In-Between: New Year New Focusing Techniques

On this week's episode, I share how she's doing so far this year - eh it's been touch and go if we're being honest - HA! We're also talking about uninterrupted focus time and how difficult that is, especially having ADHD. I mentioned a book a few episodes back - Essentialism by Greg McKeown - that I finally finished and wants to share some insight pulled from the book. Specifically, I want to go over his ideas around progress through small gains and focusing on what's important in the moment, what's important now.

This episode is one part funny and two parts about being a badass. Who knows, maybe you'll pick up a tip or two.

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Transcript

Elizabeth: 0:07

Hello. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of the In Between podcast. I'm your host, Elizabeth Cheney. How's it going? If I have any new listeners? Welcome. Very happy to have you here and for everyone else who's been with me on the journey so far. Hey, how's it going? Haven't talked to you in a week or so, Uh, hopefully we are all doing great. We are getting into the second week. It is second week. Yeah, second week of the new year. It's pretty cold and everything is dead outside, so there's that But for those who have been listening, you guys know I love the cold, so I'm not gonna argue with that one. But I hear most people don't like the cold. So I, I, I'll throw you a bone. I get it. It's not ideal, not fun, not motivating. But here we. New year, new US Let me tell you, I'm so different than I was two weeks ago. I don't even know who that woman was last year. You know when like, we're getting closer to the end of the year, December, really probably the last month, right? December. Um, that's the end of the year. Sorry, I had to spell that out for you in case you were confused. Anyways, I love doing the thing where, when you're talking to somebody, and maybe you're not gonna see them until after the new year, especially if it's a work colleague or something like that, and I'll say, I'll see you next year. I don't know, I'll have to get back to you next year on that. And I know it's silly, but I love it. I'm very cheesy if you haven't gathered that already by listening to the podcast. so not sure why I'm bringing that up now. Maybe it's because technically this is the first episode that I've actually recorded in the new year technically. Last week's with Kiki was recorded the last week of December, so I'm just bringing the cheese because it's, you know, new Year, new me. This podcast has changed so much since last year. Not really. If you can catch on, that's the joke. Nothing's changed. It's just two weeks have passed anyways, whatever. I don't know if I am hitting the goal on what I'm trying to say or communicate here, but either way, welcome to the shit show. I mean, welcome to the podcast, Oh goodness. So what's going on new with me? Well, last week Stan was off and it was really nice. I don't think I've ever had a period where he's been off work and I've been working other than during the pandemic when he lost his job. Because, you know everybody was losing their job during the pandemic and it was super unfortunate, but it was still a little different because obviously he was dealing with hella stress of trying to look for a job when there was said no jobs available anyhow. So although that did happen and it is what it is, um, in terms of like him actually being on vacation. Vacation, so minus the stress, this is the first time. And I gotta say, it was nice. It was nice having him just kind of be around to do all the things, I guess you could say. I normally do, but I'm not gonna throw him under the bus. And it's not like that completely. But he was doing chores, he was walking the dog. He was just taking care of everything, and it was nice. I could get used to like a stay-at-home husband type thing. Um, I mean, not gonna happen cuz we need some money. You know what I mean? We ain't rolling in the dope white yet, where that could work, but I'm not gonna lie, it was, it was nice. I've only ever met. One woman whose husband was like a stay-at-home husband, and she was the main breadwinner. She was one of my bosses, um, two jobs ago. And it was, uh, it was interesting. It was cool. I mean, they had a great relationship. I mean, it's the same idea that you would expect for alternate like a a a state home wife versus, you know, a husband. Um, but. It was nice, and the reason I'm saying this on the podcast is to also bring up, it was super nice considering the fact that I had a massive anxiety attack last week. Not fun. Not fun. But the fact that Stan was not preoccupied with work or distracted with meetings or things like that, it was nice to have him kind of be there for me. Not that he's not there for me normally. I'm not trying to say that. Like if something was to happen like this during a work day, like he would be there. But one, I haven't had an anxiety attack like this in a super long time. This is like one, you know, a really major one. And it was toward the end of the day and it was, um, connected or triggered by my, some of my trauma from my car accidents, some things going on with that. It doesn't matter the details, the ins and outs of the actual anxiety attack. It was more just. It's really nice having a partner who has learned how to help when these things happen and just be there, be supportive and love on you and help you in the spiral, so to speak. So, yay for stay-at-home husbands. Um, but really more so yay for supportive husbands, supportive partners and just being there for you when you are not doing so hot. You know, you're just kinda what they call it, anxiety spiraling. Yeah. I'm being funny about it now because, Well if we can't joke about it now. How do we even process it? Right? Self depreciative humor. I'm kidding. That's not what I'm doing here. But, uh, I joke about it because it was serious and it's not fun. And I know I'm not the only one who struggles with that. So I'm just letting you know, for any of my lovely listeners out there who struggle with their own panic attacks, anxiety attacks, no matter how intenses are not, I see you, I feel you, and you are not alone. You are not crazy and you are not less than. Also, I wanna point out, I'm not gonna. Try to say that you think all those things, but in case you do, this is your reminder. You shouldn't and you're not. All right. All right. So no anxiety attacks triggered by trauma, but yay to supportive partners and friends. And if you are dealing with some trauma and things like that, I highly recommend you talk to a therapist, um, because. that shit, that shit, that shit works, that shit slaps. So, um, I'm not trying to really just bypass or ignore or short change anything around trauma. I actually have, um, plans. I'm gonna read this book called The Body Keeps Score, which you probably have already heard of. Um, I've been told about it multiple times from multiple people. and it's about trauma and how it affects the body. And it's, it's supposed to be very fascinating. I plan on reading it in the next couple of months and, you know, your girl is gonna be sharing what she learns. But, um, all that said and done, I do plan on doing more content around trauma PTSDs and just what I'm learning with it and going through the, the process, the woes, and just, we'll see what the book offers as well. Um, so. Looking ahead, that's on the docket for the new year. Very excited. Not sure if I transitioned into that quite well, but there we. Um, I'm also recording with one of my, with one of my friends. Her name's Sherreece, later today. So that will be next week's episode. Super, super excited. Uh, I'm not gonna go into any details right now. I'm gonna save up for the episode, but it's really cool how we met, in my opinion. It's, it's unique and it's just, it's not, I'm not trying to say like, oh, it was fate that we met, but I don't know, like the universe is so interesting in how it works sometimes and I'm really looking forward to bringing her on. She. It's so charismatic. She's so fun. She's like a content creator and we kind of got into this around the same time. So I'm excited to bring her on, bring her energy. So check that out on the pod next week. Um, but yeah, so on that note, the new year is, is going, um, last week, as we've already mentioned, was a little rough for me. Um, but it wasn't even just the panic attack that made it rough. I just had a lot of shitty things going on with a lot of, like, not just with me, but with other people, um, friends, people. I'm very, very close with just a series of unfortunate events, if you will. And I know they say like things happened in threes and I don't think I kept count of how many things happened, but I think it was more than threes. So don't get superstitious or anything that, oh God, shit's going down. No, but I am just saying, Hmm, check on your people. You don't know what people are going through and you know, not to say that you need to know what someone's going through, but it's always important to check in, even just to say, Hey girl. Hey dude, love you. Hope you're having a good week. Hope this text, this, email, this, whatever finds you well. Here's a funny gift. Here's a funny meme. Hope you and your, you and your boo are doing well. I don't know, just something. Just check in because after all the shit going on last week, That I was going through, I had some close friends go through some shitty shit and uh, some really shitty shit to be honest. And it's just, hmm, I don't have any reason for it, obviously, cuz I'm not God or the ultimate creator, but I don't understand why bad, horrible things happen to good people, myself included. And I don't mean that narcissistically, I'm just saying damn sometimes the freaking universe really puts it on. and I'm also not gonna sit here and say everything happens for a reason. Cuz sometimes I don't think it does. I don't know. I don't know. But just check on your people. I think that's important. That's all I'm saying here. I mean, plus who doesn't want a little like lovey text message? Who doesn't wanna be reminded that they're being thought of? I know I live for that shit so. This is your sign. Send the text, send the note, send the email. Okay, cool. Glad we're on the same page on that. Another news. I did not do a vision board yet. I know. So funny. I literally said two weeks ago, like on the 2022 recap, I'm gonna do a vision board and like I have everything still listed out and it was like a journal prompt. So I do think that was helpful. Um, I, I think I went over it. Two episodes ago, like what I was gonna do, like it's like kinda looking back the past few months, what worked, what didn't work, what are you taking with you, and then kinda looking ahead for the next few months, but I'm gonna do like the next year. And then also, A few other bigger goals that I wanna manifest wanna make happen in the next two to three years. I still plan to do one cuz I am a visionary learner. I need to see things to kind of figure it out. But, um, part of the issue, which is honestly comical is I couldn't find magazines. Did they even make magazines? Not that I'm like scouring the earth for them, but I went to a couple of grocery stores in the, the Atlanta area, the Atlanta metro area, and um, could not find anything other than a shit ton of cooking magazines in men's. I don't know what that means or what that articulates as a society, but I shit you not, all I could find was food and men's health. And like, you know, gossipy magazines, which I don't wanna do that. So here I am overthinking per usual, how to do a vision board until finally I was like, couldn't I just like, write this stuff out, maybe print a few pictures off the internet, you. something like that. So I'm, I'm still gonna work on that. Still look out for the, the content around it. Hopefully by the end of the week I will have something up. It's definitely on my, my whiteboard as a to-do this week. Um, and not just about, cuz I wanna create content for you all, which, let's be real. I know you're all foaming at the mouth for. But it's more for me, I really do believe in that kind of idea. Like manifest, visualize your goals and, and kind of putting it right there in front of you. It's, it's a reminder and it helps it, it's just a little, a little tick, a little thing that keeps you going, keeps reminding, and you keep putting one foot in front of the other towards. So that's what our plan is. We're gonna do a vision board. It's okay that it didn't happen beginning of the year. And you know what? It's okay if I don't do a vision board until June. It's okay if I don't do a vision board until the end of the year. I would hope I don't do that. I hope I can get it completed before then. But just fyi, there is no, there's no marker, there's no deadline there's no line in the sand that is saying Liz. Your vision board's not done well then screw your goals. Screw your vision. That would be depressing, wouldn't it? Oh gosh. No, no, no, no, no, no. So that's coming. That's coming. And, uh, another thing that I did, which I feel like I've talked about a lot, is, well, first off, let me say this. For those who've been listening, you know, we are wanting to get a house in the new year and for those who are new listeners, hey, guess what? We wanna find out a house in the new year, So that is something that we're gonna start putting kind of our gears towards our focus on priority focus, uh, in the next, you know, month and a half or so. But, our apartment is our current situation, right? You gotta make what's best. You gotta, you know, make what's make best with what you have currently. Because if I live in this mindset of, oh, it's gonna be better when we get the house, or I'm gonna be able to do this when I get the house that's gonna stunt my growth, it's gonna hold me back. And it's also gonna mess with my psyche because it does affect my anxiety, especially when I'm low. It's like those kind of thoughts resurface and remind you or help enforce your life may suck or may help enforce the spiral. Right? So if I'm feeling low about, Hmm. Being overwhelmed at work, right? Well then if I'm already keeping the narrative of like, oh God, my, I hate the apartment, I can't wait for a house, because then I'll have. Base to do X, Y, Z element of P well then I'm gonna feel even more stressed or, or kind of frustrated, frazzled, if you will in the apartment because I've now a associated, the apartment sucks and I'm not having a good day at work. So then it just compounds. You see, like I know I'm not a psychologist and I'm not trying to offer like actual like. Tell you what to do. I mean, take what I say with a grain of salt. Do your own research. Right? Right. But to me, that is kind of, that is one of the things that will trigger a spiral. Um, not necessarily a huge bad spiral like the one I had last week, but just, you know, those intrusive negative thoughts. Anyways, where am I going with this? So looking for a house, right? I've talked about the apartment being small and just kind of having to deal with the current circumstances, but accepting them and recognizing that it's okay. Well, I was thinking to myself last week, Especially after the anxiety attack and just like, oh God, what can I do to make, to help kind of buffer any other outside triggers or things that might make me anxious or overwhelmed. And I've, I've been looking at my office and it's the space that I create in. It's not just where I work, it's, it's where I record. And I, I do wanna get into more video stuff, which I've started to do, especially with remote guests, but I wanna get into it with just me. Right. Um, I redid my office. I did it. I did it. You guys, I spent like eight hours on Sunday redoing everything. I went and bought these shelves in my Kia that I've been wanting to do, got the actual right size bracket to hang them on the wall. And I spent, like I said, eight hours doing it. Stan helped me hang the stuff and as I was reorganizing and getting everything ready to go, the last thing to do was to like move my desk cuz I, I moved where it was placed in the room. So once I updated and organized everything, I was like, Hey, I move the desk. This is the last. as I am rotating my desk. And I get it into position, right? And, and where it's placed is kind of in, uh, in front of my, my bookcase, my bookshelves. I felt a physical change. Like I felt little tingles. When I moved the, the desk. It was like, it was like I moved the chest piece, right? And I felt this calm, I felt this peace I felt. Ah, this is how I need to set up this. And of course I'm sitting here going, damn, wish I could have done this six months ago. Maybe would've saved myself a few spirals because I wouldn't have been also, you know, overwhelmed by my space, feeling cluttered. But hey, Doesn't matter. Even here nor there. It's the fact that I did it because I was like, screw it. Even if we're here for two and a half months, that's two and a half months of opportunity. It's two and a half months of me to do stuff. I'm gonna focus and do this cuz it's gonna make me feel better, even though of course I have a to-do list a mile long. This is still something that was on my to-do list and the difference in my energy and stress, just being in this organized space, oh my god, it is crazy. So I am telling. That if you are not cool with your space, if you feel like, ugh, this is is just not ideal, it is worth the effort. Even if it's just a little, you can only do a little bit. You could only make a few small changes. It is worth the effort to do that. Get a cheap shelf in Ikea hanging on the wall. Put your shit in it. get this stuff off the wall, prioritize that. I, I, I, I know nothing about Feng shui, but I can tell you that there is probably something to it, given how I felt when I organized this room. I mean, it's night and day difference. I'm, you know what I mean? I even look for a house at this point, Just kidding. Just kidding. I'm not gonna gaslight myself into that, but point. The place slaps. I'm feeling it. I'm loving it. Um, when I record tonight's guest, it's gonna be, uh, she's remote cuz she lives in Baltimore. So we will be doing videos. You'll be able to see it next week. Check out the new background. It's not that gray drab, it's now gonna be cool. Colorful bookshelves, but change in space. Uh, really, it really helps. Again, I am still kind of kicking myself that I didn't do this sooner, but we live, we learn, and then we talk about it on the podcast. Is that right? That is right. But on that note of doing the damn thing, I'm very proud of myself. Um, the effort, the focus time. I also finished that book, I was reading Essentialism, which I talked about a few episodes ago, and then I also posted it on my story. I think it was yesterday, I can't remember. But Anyhoo, uh, is called Essentialism by Greg McCowen, and it's the Discipline Pursuit of Les. I loved it. Highly recommend and it's, it's something to apply to your work life, but it's also. I think something you can apply to your personal life. And I think he does a good job of kind of talking about both sides of that with his whole spiel about what it is to be essential, how to be an essentialist. Um, but there were a few takeaways that I really wanted to call out on the podcast cuz I think it'd be very helpful for others listening. And the reason why I'm tying this into the whole room thing, it's less about your space and keeping that in a, you know, organized fashion so you don't feel overwhelmed. Yes, that's important. What I'm talking about is the focus time, the focus, the energy not being distracted by other things. So one thing I wanna mention is, um, I, well I, I know you guys know this, but I have ADHD I'm sure a lot of people do. And I have been learning more about how that plays into my everyday how. You know, my idea or definition of what an intrusive thought was is kind of like an anxiety spiral, like where that negative voice in your head starts coming in and is like, oh, you're not good enough for this reason, and then it just compounds and boom, boom, boom. You're a mess. You're insecure, you're anxious, you are just not feeling a hundred percent, you're not doing great. That is intrusive thoughts spiral. But with adhd there is, and I have no idea. These are like actual terms. This is just stuff that my therapist has said. Um, the adhd, there's like intrusive thoughts and it's hard to complete tasks. It's not that I can't do my shit, but it's like, I'll give you an example. I'm sitting here gonna record the podcast, but in the back of my head, I know there is laundry that needs to be folded. So what I will do is I will literally get all my equipment ready to go get like set up. I'm about to record, I've listed out how I want the episode to flow, kind of my notes, my bullets, and then I'm like, oh, wait, that laundry, let me go fold the laundry really quick. Now, mind you, I am sitting down, ready to record. I will stop because it's like, oop, catch. It's like a little. In my brain that I have to go fold the laundry and then I can go, I can come and record cuz I'm not gonna, anything distract me. Well, where do you think that lands, um, first it's laundry? Well then it's the dishes and then it's like me vacuum and then it's, let me play with my dog and then let, let's, let me take the, the boxes to the, the cardboard recycling area in the apartment. Have I recorded the podcast yet? Nope. Well, how much time has passed? Two hours. Am I a little exhausted now? Kind of. But it happens and it happens so often, so I'm trying to be more mindful of that intrusive thought, if you will, with the A D H D. And yes, of course, I'm still being mindful of the intrusive thoughts with my anxiety spiral, which they are both similar. Like my therapist has explained that ADHD can kind of help both, but I am trying to point out the difference. So you got one anxiety spiral that's super negative, and then you kinda have the intrusive thoughts of like your tasks being interrupted. Right? Right. Okay. So even if you're not ADHD or anxious, maybe you still have that problem and you deal with that sometimes. So this will still be good advice for you. So with this essentialist book, one of the, the chapters of the end, the first one I wanna mention, the chapter's called Progress. And it's about the power of small, small gain. All right. And I have talked about this off and on throughout the podcast, but especially even with me starting the podcast, um, starting is so hard. Starting anything is so hard. It seems easy in theory, but it is so hard to start now. Once you start, it's gonna, it's like freaking 50 times easier. I'm not saying it's still easy, easy, but. It is gonna, you, you are not gonna be held back to, to start as, as hard as it was. So I literally had to have a girlfriend be like, girl, just freaking record something. Even if it's nine minutes. So if you go back and listen to the very, very, very, very, very first episode, it's called in between Draft mode. That was real. Raw footage. Footage. I don't know why I said footage. I guess it's considered footage. No, cuz it's not video. Anyways, whatever audio real. Audio of my first podcast that I ever recorded, and I talk about the fear of just like, what the hell am I doing? I'm just gonna start. I don't know where this is gonna go. You're gonna grow with me, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But you start small. Part of the reason I struggled with starting also, and I'm sure anyone can relate, that starting any kind of endeavor, whether it's a creative project, it's a business, whatever the case. You see other people doing what you wanna do, and you see they have the whole kit banging caboodle. They've got promo images, they've got a website, they've got icons, they've got a logo, they've got a product, they've got white papers, whatever the hell, they've got collaborations, they've got endorsements. It's overwhelming. You think you have to have it all together. At least that's what I did. But that's not how it works. And you know, it'll be a year in May that I publicly announced the podcast. But technically I started in March, end of February. I can't remember, um, where I was just kind of releasing it for myself and, and getting it, it to my, my inner circles. Um, let me tell you, start small because everything else will come. I am still not where I thought I needed to be. I don't have a, a website yet, but that's on my docket for the, in the, the first three months of the. Um, I do have a logo and I have icons and I have branding, and, and Canva really helps with that. Um, I'm getting better now with video content and really kind of embracing more types of content to put out there. Like, I mean, we're almost at a year now. It takes time. So the first thing, this book, it's not the first thing the book talks about, but the first thing I wanna call out special on the podcast about this book Essentialism, which I still think you should read. Side note. It talks about progress and its small gains add up over time. And I don't know if you've heard of the book Atomic Habits, another fantastic book. Love that book, but he talks about that as well in terms of building habits, like start small. Um, you wanna be a writer. Well spend five minutes writing. You can give yourself five minutes. Maybe you're like me. You're like, oh, well five minutes is not gonna get anything. Like, let me, I need at least 10. But then now you told yourself you need 10. And when is the opportunity for 10 minutes gonna come up? It's so hard to start. So start with five minutes, start with two sentences. Give yourself a low barrier to entry so that you can actually enter and then feel good about it and not feel like shit because, well, you told yourself you needed to 10, not five, and then something happened and you couldn't get to it. Start small. I know I am talking about this as if I am just. Great at it. I am Top Dog. I'm writing a book, how To Start Small by Elizabeth. Um, but I'm not like, it's definitely something that I have to work on, um, constantly where I, at least in checking myself and not getting caught up in, oh God, I gotta have all this. Oh God, this person has hundreds of thousands of followers. La la la la. I'll get there cuz I look at how far I've come in just a year on top of all the other shit I'm doing. I don't know, working a nine to five job. Having a husband, having a pup, having family, having friends, cleaning, taking care of myself, like there's still all this other life shit. So we start small. We have small gains. Okay. All right. The second thing I wanna talk about from this book, the chapter is called Focus, and this is gonna tie back into the room, organizing the room in the focus time. Okay. So while I was off work the last week of December, I had so much time of undisturbed focus. like, I am so proud of myself because that shit's hard too. Um, because like talk about those distractions. The adhd, the, oh, the tasks. Let me go do the laundry. Let me go do this. That was really hard when I didn't have the job distraction. So for me to focus just on the in between and research and doing this and doing that, it was like, okay, I don't have a clear plan or a clear like, I need to do X, Y, Z. Element, element. O p of course, like I know I gotta do certain things, but it's not like there's a, a rule book telling me, okay, step one part A, you know, here's your IKEA instructions on how to put this together, how to build your life, right? So I had the focus time and it felt really good and I had to constantly, like throughout the day, like remind myself, okay, the laundry will be fine. I'll go fold that in a second. I'm gonna focus on this cuz this is what matters. And that's what this chapter is talking about. In the book, it talks about focusing on what matters. The example he talked about is he's talking about his wife and, and how they would meet for lunch once a week. They would make sure they'd get lunch together once a week and they made a, a pact to not talk about work and stuff. It would just be about the present. It would be about their day so far, but not work. It'd be about the kids. It'd be about just the. And they started doing this and it kept him clearheaded, it kept him focused. Um, he wasn't distracted by work thoughts cuz when you start talking about work, you start thinking about other things. He was in the moment with his wife talking about his person and her person, right. And then what their kids were doing, you know, what their plan was that evening for dinner. So to. So he goes into work and he still has that focus. He doesn't have these intrusive thoughts. Um, he can focus on the project, he can focus on the work. He's not thinking about, oh, well, let me respond to that email from yesterday. Oh, let me, let me do this. Let me do that. No, he's going in to do the one main thing, which is there was a project or some kind of meeting coming up that he had to focus on, and he talks about, Living in the moment, being in the present and kind of blocking those intrusive thoughts. And we're not talking about those anxiety spiral thoughts. We're talking about those, let's call them the tasks, the, the work thoughts, the just the, your brain constantly going a mile, a thousand miles a minute and not slowing down and just feeling like you've got to. Quiet. The chaos inside. It helped him focus by blocking that noise out. Now I struggle with the a thousand miles a minute. The thoughts, right? ADHD does not freaking help. Well, I'm sure part of this comes from just the general, even if it's small, supple awareness I've gained and kind of trying to combat these intrusive thoughts when they happen, especially with tasks. But as I read this book, I was like, before I started working on the room, I thought to myself, okay, I see what he's saying here. I struggle with this. I am going to be in the present and I'm gonna focus on this room because I know this is gonna give me peace. It's gonna make me feel more grounded. It's gonna gimme foundation. Whether I'm here a month and a half, two and a half months, three months, who gives a crap? Uh, this is important for me and this is what's needed because I need to feel more grounded. Cuz I think I'll feel more focus. and then before I started, I knew, okay, I'm probably gonna get distracted by lots of other thoughts because this is gonna be like a seven to eight hour project, it's gonna take me all day, so I'm gonna need focus time. So I need to already be mentally prepared for distractions, but what matters right now completing this room, because obviously if I start and get halfway done, it's probably gonna be even more chaotic and stressful than it is already, and that's not ideal. So I did. I focused and it was a little difficult here or there, like, you know, that laundry calling your name, so to speak. But I did it and the more the day went on, I had less of a struggle in, in worrying about other thoughts in, in interrupting me. I was able just to focus and I think it also has to do with the fact that that week I was off last week of December, I. Really pushed myself to have such uninterrupted focus time. I probably spent like 25, between 25 and 30 hours that week working on the podcast, which someone listening who's got their own business or something may think, God, that's nothing but like, hello baby steps. People we're getting there. We're working on our shit and we're getting better, more organized. I'm just kidding. Nobody's saying that cuz we all lift each other up here. Right, right. Um, but I. I had that focus time, so I think that helped. But I saw what the focus time does to your mental clarity, no pun intended, your mental focus. So start small. So today's lesson class just kidding. Today's in between is, one, check in on your people. Make sure they're doing okay. Check in with yourself as well. Two. Start small whether that is, like I said, a creative endeavor. You wanna do, um, a creative project, you wanna open a business, you have a business idea. Maybe it's a project at work, maybe it's a home improvement thing you wanna do. It doesn't have to necessarily be a side hustle or a side, agenda. It can just be something you are working on in this moment. Okay, so start small, small gains equal big results, even though you can't see it at this very moment. Trust the process. Trust it'll happen. Start small. Third, focus. Focus on what really matters. Focus on the now. Make your to-do list, and if it's super, super long, then break it in half. What matters right now? because if you keep trying to do a little bit of multiple, multiple things, you're not gonna make the progress that you wanna see, and then you're gonna feel sorry about yourself and feel like shit. And that's not what we wanna do. So focus, be present. And I promise you, you will be shocked at the mental clarity, the, the way you can achieve results. And, and you, you'll just be impressed with yourself in seeing what you can do. I, I honestly, and I still doubt it sometimes a little bit cuz my brain be wilding out sometimes. But I never thought that I could get my brain to shut up and actually focus and not distract me and not self sabotage me. Even if it's not anxiety spiraling, it's just damnit Liz, go fold the socks. It actually does happen. So, highly encourage you to, you know, test yourself. Why? See, see if you can journal about it, reflect on it, see what works, see what didn't. Um, but I do think having the self-awareness is a great first step, and you will be surprised to see the results after the fact. I really wanna get a website up. Obviously I'm not a web designer. I'm gonna have some friends kinda help me with it. Um, but I wanna get it out hopefully by March. And then with that, have um, you know, content that goes along with it. Maybe a newsletter. Hmm. Get you peoples to sign up for someone newsletters and that will be great cuz then I can do some callbacks to past episodes that are relevant. I wanna set that up because I also wanna have an option where you guys can submit like requests for topics. Um, I don't know if we do the voicemail route maybe. I think those are really fun. I love podcasts that have that. Or we do like a question of the week or something. Either way, we are going to get more interactive people. All right. We meaning you and me. All right, so that's on the docket for the new year. Just, again, getting all my ducks in a row, but I'm doing them at my pace. And side note, just to kind of piggyback on everything that I was just talking about in this now website again, a year ago, I thought I had to have all this done, all of this together to launch my podcast, and here I am, rolling it out as I can and I'm really proud and this shit is great, like it is turning into and becoming exactly what I envisioned. That's great. It's gonna take probably another year to even be, yes, with the followers, but also just in branding where I wanna be. So I'm getting back on a soapbox about focus on the now start small, which I am. Me, of course, I'm gonna tie back into that. But also, side note, I got exciting things planned for the in between. So check that out in the near future. And maybe, maybe I can get some kind of rig set up here with the camera and recording myself, cuz it'd be fun. I love the videos, it's fun. Plus I'm pretty, uh, theatrical if you couldn't tell already. So maybe it helps you realize that I'm not crazy watching me versus just listening to me. Oh, and before I forget, just a really funny story. Uh, well go dogs. The UGA won the national championship, which Liz, I didn't know you were a sports gal. I'm not. I still call it costumes when I think the term is uniform. I can't ever call the, the segment of time, the right term, like. Quarter, inning, half. I always call'em the wrong thing, whatever. Uh, but really funny. I saw everyone posting pictures of them in UGA Bulldog swag gear GoDog, and I knew on New Year's Eve because Stan, the guys were like, you know, biting their nails. There was a game with UGA and another team, and I guess there was a near, it was a really close win, so I just thought for whatever reason, everyone's still wearing celebratory gear from the new year. I had no idea what championship games we're at, where we're at with playoffs. Shit, I don't know. I just feel like it's like a brand Rose Bowl. Like it's like, oh, Tostitos Bowl, a Pepsi Arena. Maybe it's like some branded. Game. I have no idea. I didn't realize it was like playoffs. So little did I know. I'm talking to Stan, I was like, Hey, by the way, what's going on with uga? Like, is everyone still so excited from that win? Like a week ago? And he's like, it's probably the championship. And I was like, oh, when's that? And he's like, I don't know. The championship was like 30 minutes from that time. So just just to remind you, um, if you are not a sports person, well you have. A great place to be with the in between because I only knew about a major, major sporting event because everyone on social media was posting pictures. And I was like, huh, what Gibbs? So no point to that story other than keep thriving, keep smiling, and keep just being you because. Life is fun when we are Oh my goodness. Well, if you enjoyed today's episode, I would greatly appreciate it if you could go subscribe, rate, and review wherever you listen to your podcasts. Um, as you all may have heard me say multiple times before, it helps me show up in other places, other directories, uh, plus like, you know, especially if you listen on Spotify and Apple at Google, those are the big ones. A lot of them filter into other places, so it helps there too, and it just helps girl, grow which I love. Um, so appreciate that. And, uh, if you aren't doing this already, you can find me on Instagram at in dot between pod, pod as in podcasts in dot between pod and on TikTok at the in between podcast. So, uh, that's all she. Very excited for next week's guest. I got my girl Sheereece Rowe coming on, so that will be fun. And I will eventually have Lizdoms again, kind of fell off the wagon with that, but hey. That's how, that's how life be sometimes. And that's perfectly okay. We'll get back on the horse. All right everyone, I hope you all have a fabulous rest of your week. Go out there, kick ass, do the damn thing, start small, focus, you know what to do, and I will see you next Wednesday for an all new episode of the In Between podcast. I'm Elizabeth. Stay groovy everyone. Bye.