Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
A deep change in the
way that we live requires a deep
change in the way that we think.
I'm Carla Reeves, and this isdifferently.
What if the most powerfulsystems for your life and
business are not efficient atall?
(00:22):
I know it kind of messes withthe brain because the story most
of us have been living in soundsmore like work harder, be more
efficient, stay ahead, get itall done, and then we get to
relax.
So let me ask you, friend, how'sthat going?
I have a strong sense, and Ihave for a while, with the world
(00:44):
changing faster than it everhas, that we need to be more
grounded than ever to leadourselves, our children, our
families, our business, etc.
And systems and routines help usto do this.
It provides a structure that wecan increase the likelihood of
(01:05):
our own thriving inside of.
And I've been thinking a lotabout systems, and I heard
someone mention on a call theother day how helpful it is to
hear about what systems otherpeople are using.
And I thought, yeah, that makessense.
I want to do an episode aboutthat.
A lot of times we're talkingabout things that are so deep.
(01:27):
So this will be a little morelight of an episode.
As I started to sit down andorganize my thoughts for this
episode, I actually realized itkind of surprised me because I
intended to talk about thesystems I use in my business,
like tools and apps and thingslike that.
But when I sat down to actuallythink about what I wanted to
(01:49):
share with you, the systems thatare most instrumental in my life
right now aren't the ones thatwe usually talk about.
They're running underneath thesurface.
And those are the ones I want toshare with you.
And I'm going to share thebusiness tools and apps and
things that are my favoritesright now, too.
But that's going to become inour that's going to come in part
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two of this episode.
So this will be a two episodes,one today and one next week.
Some of these systems have to dowith how I manage my mind and
lead my life.
And some are the add-ons thathave to do with movement or
well-being or actual businesssystems.
As I share what I'm doing, thisis an opportunity, I hope, for
(02:32):
you to just kind of listen intoyour own life and business and
what's working for you and maybegive you some ideas of things
you hadn't even ever thought of.
I mean, honestly, just thinkingabout this made me realize and
acknowledge some things that arehappening in my life that I
don't even think about or feelgrateful for.
And it gave me a lot ofgratitude for that.
(02:54):
So I hope that gives you a peekinto your own life and maybe
there's something you want toadd or even remove this year.
So the first kind of system Iwant to talk about are daily
systems.
And these are really the rhythmsunderneath my day.
They're not complicated, butthey're they live quietly
underneath the surface and havea huge impact as I started to
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unpack this.
And when I skip these rhythms,everything in the day seems a
little clunkier, a little moredisjointed, and I'm definitely
not as grounded and focused.
But when I touch thesepriorities early in the day, I
find over and over again there'smore clarity and more flow and
more focus to my day.
(03:38):
And I've seen this not only inmy own life, but in my clients'
lives, that where when they'rein their own healthy habits or
rhythms, they just feel better,they show up better, they um
have better results.
And when they fall outside ofit, life just feels a little
clunkier and a little heavier.
First rhythm I want to talkabout is how I start my day.
(04:01):
So you might call it morningroutine.
And for a long time, I thought agood morning routine had to be
perfect and full of all theright things and all of that
nonsense that kept me from evendoing it for a very long time.
Really, it's just a rhythm ofhow you start your day.
So I want you to start to thinkabout how do you start your day?
(04:22):
And again, with blamelessdiscernment, because you may
start your day by literallypicking up your phone, which is
what I hear from a lot of myclients.
So years and years ago, Idecided to change the way I
started my day because at thattime in my life, I said I was
focused on God.
I said I wanted to build areally healthy marriage, a
(04:44):
really healthy marriage.
And when I tracked my time,those things were getting the
very breadcrumbs of my time.
And I decided to reorient my dayand put God first and then my
marriage second, and theneverything else after that.
And that was a game changer,friends.
Um, and it's not a huge amountof time.
(05:06):
It literally can be five or 10minutes on days that are just
full.
On other days, I like to spend30 minutes up to like an hour
and a half or two starting myday.
And again, this is somethingthat I started so small when my
kids were babies because therewasn't a lot of time.
Um, started with like waking up15 minutes early, and this has
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grown and grown in my life.
So, this is something that youwant to match to the season of
life that you're in and withwhat you're up to.
So, what this looks like for meis I start my day, I get out my
journal, I get out my Bible, Iread, I pray, I write.
Um, and that just helps me getcentered.
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Um, it helps me remember what'simportant.
It helps me kind of organize andsort and calm any thoughts that
are in my head and really thinkabout like what is today about
and how do I want to show up?
That is a super grounding thing.
The next thing I do, and thisisn't in any particular order,
like it might change by daydepending on what we have going
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on.
But the second thing is mymarriage.
So we spend time in the morninghugging, embracing, and praying
together and just holding eachother, to be honest.
And this has been such a gamechanger in my business.
It's so counterculture to whatwe're taught.
I never realized until 25 yearsinto my marriage how important
(06:35):
my marriage connection and thesupport there and the strength
of that impacts how I feel andoperate and the results I get in
my business.
The other thing that we do inour marriage is just kind of
check in a lot.
We are committed to a lot ofcommunication.
So we are always kind of, wecall it like sweeping the dirt,
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like anything that any littlethings that start to show up or
fester or we get annoyed, likewe talk through it as quickly as
we can so that we can move oninto the flow of our
relationship.
And we check in regularly, likeduring the day.
Every day is a little bitdifferent, but we just check in
like how's your day?
What do you need?
Is there any support you needthat I can give you?
(07:17):
So we're like a team together inand both committed to each other
thriving so that we can thrivetogether in our marriage, which
ripples to our kids, even thoughthey're not in our home, because
we can have a steady, calm,strong place for them to land
when they need to.
(07:37):
Okay, the next system I want totalk about is just movement.
So this is kind of a system foryour well-being, for your
energy, your vitality, and yourbody.
And I don't really think of thisas exercise or discipline,
although it is, um, but it'sreally just movement.
How can I move my body everyday?
Whether that's me going toPilates class, me taking a walk,
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um, me walking with my husbandor a friend, me getting up and
using weights in my office withmusic, stretching, walking to
the grocery store, like anythingthat just gets me up and moving
out in the fresh air in thesunshine, if possible, a quick
walk, a quick stretch, a quickbreak, you know, a couple times
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through my working day is sogood for my energy and the
quality of my work.
So that's another system thatreally is integrated and
supports me.
Um, and I don't get too rigidabout it.
If I miss a few days or it'sholidays, I just pick back up
when I can.
So it's something that I'mcommitted to for my whole life.
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So I don't worry so much aboutlike hitting five classes this
week or reaching some um biggoal.
It's just I I tell I tell myfriends, like I'm kind of a
steady Freddy here.
Like I just show up and I movemy body and I'm committed to
that.
I weave it into my days wheneverand wherever I can.
(09:03):
So, what does that look like foryou?
Is that something you've beenwanting to increase in your
life?
And what would be the impact ofthat?
So often in our minds, we thinkwe need, you know, a certain
amount of time or a set scheduleor kind of like an
all-or-nothing mindset.
And I want to encourage you togive yourself grace and see if
(09:24):
you could be more flexible andadaptable with this and and
interweaving it into your day.
And again, I'm gonna say thiswith everything start small.
Okay, and the third system fortoday is really, I don't know
what to call it, but it's reallylike a writing and a thinking
system.
And it is one of those systemsthat quietly holds my life
(09:46):
together.
Um, and I don't mean journalingin the sense of like sit down
for 30 minutes kind of way, butthis writing and thinking system
is how I work through to befocused, how I work through
friction.
So, like any inner frictionwhere I get stalled or lagged on
a project, or I'm stewing orrehashing something that
(10:08):
happened in a relationship orthinking for others.
And the writing thinking systemalso helps me move through these
things so that I can stay inaligned action and stay
consistent in my life.
And again, this is not aperfect, it's a practice.
I use writing throughout my dayto think better.
(10:29):
Um, and this can look likewriting on a uh notebook.
So I always have a notebook onmy desk, and I also use an app
that I'll talk about latercalled Notion that I do online
writing with.
And my writing is helps my mindstay focused when it starts to
go in other places anddirections or starts to spin
(10:50):
out.
It's right how I sort out mythoughts, organize them, and
align them to my goals and whatI'm up to in life.
You guys have heard me talkabout writing a lot.
I mean, that's just a throughline in this whole podcast.
All the a lot of the episodes, Ishould say.
When things stay in my head andI don't use writing, everything
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feels heavier.
I'm much more likely to get intosome kind of fear, doubt,
confusion, and spinning mywheels.
Writing helps me slow down.
It helps me ask betterquestions, it helps me connect
the dots from thing to thing inmy life.
It helps me find the lessons.
And honestly, it reminds me ofall the things I need to be
(11:32):
grateful for.
Not that I need to be gratefulfor, but that I am grateful for.
So it's this is such a powerful,powerful tool tool that is just
kind of weaved in throughout myday.
It's not like on my list to do,it's just there like brushing
teeth.
But it started on my to-do list.
And that's what I want youthinking about too.
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Like some of these might starton your to-do list, but then
they just become a rhythm that'spart of your life, like brushing
your teeth.
So those are the first three:
the daily systems, the writing (12:00):
undefined
or the movement system, and thewriting and thinking system that
helps keep my head straight.
So, in closing, this isn't aboutmore to do.
It's really about just pausingto take inventory.
Are the systems that are in yourlife working?
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Have you even acknowledged them?
Like some of these systems thatI shared with you today, and
even some I'm gonna share nextweek, I didn't even think of as
systems.
But when I sat down, I'm like,wow, that really is something
that supports me in my life.
And so it might just be shininga light.
Like, what are the systems inyour life like I'm doing?
And do they all still makesense?
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Do some need to have some becomeoutdated, or maybe you're in a
different season, or maybeyou're in a different stage of
um your business that requiressomething different.
So taking, I hope this inspiresyou to take an inventory.
It's January if you're listeninglive, and it's a good time to
just go, you know what?
(13:06):
Have the things I've alwaysdone, are they supporting me?
What needs to be added?
And again, I want you to thinksmall, like micro movements.
You know, if there was onesystem that you could implement
this year that would ripple toothers, because that's what I
love about these systems I'veshared with you, is that they
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are not just something thatimpacts one area of my life, but
all of these that I mentioned,they impact how I show up in my
relationships, they impact how Ishow up for myself, in my
marriage, in my business, allover.
They all have a ripple impact.
Okay, friends.
So after listening and you'rethinking about your own systems,
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I would love it so much if youwould send me a message.
If you're listening on Spotifyand I'm not sure what it looks
like on Apple, but there is asend me a message button, send
Carla a message.
And I would love it if you wouldtell me what season of life
you're in and one system that issupporting you.
I can't wait to hear from you,and I'll see you next week.
If you're still listening allthe way to the end, thank you.
(14:12):
I wanted to also mention that Iam speaking at an event next
week here locally in Chandler,Arizona.
And it is on uh January 21st.
It's called the PurposeGathering Workshop, and it's a
spirit-led morning to refocus,reconnect, and recharge.
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And we are talking about doinglife and business differently.
So if you want to check it out,you can go to thepurpose
gathering.com forward slashworkshop and grab your ticket.
I would love to see you there.
Hey, thanks for listening allthe way to the end.
(14:57):
Before you move on with yourday, pause and capture one
thought or takeaway that stoodout to you.
Write it down so it doesn't getlost in the noise.
And if you're ready to godeeper, come join me in my free
monthly class, conversation andguided writing to help you see
things differently and moveforward with clarity.
(15:20):
Save your spot, Carlareeves.comforward slash free class.