December 25, 2024 • 59 mins
In this final episode of the Author Revolution Podcast for 2024, I’m joined by Aneta Kuzma—author of Live the Width of Your Life, host of the Live the Width Podcast, and CEO of the Ardelian Kuzma Group. Aneta’s mission is to help high-achievers overcome burnout, redefine success, and live more fully and intentionally.
We explore how practices like breath work, meditation, and nervous system regulation can help authors find clarity, creativity, and flow. Aneta also shares her own journey from corporate life to building a life of purpose and passion, with practical tips to help you move beyond the hustle and step into alignment.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, this conversation is the reset you didn’t know you needed. Let’s explore how to live fully—not just the length, but the width of your life.
Resources Mentioned:
- Aneta's Website: anetakuzma.com
- Live the Width of Your Life (Book): Available on Amazon
- Live the Width Podcast: Listen Here
This episode also marks the end of the Author Revolution Podcast—for now! Stay tuned for the exciting relaunch of the Manifest Differently Podcast in 2025.
Until then, remember to live fully, align deeply, and go forth and start your author revolution! 🎧✨
Are you an author at a crossroads, feeling stuck & unfulfilled in your author career? Do you know deep down it's time for a change, but you’re unsure of the next step?
The High Vibe Author is the only transformational membership designed specifically for authors like you—those who are ready to break free from limitations & step into the abundant life they deserve. Click here to learn more.
Indie publishing wasn’t built for neurodivergent minds—so let’s change that. Inside Author Revolution on Substack, I share exclusive insights on writing, publishing, and manifestation for ND authors. Plus, explore my neurospicy romcoms & urban fantasy worlds. Want to go deeper? Get access to Manifest Differently: The Deep End, my private podcast. Follow now: 👉 authorrevolution.org/substack
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Go forth and start your author revolution!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the Author Revolution podcast, where
change is not just embraced,it's celebrated.
I'm Carissa Andrews,international bestselling author
, indie author coach and yournavigator through the
ever-evolving landscape ofauthorship.
Are you ready to harness thepower of your mind and the
latest innovations in technologyfor your writing journey?
If you're passionate aboutmanifesting your dreams and
(00:25):
pioneering new writing frontiers, then you're in the perfect
place.
Here we merge the mystical wooof writing with the exciting
advancements of the modern world.
We dive into the realms ofmindset, manifestation and the
transformative magic that occurswhen you believe in the
impossible.
We also venture into the worldof futuristic technologies and
(00:46):
strategies, preparing you forthe next chapter in your author
career.
Every week, we explore new waysto revolutionize your writing
and publishing experience, fromAI to breakthrough thinking.
This podcast is your gateway toa world where creativity meets
innovation.
Whether you're penning yourfirst novel or expanding your
literary empire, whether you'rea devotee of the pen or a
(01:09):
digital storyteller, thispodcast is where your author
revolution gains momentum.
So join me in this journey tocontinue growth and
transformation.
It's time to redefine what itmeans to be an author in today's
dynamic world.
This is the Author RevolutionPodcast, and your author
revolution starts now.
Merry Christmas and welcomeback to the Author Revolution
(01:35):
Podcast.
Today's episode feels especiallyfitting for this time of year
and for what's to come.
I'm joined by the incredibleAnnetta Kuzman, author of Living
the Width of your Life.
Her philosophy isn't just abouthow long we live.
It's about truly living fully,embracing every moment and
(01:56):
finding meaning along the way.
Annetta's wisdom feels like agift, especially as we wrap up
this season of the podcast.
If you've been feeling the pullto live more intentionally,
embrace your joy and manifest alife that feels expansive and
aligned, this episode will speakdirectly to your heart.
Let's take some time today topause, reflect and truly embrace
(02:17):
how we can live the width ofour lives, not just the length.
You're going to love this one,so let's dive in, not just the
length.
You're going to love this one,so let's dive in Well.
Hi, annetta, I'm so excited tobring you on to the Author
Revolution podcast.
We were just chatting a secondago about, like, how similar in
the way that you teach is towhat I teach, and I'm so excited
(02:37):
to get information, insightsand learn from you.
But before we get started, doyou want to tell my audience a
little bit?
Speaker 2 (02:42):
about yourself.
Sure, krista, thank you so muchfor having me on the show.
I'm so excited to be here withyou.
Yeah, so my name is AnnettaKuzma and I'm the CEO of the
Ardellian Kuzma Group.
I started my business about sixyears ago and primarily, I work
with entrepreneurs andexecutives people that have
(03:06):
followed all the rules I say,achieved success to a level that
they thought would befulfilling and satisfying, and
then they say, huh, what'smissing?
And that was me before as well,and so I work with clients in
one-on-one coaching capacity.
I do a lot of group work fororganizations specifically
focused in on overcoming burnout, redefining success, what that
means for people, and buildingthis balanced, integrated life
(03:28):
that they love.
I also teach yoga, meditationand breath work.
I find that those threepractices were very helpful for
me when I was in the corporateworld for 25 years, and I find
them to be extremely helpful forall of my clients as well.
I do retreats all over theworld because I love to travel
and immerse myself in cultures,and I'm the author of Live the
(03:50):
Width of your Life 365 Days ofDaily Meditations on Purpose,
passion and Peace, as well asthe host of the Live the Width
podcast.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
I love that so many good nuggets in there we're
going to have to talk about somany of it.
So much of it, because it wasjust when I was digging through
your profile and I was lookingat all of the, all the stuff
that you do, I was like, wow,this is, this is so cool because
we're going to have some greatconversations.
And I love that you've broughtup the conversation about yoga,
breath work and meditation,because those have been the same
(04:19):
things that I found in mybusiness, in my life and career
that have worked the most.
I think breathwork was probablythe most recent and tying it
with heart coherence, where itwas, like you know, somatic
movement and meditation.
Those have been incorporatedinto my life for a long time,
but the breathwork has been keyto kind of unlocking, I think,
for myself.
How did you stumble uponbreathwork?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Yeah, for me too.
I I definitely been apractitioner of yoga and then
meditation and breathwork.
I was at a actually a KathyHeller event in LA a few years
back and Sam Skelly, who is theCEO of pause breathwork, was one
of the speakers and shefacilitated a session.
And here I was in the room withprobably a few hundred other
(05:03):
women, with my eyes closed,going through this breathwork
session, finding myselfcompletely cracked open and was
just crying and having such anemotional release that nothing
was like going on.
As I was going into it, Ididn't even anticipate what I
was experiencing.
And after that session I was somoved and so impacted personally
(05:25):
and so unexpectedly, that Iimmediately went back to my room
, contacted her team through thevery social channels and next
morning had a call and signed upto be a breathwork facilitator,
like to go through hersix-month coaching program.
And immediately and it was oneof those things where the mind
was like why are you doing this?
(05:45):
You don't really need to dothis right now In my heart and
my spirit we're like, oh yeah,this found you and you
absolutely have to bring it toyour clients as well.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Yeah, yeah, and it's been so powerful.
I mean, it's just one of themost, like you said, the release
that comes from it is verysimilar to, I think, yoga and
som somatic exercises, when youhave energy stored in the body
as well, because you can dothose things and all of a sudden
you're like what in the heckjust happened?
I was not, I was not expectingthat at all, and when you get
over to the other side of that,all of a sudden you feel so much
better and so much more incontrol of your emotions
(06:18):
yourself.
Your journey it's, it's beenvery profound for me.
So just to kind of take a stepback a little bit, when you were
still working in corporate,what happened there?
I'm assuming an I'm done moment.
I want to pivot.
I want to be able to dosomething else and create my own
business, which obviouslyyou've been doing for years now.
What happened there and how didyou come about the journey
(06:40):
where you're at?
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Yeah, it's so interesting because I think I
always knew that corporate wasprobably not the thing that I
should be doing with my life.
I just felt like I think Ialways knew that.
But I also was such a ruralfollower and I stumbled into
this amazing company and it wasa headquarter company in town.
(07:02):
It was one of the top regionalbanks in the country and it
allowed me to just build acareer and do some interesting
things, work with great peoplewhile I was raising my family
and when I went to grad school.
I went to grad school to get myMBA later in life 38 through 40.
And we had to write a visionpaper, like a 20-page life
(07:24):
vision paper.
That was really introspectiveand reflective and it was really
hard and I think for the firsttime in my life I was asking
myself some really big questionson who are you, what do you
want to be, what's your legacy,why are you here on this planet,
what are the skills that youhave?
You know all of those thingsthat were really hard and
(07:46):
challenging and completelyinconvenient at the time to be
asking myself.
You know, my kids were stillsmall and my career was going
well.
So I think it planted the seedfor me seeds.
And then, in my 40s I thinkjust my kids were getting older
and I started asking myselfthose questions again and I was
looking around and just thinkingcould I really stay where I was
(08:09):
, or something similar, asimilar company, for the next 15
to 20 years?
And the answer was no.
I just didn't see myselfgrowing and I really didn't want
to have any regrets at the endof life.
So I hired a coach because Ididn't know how to do it on my
own.
And I had a friend who was anexecutive coach and I told her
when I was ready because shewould always say you're an
(08:31):
entrepreneur, you're going to dosomething yourself.
I just wasn't ready to do it andwhen I finally did, I hired her
and it was like once thedecision was made, I started
putting all these things inplace and two years after I
hired her, it was time I hadalready started taking action.
I was building the bridge whileI was still working full time
(08:52):
for the future that I wanted,and then, when I finally felt
ready, I was able to leave andtwo days later start working in
my business.
I gave myself a couple daysjust to relax in between.
Yeah, yeah, isn't it amazingtoo.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Once you make that decision, though, that's really
that pivotal moment where it'slike everything then starts to
open up and you start to see thenew inspired action coming to
you because you've made that newpivotal moment in your brain.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
It's just amazing.
I love that.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Well, many authors like high achieving
professionals that I'm assumingthat you work with feel totally
burnt out at this point, likethe author industry is just.
We've kind of had thismentality for a long time of
like hustle your way to the topright as many as you can, as
fast as you can.
So what advice do you have forsomeone who's really overwhelmed
and wants to find alignmentwith those bigger dreams?
(09:45):
What would you?
Speaker 2 (09:47):
say, it's so interesting, you use the word
hustle and alignment.
So I just spoke about this to agroup of entrepreneurs last
week and I said let's movebeyond hustle into flow, and
flow is easy and flow feels good, good and flow is tied to
alignment.
And so the first step I wouldsay for everyone is let's
(10:10):
regulate your nervous systembecause, you are burned out.
I love that.
You just said that.
I've been talking about that,oh my gosh.
Then our nervous system isdysregulated.
And if your nervous system isdysregulated, guess what?
You're not going to feel good,your digestion is going to be a
mess, you're not going to besleeping well, you're actually
not going to be able to thinkclearly because you have stress
(10:30):
hormones just pumping throughyour body all day long.
So I'd say let's find somepractices to regulate, which
could be meditation, it could begrounding out in nature, it
could be doing some breath work,some yoga, some things that are
gentle because we hustle.
Doing some breath work, someyoga, some things that are
gentle because we hustle.
And if we are in that mentality, we are driving so hard with a
lot of very masculine energy andwe need to bring in some of the
(10:52):
feminine, which is a little bitmore ease.
So that would be the firstthing I would say.
And then, once you findyourself regulated, do some of
those soul searching exercisesand say what's most important to
me, what are my values, whatare the things that are really
the things that bring me joy?
And once you identify them,then take a look at your
(11:12):
calendar and say does mycalendar and where I spend my
time reflect that?
And if it doesn't, how do Istart bringing some of those
things in, like your health andwellness, like relationships,
like your sleep, like yourfamily time, like your alone
time, maybe, or creativity ifyou're an author, are you giving
yourself enough space to createif those things are really
(11:35):
important to you?
And then, once you do that,then it's really saying so what
is the long-term vision?
If this isn't working, thenwhat do I want?
What does success look like forme?
And sometimes it's taking astep back, and that's not a bad
thing.
Sometimes it's like I want towork less hours or I want to be
able to make some shifts andcrowd some of the things out
(11:56):
that aren't working for me.
And then just saying how do Itake daily action, imperfect
action, in that direction everysingle day, just focusing in on
getting 1% better?
Those are some of the thingsthat I would do with someone
right away.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
I love that.
It's perfect because that isexactly how I try to describe
things to people as well,because, man, when we, when we
dysregulate our nervous system,it's like I teach manifestation
as well.
And so when you're trying tomanifest something, because your
mind is so out of alignment, aswell you're manifesting, you're
taking those inspired actionsteps, but maybe not even fully
(12:30):
realizing that you're like theway that you're handling it or
the way that just yourmanifestations are a little
askew because your nervoussystem isn't regulated and
you're not coming from that trueplace of alignment in yourself.
And it's just.
(12:50):
It's very interesting to me howthat all kind of comes together
and so many people don'trealize that that can be a crux
in bringing in that flow back intheir life.
And I love that you said theflow and the ease and bringing
all that back into the way thatwe handle things, because,
especially high achievers, Ithink we have this, this list,
and we want things to go acertain way and we're going to
check off all the boxes and thenwe think that's enough, but
(13:12):
there's, there is this level ofenergy that's kind of coming
through, I think lately probablyseen in the past five years
where there is that level of howdo you take a step back and
allow what's meant for you tocome through, based off of what
it is you're trying to call inright?
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Yeah, yes, I love the word allow too.
And you know, chris, if youthink about it, we have done
this to ourselves like througheven from the time you start
school.
These little kids, right, thatare just inundated with homework
and sitting still, and justsuch a structure of routine and
schedule and someone alwaystelling them where to be, and
(13:50):
then we hustled them to alltheir sporting events.
I mean it really seems to havestarted at a younger age where
kids can't even just play or bebored.
I mean what a gift it is to dothat.
And then, of course, it's goingto continue.
And then when the systembecomes so used to it that when
(14:12):
people are not busy, sometimesthat is actually more anxiety
inducing than when they are,because it feels so unfamiliar.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Right, right.
I was just having a conversationwith one of my students this
morning where we were talkingabout that hustle culture and
trying to do all the things.
When you start getting into themomentum of all of it, it's what
kind of takes up then all ofyour brain space and brain power
, and so it's hard to then dothe mental bandwidth and mental
imagining to bring in somethingbigger into your life.
(14:43):
Like, let's say, you know, Ihave so many people want to
bring in, you know, moreabundance, more money or
whatever into their careers, butthey don't.
They're focused so much on thisefforting of like I have to get
all these things done in orderto hopefully get attention,
hopefully get someone to see me,hopefully do these things.
So it's coming from that placeof lack and when we don't have
that space for boredom or thatspace for visualization or the
(15:04):
downtime to be thinking aboutand dreaming up, this is what
I'm going to do when it happens,this is how it's going to look,
these are the things that I'mcalling in and, like we don't
have any of that time, we'rejust literally just trying to
make it work, force it to work,and then it's like it's all
going crazy.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Yes, and the inspiration and the creativity
and the flow.
And all of that is found in therest.
It's found in the downtime,it's found in the moments where
you're lost in thought, on awalk or taking a shower or
driving in your car.
It's those moments, and if wedon't have enough of those,
we're not going to find whatwe're looking for.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Oh, I so agree with that.
And is that where live thewidth of your life came from?
Like, how did that concept comeabout?
Tell us more about this,because it sounds so cool.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Yeah.
So it's a quote by DianeAckerman.
I read it when I was still incorporate and hustling and
really exhausted and burned out.
And she said, to paraphrase Idon't want to get to the end of
my life and realize that I justlived the length of it.
I want to have lived the widthof it.
And when I first read it Ididn't know exactly what she
meant.
(16:09):
All I knew is that, oh, I thinkthat sounds like me.
I think I'm constantly thinkingabout the length.
I thought I'm always thinkingabout the next thing, I'm always
focused on tomorrow, I'm alwaysfocused on the next goal.
What do I need to get done?
What's on my to-do list?
How do I get to the weekend?
So it's always like very linearforward thinking and it's fast,
(16:31):
right.
When we kind of live life thatway, moments, days just pass us
up.
And then so the length, Ithought oh, that's expansive,
length is, and width, width isexpansive, right?
So how do I create some moreexpansion in my day?
And for me it meant slowingdown.
It meant being more mindful andpresent.
(16:52):
It meant savoring things, in away, every little thing, whether
it's your cup of tea you'redrinking, or the food you're
eating, or the conversationyou're in with someone, and it
also meant treating every singleday like the gift, that it is
not just the weekends or theholidays or big family vacations
(17:13):
or whatever, and so I justloved it so much and I thought
you know what this really doesencompass, what I'm doing with
my clients, which is helpingthem build these big, bold,
beautiful lives.
Helping them build these big,bold, beautiful lives and when I
started the podcast, it's thequestion I ask everyone, because
(17:33):
every single one of us has adifferent answer or response to
that question, but we all have aresponse.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Oh yeah, absolutely.
What you just said was sointeresting.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
It reminds me of, like, how time passes as a child
or at least how it did for me,like as a kid.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
I don't know some of these, some of this uh gen alpha
stuff, like their days passreally fast too, but it was like
there was so much expansion inlike going outside and doing the
things and reading the books,and so it was like the time went
so much slower than what itdoes now.
And so I completely understandwhat you're saying.
For sure, and as kids, you'rejust in it.
You're like present moment allday long.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
And you were, you know.
I mean playing outside untilmom called us home for dinner,
or getting on your bike and justriding around the neighborhood
and knocking on your friend'sdoors like who's around, or,
like you said, just reading abook and just sitting outside,
and it was just such a beautifulinnocence about that.
And so other countries do this.
(18:28):
Well, you know, in Italy theycall it La Dolce Farnente, it's
just the sweetness of doingnothing, and I think that
there's some negativeconnotation Actually I know
there is in the Western world,especially in the United States
around that it sometimes couldbe perceived as being lazy.
If you're just, you're justresting, what Don't?
(18:48):
You have a million things to do, probably.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Yeah, probably, but I'm actively choosing.
See how it is Actively choosing.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Exactly, exactly, with intentionality.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Yeah, yeah, I love the concept of the groundhog day
life.
I think you mentioned it inyour books too.
So what, the concept of thegroundhog day life?
I think you mentioned it intoyour in your books too.
So what are some of the firststeps that you recommend for
someone who is feeling trappedin their routine and doing all
the things?
Cause I know many authorsmyself even included some- days.
I get through a day and I'mlike, oh my God, I'm back in bed
already, like what justhappened.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Yeah, for me, I like to think about devotion plus
discipline, and so devotion, Imean, is what are the things
that your routines or habits ordaily activities that you can
put in your day that you lookforward to, because the best
routines are the ones thatyou're excited to do.
(19:39):
So, for me, I have a bookshelfin my room and I have a stash of
books that I love to read forfrom every morning as I'm
sipping my first cup of coffee.
It's quotes, it's devotionals,it's doing some journaling and
some manifestation work.
It's like I look forward tothat.
I don't dread it.
I know that it makes me feel sogood and it fills me up and it
(20:01):
delays the process of work.
Right, you're allowing yourselfto intentionally start with
something that's good for youmentally, physically,
emotionally, spirituallyPhysical movement.
I know that if I don't get in awalk, even if it's a short one,
could be even just around theblock if that's all I have time
for, but I know I look forwardto that.
I feel the sunshine that setsmy circadian rhythm.
(20:23):
I love going outside.
Know, I look forward to that.
I feel the sunshine that setsmy circadian rhythm.
I love going outside, walking,getting the fresh air, seeing
the changing seasons Like thatfeels good.
So I would ask everyone to saywhat are the things that just
bring you joy, what are thethings that you know can make
you feel so good, even if it'sjust a few minutes it doesn't
have to be two hours worth ofroutines and make sure that you
plug those in.
(20:44):
And if that means like treatingit like a ritual, like lighting
a candle using your favoritemug you know, putting a playlist
on that you like listening toall the time, do that and don't
be selfish with it.
Don't give it up.
That's what I would tell people, and then I would examine what
are the things you're currentlydoing.
If you're jumping out of bedand reaching for your phone
(21:12):
right away and suddenly yourheart rate is like racing again
and your adrenaline's pumpingand you start cranking out
emails right away, ask yourself,does that feel good?
Is that really the way I wantto start my day?
And the same thing in theevening.
Sleep is so important.
Many people are not sleeping.
I would say take a look at yourevening routine.
How do you set yourself up forsuccess, for a good night's
sleep?
What are you doing?
Are you working till lateevenings?
Are you on your devices whichare overstimulating, and then,
(21:33):
throughout the day, I would say,you know, are you giving
yourself ample time to rest, totake a break, to maybe just go
outside, take a couple deepbreaths, just stretch your legs,
do whatever feels good?
Just look at your days and askyourself those questions and I
think we know the answers tothem.
It's just that sometimes wedon't spend the time actually
reflecting, we just keep doingthe same thing over and over
(21:56):
again, and that's why it feelslike Groundhog Day, because you
do the exact same thing all thetime.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Yeah, so maybe adding spontaneity into the day as
well, doing things a little bitdifferent each time.
Yeah, and I think for me thatwould definitely be something
because I'm very regimented, Ihave I do the morning routine
with my books and my coffee aswell.
I love setting my day up forthat kind of success.
When it's nice outside, Iactually do the grounding,
walking on the grass with mybare feet watching the sunrise.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
When it's getting cold, like it is in Minnesota
right now.
I'll do it a little bit, andthen I'm usually back in.
Not the six minutes that'srecommended, you know whatever.
A couple minutes yeah, but itis interesting for me.
I think the spontaneity wouldbe something that adds that
little spice to the day of likedo something that just kind of
like I wasn't expecting.
That seems fun to like.
(22:45):
It's just, you know,interesting.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
I love that idea and also, chris, in order to do that
.
Sometimes we need to make surethat our days are not packed
from.
You know, every single minutewe have to give ourselves some
space to allow for that.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Yeah, absolutely.
I remember when I first startedmy author career, which I mean
it was back in 2010 when I firststarted, and then when I really
put in my decision to become anindie author and go kind of all
in, this is what I'm going tobe doing around 2017.
Oh man, I was doing exactlywhat you're talking about.
Getting up in the morning, Iwas like straight to work, I was
doing all the things and I kept.
(23:21):
I kept feeling so disconnectedthe entire day because I wasn't
reading like I normally would, Iwasn't doing a lot of.
I mean, I was still working out, but I was probably doing too
much Like all that stimulation.
I was actually doing like theharder workouts, and so I think
that was like worse too, becauseit was like everything was just
go, go go.
There was no calming situation,Like there was no yoga to call
(23:42):
me back down, Like I was.
Like that's not good enough,let's do the intensity cardio
and now I'm like, no, you knowwhat I'm going to do, the nice
balance of things, because itfeels better and it just, but it
took time to to realize I wasdoing that to myself, right?
Do you find that a lot of highachievers and a lot of people
that you work with are like that, where it's like they don't
even realize they put themselvesin?
Speaker 2 (24:01):
that situation?
Yeah, and it's also.
I did the same thing as you.
I actually decided to run amarathon right after I graduated
from, right after I got my MBA.
I'm like, what am I going to dowith all this free time?
I'm just going to go train fora marathon.
And of course, it was like theworst thing, like it.
Too much cortisol, too muchadrenaline, there was no time.
And I think the reason we go,go, go is because it is a
(24:29):
distraction.
It's a seductive distractionand we can justify the things,
because most people would sayyou're doing all the right stuff
.
This is what it takes to besuccessful.
But when we actually giveourselves the space and the time
to ask ourselves does thisactually really benefit me, or
is there something better?
When you take the time to askourselves does this actually
really benefit me, or is theresomething better when you take
the time to do it?
We know the answers, butsometimes we don't want to hear
(24:50):
what the answers are, because itdoes require us to make a
change and we're not alwaysready for it.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Yeah, absolutely.
It means that we've beenoperating from a false premise
for a while and then it's kindof like that whole concept of
you know, you just kind of keepgoing in it because you don't
want to let the castle crumble.
I guess you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Yeah, I read a quote on LinkedIn recently.
I think it was something to theeffect of I'm not worried about
small progress.
It was something about, likeyou know, not worried about like
little progress.
Every day I'm worried aboutclimbing the ladder that's on
the wrong building, or climbingthe wrong mountain.
So it's, it's not like you knowlike we could many times be
(25:34):
racing, and then you get to thetop and you're like, oh, no, I
was supposed to be over there.
I was supposed to be over thereand I worked so hard and now I'm
finally realizing, versus likemaking sure you're on the right
place, on the right track and umand making the small progress
that still feels good becauseyou know you're.
It's aligned.
It's going back to that wordalignment that you used earlier.
(25:55):
It's tied to your goals, yourvalues, the things that are most
important.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Yeah, that's so key.
I love that.
Okay, so, not to like go backto like this concept of pushing
yourself.
But I have a question here thatI wanted to ask because I'm
really curious about it, becauseyou include exercises that help
your readers push them out oftheir comfort zones, and I think
there is an element of thatthat is still key for us to be
able to push ourselves and to dosomething that can really push
(26:22):
us back into alignment, becausesometimes we're doing things in
a way that just is methodical.
We think we're doing all theright things and we're not
actually taking action that isaligned for us.
So can you explain some of that, like some of those exercises,
or yeah?
Speaker 2 (26:36):
So when I wrote my book my book is, it's a daily
because I wanted to write a bookthat I wanted to read, and one
of the things I read so much Imean, many of my clients too are
voracious readers we consumepodcasts, we consume so much
information constantly, but it'sdifficult to always take action
because we're onto the nextthing.
(26:57):
And so I wanted to create abook that really supports this
notion of daily progress.
And so every day there is well,every month, there's a
different theme in my bookthat's tied to transformation.
So the goals you start from thebeginning to the end.
At the end of the year, youshould be different and have
grown as a person.
And every day, there, aftereach daily entry, there is
(27:23):
either a journal prompt,something to reflect on, or
there is a challenge, andthey're small challenges, but
they're aligned to the theme.
And so pushing ourselves out ofour comfort zone doesn't have to
be big.
It doesn't have to be jumpingout of a plane or going bungee
jumping or quitting your job.
It could be something as simpleas hey, maybe post something
(27:46):
really thoughtful andthought-provoking if that makes
you feel uncomfortable, orrecord your first video if
you're starting your businessand you want to promote yourself
more, or maybe it's just buyingthe person behind you a cup of
coffee because you wanted tobring some more joy and kindness
into the world.
It doesn't have to be somethingbig, but it's just an
(28:07):
intentional challenge that youknow is aligned to whatever it
is that they're doing.
So those are some simple waysthat you can do it, and I love
when people say that they readthe book and that they've been
doing all the challenges,because they do see the growth
then and they love talking aboutwhat it is that they did that
day.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
That is so good.
I could see one of thechallenges being take a day off.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Take a day off.
Yeah, Take your afternoon off.
Right Something crazy.
Go to the beach, go to the lake, go to take a walk, you know.
Go to a bookstore and just sitthere and read, or whatever it
is that brings people joy, thoselittle things that just bring
you out of your routine.
Sometimes that could reallyspark some new inspiration and
(28:50):
creativity, or just rest.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Yeah, yeah, that's so good.
I love that.
Okay For someone who's feelingstuck in their author career.
What role does self-care do youthink?
Obviously you've talked aboutbreathwork and meditation and
other wellness practices Do youthink that plays in finding the
clarity and reigniting theirpassion?
Do you think that's like shouldbe put first and foremost
before they go through anythingelse?
I'm guessing the answer is yes,but I'll let you answer.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Yeah, it's such a great question and I'm thinking
back to my own experience.
You know, for me what I did wasit goes back to that devotion
and discipline.
I made sure that I stayed verycommitted to my self-care
practices when I was writing,because I do believe that when
we are in flow, we are connectedto a higher source, to God, to
(29:36):
creator.
We are co-creating thisbeautiful, inspired piece of
work and I do believe thatcreating this beautiful,
inspired piece of work, and I dobelieve that.
And so when I was doing all theright things and then gave
myself the space to write, I canread and know that I don't even
remember it was me writing it,like it definitely felt very
inspired.
(29:57):
And then there were days where Iknow, because I still stayed
very disciplined, my writingschedule, which was every
morning, the days that I didn'tdo it or if I didn't feel as
well, like I was sick, but Istill tried to write.
You can tell the difference.
It just feels different and soit does right, it's just it
feels more maybe from the head,not so much from the heart, like
(30:19):
it just feels like it's.
You can still do it, we canstill write.
You know whether we're inspiredor not, but when you have the
self-care and you are so alignedand you're in this space of
flow, you create with so muchmore ease and inspiration and I
think it's better work.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
I agree with that.
Oh my gosh, when I first startedwriting, I was so committed
because it was NaNoWriMo, thefirst time I was writing my
fiction and I could tell, likewhen I got sick, because, for
whatever reason, in November Ior like early October, like
right now, I tend to getsomething.
I don't know if it's because ofthe change of seasons or
whatever, but I could tell whenI was writing because I was
(30:58):
committed to doing it every day.
Yeah, that when I sick it waslike everyone was crabby in the
books, like they were all likegoing at each other and I was
like what is this Like?
what?
Like throw everything out andstart.
I'm like, okay, obviously, ifI'm sick and not feeling the
flow, I'm not writing on thosedays?
Speaker 2 (31:15):
No, no, because you know the energy and your
frequency.
I mean that comes through inthe writing, right I mean?
And so check in and find outwhat it is that you want to do,
right?
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Otherwise, your characters are going to be very
angry or very like disgruntledthe entire time.
It's like what?
That was the weirdestexperience, but I loved it and I
remember going back and I wasblogging at the time when I
first started too, and I wasmore in flow at that point
because obviously, writing andtransitioning into writing
novels was like so new.
It was like, oh, this is fancyand exciting.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
The energy was so much different and I remember.
You know, if I, anytime I goback and reread those blogs, I'm
like, oh my gosh, I need to getback into that flow whenever
I'm feeling unmotivated oruninspired and think that your
words don't matter, because theydo.
Like you said, there's aresonance in the way that you
word things, those thingstogether.
It's just fascinating.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
So good, I love that Okay.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
So your expertise in helping people overcome burnout
is highly relevant.
We talked about that a littlebit but do you have any early
warning signs that authorsshould be paying attention to
when it comes to burnout, andhow can they recognize it so
that they can make a shift?
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Yeah, it's such a slippery slope.
And so I would say that if youfind that, on a more regular
basis, you're waking up and youdon't want to get out of bed, or
you're waking up and feelingreally tired and not motivated
to do the things even that bringyou joy or that you used to
(32:50):
enjoy, like sitting down andwriting, you'd probably want to
say let me take a look here andsee what's going on.
And then also, if you findyourself more irritable, maybe
like your emotions aredysregulated, like you're
responding in a way that isatypical to very simple things
like your kids leaving a messaround the house or, you know,
(33:12):
maybe whatever accidentallydropping something.
You know, there are justcertain things that under normal
circumstances, when we feelreally well-rested or we feel
more like ourselves ourselves orregulated, they don't really
bother us, but suddenly they setyou off.
That could be a sign if yourrelationships start to suffer,
because we tend to turn some ofthat onto.
Then the people that areclosest to us, you know, have
(33:34):
that conversation with them aswell.
And then, of course, if you'restarting to see that you're
getting sick more often becauseour immune system is compromised
, or if you find yourselfactually having like some
symptoms and you want to go tothe doctor and kind of figure
out what's happening here.
Those are probably all signsBecause when we have the burnout
it does impact us physically,mentally, emotionally.
(33:56):
You might feel spirituallydisconnected because you're not
doing the things that youtypically do as well.
So it really impacts our entirewell-being and I think we
discredit some of those symptoms.
You know, it's our body'snatural way of saying pay
attention, pay attention, payattention.
And then it gets louder andlouder.
So I'll say, the sooner you canrespond to those nudges, it's
(34:19):
probably easier to pull yourselfback, and the longer you wait,
the harder it'll take to comeback.
I mean, we can, but it's justgoing to require a little bit
longer.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
I completely understand that.
I think for me, one of thefirst symptoms for me if I'm
getting close to burnout is thatI don't.
I don't want to respond topeople.
It's like there's too muchpressure to then have to respond
.
So it's like as I start feelingthat, like I don't want to
respond to an email or like atext message or something I'm
like oh, I need to.
I need to find some time to getback into like the flow and
(34:49):
regulate myself, because that's.
That's not typical of me.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
And so yeah like for me.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
I've definitely learned that's one of the big
ones, the sickness.
I think that's probablyaccurate.
I've got a lot going on rightnow.
We're getting ready to go to abig trip on uh to Vegas for
author nation, and there's beena lot of moving parts and
pushing myself probably furtherthan I typically do, and so I'm
like you know going going withthe kids and doing their their
fun things, and then all of asudden, you come back from a
(35:16):
banquet for tennis and you'resick.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
It's like oh gosh, you know what, carissa, you made
me think of something too.
So that avoider tendency, whereyou don't want to respond to
the email, so those are, it'sone of the saboteur.
Like, there's an assessment,the positiveintelligencecom.
It's a free assessment and it'sone I like to do with my
clients, but you can take it andit'll identify which of the
(35:42):
saboteurs typically come outwhen you're most stressed or
when you're burned out, andthese are very early coping
skills and it'll tell you yourorigin, the false narratives we
tell ourselves about it, how itimpacts us, how it impacts other
people.
It's really fascinating, butavoider is one of them.
(36:02):
Sometimes people it becomesoverwhelming and so you just put
it off and procrastinate.
And so when people tell me thatthey procrastinate and that
that's how they operate and theylike it or they use it as a
justification, I say you know,that's really like a trauma
response actually.
And so it's the inability tomove forward until you have
enough adrenaline in your bodyfrom worrying about not taking
(36:25):
action that actually propels youforward.
But that surge is not necessaryor isn't really healthy.
That's not a healthy response.
No, it's not good.
No.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
I've heard someone describe it too, almost like it
coincides with the fight flightor freeze responses.
So like avoidance is like thefreeze right.
Yes, it's the freeze yeah, sointeresting.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
So, interesting.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
Yeah, so that's definitely for me, that's my
go-to.
I don't typically procrastinateon many things, but I think
there's probably enoughadrenaline pushing me to get it
done.
Yeah, so probably there's thatelement of I freeze on that
stuff because it's not, as in mybrain, I guess, as high of a
priority.
Right, yeah, oh, gosh, okay.
(37:10):
So sustainable change can bedifficult to maintain for
authors, especially because whenwe're doing this thing, we have
the momentum, we think this isthe way it should be done and we
kind of almost trick ourselvesto keep going that way.
But how can we encourage authorsto keep going when their
results aren't immediate?
So, like when we have thishustle culture of, let's say, we
have to have, I don't know, ahuge backlist or whatever, how
(37:33):
can they keep in alignment whilethey're still trying to, let's
say, reach that goal of having alarger backlist of books to
support themselves?
Do you have any anything onthat?
Like when results aren't justlike right, there, I think, a
high, like I think of highachievers in specific, where we
go to school and if we alwaysget great, great grades and do
all the things and people arealways like oh my gosh, you're
(37:54):
so smart, but then you can't oryou don't get that the immediate
gratification from your books,like how do you keep going and
keep yourself motivated withoutgoing crazy?
Speaker 2 (38:04):
Yeah, that's a great question, and I think it's
important for us to understandour motivation for why we do
what we do.
And obviously, selling a lot ofbooks and other success metrics
are really important, becausethat is especially what the
outside world tells us isimportant and why we do the
(38:25):
things that we do.
But I don't know that that'senough.
I think that there have to besome other intrinsic values and
motivators that would want us todo something that you can't
always guarantee that you'regoing to get the results that
you're looking for.
And so for me, I loved readingRick Rubin's book the Creative
(38:48):
Act.
If you've never read it, it'samazing.
And he just talks about ascreators we have to create
things for ourselves, like whatis it that I would love to
create, that I feel like I haveto birth into this world that is
so important and so personaland is mine to bring forth, and
sometimes that has to be enough.
(39:08):
And then, of course, theoutside metrics can catch up to
that.
But I don't know.
That's a really good question.
I don't have a good answer forthat and I think everybody is
individually different.
For me, I'm just excited forevery single person that
purchases my book and reachesout and says, wow, I love this
so much that I bought this as agift for somebody else, and so
(39:32):
it's seeing the results, it'sseeing people take action, it's
all of those things.
But I think we have to askourselves if it's not in the
numbers, would you still do whatyou do and why?
Yeah so good.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
That is so good.
Well, I think there's a level.
I was reading this morning thescience of getting rich by
Wallace Waddles.
Jen Cicero recommended ithighly and I was in her eight
weeks to badass course this pastyear and I was like I finally
got around to grabbing it and itwas really fascinating this
morning because it was talkingin there about how, like when we
have a very specific outcomethat we're looking for, that,
(40:10):
when we have like our willpressed upon that thing, that's
how we bring and magnetize thethings to us.
So when we are just vague andwe're like, oh, we want to be
rich someday, we want to havebooks sell really well, it's
almost like it's not specificenough too, because you know,
like I'm going to Vegas in themiddle of November.
That's specific.
You know that from this day tothat date you're going to be
(40:30):
gone and you're leaving onwhatever.
So it's like in your brainthere's a there's a specific
timeframe.
You know that you're doing thisspecific thing.
All of the pieces have to cometogether.
So the universe and yourself,you're, you're taking those
inspired action steps to get tothat point of having what you
need there.
It's kind of the same, I think,when we're, when we're bringing
into the world certain goalsand so if we can get specific
(40:51):
and feel good about it and knowand trust that we can have it,
we can get there.
But it's we kind of mess thingsup when we think, oh, it can't
happen because I'm relying onother people and I'm relying on
whatever kind of forgetting thatyou're.
You're the thing that bringsthat to you, like you kind of
have to magnetize them to you,and that that kind of comes from
you being very specific andaligned there's that word again
(41:13):
aligned with that line.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
Yeah, I find this specific is so important, but
I'm a non-specific manifester,like in my human design, and so
I think yes, and saying this orsomething better, like allow for
more magic, allow for it tocome in better, easier, in a way
(41:35):
I can't even possibly imaginemyself, and so that's been
really helpful for me,especially with all my goals and
things that I work on is beingspecific but then also opening
it up for it to work out in away that could be even better
than I could have ever imaginedfor myself.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
Yeah, it's almost like you have to be specific
about the one thing that'sreally mattering to you and then
leaving the rest of it up tothe universe to just bring it
however you want, like exactlycontrolling every element of it.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
that's where things kind of get crazy yeah, they get
a little bit nuts, yeah, okay,so in your podcast, live the
width of your life, which Istill love.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
I love that so much.
You explore living, uh,lifefully and intentionally so
to you.
We talked about the width ofyour life, but how does living
intentionally look like for youspecifically?
What kind of practices do youdo after your reading in the
morning and your devotionals toreally expand the width of your
life?
Speaker 2 (42:27):
Yeah, so I have my life vision and that I read
every single week which isreally specific on every area of
my life and what that lookslike.
And so it's my most big, bold,beautiful, big dream life, and
some of the things have comeinto fruition and some are not
here yet, but I still read itand it brings me like such
(42:51):
gratitude because it's sobeautiful.
And part of that vision isbeing really clear on my values,
and so I list, you know, a setof 10 values or so sentences
about what, how I live my life,how I treat others, how I take
care of myself, what myrelationships are like.
You know, all of the thingsthat are most important.
And then from that, then I makesure every day that I plan my
(43:15):
days accordingly.
So I do use a planner that Ihave next to me and I use it in
the morning to really make surethat I'm focusing in on the
things that are most important,not just like a random 20 page
to-do list, but things that aremost important today.
That includes all of the thingsthat I need for myself.
(43:37):
They're not just focused onwork.
That includes all of the thingsthat I need for myself.
They're not just focused onwork.
And then in the evening Ireflect and say how did today go
?
Why, what's my energy feel like?
Did I get to do the things Iwanted to do?
If so, why not?
Sometimes we overbook ourselves.
And what am I going to move totomorrow?
And then I do a weeklyreflection Friday afternoons.
(43:59):
What am I going to move totomorrow?
And then I do a weeklyreflection Friday afternoons.
I reflect back on the week andI have the notes, because I do
it every day, and then I lookahead and say, okay, so what
about next week?
What are those priorities?
Have I set myself up forsuccess with the way I've
scheduled my days and mymeetings?
And then I can go into theweekend just being a bit more
spontaneous, more in the momentwith my family, more focused.
(44:20):
I mean, we never stoppedthinking about our business, of
course, but it's not in astructured way.
On the weekends it's much morerelaxed, and then that just
keeps me aligned, it keeps mefocused.
But reading the vision is theinspiration.
That's the part where you'rejust constantly looking at it
and so excited for all of thethings that are yet to unfold
(44:42):
and some of the things that arealready here and then it's the
daily.
It's planning and reflecting.
So that's worked for me.
It's like what I do, and I lovethe discipline of the planner
because it takes some of thosethoughts that are sometimes in
their mind and you put it onpaper and suddenly I don't have
to remember it up there, I canjust reflect on it, look at it
(45:03):
and it's written, and thenthere's a little bit more space
for me to think about otherthings.
Speaker 1 (45:08):
Yeah, it's amazing how those to-do lists will take
mental bandwidth if you don'twrite them down.
I have a planner as well.
I use the full focus plannermyself.
Speaker 2 (45:16):
I love it Wonderful full focus planner myself.
Speaker 1 (45:22):
I love it Wonderful, keeps me organized in that flow.
But I love the concept of thelike the life goal Do you have?
Do you teach?
Speaker 2 (45:26):
number one, that life plan.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
And so is it in the book or is it in your teachings,
like if they were, if peoplework with you, how does that,
like, how do you give that?
Speaker 2 (45:32):
I have the, I have the template as part of the
resources in the book and it is.
We have several entries aroundthat, but it is definitely
something that I do in littlebite-sized pieces in my coaching
.
You know, like let's focus onthe values and then let's look
at what does success look likein every area.
I do a lot of visualizationmeditations, which really helps
(45:55):
tap into people's unconscious,subconscious mind to think about
what it is that they reallywant.
And we look 10 years out andthen we work backwards.
Because let me tell you, chris,so when you add a decade to
your life and to your family'slife and everyone else that's
near you, and we know howquickly a decade can pass it
does something.
It puts a little bit of a fireunder people to say, wow, I
(46:19):
can't really put that off thatmuch longer.
And then we work backwards tosay, so what do you need to do
at five years to make sure thatyou're still on track?
And what could you do now, oneto three years, to get to the
five-year vision?
And suddenly it becomes moremanageable.
Speaker 1 (46:37):
Yeah, well, it sounds like it also keeps the
mentality in your mind of whatit is that you want, so kind of
like dumping your to-do listonto your planner.
It keeps the thing that you'redesiring still at the forefront
of your mind so that you cancontinue to spend the mental
energy which you do want to do,creating the thing.
Absolutely, absolutely.
Yeah, I love that.
Oh, I'm going to have to.
(46:58):
I'm going to have toincorporate that.
Definitely getting your book,obviously, because it just
sounds amazing.
Speaker 2 (47:04):
I actually I hope you do and I also.
There's a journal that goeswith it.
So yeah, the journal is helpful.
So if you want to do the book,you know over and over again
each year you can have adifferent journal.
But I also kept the Kindleprice very, very low only 99
cents because sometimes you justwant to be able to read it on
the go or if you're travelingyou don't want to bring a big,
(47:26):
heavy book.
Clients were saying do you havea PDF of it?
Can you send it to me?
And I'm like here's the Kindle99 cents.
Super easy, just download theapp and then you could have it
anytime to read or go back andsave any of the ones that feel
good.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:40):
I'm definitely a paper person.
I mean, I would probably getthe Kindle as well.
But I'm a paper person when itcomes to nonfiction, especially
things like this.
So good, because it just Idon't know what it is.
It's more my nonfiction than myfiction, unless I've read the
fiction book and I'm like, oh myGod, this is amazing.
I need to have it on my shelf.
Speaker 2 (47:57):
Yeah, you'll want to underline and take notes and
that's why I think I also agreefor nonfiction.
Paper is so important.
Yeah, so good.
Speaker 1 (48:06):
Okay, how do you see the intersection of wellness and
creativity Like?
Are there ways that mindfulnesspractices can really help
authors tap into that deepercreativity and flow when it
comes to the writing set ofthings too?
Speaker 2 (48:19):
I do.
I mean, I think that so much ofwhat I write is channeled and
it happens when I am notfocusing on me, but I'm opening
myself up to the inspiration andthe creativity and the muse to
come from you know what I callcreator or source and what
others the universe.
And so I do think that that'simportant.
(48:41):
And for me, sitting inmeditation or right after a
breathwork session, whereeverything is just shaken up and
you're releasing and you'rebringing in all this life force
with you, with the breath, Ijust always get inspired and I
hear the most amazing downloads.
And I was just doing preparingfor a speech last week and in my
(49:04):
meditation, and the title wasThriving Beyond Hustle Building
a Business and Life you Love.
And I was sitting in mymeditation and I'd been thinking
, okay, how am I going to startthis?
You know what's?
You know, am I going to ask aquestion?
Is there going to be astatement?
And um, and in meditation, allof a sudden I heard I've been
(49:26):
worshiping hustle culture sinceI was five years old and I was
like I grabbed my phone and Ilike recorded in the memo so I
wouldn't forget, and then Iwould say I said it to people.
I'm like this thing kind ofcame in meditation and everyone
said okay, goosebumps, Idefinitely would lean in and go
what Tell me more?
(49:47):
And that's how I started.
Yeah, but I like I'd beenthinking about it and that that
didn't come to me until I satstill and just was in the moment
, in the stillness, where Iheard that sentence come through
.
Speaker 1 (50:03):
Wow, that is really good.
It made me go Ooh too, Causeit's like oh dang.
I felt that, yeah, I'm reallycurious about your breath work
practices.
This wasn't even a question,but it's like, when it comes to
breath work, what's yourfavorite that you use in order
to get into the flow state?
Speaker 2 (50:22):
Well, it depends what I need, right.
So I, if I'm doing a relaxationbreath, I love the halo active
which is just in through thenose, out through the mouth.
That really gets me supergrounded and allows me to just
get really like still, and it'sso nourishing.
I love doing the Shining SkullKabbalah Bhati breath if I want
(50:46):
activation, and I play the songthe Journey by Soul Rising and
you're just exhaling through thenose and you're expressing like
through, it's like a very, thebelly is just moving up and the
air is coming out, so throughthe nose, and it's just like a
passive inhale through the nose,passive out through the nose,
(51:06):
and that just gets me going.
The song's about three minutesand you do that for three
minutes and then you come outand you're like let's go dizzy,
but also like wow, I feel like Ihave so much energy, I can do
anything right now.
Or the triactive breath, whichis, you know, in through the
mouth, twice exhale, and that'sreally activating and keeps you
(51:29):
going as well.
So it just depends on the day.
And I have, of course, as ayoga, meditation, breathwork
facilitator, I have dozens andmaybe hundreds of playlists,
right, mine and my friends, andso there's always a playlist
that is perfect for the breath,for that particular moment.
Whatever it is that I'm seeking, whether it's joy or
(51:50):
inspiration, or relaxation orpeace, or whatever it is,
there's something that can goexactly with what you need.
And then you match theintention with the breath, with
the music, and suddenly it's sotransformative.
Speaker 1 (52:04):
So do you share that in your book as well, like are
there playlists or is that foryour clients or in-person things
?
Speaker 2 (52:09):
Yeah, those are in-person.
I do have some recordedmeditations and so you can
access some things that arerecorded.
Also, there's a QR code at thebeginning of the book and you
have access to it.
But I do a.
If anyone's listening orinterested, I do a free
breathwork class from 12 to 1230on Thursdays, Eastern Standard
(52:30):
Time, and you can registeronline and you don't even have
to turn your camera on.
But it's a great way toexperience breathwork and, yeah,
it's a different theme eachweek and everyone's welcome to
join.
Speaker 1 (52:44):
That is so cool.
That is so cool, okay.
So where can everybody go tofind out more about you,
everything that you do, becauseobviously you do so much?
Where can we send them?
Speaker 2 (52:55):
Yeah, the easiest is my website.
I think it'll have all mysocials.
It'll have the ability to signup and register for any classes,
to purchase the book, to learnmore about all the services.
So anettakuzmacom orlivethewithcom they both go to
the same website and then youshould be able to navigate
around and find all the details.
I'm most active also onInstagram and LinkedIn.
Speaker 1 (53:24):
So people can find me there as well.
That is so awesome.
Speaker 2 (53:25):
Well.
Annetta, thank you so much forbeing here today for talking.
Speaker 1 (53:28):
I could literally talk to you all day long.
So much fun.
So thank you for being here.
Speaker 2 (53:31):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (53:35):
What a perfect conversation to end on Annetta's
philosophy of living the widthof your life feels like the
reminder we all need, especiallyas we reflect on this past year
and look towards the nextchapter.
Speaking of next chapters, thisepisode officially wraps up
season one, as I'd like to callit, of the Author Revolution
(53:55):
podcast.
That means, for the time being,I'm putting this show on hiatus
as I focus on other things.
Right, and I'm so grateful foryou, every listener, every
comment and every download.
It's been an incredible journeyand this truly isn't goodbye.
It's just me embracing whatAnnetta talks about, living
(54:15):
fully and expanding into who Iam.
So, starting next week, I'll belaunching the Manifest
Differently podcast.
It's a brand new space whereI'll continue talking about
manifestation and living yourbest life, but from a broader
perspective.
As a neurodivergent manifestermyself, I felt called to dig
deeper into why manifestationworks and why it sometimes feels
(54:37):
harder for neurodivergentthinkers to fully embrace it.
This new podcast will sharetools, tips and interviews that
support neurodivergent creatives, dreamers and thinkers in
embracing manifestation andliving life on our terms, away
from all the societal norms thatdon't always fit right, the
ones that kind of put us into abox and make us feel like we
(54:58):
have to do things in a certainway.
There are old energies, thereare old paradigms that are
shifting and they're fallingaway and it's time to start
taking a closer look at how wecan build in more ease and flow,
like Annette was talking about.
So, if this resonates with you,head over to
manifestdifferentlycom to learnmore about the NeuroDivergent
(55:18):
Manifestor brand and the newpodcast.
On January 1st, you can listento the very first episode by
heading over tomanifestdifferentlycom, forward
slash one.
It's so crazy that the numberis going to go back to one, but
I can't wait for you to hearwhat's coming.
It's going to be a fantasticepisode.
In fact, it's already recorded,of course it is because I was
(55:40):
super excited to get it outthere.
So thank you so much for beinga part of this journey, for
helping me evolve and forallowing me the space to truly
dig into all the things thathave been of interest to me as
an author and as an authoreducator.
This isn't the end.
It really isn't.
It's just an expansion.
I'm so excited to keep growing,to keep learning and growing
(56:02):
and manifesting alongside you.
This entire process has beensuch a joy and it's cracked me
open in ways that I had no ideaI needed to be cracked open this
year alone was something thatshone a whole bunch of light on
limiting beliefs that I had,things that I was trying to
overcome, ways of being that Ino longer wanted to be operating
(56:24):
from, and so this is the nextstep into that new reality for
myself and how I want to show upand be the person that I am
explaining to you.
We can be right.
I don't want to just talk aboutit.
I don't want it to just bephilosophy.
I want this to be the way welive, the way we be okay, and
(56:46):
the only way I know to reallyenact that change is I have to
be that change myself.
I have to step into that role,into that power, and start
living my life more fully fromthat place of true encouragement
and joy and gratitude andempowerment.
We are the creators of ourlives, and when we can step into
(57:09):
that role fully and embrace itfrom our heart, amazing things
will happen.
So much change in the world cantake place when we're coming
from a place of empowerment.
So, my friends, until we meetagain, until another episode
comes out which I don't knowwhen this will be go forth and
(57:33):
live your revolution.
Thank you, you.
Welcome to the Author Revolution podcast, where
change is not just embraced,it's celebrated.
I'm Carissa Andrews,international bestselling author
, indie author coach and yournavigator through the
ever-evolving landscape ofauthorship.
Are you ready to harness thepower of your mind and the
latest innovations in technologyfor your writing journey?
If you're passionate aboutmanifesting your dreams and
(00:25):
pioneering new writing frontiers, then you're in the perfect
place.
Here we merge the mystical wooof writing with the exciting
advancements of the modern world.
We dive into the realms ofmindset, manifestation and the
transformative magic that occurswhen you believe in the
impossible.
We also venture into the worldof futuristic technologies and
(00:46):
strategies, preparing you forthe next chapter in your author
career.
Every week, we explore new waysto revolutionize your writing
and publishing experience, fromAI to breakthrough thinking.
This podcast is your gateway toa world where creativity meets
innovation.
Whether you're penning yourfirst novel or expanding your
literary empire, whether you'rea devotee of the pen or a
(01:09):
digital storyteller, thispodcast is where your author
revolution gains momentum.
So join me in this journey tocontinue growth and
transformation.
It's time to redefine what itmeans to be an author in today's
dynamic world.
This is the Author RevolutionPodcast, and your author
revolution starts now.
Merry Christmas and welcomeback to the Author Revolution
(01:35):
Podcast.
Today's episode feels especiallyfitting for this time of year
and for what's to come.
I'm joined by the incredibleAnnetta Kuzman, author of Living
the Width of your Life.
Her philosophy isn't just abouthow long we live.
It's about truly living fully,embracing every moment and
(01:56):
finding meaning along the way.
Annetta's wisdom feels like agift, especially as we wrap up
this season of the podcast.
If you've been feeling the pullto live more intentionally,
embrace your joy and manifest alife that feels expansive and
aligned, this episode will speakdirectly to your heart.
Let's take some time today topause, reflect and truly embrace
(02:17):
how we can live the width ofour lives, not just the length.
You're going to love this one,so let's dive in, not just the
length.
You're going to love this one,so let's dive in Well.
Hi, annetta, I'm so excited tobring you on to the Author
Revolution podcast.
We were just chatting a secondago about, like, how similar in
the way that you teach is towhat I teach, and I'm so excited
(02:37):
to get information, insightsand learn from you.
But before we get started, doyou want to tell my audience a
little bit?
Speaker 2 (02:42):
about yourself.
Sure, krista, thank you so muchfor having me on the show.
I'm so excited to be here withyou.
Yeah, so my name is AnnettaKuzma and I'm the CEO of the
Ardellian Kuzma Group.
I started my business about sixyears ago and primarily, I work
with entrepreneurs andexecutives people that have
(03:06):
followed all the rules I say,achieved success to a level that
they thought would befulfilling and satisfying, and
then they say, huh, what'smissing?
And that was me before as well,and so I work with clients in
one-on-one coaching capacity.
I do a lot of group work fororganizations specifically
focused in on overcoming burnout, redefining success, what that
means for people, and buildingthis balanced, integrated life
(03:28):
that they love.
I also teach yoga, meditationand breath work.
I find that those threepractices were very helpful for
me when I was in the corporateworld for 25 years, and I find
them to be extremely helpful forall of my clients as well.
I do retreats all over theworld because I love to travel
and immerse myself in cultures,and I'm the author of Live the
(03:50):
Width of your Life 365 Days ofDaily Meditations on Purpose,
passion and Peace, as well asthe host of the Live the Width
podcast.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
I love that so many good nuggets in there we're
going to have to talk about somany of it.
So much of it, because it wasjust when I was digging through
your profile and I was lookingat all of the, all the stuff
that you do, I was like, wow,this is, this is so cool because
we're going to have some greatconversations.
And I love that you've broughtup the conversation about yoga,
breath work and meditation,because those have been the same
(04:19):
things that I found in mybusiness, in my life and career
that have worked the most.
I think breathwork was probablythe most recent and tying it
with heart coherence, where itwas, like you know, somatic
movement and meditation.
Those have been incorporatedinto my life for a long time,
but the breathwork has been keyto kind of unlocking, I think,
for myself.
How did you stumble uponbreathwork?
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Yeah, for me too.
I I definitely been apractitioner of yoga and then
meditation and breathwork.
I was at a actually a KathyHeller event in LA a few years
back and Sam Skelly, who is theCEO of pause breathwork, was one
of the speakers and shefacilitated a session.
And here I was in the room withprobably a few hundred other
(05:03):
women, with my eyes closed,going through this breathwork
session, finding myselfcompletely cracked open and was
just crying and having such anemotional release that nothing
was like going on.
As I was going into it, Ididn't even anticipate what I
was experiencing.
And after that session I was somoved and so impacted personally
(05:25):
and so unexpectedly, that Iimmediately went back to my room
, contacted her team through thevery social channels and next
morning had a call and signed upto be a breathwork facilitator,
like to go through hersix-month coaching program.
And immediately and it was oneof those things where the mind
was like why are you doing this?
(05:45):
You don't really need to dothis right now In my heart and
my spirit we're like, oh yeah,this found you and you
absolutely have to bring it toyour clients as well.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Yeah, yeah, and it's been so powerful.
I mean, it's just one of themost, like you said, the release
that comes from it is verysimilar to, I think, yoga and
som somatic exercises, when youhave energy stored in the body
as well, because you can dothose things and all of a sudden
you're like what in the heckjust happened?
I was not, I was not expectingthat at all, and when you get
over to the other side of that,all of a sudden you feel so much
better and so much more incontrol of your emotions
(06:18):
yourself.
Your journey it's, it's beenvery profound for me.
So just to kind of take a stepback a little bit, when you were
still working in corporate,what happened there?
I'm assuming an I'm done moment.
I want to pivot.
I want to be able to dosomething else and create my own
business, which obviouslyyou've been doing for years now.
What happened there and how didyou come about the journey
(06:40):
where you're at?
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Yeah, it's so interesting because I think I
always knew that corporate wasprobably not the thing that I
should be doing with my life.
I just felt like I think Ialways knew that.
But I also was such a ruralfollower and I stumbled into
this amazing company and it wasa headquarter company in town.
(07:02):
It was one of the top regionalbanks in the country and it
allowed me to just build acareer and do some interesting
things, work with great peoplewhile I was raising my family
and when I went to grad school.
I went to grad school to get myMBA later in life 38 through 40.
And we had to write a visionpaper, like a 20-page life
(07:24):
vision paper.
That was really introspectiveand reflective and it was really
hard and I think for the firsttime in my life I was asking
myself some really big questionson who are you, what do you
want to be, what's your legacy,why are you here on this planet,
what are the skills that youhave?
You know all of those thingsthat were really hard and
(07:46):
challenging and completelyinconvenient at the time to be
asking myself.
You know, my kids were stillsmall and my career was going
well.
So I think it planted the seedfor me seeds.
And then, in my 40s I thinkjust my kids were getting older
and I started asking myselfthose questions again and I was
looking around and just thinkingcould I really stay where I was
(08:09):
, or something similar, asimilar company, for the next 15
to 20 years?
And the answer was no.
I just didn't see myselfgrowing and I really didn't want
to have any regrets at the endof life.
So I hired a coach because Ididn't know how to do it on my
own.
And I had a friend who was anexecutive coach and I told her
when I was ready because shewould always say you're an
(08:31):
entrepreneur, you're going to dosomething yourself.
I just wasn't ready to do it andwhen I finally did, I hired her
and it was like once thedecision was made, I started
putting all these things inplace and two years after I
hired her, it was time I hadalready started taking action.
I was building the bridge whileI was still working full time
(08:52):
for the future that I wanted,and then, when I finally felt
ready, I was able to leave andtwo days later start working in
my business.
I gave myself a couple daysjust to relax in between.
Yeah, yeah, isn't it amazingtoo.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Once you make that decision, though, that's really
that pivotal moment where it'slike everything then starts to
open up and you start to see thenew inspired action coming to
you because you've made that newpivotal moment in your brain.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
It's just amazing.
I love that.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Well, many authors like high achieving
professionals that I'm assumingthat you work with feel totally
burnt out at this point, likethe author industry is just.
We've kind of had thismentality for a long time of
like hustle your way to the topright as many as you can, as
fast as you can.
So what advice do you have forsomeone who's really overwhelmed
and wants to find alignmentwith those bigger dreams?
(09:45):
What would you?
Speaker 2 (09:47):
say, it's so interesting, you use the word
hustle and alignment.
So I just spoke about this to agroup of entrepreneurs last
week and I said let's movebeyond hustle into flow, and
flow is easy and flow feels good, good and flow is tied to
alignment.
And so the first step I wouldsay for everyone is let's
(10:10):
regulate your nervous systembecause, you are burned out.
I love that.
You just said that.
I've been talking about that,oh my gosh.
Then our nervous system isdysregulated.
And if your nervous system isdysregulated, guess what?
You're not going to feel good,your digestion is going to be a
mess, you're not going to besleeping well, you're actually
not going to be able to thinkclearly because you have stress
(10:30):
hormones just pumping throughyour body all day long.
So I'd say let's find somepractices to regulate, which
could be meditation, it could begrounding out in nature, it
could be doing some breath work,some yoga, some things that are
gentle because we hustle.
Doing some breath work, someyoga, some things that are
gentle because we hustle.
And if we are in that mentality, we are driving so hard with a
lot of very masculine energy andwe need to bring in some of the
(10:52):
feminine, which is a little bitmore ease.
So that would be the firstthing I would say.
And then, once you findyourself regulated, do some of
those soul searching exercisesand say what's most important to
me, what are my values, whatare the things that are really
the things that bring me joy?
And once you identify them,then take a look at your
(11:12):
calendar and say does mycalendar and where I spend my
time reflect that?
And if it doesn't, how do Istart bringing some of those
things in, like your health andwellness, like relationships,
like your sleep, like yourfamily time, like your alone
time, maybe, or creativity ifyou're an author, are you giving
yourself enough space to createif those things are really
(11:35):
important to you?
And then, once you do that,then it's really saying so what
is the long-term vision?
If this isn't working, thenwhat do I want?
What does success look like forme?
And sometimes it's taking astep back, and that's not a bad
thing.
Sometimes it's like I want towork less hours or I want to be
able to make some shifts andcrowd some of the things out
(11:56):
that aren't working for me.
And then just saying how do Itake daily action, imperfect
action, in that direction everysingle day, just focusing in on
getting 1% better?
Those are some of the thingsthat I would do with someone
right away.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
I love that.
It's perfect because that isexactly how I try to describe
things to people as well,because, man, when we, when we
dysregulate our nervous system,it's like I teach manifestation
as well.
And so when you're trying tomanifest something, because your
mind is so out of alignment, aswell you're manifesting, you're
taking those inspired actionsteps, but maybe not even fully
(12:30):
realizing that you're like theway that you're handling it or
the way that just yourmanifestations are a little
askew because your nervoussystem isn't regulated and
you're not coming from that trueplace of alignment in yourself.
And it's just.
(12:50):
It's very interesting to me howthat all kind of comes together
and so many people don'trealize that that can be a crux
in bringing in that flow back intheir life.
And I love that you said theflow and the ease and bringing
all that back into the way thatwe handle things, because,
especially high achievers, Ithink we have this, this list,
and we want things to go acertain way and we're going to
check off all the boxes and thenwe think that's enough, but
(13:12):
there's, there is this level ofenergy that's kind of coming
through, I think lately probablyseen in the past five years
where there is that level of howdo you take a step back and
allow what's meant for you tocome through, based off of what
it is you're trying to call inright?
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Yeah, yes, I love the word allow too.
And you know, chris, if youthink about it, we have done
this to ourselves like througheven from the time you start
school.
These little kids, right, thatare just inundated with homework
and sitting still, and justsuch a structure of routine and
schedule and someone alwaystelling them where to be, and
(13:50):
then we hustled them to alltheir sporting events.
I mean it really seems to havestarted at a younger age where
kids can't even just play or bebored.
I mean what a gift it is to dothat.
And then, of course, it's goingto continue.
And then when the systembecomes so used to it that when
(14:12):
people are not busy, sometimesthat is actually more anxiety
inducing than when they are,because it feels so unfamiliar.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Right, right.
I was just having a conversationwith one of my students this
morning where we were talkingabout that hustle culture and
trying to do all the things.
When you start getting into themomentum of all of it, it's what
kind of takes up then all ofyour brain space and brain power
, and so it's hard to then dothe mental bandwidth and mental
imagining to bring in somethingbigger into your life.
(14:43):
Like, let's say, you know, Ihave so many people want to
bring in, you know, moreabundance, more money or
whatever into their careers, butthey don't.
They're focused so much on thisefforting of like I have to get
all these things done in orderto hopefully get attention,
hopefully get someone to see me,hopefully do these things.
So it's coming from that placeof lack and when we don't have
that space for boredom or thatspace for visualization or the
(15:04):
downtime to be thinking aboutand dreaming up, this is what
I'm going to do when it happens,this is how it's going to look,
these are the things that I'mcalling in and, like we don't
have any of that time, we'rejust literally just trying to
make it work, force it to work,and then it's like it's all
going crazy.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Yes, and the inspiration and the creativity
and the flow.
And all of that is found in therest.
It's found in the downtime,it's found in the moments where
you're lost in thought, on awalk or taking a shower or
driving in your car.
It's those moments, and if wedon't have enough of those,
we're not going to find whatwe're looking for.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Oh, I so agree with that.
And is that where live thewidth of your life came from?
Like, how did that concept comeabout?
Tell us more about this,because it sounds so cool.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Yeah.
So it's a quote by DianeAckerman.
I read it when I was still incorporate and hustling and
really exhausted and burned out.
And she said, to paraphrase Idon't want to get to the end of
my life and realize that I justlived the length of it.
I want to have lived the widthof it.
And when I first read it Ididn't know exactly what she
meant.
(16:09):
All I knew is that, oh, I thinkthat sounds like me.
I think I'm constantly thinkingabout the length.
I thought I'm always thinkingabout the next thing, I'm always
focused on tomorrow, I'm alwaysfocused on the next goal.
What do I need to get done?
What's on my to-do list?
How do I get to the weekend?
So it's always like very linearforward thinking and it's fast,
(16:31):
right.
When we kind of live life thatway, moments, days just pass us
up.
And then so the length, Ithought oh, that's expansive,
length is, and width, width isexpansive, right?
So how do I create some moreexpansion in my day?
And for me it meant slowingdown.
It meant being more mindful andpresent.
(16:52):
It meant savoring things, in away, every little thing, whether
it's your cup of tea you'redrinking, or the food you're
eating, or the conversationyou're in with someone, and it
also meant treating every singleday like the gift, that it is
not just the weekends or theholidays or big family vacations
(17:13):
or whatever, and so I justloved it so much and I thought
you know what this really doesencompass, what I'm doing with
my clients, which is helpingthem build these big, bold,
beautiful lives.
Helping them build these big,bold, beautiful lives and when I
started the podcast, it's thequestion I ask everyone, because
(17:33):
every single one of us has adifferent answer or response to
that question, but we all have aresponse.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Oh yeah, absolutely.
What you just said was sointeresting.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
It reminds me of, like, how time passes as a child
or at least how it did for me,like as a kid.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
I don't know some of these, some of this uh gen alpha
stuff, like their days passreally fast too, but it was like
there was so much expansion inlike going outside and doing the
things and reading the books,and so it was like the time went
so much slower than what itdoes now.
And so I completely understandwhat you're saying.
For sure, and as kids, you'rejust in it.
You're like present moment allday long.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
And you were, you know.
I mean playing outside untilmom called us home for dinner,
or getting on your bike and justriding around the neighborhood
and knocking on your friend'sdoors like who's around, or,
like you said, just reading abook and just sitting outside,
and it was just such a beautifulinnocence about that.
And so other countries do this.
(18:28):
Well, you know, in Italy theycall it La Dolce Farnente, it's
just the sweetness of doingnothing, and I think that
there's some negativeconnotation Actually I know
there is in the Western world,especially in the United States
around that it sometimes couldbe perceived as being lazy.
If you're just, you're justresting, what Don't?
(18:48):
You have a million things to do, probably.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Yeah, probably, but I'm actively choosing.
See how it is Actively choosing.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Exactly, exactly, with intentionality.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Yeah, yeah, I love the concept of the groundhog day
life.
I think you mentioned it inyour books too.
So what, the concept of thegroundhog day life?
I think you mentioned it intoyour in your books too.
So what are some of the firststeps that you recommend for
someone who is feeling trappedin their routine and doing all
the things?
Cause I know many authorsmyself even included some- days.
I get through a day and I'mlike, oh my God, I'm back in bed
already, like what justhappened.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Yeah, for me, I like to think about devotion plus
discipline, and so devotion, Imean, is what are the things
that your routines or habits ordaily activities that you can
put in your day that you lookforward to, because the best
routines are the ones thatyou're excited to do.
(19:39):
So, for me, I have a bookshelfin my room and I have a stash of
books that I love to read forfrom every morning as I'm
sipping my first cup of coffee.
It's quotes, it's devotionals,it's doing some journaling and
some manifestation work.
It's like I look forward tothat.
I don't dread it.
I know that it makes me feel sogood and it fills me up and it
(20:01):
delays the process of work.
Right, you're allowing yourselfto intentionally start with
something that's good for youmentally, physically,
emotionally, spirituallyPhysical movement.
I know that if I don't get in awalk, even if it's a short one,
could be even just around theblock if that's all I have time
for, but I know I look forwardto that.
I feel the sunshine that setsmy circadian rhythm.
(20:23):
I love going outside.
Know, I look forward to that.
I feel the sunshine that setsmy circadian rhythm.
I love going outside, walking,getting the fresh air, seeing
the changing seasons Like thatfeels good.
So I would ask everyone to saywhat are the things that just
bring you joy, what are thethings that you know can make
you feel so good, even if it'sjust a few minutes it doesn't
have to be two hours worth ofroutines and make sure that you
plug those in.
(20:44):
And if that means like treatingit like a ritual, like lighting
a candle using your favoritemug you know, putting a playlist
on that you like listening toall the time, do that and don't
be selfish with it.
Don't give it up.
That's what I would tell people, and then I would examine what
are the things you're currentlydoing.
If you're jumping out of bedand reaching for your phone
(21:12):
right away and suddenly yourheart rate is like racing again
and your adrenaline's pumpingand you start cranking out
emails right away, ask yourself,does that feel good?
Is that really the way I wantto start my day?
And the same thing in theevening.
Sleep is so important.
Many people are not sleeping.
I would say take a look at yourevening routine.
How do you set yourself up forsuccess, for a good night's
sleep?
What are you doing?
Are you working till lateevenings?
Are you on your devices whichare overstimulating, and then,
(21:33):
throughout the day, I would say,you know, are you giving
yourself ample time to rest, totake a break, to maybe just go
outside, take a couple deepbreaths, just stretch your legs,
do whatever feels good?
Just look at your days and askyourself those questions and I
think we know the answers tothem.
It's just that sometimes wedon't spend the time actually
reflecting, we just keep doingthe same thing over and over
(21:56):
again, and that's why it feelslike Groundhog Day, because you
do the exact same thing all thetime.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Yeah, so maybe adding spontaneity into the day as
well, doing things a little bitdifferent each time.
Yeah, and I think for me thatwould definitely be something
because I'm very regimented, Ihave I do the morning routine
with my books and my coffee aswell.
I love setting my day up forthat kind of success.
When it's nice outside, Iactually do the grounding,
walking on the grass with mybare feet watching the sunrise.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
When it's getting cold, like it is in Minnesota
right now.
I'll do it a little bit, andthen I'm usually back in.
Not the six minutes that'srecommended, you know whatever.
A couple minutes yeah, but itis interesting for me.
I think the spontaneity wouldbe something that adds that
little spice to the day of likedo something that just kind of
like I wasn't expecting.
That seems fun to like.
(22:45):
It's just, you know,interesting.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
I love that idea and also, chris, in order to do that
.
Sometimes we need to make surethat our days are not packed
from.
You know, every single minutewe have to give ourselves some
space to allow for that.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Yeah, absolutely.
I remember when I first startedmy author career, which I mean
it was back in 2010 when I firststarted, and then when I really
put in my decision to become anindie author and go kind of all
in, this is what I'm going tobe doing around 2017.
Oh man, I was doing exactlywhat you're talking about.
Getting up in the morning, Iwas like straight to work, I was
doing all the things and I kept.
(23:21):
I kept feeling so disconnectedthe entire day because I wasn't
reading like I normally would, Iwasn't doing a lot of.
I mean, I was still working out, but I was probably doing too
much Like all that stimulation.
I was actually doing like theharder workouts, and so I think
that was like worse too, becauseit was like everything was just
go, go go.
There was no calming situation,Like there was no yoga to call
(23:42):
me back down, Like I was.
Like that's not good enough,let's do the intensity cardio
and now I'm like, no, you knowwhat I'm going to do, the nice
balance of things, because itfeels better and it just, but it
took time to to realize I wasdoing that to myself, right?
Do you find that a lot of highachievers and a lot of people
that you work with are like that, where it's like they don't
even realize they put themselvesin?
Speaker 2 (24:01):
that situation?
Yeah, and it's also.
I did the same thing as you.
I actually decided to run amarathon right after I graduated
from, right after I got my MBA.
I'm like, what am I going to dowith all this free time?
I'm just going to go train fora marathon.
And of course, it was like theworst thing, like it.
Too much cortisol, too muchadrenaline, there was no time.
And I think the reason we go,go, go is because it is a
(24:29):
distraction.
It's a seductive distractionand we can justify the things,
because most people would sayyou're doing all the right stuff
.
This is what it takes to besuccessful.
But when we actually giveourselves the space and the time
to ask ourselves does thisactually really benefit me, or
is there something better?
When you take the time to askourselves does this actually
really benefit me, or is theresomething better when you take
the time to do it?
We know the answers, butsometimes we don't want to hear
(24:50):
what the answers are, because itdoes require us to make a
change and we're not alwaysready for it.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Yeah, absolutely.
It means that we've beenoperating from a false premise
for a while and then it's kindof like that whole concept of
you know, you just kind of keepgoing in it because you don't
want to let the castle crumble.
I guess you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Yeah, I read a quote on LinkedIn recently.
I think it was something to theeffect of I'm not worried about
small progress.
It was something about, likeyou know, not worried about like
little progress.
Every day I'm worried aboutclimbing the ladder that's on
the wrong building, or climbingthe wrong mountain.
So it's, it's not like you knowlike we could many times be
(25:34):
racing, and then you get to thetop and you're like, oh, no, I
was supposed to be over there.
I was supposed to be over thereand I worked so hard and now I'm
finally realizing, versus likemaking sure you're on the right
place, on the right track and umand making the small progress
that still feels good becauseyou know you're.
It's aligned.
It's going back to that wordalignment that you used earlier.
(25:55):
It's tied to your goals, yourvalues, the things that are most
important.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Yeah, that's so key.
I love that.
Okay, so, not to like go backto like this concept of pushing
yourself.
But I have a question here thatI wanted to ask because I'm
really curious about it, becauseyou include exercises that help
your readers push them out oftheir comfort zones, and I think
there is an element of thatthat is still key for us to be
able to push ourselves and to dosomething that can really push
(26:22):
us back into alignment, becausesometimes we're doing things in
a way that just is methodical.
We think we're doing all theright things and we're not
actually taking action that isaligned for us.
So can you explain some of that, like some of those exercises,
or yeah?
Speaker 2 (26:36):
So when I wrote my book my book is, it's a daily
because I wanted to write a bookthat I wanted to read, and one
of the things I read so much Imean, many of my clients too are
voracious readers we consumepodcasts, we consume so much
information constantly, but it'sdifficult to always take action
because we're onto the nextthing.
(26:57):
And so I wanted to create abook that really supports this
notion of daily progress.
And so every day there is well,every month, there's a
different theme in my bookthat's tied to transformation.
So the goals you start from thebeginning to the end.
At the end of the year, youshould be different and have
grown as a person.
And every day, there, aftereach daily entry, there is
(27:23):
either a journal prompt,something to reflect on, or
there is a challenge, andthey're small challenges, but
they're aligned to the theme.
And so pushing ourselves out ofour comfort zone doesn't have to
be big.
It doesn't have to be jumpingout of a plane or going bungee
jumping or quitting your job.
It could be something as simpleas hey, maybe post something
(27:46):
really thoughtful andthought-provoking if that makes
you feel uncomfortable, orrecord your first video if
you're starting your businessand you want to promote yourself
more, or maybe it's just buyingthe person behind you a cup of
coffee because you wanted tobring some more joy and kindness
into the world.
It doesn't have to be somethingbig, but it's just an
(28:07):
intentional challenge that youknow is aligned to whatever it
is that they're doing.
So those are some simple waysthat you can do it, and I love
when people say that they readthe book and that they've been
doing all the challenges,because they do see the growth
then and they love talking aboutwhat it is that they did that
day.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
That is so good.
I could see one of thechallenges being take a day off.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Take a day off.
Yeah, Take your afternoon off.
Right Something crazy.
Go to the beach, go to the lake, go to take a walk, you know.
Go to a bookstore and just sitthere and read, or whatever it
is that brings people joy, thoselittle things that just bring
you out of your routine.
Sometimes that could reallyspark some new inspiration and
(28:50):
creativity, or just rest.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Yeah, yeah, that's so good.
I love that.
Okay For someone who's feelingstuck in their author career.
What role does self-care do youthink?
Obviously you've talked aboutbreathwork and meditation and
other wellness practices Do youthink that plays in finding the
clarity and reigniting theirpassion?
Do you think that's like shouldbe put first and foremost
before they go through anythingelse?
I'm guessing the answer is yes,but I'll let you answer.
Speaker 2 (29:14):
Yeah, it's such a great question and I'm thinking
back to my own experience.
You know, for me what I did wasit goes back to that devotion
and discipline.
I made sure that I stayed verycommitted to my self-care
practices when I was writing,because I do believe that when
we are in flow, we are connectedto a higher source, to God, to
(29:36):
creator.
We are co-creating thisbeautiful, inspired piece of
work and I do believe thatcreating this beautiful,
inspired piece of work, and I dobelieve that.
And so when I was doing all theright things and then gave
myself the space to write, I canread and know that I don't even
remember it was me writing it,like it definitely felt very
inspired.
(29:57):
And then there were days where Iknow, because I still stayed
very disciplined, my writingschedule, which was every
morning, the days that I didn'tdo it or if I didn't feel as
well, like I was sick, but Istill tried to write.
You can tell the difference.
It just feels different and soit does right, it's just it
feels more maybe from the head,not so much from the heart, like
(30:19):
it just feels like it's.
You can still do it, we canstill write.
You know whether we're inspiredor not, but when you have the
self-care and you are so alignedand you're in this space of
flow, you create with so muchmore ease and inspiration and I
think it's better work.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
I agree with that.
Oh my gosh, when I first startedwriting, I was so committed
because it was NaNoWriMo, thefirst time I was writing my
fiction and I could tell, likewhen I got sick, because, for
whatever reason, in November Ior like early October, like
right now, I tend to getsomething.
I don't know if it's because ofthe change of seasons or
whatever, but I could tell whenI was writing because I was
(30:58):
committed to doing it every day.
Yeah, that when I sick it waslike everyone was crabby in the
books, like they were all likegoing at each other and I was
like what is this Like?
what?
Like throw everything out andstart.
I'm like, okay, obviously, ifI'm sick and not feeling the
flow, I'm not writing on thosedays?
Speaker 2 (31:15):
No, no, because you know the energy and your
frequency.
I mean that comes through inthe writing, right I mean?
And so check in and find outwhat it is that you want to do,
right?
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Otherwise, your characters are going to be very
angry or very like disgruntledthe entire time.
It's like what?
That was the weirdestexperience, but I loved it and I
remember going back and I wasblogging at the time when I
first started too, and I wasmore in flow at that point
because obviously, writing andtransitioning into writing
novels was like so new.
It was like, oh, this is fancyand exciting.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
The energy was so much different and I remember.
You know, if I, anytime I goback and reread those blogs, I'm
like, oh my gosh, I need to getback into that flow whenever
I'm feeling unmotivated oruninspired and think that your
words don't matter, because theydo.
Like you said, there's aresonance in the way that you
word things, those thingstogether.
It's just fascinating.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
So good, I love that Okay.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
So your expertise in helping people overcome burnout
is highly relevant.
We talked about that a littlebit but do you have any early
warning signs that authorsshould be paying attention to
when it comes to burnout, andhow can they recognize it so
that they can make a shift?
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Yeah, it's such a slippery slope.
And so I would say that if youfind that, on a more regular
basis, you're waking up and youdon't want to get out of bed, or
you're waking up and feelingreally tired and not motivated
to do the things even that bringyou joy or that you used to
(32:50):
enjoy, like sitting down andwriting, you'd probably want to
say let me take a look here andsee what's going on.
And then also, if you findyourself more irritable, maybe
like your emotions aredysregulated, like you're
responding in a way that isatypical to very simple things
like your kids leaving a messaround the house or, you know,
(33:12):
maybe whatever accidentallydropping something.
You know, there are justcertain things that under normal
circumstances, when we feelreally well-rested or we feel
more like ourselves ourselves orregulated, they don't really
bother us, but suddenly they setyou off.
That could be a sign if yourrelationships start to suffer,
because we tend to turn some ofthat onto.
Then the people that areclosest to us, you know, have
(33:34):
that conversation with them aswell.
And then, of course, if you'restarting to see that you're
getting sick more often becauseour immune system is compromised
, or if you find yourselfactually having like some
symptoms and you want to go tothe doctor and kind of figure
out what's happening here.
Those are probably all signsBecause when we have the burnout
it does impact us physically,mentally, emotionally.
(33:56):
You might feel spirituallydisconnected because you're not
doing the things that youtypically do as well.
So it really impacts our entirewell-being and I think we
discredit some of those symptoms.
You know, it's our body'snatural way of saying pay
attention, pay attention, payattention.
And then it gets louder andlouder.
So I'll say, the sooner you canrespond to those nudges, it's
(34:19):
probably easier to pull yourselfback, and the longer you wait,
the harder it'll take to comeback.
I mean, we can, but it's justgoing to require a little bit
longer.
Speaker 1 (34:28):
I completely understand that.
I think for me, one of thefirst symptoms for me if I'm
getting close to burnout is thatI don't.
I don't want to respond topeople.
It's like there's too muchpressure to then have to respond
.
So it's like as I start feelingthat, like I don't want to
respond to an email or like atext message or something I'm
like oh, I need to.
I need to find some time to getback into like the flow and
(34:49):
regulate myself, because that's.
That's not typical of me.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
And so yeah like for me.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
I've definitely learned that's one of the big
ones, the sickness.
I think that's probablyaccurate.
I've got a lot going on rightnow.
We're getting ready to go to abig trip on uh to Vegas for
author nation, and there's beena lot of moving parts and
pushing myself probably furtherthan I typically do, and so I'm
like you know going going withthe kids and doing their their
fun things, and then all of asudden, you come back from a
(35:16):
banquet for tennis and you'resick.
Speaker 2 (35:18):
It's like oh gosh, you know what, carissa, you made
me think of something too.
So that avoider tendency, whereyou don't want to respond to
the email, so those are, it'sone of the saboteur.
Like, there's an assessment,the positiveintelligencecom.
It's a free assessment and it'sone I like to do with my
clients, but you can take it andit'll identify which of the
(35:42):
saboteurs typically come outwhen you're most stressed or
when you're burned out, andthese are very early coping
skills and it'll tell you yourorigin, the false narratives we
tell ourselves about it, how itimpacts us, how it impacts other
people.
It's really fascinating, butavoider is one of them.
(36:02):
Sometimes people it becomesoverwhelming and so you just put
it off and procrastinate.
And so when people tell me thatthey procrastinate and that
that's how they operate and theylike it or they use it as a
justification, I say you know,that's really like a trauma
response actually.
And so it's the inability tomove forward until you have
enough adrenaline in your bodyfrom worrying about not taking
(36:25):
action that actually propels youforward.
But that surge is not necessaryor isn't really healthy.
That's not a healthy response.
No, it's not good.
No.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
I've heard someone describe it too, almost like it
coincides with the fight flightor freeze responses.
So like avoidance is like thefreeze right.
Yes, it's the freeze yeah, sointeresting.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
So, interesting.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
Yeah, so that's definitely for me, that's my
go-to.
I don't typically procrastinateon many things, but I think
there's probably enoughadrenaline pushing me to get it
done.
Yeah, so probably there's thatelement of I freeze on that
stuff because it's not, as in mybrain, I guess, as high of a
priority.
Right, yeah, oh, gosh, okay.
(37:10):
So sustainable change can bedifficult to maintain for
authors, especially because whenwe're doing this thing, we have
the momentum, we think this isthe way it should be done and we
kind of almost trick ourselvesto keep going that way.
But how can we encourage authorsto keep going when their
results aren't immediate?
So, like when we have thishustle culture of, let's say, we
have to have, I don't know, ahuge backlist or whatever, how
(37:33):
can they keep in alignment whilethey're still trying to, let's
say, reach that goal of having alarger backlist of books to
support themselves?
Do you have any anything onthat?
Like when results aren't justlike right, there, I think, a
high, like I think of highachievers in specific, where we
go to school and if we alwaysget great, great grades and do
all the things and people arealways like oh my gosh, you're
(37:54):
so smart, but then you can't oryou don't get that the immediate
gratification from your books,like how do you keep going and
keep yourself motivated withoutgoing crazy?
Speaker 2 (38:04):
Yeah, that's a great question, and I think it's
important for us to understandour motivation for why we do
what we do.
And obviously, selling a lot ofbooks and other success metrics
are really important, becausethat is especially what the
outside world tells us isimportant and why we do the
(38:25):
things that we do.
But I don't know that that'senough.
I think that there have to besome other intrinsic values and
motivators that would want us todo something that you can't
always guarantee that you'regoing to get the results that
you're looking for.
And so for me, I loved readingRick Rubin's book the Creative
(38:48):
Act.
If you've never read it, it'samazing.
And he just talks about ascreators we have to create
things for ourselves, like whatis it that I would love to
create, that I feel like I haveto birth into this world that is
so important and so personaland is mine to bring forth, and
sometimes that has to be enough.
(39:08):
And then, of course, theoutside metrics can catch up to
that.
But I don't know.
That's a really good question.
I don't have a good answer forthat and I think everybody is
individually different.
For me, I'm just excited forevery single person that
purchases my book and reachesout and says, wow, I love this
so much that I bought this as agift for somebody else, and so
(39:32):
it's seeing the results, it'sseeing people take action, it's
all of those things.
But I think we have to askourselves if it's not in the
numbers, would you still do whatyou do and why?
Yeah so good.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
That is so good.
Well, I think there's a level.
I was reading this morning thescience of getting rich by
Wallace Waddles.
Jen Cicero recommended ithighly and I was in her eight
weeks to badass course this pastyear and I was like I finally
got around to grabbing it and itwas really fascinating this
morning because it was talkingin there about how, like when we
have a very specific outcomethat we're looking for, that,
(40:10):
when we have like our willpressed upon that thing, that's
how we bring and magnetize thethings to us.
So when we are just vague andwe're like, oh, we want to be
rich someday, we want to havebooks sell really well, it's
almost like it's not specificenough too, because you know,
like I'm going to Vegas in themiddle of November.
That's specific.
You know that from this day tothat date you're going to be
(40:30):
gone and you're leaving onwhatever.
So it's like in your brainthere's a there's a specific
timeframe.
You know that you're doing thisspecific thing.
All of the pieces have to cometogether.
So the universe and yourself,you're, you're taking those
inspired action steps to get tothat point of having what you
need there.
It's kind of the same, I think,when we're, when we're bringing
into the world certain goalsand so if we can get specific
(40:51):
and feel good about it and knowand trust that we can have it,
we can get there.
But it's we kind of mess thingsup when we think, oh, it can't
happen because I'm relying onother people and I'm relying on
whatever kind of forgetting thatyou're.
You're the thing that bringsthat to you, like you kind of
have to magnetize them to you,and that that kind of comes from
you being very specific andaligned there's that word again
(41:13):
aligned with that line.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
Yeah, I find this specific is so important, but
I'm a non-specific manifester,like in my human design, and so
I think yes, and saying this orsomething better, like allow for
more magic, allow for it tocome in better, easier, in a way
(41:35):
I can't even possibly imaginemyself, and so that's been
really helpful for me,especially with all my goals and
things that I work on is beingspecific but then also opening
it up for it to work out in away that could be even better
than I could have ever imaginedfor myself.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
Yeah, it's almost like you have to be specific
about the one thing that'sreally mattering to you and then
leaving the rest of it up tothe universe to just bring it
however you want, like exactlycontrolling every element of it.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
that's where things kind of get crazy yeah, they get
a little bit nuts, yeah, okay,so in your podcast, live the
width of your life, which Istill love.
Speaker 1 (42:09):
I love that so much.
You explore living, uh,lifefully and intentionally so
to you.
We talked about the width ofyour life, but how does living
intentionally look like for youspecifically?
What kind of practices do youdo after your reading in the
morning and your devotionals toreally expand the width of your
life?
Speaker 2 (42:27):
Yeah, so I have my life vision and that I read
every single week which isreally specific on every area of
my life and what that lookslike.
And so it's my most big, bold,beautiful, big dream life, and
some of the things have comeinto fruition and some are not
here yet, but I still read itand it brings me like such
(42:51):
gratitude because it's sobeautiful.
And part of that vision isbeing really clear on my values,
and so I list, you know, a setof 10 values or so sentences
about what, how I live my life,how I treat others, how I take
care of myself, what myrelationships are like.
You know, all of the thingsthat are most important.
And then from that, then I makesure every day that I plan my
(43:15):
days accordingly.
So I do use a planner that Ihave next to me and I use it in
the morning to really make surethat I'm focusing in on the
things that are most important,not just like a random 20 page
to-do list, but things that aremost important today.
That includes all of the thingsthat I need for myself.
(43:37):
They're not just focused onwork.
That includes all of the thingsthat I need for myself.
They're not just focused onwork.
And then in the evening Ireflect and say how did today go
?
Why, what's my energy feel like?
Did I get to do the things Iwanted to do?
If so, why not?
Sometimes we overbook ourselves.
And what am I going to move totomorrow?
And then I do a weeklyreflection Friday afternoons.
(43:59):
What am I going to move totomorrow?
And then I do a weeklyreflection Friday afternoons.
I reflect back on the week andI have the notes, because I do
it every day, and then I lookahead and say, okay, so what
about next week?
What are those priorities?
Have I set myself up forsuccess with the way I've
scheduled my days and mymeetings?
And then I can go into theweekend just being a bit more
spontaneous, more in the momentwith my family, more focused.
(44:20):
I mean, we never stoppedthinking about our business, of
course, but it's not in astructured way.
On the weekends it's much morerelaxed, and then that just
keeps me aligned, it keeps mefocused.
But reading the vision is theinspiration.
That's the part where you'rejust constantly looking at it
and so excited for all of thethings that are yet to unfold
(44:42):
and some of the things that arealready here and then it's the
daily.
It's planning and reflecting.
So that's worked for me.
It's like what I do, and I lovethe discipline of the planner
because it takes some of thosethoughts that are sometimes in
their mind and you put it onpaper and suddenly I don't have
to remember it up there, I canjust reflect on it, look at it
(45:03):
and it's written, and thenthere's a little bit more space
for me to think about otherthings.
Speaker 1 (45:08):
Yeah, it's amazing how those to-do lists will take
mental bandwidth if you don'twrite them down.
I have a planner as well.
I use the full focus plannermyself.
Speaker 2 (45:16):
I love it Wonderful full focus planner myself.
Speaker 1 (45:22):
I love it Wonderful, keeps me organized in that flow.
But I love the concept of thelike the life goal Do you have?
Do you teach?
Speaker 2 (45:26):
number one, that life plan.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
And so is it in the book or is it in your teachings,
like if they were, if peoplework with you, how does that,
like, how do you give that?
Speaker 2 (45:32):
I have the, I have the template as part of the
resources in the book and it is.
We have several entries aroundthat, but it is definitely
something that I do in littlebite-sized pieces in my coaching
.
You know, like let's focus onthe values and then let's look
at what does success look likein every area.
I do a lot of visualizationmeditations, which really helps
(45:55):
tap into people's unconscious,subconscious mind to think about
what it is that they reallywant.
And we look 10 years out andthen we work backwards.
Because let me tell you, chris,so when you add a decade to
your life and to your family'slife and everyone else that's
near you, and we know howquickly a decade can pass it
does something.
It puts a little bit of a fireunder people to say, wow, I
(46:19):
can't really put that off thatmuch longer.
And then we work backwards tosay, so what do you need to do
at five years to make sure thatyou're still on track?
And what could you do now, oneto three years, to get to the
five-year vision?
And suddenly it becomes moremanageable.
Speaker 1 (46:37):
Yeah, well, it sounds like it also keeps the
mentality in your mind of whatit is that you want, so kind of
like dumping your to-do listonto your planner.
It keeps the thing that you'redesiring still at the forefront
of your mind so that you cancontinue to spend the mental
energy which you do want to do,creating the thing.
Absolutely, absolutely.
Yeah, I love that.
Oh, I'm going to have to.
(46:58):
I'm going to have toincorporate that.
Definitely getting your book,obviously, because it just
sounds amazing.
Speaker 2 (47:04):
I actually I hope you do and I also.
There's a journal that goeswith it.
So yeah, the journal is helpful.
So if you want to do the book,you know over and over again
each year you can have adifferent journal.
But I also kept the Kindleprice very, very low only 99
cents because sometimes you justwant to be able to read it on
the go or if you're travelingyou don't want to bring a big,
(47:26):
heavy book.
Clients were saying do you havea PDF of it?
Can you send it to me?
And I'm like here's the Kindle99 cents.
Super easy, just download theapp and then you could have it
anytime to read or go back andsave any of the ones that feel
good.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:40):
I'm definitely a paper person.
I mean, I would probably getthe Kindle as well.
But I'm a paper person when itcomes to nonfiction, especially
things like this.
So good, because it just Idon't know what it is.
It's more my nonfiction than myfiction, unless I've read the
fiction book and I'm like, oh myGod, this is amazing.
I need to have it on my shelf.
Speaker 2 (47:57):
Yeah, you'll want to underline and take notes and
that's why I think I also agreefor nonfiction.
Paper is so important.
Yeah, so good.
Speaker 1 (48:06):
Okay, how do you see the intersection of wellness and
creativity Like?
Are there ways that mindfulnesspractices can really help
authors tap into that deepercreativity and flow when it
comes to the writing set ofthings too?
Speaker 2 (48:19):
I do.
I mean, I think that so much ofwhat I write is channeled and
it happens when I am notfocusing on me, but I'm opening
myself up to the inspiration andthe creativity and the muse to
come from you know what I callcreator or source and what
others the universe.
And so I do think that that'simportant.
(48:41):
And for me, sitting inmeditation or right after a
breathwork session, whereeverything is just shaken up and
you're releasing and you'rebringing in all this life force
with you, with the breath, Ijust always get inspired and I
hear the most amazing downloads.
And I was just doing preparingfor a speech last week and in my
(49:04):
meditation, and the title wasThriving Beyond Hustle Building
a Business and Life you Love.
And I was sitting in mymeditation and I'd been thinking
, okay, how am I going to startthis?
You know what's?
You know, am I going to ask aquestion?
Is there going to be astatement?
And um, and in meditation, allof a sudden I heard I've been
(49:26):
worshiping hustle culture sinceI was five years old and I was
like I grabbed my phone and Ilike recorded in the memo so I
wouldn't forget, and then Iwould say I said it to people.
I'm like this thing kind ofcame in meditation and everyone
said okay, goosebumps, Idefinitely would lean in and go
what Tell me more?
(49:47):
And that's how I started.
Yeah, but I like I'd beenthinking about it and that that
didn't come to me until I satstill and just was in the moment
, in the stillness, where Iheard that sentence come through
.
Speaker 1 (50:03):
Wow, that is really good.
It made me go Ooh too, Causeit's like oh dang.
I felt that, yeah, I'm reallycurious about your breath work
practices.
This wasn't even a question,but it's like, when it comes to
breath work, what's yourfavorite that you use in order
to get into the flow state?
Speaker 2 (50:22):
Well, it depends what I need, right.
So I, if I'm doing a relaxationbreath, I love the halo active
which is just in through thenose, out through the mouth.
That really gets me supergrounded and allows me to just
get really like still, and it'sso nourishing.
I love doing the Shining SkullKabbalah Bhati breath if I want
(50:46):
activation, and I play the songthe Journey by Soul Rising and
you're just exhaling through thenose and you're expressing like
through, it's like a very, thebelly is just moving up and the
air is coming out, so throughthe nose, and it's just like a
passive inhale through the nose,passive out through the nose,
(51:06):
and that just gets me going.
The song's about three minutesand you do that for three
minutes and then you come outand you're like let's go dizzy,
but also like wow, I feel like Ihave so much energy, I can do
anything right now.
Or the triactive breath, whichis, you know, in through the
mouth, twice exhale, and that'sreally activating and keeps you
(51:29):
going as well.
So it just depends on the day.
And I have, of course, as ayoga, meditation, breathwork
facilitator, I have dozens andmaybe hundreds of playlists,
right, mine and my friends, andso there's always a playlist
that is perfect for the breath,for that particular moment.
Whatever it is that I'm seeking, whether it's joy or
(51:50):
inspiration, or relaxation orpeace, or whatever it is,
there's something that can goexactly with what you need.
And then you match theintention with the breath, with
the music, and suddenly it's sotransformative.
Speaker 1 (52:04):
So do you share that in your book as well, like are
there playlists or is that foryour clients or in-person things
?
Speaker 2 (52:09):
Yeah, those are in-person.
I do have some recordedmeditations and so you can
access some things that arerecorded.
Also, there's a QR code at thebeginning of the book and you
have access to it.
But I do a.
If anyone's listening orinterested, I do a free
breathwork class from 12 to 1230on Thursdays, Eastern Standard
(52:30):
Time, and you can registeronline and you don't even have
to turn your camera on.
But it's a great way toexperience breathwork and, yeah,
it's a different theme eachweek and everyone's welcome to
join.
Speaker 1 (52:44):
That is so cool.
That is so cool, okay.
So where can everybody go tofind out more about you,
everything that you do, becauseobviously you do so much?
Where can we send them?
Speaker 2 (52:55):
Yeah, the easiest is my website.
I think it'll have all mysocials.
It'll have the ability to signup and register for any classes,
to purchase the book, to learnmore about all the services.
So anettakuzmacom orlivethewithcom they both go to
the same website and then youshould be able to navigate
around and find all the details.
I'm most active also onInstagram and LinkedIn.
Speaker 1 (53:24):
So people can find me there as well.
That is so awesome.
Speaker 2 (53:25):
Well.
Annetta, thank you so much forbeing here today for talking.
Speaker 1 (53:28):
I could literally talk to you all day long.
So much fun.
So thank you for being here.
Speaker 2 (53:31):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (53:35):
What a perfect conversation to end on Annetta's
philosophy of living the widthof your life feels like the
reminder we all need, especiallyas we reflect on this past year
and look towards the nextchapter.
Speaking of next chapters, thisepisode officially wraps up
season one, as I'd like to callit, of the Author Revolution
(53:55):
podcast.
That means, for the time being,I'm putting this show on hiatus
as I focus on other things.
Right, and I'm so grateful foryou, every listener, every
comment and every download.
It's been an incredible journeyand this truly isn't goodbye.
It's just me embracing whatAnnetta talks about, living
(54:15):
fully and expanding into who Iam.
So, starting next week, I'll belaunching the Manifest
Differently podcast.
It's a brand new space whereI'll continue talking about
manifestation and living yourbest life, but from a broader
perspective.
As a neurodivergent manifestermyself, I felt called to dig
deeper into why manifestationworks and why it sometimes feels
(54:37):
harder for neurodivergentthinkers to fully embrace it.
This new podcast will sharetools, tips and interviews that
support neurodivergent creatives, dreamers and thinkers in
embracing manifestation andliving life on our terms, away
from all the societal norms thatdon't always fit right, the
ones that kind of put us into abox and make us feel like we
(54:58):
have to do things in a certainway.
There are old energies, thereare old paradigms that are
shifting and they're fallingaway and it's time to start
taking a closer look at how wecan build in more ease and flow,
like Annette was talking about.
So, if this resonates with you,head over to
manifestdifferentlycom to learnmore about the NeuroDivergent
(55:18):
Manifestor brand and the newpodcast.
On January 1st, you can listento the very first episode by
heading over tomanifestdifferentlycom, forward
slash one.
It's so crazy that the numberis going to go back to one, but
I can't wait for you to hearwhat's coming.
It's going to be a fantasticepisode.
In fact, it's already recorded,of course it is because I was
(55:40):
super excited to get it outthere.
So thank you so much for beinga part of this journey, for
helping me evolve and forallowing me the space to truly
dig into all the things thathave been of interest to me as
an author and as an authoreducator.
This isn't the end.
It really isn't.
It's just an expansion.
I'm so excited to keep growing,to keep learning and growing
(56:02):
and manifesting alongside you.
This entire process has beensuch a joy and it's cracked me
open in ways that I had no ideaI needed to be cracked open this
year alone was something thatshone a whole bunch of light on
limiting beliefs that I had,things that I was trying to
overcome, ways of being that Ino longer wanted to be operating
(56:24):
from, and so this is the nextstep into that new reality for
myself and how I want to show upand be the person that I am
explaining to you.
We can be right.
I don't want to just talk aboutit.
I don't want it to just bephilosophy.
I want this to be the way welive, the way we be okay, and
(56:46):
the only way I know to reallyenact that change is I have to
be that change myself.
I have to step into that role,into that power, and start
living my life more fully fromthat place of true encouragement
and joy and gratitude andempowerment.
We are the creators of ourlives, and when we can step into
(57:09):
that role fully and embrace itfrom our heart, amazing things
will happen.
So much change in the world cantake place when we're coming
from a place of empowerment.
So, my friends, until we meetagain, until another episode
comes out which I don't knowwhen this will be go forth and
(57:33):
live your revolution.
Thank you, you.
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