Episode Transcript
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Julie Berman - Host (00:00):
Hello
everybody. This is Julie Berman,
and welcome to another episodeof women with cool jobs. So this
is going to be a shortiesepisode. To be honest, it has
been a crazy time. I have somuch going on between sick boys
and I have three kids, if youdidn't know that, so, and
they're all under 10, so as youcan imagine, they pass germs
(00:24):
around a lot, and so we havebeen dealing with that. We have
the end of the school yearhappening, and it is just a
crazy, crazy time in life. AndI've also had done live events.
So I did one workshop all aboutunlocking your alter ego and
using the hard times that youhave had in the past to figure
(00:47):
out this alter ego, andbasically how you can use all
those beautiful things, like allthose skills that you learn, and
all that tenacity andpersistence, and those beautiful
parts of you who got throughthose hard times, and who did
hard things to create this alterego, so you can use that for the
future as a tool. And so that'swhat I did earlier, earlier,
(01:11):
like about two weeks ago, andthen today, I had a really fun
women's networking event, and weall brought something that we
created with love and we sharedit. So it was everything from
Pottery to someone who knit ababy blanket for a friend to the
first chapter of a book thatshe's writing. And then I shared
(01:32):
a poem so so much going on, andamidst all that, I have just
like I have just been in itevery day, and I once heard this
idea of, like, the idea thatbalance really cannot exist, at
least as a mom. And I love thatbecause it brings me, it brings
(01:55):
me deep comfort. I have foundthat to be true what I heard
more recently. And I really loveand I've been trying to adopt
this and really think about itand consider like, how does this
apply in my life and where I amnow, and how I make decisions
and how I prioritize? And it'sthis concept of of basically
being able to prioritize things.
It's like, how are you going touse that you have this time now.
(02:20):
How are you going to use thattime, and what decisions are you
going to make in order toprioritize a certain part of
your life? Because this idea ofbalance is like feels so
impossible. And if you're aparent, feel free to chime in on
this. I would love to hear yourthoughts, and if you found a way
to balance things. Please let meknow your secrets. So the
(02:42):
alternative here is that I wasthinking about this idea of
prioritizing and like, what doesthat look like in in my life
right now, in, you know, somedays I am prioritizing my
children, some days I'mprioritizing myself, not
honestly, not as often assometimes I would love that's
(03:04):
the reality, and other timesit's like prioritizing the
things that bring me joy and orthe things that I feel like will
allow growth for me, whetherit's personal, professional or
both. And so I think all thoseare really, really important. So
(03:26):
it's like, whether you'rethinking about your career,
whether it be it's things likeyour family, or outside your
family, like if you're a bigpart of your community in some
way, or perhaps part of yourreligious organization. How do
you how do you feel like you'recontributing, and how are you
prioritizing things? And so partof this is thinking about this
(03:48):
made me think about my podcast.
So I've been doing this podcastfor five years, and I know
sometimes the word obsession orobsessed has this really
negative connotation. Butactually, to me, I love this
idea, because to me, it meansthat you were so in love, or
(04:11):
like, you're just like, socurious about something, or
you're just like, so interestedin it to the extreme that you
are not going to let it go. Sofor me, I'm obsessed with this
podcast. I love doing it. Itbrings me immense amounts of
joy. It brings me, I feel like acombination of personal and
professional fulfillment. Itgrows my skill set in right?
(04:33):
There's like so many differentbeautiful things that I have
enjoyed about it. And so Ireally am obsessed with this
podcast, and sometimes I'll getpeople asking about advice for,
you know, starting a podcast,like I've so many people over
the years Tell me, oh my gosh, Ilove that you're doing a
podcast. I've thought aboutdoing a podcast, and they know
(04:54):
exactly what topic they want todo it on. They know exactly
like, how they'd want to do it.
They have a. Planned out.
Sometimes they have topic ideasand they've gotten a mic, but
they actually haven't literallystarted like they haven't
actually figured out how to pushthe record button and record and
then share it with the world,but they have so many of the
(05:16):
other bigger pieces thatactually organized and done and
ready to go. So I find thisreally fascinating. So in
thinking about this, I was like,Oh my gosh, okay, if you were
wanting to start something, itdoesn't have to be a podcast. It
can be anything. How do youstart? Like, what are the most
important foundational elementsto starting something? And I
(05:36):
recently saw this quote, and Ihave read this book, also, if
you have not read it, I sorecommend it. It's called atomic
habits by James clear, and it'sreally a phenomenal book. But
the interesting thing is, likeone thing that he says is, when
determining the size orcomplexity of a new habit, ask
yourself, What can I stick to,even on my worst day? I thought
(05:57):
this was fascinating, because ifyou think about it, a lot of the
times when we're making goals,or when we're thinking about our
dreams, or, like, going forsomething big and new, we start
from this foundation that isoften right, like, what are we
doing on our best days? Like onour days that we are all in when
(06:18):
we're energized, when we'relike, Yes, I can do this and
like, when it just feels good,but what about those days when
you actually just really don'tfeel like doing it, whether
you're tired, whether you'resad, whether you're upset,
whether you're like, Oh my gosh.
Why am I doing this? Is thisworth the time? Whatever the
things that you're saying toyourself, these are the moments
that make it really hard to beconsistent, to stick with
(06:41):
something to like, actually staytrue to yourself, to stay
aligned to what you're doing andwhat you're obsessed with. Like,
what are you interested in? Andlike, how are you right? Like,
putting things out in the worldto make something happen. So
this is, I think, such acritical thing, and I think is
(07:02):
really a game changer. And Ididn't have these words when I
first started my podcast. Ididn't have this idea of, like,
what can I stick to, even on myworst day, per James clear and
his brilliance, I thought aboutjust logistically at that time,
when I was starting five yearsago, also right before the
pandemic started. Interestingtiming, for sure. But I had two
(07:25):
young children, and at the time,they were both under the age of
they were like, four and under,and I just remember thinking,
like, Okay, what? Because it'sreally important me, like, when
I do something, I go all in. I'mvery I use this word again, but
like, I'm very obsessed, I'mvery persistent, I'm very
(07:46):
intentional, and I have veryhigh standards for myself. And
so I was like, What can I stickto that I feel like is a
challenge, but not too crazy ofa challenge, and also
reasonable, given that I am amom. You know, things are
constantly going on that I just,I can't possibly know what's
(08:09):
coming, whether it's my kidsgetting sick, whether it's the
world pandemic and the worldshutting down that I was not, I
was not planning for you, Iguarantee that whether it's, you
know, something with my husbandor my family, there's just so
many things in life that wecan't always, we can't always
guess what's going to happen.
And so I decided that I wouldrelease the podcast every other
(08:32):
week, on Wednesday, and I haveliterally stuck to that for five
years. I took a super shortbreak, like a little bit after
my third son was, was born, and,you know, and I've done a few
reruns here and there, but,like, literally, I have made the
commitment for five years that Iam basically, like, releasing an
(08:53):
episode. It took me six monthsto figure out how to podcast
because I just, I didn't knowanyone who's podcasting. I
didn't know what a podcast was.
I had never opened the app on myphone. Like, I didn't even know
what it looked like. I mean,literally, how did you research
like, what is the differencebetween a YouTube channel and a
vlog and a blog and a podcast?
(09:16):
And so I did, like, six monthsof work, and then I started the
podcast, and here I am. And soI'm really proud of that, and so
I want to suggest to you, like,if you are starting something
new, if you have this desire,something that you've been
really wanting to do, somethingthat you have been thinking
(09:36):
about, like a thought that'sbeen coming back to you, that
you feel like you can't let goof and you're just so curious
about, or something that you'repassionate about, you're
obsessed with it. I want tochallenge you to start and to
ask yourself, What can I stickto? Even on my worst day? I
think that is so powerful. Andsome other things. I think are
(09:59):
really interesting to thinkabout as you are considering you
know something to start, likeanswering a few questions I
think can be really, reallyhelpful. So the quick and dirty
version of like, how to startanything and some key questions
you'd want to ask yourself areone, what are you incredibly
obsessed with or about? Two,what's an idea that you
(10:24):
absolutely can't let go of, andyou keep coming back to it time
and time again. Three, what'ssomething you are totally
curious about, and you must knowmore if you have an answer to
any one of these questions. Orall three. I think you are ready
to start. And consider this yourpermission slip if you feel like
(10:45):
you need one. So now you'resaying, like, okay, great. You
have these great questions tothink about. You have the idea
of, like, what can I stick toeven on my worst day? And that's
like a starting place. And so Ithink that by starting,
essentially, you can think aboutwhat is the first tiniest step.
Like, if you know that you wantto start writing a book, you
(11:09):
don't have to actually start atthe beginning, right, like you
can start anywhere in the bookand work from there. If you want
to join a new a new group andgrow in a certain area, like you
want to do a new hobby, or youwant to be part of, like a book
club. What is the first easieststep that you can do, whether
(11:31):
that's researching on Facebookand like going to groups and
typing in your city and puttingin Book Club, whether it's
listening to a podcast on aparticular topic that really
interests you, whether you knowthat could be AI, that could be
knitting, it could bescrapbooking, it could be right,
there's, like, a plethora oftopics that you can just learn
(11:53):
about so easily now. And theidea is, is starting, is that
like, what is that first,tiniest step, and if it feels
overwhelming, then my nextsuggestion is like, break that
down into even tinier steps whenI first, when I first thought
about podcasting, because Iliterally had no idea what
(12:13):
podcasting was. I just had noconceptualization of it. I just
knew it was audio based, andthat's all I knew. I felt so big
and so overwhelming, and it tookme months to research. And so
the idea of learning piece bypiece, like, you know, thinking
about, okay, my first tinyaction step is going to going to
(12:34):
my phone and typing in the AppStore podcast, right, and
figuring out, oh, this is wherethe podcast app is. I'm going to
open it and I'm going to listento several podcasts and just
see, like, what are thedifference between them? What
kind of topics are peopletalking about, who's on, what
kinds of guests do they have ongetting these basic types of
(12:58):
information you can do this inany area. And so I hope that
this helps you, not only to havea little bit of inspiration to
start something that's maybe onyour heart or that you've been
really excited about, thatyou've been thinking about, but
also thinking about how you canset yourself up for success, how
you can stay consistent, and howto how to do that, like, where's
(13:23):
the starting place and how toget started is like taking one
tiny little step, the tinieststep, and just building off of
that. So hope you're having suchan amazing may, if you have
graduations in in your life, orin your family's life, or loved
ones. I hope those are amazingand that you get to celebrate
(13:44):
them. I know here in Arizona, weare going into a season of lots
of heat, and actually for me, Ireally don't enjoy this time of
year. It's really rough, exceptfor the fact that actually a lot
of my family has birthdays, sothat's like a joyous part. Other
than that, I don't enjoy theheat, but I hope that you are
stepping into this like nextseason, as we enter into summer,
(14:05):
and it's something beautifulwhere you live and lovely. And
if you have not yet, please makesure. Do me a huge, huge favor.
Please make sure that if you'reespecially on Apple and Spotify
listening to this, that youscroll all the way down, there's
an area where you can click,write a review. Please write me
a quick review. I have 1000s and1000s and 1000s of listens and
(14:27):
and a handful of reviews, so Ialways appreciate them. I read
them. Gives me so much joy andinspiration to keep going. Make
sure you if you're loving it,please click on five star rating
for both of those and itbasically just helps share with
the world that you are lovingthis in that ask the algorithm
(14:48):
of these podcast platforms, itasks the algorithm to share it
out with other people so thatmore people know that women with
cool jobs exist. Artists, andthey can get inspiration, they
can learn, they can hear allthese beautiful stories of
incredible women. So I trulyappreciate it, and I really
appreciate your time. So thankyou so much for listening to
(15:10):
this shorties episode, and Ihope you're doing amazing you.