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5-MINUTE FRIDAY: Are You Really Paying Attention? · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

• 0:24
  Speaker 1: What is going on? Emily Abadi here, coming to you
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: live from the Age Studio, fresh back from the best
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: twenty four hours I could have asked for in Washington, DC.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: A huge, huge thank you to absolutely everybody who came
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: out every single time that I have the opportunity to
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: meet women. There are some men out there, but mostly
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: women from this community. It just blows my mind because
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: I'm reminded of really just the reach of this thing
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: that I am doing, and I know that I need
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: to up my word for twenty twenty two is bigger.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: And I promised myself that I would just own this
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: and step into it and stop like having these moments
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: where I'm like, I can't believe that people want to
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: give me their time and be more like without being
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: cocky and staying humble. Of course people want to give
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: me their time, but I digress. I'm grateful for you
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: is really the sum of what I'm getting at here.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: So again, thanks everyone who came out last night. That
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: is not what five Minute Friday is about. Five Minute
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Friday this week is actually about choosing to be an optimist.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: It's fine. I can't believe this actually happened to me,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: so I was sitting inside of a bluestone lane on
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: I want to say it was Connecticut Avenue, Massachusetts Avenue.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: My DC geography is like a little bit all over
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: the place. But I was sitting inside of a bluestone
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: lane in Washington, DC. Is an Australian cafe. I had
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: the founder, Nick Stone on the podcast once. I'll link
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: to his episode in the show notes here. But I
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: was sitting inside bluestone Lane and I looked outside and
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: it was such a crummy day in Washington, d C.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: On Thursday. It was like raining, pouring even I went
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: to the Natural History Museum, and I wanted to do
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: all this walking around. I had all this time, and
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: I could not because I just could not navigate the weather.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: I did not have the heart to put up with it.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: But as I'm sitting in the cafe, I'm looking at
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: all this weather, and it would have been really, really
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: easy for me just to be like, Wow, what a
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: crappy day it is outside. And I'm eating avocado toast
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: and drinking a smoothie fresh off of like a five
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: k run around the National Mall, as one does when
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: they're visiting the nation's capital. And I notice that out
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: of the corner of my eye, there is a man
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: in a business suit who was helping an older woman
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: across the street. Like she was crossing the street, and
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: it looked as though the timer on the crosswalk was
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: like coming to an end, and she was still in
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: the middle of the crosswalk. So this man wasn't like
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: physically assisting her, but he was kind of keeping an
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: eye out for her, and it was the most beautiful
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: thing to witness like this. They clearly were not together,
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: and he was just going out of his way to
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: do a nice thing. Meanwhile, again, like I said, crummy day,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: didn't want to be outside, easy to like find the
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: grayness and notice the negatives like all the traffic and
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: what have you. But as I was sitting there, I
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: chose to focus on this really beautiful moment, and it
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: was a reminder that we have that choice every single day.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: Maybe not in that specific instance, right, we have the
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: choice every single day to seek out the good in
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: what's going on around us rather than focus on the
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: gloom and the gloom. Some days it may be easier
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: to choose to focus on the good stuff instead of
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: the bad stuff, but that doesn't mean that there isn't
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: always good stuff happening around us, which I hear myself
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: saying this, and I know that the world as a whole,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: I'm like kind of gesturing with my hand right now
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: is going through a lot. But I would encourage you,
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: even when life feels heavy and again the day is overcast,
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: to make a conscious effort to seek out the good,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: because I promise you it's there. So my prompt for
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: you this week is how can you be a little
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: bit more attentive to the good in your life? Maybe
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: it is consciously journaling more often, Maybe it is pausing
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: more regularly. Maybe it is checking in with a friend
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: once a day to make note of something good that's
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: happened within the last twenty four hours. Think about it.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: How can you consciously make more note of the good
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: within your life? And now a listener question.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: Hi, Emily, this is Lynette from Ohio. I am calling
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: because I am anticipating a big career shift coming up
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: and moving into an entirely different field. And I know
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: you've had a couple of career reinventions in your life,
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: so I wonder if you have any tips for starting
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: over and especially for starting over in a journey of
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: self employment. Thank you so much and I love your podcast.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: Lynette from Ohio, I feel like you should do voiceover work.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: You have like a very endearing voice. Is that the
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: field you're pivoting into? Okay, okay, I've got jokes. I know. Yeah,
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: I have had a couple of different lives when it
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: comes to my career. So the question I'm answering here
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: is if I have any advice for someone that is
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: in the middle of a big career pivot. And my
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: answer to that is twofold. The first part is ask questions.
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: And this can be used to your advantage. Right. Of course,
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: you're asking questions because you need to figure out how
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: you're doing your new job, especially if you are working
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: within a company. A moment to ask questions can be
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: a really good opportunity to meet people. But it can
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: also be used as like a flattery tool if you
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: are working in house somewhere. And what I mean by
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: that is people love to talk about what they know.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: And I don't mean that in a way that's supposed
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: to be condescending. It's just fact. Right. So, if you're
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: in an office environment where someone knows how to do
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: something that you don't, use that as an opportunity, yes,
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: to learn, but then to also break the ice and
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: allow them to open up to you about their expertise. Now,
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: when it comes to working for yourself, asking questions is
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: also a super relevant piece of advice here as well.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: You are taking the first step if you happen to
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: be pivoting and working for yourself, and that's why you
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: are recording this listener question and asking it of me.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: It's a really great way to meet other fellow entrepreneurs,
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: to meet other people who are kind of going about
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: the grind in their own way. And no question, I
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: can't reiterate this enough. No question is a dumb question.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: You are the only person that is going to feel
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: some kind of way when you don't get the answers
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: that you are seeking. So get over that hurdle, put
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: yourself out there and ask the questions. I'll say two
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: more things here. The first thing that I will say
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: here is if you are on the self employment tip,
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: make sure that you are creating some sort of a
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: schedule for yourself. Figure out when you are quote unquote
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: best at doing certain things. So, for example, I know
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: that I am really good with my focus time as
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: I'll call it in the earlier hours of the day.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: So if I am writing an article, or I really
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: want to dial in on guest research, or god knows
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: what I'm trying to get done, I am dedicating those
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: early morning hours between let's say when I get to
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: my desk at nine and when lunchtime hits to that
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: focus work. I will book more of my meetings in
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: turn in the afternoon where I can be creative, but
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: I don't need that same level of focus. So get
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: to know yourself and how you operate, and then make
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: your goldilocks schedule around that. Having some sort of a
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: routine is really going to benefit you. Just because you're
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: not going into somebody else's office, per se, doesn't mean
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: that you can't find routine on your own. And the
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: last thing I will say here again on this entrepreneurial tip,
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: find something that brings you joy that has nothing to
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: do with work. I love my work, you guys know this.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: I'm here talking to you all the damn time. But
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: that said, I do have other things in my life
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: that bring me joy. Because I know that I cannot
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: base how I feel about myself only on my work,
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: and at times feedback from others. I also say this
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: because it can be really really easy to just work work, work, work, work,
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: especially when you are your own livelihood. So find other
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: things that bring you joy, Other ways that you can
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: relax that have nothing to do with making money. Your friends,
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: a hobby, whatever it may be. Trust me, you and
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: your work will be better for it. That's it for
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: this week. Make sure you're following me along with Hurdle
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: Over at Hurdle podcast. I'm over at Emily a Body
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: Another hurdle conquered. Catch you guys next time.