Welcome to the Live a Vibrant Life podcast. I'm Life Coach Kelly Tibbetts, and each week I'll be here to encourage and equip you with the tools you need to grow in self-awareness and invest your best energy in your dreams and your purpose. I believe self-awareness changes everything. Let's get started. Hey friends, welcome back. We're going to begin a six-part series talking about different ideas from my winter group coaching program called Low and Slow Equals Peaceful Productivity. So we're beginning today talking about the idea of creating peaceful productivity. Usually at the start of the year, there are so many different ways that we are encouraged to become more productive. The stores are full of planners and you can purchase all kinds of apps or food or exercise equipment that will make you more productive, healthier, more vibrant, and I want to offer you that changing anything in life usually involves small practice steps in the right direction that become part of who we are. So that's what we're going to be looking at for the next few weeks. How can we create peaceful productivity by going lower and slower, and what I mean by that is are there a smaller number of things that you say yes to? Can you do it for a shorter amount of time? Can you use less energy. I think that goes with the winter vibe. If we look out into nature, things are not exploding. It's not harvest season. It's a time to kind of pull back and to rest.
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And what's interesting is many of us assume that the season before Christmas is Christmas, and it's not. It's called Advent for a reason. It's the get ready season. It's when we shop and we prepare. And then the season of Christmas was intended to be more than just one day. We didn't spend six weeks for one day. It was meant to be a week, 10 days a season, an amount of time that served you and your family. The church calendar would say it was from the 25th till Epiphany, which is January 6th. But as a mom, when I learned that Christmas was not intended to be just one day, it changed my life because I had worked so hard for that one day and then often felt very, very exhausted. On the actual 25th I would have my family of origin in cousins and my mom and my siblings and my regular family and my kids and my husband, and it would just feel so exhausting by the end of the night Sometimes I felt like I didn't even see my own Christmas tree and then I learned it was a season, christmas was a season and lasted. And so then the day after Christmas or three days later was maybe when I would rest and sit in front of the Christmas tree and pay attention and just rest really well. And so after that season of Christmas, many of us step into the winter season, but not all of us. Some of us really have a longer season of celebrating. It doesn't necessarily shift for you on that day of Epiphany of January 6th. I know people who have anniversaries and birthdays. In my family, one of my daughters has a birthday, and so the celebration season, which might include Thanksgiving and Christmas, sometimes lasts for two months, one sixth of the year, and then, somewhere around the Super Bowl, we begin to pivot out of that celebration season and over more into the deep midwinter.
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And that's what I want to talk to you about today, wherever you are. This might make more sense if you're in Minnesota or you're in New Hampshire and there's snow on the ground, but every season has different weather, has a different vibe, and so for this season, what is the vibe? Can you be peacefully productive? This is not just a winter power thought, it's a power thought for all year. Can I be peacefully productive. Can I go low and slow? So the first thing I want to consider is what would happen if we decided to set goals in this idea, this path of being peacefully productive. What would goal setting from a space of being peacefully productive look like? I think one way that being peacefully productive would serve all of us is we would be so much kinder to ourselves.
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One of the reasons we get into a place where we're setting all these goals in January and then we end up on quitting day, which is somewhere around January 12th, quitting whatever desire we had, is that we don't notice that sometimes we do not have any more time or energy to add to our lives. What really would serve you in thinking about peaceful productivity is can I go a little lower? Can I go a little slower? Is there anything out of my life currently that isn't serving me in order to add something in that I do want, if you notice that currently you get up at six in the morning and you don't even return home till seven o'clock at night, and then there's dinner and dishes and children and getting ready for the next day, how unkind is it to then expect oh, you need 90 more additional minutes of energy to drive to the gym, work out, take a shower, change and do the whole entire rest of your life. Being low and slow.
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To create peaceful productivity involves noticing what is the current state of your life. How much free time is there, how much white space is there? And if there isn't any, then before we add anything, can we go a little lower, can we go a little slower? Can we decide to say no to some things, defer them, delegate them?
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After we begin to notice what's important to us, the next thing we want to do is decide what is it that we want as we create peaceful productivity, and what I mean by that is what energy do you want in your body as you're creating results in your life? If you close your eyes and if it's safe to do so, don't do this while you're driving, but if it's safe to do so, close your eyes, put your hand on your heart, take a few breaths. How would you notice that your body is at peace? Your nervous system feels regulated. You feel an aligned energy. How does that feel in your body? It probably does not feel like the fast and frenetic energy that most of us move through life with. It feels different. Maybe your shoulders drop down, maybe you can take a deeper breath, maybe your hands unclench. That would be a great goal for 2024 to decide to walk through life with this energy of peace and to create the productive results we want to create from that space of peace.
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And so going low and slow, we think, is the path forward to creating peaceful productivity. And it's going to look different for everyone, but what we want to start with today is what do you need? Do you need to say no to some things? Do you need to delegate some things Just to get a lower number of things on your calendar? Do you need to go slower? So, instead of trying to do something in 30 minutes, would it be better for you to take an hour? Instead of trying to create that result in one week, would it be better to have three weeks to do it? Going lower and slower often leads to peaceful productivity. Would you notice that your list of goals currently might be unrealistic In January, if you're in my coaching circle, we keep talking about what are your dreams, what goals do we need to create in order for those dreams to come true, and what small practice steps move you forward in your goals and we always start with the idea of priority One.
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What one goal is important to you Of all the hopes and dreams you have? Pick one to focus on in January or whatever month you're listening to us in. Then that one goal, break down two to three small practice steps that move you forward. And if the step feels heavy, if it feels like I don't know if I have the energy for it, if it feels too big, too long, cut it in half. If you're thinking I want to clean the whole basement this weekend, and as you go into the weekend you realize you're very, very tired. You've had to do a lot of shoveling, the kids are home from school and life just feels overwhelming. What if you decide I'm going to play two fun songs that I really love and while I'm listening to those two songs, I'm going to go downstairs to the basement and I'm going to take out five things to donate and I'm going to put one thing away. See how that feels so different. And if you did that multiple times over the weekend, you would probably get much further than if you just took everything out, tried to clean it all at once, run out of energy and then shove everything back in the spaces, actually more of a mess than when you began.
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Going low and slow will create peaceful productivity. But it requires us to notice and then it requires us to decide what's the one goal and the three to small practice steps. So this week we're saying let's notice, decide and practice peaceful productivity. Let's make the practice steps align with that peaceful energy and it's going to again look very, very different for all of us, but what I notice when I'm able to create from a place of peace, there's just more accuracy, there's less mistakes.
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If I'm running too fast and frenetic, I'm going to forget what I'm doing. I'm not going to be doing one thing, doing it Well and then moving on. I'm going to be trying to do multiple things at once, because I love the idea that I'm a multitasker, even though I know all the evidence says all I'm doing is shifting back and forth in my brain. So the idea of going low and slow and creating peaceful productivity is not my natural state. It's my desired state, it's what I want to live life from, and the reason why is in order to live a vibrant life, I need to make sure I don't get burnt out, that I don't get exhausted and doing good things for other people. That's just my natural easy. Oh, do you need my energy? Let me give it to you path that I have lived for most of my life and I'm trying to do life differently because I really believe to the core of who I am.
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There's a purpose that I was brought here on earth for and I think my purpose is to encourage and equip people to remember their purpose. And I get burnt out from going fast and frenetic, from doing things without any peace. I'm not going to serve myself or anyone around me, and I believe inside of you is a dream, is Purpose, is something that you are uniquely created for, and if you get burnt out, if you get overwhelmed and exhausted, it's going to be really hard for you to move forward in that. So you might have, like I have, many dreams dreams about you and your soul and your body and your mind. Dreams about the home you live in. Maybe you want a space that you walk in and it's just so inviting and you can invite friends over for lunch. Maybe you have dreams about the relationships you're in, maybe your dreams about your future. Each of those dreams are important. Get a journal, write them all down, then choose one to focus on this winter From those dreams. That one goal is what we're going to start.
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So my dream is to be strong at 75. What's my goal Currently? My goal is to stay flexible. So I love the gym that I go to has a sauna. It makes it really easy to stretch. I try to do exercises where I go up and down without using my hands every day. I want to stay strong and flexible. I can't work out 90 minutes a day for the next 90 days. I don't currently have the time energy match for that. I know I would see incredible results if I were able to do that, but that's not a reality of my current life. So if my dream is to be strong at 75 and my goal is to stay flexible, what are one to three small things that I can do right now? If I try to do everything and become overwhelmed, I'll probably do nothing.
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So last week on the podcast, I was talking about embracing this idea of Huga in the winter and I said what if you just chose one small corner of your entire home and made it so inviting and comfy and welcoming, you couldn't wait to sit there and light your candle, snuggle under the blanket, bring out that magazine. Isn't that like a beautiful way to think about winter, that there's a space that calls to you and invites you. That's a small goal with little, small practice steps. Oh, I'll put a few things away there in that corner, I'll bring some books and magazines and my favorite candle over and I'll make sure that there are blankets there. Those small practice steps then created the result. That was the goal.
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So what can we do this year to create peaceful productivity? We're going to notice what energy is in our body and if it's not aligned energy, it's not peaceful energy. We're going to do whatever soul care work we need to do to get back to that energy. If you're feeling overwhelmed, frenetic, frustrated, resentful, notice it. Don't make it mean anything. You're not a bad person because you experience all the human feelings. Just notice them.
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Some people like talking to other people when they notice their feelings. Some people like to journal, some people like to do art. Whatever it is that you need to do, try to do that. I tell my children all the time sometimes that energy in your body needs a way out. Find a gym practice, like go to a boxing class or do some pushups. Another thing that helps me a lot is go scream, slash, sing in the car. Put on the kind of song that you can just wail, that song that has that verse that just connects with you and you can scream it at the top of your lungs. That's a really great way to move some of the energy from your body, out of your body. So do what you need to do. Once you notice your energy, bring it back to that space of peace and aligned energy, whatever that looks like for you. I like to be in more of an enthusiastic aligned energy and you might have a different word Notice what energy you want to be in, like one decision that would help you create peaceful productivity this winter, and then choose one to three small practice steps that can move you forward.
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Remember the reason we're choosing these active verbs like choose, decide is. This is not passive. It's not going to just happen if we don't pay attention. Our work is to notice what results we want in our life and then to use our thoughts, our feelings and our actions to make those results happen. And if you're not currently in a community that can serve you, I would love to invite you into my community. We take time twice a week. We hold space for you to notice your thoughts and your feelings and the actions you're taking. We hold space for you to make a decision and then choose some small practice steps to move you forward. And then you know you have a community to come back to, not for any kind of judgment, but for people to be cheering you on, to encourage you, to sometimes offer you a new power thought that can move you forward.
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So these words are not passive when you notice, that's an active verb. You're taking action by noticing, by deciding and by choosing small practice steps that will serve you, and so I'm offering you again a power thought for this season of your life. What if you decide today to choose peaceful productivity by going low and slow? I hope this episode has served you. I look forward to connecting again next week. Thank you for joining the Live a Vibrant Life podcast. I hope our time together encouraged you and will equip you with the tools you need to move your life into the vibrant life you desire. I'm here to help you live a brave, creative, purpose-filled life, and if you'd like to learn more, you can follow me on Instagram or Facebook, kelly Tibbets Life Coach, or visit my website kellytibbetscom. I look forward to connecting again soon.