Penny Casselman [00:00:00]:
Hello, my friend. I am so excited to be back with you today. Yes. This girl had a much needed week off. I hope that in the gap between last episode and now, you have found some ways to invite fun, playfulness, maybe some productivity into your life. I am thrilled, however, to be back here with you. It feels good to be showing up and sharing this time with you. So, yeah, let's first address the elephant in the room.
Penny Casselman [00:00:33]:
I was on vacation, and it was much needed. I was in 80 degree weather, some days north of 80 degrees by a fair amount. It was a big escape from Cleveland, where right now, all week long, I'm expecting overcast skies, 50 degrees, and rain. So, yes, my brain is still wishful thinking of all the memories I made while I was in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Yes. That is where I went on vacation. I had never been before. It was a beautiful getaway.
Penny Casselman [00:01:10]:
Although I got a lot of sun, I had enough sunscreen on that you probably can't even tell I was anywhere that required sunscreen, which is a good thing for me because I am Casper the ghost. Okay. So, anyway, yeah, let's dive in. Today, I wanna talk about one degree. You may have heard or are familiar with this well, it's a fact. It's not a concept, but a true fact that water at 211 degrees is just hot. You might see a few little air bubbles starting to form, but it's only when it hits 212 degrees does it boil and create steam. One degree difference.
Penny Casselman [00:01:56]:
That's it for water. That's when transformation happens is in that one degree. And so it really got me thinking, how often do we overcomplicate things and find ourselves simmering in a pot of 211 degree water where it's hot, nothing is happening. We can see where we wanna go, but it seems to be taking forever. And we are sitting in the proverbial pot of 211 degree water. And what happens when we do that? We start settling for fine. Nope. It's fine that it's a little warm.
Penny Casselman [00:02:43]:
It's fine that I'm frustrated. It's fine that I'm not getting to the next level, to the next thing, to the next goal. But is it? Because as I just shared, there's only one degree difference between 211 degrees simmering water and 212 degree boiling water. So what would happen if we stop overcomplicating things and settling for that simmering water and instead took that first step. No matter how small, one degree small can change the trajectory of where you're at, create massive transformation. I know. Right? It seems so simple, but I love the parallel to life. Right? How often are we simply one degree away from a phenomenal life? Just one degree.
Penny Casselman [00:03:44]:
Now you may say, Penny, I don't know if I'm 1 degree away. All I know is I'm frustrated. I'm stuck. I'm burnt out. I'm overwhelmed. All the things. My friend, are you just sitting in a pot of 211 degree water? And just one small step, one small choice can result in massive transformation in your life and push you one step closer to phenomenal. The quote today comes from Martha Beck, and it reads, if you'd rather live surrounded by pristine objects than by the traces of happy memories, stay focused on tangible things.
Penny Casselman [00:04:32]:
Otherwise, stop fixating on stuff you can touch and start caring about stuff that touches you. My friend, this quote really hit home for me this past week as I was vacationing because I realized this was one of the few vacations that I've taken where almost nothing new, nothing physically new came home with me. I think I brought home okay. You you can laugh at me, but I brought home a small bag of Puerto Rican coffee because in my mind, I thought, when I have days like, oh, let's say today where it is gray, cold, and rainy, I could brew a pot of Puerto Rican coffee and remind myself of all the wonderful memories that I made while on vacation. And, yes, the second thing I brought home, a churro flavored Kit Kat bar. You know? Because sometimes there's just candy that is made in other countries that you will never find stateside. I'm just guessing that churro KitKat bars are nowhere to be found in Ohio. So I I had those yesterday as a little snack.
Penny Casselman [00:05:49]:
They were quite delicious. I digress. But this was one vacation where I released any expectations that I was going to come home with stuff. My big focus while on vacation was absolutely unplugging. That's why I gave myself off last week from the podcast. It is also why I pretty much, if I looked at email on my phone while on vacation, it was to delete messages. It was not to respond to messages. But I was really focused on making memories because if my house burned down tomorrow, all of the physical, tangible things in my life would be gone.
Penny Casselman [00:06:35]:
But what wouldn't be gone are the memories that I made while on vacation. And nobody can take those away from me. And because San Juan, Puerto Rico was somewhere I'd never been before, I wanted to just soak it all up, take it all in. And the beautiful thing about vacations or going somewhere new, trying something different is that it also gives you new perspectives. I took a tour climbing up a waterfall called El Jipe on the edge of the rainforest in Puerto Rico. And the group I was with, we opted to jump into the base of the waterfall at the end of our tour, not at the beginning. So we hiked up over boulders and stunning vistas, and when we came down, it was time to enjoy the cool water at the bottom. There was a 15 foot rock that several people were jumping off of, And I knew myself well enough that that was not going to be happening for me.
Penny Casselman [00:07:43]:
There's just a pinch too much danger in that, but I did choose to jump into the water beneath from a 1 foot boulder right at the edge. And I will tell you, my friend, I stood on that boulder for about 2 minutes talking myself into, you can do it. You can do it. You can jump it. It's just it's freshwater. It's gonna be a little cold, but this is an experience you've never had before. You've never been here. The likelihood of death is almost 0.
Penny Casselman [00:08:21]:
Jump in experience, and I'm proud to say that I did it. And it took me time to acclimate myself to the idea of what was going to happen, but I did it. And the thing about making new memories, whether it's on vacation or trying a new restaurant or taking a stroll in a park you've never been to or taking a different route to get to the grocery store than you normally do, is that you gain new perspectives that help you as you move through life. So for me, after I successfully talked myself into jumping off this 1 foot boulder into this cold water. 1st, it was amazing. It was refreshing. I felt like a rock star, not because I jumped off a rock, but just because I did it. You know? I did something I didn't think I would do.
Penny Casselman [00:09:17]:
And so when I got back to the hacienda where I was staying, there's a hot tub and beautiful pool. And I have to tell you, going from the hot tub and choosing to then jump into a cold pool for the contrast to then get back into the hot tub, way easier after having jumped off that 1 foot rock into the base of El Jefe. And so my friend, as you move through life, yes, things are important. We need tangible things to live. We need clothes. We need a place to live. We need a car, transportation, etcetera. But remember that memories are things that no one can take away from you.
Penny Casselman [00:09:59]:
There are things that will bring you joy in the future. They will give you contrast and comparison for things you experience going forward. So really cherish those as you move through the rest of this year. And I'll finish by reading the quote once again from Martha Beck. If you'd rather live surrounded by pristine objects than by the traces of happy memories, stay focused on tangible things. Otherwise, stop fixating on stuff you can touch and start caring about stuff that touches you. My friends circling back to this idea of 1 degree change in this stark impact it has on water boiling, but it also has an impact on the nuances in our own life. So I remember back in corporate America, my last job, I remember being overwhelmed and bombarded with emails asking for changes.
Penny Casselman [00:11:01]:
His changes, hers changes, their changes. Nobody could agree on the changes. All I kept getting were changes. They wanted changes yesterday. And in the chaos and influx of these emails, I would, on occasion, more often than I care to admit, lose focus. Right? I had a staff. I had all these emails coming in, had to figure out how to prioritize, and at times, that was nearly impossible because I was so close to it. It was like I was sitting in that 211 degrees of water.
Penny Casselman [00:11:37]:
I was saying it was fine. I was making no progress. It was like treading water. Nothing was happening. And when I finally got to a point where critical mass in my mind and in my inbox happened, one of 2 things would happen. 1, if I, perchance, had a boss, I had more than 1 in my tenure there, but in the event boss was around, for me to go dump all of this stuff on and say, you tell me what to work on. The second thing that might happen, if a boss was not available, then I would just get up and take a walk, go to lunch, do anything to get my mind out of the environment I was in. And what eventually happened, whether I asked my boss or when I came back from walk, lunch, etcetera, all of a sudden, it became crystal clear what I needed to do.
Penny Casselman [00:12:35]:
And I was like, duh. Well, when you're in it, when you're sitting in that 211 degree water, sometimes it's so challenging to find that one degree that's gonna break you through and help you transform the situation or your life into something beyond where you are. And, eventually, what happened is my boss would say, forget about everything and just do this, or I would come back from my walk and go, why was I worrying about things that are due in 3 weeks? I have things that are due in 2 days. So just a little reprieve can give you the insight needed to make that one degree shift. And what happened every time after I had that shift is a cascade of productivity. Because all of a sudden I was able to get laser focused and move forward without the blur and the mediocrity that I was sitting in. Right? I was able to see the one thing I needed to do to break free of that pot of water. So my challenge to you this week is where are you overcomplicating things? Where are you feeling overwhelmed in your life? Where would one degree difference, one step, one choice, one action, where would that lead to transformation and get you out of that 211 degrees simmering pot and jumping out ready to go and be productive.
Penny Casselman [00:14:19]:
Now you may say, Penny, oh, that sounds so good, but I don't have the time. I don't have the money. It's the same excuses. We all come up with the same excuses over and over again. And so my pushback will be, is it true? When you say I don't have time, is that really true? Let's take, for instance, this is top of mind for me because I have 2 rooms that recently had some plaster repair done and now need primed and painted. I'm quite the skilled DIY painter, and I'm taking that on myself. But when I think about painting a room, if I step back and look at the 10,000 foot view, yeah, it is going to take me days to get those rooms painted because it's not just one coat. It's a primer, 2 coats.
Penny Casselman [00:15:06]:
It's trimming out, cutting in all the things that go with painting. If I think about the whole picture, yeah, it's overwhelming, and I would sit in that simmering pot of water and take no action because it seems too big. However, what is one degree that I could take to help move beyond the simmering pot into boiling? Well, I haven't picked a color yet. So picking a color would take me okay. I was gonna say 5 minutes. Let's just say 15 minutes to pick a color. I'm pretty quick and decisive when it comes to these things with paint. But if I do nothing else today, that gets me moving beyond simmering in a pot of fine.
Penny Casselman [00:15:51]:
I'll get to it sometime. So many things in our life don't require 5 days, 3 days, 5 hours of effort. Sometimes to move things forward, it takes just that little step to move into a mode of transportation and into a mode of transformation and maybe transportation if you're need to drive somewhere and productivity. Right? So where are you over complicating things? Where could one degree change in what you're doing, how you're approaching things make a difference? Because a phenomenal life, my friend, is not one where you're stewing in 2 111 degree water saying it's fine. What are those one degree choices that can lead you to massive transformation and get you moving from a fine life into a phenomenal one? So my final thought for you today is know that you are worth the effort to push yourself out of that 211 degree pot of fine. I want you to feel empowered to take that one degree step, that one degree choice. Because that one small action that you choose to make today, tomorrow, this week will move your life one degree closer to transformational and phenomenal. My friend, I cannot wait to hear what your one degree thing was this week.
Penny Casselman [00:17:34]:
Hit me up on Instagram. Shoot me an email. As always, I'd love to hear from you. Thanks for being patient while I went on vacation last week. I'm so happy to be back. Go forth, make memories, and choose that one degree.
