Latest / Influencer Confidential / How to Stay Inspired as a Creator: Overcoming Burnout and Creative Blocks! #230

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How to Stay Inspired as a Creator: Overcoming Burnout and Creative Blocks! #230 · Influencer Confidential

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Influencer Confidential by Sidewalker Daily. My name is
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  Speaker 1: Nina Zeta and I will be your host. I love
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  Speaker 1: working with brands and influencers on all things business strategy.
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  Speaker 2: Are you ready to learn what it takes to.
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  Speaker 1: Work in this influencer industry and see behind the curtain? Well,
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  Speaker 1: let's jump in.
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  Speaker 2: Being creative is not something that we can all do
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  Speaker 2: on demand. As many as creators know, creativity comes and
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  Speaker 2: goes in waves. It's hard to be completely on all
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  Speaker 2: the time, always bursting with inspiration and creative ideas. But
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  Speaker 2: because of the social media landscape that we live in,
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  Speaker 2: so many creators are being forced to create at levels
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  Speaker 2: and speeds, to turn around to hit algorithms to make
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  Speaker 2: sure that they're consistent, and it's kind of created this
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  Speaker 2: space where we have gotten all of us right into
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  Speaker 2: creative ruts, feeling lack of inspiration towards our businesses, taking
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  Speaker 2: really long pauses, and also just burning out. It's so
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  Speaker 2: interesting having a creator membership of my own, where I
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  Speaker 2: get to see the ups and downs of what it's
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  Speaker 2: like to be a creator every single day. I see
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  Speaker 2: that there are really big highs and really low lows,
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  Speaker 2: especially when it comes to staying creative and being productive.
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  Speaker 2: There will be people who show up to my calls
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  Speaker 2: and they're like, one week like I just got a
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  Speaker 2: twenty thousand dollars deal. They're like super excited and really pumped,
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  Speaker 2: and then they'll show up three weeks later being like,
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  Speaker 2: I want to quit. I'm done, I'm quitting. It's over.
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  Speaker 2: I don't want to do this anymore. And the amount
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  Speaker 2: of creators that I hear on a day to day
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  Speaker 2: saying they want to quit is so very normal because
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  Speaker 2: what we find that happens is that it's really hard
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  Speaker 2: to maintain that high level of inspiration, that high level
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  Speaker 2: of motivation. What I really want to talk about are
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  Speaker 2: some tools to keep you guys, not always at that
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  Speaker 2: peak performance, high level inspiration, because it's really just not
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  Speaker 2: possible doing this for ten plus years. I know that
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  Speaker 2: there are ups and downs, but it's really more how
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  Speaker 2: I can get you out of that creative funk, if
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  Speaker 2: you are in a funk, if you're in a creative rut,
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  Speaker 2: how we can kind of lift you back up and
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  Speaker 2: get you in that place where you belong. I think
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  Speaker 2: it's funny because when people talk about defining burnout, you
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  Speaker 2: often tend to think of like extreme exhaustion, and in
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  Speaker 2: my case, it feels a little bit different. It doesn't
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  Speaker 2: feel like anything. It actually feels like indifference, which is
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  Speaker 2: even worse than feeling any sort of a hate towards
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  Speaker 2: your business, because when you're indifferent, when you really are
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  Speaker 2: just going through the motions RNs and repeating, just kind
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  Speaker 2: of like going with it, and you're just not motivated
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  Speaker 2: and you don't care. That to me is a sign,
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  Speaker 2: really not a good sign. It is that sign of
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  Speaker 2: whether it be burnout or just the rut. You're in
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  Speaker 2: that rut, and sometimes you don't even recognize it. So
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  Speaker 2: obviously having that moment that you do recognize it is
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  Speaker 2: always the first place to start. You have to recognize it.
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  Speaker 2: I'm in the slump. I am not only feeling overwhelmed, exhausted,
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  Speaker 2: but I also just feel like a lack of love
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  Speaker 2: towards my content, or a lack of love towards this platform,
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  Speaker 2: your example for the platform, and so much of this
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  Speaker 2: comes from mindset. This girl the other day posted in
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  Speaker 2: our WhatsApp group. She was like, I'm about to post
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  Speaker 2: something and I'm like so scared. What if it doesn't
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  Speaker 2: do well? And this other creator jumped in and she
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  Speaker 2: was like, you loved making that video, Like who cares
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  Speaker 2: if it doesn't do well. We have to remove this
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  Speaker 2: emotional attachment that we have created to validating ourselves through
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  Speaker 2: our content, through our likes, and like if it does
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  Speaker 2: well unquote. So if you are feeling in that sort
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  Speaker 2: of funky space and you want to lift yourself up,
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  Speaker 2: here are some things that I do personally for myself
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  Speaker 2: and that I have seen creators do within their own
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  Speaker 2: businesses to get them out. The first is always going
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  Speaker 2: to be setting boundaries in your own business and being
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  Speaker 2: able to say no to things. I actually got this
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  Speaker 2: email the other day from a pitch that I sent
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  Speaker 2: to a brand, and it was one of the best
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  Speaker 2: like let down emails ever because the brand was really honest.
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  Speaker 2: They're like, listen, we're a really small team. We do
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  Speaker 2: not have capacity to take on not one more thing
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  Speaker 2: or something like that. They're like, we love your company,
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  Speaker 2: we love your business, reach out to us in six months.
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  Speaker 2: And to me, that email was setting a boundary. It
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  Speaker 2: wasn't trying to find a way to make it work.
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  Speaker 2: The time doesn't exists, like they could not make the
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  Speaker 2: time up they're already committed to certain projects. They have
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  Speaker 2: that visibility about what they're doing and what they've committed to,
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  Speaker 2: and anything else is a no. I think having boundaries
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  Speaker 2: as a creator is really important to avoid that overwhelm.
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  Speaker 2: And that also comes with having very designated worktime and
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  Speaker 2: designated personal time. Being a creator, those lines are so blurred.
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  Speaker 2: But I am telling you creators that I know that
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  Speaker 2: I'm making a million dollars a year plus on content
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  Speaker 2: creation and on being a professional influencer. They are not
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  Speaker 2: on their phones twenty four to seven. They're just not.
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  Speaker 2: And again I can tell you I've seen it happen.
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  Speaker 2: They have worktime and they have off work time. And
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  Speaker 2: that's the same for creators that are, like, you know, traveling,
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  Speaker 2: maybe they're travel influencers. They have a b roll list,
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  Speaker 2: they know what they need to shoot. If they're on
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  Speaker 2: a work trip, it's different because they're like, O, Hey,
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  Speaker 2: I need to shoot these sort of things to create
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  Speaker 2: these sort of assets. But I think the big sign
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  Speaker 2: that we're seeing is it comes to organization. When we
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  Speaker 2: feel that we have things that we need to do
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  Speaker 2: and we're organized in our content, this does help us
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  Speaker 2: stay on task and it helps prevent that overwhelming feeling
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  Speaker 2: of again, I always have to be on my phone.
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  Speaker 2: I'm mentally exhausted. I have all this footage on my phone.
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  Speaker 2: Now what do I do with it? How do I
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  Speaker 2: edit it? And then nothing ever gets done. So being
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  Speaker 2: able to say no, setting boundaries with your own time
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  Speaker 2: and also the content that you want to create. I
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  Speaker 2: always kind of joke with my students that I work
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  Speaker 2: with that sometimes these ideas come and they're trying to
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  Speaker 2: distract you. Sometimes your creativity is trying to distract you.
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  Speaker 2: You were such a big brain and you have so
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  Speaker 2: many creative ideas, but it's hurting you in the long
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  Speaker 2: run because it's distracting you from getting whatever task you
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  Speaker 2: need to get done, and therefore you take it on
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  Speaker 2: and it ends up just being like, forget it, I'm tired,
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  Speaker 2: I'm done, And that's what leads to the burnout, and
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  Speaker 2: that's what leads to the rut, because you are literally
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  Speaker 2: drowning in your own work. Now, something that has really
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  Speaker 2: helped me in terms of getting inspired, and again this
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  Speaker 2: is because I'm on YouTube and I create videos for YouTube,
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  Speaker 2: but it has been creating a space where I shoot content.
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  Speaker 2: So like going to the studio has been a really
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  Speaker 2: big game changer for me because think about it this
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  Speaker 2: way from an energy perspective. I used to be in
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  Speaker 2: my office and do emails and calls and zoom calls,
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  Speaker 2: and then I would literally have to just like turn
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  Speaker 2: my chair and set up my video and start filming.
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  Speaker 2: It is hard energetically to do that. It is hard
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  Speaker 2: to be like one way and then swamp and be another.
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  Speaker 2: But going out, like going to work, leaving my home
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  Speaker 2: shooting content and public that has helped me get a reboost.
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  Speaker 2: I recently did a big photo shoot in Miami where
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  Speaker 2: I just went and shot like b roll for my reels,
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  Speaker 2: like vlog style b roll, just quick shots right. But again,
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  Speaker 2: leaving the home helped me get inspired. I talk about
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  Speaker 2: this a lot, y'all. You may be in a rut.
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  Speaker 2: You may be stuck because you are by yourself at home,
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  Speaker 2: like truly shooting content here and there. You need to
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  Speaker 2: find ways to either set up systems that you can
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  Speaker 2: enable you to leave the house to shoot content outside
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  Speaker 2: to again or with other people. We were not meant
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  Speaker 2: to do this alone. Being a content creator is very lonely,
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  Speaker 2: and a lot of us are in ruts. Because we
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  Speaker 2: don't have accountability partners or friends or people keeping us
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  Speaker 2: motivated and helping us. It's like when you don't want
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  Speaker 2: to go to the gym, how great is it to
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  Speaker 2: have that friend that's like, Nope, you're going, let's go.
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  Speaker 2: You know, we all need people and you know, to
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  Speaker 2: help bring us out. And I think by shooting content
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  Speaker 2: outside the home or having accountability friends that you can
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  Speaker 2: like meet up with in real life is a really
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  Speaker 2: valuable way to help you stay inspired. That's like, for me,
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  Speaker 2: the number one thing I'm like, get out, get out
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  Speaker 2: of the house, because of not I can get just
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  Speaker 2: like really locked in. Changing your environment for me has
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  Speaker 2: saved me so many times when I'm in that rut.
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  Speaker 2: It just helps give me that boost of energy. Something
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  Speaker 2: that has also always helped me. And this is again
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  Speaker 2: a very personal tip when I'm in business slumps and
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  Speaker 2: funks which I often fall into, because again it's life,
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  Speaker 2: is finding that morning routine. For me, when I am
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  Speaker 2: doing my morning routine, I am at peak performance. Now
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  Speaker 2: do I fall off that morning routine? Am I perfectly
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  Speaker 2: consistent and do it every morning? No? I do not.
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  Speaker 2: But there are phases that I go to that morning
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  Speaker 2: space because that's when I need it the most, because
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  Speaker 2: I am in a funk. It's like the motivation comes
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  Speaker 2: from doing it. I love that quote that motivation is
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  Speaker 2: a byproduct. It's not something that comes to you, it's
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  Speaker 2: something that's a result of doing. So again, if you
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  Speaker 2: push yourself to find those little self care practices that
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  Speaker 2: work for you, you will find that motivation reignite. So
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  Speaker 2: I will actually link a book that's in our Amazon shop.
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  Speaker 2: It's called The Morning Miracle. I loved this book. It
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  Speaker 2: was so quick to read. It basically talked about the
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  Speaker 2: importance of that morning routine, different steps that you can do.
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  Speaker 2: I remember reading this and this set me off, and
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  Speaker 2: once I was in that morning routine, this book helped
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  Speaker 2: me get there. I was just feeling creative again. I
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  Speaker 2: was feeling myself. I was able to like really push
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  Speaker 2: myself to not be in that low energy, but to
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  Speaker 2: be in that mindset, you know, positive mindset and feeling
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  Speaker 2: good about my business again. I'm got ahead and linked it.
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  Speaker 2: It's inside my Amazon shop along with other business books
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  Speaker 2: that I recommend. Literally getting into business books, like reading
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  Speaker 2: a little bit every single day is just so good
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  Speaker 2: for your brain, especially as a creator who's just like
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  Speaker 2: I don't want to reading and I don't want to
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  Speaker 2: do this. Trust me, Once you start kind of slowly
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  Speaker 2: getting into it, you're rewiring your brain and you start
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  Speaker 2: attracting the things that you're into. It's just like a
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  Speaker 2: push and pull. I think one of the reasons I've
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  Speaker 2: been able to be truly successful in business and for
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  Speaker 2: so long is because I've always surrounded myself around others
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  Speaker 2: that inspire me. I love to be around other you know,
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  Speaker 2: creators and business owners and continue to like not see
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  Speaker 2: them as competition, but like to push ourselves like that
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  Speaker 2: community support. And again, I think these conversations, while they're great,
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: virtually I do them virtually every week. Nothing beats in person.
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  Speaker 2: Nothing beats surrounding yourself with like minded people in your
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  Speaker 2: own community and telling you these communities exist, and if
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  Speaker 2: they don't, I always say, start your own right, find
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  Speaker 2: other people in your hometown to link up with to
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  Speaker 2: get that community support. Now, what's really awesome is that
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  Speaker 2: here at Sidewalker Daily, we know the importance of community.
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  Speaker 2: We've built a community of creators, and we've seen firsthand
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  Speaker 2: the positive effects community does for the soul, for the
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  Speaker 2: business spirit being around other people. This July, we went
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  Speaker 2: on a five night who'se all together? There was like
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  Speaker 2: sixty of us. We were creating content together, we were
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  Speaker 2: building those bonds of friendship, we were networking, we were learning,
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  Speaker 2: and I think these are such amazing spaces to get
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  Speaker 2: that boost of energy to be reinspired. So many people
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  Speaker 2: came to this trip in that slump and left being like,
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  Speaker 2: oh my god, this was exactly what I needed to
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  Speaker 2: kick start my business. So many creators that came on
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  Speaker 2: this trip this was their first time ever going on
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  Speaker 2: a retreat. Somebody came by themselves and they were like,
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  Speaker 2: I'm so scared. I'm going on a retreat by myself.
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  Speaker 2: I've never done this, and that ended up being such
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  Speaker 2: an amazing experience for them. We have so many testimonials
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  Speaker 2: of creators who were like, oh my god, this was
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  Speaker 2: life changing, transformative. And again because think about it, so
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  Speaker 2: many of them are at home doing their own little thing,
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  Speaker 2: and then here they are coming together shooting content with
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  Speaker 2: other creators, collaborating, you know, finding people that are just
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  Speaker 2: as passionate as you, learning, growing. I mean, it is
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  Speaker 2: the perfect combination of all the things that you need
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  Speaker 2: as a creator to just keep on track. So if
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  Speaker 2: you're looking for your creator community and you're looking for
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  Speaker 2: people like you, make sure to learn more. The link
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  Speaker 2: is below. As I mentioned in the beginning, inspiration comes
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  Speaker 2: and goes, and there's ways that we can try to
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  Speaker 2: like hold on to it as much as we can
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  Speaker 2: and try to sustain it as much as we can,
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  Speaker 2: even though there's going to be waves where it's just
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  Speaker 2: way heavier and then again it closes up a bit.
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  Speaker 2: I personally love the practice of journaling. I love to
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  Speaker 2: journal not only things that I am grateful for, but
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  Speaker 2: also things that I've learned throughout the day, anything that
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  Speaker 2: kind of comes to me like a little wisdom, thoughts, inspirations, ideas.
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  Speaker 2: I think the practice of writing it out, even if
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  Speaker 2: you don't even like go you know, do it, just
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  Speaker 2: the practice of writing it out is always so very
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  Speaker 2: helpful to help me you stay inspired. I also think
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  Speaker 2: that when I try to goal set, I try to
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  Speaker 2: do things like bit by bit rather than like massive undertakings.
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  Speaker 2: I really believe that creativity can be a distraction, especially
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  Speaker 2: for people like us that get so many ideas. We
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  Speaker 2: have to just silence those ideas and tell them to
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  Speaker 2: be quiet. But being able to kind of set goals like, okay,
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  Speaker 2: what are the goals of the year, Like, here are
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  Speaker 2: the three big ideas I'm going to allow myself to
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  Speaker 2: execute on in twenty twenty five, and this is it.
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  Speaker 2: You know, anything that comes out of that I'm not
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  Speaker 2: going to like say yes to, because again, it may
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  Speaker 2: take you away from your day to day work that
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  Speaker 2: you need to get done. I'm really old school. I
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  Speaker 2: have like this huge to do list. Obviously I have
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  Speaker 2: like agendas and all the ways and different management systems
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  Speaker 2: to keep our tasks managed. But I'm old school, and
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  Speaker 2: there is something about having my to do list, my
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  Speaker 2: weekly to do list and crossing it off and seeing
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  Speaker 2: everything that I get done. It's such a great confidence boost,
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  Speaker 2: like visually seeing everything you do, because think about how
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  Speaker 2: much you do in a day, right, Like if you
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  Speaker 2: were to be like even just making a real have
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  Speaker 2: to edit it, script it, film it, put the cover.
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  Speaker 2: If you were to break down all those tasks and see, wow,
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  Speaker 2: yeah I produced one reel, but look at all the
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  Speaker 2: things that went into it. I think maybe you would
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  Speaker 2: actually start to be a little bit more grateful for
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  Speaker 2: yourself and just feel like a little bit more productive.
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  Speaker 2: Once you're able to see the tasks that you have accomplished,
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  Speaker 2: because sometimes we're uninspired because we just think that we're
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  Speaker 2: not doing enough, and then we're just like, I can't
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  Speaker 2: do anymore and done. But you're probably doing a lot
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  Speaker 2: more than you give yourself a credit for. Another big,
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  Speaker 2: big tip, y'all, if you have made it this far,
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  Speaker 2: is the comparison game. It is so easy to compare
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  Speaker 2: yourself to others and let that be the reason you're
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  Speaker 2: in a funk because you were seeing how productive everyone
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  Speaker 2: else is, how much money everyone else is doing, how
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  Speaker 2: everyone else is fully on on on and posting their successes,
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  Speaker 2: and that is just bad energy and a bad vibe.
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  Speaker 2: I can't tell you the amount of people I have
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  Speaker 2: personally unfollowed who trigger me because I'm just like, stop,
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  Speaker 2: it is ridiculous. And silencing those voices has been really
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  Speaker 2: helpful for me and at least my mental health, because
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  Speaker 2: when you're constantly comparing yourself to people and seeing what
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: everyone else is doing, you never feel enough right. Social
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  Speaker 2: media is always on, it's always posting. Do give yourself
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  Speaker 2: grace if you do need to take rest, and taking
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  Speaker 2: rest is important. You are choosing this lifestyle because of
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  Speaker 2: the lifestyle that it brings to you. I always tell
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  Speaker 2: myself that I want to be able to pick up
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  Speaker 2: my kids at school. I want to be able to
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  Speaker 2: take a day off if I need to to do XYZ.
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  Speaker 2: That's why I do what I do. If not already
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  Speaker 2: be corporate. I want to live this life because of
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  Speaker 2: the freedom that comes with it. So also remember you
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  Speaker 2: can build the breaks into your schedule. You are better
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  Speaker 2: working at night, Okay, go for it. You know, building
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  Speaker 2: those breaks. That also helps keep the motivation going because
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  Speaker 2: you're not completely burnt to the crisp and you're feeding
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  Speaker 2: yourself those breaks to do whatever it is you need
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  Speaker 2: to do to help you grow spiritually or help your mind, body, soul,
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  Speaker 2: whatever you need to do to kind of just like
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  Speaker 2: reset yourself daily versus work, work, work, work, work, and
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  Speaker 2: then have the big blowout and then it hurts your business.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you did, make
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: sure to rate, review, and subscribe to our show and
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: visit Sidewalkerdaily dot com for more resources on all things influencer,
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: marketing and social media. Until next time,