February 15, 2025 • 36 mins
Transform your workweek mindset and conquer the dreaded "Sunday blues" with powerful mental strategies inspired by professional athletes like Michael Phelps. Imagine starting each day with the same focus and resilience that champions use to achieve peak performance. Through intentional mindset shifts, you'll learn how to tackle tough workdays with newfound energy, turning anxiety into empowerment.
Our conversation reveals the art of visualizing success, helping you navigate even the most challenging professional obstacles. Hear a personal story about presenting a daunting brand repositioning to senior executives, where visualization turned anxiety into a triumph. By preparing mentally and shifting perspectives, discover how you too can transform fear into opportunity, delivering for your team and advancing your career.
As a special offer, consider joining our Next Level virtual coaching program. This opportunity allows you to apply these mindset techniques to not only elevate your professional life but also bring about meaningful changes in your personal journey. Embrace the chance to unlock your full potential and make your career aspirations a reality.
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
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Purposeful Career Podcast,
episode number 219.
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.
(00:20):
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 Well.
Hello friends.
I hope you had an amazing week.
(00:41):
Today we're going to talk aboutmindset and we're going to talk
about how you can borrow some ofthe wisdom and the approaches
from professional athletes totrain your brain to be very,
very intentional about the dayor the week ahead.
Too many people, especially inthe corporate arena, spend their
(01:06):
time dreading Monday morning.
So one of the big reasons Iwanted to start this podcast and
it's one of the reasons Iwanted to publish it on Sunday
is because the Sunday blues area very real thing for too many
people, and it's really justbecause we're looking at the
Monday on our calendar or theweek ahead and we're allowing
(01:31):
ourselves, instead of to look atit with intention and purpose
on how do we approach it in a asempowering a way as possible,
instead, we just like let ourbrain take over and we go into
this very passive, default,unempowered mindset where we
feel like we're just sort ofplodding through our work week
(01:54):
or our difficult day instead ofreally taking control and
harnessing our full power tomake it everything that it could
possibly be.
So I think this will be aninteresting one to make it
everything that it couldpossibly be.
So I think this will be aninteresting one.
I'm sharing some examples fromthe professional athlete arena
that you can start to thinkabout.
How that might apply to how youwould approach a difficult day,
(02:15):
and I also give you athree-step approach to being
very intentional about your dayand deciding in advance how you
want to show up, who you want tobe in those difficult
situations and how you canharness all of your power going
into that.
(02:35):
It's going to be a really greatepisode.
I think it can make a hugedifference on the quality of
your life and, honestly, on thetrajectory of your career.
If you can show up in difficultmoments and in difficult
meetings and on difficult days,still being resilient, strong,
focused, persuasive, unflappable, you can do anything, and that
(03:00):
is really not magic.
It's not something you're bornwith.
It's something you decide andit's about approaching every day
with intention and purpose.
So enjoy this episode on beingintentional every day.
(03:20):
Today I want to talk aboutsomething that kind of off the
last couple of weeks episodeswhere in episode 217, we're
talking about inner leadershipand what does it mean to work on
making yourself happy withinthe context of your career or
your life.
And then in last week's episodewe were talking about how to
(03:44):
stay fired up and passionate inthe middle of your career, when
sometimes for some people, itcan kind of be a time when we're
feeling, I don't know, not sogreat, not so charged, and none
of us want that.
And the impetus for thisepisode is I saw a stat this
(04:06):
week that said that 59% ofAmericans experience the Sunday
blues, meaning they look atMonday or the week ahead and
they are filled with dread andanxiety about the things that
their week or day holds for them, the challenges associated with
(04:28):
that and all of that.
And I wanted to talk about thatbecause that is a very real
thing and I'm not going to saythat there haven't been periods
in my own career where I haven'tfelt the same way.
I mean, listen, we all havethose days.
I mean, listen, we all havethose days whether it's just
(04:49):
work or work combined with thechallenges going on in your
personal life, where we can justfeel like it's a little much,
you know, and that we just lookat the calendar and we think, oh
, I wish that I could just stayin bed with the you know covers
over my head, or I wish I couldjust catch a quick flu or
something, so I don't have toface what's going on for me this
(05:15):
day or this week or whatever.
But that is not a great way oran intentional way to live your
life, and I wanted to talk aboutthat because I think a lot of
times what happens with most ofus is that, you know, sometimes
on Sundays we'll peak what'sgoing on on Monday, or we'll
(05:39):
look at the week ahead and we'lljust think, oh, my God, I dread
it Right, and that's where theSunday blues come from, because
you're just thinking it's goingto be a miserable week.
There's so many hard things todo.
I have all this tough stuffgoing on at work, and then I've
got these three things that Ihave to do in my personal life
and it's just all too much andwe let our mind decide for us
(06:06):
how we're going to think aboutthe week or the day, and that
default thought that you carryinto that day is the thought and
the emotion that you're goingto take to the meeting with you.
So let's just take it out ofthe career realm for a minute.
Let's just look at professionalathletes.
(06:28):
So I want to talk first aboutMichael Phelps, who is a rock
star swimmer.
He's won 23 Olympic gold medals, and it's talking about how he
approaches competition.
And I would think, if you're anOlympic athlete and you've been
(06:50):
training at elite levels for 12or 15 years, however long and
it finally comes the day of theOlympic trials where you're
trying to make the team or maybeyour swim meet within the
Olympic competition yes, I mean,I think some people could say,
oh, that's probably veryexciting for them.
(07:11):
I would imagine, though, it's alittle bit of dread too, cause
it's like okay, are all of theseyears and all of these
thousands of hours I've spentgoing to add up to anything?
I don't know if I can think ofanything more pressure filled or
more potentially anxietydriving than that.
(07:33):
There's a lot riding on that,you know, and I did a little bit
of research, and it was sayingthat Michael Phelps really
credits visualization as a keypart of his training.
So it's not just about hiseating and it's not just about,
you know, just the relentlesstraining of his body and the
(07:55):
just physical hours in the poolperfecting his sport.
It is about his mind and how hethinks of it, and it says that
he visualizes every detail ofhis race in advance, not
necessarily focusing the otherswimmers, but pulling all of his
energy in and focusing onhimself.
(08:17):
What's his hand position,what's his arm position, what's
his breathing cadence, how's hegoing to do the turn?
What's his foot position?
I don't, I'm not a swimmer, butyou know what I mean.
And as, even reading, he evenvisualizes all the potential
little things that could gowrong during the race, like
(08:38):
maybe his you know strap on hisgoggles breaking.
How would he handle that, right?
So he didn't leave anything tochance, and his mental
preparation was every bit asimportant as his physical
preparation.
And what happened?
He's won 23 Olympic gold medals, one of the most decorated
(09:05):
swimmers of generations, maybeever.
I don't know the stats on that,but there's lots of other ones.
Missy Franklin, who's anAmerican swimmer, won four gold
medals in the 2012 LondonOlympics, used visualization to
reduce anxiety and mentallyrehearse her races, and she
stated that by visualizing herraces she felt more prepared and
(09:27):
less stress when the actualevent occurred.
It almost like she'd beenthrough it before, so she knew
exactly how to handle it.
Kayla Harrison, the two-timeOlympic gold medalist in judo,
visualizes her success everynight before competitions.
She imagines herself winningand standing on the podium,
(09:48):
which helps her stay focused andmotivated and resilient enough
to overcome setbacks during theactual match.
Troy Dumais I don't know if Isaid his name right, but a
four-time Olympian diver, heuses visualization to mentally
practice his dives and believesthat by seeing himself
successfully execute a dive, itincreases the likelihood of that
(10:12):
actually happening in reality.
And finally, marielle Zagunasagain don't know if I said the
name right two-time Olympic goldmedalist, and fencing uses
visualization to prepare fordifferent scenarios during her
matches, which helps her staycalm and react quickly to her
(10:33):
opponent's moves because she'sthought them all through in
advance.
And it's how that.
Research has shown thatvisualization can improve
performance by up to 45% withathletes, because it helps them
mentally rehearse their actions,it builds confidence and it
reduces performance anxiety.
(10:54):
That's a big deal.
And let's just take it over tomy favorite sport, which is
professional football, the USversion and I was watching a
Netflix documentary it's been awhile now because I think it's
been out for a couple seasonsbut it was called Quarterback,
produced by the Manning brothers, who are also favorites of mine
(11:14):
, and they looked at four orfive different quarterbacks in
the NFL and one of them was KurtCousins, who used to be with
the Vikings in, I think,minnesota and I think now is in
Atlanta with the Falcons.
But anyway, in one of the lastepisodes of that documentary it
(11:36):
was showing him he had some sortof a neuro device and the whole
thing was about mentalpreparation for what it's like
to be a quarterback that istrying to find his receivers
down the field and not pay anyattention to the five to six
(12:02):
really large individuals on theopposing defensive line who are
trying to get around theoffensive line protecting Kirk
Cousins and tackle him.
I don't know what the weightdifferential is, but I would
imagine the average quarterbackis probably between 185 and,
(12:23):
let's just call it, 200 pounds,and it's like those linemen are
over 300 pounds each and they'refast too.
So they're freaks of nature andthey're trying to get him and
you would think, oh gosh, he'sbeen playing football forever,
right, and including, likeseveral years in the in the NFL.
But he said it never changes.
It's like human nature to thinkthey're going to kill me.
(12:47):
They're running at me and I'vegot to connect with a receiver
down the field.
So he said I have to train mybrain to not go into panic,
fight or flight mode.
I've got to stay calm and notpay any attention to the very
large humans running at metrying to tackle me, sometimes
(13:10):
less than a foot away when theball leaves his hand.
He has to connect with thatreceiver down the field, first
find them and then send the ballin that direction.
So that is very, very goodillustration of what your mind
is actually capable of.
And you think about theseprofessional athletes, or these
(13:32):
very accomplished athletes, andit isn't enough, in their view,
to train their body.
They have to train their mindfor that level of competition
and how to overcome all of theautomatic responses that a
normal human brain would have inthose situations.
Right?
(13:52):
So let's carry this back nowinto your career and let's think
about the Sunday blues, right?
So it's like when this episodecomes out, I always do it on a
Sunday for that very reason,right.
When I started this podcastmore than four years ago, I
thought, you know, I knew thatSunday was the lowest hour, a
listener day, for podcasts LikeI think the highest one is like
(14:16):
Thursday and, to be very honestwith you, most of you do listen
on Wednesday or Thursday, but Iwanted to do it on Sunday anyway
for the people who might bestruggling, cause there were
some years in my career I'm notgoing to lie when you know it
could get a little real on aSunday, depending on what the
week held for me.
(14:36):
And so let's take it back tothat and let's just pretend so
it's Sunday when you're hearingthis.
Let's pretend you're listeningwhen the day comes out.
Let's just pretend that Mondayis a really challenging day for
you, that you have, let's justsay, you dread public speaking
and you've got an hour talk youhave to give to a really large
(15:01):
group of people, maybe 500people.
And let's pretend like in theafternoon you have a difficult
conversation with your bosscoming and let's pretend like
you've got to meet with one ofyour clients who is notoriously
difficult, like, maybe 50% ofthe time, it's okay.
Clients who is notoriouslydifficult, like, maybe 50% of
the time, it's okay, 50% of thetime things don't go your way
(15:22):
right.
So let's just say you're anormal person.
You're looking at your calendarfor the next day and you think,
oh, I wish I could catch aquick flu or something so that I
don't have to have this dayhappen because it's going to be
so bad.
That's not a great way to lookat it, but it's the normal way
(15:42):
to look at it, right, to look atthe meetings in the calendar
and let your brain decidewhether that's a good lineup of
things or whether it's a verychallenging lineup of things.
And then whatever thosethoughts are that your brain
decides to serve up.
We're not usually even aware ofit.
We just think we look at theday and we have all these things
(16:05):
that we're thinking and wethink those things are just true
.
Like, oh, that is going to be amiserable day.
But what if I told you that theworst lineup of meetings
doesn't have to equal a bad day?
How would you steer it in adifferent direction?
(16:26):
Just kind of leveraging theinsights that we just talked
through about the professionalathletes.
They don't leave things tochance.
They don't just athletes.
They don't leave things tochance.
They don't just train theirbody and show up on their big
day and hope everything goeswell.
No, they have already beenthrough that race hundreds of
(16:48):
times in their mind.
Michael Phelps even thinkingabout okay, I'm in the middle of
it, what happens if my footholdslips?
Or what happens if the strap onmy?
I'm in the middle of it.
What happens if my footholdslips?
Or what happens if the strap onmy goggles breaks in the middle
of the race?
How am I going to get throughthat without even being phased?
That's what I mean.
That is like elite level braintraining, literally, and it's no
(17:11):
accident that that resulted in23 gold medals.
He didn't leave that to chance.
He trained his brain and hecredits that more than anything
with where he ended up in hisOlympic performance.
You can do the same thing Likethink about it.
Okay, so let's just play it out.
You're looking at your day.
It's got all those hard thingsin it, and so you spend the rest
(17:35):
of Sunday like dreading it.
You know, just thinking, oh, Iwish I could just skip to
Tuesday.
Tuesday is a better day If youlet your brain be in charge and
that's the direction that itgoes.
What do you think is going tohappen on Monday morning You're
going to hit the snooze buttonthree times, right, you're going
(17:56):
to plot around, kind of blearyeyed, um to the coffee pod, get
ready.
You're going to fling yourselfin the shower, kind of throw
yourself together, not withpurpose, probably, but with
dread, wishing you could beanywhere.
But your day that day, givenwhat meetings it holds and all
(18:18):
the challenges you expect toface, that's not a great way to
start your day.
And if you let your mind be incharge, what kinds of emotions
do you think that's going tomake you feel?
I mean, it's dread, right.
Going to make you feel.
(18:40):
I mean it's dread, right.
Anxiety maybe, maybe a littlefear sprinkled in there.
It's not confident.
Think about, like, what choicesare you going to make when you
put yourself together?
How do you think you're goingto walk into the room or walk
onto that stage and speak tothose 500 people or whatever
it's like?
It's not going to be you atyour best.
It's going to be you filledwith dread.
That's not great energy,because that, that energy, if
(19:03):
you believe that we're like anenergetic field, people pick up
on that, you know.
So how do you look at the dayand acknowledge yes, this is
legitimately going to be one ofthe harder days that I've had.
You know, there's no point inlying to yourself and I'm not
suggesting that you do that, butI am suggesting that there's a
(19:23):
very different way that youwould begin a day if you wanted
to do it in a purposeful way,and that would be you don't just
dive in to getting ready, youdon't hit the snooze button
three times, you actually setthe alarm for the time you want
to get up and I would suggestallowing yourself 20 minutes
(19:44):
before you have to get into yourmorning routine.
Right Before you start gettingready, center yourself, think
about the things that you've gotto do that day and the best
version of you going into thosethings.
So think about those situations.
That's number one, and thennumber two.
(20:06):
I want you to think for each ofthose situations, what do you
expect to encounter?
Kind of like the Michael Phelpsthing, right.
What could possibly go wrongwith that super difficult client
?
What could possibly go wrongwhen you're up on the stage,
right, and it's like, how do yourun yourself mentally through
that so that you're picking athought that you want to anchor
(20:30):
to, because that is going tomake all the difference in the
world on what emotion you carrywith you, whether it's
confidence or anxiety, right,whether it's determination or,
you know, impatience.
It's really important to decidein advance what thought you
(20:55):
want to hang on to, going intowhat you know will probably be a
very difficult situation, super, super important.
So, again, need 20 minutes andthink about the situations
you're going to be encountering,get clear on what you think
those challenges are going to be, and then choose a very
(21:18):
intentional thought for each oneof the situations that you want
to hang on to.
And then the third thing is Iwant you to visualize.
I want you to visualize itgoing well.
I want you to visualizepotential pushback from the
difficult client.
I want you to visualizepotential pushback from the
(21:39):
difficult client.
I want you to visualizestanding up on stage and
forgetting part of what youwanted to say, or stumbling over
your words.
What thought do you want tohave with that and how do you
want to prepare yourself for?
Okay, what do I do with that?
Oh, maybe you need to take acouple of note cards up on stage
(22:02):
with you so you can repromptyourself if you lose track of
what you were going to say, orsomething like that, or if you
have the meeting with adifficult client, what are some
challenges that they brought upin the past?
What kinds of pushback mightyou expect and what could be
some potential ways that youcould navigate through that, so
that you know, instead ofshowing up with frustration or
(22:25):
irritation when the difficultiesarise, you're confident, you're
calm, you're centered, you'recurious and you're just
navigating your way through itbecause you're prepared.
You expected that this couldhappen and you've just
navigating your way through itbecause you're prepared.
You expected that this couldhappen and you've already worked
(22:45):
your way through it.
I'll give you an example from myown career, and this happened a
while back.
It's been I don't know at least15 years and I was running the
brand for one of the big threewireless companies.
And when you're doing that,what that means is you're
basically in charge of all ofkind of the brand marketing.
(23:06):
So the brand strategy, theadvertising, all the strategic
parts of that positioning,messaging, things like that and
then all of the channelactivations below that in
digital and all the otherchannels.
And so I was probably there atthis point at about six months,
and we'd been working the wholetime on a repositioning.
(23:30):
They really needed it.
It's one of the reasons theybrought me in and a
repositioning and we were goingto roll out a new advertising
campaign and stuff.
It was kind of a big deal andwe've been working with a
consulting, a brand consultingfirm and doing all that work on
segmentation and positioning andall the different things that
(23:51):
were eventually going to betranslating into a, an
advertising campaign.
And there was going to be a bigmeeting and it was going to be
in downtown Chicago and we, theplace where I worked it was like
in the near suburbs, I wouldsay, of Chicago downtown, and
all the senior executives weregoing to be there and all of a
(24:12):
sudden I figured my boss woulddo it.
He was the CMO and I was finewith that, like we were
preparing for that but he cameup to me it was probably a week
in advance and he said I justwant you to know.
I think you should really bethe one who's up on stage
introducing it, rolling it outand all that.
You did all the work and youknow you should get all the
(24:33):
credits good way to introduceyou to everybody.
And I said, oh, no, at thatpoint in my career I was great
at avoiding those sorts ofopportunities.
You know, like I invented waysto get out of speaking in front
of large groups and he washaving none of it.
He was like no, actually I'mnot asking, you're doing it.
And I was like, oh dear God.
You know, I thought this is likemy worst nightmare and so,
(24:56):
leading up to it, I knew what Iwanted to say.
I did know all the stuffbecause we'd done all the work,
so it wasn't the subject mattercontent, it was just like at
that time in my career I wasn'tcomfortable enough in my skin I
guess is the way to put it to beup on stage and having all
(25:17):
those eyeballs looking at me.
I just it's like a nightmare,it's like something that I would
dream about and wake up in acold sweat.
You know, only this was goingto be real, and so I ran through
it many times and as the dayapproached, I was just beside
myself, I mean, like with dread.
All I could think about wasgetting up there, stumbling
(25:39):
through it, not doing a verygood job and having my new team.
I had a large team.
It was like 26 people just lookat me and think that I didn't
do a good job and that that tome, was more crushing than
anything.
And that day I had a long drivedowntown because I lived out I
(26:02):
don't know 15 miles from thething.
So it's probably all in, it'sprobably an hour drive in
Chicago is always very difficulttraffic situation.
So I had to drive all the waydowntown and my stomach was just
in a knot all the way andfinally I had this epiphany.
(26:22):
When I was driving I thoughtwait a minute.
You've done all this work.
You know this stone cold.
And the truth of the matter isyou want to do a good job for
your people.
They're all going to be sittingthere.
You don't want them to.
You want them to be proud ofyou and the work that we've done
(26:44):
.
You don't want them to beembarrassed by you.
So you need to get up there onthat stage and you need to
deliver for them, not for you.
So you look good, you know.
And you need to deliver forthem, not for you.
So you look good, you know.
And there was something aboutthat twist, that intentionality
of saying I'm going to get upthere on stage and I'm going to
(27:05):
do the best job I can so that myteam feels good about the work,
and so they're proud ofeverything that we've done and
of me as their leader.
I don't want them to beembarrassed or whatever.
And there's something aboutholding on to that, like when I
(27:27):
went up on stage.
I remember like all thoseeyeballs it's just like
literally my worst nightmare allthose eyeballs staring at me.
You know, some people werepaying attention, some people
were paying attention and Icould see, like in the back of
the room, above the peoplesitting, I could see the brand
consultants were standing in theback and they were all talking
(27:49):
amongst themselves and I couldsee my boss and a couple of my
leaders and some peers andthey're all sort of talking or
whatever.
While I started my thing, butabout five minutes into it, as I
was kind of picking up steamand getting into it I think it
was like a 20 minute thing Icould see them all stop talking.
(28:11):
I could see the consultantsturn and they were watching me
and I sort of registered.
But I just kind of I kind ofkept going and I remember
thinking at the time okay, thisis, this is going, okay, you
know, and I just sort of keptgoing and I was glad that I'd
prepared as well as I had.
And anyway, when I was done, myboss came up to me because there
(28:36):
was a break right after thatand my boss came up to me and he
said, wow, you're really goodat this public speaking thing.
You never really mentioned thatand I said that is one of my
worst things.
Like what are you talking about?
And he goes actually it's not.
And I was like what Like about?
And he goes actually it's not.
(28:56):
And I was like what?
Like it was such a weirdbecause I mean, legitimately, I
could tell you stories of justterrible experiences I had
earlier in my career and peoplewho worked with me would
probably say, yes, that is, shewas terrible, but that day I
wasn't.
And for him, he now thinks ofme as this great public speaker
which I would never say that,but it was, at that point, my
(29:19):
best performance.
And one of the consultants cameup to me and said, wow, you
really are good at that.
And I was like huh.
But what was interesting to mewas it was way before I got
exposed to any of this coachingstuff or the cognitive approach.
But what I did, without evenknowing what I did, was I
(29:42):
decided in advance what I wantedto carry with me onto that
stage and it was very differentfrom what I would usually do as
an introvert.
What I would usually do is sayeveryone's going to be staring
at me, I'm going to lose mytrain of thought, they're going
to think I'm an idiot, like allthe things.
That's what I would typicallydo.
I didn't do that.
I held onto one thought I knowwhat I'm doing and I'm doing
(30:07):
this for my team and I'm goingto kill it.
I'm going to do the very bestjob I can and I did the very
best job I could.
So back to you.
What do you want to carry withyou into your most difficult
situations?
Do you want your default brainto be in charge to say I wish I
(30:30):
could catch a quick flu.
Maybe I should pretend to besick, I don't want to go through
this, you know, and kind ofplod through your day?
Or do you want to take that 20minutes in the morning to say,
okay, here's what's in front ofme, here's going to be the easy
things, here's going to be someof the challenges.
Let's get into those challengesand think about what could
(30:53):
possibly go wrong or whatever.
Let's think about what's thethought I want to carry with me
when I walk into that room withthat difficult client who shoots
holes into all of my hard workall the time, how am I going to
bring positive, persuasive,resilient energy into that room?
(31:13):
That is a choice, that is athought that you can think in
advance.
Don't leave it to chance.
And instead of dread you'recarrying with you confidence,
persuasion, curiosity, master,influencing skills.
That doesn't happen by accident.
(31:34):
That happens because you choseit right and you know how can
you visualize every minute ofthose interactions in advance.
Doesn't take very long to do it, but just kind of run through
it and think what could possiblygo wrong and how do you want to
show up in those moments if itdoes go wrong.
(31:57):
That's the difference betweencoming off as a polished
professional, ready for anything, a master leader, an influencer
or someone who's just kind ofgoing through the motions and
kind of miserable and thinkabout like kind of going through
the motions and kind ofmiserable, and think about like
(32:18):
even more than just gettingthrough those difficult
situations in the best possibleway you can.
It makes a huge difference toyour emotional state and your
state of mind and you take thathome with you, to your family,
to your friends, to the otherpeople in your life, to the rest
(32:39):
of your life.
Are you going to spend allevening eating cupcakes or
drinking wine after a difficultday, or are you going to feel
energized and ready to head tothe gym and eating a healthful
meal and having a great eveningwith the people that you love?
Your outcome of your day is achoice you can make at the
(33:06):
beginning and it doesn't haveanything to do with the level of
difficulty of the things thatare scheduled into your day.
It has to do with one thingwhat you decide in advance, you
want to think about those thingsand then going and doing that.
That is what I wanted to talk toyou about today.
(33:28):
I know it can sound a little.
I don't know if you reallybelieve that, when you look at
your day, that the things thatyou think, if you want to
believe that those are just true.
That's a choice, but I'd liketo challenge you to say no.
I get to decide what's true.
(33:50):
What's true and what I'm goingto decide in advance is
something very empowering, andthat's the energy I'm going to
use to put myself together, tochoose the outfit, to choose the
accessories to carry with mewhen I walk into the room and to
(34:12):
be with me during thosesituations, so that I'm at my
best 100% of the time and whenyou walk out you're feeling
great, even if it didn't all goyour way.
You know you gave it your very,very best and that's really all
that matters.
And that energetic state willstay with you long after Monday
(34:35):
is over.
So that is what I wanted totalk to you about today.
I hope that you remember thisand start to institute a
practice that's very purposefulin your mornings, because it
doesn't have to be somethingthat's filled with dread, where
(34:56):
you're rushing around trying toget everything done before you
run out the door.
If you have to wake up 20minutes earlier to make your day
more purposeful and moreintentional, that is time very
well spent.
So with that I will leave youuntil next time.
Make it a great week.
(35:17):
My friends, do you have a lifecoach?
If not, I'd be so honored to beyour coach.
I've created a virtual coachingprogram and monthly membership
(35:40):
called Next Level.
Inside, we take the materialyou hear on this podcast, study
it and then apply it.
Join me at thepurposefulcareercom backslash
next level.
Don't forget the thepurposefulcareercom backslash
next level.
(36:00):
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 219.
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.
(00:20):
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 Well.
Hello friends.
I hope you had an amazing week.
(00:41):
Today we're going to talk aboutmindset and we're going to talk
about how you can borrow some ofthe wisdom and the approaches
from professional athletes totrain your brain to be very,
very intentional about the dayor the week ahead.
Too many people, especially inthe corporate arena, spend their
(01:06):
time dreading Monday morning.
So one of the big reasons Iwanted to start this podcast and
it's one of the reasons Iwanted to publish it on Sunday
is because the Sunday blues area very real thing for too many
people, and it's really justbecause we're looking at the
Monday on our calendar or theweek ahead and we're allowing
(01:31):
ourselves, instead of to look atit with intention and purpose
on how do we approach it in a asempowering a way as possible,
instead, we just like let ourbrain take over and we go into
this very passive, default,unempowered mindset where we
feel like we're just sort ofplodding through our work week
(01:54):
or our difficult day instead ofreally taking control and
harnessing our full power tomake it everything that it could
possibly be.
So I think this will be aninteresting one to make it
everything that it couldpossibly be.
So I think this will be aninteresting one.
I'm sharing some examples fromthe professional athlete arena
that you can start to thinkabout.
How that might apply to how youwould approach a difficult day,
(02:15):
and I also give you athree-step approach to being
very intentional about your dayand deciding in advance how you
want to show up, who you want tobe in those difficult
situations and how you canharness all of your power going
into that.
(02:35):
It's going to be a really greatepisode.
I think it can make a hugedifference on the quality of
your life and, honestly, on thetrajectory of your career.
If you can show up in difficultmoments and in difficult
meetings and on difficult days,still being resilient, strong,
focused, persuasive, unflappable, you can do anything, and that
(03:00):
is really not magic.
It's not something you're bornwith.
It's something you decide andit's about approaching every day
with intention and purpose.
So enjoy this episode on beingintentional every day.
(03:20):
Today I want to talk aboutsomething that kind of off the
last couple of weeks episodeswhere in episode 217, we're
talking about inner leadershipand what does it mean to work on
making yourself happy withinthe context of your career or
your life.
And then in last week's episodewe were talking about how to
(03:44):
stay fired up and passionate inthe middle of your career, when
sometimes for some people, itcan kind of be a time when we're
feeling, I don't know, not sogreat, not so charged, and none
of us want that.
And the impetus for thisepisode is I saw a stat this
(04:06):
week that said that 59% ofAmericans experience the Sunday
blues, meaning they look atMonday or the week ahead and
they are filled with dread andanxiety about the things that
their week or day holds for them, the challenges associated with
(04:28):
that and all of that.
And I wanted to talk about thatbecause that is a very real
thing and I'm not going to saythat there haven't been periods
in my own career where I haven'tfelt the same way.
I mean, listen, we all havethose days.
I mean, listen, we all havethose days whether it's just
(04:49):
work or work combined with thechallenges going on in your
personal life, where we can justfeel like it's a little much,
you know, and that we just lookat the calendar and we think, oh
, I wish that I could just stayin bed with the you know covers
over my head, or I wish I couldjust catch a quick flu or
something, so I don't have toface what's going on for me this
(05:15):
day or this week or whatever.
But that is not a great way oran intentional way to live your
life, and I wanted to talk aboutthat because I think a lot of
times what happens with most ofus is that, you know, sometimes
on Sundays we'll peak what'sgoing on on Monday, or we'll
(05:39):
look at the week ahead and we'lljust think, oh, my God, I dread
it Right, and that's where theSunday blues come from, because
you're just thinking it's goingto be a miserable week.
There's so many hard things todo.
I have all this tough stuffgoing on at work, and then I've
got these three things that Ihave to do in my personal life
and it's just all too much andwe let our mind decide for us
(06:06):
how we're going to think aboutthe week or the day, and that
default thought that you carryinto that day is the thought and
the emotion that you're goingto take to the meeting with you.
So let's just take it out ofthe career realm for a minute.
Let's just look at professionalathletes.
(06:28):
So I want to talk first aboutMichael Phelps, who is a rock
star swimmer.
He's won 23 Olympic gold medals, and it's talking about how he
approaches competition.
And I would think, if you're anOlympic athlete and you've been
(06:50):
training at elite levels for 12or 15 years, however long and
it finally comes the day of theOlympic trials where you're
trying to make the team or maybeyour swim meet within the
Olympic competition yes, I mean,I think some people could say,
oh, that's probably veryexciting for them.
(07:11):
I would imagine, though, it's alittle bit of dread too, cause
it's like okay, are all of theseyears and all of these
thousands of hours I've spentgoing to add up to anything?
I don't know if I can think ofanything more pressure filled or
more potentially anxietydriving than that.
(07:33):
There's a lot riding on that,you know, and I did a little bit
of research, and it was sayingthat Michael Phelps really
credits visualization as a keypart of his training.
So it's not just about hiseating and it's not just about,
you know, just the relentlesstraining of his body and the
(07:55):
just physical hours in the poolperfecting his sport.
It is about his mind and how hethinks of it, and it says that
he visualizes every detail ofhis race in advance, not
necessarily focusing the otherswimmers, but pulling all of his
energy in and focusing onhimself.
(08:17):
What's his hand position,what's his arm position, what's
his breathing cadence, how's hegoing to do the turn?
What's his foot position?
I don't, I'm not a swimmer, butyou know what I mean.
And as, even reading, he evenvisualizes all the potential
little things that could gowrong during the race, like
(08:38):
maybe his you know strap on hisgoggles breaking.
How would he handle that, right?
So he didn't leave anything tochance, and his mental
preparation was every bit asimportant as his physical
preparation.
And what happened?
He's won 23 Olympic gold medals, one of the most decorated
(09:05):
swimmers of generations, maybeever.
I don't know the stats on that,but there's lots of other ones.
Missy Franklin, who's anAmerican swimmer, won four gold
medals in the 2012 LondonOlympics, used visualization to
reduce anxiety and mentallyrehearse her races, and she
stated that by visualizing herraces she felt more prepared and
(09:27):
less stress when the actualevent occurred.
It almost like she'd beenthrough it before, so she knew
exactly how to handle it.
Kayla Harrison, the two-timeOlympic gold medalist in judo,
visualizes her success everynight before competitions.
She imagines herself winningand standing on the podium,
(09:48):
which helps her stay focused andmotivated and resilient enough
to overcome setbacks during theactual match.
Troy Dumais I don't know if Isaid his name right, but a
four-time Olympian diver, heuses visualization to mentally
practice his dives and believesthat by seeing himself
successfully execute a dive, itincreases the likelihood of that
(10:12):
actually happening in reality.
And finally, marielle Zagunasagain don't know if I said the
name right two-time Olympic goldmedalist, and fencing uses
visualization to prepare fordifferent scenarios during her
matches, which helps her staycalm and react quickly to her
(10:33):
opponent's moves because she'sthought them all through in
advance.
And it's how that.
Research has shown thatvisualization can improve
performance by up to 45% withathletes, because it helps them
mentally rehearse their actions,it builds confidence and it
reduces performance anxiety.
(10:54):
That's a big deal.
And let's just take it over tomy favorite sport, which is
professional football, the USversion and I was watching a
Netflix documentary it's been awhile now because I think it's
been out for a couple seasonsbut it was called Quarterback,
produced by the Manning brothers, who are also favorites of mine
(11:14):
, and they looked at four orfive different quarterbacks in
the NFL and one of them was KurtCousins, who used to be with
the Vikings in, I think,minnesota and I think now is in
Atlanta with the Falcons.
But anyway, in one of the lastepisodes of that documentary it
(11:36):
was showing him he had some sortof a neuro device and the whole
thing was about mentalpreparation for what it's like
to be a quarterback that istrying to find his receivers
down the field and not pay anyattention to the five to six
(12:02):
really large individuals on theopposing defensive line who are
trying to get around theoffensive line protecting Kirk
Cousins and tackle him.
I don't know what the weightdifferential is, but I would
imagine the average quarterbackis probably between 185 and,
(12:23):
let's just call it, 200 pounds,and it's like those linemen are
over 300 pounds each and they'refast too.
So they're freaks of nature andthey're trying to get him and
you would think, oh gosh, he'sbeen playing football forever,
right, and including, likeseveral years in the in the NFL.
But he said it never changes.
It's like human nature to thinkthey're going to kill me.
(12:47):
They're running at me and I'vegot to connect with a receiver
down the field.
So he said I have to train mybrain to not go into panic,
fight or flight mode.
I've got to stay calm and notpay any attention to the very
large humans running at metrying to tackle me, sometimes
(13:10):
less than a foot away when theball leaves his hand.
He has to connect with thatreceiver down the field, first
find them and then send the ballin that direction.
So that is very, very goodillustration of what your mind
is actually capable of.
And you think about theseprofessional athletes, or these
(13:32):
very accomplished athletes, andit isn't enough, in their view,
to train their body.
They have to train their mindfor that level of competition
and how to overcome all of theautomatic responses that a
normal human brain would have inthose situations.
Right?
(13:52):
So let's carry this back nowinto your career and let's think
about the Sunday blues, right?
So it's like when this episodecomes out, I always do it on a
Sunday for that very reason,right.
When I started this podcastmore than four years ago, I
thought, you know, I knew thatSunday was the lowest hour, a
listener day, for podcasts LikeI think the highest one is like
(14:16):
Thursday and, to be very honestwith you, most of you do listen
on Wednesday or Thursday, but Iwanted to do it on Sunday anyway
for the people who might bestruggling, cause there were
some years in my career I'm notgoing to lie when you know it
could get a little real on aSunday, depending on what the
week held for me.
(14:36):
And so let's take it back tothat and let's just pretend so
it's Sunday when you're hearingthis.
Let's pretend you're listeningwhen the day comes out.
Let's just pretend that Mondayis a really challenging day for
you, that you have, let's justsay, you dread public speaking
and you've got an hour talk youhave to give to a really large
(15:01):
group of people, maybe 500people.
And let's pretend like in theafternoon you have a difficult
conversation with your bosscoming and let's pretend like
you've got to meet with one ofyour clients who is notoriously
difficult, like, maybe 50% ofthe time, it's okay.
Clients who is notoriouslydifficult, like, maybe 50% of
the time, it's okay, 50% of thetime things don't go your way
(15:22):
right.
So let's just say you're anormal person.
You're looking at your calendarfor the next day and you think,
oh, I wish I could catch aquick flu or something so that I
don't have to have this dayhappen because it's going to be
so bad.
That's not a great way to lookat it, but it's the normal way
(15:42):
to look at it, right, to look atthe meetings in the calendar
and let your brain decidewhether that's a good lineup of
things or whether it's a verychallenging lineup of things.
And then whatever thosethoughts are that your brain
decides to serve up.
We're not usually even aware ofit.
We just think we look at theday and we have all these things
(16:05):
that we're thinking and wethink those things are just true
.
Like, oh, that is going to be amiserable day.
But what if I told you that theworst lineup of meetings
doesn't have to equal a bad day?
How would you steer it in adifferent direction?
(16:26):
Just kind of leveraging theinsights that we just talked
through about the professionalathletes.
They don't leave things tochance.
They don't just athletes.
They don't leave things tochance.
They don't just train theirbody and show up on their big
day and hope everything goeswell.
No, they have already beenthrough that race hundreds of
(16:48):
times in their mind.
Michael Phelps even thinkingabout okay, I'm in the middle of
it, what happens if my footholdslips?
Or what happens if the strap onmy?
I'm in the middle of it.
What happens if my footholdslips?
Or what happens if the strap onmy goggles breaks in the middle
of the race?
How am I going to get throughthat without even being phased?
That's what I mean.
That is like elite level braintraining, literally, and it's no
(17:11):
accident that that resulted in23 gold medals.
He didn't leave that to chance.
He trained his brain and hecredits that more than anything
with where he ended up in hisOlympic performance.
You can do the same thing Likethink about it.
Okay, so let's just play it out.
You're looking at your day.
It's got all those hard thingsin it, and so you spend the rest
(17:35):
of Sunday like dreading it.
You know, just thinking, oh, Iwish I could just skip to
Tuesday.
Tuesday is a better day If youlet your brain be in charge and
that's the direction that itgoes.
What do you think is going tohappen on Monday morning You're
going to hit the snooze buttonthree times, right, you're going
(17:56):
to plot around, kind of blearyeyed, um to the coffee pod, get
ready.
You're going to fling yourselfin the shower, kind of throw
yourself together, not withpurpose, probably, but with
dread, wishing you could beanywhere.
But your day that day, givenwhat meetings it holds and all
(18:18):
the challenges you expect toface, that's not a great way to
start your day.
And if you let your mind be incharge, what kinds of emotions
do you think that's going tomake you feel?
I mean, it's dread, right.
Going to make you feel.
(18:40):
I mean it's dread, right.
Anxiety maybe, maybe a littlefear sprinkled in there.
It's not confident.
Think about, like, what choicesare you going to make when you
put yourself together?
How do you think you're goingto walk into the room or walk
onto that stage and speak tothose 500 people or whatever
it's like?
It's not going to be you atyour best.
It's going to be you filledwith dread.
That's not great energy,because that, that energy, if
(19:03):
you believe that we're like anenergetic field, people pick up
on that, you know.
So how do you look at the dayand acknowledge yes, this is
legitimately going to be one ofthe harder days that I've had.
You know, there's no point inlying to yourself and I'm not
suggesting that you do that, butI am suggesting that there's a
(19:23):
very different way that youwould begin a day if you wanted
to do it in a purposeful way,and that would be you don't just
dive in to getting ready, youdon't hit the snooze button
three times, you actually setthe alarm for the time you want
to get up and I would suggestallowing yourself 20 minutes
(19:44):
before you have to get into yourmorning routine.
Right Before you start gettingready, center yourself, think
about the things that you've gotto do that day and the best
version of you going into thosethings.
So think about those situations.
That's number one, and thennumber two.
(20:06):
I want you to think for each ofthose situations, what do you
expect to encounter?
Kind of like the Michael Phelpsthing, right.
What could possibly go wrongwith that super difficult client
?
What could possibly go wrongwhen you're up on the stage,
right, and it's like, how do yourun yourself mentally through
that so that you're picking athought that you want to anchor
(20:30):
to, because that is going tomake all the difference in the
world on what emotion you carrywith you, whether it's
confidence or anxiety, right,whether it's determination or,
you know, impatience.
It's really important to decidein advance what thought you
(20:55):
want to hang on to, going intowhat you know will probably be a
very difficult situation, super, super important.
So, again, need 20 minutes andthink about the situations
you're going to be encountering,get clear on what you think
those challenges are going to be, and then choose a very
(21:18):
intentional thought for each oneof the situations that you want
to hang on to.
And then the third thing is Iwant you to visualize.
I want you to visualize itgoing well.
I want you to visualizepotential pushback from the
difficult client.
I want you to visualizepotential pushback from the
(21:39):
difficult client.
I want you to visualizestanding up on stage and
forgetting part of what youwanted to say, or stumbling over
your words.
What thought do you want tohave with that and how do you
want to prepare yourself for?
Okay, what do I do with that?
Oh, maybe you need to take acouple of note cards up on stage
(22:02):
with you so you can repromptyourself if you lose track of
what you were going to say, orsomething like that, or if you
have the meeting with adifficult client, what are some
challenges that they brought upin the past?
What kinds of pushback mightyou expect and what could be
some potential ways that youcould navigate through that, so
that you know, instead ofshowing up with frustration or
(22:25):
irritation when the difficultiesarise, you're confident, you're
calm, you're centered, you'recurious and you're just
navigating your way through itbecause you're prepared.
You expected that this couldhappen and you've just
navigating your way through itbecause you're prepared.
You expected that this couldhappen and you've already worked
(22:45):
your way through it.
I'll give you an example from myown career, and this happened a
while back.
It's been I don't know at least15 years and I was running the
brand for one of the big threewireless companies.
And when you're doing that,what that means is you're
basically in charge of all ofkind of the brand marketing.
(23:06):
So the brand strategy, theadvertising, all the strategic
parts of that positioning,messaging, things like that and
then all of the channelactivations below that in
digital and all the otherchannels.
And so I was probably there atthis point at about six months,
and we'd been working the wholetime on a repositioning.
(23:30):
They really needed it.
It's one of the reasons theybrought me in and a
repositioning and we were goingto roll out a new advertising
campaign and stuff.
It was kind of a big deal andwe've been working with a
consulting, a brand consultingfirm and doing all that work on
segmentation and positioning andall the different things that
(23:51):
were eventually going to betranslating into a, an
advertising campaign.
And there was going to be a bigmeeting and it was going to be
in downtown Chicago and we, theplace where I worked it was like
in the near suburbs, I wouldsay, of Chicago downtown, and
all the senior executives weregoing to be there and all of a
(24:12):
sudden I figured my boss woulddo it.
He was the CMO and I was finewith that, like we were
preparing for that but he cameup to me it was probably a week
in advance and he said I justwant you to know.
I think you should really bethe one who's up on stage
introducing it, rolling it outand all that.
You did all the work and youknow you should get all the
(24:33):
credits good way to introduceyou to everybody.
And I said, oh, no, at thatpoint in my career I was great
at avoiding those sorts ofopportunities.
You know, like I invented waysto get out of speaking in front
of large groups and he washaving none of it.
He was like no, actually I'mnot asking, you're doing it.
And I was like, oh dear God.
You know, I thought this is likemy worst nightmare and so,
(24:56):
leading up to it, I knew what Iwanted to say.
I did know all the stuffbecause we'd done all the work,
so it wasn't the subject mattercontent, it was just like at
that time in my career I wasn'tcomfortable enough in my skin I
guess is the way to put it to beup on stage and having all
(25:17):
those eyeballs looking at me.
I just it's like a nightmare,it's like something that I would
dream about and wake up in acold sweat.
You know, only this was goingto be real, and so I ran through
it many times and as the dayapproached, I was just beside
myself, I mean, like with dread.
All I could think about wasgetting up there, stumbling
(25:39):
through it, not doing a verygood job and having my new team.
I had a large team.
It was like 26 people just lookat me and think that I didn't
do a good job and that that tome, was more crushing than
anything.
And that day I had a long drivedowntown because I lived out I
(26:02):
don't know 15 miles from thething.
So it's probably all in, it'sprobably an hour drive in
Chicago is always very difficulttraffic situation.
So I had to drive all the waydowntown and my stomach was just
in a knot all the way andfinally I had this epiphany.
(26:22):
When I was driving I thoughtwait a minute.
You've done all this work.
You know this stone cold.
And the truth of the matter isyou want to do a good job for
your people.
They're all going to be sittingthere.
You don't want them to.
You want them to be proud ofyou and the work that we've done
(26:44):
.
You don't want them to beembarrassed by you.
So you need to get up there onthat stage and you need to
deliver for them, not for you.
So you look good, you know.
And you need to deliver forthem, not for you.
So you look good, you know.
And there was something aboutthat twist, that intentionality
of saying I'm going to get upthere on stage and I'm going to
(27:05):
do the best job I can so that myteam feels good about the work,
and so they're proud ofeverything that we've done and
of me as their leader.
I don't want them to beembarrassed or whatever.
And there's something aboutholding on to that, like when I
(27:27):
went up on stage.
I remember like all thoseeyeballs it's just like
literally my worst nightmare allthose eyeballs staring at me.
You know, some people werepaying attention, some people
were paying attention and Icould see, like in the back of
the room, above the peoplesitting, I could see the brand
consultants were standing in theback and they were all talking
(27:49):
amongst themselves and I couldsee my boss and a couple of my
leaders and some peers andthey're all sort of talking or
whatever.
While I started my thing, butabout five minutes into it, as I
was kind of picking up steamand getting into it I think it
was like a 20 minute thing Icould see them all stop talking.
(28:11):
I could see the consultantsturn and they were watching me
and I sort of registered.
But I just kind of I kind ofkept going and I remember
thinking at the time okay, thisis, this is going, okay, you
know, and I just sort of keptgoing and I was glad that I'd
prepared as well as I had.
And anyway, when I was done, myboss came up to me because there
(28:36):
was a break right after thatand my boss came up to me and he
said, wow, you're really goodat this public speaking thing.
You never really mentioned thatand I said that is one of my
worst things.
Like what are you talking about?
And he goes actually it's not.
And I was like what Like about?
And he goes actually it's not.
(28:56):
And I was like what?
Like it was such a weirdbecause I mean, legitimately, I
could tell you stories of justterrible experiences I had
earlier in my career and peoplewho worked with me would
probably say, yes, that is, shewas terrible, but that day I
wasn't.
And for him, he now thinks ofme as this great public speaker
which I would never say that,but it was, at that point, my
(29:19):
best performance.
And one of the consultants cameup to me and said, wow, you
really are good at that.
And I was like huh.
But what was interesting to mewas it was way before I got
exposed to any of this coachingstuff or the cognitive approach.
But what I did, without evenknowing what I did, was I
(29:42):
decided in advance what I wantedto carry with me onto that
stage and it was very differentfrom what I would usually do as
an introvert.
What I would usually do is sayeveryone's going to be staring
at me, I'm going to lose mytrain of thought, they're going
to think I'm an idiot, like allthe things.
That's what I would typicallydo.
I didn't do that.
I held onto one thought I knowwhat I'm doing and I'm doing
(30:07):
this for my team and I'm goingto kill it.
I'm going to do the very bestjob I can and I did the very
best job I could.
So back to you.
What do you want to carry withyou into your most difficult
situations?
Do you want your default brainto be in charge to say I wish I
(30:30):
could catch a quick flu.
Maybe I should pretend to besick, I don't want to go through
this, you know, and kind ofplod through your day?
Or do you want to take that 20minutes in the morning to say,
okay, here's what's in front ofme, here's going to be the easy
things, here's going to be someof the challenges.
Let's get into those challengesand think about what could
(30:53):
possibly go wrong or whatever.
Let's think about what's thethought I want to carry with me
when I walk into that room withthat difficult client who shoots
holes into all of my hard workall the time, how am I going to
bring positive, persuasive,resilient energy into that room?
(31:13):
That is a choice, that is athought that you can think in
advance.
Don't leave it to chance.
And instead of dread you'recarrying with you confidence,
persuasion, curiosity, master,influencing skills.
That doesn't happen by accident.
(31:34):
That happens because you choseit right and you know how can
you visualize every minute ofthose interactions in advance.
Doesn't take very long to do it, but just kind of run through
it and think what could possiblygo wrong and how do you want to
show up in those moments if itdoes go wrong.
(31:57):
That's the difference betweencoming off as a polished
professional, ready for anything, a master leader, an influencer
or someone who's just kind ofgoing through the motions and
kind of miserable and thinkabout like kind of going through
the motions and kind ofmiserable, and think about like
(32:18):
even more than just gettingthrough those difficult
situations in the best possibleway you can.
It makes a huge difference toyour emotional state and your
state of mind and you take thathome with you, to your family,
to your friends, to the otherpeople in your life, to the rest
(32:39):
of your life.
Are you going to spend allevening eating cupcakes or
drinking wine after a difficultday, or are you going to feel
energized and ready to head tothe gym and eating a healthful
meal and having a great eveningwith the people that you love?
Your outcome of your day is achoice you can make at the
(33:06):
beginning and it doesn't haveanything to do with the level of
difficulty of the things thatare scheduled into your day.
It has to do with one thingwhat you decide in advance, you
want to think about those thingsand then going and doing that.
That is what I wanted to talk toyou about today.
(33:28):
I know it can sound a little.
I don't know if you reallybelieve that, when you look at
your day, that the things thatyou think, if you want to
believe that those are just true.
That's a choice, but I'd liketo challenge you to say no.
I get to decide what's true.
(33:50):
What's true and what I'm goingto decide in advance is
something very empowering, andthat's the energy I'm going to
use to put myself together, tochoose the outfit, to choose the
accessories to carry with mewhen I walk into the room and to
(34:12):
be with me during thosesituations, so that I'm at my
best 100% of the time and whenyou walk out you're feeling
great, even if it didn't all goyour way.
You know you gave it your very,very best and that's really all
that matters.
And that energetic state willstay with you long after Monday
(34:35):
is over.
So that is what I wanted totalk to you about today.
I hope that you remember thisand start to institute a
practice that's very purposefulin your mornings, because it
doesn't have to be somethingthat's filled with dread, where
(34:56):
you're rushing around trying toget everything done before you
run out the door.
If you have to wake up 20minutes earlier to make your day
more purposeful and moreintentional, that is time very
well spent.
So with that I will leave youuntil next time.
Make it a great week.
(35:17):
My friends, do you have a lifecoach?
If not, I'd be so honored to beyour coach.
I've created a virtual coachingprogram and monthly membership
(35:40):
called Next Level.
Inside, we take the materialyou hear on this podcast, study
it and then apply it.
Join me at thepurposefulcareercom backslash
next level.
Don't forget the thepurposefulcareercom backslash
next level.
(36:00):
Join me and together we'll makeyour career in life everything
you dream of.
We'll see you there.
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