WEBVTT - Tweak your life, with Erin Port 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:09.280 Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning. 0:00:10.160 --> 0:00:15.320 This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's 0:00:15.360 --> 0:00:18.079 episode is going to be a longer one part of 0:00:18.120 --> 0:00:20.960 the series where I interview fascinating people about how they 0:00:21.000 --> 0:00:24.000 take their days from great to awesome and any advice 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:25.280 they have for the rest of us. 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:26.520 So today, I. 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:29.160 Am delighted to welcome Erin Port to the show. Erin 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:31.760 is the author of the brand new book Tiny Tweaks, 0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:35.760 Happy Life. She's also the brains behind the popular Simple 0:00:35.800 --> 0:00:39.239 Purposeful Living platform on social media. So Erin, welcome to 0:00:39.280 --> 0:00:39.760 the show. 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:43.280 Thanks Laura for having me. I'm delighted to be here 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:44.400 with you. Great. 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:46.279 Well, why don't you tell our listeners a little bit 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:47.239 more about yourself. 0:00:48.080 --> 0:00:51.640 Well, sure, I'm a mom to four biological and adoptive mom. 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:54.360 We live in central Iowa in a tiny little town. 0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:57.680 I've been married to my husband for nineteen years, former 0:00:57.880 --> 0:01:02.360 educator turned ontorepreneur, and I fill my days trying to 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:04.760 help people simplify their lives so they can make the 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:05.760 most of what matters. 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:10.319 Absolutely So, how did Simple Purposeful Living start? 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:14.319 That's a great question. Well, I was a first grade teacher, 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:16.840 decided to stay home and wanted to have a bit 0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:19.600 of a passion project. So I started blogging back in 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:22.280 the dark days when it was a blog spot in 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:25.160 two thousand and nine, back when most people wrote about 0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:28.880 recipes and fashion, but I didn't really have that interest, 0:01:29.080 --> 0:01:30.679 and so I kind of thought about my knack. What 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:33.000 is my knack and everything that I do, I always 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:36.319 am looking to make it as simple as possible, and now, 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:38.679 as a mom of four, I'm really looking for that. 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:41.520 And it was when our son came home via adoption 0:01:41.600 --> 0:01:46.160 in twenty nineteen. He was nonverbal, malnourished, weighing just nineteen 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:49.480 pounds at twenty five months, and every feeding session took 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:54.000 an hour, and I realized that I couldn't get a 0:01:54.120 --> 0:01:56.920 life overhaul right. My life felt very full. I'm sure 0:01:56.920 --> 0:01:58.840 many of your listeners feel that way and maybe some 0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:02.560 facet of their life. But I could make a tiny change. 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:04.800 And that's kind of where tiny Tweaks was born. That 0:02:04.840 --> 0:02:08.120 I couldn't change my circumstances, but I could do tiny 0:02:08.160 --> 0:02:12.760 little things to make my circumstances feel less hard and 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:16.080 embrace the season. And while my circumstances didn't change, Quincy 0:02:16.120 --> 0:02:19.920 didn't heal overnight. My perspective did, and that helped me 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:22.560 get through that season. And now that's part of what 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:23.000 I share. 0:02:23.400 --> 0:02:25.320 Absolutely, Well, why don't you tell us a little bit 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:28.760 about what the business mix is of simple, purposeful of ving. 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:29.960 I mean, I know a lot of people are like, well, 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:32.400 that's exciting to have a blog that becomes a business, 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:35.640 but what do you actually do as the different components 0:02:35.680 --> 0:02:35.880 of this? 0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:38.920 Sure? Yes, So we have a weekly podcast where I 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:42.040 share tiny tweaks that simplify life. We also have a 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:44.320 social media platform where I'm sharing that, and we have 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:46.799 a full line of paper products that aim to help 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:50.239 people simplify their life. I'm a planner just like you, Laura, 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:52.800 So anything I can do to make people think about 0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:54.960 what they're doing with a little bit more intention, and 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:57.960 we sell those on Amazon and on our website course 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:02.280 an author as well. Different facets, all aimed with the same. 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:06.320 Focus, absolutely, And one of those focuses is this idea 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:08.760 of tweaks. I mean, how would you define a tweak? 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:11.520 What makes something a tweak in your life? 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:16.560 Right? It's so simple, so easy that it's almost imperceptible 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:20.359 at the moment, Right, Like our brain craves big solutions. 0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:22.080 It thinks that if I have a big solution to 0:03:22.120 --> 0:03:24.600 this problem, it's going to take every care of everything. 0:03:24.680 --> 0:03:27.800 And what I've found is the tiniest weak has the 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:30.920 big impact. Right. So the other day I was in 0:03:30.960 --> 0:03:34.119 my podcasting studio and I was sitting on the floor recording, 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:36.280 and I thought, what is a tiny tweak I could 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:38.520 make right now? And I could go out and buy 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:40.920 a chair, And then somebody said, actually, you could just 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:44.280 roll your office chair into your office, right, the tiniest 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:47.240 little change. But then I was more comfortable and I 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:50.400 could record my podcast. So it's these tiny little things 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:54.280 and it builds evidence that we can be successful, because 0:03:54.320 --> 0:03:56.720 a lot of times people start to believe they can't 0:03:56.720 --> 0:03:59.200 make a change because they've tried and they've failed, and 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:02.680 so they're just stuff where tiny tweaks build evidence in 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:06.040 our mind that we can be successful and the tiny tweak, 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:08.280 by tiny tweak, we can change our life. And that's 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:10.680 what I love about it, because the light bulb goes 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:14.120 off in people's minds and they say, oh, yeah, that 0:04:14.200 --> 0:04:16.479 did work. I'm going to try that again. And then 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:17.919 I'm going to try it again, and I'm going to 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:20.520 try it again and we iterate our life to fall 0:04:20.560 --> 0:04:22.320 more back in love with it, which is what I love. 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:25.159 I am all about falling in love with our lives. 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:27.799 But let's go back to when you were first starting 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:30.920 this this business and this blog and simple purposeful living, 0:04:30.920 --> 0:04:33.960 and you said you have a new son at home 0:04:34.040 --> 0:04:37.200 who has complex medical issues. This is obviously a moment 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:39.280 I know some of my listeners have experienced. This is 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:42.400 really really tough. I mean, what are tweaks doing in 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:44.520 that moment? What kind of tweaks were you actually trying 0:04:44.600 --> 0:04:46.920 in that moment to get out of this very sort 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:49.560 of overwhelmed in a little bit dark place. 0:04:50.600 --> 0:04:52.479 Yeah, so I think one of the first things I'd 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:56.320 let go of and caring for him was caring for myself. 0:04:56.839 --> 0:05:01.720 And so one day, after particularly harding feeding, I collapsed 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:03.640 in the dark hallway and I started to cry and 0:05:03.720 --> 0:05:06.320 I just thought, oh my goodness, this is not working. 0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:08.479 What do I need right now? And that was kind 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:11.080 of the first week I said, like, what do I need? 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:14.680 And so often I think as caregivers, as a busy mom, 0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:19.000 that we kind of forget what we need. And so 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:21.599 in that moment, I went downstairs and I brewed myself 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:23.240 a cup of coffee, and I walked on the back 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:26.000 deck and I let the sunshine hit my face. And 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:28.360 we think it's so small that it's not going to help, 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:30.919 but it gave me a bit of peace and calm 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:33.240 in that moment. And then I started to pick up 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:35.320 walking around the block. I'd pack him up in his 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:38.120 stroller and I'd walk him around the block, getting that 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:41.760 fresh air, and it just revitalized me, and it started 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:45.159 to make me realize these tiny little changes could help 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:48.440 me not only survive my days, but enjoy those moments 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:50.000 and those those opportunities. 0:05:50.279 --> 0:05:52.320 Yeah, that there can always be little moments we can 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:56.039 enjoy even if life itself feels overwhelming. Well, we're going 0:05:56.080 --> 0:05:57.599 to take a quick ad break and then we'll be 0:05:57.640 --> 0:05:59.960 back with some more specific tweaks that maybe people can 0:06:00.160 --> 0:06:09.719 try today. Well, I am back. I am talking with 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:12.679 Aaron Port, who is the author of the book Tiny Tweaks, 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:15.760 Happy Life. She's also the founder of the business Simple 0:06:15.839 --> 0:06:19.200 Purposeful Living, with a very large following on social media, 0:06:19.240 --> 0:06:21.640 which is amazing that you've built that up over time, Aaron, 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:25.080 So let's talk about somebody's listening to this and they're like, 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:30.200 my house is a disaster. What are some tiny tweaks 0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:34.680 we can try to make ourselves feel more like it's organized, 0:06:34.920 --> 0:06:37.000 or that it's livable or anything like that. 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:40.960 I always tell people there's two types of clutter. Clutter 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:43.799 that you need and use that just doesn't have a home, 0:06:44.279 --> 0:06:46.479 and clutter that no longer is needed. So I have 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:49.520 two tweaks. Number one, the clutter that you need. Right So, 0:06:50.040 --> 0:06:51.760 for a long time, my kids would come home from 0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:54.359 school and place their papers on the counter, but we 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:57.280 had no system or home for that. So those papers 0:06:57.320 --> 0:06:59.120 were just stack up on the counter. And if you've 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:01.600 ever noticed, this clutter is like a magnet. Once one 0:07:01.640 --> 0:07:04.080 thing's on the counter, then suddenly there's forty five things 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:06.840 on the counter. So we started this system where we'd 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:10.480 talk about what they did with these papers, and then 0:07:10.600 --> 0:07:13.080 after that we decide is it going in the recycling 0:07:13.080 --> 0:07:15.080 bin or is it going on the bulletin board. And 0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:17.000 by and large, most of it would go in the 0:07:17.000 --> 0:07:19.400 recycling bin. But it took care of the clutter needs. 0:07:19.400 --> 0:07:22.120 So I always tell people, if you have clutter that 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:24.640 needs to find a home, because you need it, find 0:07:24.680 --> 0:07:27.440 a home and a simple system to solve that. Now 0:07:27.480 --> 0:07:30.200 with the clutter that you no longer need. What often 0:07:30.240 --> 0:07:32.800 happens as my kids come upstairs, they have a shirt 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:34.760 that no longer fits and they stick it on the 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:37.720 kitchen table and there it sits. Or worse yet, I 0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:39.800 think it's dirty, and I put it in the laundry bin, 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:42.880 repeating the cycle, which is horrible. So I tell people 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:46.120 this is so simple, but grab a bin, a box, 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:49.040 something that comes to your door, put it somewhere out 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:50.760 of sight but not out of mind so you know 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:53.920 where it is, and then put those items in that bin, 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:55.600 and then when it gets full, take it to the 0:07:55.640 --> 0:07:59.480 donation center. But it's just giving clutter a place to go. 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:02.000 I really think is helpful. And the last week I'd 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:05.800 say is I'm very motivated by timers. Fifteen minutes can 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:08.120 make a huge difference, and a little bit every day 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:10.560 adds up over time. So if you're not feeling motivated, 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:14.120 set a fifteen ten minute timer, turn on some good tunes. 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:17.520 Man music can make a huge difference, and get to work. 0:08:17.640 --> 0:08:19.640 You'll be surprised how much you can get accomplished. 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:22.080 Absolutely well, you'll be proud of me. I threw out 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:24.920 a pair of socks this morning that had a large 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:27.320 hole in them. I believe those socks had probably gone 0:08:27.320 --> 0:08:29.240 through the wash several times, been put back in the 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:32.040 drawer where they were then put on and cast off 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:34.440 because they had a hole in them. So now they 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:38.120 are gone out of our life. We will not encounter 0:08:38.280 --> 0:08:41.679 those socks again. Well, what are the things I think 0:08:41.720 --> 0:08:43.840 people struggle with when they are in the busy years 0:08:43.840 --> 0:08:45.720 And a lot of my listeners are where they are 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:49.520 building careers, they're raising families, not feeling like they have 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:53.560 time for connection with people outside their immediate families. So 0:08:53.720 --> 0:08:55.920 if somebody's feeling that way, what are some tweaks you 0:08:55.920 --> 0:08:58.680 could do in your schedule to make time for people 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:00.520 who aren't necessarily sharing it with you. 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:05.240 Every morning, on the way home from dropping my kids off, 0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:08.600 I have about five minutes and I started texting somebody 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:11.520 in my life whoever comes to mind that morning, Hey, 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:14.959 I thought of you. And sometimes it results in things, 0:09:15.400 --> 0:09:17.280 but a lot of times it results in a little 0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:20.520 text conversation back and forth. So that's one way I 0:09:20.520 --> 0:09:24.040 would say, just intentionally every day texting somebody that you 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:26.000 care about. If you have a pocket of time, if 0:09:26.000 --> 0:09:29.440 you're in the car, I love voice texting. 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:31.040 Say she's not texting by texting with her thumbs here 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:32.160 while she's driving people. 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:36.040 Yes, yes, I'm sorry, thank you for clarifying. Yes, voice texting, 0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:39.559 but just I have that five minutes. And oftentimes, as 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:43.559 busy individuals, when we give our brain space to think, 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:45.840 things come to mind. And so that's when I'm thinking 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:48.160 of people. The other thing that I do in my 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:51.160 schedule that I think you'd be proud of, Laura, it 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:53.720 might have been inspired by you, is that I schedule 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:57.640 connection in my week. So every Thursday is my connection day. 0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:00.880 I have to eat lunch anyway, and so I schedule 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:03.360 a lunch date and it's a different person every week, 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:05.400 but I just say, hey, do you want to get 0:10:05.400 --> 0:10:07.360 together for lunch? And I plan it out and it's 0:10:07.400 --> 0:10:11.040 about forty five to an hour of time with friends, 0:10:11.160 --> 0:10:13.800 and that works really well in this season of my life. 0:10:13.840 --> 0:10:16.000 And then we also have a couple's group we meet 0:10:16.000 --> 0:10:19.560 with weekly. I find that if it's just in our 0:10:19.600 --> 0:10:22.760 schedule and we're in the habit of it, it makes 0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:25.720 all of the difference. So those would be my three ideas. 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:28.480 Yeah, anything you can set up that's a recurring sort 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:31.680 of get together, I think people have too many recurring 0:10:31.720 --> 0:10:35.160 meetings in their professional lives and too few recurring get 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:39.160 togethers in their personal lives. How about some self care 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:41.880 tweaks I mean you mentioned earlier, you know, just brewing 0:10:41.880 --> 0:10:43.760 yourself a cup of coffee and sitting on the porch 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:46.880 and feeling the sunshine. What are some other little tweaks 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:49.000 we can put in our schedules to take care of ourselves. 0:10:50.240 --> 0:10:52.920 Well, one of my favorite ways to figure this out 0:10:53.040 --> 0:10:54.880 is to write in a gratitude journal. And I tell 0:10:54.920 --> 0:10:58.640 people there's multi facets for doing this, but one of 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:00.400 the things is when you start to write down in 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:04.319 your gratitude journal what you're grateful for, it's the breadcrumbs 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:07.480 of what brings you happiness. And so I always tell people, 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:09.520 spend a week write down all the things that you're 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:12.199 grateful for, and you're going to start to see what 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:15.199 are those things that you enjoy doing that bring you happiness, 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:18.240 that bring you rest, that recharge you. One of my 0:11:18.280 --> 0:11:21.120 friends was not loving her job and then she took 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:25.679 up floral bouquet making recently, and she said, it's the 0:11:25.760 --> 0:11:29.560 craziest thing. She said, I started that habit, and now 0:11:29.920 --> 0:11:32.480 going to work isn't such a chore. It's when we 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:35.480 start to find those little bits of happiness in our days, 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:39.319 they've become more enjoyable overall. So I love to get 0:11:39.320 --> 0:11:42.840 outside and go on a morning commute walk. It's don't 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:45.200 I work from home. I don't have a normal commute, 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:48.040 So I walk twenty minutes in silence every day. It's 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:50.200 a chance for my brain to noodle around some of 0:11:50.240 --> 0:11:52.520 the things I'm thinking about, get out and get in 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:55.000 touch with nature, feel the fresh air, the sun on 0:11:55.000 --> 0:11:58.359 my face. So I would say it's never as fancy 0:11:58.400 --> 0:12:01.520 as self care is made out to be online. But 0:12:01.640 --> 0:12:05.120 look in your gratitude journal, pay attention. I always like 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:07.840 the red car theory, right where you never noticed the 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:09.760 red cars until you bought a red car, and then 0:12:09.760 --> 0:12:12.360 all of a sudden, everybody owns a red car. Our 0:12:12.400 --> 0:12:15.760 brain is wired to filter out things that aren't deemed important. 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:18.640 So when we start to focus on and notice the 0:12:18.679 --> 0:12:21.240 things that do bring us joy, that do bring us happiness, 0:12:21.240 --> 0:12:24.679 that do bring us rest and recharge, our awareness is 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:27.760 our superpower, and then we can do those things more intentionally. 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:30.040 And it's never like I said, it doesn't have to 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:31.880 be more than five minutes, but it can make all 0:12:31.920 --> 0:12:34.000 the difference in making our days more enjoyable. 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:36.480 And you mentioned getting out into nature, and I know 0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:38.960 that is the whole section of your book on nature 0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:42.000 related tweaks to have a little bit more fresh air 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:46.480 and outdoor life in our lives and schedules. Is there 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:49.240 anything else we should try other than a brisk walk outside, 0:12:49.360 --> 0:12:50.040 good as that may be. 0:12:50.960 --> 0:12:54.400 Yeah, I think even setting up your office near a window, 0:12:54.600 --> 0:12:58.080 or even putting your backdrop of your computer a beautiful 0:12:58.160 --> 0:13:01.400 nature scene, putting a plant now to your desk, listening 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:03.800 to nature sounds. I mean, some of these things are 0:13:03.800 --> 0:13:06.640 so simple, but they can make a huge difference. It 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:08.240 doesn't mean we all have to go to a hike 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:10.960 or all of those sorts of things, but I think 0:13:11.080 --> 0:13:14.080 just stepping outside, breathing in the fresh air is so 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:15.400 grounding for us. 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:21.760 Absolutely. And another angle for those tweaks you mentioned, kind 0:13:21.760 --> 0:13:25.120 of confronting your fears, flexing your fear muscles. And I 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:27.760 love this idea of having tiny tweaks in our lives 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:31.920 that allow us to take small risks. I wonder what 0:13:31.960 --> 0:13:35.160 are some tweaks we can do to introduce some small 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:36.760 risks into our lives. 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:41.680 Well. For a lot of people. Texting a person like 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:45.160 I mentioned earlier, feels a little risky, right, connecting with people, 0:13:45.240 --> 0:13:48.520 inviting somebody to lunch. I always tell my kids though, 0:13:48.640 --> 0:13:51.000 that's the philosophy in our house is to flex your 0:13:51.040 --> 0:13:53.960 fear muscle, because, just like any other muscle, the more 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:56.760 that you take small risks, the more likely you are 0:13:56.800 --> 0:13:59.480 to be brave enough to take the big risks. So 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:02.360 just think about, you know something scares you a little bit, 0:14:02.520 --> 0:14:05.360 to just step into that, right, Like this interview today 0:14:05.480 --> 0:14:08.080 scared me a little bit, but I'm flexing my fear muscle, right. 0:14:08.559 --> 0:14:11.360 Or maybe you want to write a novel, but the 0:14:11.400 --> 0:14:15.280 first step is to write an Instagram caption thinking about 0:14:15.360 --> 0:14:17.200 little risks that you can take that are going to 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:19.680 build up your evidence that you can take the risk 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:21.400 and eventually take the bigger risk. 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:24.400 Yeah, we can change the stories that we tell about 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:26.640 ourselves and whether we're the kind of people who can 0:14:26.760 --> 0:14:28.880 take risks. I hope I'm not too scary. I'm trying 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:29.280 not to be. 0:14:30.920 --> 0:14:33.840 No, No, I love this. It was always different when 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:35.760 you're on the other side of the on the other 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:37.160 side of the interview. 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:39.120 For sure. We're going to take one more quick ad 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:48.800 break and then I will be back with more from Airinport. Well, 0:14:48.840 --> 0:14:51.680 I am back talking with Aaronport, who is the brains 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:56.200 behind the popular simple, purposeful living platform on social media. 0:14:56.280 --> 0:14:59.320 You should go follow her Instagram for instance, she'll see 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:02.480 her talking about her life and her philosophy, all those 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:06.440 wonderful things. So let's talk about how we can celebrate 0:15:06.640 --> 0:15:08.320 tiny wins in our lives. So let's say some of 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:11.160 these tweaks have been successful. What should we do to 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:11.800 acknowledge that? 0:15:12.960 --> 0:15:15.560 I think, even pausing, we are so busy in our 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:18.640 daily lives that we don't slow down long enough to 0:15:18.680 --> 0:15:22.080 acknowledge the progress that we're making. And when we adopted 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:26.840 our youngest, his progress was slow, but it forced me 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:31.000 to be excited for every little milestone. So, like I said, 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:33.320 he was nonverbal in the beginning, and when we could 0:15:33.320 --> 0:15:37.520 get him to answer yes no questions, that was monumental. 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:41.760 And he really taught me this lesson of celebrating tiny wins, 0:15:41.920 --> 0:15:44.720 because if we just wait for the big wins, the 0:15:44.760 --> 0:15:47.200 big moments in our life, there aren't that many, right, 0:15:47.320 --> 0:15:50.080 We're just waiting for the marriage and the kids and 0:15:50.120 --> 0:15:53.080 the promotion. Really, if we look back, there's not that many, 0:15:53.520 --> 0:15:56.080 but there is so much to be celebrated. So getting 0:15:56.120 --> 0:15:58.480 outside and going on a walk, you prove to yourself 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:01.440 that you could you showed up. Celebrate that, be proud 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:04.280 of yourself. Did you do something that you had a 0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:07.600 goal for and you showed up. Celebrate that, and also 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:10.880 acknowledging other people's celebrations. I think when we start to 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:15.080 acknowledge when our kids win, when our friends win, when 0:16:15.120 --> 0:16:20.000 our significant other wins, then they internally get that too, 0:16:20.080 --> 0:16:21.880 and then they can celebrate you as well. But I 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:25.120 think just really focusing on hey, did I show up today? 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:27.680 Did I do something that I'm proud of? Getting into 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:30.640 the habit again of writing in your gratitude journal. Those things, 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:32.520 the more we find them, the more we're going to 0:16:32.560 --> 0:16:34.440 see them in our daily life. Yeah. 0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:37.520 Well, we've been getting snippets about your daily life as 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:39.680 you've been sharing some of your tweaks. I wonder if 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:42.160 you could talk us through what a day tends to 0:16:42.200 --> 0:16:44.640 look like in your household. People always love to hear 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:46.160 people's routines from this show. 0:16:46.840 --> 0:16:49.840 I do too, So I usually get up at six am. 0:16:50.120 --> 0:16:52.960 That's about thirty minutes before my kids, and they're all 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:56.080 sleeping through the night. So there's that. I go to 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:57.960 bed at nine point thirty. So I get up at 0:16:58.000 --> 0:17:01.080 six and I go out myself a cup of coffee, 0:17:01.080 --> 0:17:03.840 and I spend some time in the quiet just I 0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:06.679 love just right now, sitting in front of the fireplace. 0:17:06.760 --> 0:17:09.520 I have a gratitude journal, I do some devotions, I 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:13.040 do some meditations in prayer, and then from there, my 0:17:13.119 --> 0:17:15.639 kids get up at six thirty and I kind of 0:17:15.760 --> 0:17:18.240 am the coach on the sidelines as they're going through 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:22.240 their morning routine they have, getting breakfast and getting their lunches, 0:17:22.280 --> 0:17:24.720 getting dressed, and then I take the kids and we 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:27.240 get out the door for school around seven thirty. I 0:17:27.280 --> 0:17:30.159 come home, I do my morning walking commute, get dressed, 0:17:30.200 --> 0:17:33.800 get ready, and spend the rest of the school day working. 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:36.480 I always take a lunch break. I think it's really 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:39.959 important to take that time away from work, eat, be quiet, 0:17:39.960 --> 0:17:43.240 and be intentional. And then the kids get home around 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:45.920 three o'clock. I do the mom duties of taking them 0:17:45.920 --> 0:17:48.719 to all the places right getting dinner around the table 0:17:49.280 --> 0:17:51.960 that always varies based on when everybody's going to be home. 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:53.960 I always try to capture the most amount of people 0:17:53.960 --> 0:17:56.320 around the dinner table, so that varies. It's about six 0:17:56.400 --> 0:17:59.400 o'clock and then, like I said, we spend some family time, 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:02.800 maybe playing games, watching a show. We get the little 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:06.000 two down to bed around eight to eight thirty, and 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:08.520 then I go to my room, wash my face, put 0:18:08.560 --> 0:18:11.640 on my pajamas, and I like to read my big two. 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:14.520 I have two teenagers. They come in and tuck mom 0:18:14.560 --> 0:18:16.760 in at the end of the day, and normally it's 0:18:16.840 --> 0:18:18.480 lights out between nine thirty and ten. 0:18:18.560 --> 0:18:21.600 For me, absolutely well. And I'm curious during the workday. 0:18:21.600 --> 0:18:23.560 I mean, you're sort of like after the morning commute 0:18:23.600 --> 0:18:25.840 to eight ish eight thirty and the until three. How 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:28.960 do you structure your work days? I imagine with running 0:18:28.960 --> 0:18:31.040 a business, that could be different every single day. 0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:34.960 Yeah, so I have certain tasks for certain days. That's 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:37.639 worked really well for me. So on Mondays, I do 0:18:37.680 --> 0:18:41.520 a lot of my goal checking, emails, correspondence, prepping for 0:18:41.640 --> 0:18:45.560 my podcast. Tuesday it's all about recording for my podcast. 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:48.679 Wednesday it's all about the shop so I'm working on 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:52.560 Amazon Ads, I'm working on Shopify inventory, all of those 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:56.960 sorts of things. Thursdays are all about social media planning, 0:18:57.040 --> 0:19:00.679 writing my captions, preparing for next week, and then I, 0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:03.159 like you, like to plan for my next week with 0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:04.800 my to do list, so I can go into the 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:08.960 weekend knowing what's ahead. But having kind of a set 0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:12.880 thing on each day really helps me. Now, next week 0:19:12.920 --> 0:19:15.800 we're leaving for a vacation, so what I normally do 0:19:15.880 --> 0:19:18.199 on Friday, I spread out on the other day so 0:19:18.240 --> 0:19:21.159 I'm flexible. But knowing that each task is going to 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:23.600 be taken care of on a specific day frees up 0:19:23.600 --> 0:19:25.879 a lot of that mind clutter that otherwise I'd be 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:28.000 thinking when should I do that this week? Or when 0:19:28.040 --> 0:19:30.240 should I do this? Just knowing, and I have a 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:33.560