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]:
Thank you so much for inviting me into your ears today. Wherever you are listening from, I don't take it lightly that you push play today means you're showing up for yourself, and I'm excited to go on this journey with you. So let me start with a question. How did your last week end? Did you feel accomplished? Did you feel empowered? Were you excited about the month, or did you feel like you fell short? Were you beating yourself up over things that maybe didn't matter or you had misprioritized? And then how are you feeling this week? We are halfway through, happy hump day, where you've got enough hindsight to see where things are headed, but just enough time to make corrective action if necessary. So the reason I pose these two questions is because this weekend, I posed those same questions to myself because I wasn't using my planner. Now I am old school. I started my corporate career and went to a 2 day training to learn how to use Franklin Covey's day timer. It was eye opening.
Penny Casselman [00:02:06]:
It was amazing. My mind was blown. I was so meticulous with planning and scheduling and getting things done. However, what I started to find over the past 6 weeks is I was not showing up and being mindful and intentional with my weekly planning. What I found is that at at the end of every week, I was just beating myself up over and over and over. And finally, I had to stop the madness and say, what's really going on? Why am I not using my planner? Because it's always been a priority for me to kind of know where I'm headed for the next week and what I want to accomplish. Things I struggle with all the time, my whole life, even though I'm committed to being a better version of myself every day, every week, man, do some of these things still get challenging even for me. So although I was thinking it was a priority, I would get to the end of each day.
Penny Casselman [00:03:13]:
And on days that I was super tired or I had chosen to do lots of other things instead of plan my next day, I kinda say, well, I'll do it in the morning. I'll skip it tonight. I'll do it in the morning. Well, you guessed it. I'd wake up the next day, start my morning, and just wing it without using my planner. And what I finally realized was that I needed to correct what my planner meant to me and how I was treating it. Yes. I said it was a priority, but now I am calling it a nonnegotiable.
Penny Casselman [00:03:54]:
And that's what I wanna talk about today. Are you beating yourself up at the end of the week or the beginning of the week for things that you said you wanted to do, didn't get around to, and you're finding this pattern where it's happening over and over and over again. And whether that is, in my case, using my planner on a daily basis so that I stay focused. Maybe it's working out for you. Maybe it is eating clean for you. Maybe it is spending time with friends or children or family. If you find yourself in any area of your life at the end of the week, beating yourself up because you didn't do something, maybe that's a clue that instead of calling it a priority, call it a nonnegotiable. So here's a perfect example.
Penny Casselman [00:04:51]:
If you've been with me for a little while, you'll know that recently I went on vacation, and one of my absolute nonnegotiables for this vacation was that it has to have a king bed. I know. First world problems, I get it. If I was going to a 3rd world country or somewhere that hadn't been introduced to king-size beds, I might make an exception. But I went to Puerto Rico. I know they have king beds, and that was a deal breaker for me. There was any room that said, oh, look at this great ocean view. Look at this great whatever.
Penny Casselman [00:05:28]:
But you have queen bed. No. Hard pass. Gosh darn it. I got my king bed for that week. So yay. But that's probably one silly example, but it was a nonnegotiable because I need my room when I sleep. And sleep is so important because I don't get a lot of good sleep.
Penny Casselman [00:05:48]:
I digress. What I wanna walk through today in this episode is really how can we stop beating ourself up week over week over week for things that we didn't get done that we really wanted to get done. Because I want you, like me, to start rushing your goals. Start crushing whatever it is in life that you are going after, whether it's a better relationship with your spouse, with your kids, with your family, maybe it's a promotion, maybe it's getting your house ready to sell. Whatever it is, I want you crushing your goals because I wanna crush my goals this year, and I'd love to take you along with me. So let's do this. I said this before numerous times, but I will say it again here. Life isn't about what happens to you.
Penny Casselman [00:06:40]:
It's about what you do with what you're given. And I think that's a perfect reframe of shifting something from a priority into a nonnegotiable. It's time for a clarity cocktail. Okay, my friend. Are you ready for this week's clarity cocktail? I know I am. I went searching for something that really resonated with me, and my hope is that it does the same for you, but here we go. Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of you doing it. The time will pass anyway.
Penny Casselman [00:07:22]:
We might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use, Earl Nightingale. This is probably the longest clarity cocktail I've ever shared, so I'm just gonna read it again a little faster. Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of you doing it. The time will pass anyway. We might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use. I love this quote. And I know I say that about every quote that I share, but I'm a quote junkie, so I kinda love any that I share. Okay.
Penny Casselman [00:07:58]:
This is very relevant to me because it exactly describes when I was pursuing my MBA. I was a year and a half into the 3 year program. And because I did not have a business undergraduate degree, I had to take classes that other people in business took in undergrad. But I remember getting to the halfway point through the program, and I was burnt to a crisp. We, don't know what possessed me to register myself for 12 credit hours when I was working a full time job, but I did it. And as a result, found myself crying about 4 out of 7 nights because I was overwhelmed, tired, pulled thin. I had a long drive to get where I went to school, long drive to work, a culmination of all these things that I put in place, I remember thinking to myself, you are halfway through. I could quit.
Penny Casselman [00:09:00]:
Yes. But I didn't really want to quit, but part of me really did want to quit. But I thought about I've invested a year and a half of my time, effort, money, focus into this degree. I'm halfway through. I have 18 months left. And whether I go to school and finish the degree or not, 18 months will pass. And since up until that point, my life had been consumed with work and school, work and school, I started thinking, what would I do with all the time that I spend in school? I might as well keep going. And that drive, that idea, that regardless of the time, it's gonna pass.
Penny Casselman [00:09:46]:
I can't stop time. I can only choose where I invest to focus. And whether I sat at home and watch TV for 18 months if I quit or if I finished it off and made slightly better choices with what classes I was taking. Like the quote says, we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use. And so I can stand here today and say that 3 years after I started the program, I finished. Yes. And my friend, if you find yourself trudging along, it doesn't even have to be towards a degree. It could be I don't know.
Penny Casselman [00:10:31]:
What would you I'm failing to come up with a good example right now, but whatever it is you are working on in your life, whether you continue to work on it or don't, the same amount of time is gonna pass. If you find yourself pausing to reflect and trying to choose a path forward, whether you continue to pursue or not, tuck this one in your back pocket and sit with it for a little bit. And here it is again. Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something Stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway. We might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use. Earl Nightingale. And now back to the episode.
Penny Casselman [00:11:23]:
Cheers. Circling back to the idea of nonnegotiables, know this right from the start. It will require you to get uncomfortable. And as an example, looking at places to stay in Puerto Rico, there were some that came up that looked amazing. The interior was extremely artistic. It was tucked away. You had a private this and a little that, but the only rooms available had queen beds. And I said no.
Penny Casselman [00:11:56]:
Honestly, I was like, hard pass on that because I had the belief that there were places in Puerto Rico that were available and had king beds. So, yeah, I had to get maybe a little uncomfortable in turning down this beautiful space knowing that there was something out there waiting for me that would meet my nonnegotiable for a bed size. I know, my friends, first world problem, this is not lost on me, but just hang with me. When I declared that nonnegotiable, I knew myself. And that's the other thing. When you move forward to choose a nonnegotiable, understand how you operate, what causes stress, anxiety, frustration, joy, happiness. You know yourself at this point. So a nonnegotiable should keep you in alignment with what has you feeling the best, showing up for yourself, and being true to yourself.
Penny Casselman [00:13:04]:
And I knew that if I had a week in a queen bed, I would be uncomfortable. I wouldn't sleep well. I'd probably have slight anxiety because I would be lacking sleep and could not enjoy my vacation to its fullest. So knowing that about myself, I was firm in my commitment to make that a nonnegotiable. So getting back to my planner dilemma recently, I liken to how I was showing up to a 5 year old. Now I don't have children, but I certainly babysat a whole hell of a lot when I was growing up, and it would never fail. When it was time for kids to go to bed or brush their teeth or take a bath, that could elicit all kinds of reactions. Right? I don't wanna.
Penny Casselman [00:13:59]:
Do I have to? No. Maybe they'd run off and hide. Maybe they would pick a fight. Maybe they would throw a tantrum on the floor. However, their parents had thrown down a nonnegotiable for the kids. You will go to bed, and before that, you will brush your teeth and take a bath. So in the end, as much fighting as the kids put up, it was a nonnegotiable for those things to happen. Like I mentioned in a previous clarity cocktail, just do it as an adult.
Penny Casselman [00:14:35]:
Because bemoaning the act, which exactly I was doing with this planner, I would get to the end of the day and go like, oh, I'm so tired. I don't wanna put any effort into my planner, and I go to bed. In the moment, it would feel good. Right? Be like, yes. I gave myself some grace. I don't have to do it. But then come the end of the week, and it was the lashing that started, why didn't you do it? Why did you fail? And you get to a point where enough is enough. I either need to make it a nonnegotiable or drop it as a priority.
Penny Casselman [00:15:14]:
Because when you declare a nonnegotiable, it's really a red marker moment. Because in that declaration, you're saying, time out. This is now so important to me that I will not let anything get in the way of me accomplishing it. And I'll be honest, having made that declaration on Sunday evening, I'm feeling wicked good about what I'm going to accomplish this week because I declared a nonnegotiable. I will do my planning every night. I am not a 5 year old crying because I don't wanna brush my teeth. Right? I'm an adult. I'm making this declaration.
Penny Casselman [00:16:00]:
I'm doing it. It's gonna happen because I believe I have what it takes to get everything done that I want. I am willing to take action, big action, because I'm making this a nonnegotiable. And I know that by doing my planning and by following this commitment, the vision, where I will see myself get to in a week, a month, next year, way beyond what it would look like if I came in at 60% usage of my planner. So I'm curious. What is something that you did today that wasn't a hair on fire moment, but it it felt good to do it, but wasn't an emergency. Anything like that for me? Yes. I have already done one thing like that.
Penny Casselman [00:16:55]:
I well, I won't even share because it just take me down a rabbit hole. We don't need to go down. But one of the biggest culprits we'll say is we don't have time. When I guarantee there is one thing every day that if you just pause before you did it, you would say, I don't need to do this right now. I need to work on that nonnegotiable. This can wait until later, and you'd be okay. You know what else would happen? Your chest would go out. You'd stand taller because you just made a choice.
Penny Casselman [00:17:29]:
You made a choice to do something for yourself, to move your efforts forward. My friend, I want you to know that every day you have a choice, and I want you to feel empowered to find that one area in your life where declaring a non negotiable would move mountains for you. And I want you to take that red marker, make the declaration, and move your life forward with the passion you have inside and the desire to achieve what you're ultimately going after. My friend, if you have found value in this episode, share it with a friend. That would mean the world to me. Until next week. Have a great one. Friend, thanks for listening to this episode of Pivot with with passion.
Penny Casselman [00:18:27]:
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. 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.
