Show Transcript

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What if this summer could be the turning point you've been looking for?

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What I'm talking about is what if we could combine the fun of summer,

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the stuff that you look forward to, the stuff you get excited about when the summer comes around,

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but combine that with purposeful action that's going to lead you to success

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in the second half of the year.

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If this sounds amazing, then you are in the right spot, because this is exactly

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what we are diving into inside of today's episode.

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My friend, I welcome you to episode 293, your summertime diving board,

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to set you up for making one epic splash on the second half of this year.

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If you're ready, then let's dive in.

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What's up, my friend, and welcome to Grit Graceland Inspiration.

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I am your host, Kevin Lowe. 20 years ago, I awoke from a life-saving surgery

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only to find that I was left completely blind.

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And since that day, I've learned a lot about life, a lot about living, and a lot about myself.

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And here on this podcast, I wanna share those insights with you.

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Because friend, if you are still searching for your purpose,

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still trying to understand why,

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or still left searching for that next right path to take, well,

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consider this to be your stepping stone to get you from where you are to where you want to be.

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The way I feel like we need to start today's conversation off is being sure

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that we're both kind of on the same page when we're talking about summer and

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what we think of when we think about summer.

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If I'm the one painting the picture, well, it's going to be sunny skies, warm weather.

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If you're down in my neck of the woods in Florida, It's going to be humidity

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so hot you swear you could cut it with a knife.

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You're going to have some afternoon thunderstorms, but those just make the summer

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experience that much more amazing.

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It's going to be summer vacations to the beach, boating out on the lake,

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barbecues and pool parties.

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That is summer at its best.

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So basically, summertime, it's magical for so many reasons. It's time spent with family.

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It's time spent outdoors. It's time just letting loose and having fun.

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But as I said earlier, it's magical for another reason,

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in that it's a little block of time set apart from the rest of the year that

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you can utilize to your advantage so that you can be set up,

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so that you can have a head start on making this year absolutely epic.

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So what I've done inside of today's episode is I've laid it out because I want

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you to come away with your own plan,

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your own map to realize that how you can indeed make this summer truly amazing.

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The first step in what we're talking about today is getting clear on your end of year goals.

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Yeah, I understand we're just at the beginning of summer, but I'm asking you

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to think big, to dream big. What are the big things that you really hope to

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have accomplished before the year ends?

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Maybe that's making a big career transition. You were really hoping by the fall

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to be embarking on a new endeavor,

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maybe starting your own business, or maybe it's just getting in shape and getting a lot healthier.

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Whatever your big goal is, your dream is, I want you to go ahead and write that down.

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Yeah, hopefully you got a pad and pen handy, but go ahead and jot down some

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of those big dreams and goals, the things that you really want to accomplish this year.

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Now we start getting a little bit smaller and how we start incorporating summer into this game plan.

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As I said, I'm starting big picture and we're getting smaller and smaller down

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to literally your everyday routine.

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Right now, we're taking that big goal you had and we're breaking it down into

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some smaller goals. Now, obviously, the summer is typically pretty busy with

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family, with friends, with going places, enjoying life.

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And I don't want you to sacrifice that at all.

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Instead, we are helping you to set goals that align with all of that.

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Because I want you to not only move the needle in maybe your professional life,

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but also in just becoming a better version of you.

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And that starts by you being sure that you're enjoying every single day.

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So right now, if you have those big goals written down, or at least maybe that

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one big goal, start to think how you could break down that big goal into smaller little goals.

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Because if you have something big you want to accomplish, well,

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just kind of like the rungs of a ladder, there's steps you have to take to get there.

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You're not just going to all of a sudden, wham, bam, thank you,

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ma'am, and this big goal be complete.

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No, you've had to do little things here and there.

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Well, go ahead and jot those down and think about how this could line up with this summer.

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I don't want you to overload yourself. I don't want this to be something that

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makes your summer stressful.

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No, I just want you to see that, hey, I've got the next three months that I

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can really utilize to my advantage.

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By the end of these three months, I can already have accomplished this goal,

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that goal, and maybe a third one.

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So now that you have the big goal broken down into little goals,

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I want you to get out your calendar.

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I'm telling you, today's episode is having you work.

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Get out your calendar because we're going to start mapping stuff out real quick.

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I want you to pull up the calendar for the next three months,

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June, July, August. We're going to consider those our main summer months.

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I want you to look at the calendar and figure out when are you going on vacation?

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Exactly when are the kids out of school? When are they not away at summer camp?

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When can you block off time?

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And I'm not talking about days. I'm just talking about time,

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hours, even minutes throughout the summer.

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When can you devote to you?

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Now, I understand you're probably already saying, but Kevin,

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I don't have any extra time.

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Well, maybe you don't. But I'm going to challenge that because I tend to believe

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that you're probably not running 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

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I have a feeling that there's probably an hour you can steal here or there.

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As I said, I'm talking about incorporating this into your summer.

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I'm going to get to examples of what I'm talking about.

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But right now, we're just trying to figure out what our goals are,

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how we can break those goals down into smaller,

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easy to accomplish goals this summer, and then to put some time on the calendar,

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if nothing else, but to remind you each time you pull open your calendar that,

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oh, I'm supposed to be working on that goal that Kevin had me set.

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All right. As I said, here comes how we can incorporate all of this that I'm

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having you do into your summertime plans.

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First thing that you're going to tell me is I can't because I'm going on vacation. vacation?

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Well, I'm going to tell you, you can, because going on vacation is a perfect

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opportunity for you to focus on you.

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Depending upon where your vacation is, let's just say you're headed with the family to the beach.

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You guys have rented a big house on the beach, and you're going to be there

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for a week with all your family and friends. It's going to be an awesome time.

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And you think to to yourself, there's no possible time in this week that I can devote to just me.

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But I, again, am going to challenge that. Because what if each morning you made

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it a point that you get up before everybody else and you go outside and you

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sit out on the pool deck overlooking the beach and you

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watch the sunrise and as you sit there in the quiet, maybe a cup of coffee in

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hand, have your journal handy.

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Maybe jot down a few notes, how you're feeling, what you're worried about,

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what you're excited about.

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Kind of plan out life. Sitting in this moment where worries seem to float away

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with the breeze, when everything is right, we're on vacation and life is easy.

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It's a perfect opportunity for you to really identify what really and truly matters in your life.

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What do you really want? What do you really dream for?

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Steal that moment to yourself each morning watching that sunrise. rise.

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Other ways to accomplish this while on family vacations is a lot of what I'm

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talking about today is honestly just your own personal growth and development.

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It doesn't matter how old we are, we can all continue to grow as people,

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continue to learn, continue to experience new things.

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So maybe do something out of the norm.

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Yeah, you got little kids, they want to do something, but instead of doing what

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you've always done or what everybody else does, maybe taking the kids to the water park.

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Instead, get a little creative. Get outside of the comfort zone.

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Instead, go exploring maybe a new beach somewhere.

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Go find a lake where you live, where you've never gone to before.

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Get out and experience nature with your family.

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It's going to have you growing just as much as it is your children.

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These experiences, these are things that honestly shape us into the people we become.

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All right, now, what about when you are at home this summer,

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when you're not on vacation and life is kind of hectic?

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The children are home from school, life is going berserk. Well,

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I want you to get creative.

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I want you to get scrappy. I

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want you to figure out how you can steal a moment here and there for you.

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Maybe you've got young kids and there's a time in the afternoon where they lay down to take a nap.

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You take that moment to start working on the stuff that you want to,

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to start working on yourself. It's a perfect opportunity.

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All you need is maybe a little 30-minute block and then the hectic chaos of life can pursue. sue.

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Also, just think about things like picking up a good book that you've been wanting to read.

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I'm talking about simple things here.

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Simple things, but when added up together, they really make an impact on the

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person you will become at the end of this summer.

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Somebody who didn't just waste these summer months, but instead utilized them

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to really make the second half of the year One for the books.

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Now I want to get to my next little section of today's episode in which we're

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going to talk about a few more tips to help you through this process.

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So, so far, just to recap, I've had you set your big goal for this year.

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I've had you break it down into smaller goals.

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I then had you pull out your calendar and I've had you try to figure out when you could focus on you.

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And then we even talked about a little bit of scenarios when you're either on

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vacation or at home, the kind of stuff I'm talking about.

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I'm not talking about big stuff here.

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No, I'm just talking about little things because I want you to enjoy this time of year.

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And with all of that accomplished, well, let's give you some more tips,

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more advice to help make all of this a little bit easier to manage.

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I want you to remember to stay flexible. It is good to have a plan,

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but it's even better to realize that plans change and that's all right.

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Remember, this is the summer. It's easy as the breeze. You don't have to get stressed out.

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Just let things flow as they flow. Go with the flow. I want you to focus on

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celebrating the little wins.

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Depending upon what you're working on this summer, you're going to have things

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that you're going to accomplish. little micro goals that you're going to get

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done. You're going to cross off the list.

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And I want you to celebrate yourself. I want you to be sure that you're reminding

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yourself why you're doing this in the first place.

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And well, I hope a big reason is because you know that you are capable,

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you're able, and you're deserving of having more in this life.

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That's what it's all about. out. So be sure that you celebrate yourself.

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You give yourself that pat on the back and you remind yourself,

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I've done this one. Let's keep going.

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My next little tip is one that maybe isn't so easy to do,

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especially in the summer when kids are home from school, but that is trying

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to get plugged in with a community of people who are on the same kind of journey as you.

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What I've really found to be helpful for this is Facebook groups.

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Facebook can sometimes get this bad rap of all kind of drama,

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but where I find the real magic is inside of the Facebook groups.

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Whatever season of life you're in, whatever goal you're pursuing,

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go into Facebook and do a search and filter that search by groups.

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Chances are you're going to find a group of people from all over this world

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in the same chapter of life that you're in.

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And it really helps to be there to have support because a lot of times we feel all alone.

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I mean, yeah, we may tell our family about what we're doing,

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but honest to goodness, we're kind of embarrassed to admit it because what if we fail?

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Isn't that the truth of it all? Well, find a support group, people who can be

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there for you, who are on the same journey as you. My next practice is I want

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you to be sure that you're reflecting regularly.

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Every week, I want you to reflect on what happened this past week.

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What did you get accomplished?

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What went right? What went wrong? And what fun did you have in between?

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Give yourself time to just acknowledge it all, to reflect on it.

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And that way, well, maybe you can course correct for this coming week or be

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sure that you stay the course because last week was awesome.

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Most importantly is I want you to remember that I want you to make this summer fun.

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I want you to enjoy the time with your family.

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And so find little ways of fitting in your little goals in with all these activities

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you do during the days of summer.

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Yeah, maybe you're at a barbecue, at a pool party, and maybe you're really actually,

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though, trying to work on your own physical health.

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Well, dive in the pool, do some kicks while leaning on the ledge,

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swim a lap, do whatever you want.

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Grab one of those noodles and float around, kicking your legs.

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It's exercise, but it's also fun.

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You get to be there with everybody while also focusing on you at the same time.

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I basically want you to remember that to make a summer purposeful,

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it basically means to have a summer of balance because I believe a purposeful summer,

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I view it as enjoying the season,

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doing things out of the ordinary,

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spending time with loved ones, and all at the same time, finding little ways

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of integrating little things here and there that are going going to move the

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needle forward on your big goals in life.

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Don't let the summer months be months to derail your progress.

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No, use the summer months as a launch pad to send you forward into the rest of this year.

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While others are slacking off, you can get the upper hand because you have been

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focusing on you and your goals over the summer months.

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As I mentioned at the beginning of today's episode, be sure in amongst your

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busy summer to check back on the podcast each week.

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I'm going to give you new tips, tricks, pieces of advice,

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fun things to do, all in helping you to make this a summer that is not only

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fun, but moves the needle forward in you pursuing your goals.

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My friend, I'm Kevin Lowe. Get out there and enjoy this summer.

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Music.