as I watched this kind ofarena full of people, scribbling
down and filling up the page, Iwrote down the three imaginary
hobbies that I had on my CV fromI was 16, which was like
reading, writing and swimming.
(07:41):
That's all that I could thinkof.
And it was in those, in thatmoment on various other moments
that I had the realisation Iguess that I was living the life
that I should lead.
The one that was expected forme, the blue print that I had
followed since school get yourqualifications, get the job, get
some other form of training, getthe promotion, get another
(08:04):
promotion and work your waythrough life.
And actually that, that didn't,that wasn't working for me.
And I wasn't happy, but thevoid, comes.
When you don't know, you knowthat's not making me happy, but
the question is what does,
Matt Garrow-Fisher (08:22):
yeah.
I remember reading that in yourbook, find your flow and that
question can you name threeactivities that you like to do
in your leisure time?
This is about what you do for noother reason than activities
that, that make you happy andgive you a sense of purpose.
And.
I think to be honest, a lot ofpeople that would be asked that
question might not be able toanswer that truthfully it, the
(08:45):
answers would be.
What they should write like, Oh,I should probably write reading
and maybe something to do withpersonal development.
There's we had this discussionof self-help but the whole
concept, the presupposition ofthe industry of self-help of
personal development ofself-improvement is on the
(09:06):
notion that you are there to befixed and you are there to be
improved because if you don'timprove and there's something
wrong with you.
And what I love about your bookin particular is.
Stripping that all away and justfocusing on within you and what
is actually the essence of youand what makes you happy?
Forget about society, forgetabout what work tells you to do.
(09:30):
Obviously you've got to do thesethings, you call them, I think
high value priorities is thatright in your book.
And it's important to schedulethose things.
And we'll talk about that in aminute, but this whole concept
of actually like you, you can behappy just being you and what I
love about find your flow, yourbook is that there, there is
(09:51):
actually a structured approachbehind.
Finding flow and also beinghappy without following other
people's expectations.
Just to be busy.
One exercise that you talk aboutearly on in the book and a
concept actually that a lot ofpeople talk about.
But many people are resistant todoing is practicing gratitude.
(10:13):
What's the.
Significance of that, maybe froma scientific point of view.
And also if you don't bother todo it and don't make it like a
routine, does that matter?
And if so, why.
Sarah Gregg (10:31):
Love it.
Gratitude was one of the firststeps of my own journey was to
be grateful in the now and tonotice the small things that
made me happy.
And I get the resistance becauseI was resistant.
You feel like a bit of a fraud,it's Just something else to do
on your list.
Okay.
I'm grateful for the sun, butyou don't necessarily feel that
gratitude because you're sodisconnected from allowing
(10:53):
yourself to feel happy.
So I think if you feel thatresistance one.
Completely and utterly normal.
And I think to release theresistance it's to get behind
the intention of why you'repracticing the gratitude.
It is not to make you a betterperson.
It is not to fix your brokenlife it's so that you can
(11:14):
experience the small moments ofjoy and remind yourself that
happiness.
Exists in every single day.
Even if it is the small things,like your cup of coffee, a
family member, a nice chat witha friend.
What it does is it draws yourawareness into the fact that
happiness exists now and it'sfully accessible to you.
(11:37):
And I think we struggle with itbecause we treat it as something
else to do on our list.
I practice gratitude now.
So does that mean that I'mfixed?
Does that automatically make mea happy person rather than
viewing it as a tool to improveyour experience of life?
And that's what gratitude does.
So from a psychology point ofview when we practice gratitude,
first thing in the morning, wecultivate our morning mood.
(12:00):
So morning moods are proven tobe very fragile.
You've got to be careful withhow you start your day.
That's how the say and got outof the wrong side of the bed.
That's where it comes frombecause from a psychology
perspective, you know how youwake up in the first 10 minutes
of your morning, can actuallyimpact the entire emotional
trajectory of your day.
So there's a study that I citein the book about two groups of
(12:24):
people, one that watches justthree minutes of negative news,
first thing in the morning andanother group that watches three
minutes of solution-focusednews, first thing in the
morning, and actually the group,that watched just three minutes
of negative news, but let'sface.
It is pretty easy to come by.
First thing in the morning, youdon't necessarily have to go
look for it were statistically27% more likely to report being
(12:49):
in a bad mood.
At the end of the day.
So eight hours later.
What gratitude does is it takes.
Back control of your mood andyour emotional state.
So it reminds you and teachesyou to experience that happiness
is something that you cancontrol to a certain extent.
It rewires and restructures.
(13:11):
Your brain it's going to giveyou a lovely hit of dopamine
first thing in the morning, it'sproven to reduce inflammation in
the body because your body is ina more relaxed.
state it improves relationshipswith other people.
It's proven to help add boostyour immune system on your sleep
all from just writing down threethings that you're grateful for.
(13:31):
So again, if you're resistant toit, I totally got it.
It can feel a little bit cheesyand a little bit.
Both almost to start off with,but remember why you're doing
it.
You're not doing it to fixyourself or because you're an
ungrateful person, you're doingit to improve your experience of
life.
You deserve to fail elements ofjoy and happiness each day.
(13:54):
You deserve that when you wakeup in the morning that you're a
stacking the odds in your favor,that you're going to be in a
good mood at the end of the day.
Now, if you can take thoseelements and bring them back
inside of your control, right?
Then you all of a sudden becomethe person that has helped
directing and control theirexperience of life.
Matt Garrow-Fisher (14:13):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I, what I really love aboutthe book is.
It like each chapter, it, eachsection really talks about, the
science behind each concept offinding flow, for example,
gratitude.
And you just shared there about,where gratitude comes from from
a scientific perspective and whyit's important.
(14:33):
And then you beautifully havejust really super simple
practical.
Three steps like or four, foursteps of what you can do to
practice gratitude and and allthese other.
It's like really simple, butlike useful methodologies of
finding flow.
One of the things that youtalked about in, in your book is
(14:56):
the concept of, and thesignificance of goals of setting
goals, and also making sure thatthe tasks and goals that you set
a challenging enough.
Now a lot of people.
And maybe you were included inthis when you were in, in the
corporate world that they don'tset goals personal goals.
It's they've got a lot of thingsto do at work and that's their
(15:18):
focus and they don't necessarilyhave they don't set aside the
time to be consciously aware ofwhat they want and personal
goals.
How how significant is setting agoal for your life and how do
you know if that goal ischallenging enough or not
(15:39):
challenging enough.
Sarah Gregg (15:40):
Yeah.
So in terms of setting goals foryour life, it's not necessarily
about the achievement of thegoal, but goals just make life
more interesting that it opensup the possibility.
So you begin to wonder and getcurious about, what, if I could
do this what would that be like?
What if I could experience this?
My goal was to become an author.
(16:01):
I really wanted to write a bookand never in a million years.
Did I think that would.
Ever happened like ever.
And if it did, it would probablybe like 20 years down the track.
But when you set a goal on yourline and you take small actions
that are in align with thatgoal, Then circumstances begin
(16:21):
to align with you.
Your life becomes moreinteresting.
Thoughts, feelings, actions, andemotions begin to move into this
congruent alignment.
So you just feel more at peacewith yourself.
So the opposite.
When we don't have a goal iswe're often in a state of
resistance where we're trying tofigure out in our heads what it
is that we want to do, and thatwastes a lot of time.
(16:43):
So one part of you, you mightwant to go work out in the gym.
And another part of you reallyjust wants to put on Netflix
and, stick their feet up on thesofa.
And when we're in thatresistance, we've got two
conflicting parts that are atwar with each other.
That failing, you're neitherenjoying the Netflix show.
Nor are you at the gym you'relost in this in-between land.
(17:06):
And that's really what weexperience a lot of in life.
I know that I.
Should journal because it willmake me feel better and, help me
in life.
But I also can't be bothered,and so I wrestle with myself and
I don't do either.
What a goal does is that helpsdirect and focus our energies
and attention.
So we tell our brains this iswhat matters and our brain
(17:28):
naturally then orders,information, feelings, and
emotions to be in alignment withthat.
And that's what makes us feelgood and elicit flow.
The second part of the questionis a really challenging one,
which is hard.
I know what the level ofchallenge is, right.
For me.
And that's really when we needto get more out of the thinking
(17:49):
brain and drop more into ourbodies and just recognize what
the feelings and sensations arenow.
Like for me, when I firststarted that was really
challenging because I lived verymuch in my mind and didn't
really know how I felt within mybody, but the more you pay
attention to that.
So for example, If the goal istoo challenging and it's moving
(18:13):
you into anxiety.
So you might notice that you arefeeling overwhelmed that your
body's a little bit tense andtight, but you're worrying and
you're struggling to focus yourattention.
They would all be indicatorsthat maybe you need to drop the
level of challenge down.
Now, the great thing about beinga human being is we don't.
Actually have to necessarilydrop it down and take action.
(18:35):
You can play about with itmentally in your head because
the brain doesn't understand thedifference between imagination
and reality.
So then visualize for a moment.
Okay.
What if I took a smaller step?
What does that look like?
And then how does my bodyrespond to that.
Oh, you might notice yourshoulders dropped on.
You feel a bit more relaxedequally.
(18:56):
If the goal is too easy.
And you're not doing anythingbecause, we all have those
goals, right?
The one email that we need tosend that somehow we don't, we
could have done it on Monday,but some hope we left it to the
Friday, just because it's easy.
We've sunk into boredom anddisinterest in a way, if you
notice in that then it's hi, tomake that level of challenge a
(19:18):
little bit greater so that it'smore exciting and more engaging
and in flow, it's the sweet spotthat lies in the middle.
It's like the Goldilocks zone,right?
It's not so hard that oppose usup into anxiety and not so easy
that it causes us to bedisinterested.
Rather, the level of challengeis just right.
The skills to challenge ratiowas right.
(19:39):
You probably can do it, but it'sgoing to stretch your ability.
And that's how we grow asindividuals We grow down into
the depths of ourselves.
Matt Garrow-Fisher (19:48):
Yeah.
I guess the concept of beingconsciously aware of our
feelings, our emotions, whenwe're doing a task, when we're
progressing in a goal andchecking in with that, like
regularly checking in Oh yeah, Ido it sometimes through, through
journaling or even just talkingto people like that.
That was quite stressful.
(20:09):
That task since then.
And I know I was going towardsmy goal, but wow.
That was quite hard.
Just regularly it's like stocktaking of how you're feeling
like the level of challengeyou're at and adjusting
accordingly, there are tasksthat everyone does to some
extent in their day, that mightbe stressful, that might get
annoying.
(20:29):
But they have to do because ofwork or because of, having kids
or or whatever that they do.
And you talk about in your bookabout acceptance of these kind
of tasks.
Tell me a little bit about howcan people accept those tasks
and also even make them moreenjoyable by how they think
(20:53):
about them.
And also one followup questionfrom that is what is the effect
of doing that on you.
Sarah Gregg (21:00):
Yeah.
So we bring it to life with abit of an example, in every day
I'll use one from my every day.
Something that I absolutelyloath which is everything to do
with admin taxes.
Spreadsheets absolutely cannotstand it.
I hear it.
I really don't like it, butyeah, I can't stand it.
(21:23):
And.
When I approached that task, inordinary kind of circumstances,
I'll I would have oftenapproached it with resistance.
So I will set up a laptop.
No, that I have to do it, butthe internal dialogue in my head
is I want to do this.
This is terrible.
I hate this.
Why am I so bad at this?
(21:44):
And it's almost like shooting asecond arrow in yourself.
The task is already notenjoyable, but you're
continually like stabbingyourself with this second R O
making it even less enjoyablewhen we come from a place of
acceptance, it's just anonjudgmental place.
I don't like the task that I'mdoing and that's okay.
(22:04):
Life is messy and complicated.
You not necessarily going tolove everything that you do,
but.
You don't have to punishyourself for the things that you
don't love to do and make iteven harder than what it is.
So what acceptance does is itjust stops a war with what is it
stops the war with the presentmoment.
So rather than wrestling withthat spreadsheet and hating
(22:26):
every second off it and gettingfrustrated at myself and at
other people and slam on thecomputer dying.
Yeah.
I just accept it.
It just is.
I have to do my taxes at thismoment in time.
That's my job to do hi.
Can I take the weight out ofthis task in some way?
So for example, we know that ifwe play about with the level of
(22:47):
challenge and flow, that it canmake it a little bit more
enjoyable.
So sometimes with, inputtingthings into an Excel
spreadsheet, I'll set myself alittle time challenge.
How many things can I input in acouple of minutes and then see
if I can beat it.
And then all of a sudden thetask becomes a bit more,
enjoyable.
Or I'll set myself up in areally nice environment.
I'll make a nice pot of coffeeand put a little chocolate bar
(23:10):
at the side.
I'll play some nice music in thebackground and because I'm just
accepting it all of a sudden,then my energies are directed
more towards how do I make thismore pleasurable for myself
rather than how can I hate everymoment of this?
And then carry that frustrationaround with me for the rest of
the day.
Matt Garrow-Fisher (23:29):
Yeah, I actually did this the other day.
I do decent freelancecopywriting and there's certain
clients that give, that gave mework and some of the work I
don't enjoy as much.
And before I used to be.
Doing the work and actually tookme a lot longer to do because I
was my narrative in my head wasI hate this.
I don't want to do this.
(23:50):
I was trying to procrastinate asmuch as possible to not do that
work.
And actually because of that,because I didn't have the
acceptance of, Oh, I don't knowif I enjoy this.
I don't really enjoy this thatmuch because I didn't have that
acceptance.
I couldn't let go of it.
There was so much energy goinginto resistance.
That it was a distraction fromactually doing the task and the
(24:13):
quality of the work was not asgood.
And now I approach it by likeyou said, setting up my
environment, like knowing thattasks are a little bit more
challenging, setting up myenvironment more favorably, like
listening to certain music thatreally gets into the mood and
scheduling a break in between totalk to a friend and get me in a
good mood and start laughingabout it.
(24:36):
What I've written and thingslike that.
And it really helps it like notonly kind of productivity,
happiness quality work.
And, but I never actuallythought about the concept being
because of acceptance.
And I haven't, I don't do thisregularly.
This is probably something thatI think about doing
occasionally.
(24:56):
And after reading your book, I.
I really made a mental imprintof wow.
Acceptance.
Oh, how can I shed youacceptance for these kinds of
tasks?
Cause it really makes adifference.
It makes a difference to,productivity.
And I guess my followup questionto that would be if you are a
(25:16):
manager or a leader, How can youmotivate your staff to be able
to find that flow for thosedifficult tasks?
Sarah Gregg (25:29):
Yeah, that's a really great question.
I think sometimes it's bringinginto your awareness that there's
a different choice.
So having conversations likethis, for example, there will be
some people that it is sosimple, it's like, Oh yeah, of
course I could make it easy formyself, but sometimes we don't
think like that.
We think we've got to strugglethrough the tasks that we don't
(25:49):
like.
And we're like martyrs to thechore.
So sometimes with employees,it's as simple as understanding.
and bringing into theirawareness that they could make
it a little bit easier, but alsoworking with the different
strengths of your team.
So if there is a member of theteam who like I have, my husband
loves the spreadsheet, like heloves them.
(26:10):
I can't stand them.
He loves yeah, that's his thing,make and formulas, if you have a
member of your team that you canoutsource that to, and that's
going to elicit flow for them,then work with the dynamics of
the team, understand how you canmaybe ask that person, okay, you
love presentations.
This guy hates it.
Can you just trade over howabout you do expenses and you
(26:33):
take over the presentation.
And then that way each kind ofperson gets to feel more of
their flow and gets to use theirown unique strengths.
But I think the key with allthese like activities that we're
talking about, is it's showingyourself that you deserve to be
happy that you're worthy ofhappiness and that you don't
have to work for it.
It's not a reward of youractions.
(26:54):
It's not, I struggled throughthe spreadsheet and that somehow
makes me a good person and I'llbe rewarded for my actions or
it's about showing yourself thatyou can.
Design and structure your day ina way that is likely to increase
the levels of happiness and flowand success that you feel as
opposed to feeling like you'vegot to just, keep, going full
(27:18):
pelt and struggling throughlife.
And hopefully at some stage,you'll be able to relax and slow
down and you'll arrive and itwill all pay off.
I think these are the gentlereminders that happiness is here
and you can create anenvironment that makes it.
More inviting for happiness toshow up.
Matt Garrow-Fisher (27:36):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I one of my first guests on theshow his name, Seb Terry, he
wrote a book called 100 thingsand he, he basically set a
challenge of doing a hundredthings that he wanted to do
before he died and traveled theworld in doing them.
And.
Crazy story.
He ended up getting offered a TVseries by ESPN he's from
(27:56):
Australia.
So he moved to America, did a TVseries, got a book deal.
And it changed his life.
And it's started a movement.
And when I interviewed him, oneof the most powerful things that
he said to me and I keepthinking about it almost every
day is Matt, you can decide tobe happy.
You can decide to be happy.
And that kind of really hit mebecause we make decisions every
(28:19):
single day about, stuff that wedon't care about and things that
other people expect of us.
But that concept.
You can decide to be happy andincrease your level of happiness
yourself.
You can choose activities andthings to do and structure your
(28:39):
time in order to be happy.
And that brings us onto likeyour next book.
Your book is called, choosehappy, right?
Yeah.
Choose happy.
So where did that concept comefrom to actually write an entire
book on that?
And I haven't read the bookbecause it's not even out yet
put out yet.
And I'm very excited.
(29:01):
W when is it, do you know, isthere a kind of date,
Sarah Gregg (29:04):
4th of May?
I think the 4th of May thisyear.
Yeah, 2021.
Matt Garrow-Fisher (29:08):
Awesome.
You've got to sell from me forsure.
What, so what made you decide towrite an entire book called
choose happy and what does itgive people?
Sarah Gregg (29:18):
Yeah.
First of all, I think choosehappy either.
Some people will love the titleor some people hate it.
So let me clarify exactly what Imean by choose happy.
Cause I don't know about you,but there is nothing more
frustrating than when you'rehaving a bad day of someone
telling you to smile and you'rejust like, Oh.
I want to say a curse word, butI'm not going to, but let's just
(29:40):
say go away public politely andour heads mentally say go away.
And so you can feel a bit likethat when you're feeling dine
and someone goes, but you canjust choose to be happy.
You can just decide.
And you're like really can I?
But the reality is we can, andhappiness is may be just a few
choices away.
So it's not necessarily going tobe that instant flick of a
(30:00):
switch.
So when we talk about choosinghappy, really it's trying to
find strategies and choices thatwill edge us closer to happiness
and ease some of the crazyfrustration that we feel in our
everyday life.
So that's what choose happy isabout it's about showing us
that, negative emotions, aren'tbad, they exist for a reason,
(30:22):
evolutionary psychologists, knowand study that we feel fear and
anger and sadness because theycan help us.
See the areas that aren'tworking in our lives or things
that we maybe need to adjust inteams, they can be a really good
clarifying force, a consult usinto action.
So choose happy comes from aplace that no emotion is good or
(30:46):
bad, and actually negativeemotions have their role.
But there comes a point when wespend too long with those
negative emotions and we beginto ruminate and begin to become
immersed in the problem.
So choose happy is about edgingourselves towards happiness,
about recognizing why is fearthere?
Why is anger there?
(31:06):
Why is comparison thereuncertainty and then how do we
understand that emotion a littlebit better.
And how do we choose.
And reach for a happier choice.
So in the book I designed alittle.
I love models, simple models,simple as I can make some of the
psychology theory the better.
So it's called the happinessladder.
(31:28):
And if you imagine when you'rein like the dark pit of emotions
and you're just having a crappyday.
If you imagine happiness, morelike a ladder.
First rung of the ladder.
You'll just recognize youremotions.
I feel sad rather than I feelsad about feeling sad.
It's just accepted, this is howI feel.
This is what's going on.
What is this emotion trying totell me?
(31:49):
And then when you understandthat a little bit more it's
about reaching.
Than for a more empoweringchoice and then responding with
that action.
So at each kind of rung of theladder.
You're working yourself out ofthat pit of emotions, but it is
a choice and we don't have tostruggle through life and we can
ease our own our own mentalmoods and wellbeing through the
(32:11):
choices that we have.
So aligning your choices.
With the way that you want thefeel and the way you want to
experience life increases thatcontrol.
And that actually gives youcontrol back often we're in the
pursuit of happiness.
So we're,taping belongings andstatus symbols, our selves,
hoping that will make us feelenough rather than.
(32:34):
Regaining that inner control toalways know that you're in
control of your happiness, evenin the darkest times, happiness
might just, show up like alittle flicker, like a little
glimmer of hope that will keepyou going.
That's still is happiness.
It's a form of happiness.
So yeah.
Choose happy is about high, tinychanges and our choices can
(32:54):
create happier results.
Matt Garrow-Fisher (32:56):
Yeah.
And you talked about recognizingemotions and and actually like
emotions are that they are ourbody's signals a lot of the time
to do something different.
It's Hey, I have this emotion,this emotions bubbling up.
It's your body saying?
Matt come on.
There's something up here, likestart to interpret this message
(33:18):
in whatever way you can.
And Yeah, like certainly withcareer change, like a lot of
clients I have and people I'veinterviewed on the show, they
have a wave of negative emotionsoften for a while.
And until they start to takestock and reflect on those
emotions and interpret themactually, and try and figure out
(33:41):
where they're from and what it'strying to tell you one of the
best Pieces of advice I got froma coach was how to interpret an
emotion.
And the question to ask is whatdo you need to believe in order
to feel this way?
So if you're feeling anxiousabout something and it might be
to do with your job or yourboss, for example, and if you
(34:04):
just a lot of people just ignoretheir emotions by yeah.
downing a glass of red wine atthe end of a stressful day, or
they just can't quite put theirfinger on why or unhappy, or,
have become negativeinformation.
And they'll just get a lot ofpeople get busy as well.
They'll just get busy with workor, do on told number of.
(34:24):
Negative behaviors and it's orpositive behaviors, but too it's
a, too much an extent.
Like NXS how with emotions, forexample is there a way to, track
emotions or plans so that youremotions gradually get.
More positive and you can becomehappier.
(34:47):
Like, how is that possible?
Sarah Gregg (34:52):
Yes, it is possible.
I can share a little kind ofinsight on it.
I think what's important toremember is we're just working
with different parts ofourselves and every behavior has
a positive intention.
So I think when we understandthat we become less fearful of
ourselves, so when I know.
I'm frightened of maybe leavingmy job because I don't know
what's on the other side, but Ifeel this pull that's called to
(35:15):
fear is not a bad emotion.
It's just trying to keep yousafe.
So your job is to maybe, listento that part, but then bring a
different part forward, bringcourage and self-belief forward,
bring your resourcefulnessforward and let them form a
team, and actually that's whereyour wholeness and like beauty
comes through.
In the journal system for flow.
One way that I use it is toreally work with those parts and
(35:39):
bring forward the emotionalStates that I want to feel and
that's through scripting.
So there's a part of the journalsystem called total flow.
It's based on imagery, scriptingthe technique used by elite
athletes to enhance theirperformance and their sense of
flow.
And really what you're doing isyou're training your attention
to what you will see here andface throughout the day.
(35:59):
Okay.
So if I'm giving a presentationfor example, or I'm running a
workshop and I want to feel acertain way, I will script that.
I will say I feel reallyconfident as I approach that
task.
And I hear my voice is strongand it's assertive.
And I notice how the roomresponds and their heads nod.
(36:20):
And I feel really happy.
With how that workshop went.
I noticed how I take the time tofeel proud of myself and how I
say to myself internally, youdid a really great job now.
How I'm using that script is totrain my emotions, but also the
activate my internal rewardsystem, because often we are.
(36:42):
Oh I'll put myself in thiscategory.
I am like a gold star junkie.
I love nothing more thansomebody telling me that I did a
good job, all the about thatpraise, but that's to my own
detriment because nothinganybody says is ever enough.
I want more.
So by scripting in thoseemotions, by scripting in that
reward system, I train my brainto focus more on those failings
(37:07):
and equally, if that doesn'thappen, there's no guarantee
that I know I've gone off tracka little bit.
I know that maybe I've mayberead the room wrong in some way,
or, the presentation like wasn'tas good and I can take that
feedback and improve it.
But scripting is a really goodway.
For you to work with youremotions rather than against
(37:27):
them?
Matt Garrow-Fisher (37:28):
Yeah.
I actually read a book and Ican't quite remember who writes
it or what the title was, but itwas a coach, a tennis coach.
He coached all sorts of likereally elite athletes and
business people as well.
And he talked about, an innervoice or a like a quiet voice
(37:50):
where how you speak to yourselfin activities really affects
your performance and yourhappiness and all that kinda
stuff.
And like with tennis inparticular.
To get play players will dodouble faults and players will
lose points.
And that is predictable.
That will happen.
And by being able to have apattern and a script to prepare
(38:11):
in your head so that when thatdoes happen, rather than saying,
Oh, you're why have you gotanother double fault?
You idiot, you are prepared forthat.
And you say Matt don't worry,that's a double fault because
you're going to nail that nexttime, or he's done many ACEs in
your career.
So let the next one will be anACE.
And it's that script.
(38:31):
That is, it happensunconsciously, but quite being
able to actually prepare for alot of situations in life, are
gonna happen.
There are Repeatable scenariosat work with family with loved
ones.
Being able to mentally rehearsethat and say, what you gonna say
about it and see what you wantto see can make a huge
(38:53):
difference.
And I, and personally, when Iread that in your book, that
reminded me of that concept andI don't do that enough.
I really don't start scriptingout things.
What do you think People wouldbe most useful for people to
script out for their everydaylife.
I just talked about tennis anddouble faults being example,
tennis world, but in everydaylife, maybe for people that are
(39:16):
going to work or I guess have anordinary job and an average life
or, an average day, what, likecertain things do you think
scripting could be useful for?
Sarah Gregg (39:29):
So what scripting does is because your brain then
knows what to anticipate for theday ahead, you relax into your
day.
That's what enables flow tohappen because your brain
already knows.
The how you anticipate the dayto go.
And so it begins to align withthat.
So there's a couple of likereally good kind of like tips I
can give.
Number one, if you have anunwanted habit or behavior that
(39:53):
you're trying to overcome, Let'ssay for example you tend to
leave the house to go to work, alittle bit late on, you're like
in your car, with your coffeeand you're frustrated and you
always seem to run into theoffice, all over the place.
Or if you're working at home, asmany of us are, and I, and you
climb out of your bed at thelast minute, when you you rush
(40:13):
and you don't like that part,like that part of you is you
don't like it.
You can use script in, forexample, when you get up in the
morning to write I.
know that sometimes I can leavethings a little bit too late in
the morning.
And I recognize that this causesme frustration.
So today I see myself just takean extra five minutes to get
(40:37):
ready.
I noticed how I.
Check the time.
And I noticed how I'm verymindful and patient as I move
throughout my day.
Now what you're doing there isyou're not setting unrealistic
expectations.
It's not that you're scripting.
And I get up at 5:00 AM and I domy yoga and I have a green
juice.
And everything's amazing when wego back to that level of
(40:57):
challenge, that's too much of astretch.
If you're rolling out of bed,I'm rushing off to work.
It's too much of a stretch.
It's too challenging to say,you're going to move from that
to that.
So you're working with thedifferent parts of yourself
through the script, and thenyour brain moves into alignment.
It gets all the different partsof you on the same page, because
you've recognized back to that.
Recognize the feeling Irecognize the part of me is like
(41:18):
that.
However, today I noticed myselfdo this other different thing.
And what amazes me.
And the readers of the book,because this is the one section
of the book I get so manymessages on is at the end of the
day, when you come back andyou've read what you have
scripted, how much your dayactually went in that flow
(41:39):
without you realizing.
So I'll script my day, each day.
And I don't really think aboutit afterwards until I do my
nighttime reflection, and I'llread back through what I've
done.
And 80% of the time, my day hasfollowed in that order in some
way.
And it's just reallyinteresting.
So script unwanted habitsscript, how you want to feel.
(42:01):
Often, we think about the thingsthat we want to do.
So we're like a to-do list, Ineed to do the taxes and we need
to get the shopping and need topick up the kids, I need to
submit that client proposal, butwe don't ask ourselves How do I
want to feel in that experience.
Because that's how youexperience your day.
Not by ticking it off.
It's how you feel in thatexperience.
(42:22):
So tapping into that andthinking, okay when I do the
taxes, I want to feel acceptanceand I want to set up a nice
environment.
Just like we talked about, whenI submit that client proposal I
want to feel confident andexcited, about what that could
bring back.
And then all of a sudden, you'reintegrating this wholeness into
your day, and it becomes muchmore about being a slave to your
(42:46):
to-do list and tickingeverything off and then falling
into your bed at night.
I'm more about how you want tofail and experience your day.
What emotions do you want toelicit?
What feelings do you want tohave and tapping more into that?
Matt Garrow-Fisher (42:59):
Oh, I absolutely love that.
I love tapping into youremotions and feelings about
something in the future andmatching that actually shapes
your future, that shapes yourdestiny by doing that, which is
incredible.
Sarah, you've gone through quitea transition you've reinvented
yourself and actually had thisamazing journey to discover how
(43:21):
you find your own flow.
Now you're helping others.
What would you say now?
Your purpose is in life.
And how do you think that'sdifferent from maybe a few years
ago before you reinventedyourself and started The Power
To Reinvent?.
Sarah Gregg (43:36):
Yeah, I think my personal purpose, as opposed to
anything business related is tofulfill my potential and to have
an adventure.
That's all, I don't necessarilyknow how that's going to look,
but what I love about life nowis the joy of experience in it.
(43:58):
I'm no longer on this journeythat I have to do this and I
need to reach that milestone.
And it's got to look that way.
The joy is like in my personallife and kind of professional
life is creating things, ishaving the joy and the
experience of each day is goingand following these little
threads of adventures andopportunities that arise rather
(44:19):
than feeling like I have to haveall the answers and just align
in with things that bring mejoy.
And the more I.
Do that and allow myself to feelworthy, to do that.
And to actually say, I don'tenjoy that thing.
So you know what you don't getto be part of my human
experience.
You're out all the things that Ilove You're in!, let's just go
(44:41):
and see where it can bring usthat, that if I can keep that.
I'm well aware that there'sstill patterns of behavior apply
in my own life that can sabotagethat.
I totally know that I do notclaim to have life figured out,
but the more I can stay true tothat and align with the things
that make me happy, align withthe things that enabled me to be
(45:02):
who I really am, as opposed towho I should be.
Then the more I can just enjoythe adventure that is life.
So that's my personal purpose.
Matt Garrow-Fisher (45:12):
Beautiful.
Absolutely love that.
Where can people get in touchwith you, Sarah?
Connect with you get your booksand do you offer any workshops
or a company coaching oranything like that?
Sarah Gregg (45:25):
Yep.
So you can find more by the.
Business offers.
I offer workshops and coaching,and I'm just about to have an
online course coming out in acouple of weeks.
So you can find more about thatat the website, the power to
re-invent dot com.
That's P O w E R to re-inventdot com and Instagram handle
it's the same.
(45:45):
Instagram is the best andeasiest place to find me.
So it's@thepowertoreinvent andyou can find information about
the books on the website, butthey're called find your flow.
Or choose happy and they bothhave their own little websites
cause they're so special.
So it's choose happy.
The book.com and find your flow.
The book.com.
Matt Garrow-Fisher (46:04):
And I'll include all of those links in
today's show notes as well.
My final question, Sarah.
Now I definitely see you assomeone that is living with
passion.
You're very passionate aboutwhat you do.
You just described your purposeand actually were quite clear
about that as well and confidentin that.
And you have a really greatbalance in life, you're.
You've been traveling the worldsimilar circuit to me, or about
(46:27):
to go to, I think Taiwanincredible, like living the
sense of adventure, which ispart of your purpose.
So I would say, you'repassionate, you're purposeful
and you're living with balance.
I call that those three thingsto burn from within what's the
one thing that's made thebiggest difference to you,
Sarah, to burn from within
Sarah Gregg (46:47):
permission to all ow myself to do it and the
courage to do it I think so manyof us feel that burn from
within.
But we're worried about whatwill people say?
What does that mean?
How will it impact relationshipsand actually to burn from within
(47:10):
just means giving yourselfpermission to follow that
passion, not necessarily haveall the answers to know where
exactly it's going to bring you,but to just release them, let
go, and just follow it.
Matt Garrow-Fisher (47:24):
Yeah, permission that, that word has
come up numerous times withguests and And actually just
knowing that you do havepermission like permission is
granted and and it's yours to gofor it and make decisions around
that around purpose and aroundpassion is so important.
And what I love about your bookis that, there are bite-sized.
(47:48):
Exercises and small little stepsthat you can do each day to get
conscious about what makes youpassionate and what you enjoy
and what brings you into flow.
And just doing these smallthings every day.
It can lead to huge sparks andto be able to burn from within
to actually.
Live a life that you love andand be happy.
(48:10):
Sarah, thank you so much for anawesome conversation and I let's
keep in touch and yeah, thatwas, it was a great interview.
Sarah Gregg (48:19):
Yeah.
Thank you so much for having me.
Matt Garrow-Fisher (48:20):
So awesome.
Having Sarah on the show she'struly burning from within and
had a tremendous transformationherself after that realization
that she was living the lifeexpected of her.
In the motivational seminar justa few years ago.
You can connect with herdirectly on Instagram, at the
power to re-invent and also thelinks to both her books.
(48:43):
Find your flow and choose happy.
Uh, on her website, the power toreinvent.com.
And if you enjoyed this episode,go right ahead and leave a
review for this podcast.
By going to rate thispodcast.com forward slash burn
from within that's rate, thispodcast.com forward slash burn
from within.
And stay updated with moreinspiring interviews by heading
(49:05):
the follow or subscribe buttonnow on your player.
Until next time.
Live with passion, purpose, andbalance and burn from within.
On this week's episode, I have Sarah,
Greg.
A psychologist, coach and authorof two highly practical books
find your flow and her upcomingbook choose happy, which is
being released in may nextmonth.
We talk about the science behindgratitude, what rules and
routines can create flow in yourWorkday.
(00:49):
And how you can actually makedecisions to be happier.
The full show notes and videosof other interviews are
available@burnfromwithin.comforward slash interviews.
So listen all the way through.
And enjoy your brand is calledThe Power to Reinvent and Burn
From Within is really aboutcareer changes about redefining
(01:10):
your life, essentially what yourbrand's name is, the power to
reinvent.
Where did that name come fromSarah?
And how have you reinventedyourself?
Sarah Gregg (01:23):
Yeah, great question.
A lovely kind of start to theinterview, I think did put a bit
of context around it.
So the power to reinvent wasreally born out of my own
personal journey that at 33,nearly 34 years old, married and
for a couple of years, threebedroom house in the Cotswolds
(01:44):
Look like I had a life allfigured out.
That was the point when Idecided that it wasn't working
that things just didn't feelright.
So life looked good on paper.
And I think if you were to, goback to friends and family at
that stage, they would say thatthere wasn't a problem.
But inside something felt off,it just didn't feel right.
(02:08):
I felt unfulfilled and justdisconnected from myself.
And so I went on a bit of ajourney of reinvention and
that's where the name came from.
However, it has evolved in a bigway because I think the biggest
aha moment of my whole journeyto date has been that I don't
(02:29):
need to change myself thatactually.
It's the rules of happiness andsuccess that need to be
reinvented.
And when I look back, I can seehow the rules that I followed
generated the results that I gotin my life.
So rules and results are alwaysreflected.
So the rules that I lived by forexample, was"I'll be happy once
(02:52):
I once I lose the weight, once Iget that job promotion, once I,
earn this figure, once I buythat car, have that object".
So because of that rule, I'll behappy when that automatically
dictates that I'm not happy now.
And I can't allow myself to behappy now.
(03:12):
So that was my life.
It was a constant pursuit ofhappiness, always on the go,
always searching for more,always trying to fix myself and
be better and improve.
And actually what this journeyhas taught me is it's brought me
back to the wholeness that wehave, everything that we need to
be happy to be successful thatwe can have happiness and
(03:33):
success as part of the journey,but a huge part of going on that
journey to reinvent yourselfheavily involves reinventing the
rules that you allow yourself tolive by, even small things in my
life.
I used to think.
If you said no to people that,that made you a bad person.
So of course, if that's therules that I live by the result
(03:56):
is that I have no boundaries andI'm a people pleaser.
My diary is filled with otherpeople's priorities and not my
own.
So bringing that awareness tonot only what I want and who I
really was, but also how therules that I was living by were
restricting me from experiencingthat reality that I wanted to
have.
Matt Garrow-Fisher (04:17):
And so you took some time out, you were
working like trainingbusinesses, I think high growth
businesses.
Talk me through, that stage inyour life.
In the corporate world beingvery busy with lots of meetings
and all sorts of priorities.
And then you actually took sometime out.
How was that decision made andhow did you start to reinvent
(04:42):
and start redeveloping, theseroutines, these rules to
actually, find yourself againand be happy.
Sarah Gregg (04:51):
Yeah.
So my job was with a biguniversity in the UK.
I worked as a business coach.
It was really my dream job.
I worked with high growthbusinesses, startups, and did
some consulting work withEuropean Commission.
And it really was my dream job.
My background's in psychology.
I'm a psychologist member of theBritish psychological society,
(05:11):
NLP practitioner.
And my dream was to work withcorporates in a really fast
pace, innovative environment,which was everything that I had.
And the job necessarily wasn'tthe problem.
It was all the behaviors thathad, that had made me successful
up until that point.
Business was my it was like adrug.
(05:31):
It made me fail alive and great.
I loved nothing more than to be,frantically running into meeting
with my folders, piled up high,jumping into the car to race
off,"Oh, can't book in becausemy diary is so full".
It made me feel important.
That's what busy-ness did forme.
(05:52):
It gave me, it was like a statussymbol.
And I loved it, but the pricethat I paid for that was, I lost
myself and life was always onthe go.
And I rarely took moments toactually sink in and enjoy
happiness.
(06:12):
And I remember in work, theyoffered mindfulness classes.
And I remember going to thismindfulness class and it was
like my worst nightmare sittingalone with my thoughts for 10
minutes, I had to leave.
I just, I couldn't stand it.
And it was great until it wasn'tthat's the only way I can
(06:34):
describe it.
It was great until it wasn'tand.
Things started to happen in mylife.
I think circumstances arise andI think it starts off the
universe gives you a littlewhisper that things are off.
And then eventually it turnsinto a roar or a scream.
And that was very much myjourney.
And I started to really becomemore aware that I didn't really
(06:56):
know who I was and not evenreally know what I liked to do
or what I enjoyed.
And I wasn't really sure if Iwas enjoying my life.
And I felt really confused.
I remember going to amotivational seminar and the
lady who was running it, said,okay, now write down three
things that you love to do justfor you.
(07:19):
And I sat with this notebook infront of me, going I really
don't.
I really don't know.
And as I watched this kind ofarena full of people, scribbling
down and filling up the page, Iwrote down the three imaginary
hobbies that I had on my CV fromI was 16, which was like
reading, writing and swimming.
(07:41):
That's all that I could thinkof.
And it was in those, in thatmoment on various other moments
that I had the realisation Iguess that I was living the life
that I should lead.
The one that was expected forme, the blue print that I had
followed since school get yourqualifications, get the job, get
some other form of training, getthe promotion, get another
(08:04):
promotion and work your waythrough life.
And actually that, that didn't,that wasn't working for me.
And I wasn't happy, but thevoid, comes.
When you don't know, you knowthat's not making me happy, but
the question is what does,
Matt Garrow-Fisher (08:22):
yeah.
I remember reading that in yourbook, find your flow and that
question can you name threeactivities that you like to do
in your leisure time?
This is about what you do for noother reason than activities
that, that make you happy andgive you a sense of purpose.
And.
I think to be honest, a lot ofpeople that would be asked that
question might not be able toanswer that truthfully it, the
(08:45):
answers would be.
What they should write like, Oh,I should probably write reading
and maybe something to do withpersonal development.
There's we had this discussionof self-help but the whole
concept, the presupposition ofthe industry of self-help of
personal development ofself-improvement is on the
(09:06):
notion that you are there to befixed and you are there to be
improved because if you don'timprove and there's something
wrong with you.
And what I love about your bookin particular is.
Stripping that all away and justfocusing on within you and what
is actually the essence of youand what makes you happy?
Forget about society, forgetabout what work tells you to do.
(09:30):
Obviously you've got to do thesethings, you call them, I think
high value priorities is thatright in your book.
And it's important to schedulethose things.
And we'll talk about that in aminute, but this whole concept
of actually like you, you can behappy just being you and what I
love about find your flow, yourbook is that there, there is
(09:51):
actually a structured approachbehind.
Finding flow and also beinghappy without following other
people's expectations.
Just to be busy.
One exercise that you talk aboutearly on in the book and a
concept actually that a lot ofpeople talk about.
But many people are resistant todoing is practicing gratitude.
(10:13):
What's the.
Significance of that, maybe froma scientific point of view.
And also if you don't bother todo it and don't make it like a
routine, does that matter?
And if so, why.
Sarah Gregg (10:31):
Love it.
Gratitude was one of the firststeps of my own journey was to
be grateful in the now and tonotice the small things that
made me happy.
And I get the resistance becauseI was resistant.
You feel like a bit of a fraud,it's Just something else to do
on your list.
Okay.
I'm grateful for the sun, butyou don't necessarily feel that
gratitude because you're sodisconnected from allowing
(10:53):
yourself to feel happy.
So I think if you feel thatresistance one.
Completely and utterly normal.
And I think to release theresistance it's to get behind
the intention of why you'repracticing the gratitude.
It is not to make you a betterperson.
It is not to fix your brokenlife it's so that you can
(11:14):
experience the small moments ofjoy and remind yourself that
happiness.
Exists in every single day.
Even if it is the small things,like your cup of coffee, a
family member, a nice chat witha friend.
What it does is it draws yourawareness into the fact that
happiness exists now and it'sfully accessible to you.
(11:37):
And I think we struggle with itbecause we treat it as something
else to do on our list.
I practice gratitude now.
So does that mean that I'mfixed?
Does that automatically make mea happy person rather than
viewing it as a tool to improveyour experience of life?
And that's what gratitude does.
So from a psychology point ofview when we practice gratitude,
first thing in the morning, wecultivate our morning mood.
(12:00):
So morning moods are proven tobe very fragile.
You've got to be careful withhow you start your day.
That's how the say and got outof the wrong side of the bed.
That's where it comes frombecause from a psychology
perspective, you know how youwake up in the first 10 minutes
of your morning, can actuallyimpact the entire emotional
trajectory of your day.
So there's a study that I citein the book about two groups of
(12:24):
people, one that watches justthree minutes of negative news,
first thing in the morning andanother group that watches three
minutes of solution-focusednews, first thing in the
morning, and actually the group,that watched just three minutes
of negative news, but let'sface.
It is pretty easy to come by.
First thing in the morning, youdon't necessarily have to go
look for it were statistically27% more likely to report being
(12:49):
in a bad mood.
At the end of the day.
So eight hours later.
What gratitude does is it takes.
Back control of your mood andyour emotional state.
So it reminds you and teachesyou to experience that happiness
is something that you cancontrol to a certain extent.
It rewires and restructures.
(13:11):
Your brain it's going to giveyou a lovely hit of dopamine
first thing in the morning, it'sproven to reduce inflammation in
the body because your body is ina more relaxed.
state it improves relationshipswith other people.
It's proven to help add boostyour immune system on your sleep
all from just writing down threethings that you're grateful for.
(13:31):
So again, if you're resistant toit, I totally got it.
It can feel a little bit cheesyand a little bit.
Both almost to start off with,but remember why you're doing
it.
You're not doing it to fixyourself or because you're an
ungrateful person, you're doingit to improve your experience of
life.
You deserve to fail elements ofjoy and happiness each day.
(13:54):
You deserve that when you wakeup in the morning that you're a
stacking the odds in your favor,that you're going to be in a
good mood at the end of the day.
Now, if you can take thoseelements and bring them back
inside of your control, right?
Then you all of a sudden becomethe person that has helped
directing and control theirexperience of life.
Matt Garrow-Fisher (14:13):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I, what I really love aboutthe book is.
It like each chapter, it, eachsection really talks about, the
science behind each concept offinding flow, for example,
gratitude.
And you just shared there about,where gratitude comes from from
a scientific perspective and whyit's important.
(14:33):
And then you beautifully havejust really super simple
practical.
Three steps like or four, foursteps of what you can do to
practice gratitude and and allthese other.
It's like really simple, butlike useful methodologies of
finding flow.
One of the things that youtalked about in, in your book is
(14:56):
the concept of, and thesignificance of goals of setting
goals, and also making sure thatthe tasks and goals that you set
a challenging enough.
Now a lot of people.
And maybe you were included inthis when you were in, in the
corporate world that they don'tset goals personal goals.
It's they've got a lot of thingsto do at work and that's their
(15:18):
focus and they don't necessarilyhave they don't set aside the
time to be consciously aware ofwhat they want and personal
goals.
How how significant is setting agoal for your life and how do
you know if that goal ischallenging enough or not
(15:39):
challenging enough.
Sarah Gregg (15:40):
Yeah.
So in terms of setting goals foryour life, it's not necessarily
about the achievement of thegoal, but goals just make life
more interesting that it opensup the possibility.
So you begin to wonder and getcurious about, what, if I could
do this what would that be like?
What if I could experience this?
My goal was to become an author.
(16:01):
I really wanted to write a bookand never in a million years.
Did I think that would.
Ever happened like ever.
And if it did, it would probablybe like 20 years down the track.
But when you set a goal on yourline and you take small actions
that are in align with thatgoal, Then circumstances begin
(16:21):
to align with you.
Your life becomes moreinteresting.
Thoughts, feelings, actions, andemotions begin to move into this
congruent alignment.
So you just feel more at peacewith yourself.
So the opposite.
When we don't have a goal iswe're often in a state of
resistance where we're trying tofigure out in our heads what it
is that we want to do, and thatwastes a lot of time.
(16:43):
So one part of you, you mightwant to go work out in the gym.
And another part of you reallyjust wants to put on Netflix
and, stick their feet up on thesofa.
And when we're in thatresistance, we've got two
conflicting parts that are atwar with each other.
That failing, you're neitherenjoying the Netflix show.
Nor are you at the gym you'relost in this in-between land.
(17:06):
And that's really what weexperience a lot of in life.
I know that I.
Should journal because it willmake me feel better and, help me
in life.
But I also can't be bothered,and so I wrestle with myself and
I don't do either.
What a goal does is that helpsdirect and focus our energies
and attention.
So we tell our brains this iswhat matters and our brain
(17:28):
naturally then orders,information, feelings, and
emotions to be in alignment withthat.
And that's what makes us feelgood and elicit flow.
The second part of the questionis a really challenging one,
which is hard.
I know what the level ofchallenge is, right.
For me.
And that's really when we needto get more out of the thinking
(17:49):
brain and drop more into ourbodies and just recognize what
the feelings and sensations arenow.
Like for me, when I firststarted that was really
challenging because I lived verymuch in my mind and didn't
really know how I felt within mybody, but the more you pay
attention to that.
So for example, If the goal istoo challenging and it's moving
(18:13):
you into anxiety.
So you might notice that you arefeeling overwhelmed that your
body's a little bit tense andtight, but you're worrying and
you're struggling to focus yourattention.
They would all be indicatorsthat maybe you need to drop the
level of challenge down.
Now, the great thing about beinga human being is we don't.
Actually have to necessarilydrop it down and take action.
(18:35):
You can play about with itmentally in your head because
the brain doesn't understand thedifference between imagination
and reality.
So then visualize for a moment.
Okay.
What if I took a smaller step?
What does that look like?
And then how does my bodyrespond to that.
Oh, you might notice yourshoulders dropped on.
You feel a bit more relaxedequally.
(18:56):
If the goal is too easy.
And you're not doing anythingbecause, we all have those
goals, right?
The one email that we need tosend that somehow we don't, we
could have done it on Monday,but some hope we left it to the
Friday, just because it's easy.
We've sunk into boredom anddisinterest in a way, if you
notice in that then it's hi, tomake that level of challenge a
(19:18):
little bit greater so that it'smore exciting and more engaging
and in flow, it's the sweet spotthat lies in the middle.
It's like the Goldilocks zone,right?
It's not so hard that oppose usup into anxiety and not so easy
that it causes us to bedisinterested.
Rather, the level of challengeis just right.
The skills to challenge ratiowas right.
(19:39):
You probably can do it, but it'sgoing to stretch your ability.
And that's how we grow asindividuals We grow down into
the depths of ourselves.
Matt Garrow-Fisher (19:48):
Yeah.
I guess the concept of beingconsciously aware of our
feelings, our emotions, whenwe're doing a task, when we're
progressing in a goal andchecking in with that, like
regularly checking in Oh yeah, Ido it sometimes through, through
journaling or even just talkingto people like that.
That was quite stressful.
(20:09):
That task since then.
And I know I was going towardsmy goal, but wow.
That was quite hard.
Just regularly it's like stocktaking of how you're feeling
like the level of challengeyou're at and adjusting
accordingly, there are tasksthat everyone does to some
extent in their day, that mightbe stressful, that might get
annoying.
(20:29):
But they have to do because ofwork or because of, having kids
or or whatever that they do.
And you talk about in your bookabout acceptance of these kind
of tasks.
Tell me a little bit about howcan people accept those tasks
and also even make them moreenjoyable by how they think
(20:53):
about them.
And also one followup questionfrom that is what is the effect
of doing that on you.
Sarah Gregg (21:00):
Yeah.
So we bring it to life with abit of an example, in every day
I'll use one from my every day.
Something that I absolutelyloath which is everything to do
with admin taxes.
Spreadsheets absolutely cannotstand it.
I hear it.
I really don't like it, butyeah, I can't stand it.
(21:23):
And.
When I approached that task, inordinary kind of circumstances,
I'll I would have oftenapproached it with resistance.
So I will set up a laptop.
No, that I have to do it, butthe internal dialogue in my head
is I want to do this.
This is terrible.
I hate this.
Why am I so bad at this?
(21:44):
And it's almost like shooting asecond arrow in yourself.
The task is already notenjoyable, but you're
continually like stabbingyourself with this second R O
making it even less enjoyablewhen we come from a place of
acceptance, it's just anonjudgmental place.
I don't like the task that I'mdoing and that's okay.
(22:04):
Life is messy and complicated.
You not necessarily going tolove everything that you do,
but.
You don't have to punishyourself for the things that you
don't love to do and make iteven harder than what it is.
So what acceptance does is itjust stops a war with what is it
stops the war with the presentmoment.
So rather than wrestling withthat spreadsheet and hating
(22:26):
every second off it and gettingfrustrated at myself and at
other people and slam on thecomputer dying.
Yeah.
I just accept it.
It just is.
I have to do my taxes at thismoment in time.
That's my job to do hi.
Can I take the weight out ofthis task in some way?
So for example, we know that ifwe play about with the level of
(22:47):
challenge and flow, that it canmake it a little bit more
enjoyable.
So sometimes with, inputtingthings into an Excel
spreadsheet, I'll set myself alittle time challenge.
How many things can I input in acouple of minutes and then see
if I can beat it.
And then all of a sudden thetask becomes a bit more,
enjoyable.
Or I'll set myself up in areally nice environment.
I'll make a nice pot of coffeeand put a little chocolate bar
(23:10):
at the side.
I'll play some nice music in thebackground and because I'm just
accepting it all of a sudden,then my energies are directed
more towards how do I make thismore pleasurable for myself
rather than how can I hate everymoment of this?
And then carry that frustrationaround with me for the rest of
the day.
Matt Garrow-Fisher (23:29):
Yeah, I actually did this the other day.
I do decent freelancecopywriting and there's certain
clients that give, that gave mework and some of the work I
don't enjoy as much.
And before I used to be.
Doing the work and actually tookme a lot longer to do because I
was my narrative in my head wasI hate this.
I don't want to do this.
(23:50):
I was trying to procrastinate asmuch as possible to not do that
work.
And actually because of that,because I didn't have the
acceptance of, Oh, I don't knowif I enjoy this.
I don't really enjoy this thatmuch because I didn't have that
acceptance.
I couldn't let go of it.
There was so much energy goinginto resistance.
That it was a distraction fromactually doing the task and the
(24:13):
quality of the work was not asgood.
And now I approach it by likeyou said, setting up my
environment, like knowing thattasks are a little bit more
challenging, setting up myenvironment more favorably, like
listening to certain music thatreally gets into the mood and
scheduling a break in between totalk to a friend and get me in a
good mood and start laughingabout it.
(24:36):
What I've written and thingslike that.
And it really helps it like notonly kind of productivity,
happiness quality work.
And, but I never actuallythought about the concept being
because of acceptance.
And I haven't, I don't do thisregularly.
This is probably something thatI think about doing
occasionally.
(24:56):
And after reading your book, I.
I really made a mental imprintof wow.
Acceptance.
Oh, how can I shed youacceptance for these kinds of
tasks?
Cause it really makes adifference.
It makes a difference to,productivity.
And I guess my followup questionto that would be if you are a
(25:16):
manager or a leader, How can youmotivate your staff to be able
to find that flow for thosedifficult tasks?
Sarah Gregg (25:29):
Yeah, that's a really great question.
I think sometimes it's bringinginto your awareness that there's
a different choice.
So having conversations likethis, for example, there will be
some people that it is sosimple, it's like, Oh yeah, of
course I could make it easy formyself, but sometimes we don't
think like that.
We think we've got to strugglethrough the tasks that we don't
(25:49):
like.
And we're like martyrs to thechore.
So sometimes with employees,it's as simple as understanding.
and bringing into theirawareness that they could make
it a little bit easier, but alsoworking with the different
strengths of your team.
So if there is a member of theteam who like I have, my husband
loves the spreadsheet, like heloves them.
(26:10):
I can't stand them.
He loves yeah, that's his thing,make and formulas, if you have a
member of your team that you canoutsource that to, and that's
going to elicit flow for them,then work with the dynamics of
the team, understand how you canmaybe ask that person, okay, you
love presentations.
This guy hates it.
Can you just trade over howabout you do expenses and you
(26:33):
take over the presentation.
And then that way each kind ofperson gets to feel more of
their flow and gets to use theirown unique strengths.
But I think the key with allthese like activities that we're
talking about, is it's showingyourself that you deserve to be
happy that you're worthy ofhappiness and that you don't
have to work for it.
It's not a reward of youractions.
(26:54):
It's not, I struggled throughthe spreadsheet and that somehow
makes me a good person and I'llbe rewarded for my actions or
it's about showing yourself thatyou can.
Design and structure your day ina way that is likely to increase
the levels of happiness and flowand success that you feel as
opposed to feeling like you'vegot to just, keep, going full
(27:18):
pelt and struggling throughlife.
And hopefully at some stage,you'll be able to relax and slow
down and you'll arrive and itwill all pay off.
I think these are the gentlereminders that happiness is here
and you can create anenvironment that makes it.
More inviting for happiness toshow up.
Matt Garrow-Fisher (27:36):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I one of my first guests on theshow his name, Seb Terry, he
wrote a book called 100 thingsand he, he basically set a
challenge of doing a hundredthings that he wanted to do
before he died and traveled theworld in doing them.
And.
Crazy story.
He ended up getting offered a TVseries by ESPN he's from
(27:56):
Australia.
So he moved to America, did a TVseries, got a book deal.
And it changed his life.
And it's started a movement.
And when I interviewed him, oneof the most powerful things that
he said to me and I keepthinking about it almost every
day is Matt, you can decide tobe happy.
You can decide to be happy.
And that kind of really hit mebecause we make decisions every
(28:19):
single day about, stuff that wedon't care about and things that
other people expect of us.
But that concept.
You can decide to be happy andincrease your level of happiness
yourself.
You can choose activities andthings to do and structure your
(28:39):
time in order to be happy.
And that brings us onto likeyour next book.
Your book is called, choosehappy, right?
Yeah.
Choose happy.
So where did that concept comefrom to actually write an entire
book on that?
And I haven't read the bookbecause it's not even out yet
put out yet.
And I'm very excited.
(29:01):
W when is it, do you know, isthere a kind of date,
Sarah Gregg (29:04):
4th of May?
I think the 4th of May thisyear.
Yeah, 2021.
Matt Garrow-Fisher (29:08):
Awesome.
You've got to sell from me forsure.
What, so what made you decide towrite an entire book called
choose happy and what does itgive people?
Sarah Gregg (29:18):
Yeah.
First of all, I think choosehappy either.
Some people will love the titleor some people hate it.
So let me clarify exactly what Imean by choose happy.
Cause I don't know about you,but there is nothing more
frustrating than when you'rehaving a bad day of someone
telling you to smile and you'rejust like, Oh.
I want to say a curse word, butI'm not going to, but let's just
(29:40):
say go away public politely andour heads mentally say go away.
And so you can feel a bit likethat when you're feeling dine
and someone goes, but you canjust choose to be happy.
You can just decide.
And you're like really can I?
But the reality is we can, andhappiness is may be just a few
choices away.
So it's not necessarily going tobe that instant flick of a
(30:00):
switch.
So when we talk about choosinghappy, really it's trying to
find strategies and choices thatwill edge us closer to happiness
and ease some of the crazyfrustration that we feel in our
everyday life.
So that's what choose happy isabout it's about showing us
that, negative emotions, aren'tbad, they exist for a reason,
(30:22):
evolutionary psychologists, knowand study that we feel fear and
anger and sadness because theycan help us.
See the areas that aren'tworking in our lives or things
that we maybe need to adjust inteams, they can be a really good
clarifying force, a consult usinto action.
So choose happy comes from aplace that no emotion is good or
(30:46):
bad, and actually negativeemotions have their role.
But there comes a point when wespend too long with those
negative emotions and we beginto ruminate and begin to become
immersed in the problem.
So choose happy is about edgingourselves towards happiness,
about recognizing why is fearthere?
Why is anger there?
(31:06):
Why is comparison thereuncertainty and then how do we
understand that emotion a littlebit better.
And how do we choose.
And reach for a happier choice.
So in the book I designed alittle.
I love models, simple models,simple as I can make some of the
psychology theory the better.
So it's called the happinessladder.
(31:28):
And if you imagine when you'rein like the dark pit of emotions
and you're just having a crappyday.
If you imagine happiness, morelike a ladder.
First rung of the ladder.
You'll just recognize youremotions.
I feel sad rather than I feelsad about feeling sad.
It's just accepted, this is howI feel.
This is what's going on.
What is this emotion trying totell me?
(31:49):
And then when you understandthat a little bit more it's
about reaching.
Than for a more empoweringchoice and then responding with
that action.
So at each kind of rung of theladder.
You're working yourself out ofthat pit of emotions, but it is
a choice and we don't have tostruggle through life and we can
ease our own our own mentalmoods and wellbeing through the
(32:11):
choices that we have.
So aligning your choices.
With the way that you want thefeel and the way you want to
experience life increases thatcontrol.
And that actually gives youcontrol back often we're in the
pursuit of happiness.
So we're,taping belongings andstatus symbols, our selves,
hoping that will make us feelenough rather than.
(32:34):
Regaining that inner control toalways know that you're in
control of your happiness, evenin the darkest times, happiness
might just, show up like alittle flicker, like a little
glimmer of hope that will keepyou going.
That's still is happiness.
It's a form of happiness.
So yeah.
Choose happy is about high, tinychanges and our choices can
(32:54):
create happier results.
Matt Garrow-Fisher (32:56):
Yeah.
And you talked about recognizingemotions and and actually like
emotions are that they are ourbody's signals a lot of the time
to do something different.
It's Hey, I have this emotion,this emotions bubbling up.
It's your body saying?
Matt come on.
There's something up here, likestart to interpret this message
(33:18):
in whatever way you can.
And Yeah, like certainly withcareer change, like a lot of
clients I have and people I'veinterviewed on the show, they
have a wave of negative emotionsoften for a while.
And until they start to takestock and reflect on those
emotions and interpret themactually, and try and figure out
(33:41):
where they're from and what it'strying to tell you one of the
best Pieces of advice I got froma coach was how to interpret an
emotion.
And the question to ask is whatdo you need to believe in order
to feel this way?
So if you're feeling anxiousabout something and it might be
to do with your job or yourboss, for example, and if you
(34:04):
just a lot of people just ignoretheir emotions by yeah.
downing a glass of red wine atthe end of a stressful day, or
they just can't quite put theirfinger on why or unhappy, or,
have become negativeinformation.
And they'll just get a lot ofpeople get busy as well.
They'll just get busy with workor, do on told number of.
(34:24):
Negative behaviors and it's orpositive behaviors, but too it's
a, too much an extent.
Like NXS how with emotions, forexample is there a way to, track
emotions or plans so that youremotions gradually get.
More positive and you can becomehappier.
(34:47):
Like, how is that possible?
Sarah Gregg (34:52):
Yes, it is possible.
I can share a little kind ofinsight on it.
I think what's important toremember is we're just working
with different parts ofourselves and every behavior has
a positive intention.
So I think when we understandthat we become less fearful of
ourselves, so when I know.
I'm frightened of maybe leavingmy job because I don't know
what's on the other side, but Ifeel this pull that's called to
(35:15):
fear is not a bad emotion.
It's just trying to keep yousafe.
So your job is to maybe, listento that part, but then bring a
different part forward, bringcourage and self-belief forward,
bring your resourcefulnessforward and let them form a
team, and actually that's whereyour wholeness and like beauty
comes through.
In the journal system for flow.
One way that I use it is toreally work with those parts and
(35:39):
bring forward the emotionalStates that I want to feel and
that's through scripting.
So there's a part of the journalsystem called total flow.
It's based on imagery, scriptingthe technique used by elite
athletes to enhance theirperformance and their sense of
flow.
And really what you're doing isyou're training your attention
to what you will see here andface throughout the day.
(35:59):
Okay.
So if I'm giving a presentationfor example, or I'm running a
workshop and I want to feel acertain way, I will script that.
I will say I feel reallyconfident as I approach that
task.
And I hear my voice is strongand it's assertive.
And I notice how the roomresponds and their heads nod.
(36:20):
And I feel really happy.
With how that workshop went.
I noticed how I take the time tofeel proud of myself and how I
say to myself internally, youdid a really great job now.
How I'm using that script is totrain my emotions, but also the
activate my internal rewardsystem, because often we are.
(36:42):
Oh I'll put myself in thiscategory.
I am like a gold star junkie.
I love nothing more thansomebody telling me that I did a
good job, all the about thatpraise, but that's to my own
detriment because nothinganybody says is ever enough.
I want more.
So by scripting in thoseemotions, by scripting in that
reward system, I train my brainto focus more on those failings
(37:07):
and equally, if that doesn'thappen, there's no guarantee
that I know I've gone off tracka little bit.
I know that maybe I've mayberead the room wrong in some way,
or, the presentation like wasn'tas good and I can take that
feedback and improve it.
But scripting is a really goodway.
For you to work with youremotions rather than against
(37:27):
them?
Matt Garrow-Fisher (37:28):
Yeah.
I actually read a book and Ican't quite remember who writes
it or what the title was, but itwas a coach, a tennis coach.
He coached all sorts of likereally elite athletes and
business people as well.
And he talked about, an innervoice or a like a quiet voice
(37:50):
where how you speak to yourselfin activities really affects
your performance and yourhappiness and all that kinda
stuff.
And like with tennis inparticular.
To get play players will dodouble faults and players will
lose points.
And that is predictable.
That will happen.
And by being able to have apattern and a script to prepare
(38:11):
in your head so that when thatdoes happen, rather than saying,
Oh, you're why have you gotanother double fault?
You idiot, you are prepared forthat.
And you say Matt don't worry,that's a double fault because
you're going to nail that nexttime, or he's done many ACEs in
your career.
So let the next one will be anACE.
And it's that script.
(38:31):
That is, it happensunconsciously, but quite being
able to actually prepare for alot of situations in life, are
gonna happen.
There are Repeatable scenariosat work with family with loved
ones.
Being able to mentally rehearsethat and say, what you gonna say
about it and see what you wantto see can make a huge
(38:53):
difference.
And I, and personally, when Iread that in your book, that
reminded me of that concept andI don't do that enough.
I really don't start scriptingout things.
What do you think People wouldbe most useful for people to
script out for their everydaylife.
I just talked about tennis anddouble faults being example,
tennis world, but in everydaylife, maybe for people that are
(39:16):
going to work or I guess have anordinary job and an average life
or, an average day, what, likecertain things do you think
scripting could be useful for?
Sarah Gregg (39:29):
So what scripting does is because your brain then
knows what to anticipate for theday ahead, you relax into your
day.
That's what enables flow tohappen because your brain
already knows.
The how you anticipate the dayto go.
And so it begins to align withthat.
So there's a couple of likereally good kind of like tips I
can give.
Number one, if you have anunwanted habit or behavior that
(39:53):
you're trying to overcome, Let'ssay for example you tend to
leave the house to go to work, alittle bit late on, you're like
in your car, with your coffeeand you're frustrated and you
always seem to run into theoffice, all over the place.
Or if you're working at home, asmany of us are, and I, and you
climb out of your bed at thelast minute, when you you rush
(40:13):
and you don't like that part,like that part of you is you
don't like it.
You can use script in, forexample, when you get up in the
morning to write I.
know that sometimes I can leavethings a little bit too late in
the morning.
And I recognize that this causesme frustration.
So today I see myself just takean extra five minutes to get
(40:37):
ready.
I noticed how I.
Check the time.
And I noticed how I'm verymindful and patient as I move
throughout my day.
Now what you're doing there isyou're not setting unrealistic
expectations.
It's not that you're scripting.
And I get up at 5:00 AM and I domy yoga and I have a green
juice.
And everything's amazing when wego back to that level of
(40:57):
challenge, that's too much of astretch.
If you're rolling out of bed,I'm rushing off to work.
It's too much of a stretch.
It's too challenging to say,you're going to move from that
to that.
So you're working with thedifferent parts of yourself
through the script, and thenyour brain moves into alignment.
It gets all the different partsof you on the same page, because
you've recognized back to that.
Recognize the feeling Irecognize the part of me is like
(41:18):
that.
However, today I noticed myselfdo this other different thing.
And what amazes me.
And the readers of the book,because this is the one section
of the book I get so manymessages on is at the end of the
day, when you come back andyou've read what you have
scripted, how much your dayactually went in that flow
(41:39):
without you realizing.
So I'll script my day, each day.
And I don't really think aboutit afterwards until I do my
nighttime reflection, and I'llread back through what I've
done.
And 80% of the time, my day hasfollowed in that order in some
way.
And it's just reallyinteresting.
So script unwanted habitsscript, how you want to feel.
(42:01):
Often, we think about the thingsthat we want to do.
So we're like a to-do list, Ineed to do the taxes and we need
to get the shopping and need topick up the kids, I need to
submit that client proposal, butwe don't ask ourselves How do I
want to feel in that experience.
Because that's how youexperience your day.
Not by ticking it off.
It's how you feel in thatexperience.
(42:22):
So tapping into that andthinking, okay when I do the
taxes, I want to feel acceptanceand I want to set up a nice
environment.
Just like we talked about, whenI submit that client proposal I
want to feel confident andexcited, about what that could
bring back.
And then all of a sudden, you'reintegrating this wholeness into
your day, and it becomes muchmore about being a slave to your
(42:46):
to-do list and tickingeverything off and then falling
into your bed at night.
I'm more about how you want tofail and experience your day.
What emotions do you want toelicit?
What feelings do you want tohave and tapping more into that?
Matt Garrow-Fisher (42:59):
Oh, I absolutely love that.
I love tapping into youremotions and feelings about
something in the future andmatching that actually shapes
your future, that shapes yourdestiny by doing that, which is
incredible.
Sarah, you've gone through quitea transition you've reinvented
yourself and actually had thisamazing journey to discover how
(43:21):
you find your own flow.
Now you're helping others.
What would you say now?
Your purpose is in life.
And how do you think that'sdifferent from maybe a few years
ago before you reinventedyourself and started The Power
To Reinvent?.
Sarah Gregg (43:36):
Yeah, I think my personal purpose, as opposed to
anything business related is tofulfill my potential and to have
an adventure.
That's all, I don't necessarilyknow how that's going to look,
but what I love about life nowis the joy of experience in it.
(43:58):
I'm no longer on this journeythat I have to do this and I
need to reach that milestone.
And it's got to look that way.
The joy is like in my personallife and kind of professional
life is creating things, ishaving the joy and the
experience of each day is goingand following these little
threads of adventures andopportunities that arise rather
(44:19):
than feeling like I have to haveall the answers and just align
in with things that bring mejoy.
And the more I.
Do that and allow myself to feelworthy, to do that.
And to actually say, I don'tenjoy that thing.
So you know what you don't getto be part of my human
experience.
You're out all the things that Ilove You're in!, let's just go
(44:41):
and see where it can bring usthat, that if I can keep that.
I'm well aware that there'sstill patterns of behavior apply
in my own life that can sabotagethat.
I totally know that I do notclaim to have life figured out,
but the more I can stay true tothat and align with the things
that make me happy, align withthe things that enabled me to be
(45:02):
who I really am, as opposed towho I should be.
Then the more I can just enjoythe adventure that is life.
So that's my personal purpose.
Matt Garrow-Fisher (45:12):
Beautiful.
Absolutely love that.
Where can people get in touchwith you, Sarah?
Connect with you get your booksand do you offer any workshops
or a company coaching oranything like that?
Sarah Gregg (45:25):
Yep.
So you can find more by the.
Business offers.
I offer workshops and coaching,and I'm just about to have an
online course coming out in acouple of weeks.
So you can find more about thatat the website, the power to
re-invent dot com.
That's P O w E R to re-inventdot com and Instagram handle
it's the same.
(45:45):
Instagram is the best andeasiest place to find me.
So it's@thepowertoreinvent andyou can find information about
the books on the website, butthey're called find your flow.
Or choose happy and they bothhave their own little websites
cause they're so special.
So it's choose happy.
The book.com and find your flow.
The book.com.
Matt Garrow-Fisher (46:04):
And I'll include all of those links in
today's show notes as well.
My final question, Sarah.
Now I definitely see you assomeone that is living with
passion.
You're very passionate aboutwhat you do.
You just described your purposeand actually were quite clear
about that as well and confidentin that.
And you have a really greatbalance in life, you're.
You've been traveling the worldsimilar circuit to me, or about
(46:27):
to go to, I think Taiwanincredible, like living the
sense of adventure, which ispart of your purpose.
So I would say, you'repassionate, you're purposeful
and you're living with balance.
I call that those three thingsto burn from within what's the
one thing that's made thebiggest difference to you,
Sarah, to burn from within
Sarah Gregg (46:47):
permission to all ow myself to do it and the
courage to do it I think so manyof us feel that burn from
within.
But we're worried about whatwill people say?
What does that mean?
How will it impact relationshipsand actually to burn from within
(47:10):
just means giving yourselfpermission to follow that
passion, not necessarily haveall the answers to know where
exactly it's going to bring you,but to just release them, let
go, and just follow it.
Matt Garrow-Fisher (47:24):
Yeah, permission that, that word has
come up numerous times withguests and And actually just
knowing that you do havepermission like permission is
granted and and it's yours to gofor it and make decisions around
that around purpose and aroundpassion is so important.
And what I love about your bookis that, there are bite-sized.
(47:48):
Exercises and small little stepsthat you can do each day to get
conscious about what makes youpassionate and what you enjoy
and what brings you into flow.
And just doing these smallthings every day.
It can lead to huge sparks andto be able to burn from within
to actually.
Live a life that you love andand be happy.
(48:10):
Sarah, thank you so much for anawesome conversation and I let's
keep in touch and yeah, thatwas, it was a great interview.
Sarah Gregg (48:19):
Yeah.
Thank you so much for having me.
Matt Garrow-Fisher (48:20):
So awesome.
Having Sarah on the show she'struly burning from within and
had a tremendous transformationherself after that realization
that she was living the lifeexpected of her.
In the motivational seminar justa few years ago.
You can connect with herdirectly on Instagram, at the
power to re-invent and also thelinks to both her books.
(48:43):
Find your flow and choose happy.
Uh, on her website, the power toreinvent.com.
And if you enjoyed this episode,go right ahead and leave a
review for this podcast.
By going to rate thispodcast.com forward slash burn
from within that's rate, thispodcast.com forward slash burn
from within.
And stay updated with moreinspiring interviews by heading
(49:05):
the follow or subscribe buttonnow on your player.
Until next time.
Live with passion, purpose, andbalance and burn from within.
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