Penny Casselman [00:00:08]:
Welcome to the Pivot with Passion podcast. Hi. I'm Penny Casselman. I believe everyone is deserving of a phenomenal life, and that life starts when you grab a red marker and claim what you truly desire. Regardless of where you came from, where you're at, or where you think you're headed? Life is what you make of it. And when you learn to pivot with passion, your world explodes with opportunities. Go grab your favorite beverage and let's shake things up as we explore how to pivot with passion. Hello, my friend.
Penny Casselman [00:00:48]:
Welcome. Whether it's morning, afternoon, evening, whenever it is, thank you for choosing to join me this week. Let me check-in. How are you doing? How are you doing? How was your last week? Did it feel good? Was it great? Was it phenomenal? Were you on vacation? So I have to tell you my last week, that was an intense week for me. Not only did I have appointments for activities around my house, so think I had some work done on the outside of the house. I had got a new refrigerator delivered. I got a new security panel installed. So all of those things were happening on top of me finishing my keynote talk and then rehearsing it.
Penny Casselman [00:01:39]:
And then, of course, doing all the other little things that you forget take time. You know, laundry, grocery, catching up with friends, eating, sleeping, you know, all the things. And on Saturday, March 16th, I delivered the keynote that I wrote and finished that week to a room full of 14 people. Holy cow was that massively intensive, not only mentally draining week for me, but also kind of physically. So during this whole process last week, it really got me thinking about this idea that we fill the space that we have. So growing up, and maybe this is something you can relate to as well, we had a bedroom, and that was our domain. That was where our stuff resided, our clothes were housed, where we slept. And for the most part, everything that was near and dear to our heart was in that room.
Penny Casselman [00:02:47]:
Then I went off to college, and it wasn't too much different. Everything I needed was contained in that space. Well, then I go out into the real world, and I get an apartment, which has more space than I have ever had to myself. And what happens? We start to fill it. Right? Oh, this this wall needs a picture. Oh, I need I need an accent pillow for my futon or a rug in my dining room. You know, all these things that you never would have thought of, suddenly you need and you start filling your space. And I thought, isn't that the same with things in our life? I started thinking this talk that I'm doing, I had to put a date on the calendar to keep me focused.
Penny Casselman [00:03:40]:
Because without a date where I was holding myself to account, where I was expected and had announced and invited people to come hear me deliver this talk, I if if I didn't have that date, March 16th, I easily would have found an excuse last week to say, look. I just finished writing this 45 minute talk. I don't have the time to rehearse it enough that I could get up without notes, but I wouldn't let myself off the hook. I knew in advance it was March 16th. And, yes, there were many days that I started to fill my days that were further away from March 16th. So think early March. Oh, let me do this one thing. Let me write this one email.
Penny Casselman [00:04:38]:
Let me straighten up my office. And I put all these smaller things in front of practicing or in front of writing. But I have to tell you, suddenly, last Wednesday, holy cow, did it hit me all at once? I have 3 days. I have 3 days to get focused and get it done. And guess what? Oh, that's right. This girl, I did it. Yes. I did.
Penny Casselman [00:05:06]:
I used notes, and I gave myself the grace to let that be okay. And I like to tell people, even if I would have been given a b minus on this talk, guess what? If I look at the the scales for school, that's still above average. Yeah. Okay. So here's your permission slip. If you are feeling overwhelmed or stressed or burnt out, it's okay if your work is b minus because I guarantee it's still above average. It still gets you to where you need to be, and you will learn and grow from that experience. It's time for a clarity cocktail.
Penny Casselman [00:05:56]:
Today's quote comes from Roman Payne. You must give everything to make your life as beautiful as the dreams that dance in your imagination. That makes me so happy. This quote just makes me happy. You must give everything to make your life as beautiful as the dreams that dance in your imagination. I'm sure you've been exposed to the idea of contrasts. You can't know sadness unless you know joy. You can't know light without dark.
Penny Casselman [00:06:29]:
You can't know youth without old age. Right? In order for us to fully appreciate, we have to have juxtapositions in our life. And when I came across this quote, it made me think, how can the beautiful dreams that dance in your imagination become more vivid? And I thought with new experiences. Right? Not only taking a vacation, but maybe it's picking something different on a menu at a restaurant that you go to all the time. Maybe it is taking a new route to get to your favorite coffee place. Maybe it's trying on a color that you don't normally wear. Anything that gets you out of your comfort zone and experiencing new things offers perspective and juxtaposition to things that you already know. And with that, how much more vibrant can your dreams become? How wild can your imagination run with new input? And having said this, I don't want to fall into the trap of comparison.
Penny Casselman [00:07:43]:
That is not what juxtaposition is about. Right? I can't compare an apple to an orange. You can't do it. They are different colors, different shapes, different textures, smells, everything. They're both fruits, and by themselves are beautiful. They are perfect the way they are. So using contrast, we appreciate things that are different and unique, not compared to each other, but simply an observation. So my friend, what new experience can you tuck in your back pocket this coming week? Can you give yourself a new experience? Something that you can observe that gives you new perspective and helps you take the dreams that dance in your imagination.
Penny Casselman [00:08:37]:
Light them up, make them more real, make them more tangible, more palpable so that as you move forward, those dreams will keep you moving forward towards whatever it is you are after. So go forth, my friend, find a new experience this week and give everything to make your life as beautiful as the dreams that dance in your imagination. And now back to the episode. Cheers. Circling back to this idea of you fill the space that you have, where might you be filling space that isn't really needed? If you're anything like me, when you went to school, how often did you know from the 1st day of class that you were going to have a paper due 2 months later? And how many times did you look at that calendar and say, next week, next week, maybe after this weekend, maybe in 3 days, until it got to the point where you've physically made it so that there was zero time left to do anything else other than the paper. So sometimes it might be procrastination because you just really don't wanna do it. So, of course, you're gonna stack activities in front of your goal or whatever it is you're going after. And my friend, you know what just hit me like a ton of bricks? When I first started this podcast, my goal initially was to have each episode be 35 to 40 minutes.
Penny Casselman [00:10:28]:
And after the first few, I realized, oh, no way was that gonna happen. So I'm coming in pretty good around 20 minutes an episode. But what is so interesting is after my intense week last week and filling the space up that I had, which was not that much in working on my talk, delivering my talk, and then giving myself just some downtime on finding myself right now, not only winging it. In fact, this might be an I'll just apologize right now if this episode has gone off the rails. Please come back, my friend. Give me another chance next week. But I'm doing this with very, very few notes written on 2 index cards. And I am just trying to come up with enough words to get me to the 20 minutes.
Penny Casselman [00:11:28]:
And you know what? That's because I think I should. But guess what? I'm the one that makes the rules. I'm the one that does the podcast. So with that, I'm giving myself some grace this week. Whatever your week looked like last week, give yourself grace or pat yourself on the back for being proud of what you accomplished. Because last week was such an intense week, and this week left me little runway to show up and be truly prepared, I'm giving myself next week off. And I hope you do the same for yourself. If you are feeling stuck, burnt out, or frustrated, take a beat.
Penny Casselman [00:12:11]:
Give yourself some grace. Take a day off. Say no to something, but take care of yourself because that's what I'll be doing next week. And there's a little silver lining here. My friend, this is episode 25, which means there are 24 other episodes. And if you have not had the opportunity yet to catch up or go back and revisit, next week is your chance. Yes. You can thank me later for this short little reprieve for me showing up so that you can get a little bit more, shall we say, pivot in your passion or passion for your pivot? Yeah.
Penny Casselman [00:12:55]:
This girl, your host, will be picking up a red marker, circling a date, and taking it off. I will see you back here in 2 weeks. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, my friend. Thank you for showing up. Thank you for being you, and I look forward to chatting with you again very soon. Friend, thanks for listening to this episode of Pivot with Passion. If you've been feeling stuck, exhausted, or frustrated, this is your permission slip to go grab a red marker and claim the life you desire and deserve. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend and then hop over to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts.
Penny Casselman [00:13:44]:
Because my goal is to put a red marker in everyone's hand, and I need your help to spread the word and make that happen. Until the next episode, go grab a red marker, get excited for your future, and make your first move to pivot with passion.
