Latest / Smart Business Growth with Nicky Miklós / Creating Your Life List: Start Living Your Best Life Now with Kate Christie
Transcript
- 0:04Nicky: Welcome to Thrive in Business Together with Nicky and Ness.
- 0:11Ness: We would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of country, the Yagara and Bannerong people of Brisbane and Melbourne, respectively, where Nicky and I both work and live.
- 0:20Ness: I am very excited to introduce Kate Christie as our beautiful guest today.
- 0:29Ness: Kate is Australia's top time management expert to clients including Boopa, westpac, Specsavers, l'oreal, women in International Security and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
- 0:41Ness: She is a sought after media commentator, an opinion columnist for a CEO World magazine and a co-host on TV's Koshy's Business Builders.
- 0:50Ness: As the bestselling author of five books, kate has spoken to audiences around the world and today is connecting with us from Bali, where she is currently working and living.
- 0:59Ness: Now little side note, this does mean that the quality of her audio is a little bit patchy in parts, but please stick with us because what she shares is so valuable that you will easily overlook the motorbikes in the background.
- 1:13Ness: Living and working in Bali is one of Kate's lifeless goals, which you'll hear more about.
- 1:17Ness: So if you're at a time in your life where you want to mix things up and live a fulfilled, happy and exciting life, then this episode will inspire and encourage you to make it happen.
- 1:28Ness: Let's jump straight in.
- 1:29Ness: It's only been a short while since we crossed paths and I've read your most recent book called the Lifelist, which I think, nick, you've got a copy in front of you, haven't you that I now understand why it's valuable for us to create our own lifelist, and given that that was a really foreign concept to me in the past, and I'm guessing it's the same for a lot of our listeners, kate, are you able to start by helping us understand what is a lifelist and why does it matter that we have one?
- 1:57Kate Christie: Yeah, look, great question, and I honestly I love talking about this stuff.
- 2:02Kate Christie: A lifelist is the exact opposite of a bucket list.
- 2:05Kate Christie: So a bucket list is a concept that came out of the movie the bucket list of about a couple of old gents and they were both dying and they created a list of things that they wanted to do before they keep the bucket.
- 2:17Kate Christie: So essentially, a bucket list is a list of things you want to do before you die, and quite often that list revolves exclusively around travel and adventure.
- 2:26Kate Christie: The lifelist is exactly the opposite.
- 2:29Kate Christie: I don't want to wait that long.
- 2:30Kate Christie: I don't want to wait until I almost die.
- 2:32Kate Christie: A lifelist is a list of things that I and my readers and your listeners, that we want them to do while they're still young enough to enjoy it, and it's got to be so much more holistic than just travel and adventure.
- 2:45Kate Christie: You know my lifelist and your lifelist should be around wealth and health and lifestyle and well-being, and obviously adventure and travel are in there, but also the relationships you want to create, the environment you want to live in, the legacy you want to leave.
- 3:01Kate Christie: It has to be so much more holistic and it can't be something that we put off to later because later might be too late.
- 3:09Kate Christie: You know, I wrote the concept and in answer to, I guess, the second party of the question that I created the concept of a lifelist after my ex-husband was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2020 and 11 months later he had passed away and he was only 54, and it was the most brutal experience watching such a vibrant, dynamic, incredible but young person deteriorates so quickly, and to have to watch my kids go through that process.
- 3:41Kate Christie: And I resolved very, very firmly after that to live my life very differently.
- 3:47Kate Christie: It was kind of dance-parting gift to me to make me realise, you know, life is too short.
- 3:51Kate Christie: It's such a trite expression that we use and but now it is such a valuable expression that I use where life is too short, later might be too late.
- 4:02Kate Christie: Don't put off living your best life until later.
- 4:07Kate Christie: You've got to live it now, and that's really the premise of the lifelist is work out exactly what you want your life to look out, look like what is the life you deserve and start living it today.
- 4:18Nicky: Such a powerful story and such an impactful way to look at and approach and live life, because it's actually the living list, isn't it?
- 4:27Nicky: It's how do you live and make the most now?
- 4:30Nicky: And a couple of things come up for me there.
- 4:32Nicky: You know, ness and I often talk about.
- 4:33Nicky: It's not just about the legacy that we want to leave in business and in life, it's the legacy we want to live now, like let's lean into that right now and live and breathe it.
- 4:43Nicky: And I think when we've experienced personal loss or something that's so intimate and close and it's kind of like the kick up the bum to go, I've got to live my life now and life's too short and all of that, and then somehow sometimes the day to day, the old way of living can come into place.
- 5:03Nicky: So what I'm really really loving and taking from this is that I feel like the life list is the daily reminder to you never forget the pain and you'll never like there's all.
- 5:13Nicky: That's always there in a certain way.
- 5:15Nicky: But somehow, again, that busy trap, that chaos of life, that expectation of how we're living and how we're meant to be living can kind of sweep us up and it's I'm seeing this as an anchor to come back to this an anchor point to live life.
- 5:29Nicky: It really is.
- 5:30Kate Christie: It's such a great way of describing it as being an anchor, Nicky, because it's it's about just reflecting often.
- 5:37Kate Christie: Am I living the life I love?
- 5:40Kate Christie: Is this consistent with my values?
- 5:42Kate Christie: Is this consistent with what I'm most value?
- 5:44Kate Christie: You know, create a life list around the things you most value and for me, you know I've got my mind at my mind down to three.
- 5:50Kate Christie: There's three things in my life that I most value my kids, my family, you know, my dad, my sisters, my partner, my business and my health and well being.
- 5:59Kate Christie: And so my life list, which is literally the way I live today, my week, my month, my quarter, my half year, my year, my five years.
- 6:07Kate Christie: You know, if you break it down to sort of that business cycle, everything that I do is built around the thing, the three things that I most value, and having that life is front of mind in business and in life.
- 6:20Kate Christie: It's so critical because it just anchors you, as you say, it brings you back.
- 6:24Kate Christie: We are creatures of habit.
- 6:25Kate Christie: It's so easy for us to fall back into our habitual lifestyle, where we live today the way we did last week, last month and last quarter, because we creatures of habit and there's a level of comfort in that the life list is not about them living a life of discomfort, but it's about a living a life that's very, very fulfilling, that does push you.
- 6:46Kate Christie: Sure, there's got to be some discomfort in there, and I talk about three different types of goals that we need to be chasing every single day.
- 6:54Kate Christie: The first is go big goals, so the big, hairy, audacious, climb the mountain goals.
- 7:00Kate Christie: The second is go small goals, where we need to have you know four or five really life affirming fill your cup.
- 7:07Kate Christie: Small goals a month that we're constantly kind of working towards and chasing down.
- 7:12Kate Christie: And then the third is the go now goals the the access, spontaneity and opportunity presents itself.
- 7:18Kate Christie: So like, oh, yeah, okay, I'll do that.
- 7:20Kate Christie: You have to be filling each of those cups in order to live that really well round life list, to break away from habit, to continuously save yourself.
- 7:31Kate Christie: What am I doing today that's going to fill my cups.
- 7:34Kate Christie: That's going to get me where do I put the tick today against what's on my life list?
- 7:39Ness: I love that so much and what I know is that you are a living example of this and what you're doing, and I'm sure that for those that can see the video, they'll see this beautiful location that you're in.
- 7:50Ness: For those that are in audio land and listening to us through the podcast, they may hear a little bit of background noise from where you're coming from and being curious about what that is.
- 7:58Ness: So please share with us when are you calling in from today and what's going on and how did you end up there?
- 8:04Kate Christie: Okay, so I am calling in from a, an incredible co working space in Ooghut in Bali.
- 8:09Kate Christie: The background noise you can hear is probably a mix of roosters and motorbikes.
- 8:15Kate Christie: It's the sun is shining.
- 8:17Kate Christie: It's incredible.
- 8:18Kate Christie: I'm living here and working to the next.
- 8:21Kate Christie: Well, I'm here for seven and a bit weeks in total.
- 8:25Kate Christie: It was been on my life list for a long time that 2023 was the year that I was going to experiment with being a bit of a digital known.
- 8:32Kate Christie: I've created my business to suit my life and I think this is so important for your listeners and Nicky.
- 8:39Kate Christie: You know strong, independent, incredibly resilient business owners who have worked their proverbial asses off to create an incredible business.
- 8:50Kate Christie: It's also important to sort of just oppose that with the fact that you can have and live that incredible business from anywhere, and it was really important for me to take the time out.
- 9:03Kate Christie: Can I run my business from another country?
- 9:07Kate Christie: Can I live the dream?
- 9:09Kate Christie: Can I be living and working in another country?
- 9:13Kate Christie: And you know what it's like.
- 9:14Kate Christie: You put this stuff out there, your goals out there.
- 9:17Kate Christie: Partly it's manifestation, but partly it's very intentional goal setting and partly it's you know, the rabbit.
- 9:25Kate Christie: It's a road.
- 9:26Kate Christie: I've got to put it out there.
- 9:27Kate Christie: I've got to live and breathe what I'm telling my clients to do, and so I'm doing it.
- 9:34Kate Christie: I'm working and living in Bali.
- 9:36Kate Christie: It's magnificent, it's all of the amazingness that you could possibly imagine.
- 9:42Kate Christie: It's also the frustration of you know things happening in Bali, time and me just, despite being a time management productivity coach, just not being able to get my head around the time conversion which we're in here in Australia.
- 9:55Kate Christie: My calendar has been going nuts, but it's fantastic.
- 10:00Kate Christie: It's honestly about creating the life you deserve.
- 10:05Nicky: Are you stuck in the busy trap on Juggle Street, being all things to all people despite having a team?
- 10:10Nicky: Or perhaps your business is feeling chaotic?
- 10:13Nicky: Do the mini business health check to get 10 strategies in under 10 minutes so you can get time freedom back, experience, peak performance and finally leverage smart growth in your business.
- 10:24Nicky: Head over to b2businesstogethercomau.
- 10:27Nicky: Forward slash health check and, if you're ready for us to help in a more hands on way, email us at hello at businesstogethercomau and we'll set up a time to chat.
- 10:38Kate Christie: Part of that and this may be relevant to a segment of your audience.
- 10:42Kate Christie: You know I'm 53.
- 10:43Kate Christie: I have spent the best part of the last 25 years nurturing everybody else, growing my family, investing my time and energy in my kids and making sure that their emotional and physical health and well-being is paramount, growing my business, nurturing my clients.
- 11:00Kate Christie: And I've got to this stage now where my kids are kind of starting to break up with me.
- 11:06Kate Christie: They're kind of empty nesting, but I'm wanting them to emptiness.
- 11:10Kate Christie: But they haven't got the message quite clear yet.
- 11:13Kate Christie: I've got more time and freedom on my hands and I still want to be this incredible businesswoman, but I want to do it in a way that suits my lifestyle.
- 11:21Kate Christie: You can have all the bits that are most important to you and I guess I'm living a lifestyle and creating a business that is true to that.
- 11:31Ness: I love that so much and we are such firm believers in creating businesses that actually prioritise our lives that we can be getting so much value and joy at a working but it feeds their purpose in life and so much of what you're saying resonates with me.
- 11:50Ness: Having you know saying thing my kids are young adults now, but I left them like I moved out.
- 11:57Kate Christie: I tried that, I'm okay.
- 11:59Kate Christie: Mine went no way.
- 12:01Ness: But that whole thing around.
- 12:03Ness: I remember going through this process.
- 12:04Ness: So I was living in regional Victoria, three and a half hours out of Melbourne, and had been there for 22 years, raised my children there as a co-parent at the time and my daughter got to the NW12 and I'm like, well, this is the time we talk about creating the life now, because it would have been very comfortable for me to have continued to live there.
- 12:25Ness: I had a beautiful home, amazing friendship group.
- 12:28Ness: You know, life was full, life was fun, life was great, but I knew I wanted just something more.
- 12:33Ness: And then to make that decision and you know I remember for years it was always in the future, so that's a future me problem, that's a future me thing to enjoy.
- 12:43Ness: And then it sort of got there and I'm like, holy hell, like it is future me time, and it's scary and it's huge, and moving house twice in five months four months was not fun, but it just kept on reminding myself no, this is about me now, having spent all of those years nurturing my children, having created the first business that I created and then gone into business with Nicky.
- 13:05Ness: It's about I want to actually enjoy this phase of life and go out and live near the city and do fun things and just have a very different experience in life.
- 13:14Kate Christie: This is it.
- 13:14Kate Christie: It's exactly where I'm at and you know I talk about it and I write about it a lot with the lifeless.
- 13:21Kate Christie: It's our turn, it's my turn and I don't say that with arrogance or with disdain or with a lack of love for my, my kids and my family.
- 13:33Kate Christie: What I've created, it's more a level of self preservation, it's more a level of being a little bit less selfless.
- 13:40Kate Christie: It genuinely is my turn and I don't want to continually give.
- 13:47Kate Christie: I want to give to myself now, and you know we're still young, you know I'm 53.
- 13:52Kate Christie: I've got so much living ahead of me.
- 13:55Kate Christie: I want to, but I want to do it now.
- 13:57Kate Christie: Like I'm so excited.
- 13:58Kate Christie: It's got to kind of be now and it's.
- 14:00Kate Christie: It's amazing.
- 14:01Kate Christie: And the thing about writing and talking about this stuff is that the more you you plan for it and the more goals you set and share, the more it happens like I'm, and you can call it manifestation, you can call it very intentional, goal setting and with hard work and implementing against deadlines and time management, productivity or a hybrid of both, but this stuff works, yeah, and if you spend time creating and working out what your goal is going to be and saying what my life is going to be and you lock deadlines in and you turn up and you meet those deadlines, then, honestly, you can do anything.
- 14:41Ness: It's amazing, I think that also one of the beautiful side impacts or ripple effects that comes out of choosing what it is you want to do and following that and making it happen is we become beautiful role models to our children or younger generations or just other people out there who see what's possible.
- 15:01Ness: And I know I recently shared with you, kate, that my 21 year old son had this opportunity to head overseas and go and see this hip hop concert the biggest hip hop concert in the world in Florida and Miami, and all these mates pull it out.
- 15:16Ness: He's like I'm going to go, I'm going to go on my own.
- 15:18Ness: He got VIP tickets and it was all of his heroes that he'd had in his ears for the last decade of all up on stage and he was really close to them.
- 15:27Ness: And I love that he took that concept on because, geez, I wish I had had that at 21, rather than saying it's on my bucket list because I think you're right, bucket list feels like when I'm old the things I don't get a chance to do.
- 15:38Ness: I'll make sure that I do them all before I die.
- 15:40Ness: It's pretty morbid and I think for me to share the concept with him, but he's also seen me do what I want to do at this stage in life, where I've gone, no, this is my next step, this is my goal and I'm going to go out start a business eight years ago, move to Melbourne now, buy an investment property because wealth creation is important to me.
- 15:59Ness: So all the things that we are not only doing for ourselves, but I feel like we're actually being the inspiration, perhaps for others and definitely role modeling.
- 16:09Ness: You know, I'm quite excited for both my children to have this concept and, at such a young age, go for their dreams.
- 16:15Ness: I think it's amazing.
- 16:17Kate Christie: Yeah, I agree, and I so loved, ness, that you shared that with him and that he wrote to you and said you know, I've ticked this off my life list.
- 16:24Kate Christie: Honestly, it made my day.
- 16:26Kate Christie: But I think also one of the questions I'm asked a lot, which has kind of it surprised me, but I've been asked it so often, now that you're going and chasing after your life list and you're doing all this stuff, how do your kids feel about it?
- 16:42Kate Christie: And I've been asked it a lot of times and I think there's almost an assumption or a presumption that people think my kids might feel that they've been left behind or they've been abandoned, or that I'm being selfish, or and it's been a really interesting question for me to think about, because the absolute, honest answer and you've just said it yourself, ness, is my kids are thrilled.
- 17:05Kate Christie: They think it's bloody fantastic that I'm doing this stuff.
- 17:08Kate Christie: You know I've moved to Bali and they're cheering me.
- 17:11Kate Christie: You know my.
- 17:12Kate Christie: I said to them oh, you know, come, if you want to come, come and visit me.
- 17:15Kate Christie: And my eldest came with his girlfriend and they can see that I'm just so gung-ho about experiences that they had planned to climb a volcano in Lombok and so they said come and climb the volcano with us.
- 17:27Kate Christie: You know they, they invited me into their experience and I don't think that's something that they would ever done if they hadn't seen me just chasing down these goals.
- 17:37Kate Christie: So this weekend's just passed.
- 17:39Kate Christie: We spent two days hiking this volcano.
- 17:41Kate Christie: Honestly, guys, it was the hardest, bloody thing I've ever done in my life.
- 17:44Kate Christie: Day two we had to get up at 1 30 am to.
- 17:48Kate Christie: I know.
- 17:50Kate Christie: To hike the summit.
- 17:51Kate Christie: From the crater rim to the summit was only about eight kilometers.
- 17:55Kate Christie: The last 300 meters took me an hour and a half Like.
- 18:00Kate Christie: The incline was like that.
- 18:01Kate Christie: It was like climbing a, a rocky or a volcanic sand dune.
- 18:05Kate Christie: It was one step forward and then you slide back and and I, they went ahead, and and I almost gave up.
- 18:12Kate Christie: So three or four times I thought this is good enough, you've done enough.
- 18:16Kate Christie: Just sit here and watch the sunrise, it'll be okay.
- 18:18Kate Christie: And I know, come on, you could do it.
- 18:21Kate Christie: And their faith in me, the fact that they'd invited me along, their enthusiasm, I just I thought I have to do this for me, but I have to do it for them.
- 18:28Kate Christie: And as I crested the summit, they were standing there and it honestly makes me emotional now, and they were so thrilled for me and I burst into tears because I was just so exhausted, so proud and so overwhelmed my son burst into tears.
- 18:43Kate Christie: So for people when they ask me how do your kids feel about it?
- 18:46Kate Christie: They're so proud, they think it's magnificent that I'm living my best life and it makes me proud and and I am a role model for them and they're they're loving it.
- 18:56Kate Christie: So don't ever let someone else's perception of what your kids might think about your journey Help you from living your best life.
- 19:04Kate Christie: I think, because your kids are going to be thrilled that you're happy.
- 19:08Kate Christie: Oh, wow.
- 19:10Nicky: First of all, what a story.
- 19:11Nicky: I feel like I'm emotional with you.
- 19:13Kate Christie: I was with you.
- 19:15Nicky: I can feel the the summit and the all of it.
- 19:17Nicky: So thank you for sharing that and it is such an interesting question.
- 19:21Nicky: I'm a bit surprised that that's a common question that you're asked and it also really to yeah, and it shows the cycles that need to be broken, like we talk a lot about these cycles that we need to break and I love for both of you, incredible strong women, this role model that you are for your children and that whole sea to believe, you know, and for all the parents out there to be able to do that, and also for those of us that don't have kids.
- 19:48Nicky: We can still make an impact around this and that's important to remember because it is about sea to believe and inspiring each other through this action and living, living right now.
- 19:59Nicky: I really love your concept of goals.
- 20:02Nicky: It's not just the big planned ones and the big hairy or gaseous, you know.
- 20:06Nicky: Even that is an example that you shared the spontaneity in the moment.
- 20:10Nicky: If we over plan, over organize, over think, you know we don't have space for spontaneity.
- 20:18Nicky: So actually bringing that into this hybrid of manifesting and taking action and planning to achieve goals is something that really stood out to me the first time.
- 20:29Nicky: I heard you speak as well, which is just, I think, amazing, and you can have it all, and this is about creating the business and the life that we want, that you want that you know the people that are listening.
- 20:40Nicky: This is you can be brave, and if you need examples, you've got some right here.
- 20:44Nicky: So incredible, thank you.
- 20:47Nicky: I don't want this conversation to end.
- 20:50Nicky: I'm just going to say, as I'm sure many people are thinking the same, I want to hear more, but if you are loving, obviously, this conversation, make sure you get a copy of the live list, and we love to ask a question.
- 21:02Nicky: First of all, where can people follow you?
- 21:04Nicky: Where can people find you, I mean, other than coming to Bali, which you know?
- 21:09Nicky: I'm tempted.
- 21:09Nicky: Let's be honest.
- 21:11Nicky: Turn around and see me in that co-working space, wouldn't that be cool, I know Well.
- 21:16Kate Christie: Firstly, look me up and book up.
- 21:18Kate Christie: If you are in Bali, find me.
- 21:20Kate Christie: Just my name kristicomau is my website, and just Google the life list.
- 21:26Kate Christie: It's available in all bookstores.
- 21:29Kate Christie: It's available online.
- 21:30Kate Christie: So, yes, and obviously I'm not linked in a Facebook.
- 21:34Kate Christie: So just Google me and you will find me.
- 21:38Nicky: We'll also, of course, put all those details in the show so we'll make it very easy for people to come and find you and something that's come up in this conversation.
- 21:46Nicky: It reminds me of a conversation we had with Cindy Kennedy a few episodes ago around this concept of two things being deliciously selfish and hey, if not now, when?
- 21:58Nicky: And also that when we achieve certain things or do certain things in life, that is a reflection of achieving business goals, like the example that we talked about with Cindy was being able to do school pickup if you've got young kids, that's actually can be achieving a business goal.
- 22:14Nicky: Living in Bali and working from Bali, that might be great, like jumping on your motorbike after recording a podcast to go to yoga.
- 22:21Nicky: That's a cool life, cool life thing, but that's a great business goal, and vice versa.
- 22:26Nicky: So that again just reaffirms LifeList is, I guess, the blueprint to be able to really turn that into a reality.
- 22:34Nicky: So we like to finish every episode with a final question around what is one actionable action, as we say, that our listeners and viewers can take in the next 24 hours to really start, and I think for today, it's about to start living their LifeList now.
- 22:52Nicky: It's one thing that people can do.
- 22:54Kate Christie: Yeah, look, it's such a beautiful question and it's an actionable question, which I really love for you to do.
- 22:59Kate Christie: People can walk away and do.
- 23:01Kate Christie: The one thing I would do is I would just sit down and reflect, take some time and it could be as little as five minutes, it could be as long as two or three hours and put pen to paper.
- 23:12Kate Christie: Commit pen to paper.
- 23:14Kate Christie: Our brain is for strategy.
- 23:17Kate Christie: It is not for storage.
- 23:18Kate Christie: So you might have a thousand thoughts floating around in your head of things you would love to add to your LifeList.
- 23:25Kate Christie: Get them out of your head, get them on to paper.
- 23:28Kate Christie: Just start writing the list, and I don't mind if you start with one thing or five things or you sit there and create and have a hundred things.
- 23:35Kate Christie: Just take that first step right down and start creating your LifeList.
- 23:40Kate Christie: What is it that's going to make you feel like you're living your best life right now?
- 23:45Kate Christie: And it can be business things, it can be lifestyle things, it can be health, wealth.
- 23:49Kate Christie: You know, whatever your passion is, commit pen to paper and start your list, because we truly, truly need to stop putting things off to later.
- 23:58Kate Christie: You know later might be too late.
- 24:00Kate Christie: Life is too short.
- 24:02Ness: It's time to leave it now.
- 24:03Ness: I love that so, so much.
- 24:05Ness: What a powerful message to end on.
- 24:07Ness: Thank you so much, kate, for joining us, and I just implore people to go and grab your book and get that life list going.
- 24:14Ness: So, yes, definitely start with your top things that you want to do, but that's just the beginning, and Kate does really help.
- 24:22Ness: Step you through the whole process that she went through in order to be able to make it happen, and you could also be in Bali working your best life.
- 24:32Kate Christie: Thank you so much for having me no worries.
- 24:34Ness: Thanks, kate.
- 24:35Ness: Have a great yoga session.
- 24:36Ness: And to everyone else, we'll talk to you next week.
- 24:39Nicky: Thanks for listening to today's EPP.
- 24:40Nicky: If you loved what you heard, find us on LinkedIn and let us know what you enjoyed.
- 24:45Nicky: Also, don't forget to rate and review and, of course, share this episode with your biz besties.
- 24:51Nicky: Ness and I are obsessed with helping you break through your business and life barriers to get you to your next frontier of growth.
- 25:00Nicky: We bring two business minds and two perspectives into your business.
- 25:05Nicky: As the magician, I help connect the dots, see the possibilities and the hidden potential, and as the architect, ness turns those possibilities into practice, implementing plans and frameworks.
- 25:17Nicky: Because, let's face it, every vision needs a practical pathway to success.
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- 25:34Nicky: All our details are in the show notes and on our website.
- 25:37Nicky: Until next time, happy listening and here's to thriving in business and life.