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What If Work Was Designed Around Life? · Behind The Village Podcast

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  You're listening to the Behind the Village podcast,
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  where we invite you to join us on a journey to
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  understand how to live a life worth living. Michaela
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  here for this episode of Behind the Village.
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  I'm sure you can immediately tell that there
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  have been a few changes. The music is different.
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  The look is different. The vibe is different.
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  It's only audio. And so what we thought we would
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  do is give you a little bit of insight as to
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  why we're making these changes and what the future
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  of the Behind the Village podcast is going to
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  look like from here on out. June and I started
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  this podcast a year ago, and we decided at the
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  time that we would jump in with two feet and
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  learn along the way. And that's exactly what
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  we did. So now we're at a point where we feel
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  like it's time to adjust the previous version
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  of the podcast and lean into what we want the
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  future of our content to be. We start our discussion
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  by addressing some of the personal and work -related
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  issues that we're experiencing and how we can
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  improve them for ourselves. The biggest issue
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  we're having right now is that we're not able
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  to be as fully present as we want to be in our
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  lives. We really need to make a change. So we've
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  decided to start with how to get our work life
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  to fit our personal life, as opposed to just
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  trying to fit in personal life around work. I
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  think there's a number of things that are sparking
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  the change. I think the first one is just simply
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  life is busy for us. And I think we've heard
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  multiple people, right, multiple friends kind
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  of talk about the same thing, how it's just busy
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  all around, right? There's a million things you
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  have to do. There's a million things you have
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  to pay attention to. And there isn't enough time
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  to do. Right. Or at least it feels that way.
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  And I see them all the time. These memes are
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  talking about how, you know, we're living in
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  unprecedented times. Right. And all these things
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  are like unprecedented that never happened before
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  in the last 10, 20 years. And, you know, these
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  memes talking about how I wish I was only going
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  through one of these unprecedented things right
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  now. You know, so it's just like an entire. just
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  scope of like everything just feels everywhere
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  like it just feels compound it just feels like
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  it's all over the place and you know it's hard
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  to grasp on the situation of us as we are getting
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  older right and we're starting to kind of think
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  about okay so what is that next step what is
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  it that we want to do what is it that we care
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  about what is it that we want to focus on because
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  our time is more and more limited What should
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  I do then? Like, am I just doing something wrong?
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  Should I just give up? Like, should I like, what,
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  what, what is happening here? Right. So for me,
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  it's very much seeking, like there has to be
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  something we're missing, something we don't know,
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  which is where that knowledge component comes
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  in. We're looking and we're searching for information
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  from those, those people around us in various
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  stages. of life and different areas of life and
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  different ways of approaching things that somebody's
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  got to have a nugget of information. Of an idea,
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  yeah. Somebody's got to have something. Someone
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  can help someone else. Exactly. After our in
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  -depth discussion of what totally wasn't working
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  for us and all of the feelings we had about all
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  these challenges, we decided to look into some
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  inspiration that could point us in the right
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  direction. So the phrase a life worth living,
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  we've kind of adopted it now. Yes. Alongside
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  our podcast. It's become kind of our new pursuit
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  in general for us personally, which is also bleeding
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  into everything else we do in life. What does
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  that mean? Everybody has things that they want
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  to do. life right had different hobbies different
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  interests different passions and you know how
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  does work fit in how do you make you know work
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  not be the center of your entire attention how
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  do you make you know social media as an example
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  not make the entire point of your attention how
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  do you make how do you fit everything that's
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  i think one of the main things that we're trying
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  to answer and that's what that question the that
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  phrase kind of goes back down to is How do we
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  live a life worth living that gives us what we
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  want or what we need, right? Without sacrificing
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  too much of anything else. I think that is what...
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  we're looking for. That's the actual, like the
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  answer that we're trying to find overall for
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  this podcast, right? As a whole. And I think
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  that's something that a lot of people are probably
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  interested in answering as well, even if it's
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  subconsciously, but like how does life work?
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  How does life work nowadays, right? Not what
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  it used to be or how it worked before, but how
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  does it work now and into the future? How do
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  we live the best life we possibly can? So for
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  me, I think the way that I see or one of the
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  fears, I guess, potentially that I have with
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  my life, right, is that at the end of the road,
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  at the end, when I have lived all the life that
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  I have to have some sort of regret to be able
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  to say, I wish I could have done this. I wish
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  I would have done that. I wish I didn't go this
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  path or this way. And just ultimately just like
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  have that question in my head of what if. Right.
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  What if I had gone this way? What if I had tried
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  this? What if I hadn't chickened out to, you
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  know, go and do this? And for me, that concept
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  of regret is what makes me want to push more
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  and kind of learn more about what we can do.
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  Not 20 years from now, not when I retire, not
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  when we, you know, have everything in order.
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  But what we can what can we do right now? What
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  can we start to? learn and figure out and get
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  better at tomorrow, right? So that each day we
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  can actually start kind of making better decisions,
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  right? Because I don't know if things can be
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  solved in a day necessarily, but that we can
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  start making better decisions or making or having
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  to think better or change our mindset, whatever
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  it is that would help us live a life worth living.
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  I think one of the largest regrets that I have
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  For me, business has kind of taken a main priority
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  and it's not something that I wanted to. It's
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  something that just kind of happened without
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  me realizing it until I sat down one day and
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  was like, why am I thinking about working and
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  then working? And then after I'm done work, I'm
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  thinking about the things that I need to do tomorrow.
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  Right. And there's this never ending cycle where
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  then every single second that I am awake basically
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  is spent trying to figure out how to make my
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  business better or how to grow it, how to make
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  it function easier, faster, whatever. And I think
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  that's been one of my largest kind of eye openers
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  where I'm sitting here and I'm thinking, hey,
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  what, what have I been doing? Right. Like I just
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  I got so used to it. I didn't see the detail
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  that I was missing and that I spent most of my
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  waking hours just thinking about business. And
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  I've, you know, I haven't been paying enough
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  attention to look how big our kids are. Look
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  how, you know, how quickly they grow and look
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  at how much life we have lived so far. Right.
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  Since we since we started dating all the way
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  to now that it just kind of feels like it's gone
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  by in an instant, like in a flash. And everything
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  just seems to go by. Life seems to be going by
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  so quickly. And here I am thinking about something
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  that I really don't care as much as I care about
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  other things. Right. I have other passions. I
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  have other interests. I have family. I have all
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  these things that I want to pay attention to.
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  That I know I want to pay attention to. And yet
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  somehow I've ended up spending the majority of
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  my time thinking about business rather than thinking
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  about life, if you will, right outside of it.
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  And that is something that I want to fix, that
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  I want to make better. And that's partly the
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  reason why we ended up kind of realizing that
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  this idea was. exactly what we wanted because
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  it just made so much sense to us where we are
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  what we're looking for and who we know and who
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  we want to bring in like everything here just
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  kind of fits and i love that idea of a life worth
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  living i wanted to get a little bit more vulnerable
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  and hear what june had to say what are the biggest
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  pressures right now pulling your attention away
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  from living the life you want I read something
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  recently. It was talking about how when you are
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  a kid, when you are little, everything is just
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  so new, right? And it's so intoxicating because
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  it's new. You want to learn everything as a kid.
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  That you end up mimicking, you know, those around
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  you or you try to do the same things or you,
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  you know, as you're going for a walk, they see
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  like this rock and this really cool rock, right?
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  Or they find a stick and it's like the best stick
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  ever. And, you know, like it takes forever, you
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  know, to go around a block with your kid. But
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  there's a reason for it, right? The reason is
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  they are looking at the details. They are living
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  life fully because there's nothing else for them,
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  right, at this point in time. But the reason
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  why kids do that is because everything is new
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  for them, right? The amount of information out
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  there is just impressive. It's magnificent. It's
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  out there, right? There's so much information
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  to take in that their brain is solely focused
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  on that, on intaking that information. What's
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  causing that is basically they pay attention
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  to the details. That's why you do something once.
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  And then a few days later, your kid is copying
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  it. And you're like, where did you learn that?
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  Right. And you didn't even notice. You might
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  never have seen that you did it because you did
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  it like randomly. Right. For no reason. But your
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  kids saw that and then they copied it. Right.
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  And it's because they are paying attention to
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  the details. And that for me is like a very powerful
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  idea. Of living, let's say, a better life, right,
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  or a full life, a satisfied life is to actually
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  pay more attention to the details of everything
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  that's happening around you. And the idea of
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  living life more slowly is something that you
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  and I have kind of researched a lot and thought
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  about a lot and talked about a lot. But I think
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  it boils down to that idea of details, right?
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  If you live life more slowly. Think of a kid
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  as an example, right, where their only focus,
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  their only attention is to learn about the world,
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  right, and how happy that makes them when they
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  find this really cool stick. That's kind of the
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  goal. That's kind of the idea is to slow down
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  enough that you can start focusing on the details
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  on how wonderful the sun is today and how it's
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  a different color than it was yesterday and how
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  the sky looks better today and how the birds
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  are flying in a different way today and all these
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  kinds of things and how much world, how much
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  life there is around you that we just don't notice.
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  The pace of everything is so fast. We are required
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  to work multiple jobs. We are required to pay
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  attention to everything, to all the news around
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  the world, to every single friend that we've
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  ever had on social media because they're on social
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  media. We need to pay attention to every single
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  thing happening around us that we just lose the
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  details at a certain point. And this is the reason
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  why I think a lot of people say that online we
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  have the attention span of a goldfish is because
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  at a certain point, I don't care about the majority
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  of this. My brain is tired of looking at all
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  of this, that I just want to pay attention to
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  the things that I actually care about. So after
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  all of this, all of these ideas, all of these
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  thoughts and musings, where do we go from here?
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  What does the future look like? Not only for
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  us, but for the podcast. Let's talk a little
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  bit about this new direction. We've kind of identified
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  our problems and our issues and the things we're
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  trying to solve and things we're seeking. So
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  where do we go from here? So from here, I think
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  one of the greatest things that I'm looking forward
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  to is actually not just kind of doing what we're
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  doing right now, which is we're kind of discussing
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  and going through. identifying what's in our
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  brains, right? And sharing that information with
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  each other and with the people that are listening.
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  But I'm looking forward to actually also figuring
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  out what other people are thinking and doing
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  this type of thing with other people. And then
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  just being like, I guess, asking those questions
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  of how are you making your life worth living
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  for you, right? So that I can figure out how
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  to live my life better. And I think that's kind
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  of what we have come up with. Right. And something
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  that I'm looking forward to is finding the different
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  viewpoints from not just ourselves. Right. As
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  we discuss separate topics, because we're going
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  to go through a series of topics, basically.
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  Right. And then we're going to be hopefully talking
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  between us and then interviewing people within
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  each topic. dissecting in a little more and then
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  moving on to another topic and every so often
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  we're going to be changing topics but within
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  each topic we're going to talk to all these different
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  people all these different members of the community
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  or people that have something valuable to kind
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  of add to the idea as we research and learn together
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  through this idea how do we get those insights
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  basically so the podcast is essentially changing
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  from this point on this is the first episode
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  that we're doing that is kind of introducing
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  the new direction i guess of the podcast but
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  it's still going to be very much a podcast where
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  we're going to be bringing in members of the
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  community right member from around here that
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  will be able to speak about not only who they
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  are and what they do but just how they're living
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  and how you know, any insights that they can
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  provide on how to do things better, right? So
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  it's just going to add an added layer there.
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  There's going to be an additional layer that
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  I think is going to make it really impactful
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  and really valuable for everybody, including
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  ourselves. So the next topic or the first topic
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  that we're going to be talking about in this
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  podcast is work fitting life. And we're going
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  to be bringing in people that from, you know,
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  different areas, different age ranges, different
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  businesses to just kind of talk about how they
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  are able to fit. How do you fit, you know, life?
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  How does life become the main point and work
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  fits around it, not becomes the work doesn't
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  become the main focal point. And then life just
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  happens whenever you have spare time. I want.
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  work to fit my life, not the other way around.
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  So I'm really looking forward to learning more
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  and figuring out and talking to people about
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  this subject. So this brings us to the end of
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  the episode. I think we're both really excited
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  about moving in this direction. And now that
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  you have the same context and understanding of
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  what we're planning, we can't wait for you to
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  join us on this journey. If you'd like to help
• 17:48
  this podcast grow, consider subscribing to our
• 17:50
  podcast channels like YouTube or Spotify so you
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  never miss an episode. Thanks again, and I'll
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  see you next time.