Latest / Impact Ready / 166. Finish Line

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166. Finish Line · Impact Ready

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  Welcome to Impact Ready, a show dedicated to helping you elevate
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  your impact in the world. I'm Steph Safra, your host.
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  Let's explore the power of showing up with intention and
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  energy each day. This is for those who seek to
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  make life truly meaningful. Get ready for impact.
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  Hello team. Good morning.
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  Welcome to the Impact Ready podcast.
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  Thank you for being here. We are getting really close to
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  2026, starting a new year, wrapping up this year.
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  A lot of people are thinking about intentions and goals.
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  I love all that stuff. I'm super into it.
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  I think any time went well. And then also think ahead and
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  plan for the future, sort of envision what you want for your
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  life. All of that is a good thing, of
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  course. I've been thinking about my past
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  year. I've also been thinking about
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  what I want for this next coming year.
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  For me, the last year was filled with what what I would call a
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  lot of interruptions. I'll just call them
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  interruptions. Many of you know that in the
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  past year I was going through treatment for breast cancer.
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  I'm still actually dealing with some of the aftermath of that,
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  although the bulk of the treatment is done.
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  But something that I had to manage and just sort of accept
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  as part of my reality is that treatment and everything that
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  went with it in the last year created a lot of interruptions
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  in my life. It interrupted my goals and my
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  intentions. It interrupted my relationships
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  and my ability to be social or go out into the world the way
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  that I wanted to at times. It interrupted my work in some
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  major ways. There were a lot of good lessons
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  that came with those interruptions.
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  I would venture to guess that I needed some of them.
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  I think that when you come out of a situation that's
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  challenging, you can reflect back and say, that's probably
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  going to change me and I don't have enough space from it all to
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  have clarity on what the impact is going to be.
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  I'm too close to it. I think if you have a year or
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  two away from a big event in your life, you can look back and
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  say, oh, that's why that happened.
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  Oh, that was really a catalyst for big change.
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  Oh, that got me to make a decision that I wouldn't have
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  necessarily made before. And I'm already starting to see
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  that a little bit. But now that I'm getting to the
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  other side of all of this stuff, I feel a really strong desire to
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  close the loop on a lot of things that I started, but I
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  wasn't able to complete one of my mantras right now.
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  You could call it an intention or a statement.
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  It's just something that I'm saying to myself often is finish
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  line. I have it on a sticky note
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  written stuck up on my whiteboard in my office so that
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  I can see it everyday. And it's a reminder for me to
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  get into action because I want to get my projects that I really
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  care about that I've been excited about.
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  I want to get them across the finish line.
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  I want to be able to make plans for the future without worrying
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  that I'll have to cancel them. I want to complete some of the
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  tasks that I've started. And just reading that sticky
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  note finish line up on my whiteboard, just, it gets me
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  into action. It's a motivator for me.
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  Those two words are just the distilled down version of an
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  energy that I really want to bring into the new year, an
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  energy that I'm feeling in my body right now.
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  And there's a reason for this that goes beyond the obvious of
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  getting shit done. This is also about closing open
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  loops. We all have a ton of open loops
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  in our life. We have unanswered text
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  messages. We have phone calls we haven't
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  returned. We have emails we haven't
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  responded to, plans we haven't followed up on with people,
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  Conversations that we haven't had that we probably know we
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  need to have. Of course, we have projects and
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  tasks that we've started but we haven't completed.
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  Those are all what I consider open loops.
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  And it can be stressful as hell to have hundreds of open loops
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  because when we say that we're going to do something or we've
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  committed to starting a process, but we haven't followed through
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  or finished it, it creates a loop in our mind that remains
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  open. We're not able to close it and
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  it weighs on us. It's something that sits in the
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  back of our minds. It's like it's on the back
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  burner all the time and we can't fully let it go until it's done.
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  Think of the amount of bandwidth that all those open loops are
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  taking up mentally and emotionally.
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  Not to mention, a lot of times our open loops have an impact on
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  what I would think about as our sense of integrity.
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  For example, if we say that we're going to do something and
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  we don't follow up on it or we don't do it, we don't do what we
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  say we're going to do, it chips away at our sense of integrity.
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  And I'm not saying that you have to respond to every e-mail or
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  every text message that you ever receive.
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  I mean, for some people, that's just not realistic to keep up on
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  every bit of communication for every open loop that's ever been
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  created. I get that.
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  But maybe thinking about this idea of open loops and finish
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  line, maybe this is an opportunity to take a closer
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  look at what kind of open loops you create in your life.
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  Maybe we don't need to be a part of every conversation that's
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  happening in the world. We don't need to be on every
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  text chain or every e-mail thread.
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  Maybe we don't have to say yes to all the things that we've
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  said yes to. Maybe we can be a little more
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  discerning about how we use our time.
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  Maybe we don't have to pack our calendar to the brim and then
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  end up having to cancel things because we're tired or or
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  overwhelmed. Maybe we can be a little more
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  focused in the work that we do so that the projects that we
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  start are purposeful and we'll actually move the needle because
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  the ability to prioritize tasks and information is a skill.
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  It's something we could get better at and there are a couple
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  questions that I think about when taking on projects or
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  giving yeses to things or people.
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  And these questions help me protect my peace a little bit
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  more. Also, I think they'll help me
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  have a year where I'm creating more, I'm consuming less, and
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  actually making more progress on the goals that I really care
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  about. The first question that I would
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  ask myself is, is this open loop?
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  I'm creating something that I'll be able to close because
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  sometimes not being able to close the loop is going to be
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  more of a stressor than the benefit of taking it on.
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  And then the second question I'd ask myself is what do I need to
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  do to get this across the finish line?
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  Because sometimes we have to weigh out is the energy is what
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  I have to sacrifice to get this across the finish line.
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  Is it worth it to me? And if the answer is yes, then I
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  want to follow through on that. If it's no, then maybe it's not
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  something I take on. What do we need to do to get
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  this across the finish line? For me personally, I think about
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  this stuff because I want more peace in my life and I know that
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  I will have that as a result of closing some of these loops that
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  are going on. I'll have more emotional and
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  mental bandwidth and that will translate into more energy, and
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  I'll just feel a greater sense of personal accomplishment and
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  pride overall, like I always do when I get things across the
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  finish line. If I take into account the
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  formula that we talked about in coaching and on this podcast,
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  insight plus action equals transformation.
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  I know that getting things across the finish line is
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  absolutely crucial to get to the future that I want so badly.
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  And I have a clear vision for what it is.
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  I know what I want. I know where I'm trying to go,
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  and I understand how deeply powerful motion and momentum are
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  to arriving at those places. The great thing is, even if I
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  didn't know what I wanted, even if the future was totally foggy
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  and I had no clarity around what the vision was going to be,
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  taking action is still one of the most powerful things I could
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  do. Why?
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  Because that action piece is what creates more clarity.
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  It creates more confidence. It's through the act of doing
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  that we get clear on the things that we want.
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  It's sifting and sorting through experiences and all that leads
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  to opportunities that might have been hidden before when I was
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  feeling stuck or stagnant when I wasn't in motion.
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  So whatever your future vision looks like, and even if you
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  can't see the future vision, you might be in the fog, you might
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  be lacking clarity, none of that matters.
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  All you have to do is think about getting into action, think
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  about motion and momentum, think about trying to take things
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  across the finish line and consider closing some of these
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  open loops. I guarantee you're going to
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  start feeling like a more empowered version of yourself,
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  like someone who makes things happen in their life.
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  I know we're getting towards the end of the year.
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  I know a lot of people want to sort of cruise to the end of the
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  year, but I still think that there's room for us to finish a
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  lot of things strong. I still think there's time to
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  get some things across the finish line that are really
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  important to you, and you can still have your time to relax
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  and connect with the people you love and celebrate.
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  It just requires a little bit of energy and a little bit of
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  intention to get into that action so you can close some of
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  those open loops. I hope you have a great rest of
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  your week. Thank you for being here and for
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  listening. And as always, thank you for
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  being ready to impact. Thanks for listening to Impact
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  Ready. I hope today's episode inspired.
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  You to. Own your impact and recognize
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  that you. Are powerful.
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  By elevating our energy and awareness, we can create
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  exponential change in this life. If you enjoyed today's insights,
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  share them with a friend and subscribe to the show for more.
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  I truly appreciate you. Thanks again for being here.