Penny Casselman [00:00:05]:
Welcome to the Pivot with Passion podcast. Hi. I'm Penny Casselman. I believe everyone is deserving of a phenomenal life. Regardless of where you came from, 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, director.
Penny Casselman [00:00:35]:
Welcome to another episode. And yes, let's take a moment and remind ourselves, we are the director of our lives. I hope that when this week kicked off, you found yourself sitting in a space of optimism and joy and excitement, embracing a feeling of positivity and planfulness. But I also know it's possible that you weren't any of those things at the start of the week for a whole host of reasons, personal, professional, external factors. Maybe you watch too much news this weekend, maybe something happened to a friend or a colleague or a family member. Wherever you find yourself today, know that you have a choice. You are the director. So today, I want you to choose yourself.
Penny Casselman [00:01:41]:
I want you to think about you in the future. Now maybe it's challenging to think too far in the future, but what if you just pause and think about tomorrow? How do you wanna show up in the world tomorrow? What might bring some excitement for you tomorrow would help you feel more grounded or planful or successful when tomorrow rolls around. Once you've done that, take it out a little further and then further again because too often, we are caught up in the moment of the day. And yes, there is wisdom in being present for every moment of your life. However, in order to achieve anything that you want in life, you have to take a longer look at what it is you're going after. You have to think about you in the future. What if you knew every new skill you attempted would eventually lead to success? Pretty awesome. Right? What if you knew every dream you ever held is achievable? Pretty amazing.
Penny Casselman [00:03:00]:
Right? Director, you are in the driver's seat, and your efforts and everything you do today pushes you towards those goals tomorrow. I'm sure you know someone like this. They can pull jokes out of their back pocket at a moment's notice. I do not, at this moment, have that skill. You could tell me a joke today and in 1 week tell me the joke again, leave out the punch line and I would not be able to tell you what it is. Now as soon as you shared it with me I would laugh and go oh yeah now I remember, but jokes are just one of those things that I do not have mastery of. When we were babies, we were relentless in going after some of the basic skills that we wanted. Because we could see other people doing it, and we knew somehow in the back of our brain that we could do it too.
Penny Casselman [00:04:07]:
If we stayed focused, we're willing to fall and try again. Did some research in support, and what I found was on average, they fall 17 times an hour. And I started thinking, when is the last time I failed 17 times in 1 hour? I came up short. I thought, well, maybe when I was a baby, learning to walk is the last time I failed 17 times in 1 hour. That was my attempt at a little metaphor to help you understand how all the actions that you take today help further your goals and ambitions for tomorrow. Because I'm guessing, just going out on a limb here, that you now walk freely through the world to get you from point A to point B without falling. You have mastered that skill. I'm going to challenge you to start embracing the idea that every single thing that you want you can have, period.
Penny Casselman [00:05:21]:
It just means you've got to harness the belief in yourself, You've got to have a great vision. You've got to be willing to take action and be okay with falling, but embracing the idea that when you try again, you will eventually move towards success. It's time for a clarity cocktail. Today's clarity cocktail comes from Nelson Mandela. It always seems impossible until it's done. Boom. There it is. I love it because that is every single thing that has brought you to where you are today.
Penny Casselman [00:06:09]:
Think about it. When you went to college, did you ever have a moment where you thought I am never going to graduate? I hate the class I'm in, and I don't see how I'm going to pass. Or perhaps you wanted to learn a new language and you started down the path of mastery and thought, oh, there is no way. Everything I'm doing to try to learn this language, I sound wrong, I'm using the wrong tense, the wrong pronouns. It can feel exhausting, which is why I love Nelson Mandela's super simplistic but oh so accurate phrase, it always seems impossible until it's done. Recently I was undergoing a renovation of my third floor. And because I'm very skilled and adept at DIY projects, I chose to paint the 3rd floor myself rather than contract out to have someone else do it because I knew I could do it. I've done it in the past, and it was gonna save me some money.
Penny Casselman [00:07:16]:
8 gallons of paint later, it was finally done. Let that sink in just for a moment. If you have ever attempted to paint a bedroom or paint a hallway, you know that painting is not for the faint of heart. Let me tell you that after putting up 5 gallons of paint on the wall, realizing I still needed more paint, it felt impossible in the moment. For weeks, every spare moment I could find in a day, I would go upstairs. Even if I could do a 10 foot section by 10 foot section, I would get it done. But after so many of those, it certainly felt impossible. And yes, there were moments when it felt like there was more ahead of me than there was behind.
Penny Casselman [00:08:15]:
But I had 2 things going for me. 1, I knew I had the skill, and 2, I had a deadline. There was a day where people were coming and they would be staying on the 3rd floor. So skill based with a deadline. I was willing to take action even when it felt impossible. And today, I am damn proud of that 3rd floor paint job. It looks amazing. And suddenly being on the other side of all of that effort, the angst, the frustration, the idea that I almost wouldn't give up has faded from memory and I fully embrace where I am today.
Penny Casselman [00:09:06]:
As you reflect on your last week, your last month, the last decade, I know that you have moments where this Nelson Mandela quote outlines it perfectly. It always seems impossible until it's done. And now back to the episode. Cheers. Coming back around to everything that you do today helps to set you up for success tomorrow. And of course, pulling on the metaphor of a baby attempting to walk, falling 17 times an hour until they figure out all the nuances in body mechanics to keep them upright and moving in the direction that they want. So too can we pull on that past experience in our lives and realize we can do anything that we set our mind to. If we are willing to fall down, get back up, take action today, and hold our vision.
Penny Casselman [00:10:16]:
Each week I meet with my high performance coach and recently we were talking about some of the big goals that I have in my life and some of them are big. However, some of them I have made to seem big, when in fact they're really not. I have to give props to my coach because she will call me out on all my b s. Some of my goals I could have achieved by now. Had I stayed laser focused, had a really tight grasp on my productivity and my belief. All of these things, as you know, part of a red marker moment, belief, vision, and action, all of those things have to be firing together to claim a red marker moment and move you forward. I was joking with my coach. I said, you know what? My future self is really tired of looking at her watch, tapping her foot and waiting.
Penny Casselman [00:11:25]:
Yes. My future self, the person I am stepping into, that person is waiting for me, and it's up to me to take the necessary action to get me to where I want to go. Now I get it. Waking up every morning, greeting the day with a smile on your face, hope in your heart, commitment to excellence, to your vision, your willingness to take action is challenging. And there are no shortage of distractions that can derail you from the moment you wake up. It's not simply physical distractions that we have to deal with. It's also internal distractions. You may not feel like you're in the mood.
Penny Casselman [00:12:13]:
You may not be able to rally the energy to do what needs done. I'm challenging you to think like the baby. You are going to hit distractions. You are going to not be in the mood, not have the energy. It will be like your baby falling down, trying to learn how to walk, but get back up. Remember, you are learning a new skill. You are focused on a goal. You are striving for success.
Penny Casselman [00:12:47]:
And all of those take small steps today to help move you towards your future self. Is your future self tapping its foot, looking at its watch, asking you to please hurry up because they're waiting for you? As you move forward this week, this month, the balance of this year, think about the adventure that you are on. Think about the future you that is waiting for you to arrive. Because just like a baby learning to walk and now you don't give it a second thought as you move throughout your day, carrying yourself from the kitchen, to the office, to the car, so too is your journey to your future self. You will arrive with such presence, with such conviction, with so much energy and appreciation for how far you have come, those small daily actions that you pushed yourself to take are not in vain on any given day. I want you to know that you deserve a phenomenal life. I want you to feel empowered to pause, to pivot, and to choose you again in every moment. Get rid of that.
Penny Casselman [00:14:16]:
And I want you to take bold, courageous, and consistent action for your future self. Because in the moment today, you may have distractions. You may not be in the mood. You may not have the energy. But make no mistake that everything we are going after might seem impossible, but only up until the moment it's done. Until next week, director, go pick up a red marker. Claim your phenomenal future life, and go for it. Friend, thanks for listening to this episode of Pivot with Passion.
Penny Casselman [00:15:04]:
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.
