Eight Maids a Milking: and Personal Growth

Ever felt like technology is sprinting ahead while you're tying your shoelaces? That's been the story of my year, but guess what? I've turned those tech hurdles into personal growth triumphs, and I'm eager to take you through this journey on today's podcast. As we continue our festive 12 Days of Christmas series, we're embracing the theme of "Eight Maids a Milking," which translates into the nurturing and care we must give ourselves. It's about self-sustenance, and in today's episode, I, Terri Kellums, am flying solo to share these insights and extend a special invitation to my pre-launch book club – your ticket to a complimentary sneak peek at my upcoming book.

Our conversation might be missing Amanda Keeper's vibrant presence today, but it's packed with reflections on the six essential elements for enduring happiness we adored from season one. Revisiting this favorite moment ties beautifully into our focus on personal growth, a value close to my heart. So, as you tune in, picture this – a space where we explore what it means to nurture your well-being, develop a sustainable sense of joy, and maybe even get a free copy of a book that could add a new chapter to your life. Join me as we honor ourselves this holiday season, and let's make personal growth more than just a New Year's resolution.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
You're listening to the what Women Want Today
podcast.
If you love the idea of beingpart of a community of women who
are looking to thrive, not justsurvive, you're in the right
place.
Join hosts Terry Cullums andAmanda Keeper each week, as they
bring you topics and guests tohelp you improve your
relationships, your health andyour emotional and spiritual

(00:23):
well-being.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Hello and welcome to today's episode of what Women
Want Today podcast.
I am your host, terry Cullums.
We are on day eight of the 12Days of Christmas and today we
are talking about one of myfavorite topics, which is
personal growth.
So I feel like this year hasbeen a lot of personal growth,

(00:51):
but mainly in the area oftechnology.
And I don't know about you, butas I've gotten older, the
technology thing seems to begetting more and more
complicated.
I actually kind of like it, soI don't complain too much about
it.
It might take me a little bitlonger but eventually I get it.
I switched podcast platformsthis year so that I could do the

(01:15):
YouTube thing, and Amanda and Ihad some glitches.
But all in all, personal growthto me, I find it challenging
and I actually enjoy thechallenge.
Ironically, the book that I'vebeen talking about, that I wrote
this year, or in the progressof writing, is on personal
growth.
So there'll be three elementsof personal growth in that book

(01:40):
and I should probably mentionthat here.
I'll put a little plug in formy books and this is my podcast.
So I am going to be looking fora team to be a part of my
pre-launch for the book andthere's really not a lot
involved on your part.
I'm mostly just being someonewho's willing to read the book
and leave a review, and I willgive you a free copy of that

(02:02):
book.
If you decide you want to be onthe pre-launch team, I'm going
to set up an email subscriptionjust for those people that want
to be on the book club launch.
So if you're already subscribedto the podcast email list, this
will be a separate list and Ihope to have all that put
together before the end of the12 Days of Christmas series.

(02:26):
If not, I will make sure tocommunicate with you.
I'll do it here and throughsocial media, so keep that in
mind.
If you are someone that isinterested in personal growth
and you would like a free copyof my book, look out for that
announcement in the future.
I'm hoping to have it out firstquarter of 2024.

(02:46):
I feel very passionate aboutpersonal growth.
I was thinking about today'sepisode and I remembered that I
went into it quite a bit inseason one in the happiness
series.
That I did, in fact, I believeit is season one, episode 82.
And in the spirit of workingsmarter, not harder, I'm just

(03:11):
going to plop that episode rightin here for you today.
I hope you enjoy, but before Ido, I do want to give you the
eight days of Christmas eightMades of Milking.
Definition Mades of milking cansymbolize nurturing and
sustenance.
So today you should reflect onself care and nurturing oneself

(03:33):
and emphasizing the importanceof maintaining your well-being.
So that's your reflection today.
Thank you for being here withme.
I'm going to go ahead andswitch over to that prerecorded
episode, so for those of youwatching on YouTube, there will
be no video for that portion.
But thank you again for beinghere with me and I'll see you

(03:54):
all tomorrow.
You know, a couple of weeks ago,on episode 80, which was titled
Are we Happy Yet, I exploredthe idea of the two types of
happiness that experts say thatwe experience, which is hedonic

(04:16):
and oedemonic, and since thatepisode is aired, I have talked
about this subject more than Iever imagined I would.
I want to revisit the sixelements the expert identified
as crucial to sustainingoedemonic happiness.
Remember that hedonic happinessis easily accessed but doesn't
necessarily last.
If we're going to choosehappiness as our guiding emotion

(04:38):
, we need oedemonic happinessfor sustainability.
So those elements are personalgrowth, environmental mastery,
positive relations,self-acceptance, purpose in life
and autonomy.
So today is part one of theseries where I'm going to dive

(04:59):
into each one of these elements.
We're going to start withpersonal growth.
Personal growth has been a valueof mine for a long time.
But I'll be honest here, ittook really quite a while for me
to realize that personal growthisn't a passive thing.
For me at that point in life itwas kind of like information in

(05:20):
and information out.
When you hear the expressionthat knowledge is power, it's
not true.
We can know a lot of things,but if we don't know how to
apply them and put them intoaction, well then we just know a
lot of things.
Application of the knowledge ispower.
So several years back I manageda team that gave the employees

(05:45):
an opportunity to anonymouslygive feedback once you're to
their leadership, and one of themanagers put on their survey
talking about me she reads a lotof books but she really doesn't
do anything with what shelearns.
Ouch, ouch, ouch.
It was great feedback, even ifat the time it was really hard

(06:05):
to hear.
It was exactly what propelledme to hire a coach and get me on
the right track for my personalgrowth journey.
I know I'm not alone in mydesire to grow personally.
The data says that Americansare spending an estimated $9.9
billion annually onself-improvement products, which
sounds pretty impressive untilyou compare it with what we're

(06:28):
spending on music and film,which come in at a whopping $61
billion combined, or the beautyindustry at a huge $265 billion
annually.
So what those numbers indicateto me is that we are really a
society that leans heavily onhedonic happiness.
I wonder what we spend ondining out each year, but I'm

(06:52):
digressing If we go back to whatwe learned.
Music, film and beauty does notshow up in our list of things
that bring the lasting happinessthat we've been talking about.
Personal growth has impacts onthings other than happiness.
Studies show that the impact ofpersonal growth reach our
relationships, our stress levels, our health, our productivity,

(07:17):
the amount of income we're ableto earn, our parenting and our
resilience, just to name a few.
So if you've never done any kindof personal development, this
might be a good place to start.
What kind of feedback?
Whether it's intentional, likethe surveys that my employees
were able to fill out about me,or unintentional, just everyday

(07:39):
things that you're hearingrepetitively, there are no
shortage of topics to choosefrom.
Where you get started?
There's time management andproductivity, and habits and
vulnerability, and meditationand influence.
Now I know people who honestlythink they are good
communicators, that are justreally good at talking.
To be a good communicator, youshould really focus on two

(08:02):
things your ears Okay, I'm kindof kidding, but I'm kind of not
Really.
If you are doing a lot oftalking but the responses that
you're getting don't match, youprobably need to focus more on
developing your listening skills.
Everyone listening today hasinfluence in their environment.
How you choose to influencewill come directly from your

(08:24):
level of personal growth.
If you are like me and you'vebeen working on personal growth
for a while and you heard whatmy manager had to say about me
and you thought, oh no, thatcould be me too, and you don't
know where to go next, go toyour bookshelf.
Go to your Audible library,your podcast list.
Do you see anything?
Themes amongst those.

(08:44):
Have you read the books,listened to the podcast and you
still feel like you're not quitethere?
I'm going to give you fourthings today that you can do to
take your personal growth to thenext level, and this includes
the novice personal growthperson just starting out.
So it doesn't matter where yourlearning comes from, whether
it's podcast, book, ted Talks,youtube, instagram, your wise

(09:06):
Aunt Betty having a notebook, aseparate notebook from your
journal, to write down yourthoughts.
After reading whatever it is,you decide you can read 10 pages
, you can listen for 10 minutes,whatever you're committed to do
so that you have a chance to goback and reflect on what you
learned and how you can apply it.
Those should be the questionsthat you ask yourself at the end

(09:27):
of your learning what did Ilearn and how can I apply this?
This should be a separate entryfrom your journal, because you
actually want to go back andread it again and see if you
want to add anything to it afteryou've had a little bit of time
in between the listening andthe writing, and maybe you want
to re-listen or reread it againjust to make sure that you're

(09:48):
ready to move on to the nextsection.
Really grasp the conceptsbefore you move on.
Okay, the next one anaccountability partner.
Do you have a co-worker, afriend or family member who is
also interested in growth?
You can set up a time whetherit's once a week or whatever
fits into your, your lives todiscuss these ideas together.

(10:10):
You know what I find whenyou're talking to a group of
people, you know there's there'syour, your voice inside your
head, your thoughts, yourexperiences that when you read
something or take in information, you're applying everything
about your life into that, andthat's exactly what the other
person is doing as well.

(10:31):
So when you come together andyou share your ideas, you're
going to come from differentperspectives.
They're going to pick up onthings that maybe you didn't,
and vice versa.
So I love the idea of anaccountability partner.
Okay, the next one join a group,a growth group, and if you
can't find one, create one.
When I lived in Phoenix, youcould find a group on meetupcom

(10:55):
for a ton of things you might beinterested in, from learning to
invest in real estate, acreative writing group or even a
hiking group.
So if you can't find a growthgroup and there's not one
already existing on meetupcom,create a new one.
You'll be surprised at how manylike-minded people there are
out there in the world.
Okay, my last one hire a coach.

(11:16):
A coach can be very effectivein helping you uncover areas
where growth is needed and helpmove you towards your goals.
Okay, friend, our time togetherhas come to an end for today.
Thank you so much for beinghere with me.
I look forward to the next fivetopics in this series and until

(11:37):
next time we're together,remember to take good care of
you.
Hey friend, I hope you enjoyedour time together today and
found the information valuable.
Remember you are officiallyinvited to join our Facebook
group and private group.
I will put the links in today'sshow notes.

(11:57):
If you are interested inexploring coaching, you can
email me at terryterricom orprivate message me on Facebook
or Instagram.
If you're enjoying the contentof the podcast, remember to
share with a friend or on socialmedia it really does help other
women find the podcast and ifyou have yet to leave a rating

(12:20):
and review, you can do that onyour favorite platform.
Okay, remember you are notalone.
You are worthy of love and afulfilled life.
Now it's time to go after it.