Recently, I've felt an intense need to clear the chaos from the past seven months of my life. Ever been there? Moving from a dark place to just going through the motions is a monumental step, and if that's where you're at, I'm proud of you. But, now I'm ready to go beyond just going through the motions and winging it. I'm ready for my winning season and if you are too, this episode is for you.
Join me as I share the practical steps I'm taking to slow down, clean up, and regain control. From decluttering my workspace to getting cozy with my finances, it's a journey towards finding structure and joy after a season of uncertainty.
If you've ever felt stuck or overwhelmed, this one's for you. Let's navigate this journey together, embrace joy, and stop winging it.
Recently, I've felt an intense need to clear the chaos from the past seven months of my life. Ever been there? Moving from a dark place to just going through the motions is a monumental step, and if that's where you're at, I'm proud of you. But, now I'm ready to go beyond just going through the motions and winging it. I'm ready for my winning season and if you are too, this episode is for you.
Join me as I share the practical steps I'm taking to slow down, clean up, and regain control. From decluttering my workspace to getting cozy with my finances, it's a journey towards finding structure and joy after a season of uncertainty.
If you've ever felt stuck or overwhelmed, this one's for you. Let's navigate this journey together, embrace joy, and stop winging it.
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Speaker 1:
Hi, friends, and welcome back to another episode of Elevate with Erica. Today we are going to be diving into how to stop winging it in all areas of your life, and we will talk about how to incorporate more of that sexy word structure so that you can get better traction and just feel more joy again towards all the things that you want to achieve this year. So I'm returning from five days in Vegas for a work conference mixed with some fun and family time. My sister lives out there and so we hiked a Red Rock Canyon which was absolutely gorgeous. If you ever get the opportunity. It's only 30 minutes outside of the city, making it pretty easy to get to right, and it was just $20 entry fee but my sister's military discount got that way for us but just pack a couple sandwiches and head out there for a few hours. You will not regret it, and I highly recommend the Calico Hills One hiking trail if you're looking for that like expected Red Rock visual experience. So the work conference portion was a mix of training and also motivation, with our featured speaker being Brendan Beshard, who can shift the energy in any room. So I left that trip, you know, just fired up and ready to level up in my business in 2024, as well as just to get some tangible things to apply within the inner workings of my business. So so I'm set right Like it's everything you could want from a work conference mixed with playtime.
Speaker 1:
But as much as I wanted to come home and start implementing all these new ideas into my business, on my way home I felt something totally different. I felt this intense need to get my life in order. First I'm sure that someone can relate to this either now or maybe in the past, you know I felt an intense need to get my life in order from the wreckage of the last now seven months and I think it's actually seven months today that I'm recording this Like, have you ever gone through something so big, so unexpected, that you let many different aspects of your life just kind of fall to the wayside for so long that that you felt like you couldn't get a good grip on anything because everything felt so unorganized and you didn't even know where to start? At that point, right, like that's a lot, that's a mouthful, but if you know, you know. And once you're able to pick yourself up from that experience and start functioning because, well, you have to write, like bills have to be paid, kids need to be parented, and as much as you may want to hide from your problems with Netflix and a fluffy blanket. It's not a permanent fix or a permanent choice. So you just start going through the motions and you know. First just let me say that that's courageous in itself To keep going when things aren't going as you planned, to keep going when something bad has happened to you, when you're dealing with a lot and you're putting on that brave face to honor your responsibilities and your role as a human.
Speaker 1:
It's not easy to even just go through the motions. So I'm not discounting that. You know for me. I know I've shared more than most would about their personal life over the past seven months, but for me, moving from not wanting to get out of bed, crying myself to sleep, crying myself to waking up, even Moving from that to going through the motions, was a big step and most would see my stories and send me messages that they found it inspiring. They didn't know how I was doing it. So that's you. If that's where you're at right now, I'm proud of you. I'm sorry for all that you've went through and that you're going through, but I'm proud of you.
Speaker 1:
Some days my going through the motions looked like crying through my workouts. It was not cute. I was pulling strength from music and personal development and a morning devotional. I was searching for motivation in each action to take the next action, and it meant just doing what I had to do to keep my business afloat. Keep this podcast going, with bi-weekly episodes sharing what I could of my life and my stories, because I didn't have the creative mind to make posts. I'm proud of her and I'm proud of you if you're doing that too, if you can relate to that, if you found yourself going through the motions. But I'm ready for a new version of myself, aren't you Like? That's what I came back from Vegas with.
Speaker 1:
I'm pretty tired of winging it. I'm pretty tired of trying to just make it from one task to the next. I'm tired of not feeling like I know where I'm going. I want more joy, I want more excitement and I want to no longer be just checking things off but to be creating and building something again. But here's the truth of where my life is right now and if you've been watching my stories, you already know I'm open and real and I've already shared all this on there with pictures. My Christmas ornaments were still out and spread across the floor at the tree that I keep next to my desk here. I did at least clear the tree last month, but the ornaments were just all over the floor laying on the skirt. My desk itself looks like a storage unit.
Speaker 1:
I'm not operating out of any solid plan for my business ventures. I have no grip on my finances, both personally and in my business. I have no idea what's coming in and what's going out and no goal for how I plan to improve. The dysfunction is stacking up so quickly that I even stopped planning my work day because I'm overwhelmed by everything that needs to be done. So I just wing it and I try to get it all done in one day and I end up tired, feeling like I barely accomplished anything and headed to the school pick up line at two o'clock. And I know better than this right. But we all find ourselves here at some point in life.
Speaker 1:
Today's about getting out of that, and you know what? The girl that was sitting in this winging season for the past several months. She's better than the girl that could barely get out of bed. But I'm ready, and I know that someone listening to this is too. Or you may find yourself in this season in the future and you'll have this episode to look back on. But I can have all these ideas from my business that I soaked up from this conference and the inspiration and the fire from the world renowned Brendan Beshard, but the truth is I can't move forward when my life is in a state of such chaos. I can go through the motions here I have been but I can't move forward as the best version of myself and give all that I have to my family and my dreams and my goals and my business, consumed with the current chaotic state of many areas of my life. Believe it or not, this is actually more exhausting Winging. It is more exhausting than putting in the work to set yourself up for success, like we're going to talk about today.
Speaker 1:
And look, there will be seasons in your life that call for winging it. There will be times when you need to just jump in and figure it out. That's different than the winging it I'm talking about today. Today I'm talking about when winging it becomes unhealthy, when it looks like barely eating because you're not making the time, or eating the wrong thing is too long because you're looking for convenience, or living in a space of such disarray that you can't produce anything good from a place like that. Your home should be your sanctuary.
Speaker 1:
When you have such a loose grip on your finances that you're causing damage that you could have to deal with for years to come. What happened to you? It may have broken your heart, it may have rocked your world, it may have disoriented you, but it did not break your spirit. Our flames just a little smaller, but it ain't out, and I want this episode to help you fire it back up today. So, look, I'm just going to share what I'm doing with you and hope that you can incorporate the same or similar changes into your own life.
Speaker 1:
I'm using this week to slow down, to slow down, to speed up. I'm giving myself permission to do that. I'm using this week to clean up my space, my mind, my finances, my direction and this is hard for me to do because I love to produce and sometimes I only feel successful if I'm producing. So, yes, I fully mean it when I say I have to give myself permission to do this. If what I'm doing isn't bringing in money in that very moment, I feel like I'm not using my time wisely. But I've reached a point in this winging at season where I'm ready to get off this ride and get on a new one. I just can't get a grip on my direction here and I constantly feel behind.
Speaker 1:
So first things first was to clean up my home office, my desk space here. I basically work out of my dining room, but I do have a desk here. I stopped working in here because it was so unorganized. It was so unorganized that even my family started to use it as a storage unit. If you're on YouTube, you can actually still see that on the sidewalk here. But I'm working on that. Just chaos, and this is where I'm supposed to produce, to build my dream. It ain't happening. So my first day back from Vegas, I got this space organized. I threw away so much that was just weighing me down Stuff is weight and I set myself up for success with a space that I could focus in, a space that felt good to be in. That was first things first.
Speaker 1:
And maybe you don't work out of the home. Maybe you could do this in your bedroom. Is it chaos? Is your closet a mess? Are your surfaces covered with stuff? How are you supposed to get a good night's rest surrounded by chaos? Maybe it's your kitchen, maybe it's your living room, maybe it's the toy room that you don't even dare to open the door to anymore. Clear a space or spaces in your home. Clear it from things, stuff that is weighing you down. You may not even realize that it is Slowly over your chaotic season, your hard season, your season of winging it. Things have just piled up there, but all that stuff becomes heavy and it's always there on your shoulders and in your mind. And I just want to tell you that it's time. It's time to make space in your life for more good things to come your way, and it starts with you.
Speaker 1:
I'm also clearing out my phone. Basically the same principle. Who else has a ton of pictures and videos just living there? I'm creating folders on my MacBook and putting them where they go Off my phone and into storage. You know this is what we used to do before we had cell phones. I'm aging myself here, but we went to Walmart and we printed out our roll of pictures and we put them in photo albums and we survived with them there and not attached to us all the time. You don't need all that crap on your phone, and I'm talking to myself here when I say this to you guys. Another Come With Me episode.
Speaker 1:
As usual, I'm also writing down every expense, both in my business and in my personal life, and every source of income. I'm finding my bottom line. I'm assessing what I need to do to increase that to a level that supports the life that I want. Like I don't even know that number anymore. I used to know all these things, guys. I took all the trainings, I have the printouts from the things I signed up for online and I just lost my footing, the damages of winging it. Do you know an income level that helps you live the most comfortably or that would afford you the ability to do that family trip you'd like to take once a year? Because there's all sorts of ways to diversify your income now, but if you don't know your numbers, you'll never financially evolve from where you are right now, because even if you do bring in more money say you get a raise or whatever right, you just couldn't spend that somewhere else You'll still be in the same financial situation you are now because you have no idea where your money is going. You have no goal set for where you want it to go and this isn't sexy work, but it can lead to some sexy results, because I think that financial security is pretty dang sexy, and maybe that's my finance degree talking, but I think so.
Speaker 1:
I'm also planning on my business again and setting goals for the year. I just wasn't ready to do that in January. It's the season in my personal life where I was not ready to plan out goals for the entire year in front of me. No-transcript, if you're not building your own business, you can still apply this to your life, though. Like set some actual benchmarks for your goals. Pick dates that you will have things done by. If you have a big goal, then what piece of it will you finish? Two weeks from today, a month from today and in six months time? Break it down into smaller goals. Write it down, give yourself a timeline to follow.
Speaker 1:
Like I said, it's upfront work, but winging it is more work for an indefinite amount of time. Create the map so you can stop winging it. Stop going right to find out if you should have gone left. Like you'll get there faster. It makes sense right. In my marriage we've been winging it for years. So many unhealthy marriages right now I know because I've had a lot of conversations after being so open about our struggles so many unhappy couples, but even you as a person don't just end up happy. You have to be happy on purpose, with intention, and the same goes for your relationships. If you're not married, then you can apply this in its own way to any relationship in your life that could use some work and attention.
Speaker 1:
But in my marriage we have now agreed to sit down on Sundays, include each other in on what we have coming up in our week individually and what we need from each other to help support the success of those things. Cause that's what a team does right, like before a game. They get together, they strategize, they go over who is injured and who can pick up slack and what the strategies of their opponents will be and how they can step up to meet those as a team. This is now what we do on Sundays in my marriage. Show your calendar, it takes just 30 minutes. I asked my husband two Sundays ago if he could handle dinner for that upcoming Thursday night so that I could help my oldest with homework, record my podcast and pack for that work trip. But old me would not have done that. I would have spent that Thursday night resentful and wondering why he didn't just see that I needed his help, and I know somebody out there can relate to that.
Speaker 1:
But, as we learned in a recent marriage conference with the Freemans, why not set each other up for success? Because that's what a team would do. So we also picked one Sunday in every month where we will go on a date. We're going to have a date. This is just two hours of unplugged time together, either a date night in or out. And it may not sound sexy to plan things like this with your spouse, but let me just tell you the rewards of that Feel pretty dang sexy Winging. It may have worked when we first started dating, but a lifelong marriage requires more intentionality, so that you don't get stuck in a comfort zone that ends up feeling not so comfortable. And, by the way, since I've referenced them, I want to give them some credit. If you don't know who the Freemans are, they are a marriage counseling couple. They've been doing this for nine plus years, I believe off the top of my head. They're authors of the argument hangover. They have a very successful podcast called Empowered Couples and they also have a thriving Instagram page. You can go find them under the handle meet, underscore, the Freemans. Great tips and tools for your marriage there.
Speaker 1:
There are some things that I'm doing to clean up my life. That I've spelled out for you today and I share those with you because I want to inspire you to do the same in yours. So let me kind of summarize those things into more of a list for you to follow. So I'm already very clean on my values and my purpose here, so I didn't go over that today. The fitness platform that I partner with that's kind of like our number one job is to be clear on those things. But if you're not, that's where you start. I'm a big pen to paper girl.
Speaker 1:
Write down what you value and what really matters to you. Write down what your passions are, what your big goals are and your why behind those things, and not just the surface level, why. But you go five steps deeper in that. Why, why do you want that? Why do you want that? Okay, well, why do you want that? And you really get down to that why. That gives you goosebumps and brings tears to your eyes. That's the why. And get clear again on your purpose in this life.
Speaker 1:
And second, eliminate distractions. That kind of encompasses a few of the things I said I'm doing in my own life. So that includes cleaning up your spaces to create an environment that allows for focused work and a home that brings joy. Create space for more joy in your life, both in your phone and in your home. Get clear on your goals. Break your long term goals into smaller goals and set those dates where you're going to achieve them. Give yourself deadlines so you can build your roadmap. Set yourself up for success. This includes with your finances. Know your numbers. Money is such a huge contributor to stress, and yet so many have never wrote out what their expenses are to see what exactly they need to do to improve their situation. My morning routine is another one. It's solid, but my workday routine has not been so. Schedule your time, spill in time for self care, work your relationships. These routines will help you stay focused on what you value and what your purpose is, and you're going to be able to better distinguish again between what's actually important, what's actually urgent and what matters most, so that you don't get overwhelmed and just get caught saying yes to everything.
Speaker 1:
This is something that I had. I love to time block on my dork about it. I've done episodes on it, right, but it's something that I've slacked off on these past few months because of what I was going through, but again I found myself here. I'm catching myself and I realized that, look, you either manage your time or it manages you. And lastly, be happy on purpose and your relationships. Start prioritizing the work that goes into a healthy relationship, romantic or not. What can you do to improve the relationships in your life? Do you even have time scheduled in for that person, like intentional, undistracted, unplugged time from relationship building? Stop winging it.
Speaker 1:
Finding structure and realigning my life to my purpose after 2023 will undoubtedly be a process, and it will be for you, too, when you're coming out of your winging at season. But it all starts with setting the foundation for structure to exist, and that's what my goal for this episode is Is to help you set up your life, clear out the junk, escape the chaos and open yourself up for more, because there's so much joy and success and connection and excitement for life waiting for you. I found that out. I was reminded of that in Vegas, but we can't make room for it and we are winging it so much that we can't see past the day in front of us, thank you. Thank you so much for joining me on this episode of Elevate with Erica and if you related to this episode today or know someone who will, will you please take the time to share this with them? It would mean so much to me and so much to them, and you're gonna help this podcast reach a bigger audience.
Speaker 1:
So, just like it took you courage to move from what took you off course to winning it, it takes courage to decide to move forward and to leave behind the chaos of that winging it season two. It's okay to have those seasons of uncertainty, and sometimes the seasons of uncertainty should even be celebrated. I've done podcast episodes on that too. Because you took the leap, you started moving again, you made a decision to just go without knowing the plan for the 10 step out. But today I want to help you get to a place where you're making the intentional effort to realign yourself to your purpose and your joy, to clean up the clutter that accumulated over the winging it stage and help you create space for the amazing things that are in store for you, because either those things can't find you if you haven't made room for them, or you wouldn't even see them if they hit you in the face because you're too busy juggling the chaos in the 24 hours in front of you. It's never too late to hit the reset button and start building the structure you need for a more purposeful and fulfilling life, because every, every small step counts.
Speaker 1:
I'm making my small steps this week. This week, I'm embracing the process of slowing down to speed up, cleaning up, to clear the path and structuring our lives to elevate ourselves to new heights. Because, gosh, I just want to feel excited again for the journey in front of me, for the life in front of me, for things I don't even know are in front of me because I can't see them among the chaos I'm in. Don't you want to feel excited again? I'm tired of uncertainty, I'm tired of chaos and I'm ready to trade it in. Will you do that with me today? I am with you Until next episode. Keep striving, keep growing, keep elevating. You've got this E.
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