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Listen Instead on The Extraordinary Life Podcast

Some women that work with me share that they’re afraid of running out of time to do the things they’ve always wanted to do. There are women who put their careers on hold for children, couldn’t afford to travel in their youth, or who have a nagging dream that they want to see fulfilled. Some are worried about getting older and that their years to do “all of the things” are running out. 

I don’t believe that you have to choose between  your dreams and your obligations, imagined or otherwise. Rather, I help women learn strategies to find the time to do both while honoring where they are at life and where they want to go. 

Then there are the women who have found the balance on their own, and have embraced their life stages and changes with curiosity and talent for seeing opportunity. In episode 39 of The Extraordinary Life Podcast, I talk with a woman just like that. Deborah Costella is...

Listen instead on The Extraordinary Life Podcast

Last week I led you through a process of evaluating and tracking where you are in your life and what needs to be changed using the six High-Performance Habits. Once you start tracking them, it gives you a great baseline to work from and keeps you on track. They’re so important to creating your dream life that we spend six months working on them in The Extraordinary Life Tribe and keep coming back to them. For the other six months, we work on ways to activate your life. These are called the Charge Sessions and are what help you create an engaged, energetic, and enthusiastic life. 

Activating your extraordinary life starts by thinking about and strategically managing your long-term energy, enthusiasm, and engagement in life. To achieve this, you must decide to move beyond the boundaries and beliefs that you or others may have set out for you, and decide what you really want from your life. 

There are ten human...

Listen instead on The Extraordinary Life Podcast

I think it was my mentor, David Neagle, that said a map doesn’t do you any good if you don’t know where you are. You have to know where you’re starting to get where you want to go. This is why I use the Whole Life Assessment and High Performance Habits Assessment in my High Performance Planner regularly, and why I share it with my clients. It makes me aware of where I’m at and what I’m doing, so I can see what needs to change (or not!) to achieve my goals and dreams. 

This works because most of us are unaware of what we’re doing unless we start tracking it. For example, when I taught childbirth classes I gave the moms-to-be a weekly worksheet to track what they ate because eating enough protein, fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats is important to growing a healthy baby and increasing the chances of an easier birth. But if you’re on autopilot and not conscious of what you're eating,...

Listen instead on The Extraordinary Life Podcast

A few weeks ago I talked about what to do if you don’t know what your big dreams are for your life just yet. I’ve been thinking about it since then because I do know what my big dreams are, and I wanted to let you peek behind the curtain. The fact is that the daily rituals I use to support my dreams help me get clear on what I want, and they can help you find clarity, too. 

My Five and Ten Things

If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ll know that most mornings I write down five things that I’m grateful for, followed by my ten dreams for ten years from now. 

My gratitude practice brings me two things. First, it brings awareness to what is good in my life, which makes me feel positive about my situation. Second, I can extrapolate what’s most important to me as I look back on my list. For the past two and a half years, I’ve found that family and health have stood out the...

Listen Instead on The Extraordinary Life Podcast

Ten year dreams. Clarity. Goal setting. I talk about these things a lot because when you know where you want to go, it’s a heck of a lot easier to chart the path to get there. And while I most certainly want to help you achieve those dreams, I don’t want you to forget to enjoy the journey along the way. 

You see, life is happening to you right now and isn’t going to wait until you achieve whatever is on your list. Your children are growing and perhaps leaving the nest, your relationships can’t be put on hold, and you’re constantly evolving and growing. Your goals and dreams will shift over time as well. I want you to dream big so that you can chart that path and plan your goals, and then enjoy the experience of achieving them. 

It’s easy to get caught up in the “when” mindset, or get addicted to “what’s next?” when it comes to goal setting. You become so...

Listen instead on The Extraordinary Life Podcast

I had a great conversation with a woman the other day, and she asked me “What if I don’t know what my dream is?” She was craving more from her life but didn’t have a vision of what she wanted that to look like. It was such a great question because many people that I work with start in that very same place. If you don’t have a dream yet, it doesn’t mean that you don’t deserve a more fulfilling life; it just means you need to do some work to discover it. 

Clarity is The First Step to Living Your Dream

Before I work with my clients one-on-one or in The Extraordinary Life Tribe, I like them to go through the Design Your Decade Workshop first. Learning what you want is the first step to creating your dream life because with clarity, you can take action. Then both steps will be repeated again and again as you work toward your goals. 

Get clear on what you want. Take action towards it....

Listen Instead on The Extraordinary Life Podcast 

This week I interviewed an extraordinary woman for my podcast, and I forgot to press “record” before starting. Ugh. While I was both embarrassed and frustrated, I chose to be optimistic about the situation instead. So, instead of this week’s planned content, I’m digging deeper into the power of optimism, and how you can learn to be more optimistic in your own life. 

When the interview wasn't recorded, I felt terrible for wasting the person’s time. I apologized and she was nice about it, but I still felt bad. I could have kept it a secret from you but instead, I chose to talk about the experience on Instagram and in the Women’s Wellbeing Facebook group. I know that I’d want you to be easy on yourself if you did the same thing, so instead of being upset, I’m choosing to trust that when we re-record the interview, it will be even better. That’s right, I chose to be...

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Have you ever gone through a struggle in your life, and connected with someone who’s gone through the exact same thing? It’s like a weight is lifted off your shoulders when you find out that you’re not alone in the experience. The experience could be going through a divorce, changing careers, or managing teenage children, but today, I want to talk about the challenge of following your dreams. 

In the busyness of life and all of the changes that the pandemic has thrown at us in the past two years, indulging in your passion may not seem practical. At least, that’s what some women were feeling in The Extraordinary Life Tribe last year. They felt guilty wanting more from life when they were already struggling with homeschooling, working from home, and the constant changes to public health rules. Not to mention regular work and family life! 

When the topic arose, however, I could feel a collective sigh of...

Listen instead on The Extraordinary Life Podcast

Inside each of us is a special mixture of gifts and interests, and all of our extraordinary lives look so different! The one thing that people who are working towards their dreams and goals have in common however, is that they make the decision to go for it. In each of my interviews with people living their brand of an extraordinary life, I want to showcase not only the many versions of “extraordinary”, but also to show you that yes, you can have a life you love, too.

For Episode #31 of my podcast, I interviewed Sue Butzow, a posture therapist. We met several years ago in a networking group, and she’s been a member of my Extraordinary Life Tribe for the past year. I’ve also been a client of hers for about fifteen months.  Keep reading for the biggest takeaways from our interview, or listen to the entire podcast here. 

Meet Sue

CO: Sue, tell my listeners a little bit about yourself. 

SB: I'm a...

Listen instead on The Extraordinary Life podcast

I’m always amazed by the resiliency and wonder inside of us, and by the wide variety of extraordinary lives we can choose to live. My friend Tina Short has all of those things and more. Like all of us, she has come up against big obstacles in her life, yet she’s committed to moving forward and continually growing. I had the opportunity to interview her recently for my podcast, where we talked about following your passion, breaking negative parenting cycles, and the power of community. 

CO: Tina, tell us a little about yourself. 

TS: I’m an artist, live in Santa Cruz, and have twin sons who are nearly sixteen. I’m an avid mountain biker and gardener, and I love to spend time outside. Basically, I’m just trying to grow up alongside my kids and do the profession that I love. 

CO: How did you become an artist? 

TS: This is going to sound really trite, but I think I was born as an artist...