[Transcript starts at 0:40]
Hello, hello, hello. My podcast people and thank you for joining me for Y, another episode of my favorite podcast. If you're tuning in, listening, watching on the day that this drops, it is Monday, May 12th, and we're talking about what's your thing? I. This episode, this concept inspired by, uh, a live that Sharon McMahon did, and a convo that I recently had with my friend, Allegra Stein.
Uh, but first a few life slash business updates. I really enjoyed doing these. Uh, so right off the bat I am hosting. A podcast workshop this Thursday may. So it'll be May 15th, 4:00 PM 97 monies. I'm gonna teach you exactly how to start the podcast, what to buy, how to record, where to publish, and 100% how to avoid all the fucking text spirals that, you know, get in people's ways and then, then they stop before they even start.
So we'll link that in the show notes. Thank you, Courtney, and thank you jojo. Jojo is back folks. Jojo is back from Pat leave and now he's. Doing this stuff for me again. So, uh, I enjoy, I very much enjoy recording this podcast. I'm just kind of, this is like a little bit off script here, but, um, I enjoy recording these podcasts episodes and that's part of the reason I'm hosting this is if you wanna get your voice out there, if you want a different outlet, and this is largely what the podcast is for me.
Um, I wanna help you do it. It's not nearly as hard as people think. Um, the hardest part is keeping one going, but. I every Monday I, I actually really enjoy recording these. Uh, I'm not gonna lie, sometimes I don't love doing the outline for it. Um, you don't have to do an outline for it. I do it now 'cause I of the video, but, uh, I really do.
There's something cathartic about it. So if that's you, if you're thinking about another creative outlets, uh, would love to help you. With the podcast thing. So next at Life Update. I did see Sinners the last few episodes. I recorded them like very close together, like Monday and Wednesday, and then I went and saw Sinners on Thursday.
So there was like a time period in there that I had seen it, but I did the recorded of the episode before. But either way it was so fucking good. Uh, go see it or don't, you're an adult. I personally hate it when people tell me to go watch stuff. Most people's recommendations are bad. I said what? I said, um, so do what you want.
But I really enjoyed it. We went and saw it and I'm actually took Lex. Um, it's not scary. I don't like scream. I refused to go to scary movies. I was actually just gonna buy a ticket and then not go, 'cause I wanted to support the film. Um, but Yani went first and she was like, it is not scary. So I went, there was one jump scare in the beginning that I wasn't anticipating.
'cause I, in the preview, the preview show, the jump scared except for one of them. Um, but it is objectively not a scary movie. I just, I just really, really enjoyed it. So. Uh, next update. May Gray is here, right? This drops on May 12th, may. Gray is here. So prepare to hear any and all complaints from anyone and everyone that you know who lives in SoCal.
Alright. This shit happens every year and every year people go get upset. They're like, I never knew. I never, never knew. I guess you did because it happened last year. Alright, uh, last life update. Had band practice this weekend, this past weekend. It's been a minute. Um, it was amazing. I just love it so much.
I really wish we could have it more often, but people got things to do. Um, Elisa and I actually split an electric drum kit. She was just like toying with the idea and she was like, Hey, I found this. And I was like, okay, I'll split it with you. Um, so we went and picked it up off of like an offer up or whatever she did, took care of all of it.
Um. But it was so much fun. Like I have no formal training in drums, but like I did have a drum set going up and like, I can keep a hold the beat, keep rhythm. Like, it was really, really fun. We kind of traded off, you know, playing guitar and, and that, and Tiffany is there playing bass. It was just really, really fun and it gives me life and, you know.
Uh, we'll be going on tour shortly, so stay tuned for Dets. Uh, but which, that brings me to today's topic, which is what is your thing? So Sharon McMahon, she discussed this on a live that she did on Substack. I. And of note, Sharon is probably one of the few people who would actually make sense to have a, have a substack.
Um, me, I say this mainly 'cause like there probably is some financial benefit and I hope they aren't taking 10% of, you know, what she, what she makes in there. 'cause she brought all the people over there. It's not like they found her on Substack, right? She had massive fucking following. Um, but I say it makes sense because on the live where she spoke about this, there were 6,000 people on it.
Um, and it's, it's. You can't, like, where else can you do that? I mean, you could probably do it on YouTube. Um, but it's not like all in one place where it's like, oh, and her readings and all the things are there. Um, and she collabed with this guy, Steve, I think his name is Steve Vladeck. Um, and maybe he has a big following, I dunno, I didn't know him before, but she's, he seemed like a friend of hers either way.
Um, that's where it was hosted. Um, all that to say, go check out the episode that I did on. Should you start a Substack spoiler? No, but listen to the episode. You can decide for yourself. Um, but at the end of that live. She basically answered the question, which is like, what can we even do as individuals, right?
It feels, we feel hopeless. This feels huge. It feels overwhelming. It feels, things just feel futile. What can we do? And one of the things she said was to figure out your thing and then lean in. Right? In this case, she was, or in that case, she was largely talking about advocacy and, you know, participatory democracy.
Um. And this idea of like, when everything needs to be protected, when we feel like everything is like actually being stripped away, what should we fight for? Uh, and the answer is your thing, right? You cannot care about all of the things you gotta figure out. Like her thing is education, right? You gotta figure out what your thing is and lean in, right?
And this, this advice really landed with me and, and definitely in more ways than one, right? But what I wanna focus on today largely is the. Kind of subsequent question of like, well, what if you don't know what your thing is? Right? Because that definitely landed with me, right? As a business coach, I stay encouraging people to niche down, which is another way of saying, what's your thing?
Okay? And now go all in on that, right? I, when I ask people to do this, you know, in my intensive, I, I preface it by saying that for many people, it will likely be the hardest thing that I ever ask them to do or that they're ever asked to do. Pick one thing, uh, myself included in some ways, right? I've always said that folks like Courtney Conley and that she's gate happens.
They are quote unquote luckier. And I say luckier without taking a single fucking thing away from all of the hard work, like incredibly hard worker. But I say lucky in that she's like, I like feet. Feet are my thing, and she's all in on it. And she's fucking been all in it, been all in on it. For a really long time now it's still a thing and I'm like, geez, that's like wow.
Right. So I use lucky in this very like quotations and like this, like that to me feels like a simpler. Path of like, this is your thing. Okay, go all in on it. There's no like, oh, I like this, like this. Like, and I like the other thing, I, I do fall into that category in, in many ways because I'm like, once I have a thing, I'm just like, okay, I'm in on it.
I don't have like a million ideas always coming to me where I'm like, oh, I gotta pick that and that. And I do believe that it's easier for me than for someone that's like a true ideator, um, the name I'm gonna bring up. And I, um. I'm gonna bring up later in the episode is Allegra, she's a true ideator.
Like she always says ideas like, I could do this. I could do this thing. I could do this thing. That's not me. I'm not sitting here with a million fucking ideas. And even when I'm gonna launch something, it's really just like one idea comes and I'm like, well, that's the thing, like. Simple. So that is why I say that, you know, there's a lucky or she's luckier and, and it's simpler.
Like, because I do, I'm saying that from a place of like, I experienced that and I look at my counterparts who have a million ideas and don't know where to start, or like, oh, this and this thing, and it, it feels like I have a bit of an easier path with that, right? But. Flip side of this is that I do know that I attract, you know, the niche list or multi-passionate people, right?
Because those, those are different, but I'm gonna like, kind of lump together, but they're different. Um, and because that's me, right? On the one hand, like I said, I'm very good at sticking to something, sticking to one thing, right? If it works, I'm gonna keep doing it. I don't have a ton of ideas. And when I have the idea, I'm like, all right, cool.
I'm gonna keep doing it. I'm very process oriented. I don't set goals. I don't need to like, have something on the calendar to chase after, go after, or strive for. That is not me at all. Right? But when it comes to my profession and my career, I pretty much just be doing things that serve as vehicles to help people build, you know, live and build their best lives.
Right? So while that is my thing, right? Live, build and live your best life. My transformational vehicle has changed, right? First it was pt, then it was a movement education, then it was Instagram, then it was online business, right? I have these more tangible things that act as, you know, serve as a mouthpiece for more of these, for more of this like, you know, intangible, live your best life kind of thing, which is largely underpinned by this idea of authenticity and self-expression.
But these are things that are like kind of can be kind of hard to like market and message. So I understand when I attract and why I attract people who have things that are. Hard to market and message. Right. I empathize with you. So whatever the right word is, I I get it a hundred percent. I get it. And I understand when folks are like, they don't know what their thing is, they don't know how to articulate it.
I, action item wise, what I would suggest, right? So that this not there's anything wrong with having an episode or all the episodes be more about, you know, my thoughts and musics, um, action item wise. So, because I don't wanna just be like, okay, then I hear you and then nothing. Um, what I would suggest is.
Consider taking some time to actually sit and think about what your thing is. And so some of you, you're like, mare, that's all I fucking do. It's fine. But for others, I, I always take what serve you, leave the rest for others, perhaps. You never asked and asked, you never actually sat and thought like, what is my thing?
What do I care about? What do I, what do I like? Right. And you know, particularly just tying from the, from what I said before, particularly from an advocacy, you know, thing, if you're sitting there feeling hopeless with all this shit that is going on. In the United States, what do you care about? Please don't shame yourself for not caring about something else.
You can't care about all the things. I've done episodes about this, right? You can't care about all the things, right? So what do you care about the most? Go Google that thing. Who's doing something about that thing with that thing that you care about? And then go and join them. That's literally the best action item as it relates to advocacy and Yes, like this is, I used that phrase before, participatory democracy.
That's what's happening. Like, you have to participate sucky. I know. Maybe you'd rather be doing something else. Well, that's, that's not where we're at. Right. From a career perspective, right. As it relates to figuring out your, your thing, I have a few ideas, right. Number one. Let's make peace with the fact that this shit can take time and that's okay, right?
It could take a really long time to figure out what your thing is, and that is okay. Can't rush it, right? And the time's gonna pass anyway. So just let's try and make peace with that. The second thing, I've mentioned this before and I, I leaned into this, um, and think it's pretty cool, is AI right? This from a, like e uh, what is it?
Execution perspective kind of leans into the, like the figuring out what you're good at, um, perhaps more so than what your thing is. But it's nice to start off with what your thi what you're good at. Try that and have that maybe become your thing, right? But like, if you hate ai, don't use it. Right? I have made peace with the fact that it is using me, so I'm gonna use it back, right?
Though I am. If anyone listening to this has any information or suggestions about mitigating the environmental impact, I am all ears. Like, please message me, text me, DM me, text me 3 1 0 7 3 7 2 3 4 5. Like, I'm all ears around that because I do, I do absolutely like using it. Um, but. The way that I suggest using it to figure out what you get at is to basically share all of your shit with it.
Not like your passwords. Right? Right. And then ask what you're good at. So what, what I mean when I say share all your shit is the things that you create, right? Emails that you're sending to your people. Outlines for things like outlines for these podcast episodes, any notes that you're taking, captions that you make for social media, post sales, page copy, website copy, all of those things.
It's your voice. Share it right. Share the questions that you wanna research. Have it help you out with that. Share the things that you just have questions about, the things that you're just thinking. Share it with. Yes, I get it. Sharing with the robot. Sharing with, yeah. If you don't wanna do it, don't do it.
For those of you that are like, yeah, maybe share all these things, I. You can literally just submit stuff with in, in YBT. So that's my preferred one. Use whatever you want, right? You can just submit stuff. You don't have to ask it for feedback. You don't have to ask it to change it. You can just be like, Hey, I want you to learn about me.
Here's my stuff. It will prompt you. I actually had a discussion with it last night because I was like, why do you always prompt me like you're trying to take my money? Like, what the fuck? And I was trying to be like, why? Why the prompt? And it makes sense. It was like, we want you to, because I was like, ultimately you want me to use it more?
And it was just like, yeah. But not to like steal shit from you. We like the goal is to have a better user experience. So that you keep using it and then you keep paying for it. Like that's the monetary 'cause. It is. It's not like I, they're not like you get paid, like they get paid per query that you put in there.
It's per month that you sign up. And it makes sense that if you're, if a thing is helpful, you're gonna stay on for more months. Right. So I'm saying this 'cause if you use it at the end, it doesn't just give you an answer, it prompts you. It's like, would you like me to do X, Y, Z for it with this thing you asked me to do?
Uh, so. All that to say, you don't have to ask it to do anything, it will prompt you, but you can just say no. Right? You can just put it in there and be like, Hey, I just want you to learn about me, learn my voice, learn what I'm interested in, and then after that you can, right, because basically what you're doing is you're, you're creating dataset and then you're asking it to analyze it, and you can say, what am I good at?
You can go farther or further and be like, what career recommendations do you have based on what you see that I'm good at? What are ways to monetize this? Right. The sky's the limit. What I want you to understand is that just the idea of inputting a data set for it to analyze, alright? So that is one thing you can, that you can do.
I actually just had a um, workshop that I did for Jill's, FBA folks and I had them, I didn't have 'em 'cause I suggested it and some of 'em did it while we were on the call and they were just like, yo, this is awesome. And I was like, that's great. You know, if it sucks. Okay. But also it is, I'm just throwing out suggestions here.
The third thought that I have around figuring out your thing, and this is what was inspired by the conversation with Allegra, um, and something that I'm currently like going through is to embrace seasonality. Right? One of the issues that I've always had with just advice that's on the interwebs is that people often don't say what season of life they're in, and that is huge.
It's, there's a huge omission there, right? Someone who is in the reaping season. Is that right? Yes. Someone who's in the reaping season maybe isn't necessarily the best person to be giving advice to someone who's in the sewing season. Right. Particularly if they're not including the context that in their advice.
Right. You know, Jade says it easy is earned. And so like I I'm watching is like the next wave of advice that's given is like to slow down, enjoy. Yes. And. The example I always use and the, the metaphor I use is surfing. Like, you can't ride the waves until you fucking paddle out there. So like, yeah, I can give you advice and be like, yo, man, just, just ride the waves.
It's so good. But if the person's on the beach and they don't know how to swim, not helpful. Right. Not helpful advice. So. I personally have five year cycles for things, and at the end of that five years, I'm just like, Hmm, what's next? Right? This ties into the seasonality that, that in what season of life?
Right? Five year cycles, and then I'm like, what's, what's next? I went all in on online. I went all in with online business in 2020 and now it's 20, 25 folks, and I'm like, what's next? Right? I am also 40, which is also a different season. Um. And not so much in the, like, I have no fucks to give. I, I see that messaging and it's not that I have no fucks to give.
It's more like I don't fucking care about that. Right. I care about plenty of things. Let's, you know, circle back to the beginning of this episode. I'm talking about the update section that I did of like brand practice and syndrome. I care about plenty of things. I don't care about that shit, right? All that to say, right?
All of this to say that. Consistency, right? It can be, and it is. It's important and it's helpful in accomplishing many things, but also, and also your thing is allowed to change, right? The seasons, and I'm not gonna say that your thing should change, like you don't like that word should, but just putting it out there, the permission that you don't need, like your thing is allowed to change and it will probably change with the seasons of your life.
Even, I'm just thinking about like my friend Yani, like, she's like master pickleball player now. Like it's a different season of life for her. Like she's played, you know, collegiate basketball, she's still an athlete, but like the sport has changed. Like I'm into volleyball now as a collegiate, you know, D one, collegiate soccer player.
It changed things changed. Right. This is the parent that I'm thinking about, Joe, right? He was in the season of being on paternity leave and now he's back to work. Suppose the person that's like stayed home with their kids for years, that's a season, and then they go into the next season. Now they're like, okay, the kids are grown up, right?
Your thing is allowed to change, right? The kind of expectation I'm always about expectation management. The expectation management. What I wanna throw out here is that. You are changing your seasons may be at odds with society's expectations in many different ways, right? I'm gonna leave that open-ended for you to decide whether, you know, that's a good thing or bad thing, societally imposed, whatever.
I just wanna put that out there. You know, like people are like, what's the gap on your resume? Like, heaven forbid, right? I, I'm simply putting this out there. Putting that point out there about the fact that you are changing maybe at odds with society's expectations so that you are ready for the possibility that, uh, you know, your decision to be okay with your thing changing may be met with resistance, right?
I just always wanna like, it's the expectation management piece, right? So I'm gonna wrap it up here. Rupert is literally fucking paw at the door. He's been all episode and I'm like gonna go punch him. I love him. I'm not gonna punch him, but I'm gonna go shake him. Uh. The main points of the episode, right?
If you're overwhelmed and wondering what you can do now advocacy wise, right? Take time to figure out your thing, figure out who's already doing it, and then join them as it relates to figuring out your thing, my career, maybe lifewise Number one, give it the time that it takes. Number two, consider leaning on AI if you want.
And then number three, most importantly, embrace seasonality and change. Alright. Alright. Don't forget, uh, podcast workshop this Thursday, May 15th, 4:00 PM It'll be in the show notes. Thank you, Courtney. Thank you Jojo. And thank you to all of you for tuning in. I know you could've been doing anything and you're here with me.
Alright, that's all I got for you. Until next time, friends Maestro. Ow.
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