[Transcript starts at 1:15]
Maestro: Hello, hello, hello, my podcast people and thank you for joining me for yet another episode of my favorite podcast. Today we are talking about, or we are checking in on the word of the year. Your word of the year, my word of the year. Have you been sticking to your word of the year? This episode drops on Monday, July 4th.
And if you're listening to it on that day, holy smokes, the month is flying by, which I guess kind of ties into this episode of why I want to check in. With the word of the year, we're seven months into the year, we're past halfway. Let's see how we've been doing. But first folks, I got a few announcements, five to be exact.
Number one, if you're watching this on YouTube, as always, thank you. You'll see I have on my OG Maestro shirt. OG. This is actually the second iteration. They're live. I did a little poll on Instagram. People were like, hey, I want that shirt. How can I get that shirt? And you couldn't get that shirt because I sold this shirt years ago.
But, folks said they wanted it. And so, Lex hooked it up with Beeze Tees and they are back. We will drop that link in the show notes. You can go and get your shirt. We got different colors. They're all darker colors because it has the white Maestro M logo on it. Um, and we have sweatshirts in there and tank tops, I believe.
So, if you're interested, go check it out. Buy them? Purchase? I couldn't think of the word there. I, I, I was just at a loss for words. I was like, what is it? Buy them? Purchase? Whatever you want. Uh, rock that maestro swag. You know, it means so much to me. I did a whole episode about swag and, um, how to sell your own merch.
Um, you want to link that? Thank you, Courtney. Um, but in that episode, I really talk about how. Amazing it is when people want to wear your your clothes, right? That sounds a little weird, but when they want to wear your shirt, it's just like the most amazing thing. So number one, if that's you, thank you. If you have this OG shirt, you are an OG.
Double thank you. And if you want to go purchase one, the link is in the show notes. Second announcement, happy belated birthday to my bestie, Jillfit. The day I'm currently recording this, it is July 17th. So it's Jill's birthday today. So hopefully we'll be hanging out soon, um, but… I'm gonna do a little belated happy birthday to my number one homie.
Number three if it sounds sick It's because I am. I got no idea what I have but I got something stuffy in the nose stuffy in the ears.
It's fucking annoying so yeah, we're just gonna say that. Uh, number four, I just got back and actually I did not get sick from this announcement, what I'm about to announce rather, but I just got back from celebrating Thanksgiving in July. This is actually an idea that I borrowed from Jill. She does Christmas in July with her brothers.
Uh, and I decided to do Thanksgiving in July because I don't go home for Christmas. Um, I go home for Thanksgiving. That's the big holiday. And so got my family together. I was just like, you know, I only see them once a year now. And that's just not enough. The kids are growing up. Everyone's getting older and once a year just doesn't cut it.
So I decided to add a second holiday. Um, we did Thanksgiving in July. We didn't have like a formal Thanksgiving dinner, but, um, we went to my sister's house, which is what we do during Thanksgiving and my other brothers surprised us. I didn't think he was going to show up because he's in the Marines, but he had leave.
He showed up with two of his friends, um, and it was phenomenal. So 12/10 recommend if you want to see your family more, take the holidays and put them in the summer. I'd add them into the summer because it's nicer weather anyway. I don't mind the humidity that much. I don't mind the heat, especially because I can leave it.
Um, but it was just cool because, you know, the holidays are in the winter. So usually when we have the holidays, we go and we get a Christmas tree and things like that. It's cold, but it was warmness time. So we went to the creek, the crick. We were outside, we're playing, you know, baseball, I use the term loosely there, playing baseball. The kids are four and six. Um, but it was just really, really nice. So 12 out of 10 would recommend. I didn't get sick from that. I was sick going into it, or I thought it was allergies. I don't know. I got something. It's annoying. We're moving forward.
Announcement number five, before we check in with the word of the year, is leaving a review on Apple. So Beth Skinner, love you, Beth. She actually DM'd me and she was like, I don't know how to leave a review, so I'm going to send it here as a DM. And I was like, number one, you're amazing. Number two, I'll read your DM as a, um, on the podcast. But number three, maybe I should actually explain to people how to leave a review, because maybe you don't know.
So I only know how to do it on Apple. Um, but if you go to my podcast, if you search Maestro on the Mic, go to the podcast, and then the screen that will come up is the screen that lists all the episodes that I've done. And it truncates it, but that's the main, the first screen that comes up when you tap on my podcast. You're going to scroll down and you're going to see, you'll scroll all the way down and you'll see ratings and reviews.
You'll see like the empty stars. You can tap on the stars if you want to leave a stars review, um, or excuse me, if you want to leave a stars rating, preferably five. Uh, and then underneath it, there's a hyperlink and it says, write a review. It's like a little box next to it. It's a hyperlink and it says, write a review.
If you tap that, a new screen pops up and you can write the review in there. So if you want to do that, that would be most amazing. Again, folks, I don't know if it helps people find the podcast. I used to say that cause I heard that it did, but I'm like, I don't actually know if that's true. So I'm going to stop saying that.
I ask for reviews and ratings because I like seeing them. It's a very unidirectional platform. I'm just talking to this camera here. So I don't know if it's landing. When I see reviews then I'm like, yeah, it is landing. And when you DM me and things like that, which I also love, I'm like, yeah, it is landing.
Yes, I think it is helpful in terms of people like looking at reviews. So if someone goes to look at the podcast who isn't familiar and they're like, oh, look, good reviews here, they're more apt to listen. But I'm asking for them because I want them. Plain and simple. So Beth, thank you for alerting me to the fact that people may not know how to leave a review.
And thank you for the review, which I'm going to read right now. She wrote: Shante, I freaking love your podcast, but I can't quite figure out how to leave a review. So I'm telling you here. The Movement Maestro is one of my favorite podcasts because they tell it like it is, but not in a condescending way and with a humor that I freaking love and get.
I know that if I need a pick me up, whether it's business related or not, I can turn in one, turn on one of their podcasts and find a smile. Thank you for being a constant on air. Beth, you're the real MVP. Thank you. Like folks, these things, it's like they explode my, my, my Maestro heart. So thank you. All right.
Six and a half minutes passed. Let's jump, actually more because they're going to add- Courtney's going to add the little intro thing. So we're like eight minutes in, let's chat about the actual topic of the episode, which isn't gonna take that long, um, which is checking in on your word of the year. So this episode was inspired kind of by two things.
Number one, my guy coach Andrew Eckert, he slid in the DMs and was like, hey, I'm just wondering, how's, uh, here's a podcast idea. How's it going with your word of the year? And I was like, again, my Maestro heart explodes because one, you know that I do a word of the year. And now you're asking me to, you know, for an update.
And then you're saying a podcast topic. Like, thank you. Uh, so that was the first, uh, I was actually came second. The first thing that inspired this episode kind of planted the seed was I was in Denver a few weeks ago for a concert. I went and saw Chris Stapleton and George Strait and I was walking and there was a humongous sign that said create.
It was like on top of a building. I don't know if that was the name of the store or what, but it was huge. I should've taken a picture, but it was kind of down, the street looked a little sketchy. So I didn't want to walk down there, but either way, that is my word of the year. Create. And I saw it and I was like, you know what? I should probably do a little episode and just check in and ask people to check in for those of you that did choose a word of year.
So the whole shtick, the whole, I don't know what the word is, behind the word of the year is that I pick every year in December is when I finalize it. I will pick a word that's going to be my focal point, my guide for the next year.
I encourage people to choose a word that's a verb. So it leans into action, but it's up to you. Um, if you want to tune, if you want to check out episode 434, Maestro on the Mic, I talk about how to plan for 2023, how to plan for this year. Um, and in that I discuss in a bit more detail, you know, choosing a word for the year.
So if you ever see, if you're watching the video, you can see I have like this bracelet on and, uh, it's one of those my intent bracelets. I went and bought the whole set and I make them myself now. Um, but you can, you put your word on there and so you kind of always see it and you're just like, yeah, when in doubt, when you're faced with decisions, when you're faced with two choices, two options, when you're unsure about things, you can lean into that word, right?
That word serves as an anchor. Use it to make decisions, use it to guide the actions if there's ever hesitation or, you know, vacillation between, between things. So my word of the year, this year, is create. I picked it because I really wanted to lean into video and creating video. Like I said, I pick the words towards the end of the year.
Um, and so I chose it towards the end of last year, which if you remember, I was just starting to lean into video podcasting. I hurt my knee in October and that's when I was like, well, I got to fill this time some way. And I was like I'm going to get in front of the camera. So I was leaning into it and starting it and there was a lot of friction.
It's difficult. And so I was like, you know what, that's going to be my word for next year so that I commit to it. And when there are days when I maybe don't feel like making one or it's getting frustrating, I look at that word and I know that is my goal. That's my intent for the year. So honestly, if we're going to, uh, not recap, if I'm going to review how, how I've been going, how it's been going, I am, I'm really happy with, with how I've been doing with this and leaning into the leaning into create.
One of the cool things about taking time to actually reflect on things is that it allows you to get objective and this episode, like as I'm outlining, it allowed me to get objective and be like, what have I created?
I think that's something that's very helpful, especially for folks out there that have a tough time celebrating themselves. Maybe that's you. Or who are just always looking at the next thing. So maybe you're not like, maybe you don't feel bad about celebrating yourself, but you're just like go, go, go, go, go, go, go.
And taking a moment to actually be like, what have I done can be incredibly, incredibly, incredibly helpful. Cause you're like, holy shit, I have done all of those things. So for me, creating the video podcast and creating video podcast episodes, I should say, has been huge. That was really my focus for the year.
And I'm incredibly proud of how routine they've become, how efficient they've become. I had some travel recently and I did four episodes in a day. Meanwhile, when I first started doing one was just like kicking my ass. So I'm incredibly proud of the efficiency that's happened there and the skill that's happened there and the quality that's coming out of it.
Episode 437 was the first one this year. So I have done 58 episodes this year. Technically the first video episode was 425, which means that as of today, this is 70 video podcast episodes I've done. Um, and I'm incredibly fucking proud of that. Like I'm leaning into create. From that, I've created over, get ready for this stat, 500 clips. 500.
So I've talked about this before in my podcasting process. Um, if you want to check out that episode, I'm not sure what number it is, but Courtney will link it. Thank you. But I talk about how I use a software called Descript to pull podcast clips. I, it doesn't, it's not AI. It doesn't do it for me. I actually watch the transcript.
I watch the video and I pull certain clips that I will then at some point put on, put on social media. I have created over 500 clips. That's the beauty of doing long form is that you can get a lot of short format of it. So from one video, I can get anywhere from like five to 15 clips. Um, and I, so. As of now, we have over 500 clips and I've been posting them to Instagram and to TikTok.
I was creating them for a bit and then I wasn't doing anything with them because I just wasn't. And then I was like, you know what we created. So now I'm going to, you know, I was actually, here's actually, I do know why I didn't do anything with them. The editing of the clips and doing what we call attention resets was really time consuming.
And I was like, this is just taking too long. And so I was sitting there, sitting with it and still creating the longer form. So leaning into the word, but then thinking about how do I want to make this shorter? And then at one point I was like, you know what? I'm just going to do attention resets via just chopping the video, making it a little bit choppier.
And that, that resets your attention, meaning as a viewer, you're like, okay, something new is happening. And I was like, I said, I'm going to keep the, the, um, captions, the text very simple. So I'm not trying to like do the most with it. And this way I can actually crank those out and actually be prolific with it.
So over 500 clips. Posted a bunch of them. Will continue to post. Um, outside of that, I started doing Threads. That's only been two weeks, but I'm super stoked about that. We're talking about that in a second as well. And just about creative energy. Um, I have a weekly broadcast channel on Instagram. If you want to join, we will link that in the show notes.
Um, you know, Instagram is just trying to do anything they can to get people to stay in the platform. So they came up with Broadcast channels. It's very unidirectional. You can only broadcast to your people. Um, but I've stayed with it and I'm, I do one basically every Thursday or Friday. I put a message in there and, and thoughts.
Um, so I've been doing that. Um, I am currently changing the Mafia structure to create space so that I can create not one, but two new coaching programs. And I'll probably talk about those more in upcoming episode. I don't really want to lean into that right now. Um, but there is some space being created so that I can create some new offers.
Um, but overall, I am very cool with this more singular focus of really having the video podcast as the main thing that I'm leaning into when it comes to creating. Y'all know that my, one of my favorite books is the One Thing and just how I approach things is you can't ride two horses with one ass.
That's a quote from my girl, Dr. Erika Bonilla. And I really, really lean into that. I think it's, it's the best way to actually get things done. Right, we focus on it and get that thing done and then we can move on to the next thing. I'm thinking that my word for next year might be WRITE, uh, because that's something that I haven't been as prolific with, which is just emailing.
I email my Mafia every single Monday, but as it relates to my main news. My main newsletter, the full newsletter, I'm emailing once every week, 10 days, two weeks. It really depends. Um, and I, I would like to get more prolific with that, which I think might be the focus for next year. We'll see how the rest of the years go.
The rest of the year, excuse me, goes. But a little tangent here, but still very much in the, in, in line with what we're talking about is just this idea of, of creativity being finite, right? So my word of the year is create, but I know very well that creativity is finite. It's a renewable resource, but it has limitations for a specific or a set amount of time, right?
You go to sleep, you have a new idea the next day, you have like more energy to do things again the next day. To this end or to that end, in order to increase output in one area that you're gonna have to steal from another area. In order to increase creative output in one area, you're going to have to steal from another area until efficiency and capacity improves.
So for me, creating Threads means that I have less desire to write emails because they're both written content and I'm like, yeah, cool I'm gonna take that creative energy and do that. But then I'm like, I don't really want to write an email I didn't really want to write one that much to start off with and now I really don't want it because I've used that creative energy over here. Creating Instagram posts for me is fine because again It's repurposed from long form content and that was my priority, was make these long form content, make this video and then I could repurpose that. So it's also a different type of creative energy, but that was already done. So the solution here, if this is you as well, is to lean into the one creative task, that's the most important and commit to completing that task consistently, frequently, and ultimately creating efficiency, which will increase your capacity.
So that's why I leaned in fully to creating these videos, video podcasts, because I knew that it would get easier. My capacity would increase, my efficiency would increase, my capacity would increase and it has. Hence why I was able to do four in Monday. I wouldn't do that all the time, but I know that I could, which means that I can do two in a day, still have all this energy and I can put that energy into some other creative task, right?
So when the task that you've chosen to focus on becomes routine, then you can add in an a new creative task via habit stacking id you kind of like, ideally it's like kind of one small thing at a time.
So, take that bit of advice and use it as you'd like. But circling back or tying it into the episode, this is also why I'm okay with the fact that I haven't, quote unquote, created a zillion new things or eleventy billion new things, because my goal was singular.
It was to create efficiency, consistency, capacity with video content, with the long form video for video podcasts, and then I could create other things, which is exactly what's happening. I have super proficiency. Is that what I want to say? Yeah. I'm super proficient, uh, now with creating these video podcast episodes, which means that I have more capacity to start leaning into other things, which is why I added in Threads, really enjoying that, um, which will be my focus I think for a bit.
And now I have the two coaching programs that I'm going to look to, to layer in the second half of the year. And then next year, maybe my word of the year will be, write, W R I T E. We shall see. But the question here is now, how is your word of the year going? How's it going for you? Are you sticking to it?
Are you leaning into it? Do you not even have one. It's never too late to pick one. Yes, we're seven, seven months in. It doesn't matter. You can pick one at any time. I have done this for the past maybe four years and I will continue to do it indefinitely because it just serves as such an anchor and anytime there's a decision that needs to be made, it's already been made and I like that.
So would love to hear from you. How's your word of the year going? Are you sticking to it? You're leaning into it. Did you want to change it? For those of you that are called to pick two words, now you see why I'm really like pick one, pick one. Um, but I would love to hear from you just in general I'd love to hear from you. If you have suggestions, thoughts, um, requests for podcast episodes, I would love to hear from you. If you want to leave a review, I would love to hear from you that way. All right, that's all I got. As always, endlessly appreciative for every single one of you. Until next time, friends, Maestro out.
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MOTM #483: How to Sell Your Own Merchandise
MOTM #434: How to Plan for 2023
MOTM #491: My Podcasting Process
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