December 22, 2024 • 41 mins
Have you ever considered becoming the editor of your own life? Join me on this episode as we explore this transformative concept.
You're invited to rethink the traditional approach of accumulating more during the holiday season and instead focus on the art of subtraction. We'll discuss how to prune life's unnecessary elements, just like an editor refines a novel, to prepare for a year of meaningful growth and clarity.
We'll tackle the clutter in our physical spaces and emotional lives by examining overlooked strategies for conscious decluttering. From digitizing your beloved book collection to reassessing the significance of your possessions, we’ll provide a step-by-step guide to creating a harmonious living space. This episode also encourages a reevaluation of relationships and time management, ensuring your personal connections and daily activities are in alignment with your aspirations and values.
Mindset is key to success, and we’ll delve into editing our perspectives to eliminate fear-based habits. Just as our brains store countless experiences, they also shape our thoughts and actions—prompting us to adopt more constructive habits. Discover how to replace limiting beliefs with positive routines and, for those seeking further transformation, explore my virtual coaching program, Next Level. Let's embark on a journey together to lighten your load and enter the new year with intention and joy.
Follow us on Instagram @thepurposefulcareer.
Learn more about Next Level, our monthly membership at https://www.thepurposefulcareer.com/nextlevel.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Purposeful Career Podcast,
episode number 211.
I'm Carla Hudson, brandstrategist, entrepreneur and
life coach.
Whether you're on the corporateor entrepreneur track, or maybe
both, decades of experience hastaught me that creating success
happens from the inside out.
(00:21):
It's about having the clarity,self-confidence and unstoppable
belief to go after and geteverything you want.
If you'll come with me, I'llshow you how.
Hello friends, I hope you hadan amazing week.
(00:41):
Today we're going to talk aboutediting and what it means to be
the editor, or maybe the chiefcurator, of your life.
This is an interesting topic, Ithink heading into the start of
a new year, because I don'tknow about you, but when I think
about a new year, I immediatelygo to all the new things that I
(01:04):
want to have, do or be in thenew year and I set the goals and
I think about okay, how am Igoing to go do that?
And I think that's great.
But before you do that, I thinkhaving a purposeful life or
purposeful career is reallyabout stepping back and doing a
(01:24):
bit of editing or pruning ormaybe curating of your life
before you start thinking aboutadding to it.
It's actually more helpful tothink about what you want to
subtract from it in a meaningfulway, and why?
To lighten your load a littlebit before you start adding to
(01:49):
it again.
It helps make sure that yourlife isn't just full, but that
it's full of the things thatmatter to you.
And the things that matter tous change as we change and grow.
The things that we care abouthaving in our life also change
and grow, and so it's importantto just keep it pruned, like
(02:12):
you'd weed a garden or trim atree, or the way as we describe
in this episode, an editor takesa fresh, objective eye at the
draft of a novel and kind ofrelentlessly prunes it to make
it tight, to make sure that thepace is correct and to make sure
(02:33):
that every scene works as hardas it should.
So that's what we're going totalk about today.
I'm going to offer you up somethings to think about as we head
into the end of December andinto the start of yet another
year.
To think about taking on therole of editor and, before you
set your goals, pick your wordof the year and all the things
you're going to do that feel sonew and exciting.
(02:55):
I want you to think about thelife that you have and where
you're at in it and what youmight want to prune and edit out
so you head into the year a bitlighter.
It's an interesting concept, soenjoy this episode on being the
editor of your life.
Today I want to talk aboutsomething a little unusual.
I want to talk about theopposite of what December is
(03:20):
usually about.
In the United States, at least,december is usually about the
acquiring of things.
We're bringing things into thehouse gifts other people have
given us gifts.
We're buying for other peopleand if you're like me, sometimes
when you're buying for otherpeople you buy for yourself too.
(03:40):
Sometimes I do that and there'sjust a lot of adding to our
possessions.
That happens in December and aswe've gone through the year,
many of us without even thinkingabout it in a purposeful way,
we've just acquired things.
Some of those are possessionsthat we love and use every day.
(04:04):
Some of those are possessionsthat we love and use every day.
Some of those are not, sosometimes it's not as purposeful
of a purchase.
But I'm also not just talkingabout the possessions that we
have.
That'll be a part of it, but Iwant to talk about all the
things in our life and why is itimportant to do that or to
start doing that anyway inDecember.
(04:25):
I understand there's not a lotof extra time Most of us have in
December.
We're busy, but New Year's isjust around the corner and a lot
of us like to go into the yearand start to think about what
the year might have in store forus and what we want to do with
the year might have in store forus and what we want to do with
(04:47):
a year.
And so before we do that kindof thinking about setting goals
and picking areas of focus andthings like that, it's important
to stop and survey our life.
Think of it as being the editorof your life and what the role
of an editor is.
Let's look at it from theperspective of writing a novel.
I've mentioned on previousepisodes that I've written too,
and there's different thingsfrom a technical perspective
(05:10):
that need to happen at thebeginning of the story, as
they're introducing into thecharacters, versus in the middle
of the story to keep the plotgoing and driving along with
energy and then the beautifulconclusion of the story at the
end.
There's a way to do that, butit isn't just about that.
That's one part of it, but thecritical part really is the
editor, and that's usually notthe author, it's usually someone
(05:34):
else who's looking at yourstory with fresh eyes and is
taking a more objective view.
They haven't fallen in lovewith the character.
They haven't fallen in lovewith the character, they haven't
fallen in love with the proseand they're in there.
I don't want to say ruthlessly,but sort of it feels like that,
if you're a writer wherethey're just slashing things,
(05:55):
like they can cut wholecharacters, a character you
might be in love with, andthey're just like this one's not
needed.
You're like what you know, it'salmost painful, but when
they're done, the story is crispand it's tight and it's
beautifully done, like all thethreads come together and the
(06:17):
sentences evoke emotion in theway that the author dreamed of
it doing, and they remove words,they tighten up the pace, they
take out unnecessary charactersor scenes.
It's a really, really importantprocess, this editing process.
Sometimes they will recommendyou add things in, but a lot of
times it's about taking thingsout.
(06:38):
And so today I want you to lookat your life that way.
We're going to look at sixcategories of things and I want
you to think about your life allin as we go through these six
things and think about whatcould you do to tighten up your
life, to remove unnecessarythings from your life, to
(07:01):
lighten your load, to get ready,to have the space mentally,
physically, emotionally for thenew things that you're trying to
do or bring into your life nextyear.
So I think this is reallyimportant.
It doesn't have to start withactually physically doing the
(07:23):
editing, implementing theediting Right now, today.
What I want you to start doingis just start thinking about it,
start strategizing about it andstart planning for it.
I feel like in the United Statesanyway, we are a country of
acquisition.
We have this penchant of buyingthings and having things and,
(07:44):
granted, it keeps the economygoing.
And so I'm not trying to make astatement or judge anyone else.
I've certainly been guilty ofit myself, but it's like, at the
end of the day, if you don'tedit things out as you go
through your life and you justkeep acquiring, you end up with
a basement and a garage and anattic and closets that are just
(08:08):
packed with stuff, and then Idon't know if the rest of the
world is like this, but inAmerica there are very thriving
businesses that are self-storagebusinesses that people will
take.
They'll get a pod or they'llget a series of truckloads of
things and they'll take them outof their house and move them
(08:28):
into this self-storage unit.
Sometimes people have a coupleof those units and they don't
even know what's in them andthey never use the things that
are in there, right?
So again, I'm not judging, butI'm just saying it's easy to
have happen and if you're goingto be a good editor of your own
life, that is an ongoingdiscipline of asking yourself do
(08:52):
I need this thing?
Am I still using this thing?
And even moving past theemotions that that can bring up,
because a lot of times wedevelop, even if we never wear
the clothing item or look at thebook or use the home decor that
we bought, there's anattachment to it, there's a
(09:14):
memory attached to it.
If it's something that waspassed down to us, there's deep
emotional connections that wehave to that, tied to very
precious memories that we mighthave, and we think that we can't
get rid of the thing because ifwe do, we're somehow
diminishing the memory or we'reeliminating the memory.
And I'm here to tell you thatis just not the case.
(09:37):
It's just not the case and Ican say this from experience.
I've moved so many times in mycorporate career I think I've
told you 14 cities, you know,and I did that in a very
compressed period of time Like Ihaven't moved now for 10 years.
I have changed houses but I'venot moved cities.
So I'm a mover, but I will saylike even now, as good as I've
(10:00):
been about getting rid of things, it's amazing to me I still
acquire stuff.
It's just what we do, I think,in our life and we can't be
afraid to take a reallyobjective eye, like I described
the role of an editor or bookeditor.
They're not emotionallyconnected to the stuff, they're
just looking at it for what itis right.
(10:21):
So that's the game I want youto play just looking at it for
what it is right.
So that's the game I want youto play.
Use the last two to three weeksof the year to ask yourself
these questions.
I'm going to ask you todayabout the six different
categories of things.
It gives you a plan, anelimination plan, a
simplification plan going intothe start of the year, that you
(10:43):
can implement in January, whenit's too cold to get out and do
anything, when football seasonis winding down, when it's less
fun and there's not as much todo.
It's a great time of year topurge and for some people that
might be a triggering word, soI'd like to call it the December
edit.
And as I walk you through thesethings today, I do want to
(11:07):
acknowledge for some people itmight be really hard and I, I
understand that.
I mean, I love to read and soone of the hardest things that I
ever did was, you know, overthe course of my life I acquired
books, books from my childhoodlife.
(11:29):
I acquired books, books from mychildhood, books that I wanted
to read, just as a young adultand into my midlife.
And I had some books, a lot ofbooks.
And you know, as I started tomove to these 14 different
cities, I thought I cannot carryall of these books with me.
I mean, they were like I don'teven know.
Let's just say, at one pointthere's probably 20 boxes of
books and I would say large sizeboxes of books, heavy, large
(11:52):
size boxes of books, you know,and I had a beautiful bookcase
to put them in and all thisstuff and it sounds fabulous.
But I would say, only if you'renever planning to move, because
packing the books up and youknow, as a woman trying to haul
those books all over the place.
It was just too much and I hadto do it in waves.
When I got rid of them, I gotrid of the easiest ones first,
(12:18):
and then it was only a coupleyears ago.
I started this process, like in2004, you know.
So it's been 19 years.
It was really only a couple ofthree years ago that I got rid
of the last of the books.
I digitized everything, so it'sall on my Kindle app on my iPad,
and so, yes, I had to buy thebook again, but for me it was a
(12:41):
small price to pay, because nowthe beauty of it is I can carry
my books with me wherever I go,if I want to take them to work
with me and read on my lunchhour which I never have time to
do, but it always sounds like agreat idea or if I want to go on
the plane, or if I'm traveling,or whatever.
My books are with me.
They're not sitting in my study, in my bookcase, and I don't
(13:04):
have to load myself down with 25pounds of books that I'm
carrying with me.
They're all on my iPad and Iknow, listen, there's nothing I
like more than a library smell,or I love going in a Barnes and
Noble.
But I'm going to be honest withyou, I don't go in there much
because I will buy a book.
Sometimes I do and I'm flippingthrough because I just like to
(13:28):
do it.
It's fun, but I take note ofthe ones I'm interested in and
then I go buy them on the Kindle, just one example.
There are many things that wecan have, so I just tell you
that to say I get it.
So what we're about to talkabout here can be very
triggering.
It can be really hard, it canfeel overwhelming, it can feel
(13:49):
impossible, like I did not wantto let go of some of those books
.
They were super important to me, even fiction books from some
of my favorite authors.
So I understand, but Try tokeep an open mind as we walk
through this, because it isimportant to try, at least once
(14:09):
a year, to be a meaningfuleditor of your life overall.
And we're not just going totalk about possessions, but we
are going to start there.
So let's dive in to number one,which is possessions.
So for this, I think it's goodto just.
You know this is a strategysession.
You don't have to do anything,but you need to look.
You need to take a hard look inyour closets, in your garage,
(14:34):
in your basement, if you haveone in your attic, and you need
to ask yourself like have youbeen editing things out just
naturally as you go, or do yourclosets look like they're about
to explode?
Do you have boxes full ofthings that you don't know
what's in them?
Right, even like, open yourdrawers.
(14:55):
How many junk drawers do youhave?
Or even the ones that aren'tjunk drawers, like you know, how
much stuff do you have?
And I think in every category,not just your master closets,
not just your wardrobe and yourshoes that, of course but you
know everything in your officecloset, in the guest room closet
(15:18):
, if you have children, in yourchildren's closets, what do you
have in there?
And when was the last time someof the stuff was worn and does
it even fit anymore, or is iteven in style anymore?
That's the thing to ask aboutthe clothes.
If you're like me, like I lovebeauty products and self-care
I'm a girly girl and if you lookin your makeup case or cases,
(15:42):
have you edited that stuff out?
How long have you had some ofthe stuff and do you even want
it anymore, right?
What about the hair careproducts, or the styling tools,
or all of the littlecontraptions that we buy, at
least as women, you know, forour hair, for our skin, like do
you use it?
Could someone else use it more,or could you give it away, or
(16:06):
could you sell it?
Someone else use it more, orcould you give it away, or could
you sell it?
You know, do you want it all?
And if not, take note of thatand write it down.
What about your kitchencabinets?
I'm someone who, when I movedinto this house, like half of my
cabinets are empty in mykitchen.
I just don't have a lot ofstuff anymore and I don't need
it.
Your pantry is it neat andorganized, or is it full of food
(16:30):
that is expired?
Or same thing for yourrefrigerator and your freezer.
Take a look in your garage.
How many sets of Christmasdecorations never get used?
What else might you havesitting out in the garage that
has never been touched, not inyears, right?
You know, I've got all of theselawn care items and I'm going
(16:54):
to be honest with you I hiredthat done.
I don't do that anymore.
So why do I have the rakes andthe little garden tending tools.
Yes, I plant flowers, butthat's about the extent of it.
So you know, like, what do youhave in terms of possessions all
in?
And if you're married and havechildren, what do they have?
(17:14):
And kind of take note of justthe stuff that's sitting around
that no one ever touches inthose closets.
Have you ever opened up theboxes in the closet since they
were packed up?
What's in there and do you evenwant it anymore?
Like I think some of the moreruthless people are, like if you
(17:37):
haven't touched it in sixmonths or a year, like it's got
to go.
I don't know about that, but behonest with yourself.
If you don't think you're evergoing to use it, get rid of it.
And on that I will say, havingjust lost both my parents and my
siblings and I were, like youknow, cleaning out their house
and luckily none of us foughtover anything or whatever.
(17:59):
But we, we took littlemeaningful things from them and
I tried to not take much.
The most meaningful thing wassomething I actually bought for
them for like $5 each.
They were tiny littlerefrigerator magnets in the
shape of a heart with their nameon them, and they had them on
(18:21):
their refrigerator for decadesand they were, like you know,
not an expensive item, but Itook those.
Those were probably the mostmeaningful thing and they're on
my refrigerator and they will befor the rest of my life,
because every time I see them Ithink about all of the fun times
(18:43):
with the family, I think aboutall of the holidays and all of
the cooking and entertainingthat my mom did in her home and
in the kitchen, and I even thinkabout the memory of when I
found them in the little store.
I was in a lake resort when Iwas much, much younger with some
(19:03):
friends, and there's this bigbin and I remember going through
there and hunting and I foundmy dad's name first and then I
found my mom's name and Ithought, oh, I'm going to buy
these for my parents.
That memory is a fun memory withmy friends, so that kind of a
thing is worth keeping, but it'salso not taking up space.
It's a visual memory that'ssitting attached to my
(19:25):
refrigerator and every time Iwalk by and see it it makes me
smile.
So that's a good possession.
But the other things that Itook there was a brush and a
mirror set that my mom alwayshad on her vanity and it has
this design on it and I thoughtit was just beautiful.
When I was little and mysiblings didn't want it, but I
(19:48):
remember when I was little Iused to take the brush and like,
brush my hair with it, and Ithought it was so glamorous and
I took it, but I don't haveanywhere to put it, and so what
I decided to do was take apicture of it, and I took
several of them to make sure Ihad a good one, and then I
donated it.
(20:08):
So it's that kind of a thing.
It's hard, I think, sometimeswhen we get rid of things that
have a deep emotional attachmentto it, we think, if we don't
have the thing, that we'resomehow denigrating the memory
or limiting the memory.
And I'm telling you that's nottrue.
I have it in one of myscrapbooks now and it's on my
(20:29):
phone and I always have thememory when I see it.
So I don't have to have thething sitting in a drawer, right
, I can still have the memory.
And the only other thing that Ibrought into the house is my
mom made quilts, so that was theother very meaningful thing for
me is there were two quiltsthat I bought and I don't use
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them on my beds and I don't usethem every day, but very, very,
very important to me and it'slike that will also travel with
me for the rest of my life, veryprecious to me.
She made it and it's beautifuland it's important.
But you know, I'm going to behonest, there's also drawers and
(21:15):
boxes that I've recently gonethrough that I'm like why do I
have this stuff, you know?
So it just didn't make the cutin previous purges but it's time
to let it go.
So if you have things that havea memory attached to them, just
because you might decide to letthem go, it doesn't mean the
memory goes.
Take pictures of it, maybepictures of you holding it or
(21:39):
pictures of it just sittingsomewhere, and that's sometimes
going to be enough, not always.
Like my quilts, I'm nevergetting rid of those.
Those are very important.
Those will become heirlooms formy nieces and nephews, you know
.
So that's what I want to sayabout possessions is be honest
with yourself about what you useand what you don't use.
(22:02):
So that's number one.
Number two is people.
So that's number one.
Number two is people.
So relationships, right, howoften in our life are we
purposeful about if arelationship is still serving us
or not, and that can seem cold,but you know, sometimes they
just don't, sometimes they stopserving us and yet we carry them
(22:25):
with us because the person'salways been around.
And it's important when you'redoing a life edit December edit
to take a look at the people andthe relationships in your life
and the ones that make you feelgood when you spend time with
them, and the ones that maybedon't, and take note of that so
(22:48):
that you can adjust in the newyear the amount of time that you
dedicate to that relationshipor that person.
Right, it's okay to adjustthose things and I think it's
actually good, because if you'retrying to head somewhere new,
not everybody is going to besupportive of that, not
(23:10):
everyone's going to want you todo that, not everyone is going
to want to come with you whenyou do that, and so taking a
look and editing yourrelationships is a good thing to
do.
A good thing to do, I would say, in every respect co-workers,
(23:30):
neighbors, church friends,longtime friends, even romantic
relationships.
Sometimes we just get into ahabit or maybe we're in a
committed relationship, but ifwe're being honest, the
relationship no longer serves us, or where we're going or who we
intend to become.
So it's important to at leasttake a look at it and be honest
(23:53):
with yourself about the onesthat are serving you and the
ones that aren't.
And even if you don't want toedit anyone out, you might want
to edit the way you spend thetime or the amount of time that
you spend.
So number two is people.
Number three is pastimes.
So this is about the way youspend your time.
(24:13):
So, if your week is a pie, whatis that pie allocated to in
terms of the way you slice yourtime right?
And this is where habits canget formed.
And if you were really honestwith yourself and did a catalog
of your time, how much time doyou spend scrolling?
(24:34):
How much time do you spendtexting or talking on the phone?
How much time do you spendbinge watching your streaming
devices versus like, how muchtime do you spend doing things
that are going to move your lifeforward in a meaningful way,
maybe spending time with actualpeople instead of virtual people
(24:54):
, or investing in yourself in ahealthful sort of way, with
self-care practices that youcould do, or anything about your
time In this modern world.
A lot of us regularly say wedon't have time, but really
we're not being purposeful withour time, and that's maybe not
(25:15):
always true it may not be truefor you, but I think it's true
for many of us is that we havethese default patterns of
behavior and ways of spendingour time and at least 50% or
more of it doesn't serve us,isn't moving us ahead, isn't
doing anything really excepttaking away valuable time, and
(25:36):
time is the thing that we can'tget more of.
So I think being purposefulwith your time and meaningful
with your time and making surethat you understand what you
want from your life and whereyou're going, and that you're
trying to invest your time inthe ways that serve you in every
respect from the people youspend time with to the ways that
(25:59):
you are investing in yourpersonal growth or your
self-care or things like thatit's super, super important.
So hobbies, habits, things likethat, your pastimes very
important.
To take a look at that andthinking of your work week or
your day as a pie and like howare you allocating the slices of
(26:24):
pie and do you like the wayyou're doing that?
Because you can't get that dayback, can't get that week back.
So invest in your time in a waythat is meaningful to you.
So that's number three.
Number four is points of view.
So this is about mindset, andhow often do we think about that
(26:46):
as something that we can justprune?
I think we don't.
I think we think the thoughtsthat we think which is a lot of
what we talk about on thispodcast are just truth.
They're just there.
They're our ever-presentcompanion.
But I'm here to tell you thatyour brain is a really powerful
supercomputer, that your brainis a really powerful
(27:11):
supercomputer, and all of theexperiences and all of the
things that happen to us in ourlife we have our filter on that.
We have our interpretation ofthat All of those things get
stored away and we just keepfilling up our hard drive with
all of these default things thatare automatically stored away.
We're not even aware of it,right?
And those points of view, thoseperspectives, those experiences
(27:34):
, they get pulled out when weencounter something similar,
right?
And a lot of times those pointsof view are not points of view
that are moving you forward.
They might be fear-based, theymight be overwhelm triggering.
They're usually many times, formany of us, they could be bad
(27:57):
experiences where it triggersself-doubt.
It's important to be aware ofwhat your most common default
thoughts are.
And you can do that by justwatching and being aware of the
thoughts that you're thinking,and even like doing my practice
(28:17):
of a daily thought download,where in the morning you're just
sitting there and you're givingyourself 15 or 20 minutes and
you're just taking everythingthat's in your head, that's, you
know those thoughts that justscroll by and you're putting
them all down on the page andthen you're just asking yourself
are these thoughts serving me?
(28:39):
We all have them.
Neuroscientists that I thinkit's University of Southern
California say we have.
The average human has between50 and 60,000 thoughts a day,
just things that flit by.
Your hard drive is full ofperspectives, some of which may
not be serving you and many ofwhich might be holding you back
(28:59):
in some way through fear,through self-doubt and all of
that stuff.
I'm saying gain some awarenessthrough self-doubt and all of
that stuff.
I'm saying gain some awarenessinto what that most common
thoughts that you have are anddecide to edit those out.
You can just decide thisdoesn't serve me anymore.
And when you have that level ofawareness, you'll catch
(29:21):
yourself during the course of aday thinking the thing and
that's when you can just decidenope, I decided I'm not doing
that right.
So this is something that, ifyou need help, a coach might be
helpful with points of view,like if you're stuck in
self-doubt or if you overthink,or if you get overwhelmed easily
(29:45):
, or if you have anxiety, or ifyou are stuck in this I don't
know what to do with my life ormyself.
This is where a coach can helpyou.
So you can either try thethought download and the
self-coaching route.
I think it's episode 88 and 89.
You can kind of scroll throughmy feed.
(30:05):
I did two episodes on how toself-coach.
So for this editing your pointsof view if you want to try the
self-coaching route, go back andlisten to those two episodes,
because I describe how to dothat and it's a very useful tool
.
It can really gain you a lot ofinsight into what your
recurring patterns of thoughtare and give yourself the
(30:26):
opportunity to really do someediting and some pruning there
going into the new year.
So editing your points of viewsuper important, and I cannot
overstate that enough.
Or if you want to talk, you canalso go to my Instagram, click
on the link in my bio andthere's a button you can press
(30:47):
if you want to set up a free 30minute call, no obligation to
book anything, no hard sell.
I can just give you somethoughts and perspectives.
We can talk about what's gotyou stuck or feeling a little
stuck, and maybe the advice thatI give you can help you get
unstuck moving into the new year.
So you've got that option aswell.
So that's number four edit yourpoints of view.
(31:09):
Number five your protocols.
So this is really about yourhabits.
Habits of every type self-care,eating, the morning and evening
routines that you follow, whatyou do to and from your commute
to work, ways that you spendyour free time.
(31:30):
Habits are the time suck.
So this is closely tied tonumber three.
They can be the time suck inour life.
They can also be the thing thatgets us to a place.
Unhealthy habits can be thething that gets us to a place
where we're either experiencinghealth problems or relationship
(31:51):
problems or whatever.
They can be a source of a lotof the root cause of a lot of
problems in our life, becausewe're not being really
purposeful with our habits andwe're not setting up protocols
that serve us, like healthyeating protocols, you know,
scheduling the time for theworkouts during the week and and
(32:12):
just doing that the way wewould, you know, put on our
makeup or take off our makeup orbrush our teeth Like it's the
same thing.
It's like what is that protocolright?
The morning and evening routineswhat do you do when you get up,
and how is that easing you intoyour day in a purposeful way?
How's that setting your daywith intention or not right?
(32:32):
Do you just turn on the newswhile you're getting ready and
fill your head with all thosenegative thoughts, like I used
to do?
I do not do that anymore.
I'm very purposeful with it.
And what do you do on the driveto work?
Are you just listening to music?
Nothing wrong with that ifyou're a lover of music, but you
know, could you be at least acouple of days a week listening
to a podcast or listening to abook on tape that kind of thing
(32:56):
that maybe you don't have timeto read, where you're sort of
filling yourself with newinformation that can help your
life move forward?
So protocols of every type areimportant and I encourage you to
look at all of it.
How do you take care ofyourself?
How do you get ready in themorning?
How do you put together youroutfits?
(33:18):
What are you doing in terms ofyour eating?
Are you really intentionalabout that?
What are you doing to startyour day in a meaningful way and
to close out your day in ameaningful way?
What are you doing with yourhabits and where they don't
serve you, how could you adjustthem so they either free up time
(33:40):
or enable you to take bettercare of yourself?
Things like that.
Protocols are very important,and number six is places.
So this is about where youspend your time and the roles
you take on.
So are you somebody who can'tsay no?
(34:01):
Do you over perform in any areaof your life?
Are you over volunteering atyour children's school?
Are you over volunteering inyour corporate life or your
business?
Are you being really meaningfulwith how you fill your day and
the places that you go?
(34:22):
It's also about the quality ofthe places that you find
yourself in your work week anddo you like them?
I think environment I must bebecause I'm a Libra, but like
the vibe of place is superimportant to me.
Like I can't work at a soundsreally bad, but it's true.
Like the way a corporationtakes care of its environment or
(34:48):
building is super important tome.
Like where I work now is reallybeautiful.
I have worked at places thatare more utilitarian and it
affects the vibe of a place.
So you know your places.
The way you're decorating yourhome, your bedroom, your closet,
your office at work, your car,you know.
(35:10):
Are you caring for it, is itclean, is it orderly, is it neat
and tidy?
Is it an aesthetic that appealsto you?
That's really important.
Appeals to you that's reallyimportant.
The style of a place, makingsure that that evolves as you
(35:30):
evolve, is an important thing.
So I took you through six thingsthat you can take a look at as
you do your December editPossessions, people, pastimes,
points of view, protocols andplaces.
I call it the six P's.
I think if you could spend thenext two to three weeks taking a
(35:51):
look at those categories andget really specific with it and
reassure yourself when you startto feel overwhelmed or oh, I
could never get rid of thatsweater that I haven't worn in
five years, because that was areally important sweater.
I was wearing that when I metmy significant other or whatever
it's like.
Take a picture of yourself init and then let it go.
(36:13):
Having the sweater meansnothing really, and that might
sound like sacrilege, and if itdoes to you, don't get rid of
the sweater.
But I'm just saying challengethe thought that if I get rid of
it it will get rid of thesweater.
But I'm just saying challengethe thought that if I get rid of
it it will get rid of thememory, because that is not true
.
And with all of it, it can bereally hard to think about
(36:35):
letting things go, because itjust feels like a loss or can
feel overwhelming or not like agood idea or whatever.
But I will tell you, going intoa new year carrying a lighter
load, there's nothing that feelsbetter than going to the
(36:56):
Goodwill or your local charityand giving away gently used
possessions that someone else isgoing to get great joy from but
that you haven't touched inlike a decade.
You know you're not going tomiss it, I promise, and once you
get used to doing it, you'll doit regularly.
But I will say, even if you do,we are a society where somehow
(37:21):
these things just creep backinto our homes, and so there's
value in making this a regularpractice.
And that's why I like to callit the December edit, because at
this time of year it's aboutacquiring things, and too often
we don't start that acquiringprocess by a process of just
(37:42):
very purposefully letting thingsgo.
And if you allow yourself totry it, you will find a
tremendous value in it and it'ssomething that you will do on a
regular basis because it feelsreally good to have a neat and
orderly and purposeful life andplace and way of being.
(38:03):
So enjoy playing the role ofchief editor, or maybe chief
curator, of your life.
As you get into this and startputting it into practice, you'll
see the value of what it meansto prune your life, to re-decide
again what you want to bringforward with you and what you
want to let go of.
(38:23):
It's helpful to enter into thestart of another year with a
slightly lighter load right, onethat is ready to take on all of
the new and exciting thingsthat are coming for you.
And as we close this episode, Ijust want to say that I am so
grateful to all of you wholisten every week and I hope
(38:46):
that over the past several yearsthat I've been podcasting, I
hope that you've found this ofvalue.
It's been an interesting yearfor me.
I have done a lot of evaluationon the business and what I want
to do with it and, to that end,I'm actually publishing an
incremental episode, an extraone on Thursday this week, and
(39:10):
that's going to be dedicated toall the new things that are
coming and a lot of the changesthat I'm making inside the
business.
I'm super excited about it andI think you will be too.
I hope you will be, and I alsojust want to say thank you so
much for listening and, if youare so inclined, you could give
me a gift this season.
(39:30):
If you enjoy the episodes andyou listen on a regular basis.
I'd love it if you would gointo the Apple iTunes feed from
my podcast and give me afive-star rating and a review.
It matters makes a differenceon whether or not they serve you
up to other people.
I would certainly appreciate itif you enjoy this podcast.
(39:52):
And, last but not least, as wehead into the holiday week, I
want to wish you a very happyholiday, very Merry Christmas.
However you celebrate, I hope itis spent with family, friends,
loved ones, things that matterto you.
Whatever that is for you, Ihope it's amazing and I hope you
(40:13):
get rest and find joy and thatyou head into the year with a
sense of optimism andpossibility, because it's the
start of a new year is alwayslike kind of feel renewed, so I
hope that all of you celebratebig, enjoy yourself and join me
on Thursday as we talk aboutsome of the new things that are
(40:35):
happening in the business.
Enjoy and Merry Christmas toeveryone.
Do you have a life coach?
If not, I'd be so honored to beyour coach.
(40:56):
I've created a virtual coachingprogram and monthly membership
called Next Level.
Inside we take the material youhear on this podcast, study it
and then apply it.
Join me at thepurposefulcareercom backslash
next level.
Don't forget the thepurposefulcareercom backslash
(41:20):
next level.
Join me and together we'll makeyour career in life everything
you dream of.
We'll see you there.
This is the Purposeful Career Podcast,
episode number 211.
I'm Carla Hudson, brandstrategist, entrepreneur and
life coach.
Whether you're on the corporateor entrepreneur track, or maybe
both, decades of experience hastaught me that creating success
happens from the inside out.
(00:21):
It's about having the clarity,self-confidence and unstoppable
belief to go after and geteverything you want.
If you'll come with me, I'llshow you how.
Hello friends, I hope you hadan amazing week.
(00:41):
Today we're going to talk aboutediting and what it means to be
the editor, or maybe the chiefcurator, of your life.
This is an interesting topic, Ithink heading into the start of
a new year, because I don'tknow about you, but when I think
about a new year, I immediatelygo to all the new things that I
(01:04):
want to have, do or be in thenew year and I set the goals and
I think about okay, how am Igoing to go do that?
And I think that's great.
But before you do that, I thinkhaving a purposeful life or
purposeful career is reallyabout stepping back and doing a
(01:24):
bit of editing or pruning ormaybe curating of your life
before you start thinking aboutadding to it.
It's actually more helpful tothink about what you want to
subtract from it in a meaningfulway, and why?
To lighten your load a littlebit before you start adding to
(01:49):
it again.
It helps make sure that yourlife isn't just full, but that
it's full of the things thatmatter to you.
And the things that matter tous change as we change and grow.
The things that we care abouthaving in our life also change
and grow, and so it's importantto just keep it pruned, like
(02:12):
you'd weed a garden or trim atree, or the way as we describe
in this episode, an editor takesa fresh, objective eye at the
draft of a novel and kind ofrelentlessly prunes it to make
it tight, to make sure that thepace is correct and to make sure
(02:33):
that every scene works as hardas it should.
So that's what we're going totalk about today.
I'm going to offer you up somethings to think about as we head
into the end of December andinto the start of yet another
year.
To think about taking on therole of editor and, before you
set your goals, pick your wordof the year and all the things
you're going to do that feel sonew and exciting.
(02:55):
I want you to think about thelife that you have and where
you're at in it and what youmight want to prune and edit out
so you head into the year a bitlighter.
It's an interesting concept, soenjoy this episode on being the
editor of your life.
Today I want to talk aboutsomething a little unusual.
I want to talk about theopposite of what December is
(03:20):
usually about.
In the United States, at least,december is usually about the
acquiring of things.
We're bringing things into thehouse gifts other people have
given us gifts.
We're buying for other peopleand if you're like me, sometimes
when you're buying for otherpeople you buy for yourself too.
(03:40):
Sometimes I do that and there'sjust a lot of adding to our
possessions.
That happens in December and aswe've gone through the year,
many of us without even thinkingabout it in a purposeful way,
we've just acquired things.
Some of those are possessionsthat we love and use every day.
(04:04):
Some of those are possessionsthat we love and use every day.
Some of those are not, sosometimes it's not as purposeful
of a purchase.
But I'm also not just talkingabout the possessions that we
have.
That'll be a part of it, but Iwant to talk about all the
things in our life and why is itimportant to do that or to
start doing that anyway inDecember.
(04:25):
I understand there's not a lotof extra time Most of us have in
December.
We're busy, but New Year's isjust around the corner and a lot
of us like to go into the yearand start to think about what
the year might have in store forus and what we want to do with
the year might have in store forus and what we want to do with
(04:47):
a year.
And so before we do that kindof thinking about setting goals
and picking areas of focus andthings like that, it's important
to stop and survey our life.
Think of it as being the editorof your life and what the role
of an editor is.
Let's look at it from theperspective of writing a novel.
I've mentioned on previousepisodes that I've written too,
and there's different thingsfrom a technical perspective
(05:10):
that need to happen at thebeginning of the story, as
they're introducing into thecharacters, versus in the middle
of the story to keep the plotgoing and driving along with
energy and then the beautifulconclusion of the story at the
end.
There's a way to do that, butit isn't just about that.
That's one part of it, but thecritical part really is the
editor, and that's usually notthe author, it's usually someone
(05:34):
else who's looking at yourstory with fresh eyes and is
taking a more objective view.
They haven't fallen in lovewith the character.
They haven't fallen in lovewith the character, they haven't
fallen in love with the proseand they're in there.
I don't want to say ruthlessly,but sort of it feels like that,
if you're a writer wherethey're just slashing things,
(05:55):
like they can cut wholecharacters, a character you
might be in love with, andthey're just like this one's not
needed.
You're like what you know, it'salmost painful, but when
they're done, the story is crispand it's tight and it's
beautifully done, like all thethreads come together and the
(06:17):
sentences evoke emotion in theway that the author dreamed of
it doing, and they remove words,they tighten up the pace, they
take out unnecessary charactersor scenes.
It's a really, really importantprocess, this editing process.
Sometimes they will recommendyou add things in, but a lot of
times it's about taking thingsout.
(06:38):
And so today I want you to lookat your life that way.
We're going to look at sixcategories of things and I want
you to think about your life allin as we go through these six
things and think about whatcould you do to tighten up your
life, to remove unnecessarythings from your life, to
(07:01):
lighten your load, to get ready,to have the space mentally,
physically, emotionally for thenew things that you're trying to
do or bring into your life nextyear.
So I think this is reallyimportant.
It doesn't have to start withactually physically doing the
(07:23):
editing, implementing theediting Right now, today.
What I want you to start doingis just start thinking about it,
start strategizing about it andstart planning for it.
I feel like in the United Statesanyway, we are a country of
acquisition.
We have this penchant of buyingthings and having things and,
(07:44):
granted, it keeps the economygoing.
And so I'm not trying to make astatement or judge anyone else.
I've certainly been guilty ofit myself, but it's like, at the
end of the day, if you don'tedit things out as you go
through your life and you justkeep acquiring, you end up with
a basement and a garage and anattic and closets that are just
(08:08):
packed with stuff, and then Idon't know if the rest of the
world is like this, but inAmerica there are very thriving
businesses that are self-storagebusinesses that people will
take.
They'll get a pod or they'llget a series of truckloads of
things and they'll take them outof their house and move them
(08:28):
into this self-storage unit.
Sometimes people have a coupleof those units and they don't
even know what's in them andthey never use the things that
are in there, right?
So again, I'm not judging, butI'm just saying it's easy to
have happen and if you're goingto be a good editor of your own
life, that is an ongoingdiscipline of asking yourself do
(08:52):
I need this thing?
Am I still using this thing?
And even moving past theemotions that that can bring up,
because a lot of times wedevelop, even if we never wear
the clothing item or look at thebook or use the home decor that
we bought, there's anattachment to it, there's a
(09:14):
memory attached to it.
If it's something that waspassed down to us, there's deep
emotional connections that wehave to that, tied to very
precious memories that we mighthave, and we think that we can't
get rid of the thing because ifwe do, we're somehow
diminishing the memory or we'reeliminating the memory.
And I'm here to tell you thatis just not the case.
(09:37):
It's just not the case and Ican say this from experience.
I've moved so many times in mycorporate career I think I've
told you 14 cities, you know,and I did that in a very
compressed period of time Like Ihaven't moved now for 10 years.
I have changed houses but I'venot moved cities.
So I'm a mover, but I will saylike even now, as good as I've
(10:00):
been about getting rid of things, it's amazing to me I still
acquire stuff.
It's just what we do, I think,in our life and we can't be
afraid to take a reallyobjective eye, like I described
the role of an editor or bookeditor.
They're not emotionallyconnected to the stuff, they're
just looking at it for what itis right.
(10:21):
So that's the game I want youto play just looking at it for
what it is right.
So that's the game I want youto play.
Use the last two to three weeksof the year to ask yourself
these questions.
I'm going to ask you todayabout the six different
categories of things.
It gives you a plan, anelimination plan, a
simplification plan going intothe start of the year, that you
(10:43):
can implement in January, whenit's too cold to get out and do
anything, when football seasonis winding down, when it's less
fun and there's not as much todo.
It's a great time of year topurge and for some people that
might be a triggering word, soI'd like to call it the December
edit.
And as I walk you through thesethings today, I do want to
(11:07):
acknowledge for some people itmight be really hard and I, I
understand that.
I mean, I love to read and soone of the hardest things that I
ever did was, you know, overthe course of my life I acquired
books, books from my childhoodlife.
(11:29):
I acquired books, books from mychildhood, books that I wanted
to read, just as a young adultand into my midlife.
And I had some books, a lot ofbooks.
And you know, as I started tomove to these 14 different
cities, I thought I cannot carryall of these books with me.
I mean, they were like I don'teven know.
Let's just say, at one pointthere's probably 20 boxes of
books and I would say large sizeboxes of books, heavy, large
(11:52):
size boxes of books, you know,and I had a beautiful bookcase
to put them in and all thisstuff and it sounds fabulous.
But I would say, only if you'renever planning to move, because
packing the books up and youknow, as a woman trying to haul
those books all over the place.
It was just too much and I hadto do it in waves.
When I got rid of them, I gotrid of the easiest ones first,
(12:18):
and then it was only a coupleyears ago.
I started this process, like in2004, you know.
So it's been 19 years.
It was really only a couple ofthree years ago that I got rid
of the last of the books.
I digitized everything, so it'sall on my Kindle app on my iPad,
and so, yes, I had to buy thebook again, but for me it was a
(12:41):
small price to pay, because nowthe beauty of it is I can carry
my books with me wherever I go,if I want to take them to work
with me and read on my lunchhour which I never have time to
do, but it always sounds like agreat idea or if I want to go on
the plane, or if I'm traveling,or whatever.
My books are with me.
They're not sitting in my study, in my bookcase, and I don't
(13:04):
have to load myself down with 25pounds of books that I'm
carrying with me.
They're all on my iPad and Iknow, listen, there's nothing I
like more than a library smell,or I love going in a Barnes and
Noble.
But I'm going to be honest withyou, I don't go in there much
because I will buy a book.
Sometimes I do and I'm flippingthrough because I just like to
(13:28):
do it.
It's fun, but I take note ofthe ones I'm interested in and
then I go buy them on the Kindle, just one example.
There are many things that wecan have, so I just tell you
that to say I get it.
So what we're about to talkabout here can be very
triggering.
It can be really hard, it canfeel overwhelming, it can feel
(13:49):
impossible, like I did not wantto let go of some of those books
.
They were super important to me, even fiction books from some
of my favorite authors.
So I understand, but Try tokeep an open mind as we walk
through this, because it isimportant to try, at least once
(14:09):
a year, to be a meaningfuleditor of your life overall.
And we're not just going totalk about possessions, but we
are going to start there.
So let's dive in to number one,which is possessions.
So for this, I think it's goodto just.
You know this is a strategysession.
You don't have to do anything,but you need to look.
You need to take a hard look inyour closets, in your garage,
(14:34):
in your basement, if you haveone in your attic, and you need
to ask yourself like have youbeen editing things out just
naturally as you go, or do yourclosets look like they're about
to explode?
Do you have boxes full ofthings that you don't know
what's in them?
Right, even like, open yourdrawers.
(14:55):
How many junk drawers do youhave?
Or even the ones that aren'tjunk drawers, like you know, how
much stuff do you have?
And I think in every category,not just your master closets,
not just your wardrobe and yourshoes that, of course but you
know everything in your officecloset, in the guest room closet
(15:18):
, if you have children, in yourchildren's closets, what do you
have in there?
And when was the last time someof the stuff was worn and does
it even fit anymore, or is iteven in style anymore?
That's the thing to ask aboutthe clothes.
If you're like me, like I lovebeauty products and self-care
I'm a girly girl and if you lookin your makeup case or cases,
(15:42):
have you edited that stuff out?
How long have you had some ofthe stuff and do you even want
it anymore, right?
What about the hair careproducts, or the styling tools,
or all of the littlecontraptions that we buy, at
least as women, you know, forour hair, for our skin, like do
you use it?
Could someone else use it more,or could you give it away, or
(16:06):
could you sell it?
Someone else use it more, orcould you give it away, or could
you sell it?
You know, do you want it all?
And if not, take note of thatand write it down.
What about your kitchencabinets?
I'm someone who, when I movedinto this house, like half of my
cabinets are empty in mykitchen.
I just don't have a lot ofstuff anymore and I don't need
it.
Your pantry is it neat andorganized, or is it full of food
(16:30):
that is expired?
Or same thing for yourrefrigerator and your freezer.
Take a look in your garage.
How many sets of Christmasdecorations never get used?
What else might you havesitting out in the garage that
has never been touched, not inyears, right?
You know, I've got all of theselawn care items and I'm going
(16:54):
to be honest with you I hiredthat done.
I don't do that anymore.
So why do I have the rakes andthe little garden tending tools.
Yes, I plant flowers, butthat's about the extent of it.
So you know, like, what do youhave in terms of possessions all
in?
And if you're married and havechildren, what do they have?
(17:14):
And kind of take note of justthe stuff that's sitting around
that no one ever touches inthose closets.
Have you ever opened up theboxes in the closet since they
were packed up?
What's in there and do you evenwant it anymore?
Like I think some of the moreruthless people are, like if you
(17:37):
haven't touched it in sixmonths or a year, like it's got
to go.
I don't know about that, but behonest with yourself.
If you don't think you're evergoing to use it, get rid of it.
And on that I will say, havingjust lost both my parents and my
siblings and I were, like youknow, cleaning out their house
and luckily none of us foughtover anything or whatever.
(17:59):
But we, we took littlemeaningful things from them and
I tried to not take much.
The most meaningful thing wassomething I actually bought for
them for like $5 each.
They were tiny littlerefrigerator magnets in the
shape of a heart with their nameon them, and they had them on
(18:21):
their refrigerator for decadesand they were, like you know,
not an expensive item, but Itook those.
Those were probably the mostmeaningful thing and they're on
my refrigerator and they will befor the rest of my life,
because every time I see them Ithink about all of the fun times
(18:43):
with the family, I think aboutall of the holidays and all of
the cooking and entertainingthat my mom did in her home and
in the kitchen, and I even thinkabout the memory of when I
found them in the little store.
I was in a lake resort when Iwas much, much younger with some
(19:03):
friends, and there's this bigbin and I remember going through
there and hunting and I foundmy dad's name first and then I
found my mom's name and Ithought, oh, I'm going to buy
these for my parents.
That memory is a fun memory withmy friends, so that kind of a
thing is worth keeping, but it'salso not taking up space.
It's a visual memory that'ssitting attached to my
(19:25):
refrigerator and every time Iwalk by and see it it makes me
smile.
So that's a good possession.
But the other things that Itook there was a brush and a
mirror set that my mom alwayshad on her vanity and it has
this design on it and I thoughtit was just beautiful.
When I was little and mysiblings didn't want it, but I
(19:48):
remember when I was little Iused to take the brush and like,
brush my hair with it, and Ithought it was so glamorous and
I took it, but I don't haveanywhere to put it, and so what
I decided to do was take apicture of it, and I took
several of them to make sure Ihad a good one, and then I
donated it.
(20:08):
So it's that kind of a thing.
It's hard, I think, sometimeswhen we get rid of things that
have a deep emotional attachmentto it, we think, if we don't
have the thing, that we'resomehow denigrating the memory
or limiting the memory.
And I'm telling you that's nottrue.
I have it in one of myscrapbooks now and it's on my
(20:29):
phone and I always have thememory when I see it.
So I don't have to have thething sitting in a drawer, right
, I can still have the memory.
And the only other thing that Ibrought into the house is my
mom made quilts, so that was theother very meaningful thing for
me is there were two quiltsthat I bought and I don't use
(20:51):
them on my beds and I don't usethem every day, but very, very,
very important to me and it'slike that will also travel with
me for the rest of my life, veryprecious to me.
She made it and it's beautifuland it's important.
But you know, I'm going to behonest, there's also drawers and
(21:15):
boxes that I've recently gonethrough that I'm like why do I
have this stuff, you know?
So it just didn't make the cutin previous purges but it's time
to let it go.
So if you have things that havea memory attached to them, just
because you might decide to letthem go, it doesn't mean the
memory goes.
Take pictures of it, maybepictures of you holding it or
(21:39):
pictures of it just sittingsomewhere, and that's sometimes
going to be enough, not always.
Like my quilts, I'm nevergetting rid of those.
Those are very important.
Those will become heirlooms formy nieces and nephews, you know
.
So that's what I want to sayabout possessions is be honest
with yourself about what you useand what you don't use.
(22:02):
So that's number one.
Number two is people.
So that's number one.
Number two is people.
So relationships, right, howoften in our life are we
purposeful about if arelationship is still serving us
or not, and that can seem cold,but you know, sometimes they
just don't, sometimes they stopserving us and yet we carry them
(22:25):
with us because the person'salways been around.
And it's important when you'redoing a life edit December edit
to take a look at the people andthe relationships in your life
and the ones that make you feelgood when you spend time with
them, and the ones that maybedon't, and take note of that so
(22:48):
that you can adjust in the newyear the amount of time that you
dedicate to that relationshipor that person.
Right, it's okay to adjustthose things and I think it's
actually good, because if you'retrying to head somewhere new,
not everybody is going to besupportive of that, not
(23:10):
everyone's going to want you todo that, not everyone is going
to want to come with you whenyou do that, and so taking a
look and editing yourrelationships is a good thing to
do.
A good thing to do, I would say, in every respect co-workers,
(23:30):
neighbors, church friends,longtime friends, even romantic
relationships.
Sometimes we just get into ahabit or maybe we're in a
committed relationship, but ifwe're being honest, the
relationship no longer serves us, or where we're going or who we
intend to become.
So it's important to at leasttake a look at it and be honest
(23:53):
with yourself about the onesthat are serving you and the
ones that aren't.
And even if you don't want toedit anyone out, you might want
to edit the way you spend thetime or the amount of time that
you spend.
So number two is people.
Number three is pastimes.
So this is about the way youspend your time.
(24:13):
So, if your week is a pie, whatis that pie allocated to in
terms of the way you slice yourtime right?
And this is where habits canget formed.
And if you were really honestwith yourself and did a catalog
of your time, how much time doyou spend scrolling?
(24:34):
How much time do you spendtexting or talking on the phone?
How much time do you spendbinge watching your streaming
devices versus like, how muchtime do you spend doing things
that are going to move your lifeforward in a meaningful way,
maybe spending time with actualpeople instead of virtual people
(24:54):
, or investing in yourself in ahealthful sort of way, with
self-care practices that youcould do, or anything about your
time In this modern world.
A lot of us regularly say wedon't have time, but really
we're not being purposeful withour time, and that's maybe not
(25:15):
always true it may not be truefor you, but I think it's true
for many of us is that we havethese default patterns of
behavior and ways of spendingour time and at least 50% or
more of it doesn't serve us,isn't moving us ahead, isn't
doing anything really excepttaking away valuable time, and
(25:36):
time is the thing that we can'tget more of.
So I think being purposefulwith your time and meaningful
with your time and making surethat you understand what you
want from your life and whereyou're going, and that you're
trying to invest your time inthe ways that serve you in every
respect from the people youspend time with to the ways that
(25:59):
you are investing in yourpersonal growth or your
self-care or things like thatit's super, super important.
So hobbies, habits, things likethat, your pastimes very
important.
To take a look at that andthinking of your work week or
your day as a pie and like howare you allocating the slices of
(26:24):
pie and do you like the wayyou're doing that?
Because you can't get that dayback, can't get that week back.
So invest in your time in a waythat is meaningful to you.
So that's number three.
Number four is points of view.
So this is about mindset, andhow often do we think about that
(26:46):
as something that we can justprune?
I think we don't.
I think we think the thoughtsthat we think which is a lot of
what we talk about on thispodcast are just truth.
They're just there.
They're our ever-presentcompanion.
But I'm here to tell you thatyour brain is a really powerful
supercomputer, that your brainis a really powerful
(27:11):
supercomputer, and all of theexperiences and all of the
things that happen to us in ourlife we have our filter on that.
We have our interpretation ofthat All of those things get
stored away and we just keepfilling up our hard drive with
all of these default things thatare automatically stored away.
We're not even aware of it,right?
And those points of view, thoseperspectives, those experiences
(27:34):
, they get pulled out when weencounter something similar,
right?
And a lot of times those pointsof view are not points of view
that are moving you forward.
They might be fear-based, theymight be overwhelm triggering.
They're usually many times, formany of us, they could be bad
(27:57):
experiences where it triggersself-doubt.
It's important to be aware ofwhat your most common default
thoughts are.
And you can do that by justwatching and being aware of the
thoughts that you're thinking,and even like doing my practice
(28:17):
of a daily thought download,where in the morning you're just
sitting there and you're givingyourself 15 or 20 minutes and
you're just taking everythingthat's in your head, that's, you
know those thoughts that justscroll by and you're putting
them all down on the page andthen you're just asking yourself
are these thoughts serving me?
(28:39):
We all have them.
Neuroscientists that I thinkit's University of Southern
California say we have.
The average human has between50 and 60,000 thoughts a day,
just things that flit by.
Your hard drive is full ofperspectives, some of which may
not be serving you and many ofwhich might be holding you back
(28:59):
in some way through fear,through self-doubt and all of
that stuff.
I'm saying gain some awarenessthrough self-doubt and all of
that stuff.
I'm saying gain some awarenessinto what that most common
thoughts that you have are anddecide to edit those out.
You can just decide thisdoesn't serve me anymore.
And when you have that level ofawareness, you'll catch
(29:21):
yourself during the course of aday thinking the thing and
that's when you can just decidenope, I decided I'm not doing
that right.
So this is something that, ifyou need help, a coach might be
helpful with points of view,like if you're stuck in
self-doubt or if you overthink,or if you get overwhelmed easily
(29:45):
, or if you have anxiety, or ifyou are stuck in this I don't
know what to do with my life ormyself.
This is where a coach can helpyou.
So you can either try thethought download and the
self-coaching route.
I think it's episode 88 and 89.
You can kind of scroll throughmy feed.
(30:05):
I did two episodes on how toself-coach.
So for this editing your pointsof view if you want to try the
self-coaching route, go back andlisten to those two episodes,
because I describe how to dothat and it's a very useful tool
.
It can really gain you a lot ofinsight into what your
recurring patterns of thoughtare and give yourself the
(30:26):
opportunity to really do someediting and some pruning there
going into the new year.
So editing your points of viewsuper important, and I cannot
overstate that enough.
Or if you want to talk, you canalso go to my Instagram, click
on the link in my bio andthere's a button you can press
(30:47):
if you want to set up a free 30minute call, no obligation to
book anything, no hard sell.
I can just give you somethoughts and perspectives.
We can talk about what's gotyou stuck or feeling a little
stuck, and maybe the advice thatI give you can help you get
unstuck moving into the new year.
So you've got that option aswell.
So that's number four edit yourpoints of view.
(31:09):
Number five your protocols.
So this is really about yourhabits.
Habits of every type self-care,eating, the morning and evening
routines that you follow, whatyou do to and from your commute
to work, ways that you spendyour free time.
(31:30):
Habits are the time suck.
So this is closely tied tonumber three.
They can be the time suck inour life.
They can also be the thing thatgets us to a place.
Unhealthy habits can be thething that gets us to a place
where we're either experiencinghealth problems or relationship
(31:51):
problems or whatever.
They can be a source of a lotof the root cause of a lot of
problems in our life, becausewe're not being really
purposeful with our habits andwe're not setting up protocols
that serve us, like healthyeating protocols, you know,
scheduling the time for theworkouts during the week and and
(32:12):
just doing that the way wewould, you know, put on our
makeup or take off our makeup orbrush our teeth Like it's the
same thing.
It's like what is that protocolright?
The morning and evening routineswhat do you do when you get up,
and how is that easing you intoyour day in a purposeful way?
How's that setting your daywith intention or not right?
(32:32):
Do you just turn on the newswhile you're getting ready and
fill your head with all thosenegative thoughts, like I used
to do?
I do not do that anymore.
I'm very purposeful with it.
And what do you do on the driveto work?
Are you just listening to music?
Nothing wrong with that ifyou're a lover of music, but you
know, could you be at least acouple of days a week listening
to a podcast or listening to abook on tape that kind of thing
(32:56):
that maybe you don't have timeto read, where you're sort of
filling yourself with newinformation that can help your
life move forward?
So protocols of every type areimportant and I encourage you to
look at all of it.
How do you take care ofyourself?
How do you get ready in themorning?
How do you put together youroutfits?
(33:18):
What are you doing in terms ofyour eating?
Are you really intentionalabout that?
What are you doing to startyour day in a meaningful way and
to close out your day in ameaningful way?
What are you doing with yourhabits and where they don't
serve you, how could you adjustthem so they either free up time
(33:40):
or enable you to take bettercare of yourself?
Things like that.
Protocols are very important,and number six is places.
So this is about where youspend your time and the roles
you take on.
So are you somebody who can'tsay no?
(34:01):
Do you over perform in any areaof your life?
Are you over volunteering atyour children's school?
Are you over volunteering inyour corporate life or your
business?
Are you being really meaningfulwith how you fill your day and
the places that you go?
(34:22):
It's also about the quality ofthe places that you find
yourself in your work week anddo you like them?
I think environment I must bebecause I'm a Libra, but like
the vibe of place is superimportant to me.
Like I can't work at a soundsreally bad, but it's true.
Like the way a corporationtakes care of its environment or
(34:48):
building is super important tome.
Like where I work now is reallybeautiful.
I have worked at places thatare more utilitarian and it
affects the vibe of a place.
So you know your places.
The way you're decorating yourhome, your bedroom, your closet,
your office at work, your car,you know.
(35:10):
Are you caring for it, is itclean, is it orderly, is it neat
and tidy?
Is it an aesthetic that appealsto you?
That's really important.
Appeals to you that's reallyimportant.
The style of a place, makingsure that that evolves as you
(35:30):
evolve, is an important thing.
So I took you through six thingsthat you can take a look at as
you do your December editPossessions, people, pastimes,
points of view, protocols andplaces.
I call it the six P's.
I think if you could spend thenext two to three weeks taking a
(35:51):
look at those categories andget really specific with it and
reassure yourself when you startto feel overwhelmed or oh, I
could never get rid of thatsweater that I haven't worn in
five years, because that was areally important sweater.
I was wearing that when I metmy significant other or whatever
it's like.
Take a picture of yourself init and then let it go.
(36:13):
Having the sweater meansnothing really, and that might
sound like sacrilege, and if itdoes to you, don't get rid of
the sweater.
But I'm just saying challengethe thought that if I get rid of
it it will get rid of thesweater.
But I'm just saying challengethe thought that if I get rid of
it it will get rid of thememory, because that is not true
.
And with all of it, it can bereally hard to think about
(36:35):
letting things go, because itjust feels like a loss or can
feel overwhelming or not like agood idea or whatever.
But I will tell you, going intoa new year carrying a lighter
load, there's nothing that feelsbetter than going to the
(36:56):
Goodwill or your local charityand giving away gently used
possessions that someone else isgoing to get great joy from but
that you haven't touched inlike a decade.
You know you're not going tomiss it, I promise, and once you
get used to doing it, you'll doit regularly.
But I will say, even if you do,we are a society where somehow
(37:21):
these things just creep backinto our homes, and so there's
value in making this a regularpractice.
And that's why I like to callit the December edit, because at
this time of year it's aboutacquiring things, and too often
we don't start that acquiringprocess by a process of just
(37:42):
very purposefully letting thingsgo.
And if you allow yourself totry it, you will find a
tremendous value in it and it'ssomething that you will do on a
regular basis because it feelsreally good to have a neat and
orderly and purposeful life andplace and way of being.
(38:03):
So enjoy playing the role ofchief editor, or maybe chief
curator, of your life.
As you get into this and startputting it into practice, you'll
see the value of what it meansto prune your life, to re-decide
again what you want to bringforward with you and what you
want to let go of.
(38:23):
It's helpful to enter into thestart of another year with a
slightly lighter load right, onethat is ready to take on all of
the new and exciting thingsthat are coming for you.
And as we close this episode, Ijust want to say that I am so
grateful to all of you wholisten every week and I hope
(38:46):
that over the past several yearsthat I've been podcasting, I
hope that you've found this ofvalue.
It's been an interesting yearfor me.
I have done a lot of evaluationon the business and what I want
to do with it and, to that end,I'm actually publishing an
incremental episode, an extraone on Thursday this week, and
(39:10):
that's going to be dedicated toall the new things that are
coming and a lot of the changesthat I'm making inside the
business.
I'm super excited about it andI think you will be too.
I hope you will be, and I alsojust want to say thank you so
much for listening and, if youare so inclined, you could give
me a gift this season.
(39:30):
If you enjoy the episodes andyou listen on a regular basis.
I'd love it if you would gointo the Apple iTunes feed from
my podcast and give me afive-star rating and a review.
It matters makes a differenceon whether or not they serve you
up to other people.
I would certainly appreciate itif you enjoy this podcast.
(39:52):
And, last but not least, as wehead into the holiday week, I
want to wish you a very happyholiday, very Merry Christmas.
However you celebrate, I hope itis spent with family, friends,
loved ones, things that matterto you.
Whatever that is for you, Ihope it's amazing and I hope you
(40:13):
get rest and find joy and thatyou head into the year with a
sense of optimism andpossibility, because it's the
start of a new year is alwayslike kind of feel renewed, so I
hope that all of you celebratebig, enjoy yourself and join me
on Thursday as we talk aboutsome of the new things that are
(40:35):
happening in the business.
Enjoy and Merry Christmas toeveryone.
Do you have a life coach?
If not, I'd be so honored to beyour coach.
(40:56):
I've created a virtual coachingprogram and monthly membership
called Next Level.
Inside we take the material youhear on this podcast, study it
and then apply it.
Join me at thepurposefulcareercom backslash
next level.
Don't forget the thepurposefulcareercom backslash
(41:20):
next level.
Join me and together we'll makeyour career in life everything
you dream of.
We'll see you there.
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