Latest / Impact Ready / 150. One Connection Away

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150. One Connection Away · 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.
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  Intention and energy. Each day, this is for those who
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  seek to make life truly meaningful.
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  Get ready for impact. Hey team, welcome to the show
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  today. Oh my God.
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  It is Thursday, October 23rd and we are celebrating 150 episodes
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  of the Impact Rating podcast today and I am so freaking
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  excited. I am stoked to be with you.
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  I can't believe that I'm at 150. I don't think that this is a
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  very big deal to you, but I gotta tell you, I, I'm like, I'm
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  going to take a moment to celebrate this because I
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  honestly never fathomed that I would get to 150 episodes.
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  This started out as a project to start really just creating a
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  discipline for myself to be talking about the things that I
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  care about, to be talking about and discussing the things that
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  have to do with impact so that we could do more of that, so we
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  could have a bigger impact, so we could create some different
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  kinds of influence out in the world.
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  I also wanted to make this a discipline for my kids.
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  I wanted them to be able to have something down the line where
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  they could hear me talking about stuff that I cared about,
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  something that would hopefully make an impact on them.
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  And anytime I wanted to quit in the last year and a half, I'd
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  think about them and I would think, why don't I just do one
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  more episode? Why don't I just do one more
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  short little episode this week? Because then they're going to
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  have that down the down the line 10 years from now, 15 years from
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  now. I don't know what the future is
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  going to hold. I don't know what technology is
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  going to be like. But at least they could have my
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  voice and I can be talking about things that hopefully are
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  universal and don't change that much, even though the technology
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  and the environment and the train around them might be
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  totally different. And so I wanted to do it for
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  them. I also wanted to do it for you
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  because for 15 years I was in a clinic practicing acupuncture.
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  I'm still practicing. But I was listening to people in
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  these one-on-one treatment settings telling me their
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  stories, their life's worries, their stressors, their traumas,
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  their health experiences, things that they held so dear to their
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  heart. And I could see people.
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  I could see the people we're struggling.
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  And one of the reasons I really wanted to start these
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  conversations was so that you could feel a little more hopeful
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  in times where you were feeling incredibly stressed or down.
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  So you could feel a little bit more excited when life was
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  feeling a little mundane. Or maybe you could feel like the
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  thing that you're working on so hard, it actually does matter.
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  It's not getting lost in the void.
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  The things that you're working are are creating a difference,
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  and that's another reason why I wanted this to be out in the
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  world. And so for all those reasons and
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  so many more, we're celebrating 150 episodes today.
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  In the spirit of that, in this episode, we're going to continue
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  this little unofficial miniseries that I've been doing
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  the last couple weeks on people in relationships and talk
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  specifically today, how you are often one connection away.
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  How you are one connection away from unlocking something in your
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  life or getting a game changing opportunity or busting through a
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  roadblock that you've been dealing with for a long time,
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  whatever it might be. What I noticed, especially
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  lately, is that people are so casual or flippant about their
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  relationship sometimes. I think tech has done that to
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  us. I think social has done that to
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  us. Text messaging has done that to
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  us. We don't try as hard as we used
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  to with our relationships, with our friendships, with our
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  connections, our acquaintances. We don't try as hard as we used
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  to. We don't have to.
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  We can just send a text. I'll just message them.
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  I'll DM them. It's not a big deal.
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  I don't actually have to go anywhere.
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  I don't actually have to get dressed and put time into
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  driving somewhere and show up and have a real conversation.
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  People just don't put as much effort into their relationships.
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  I also find that people are pretty casual or flippant about
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  creating new relationships, about putting themselves out
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  into the world with intention and seeking out people that they
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  align with not only just in their values, but in their
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  energy and in their dreams. People who lift them up, people
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  who cheer them on, people who are smarter than them, who have
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  different opinions. We are not as intentional as we
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  used to be about creating new relationships.
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  And I think that that's a disservice to ourselves because
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  when that happens, we miss the chance to meet someone or have a
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  great conversation with someone that would change the game for
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  us. Because like so many things
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  team, it often just takes one. For example, in the dating
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  world, you might go on a million dates, but it just takes one.
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  It just takes one to be your person in the business world.
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  It just takes 11. Great idea when it comes to
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  decisions. It might just take one big
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  decision or small decision to change your entire life.
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  So why would it be any different with our connections to people?
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  I mean, we often don't pay attention to this, but if you
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  look back at your life now and think back to where you have
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  come from, I guarantee there's someone or something, some
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  situation that all started with one connection, one person, and
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  you never know who it's going to be.
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  You don't know who might show up in your life years later and
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  say, hey, you, I want you to do this with me or hey, you're
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  perfect for this job. I was thinking about you or hey,
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  I've been watching you for years and I love what you've been
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  doing out in the world and I have a proposal for you.
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  I think about this a lot. I think about it with my
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  business in coaching. I think about how we connect to
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  each other, how we ask each other for help, how we support
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  each other through different things.
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  I think about this with my wife. If you've ever read her book,
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  Please Don't Send Me Flowers, you already know this story.
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  But when I was working at a spin studio here in Portland, I was
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  probably working there for about a year and a half when there was
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  some rumblings about us potentially hiring another
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  instructor. And this instructor was coming
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  over from a competing studio. And I was pretty leery because
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  this studio was kind of known for smack talking and had
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  especially been smack talking us, our studio.
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  And I was like, why would we invite someone into our culture
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  who's not of our same vibes? Why are we inviting in the smack
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  talking? We don't want that energy.
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  And lo and behold, it turned out to be this woman named Leanne
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  Saffer. And she ended up getting hired.
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  And the first time I met her, she was taking my class.
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  And afterwards she came up to me and she said, hi, my name is
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  Leanne. And as the lure goes,
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  apparently, I said, I know who you are.
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  And we made this connection. It was like, hi, hi.
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  OK, we know who each other are. And we became team mates.
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  She got hired. We started riding together,
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  riding in each other's classes. I asked if she would cover all
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  of my classes for an extended period of time.
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  Well, I went up to Washington for an externship, and she said,
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  Yep, I'll cover them. And so she started training and
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  starting to take over my class. Ultimately, she became a friend
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  and over time it became very obvious to me that I was in love
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  with this girl. And the rest is history.
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  We ended up falling in love, getting in married, going
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  through a slew of hard things together, navigating breast
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  cancer together twice. And that connection happened 10
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  years ago and my life has forever changed in the best way
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  possible. I got the big love that I wanted
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  and I didn't see it coming at all.
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  Never would have guessed it, never would have predicted it.
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  And that's just one example, one example in just one life.
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  And you think about all the examples in your life or in your
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  spouse's life or your kids lives, how all these
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  connections, one powerful connection at a time.
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  See so many of us forget that we're playing the long game
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  here. We will have multiple
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  relationships and connections in our life, people that come and
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  go in different seasons, different types of friends, and
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  you never know who's watching you, who's keeping a thoughtful
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  eye on you and how you're interacting out there in the
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  world. You think you're playing this
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  linear game, but the game is actually full of ups and downs
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  and twists and turns that are so complicated that you could never
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  predict the outcome of a conversation or a chance meeting
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  or an old acquaintance. I think about my friend Jamie.
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  Jamie is one of the most badass people you will ever meet.
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  She's the founder and creator of a program called Imagination
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  Yoga that is yoga curriculum for kids, and that curriculum is at
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  Nike headquarters. She's been in Head Start for
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  years. She's been in the Department of
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  Human Services. Her curriculum is all over the
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  country. She's a coach for teens and
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  kids. She's one of the best I've ever
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  met. She's worked with incredible
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  people all over the world. She's done some amazing
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  projects. You know, when I first met her,
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  September of 2000, almost exactly 25 years ago, she was a
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  junior in college and I was a freshman just in my first couple
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  weeks at school, going through rush to be in a sorority.
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  And I ended up joining a sorority, Jamie's sorority,
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  Kappa Kappa Gamma, because I thought if all the girls are as
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  cool as this chick, that I'm in the right place.
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  Well, ironically, Jamie shortly dropped out of the sorority and
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  although we were friends, we weren't that close.
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  But Fast forward 10 years, we start to run into each other a
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  little bit more in Portland. We stay in touch and we start to
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  rekindle that friendship. Over time, we start asking each
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  other for help in our businesses.
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  Last year, Jamie introduced me to someone in the Head Start
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  community. And then all the sudden, the two
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  of us are flying to a conference together to present to give
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  workshops at a Head Start annual Institute.
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  And this year we get to do it again.
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  And how did that happen? Connection, One connection.
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  I can't even tell you how many ways our lives have overlapped
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  since then and how much she has helped me and my family.
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  But I never would have thought at age 18, walking up that brick
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  path to the sorority house, seeing her inside the door, that
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  this person was going to be an integral part of my life in my
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  30s and my 40s. Not just as a friend, but in my
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  business, in my coaching, helping support my kids.
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  That's the power of 1 connection and it's the power of helping
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  each other, being willing to ask someone for help and lean into
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  that relationship because guess what?
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  People want to help you. They want the best for you team.
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  They want to be of service to you.
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  I know that sounds crazy, but people want to help.
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  It's fun for people to make shit happen for other people in their
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  lives. And when you are someone like
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  that to other people, whoa, you're creating a a new kind of
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  alchemy. There's some true power in what
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  two people or a group of you or a community of you can do.
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  If everyone in your inner circle of friends was always looking
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  for ways to help each other and lift each other up, what would
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  happen? You would become this
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  unstoppable force that you never would be on your own.
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  Now, why are we even talking about this?
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  Because it's a perfect example of impact and the ripple effects
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  that you can have in someone's life.
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  It's the perfect example of how one event, how one connection
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  can have exponential effects as time goes on beyond what you
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  would ever be able to predict. And because in a time where we
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  are surrounded by tech and AI and non people powered systems
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  and experiences more and more every day it seems it's a
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  reminder that people matter. Our connections matter so much.
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  And if you are stressing or in struggle in your life, please
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  don't lose hope. Don't let go or give up on what
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  you want because you might be 1 connection away from unlocking
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  so much in your life. I swear to God one connection.
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  And I say this to encourage you and also to remind you that you
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  can only see a little bit of the puzzle.
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  We can only see a few steps ahead.
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  We don't get to see the whole game.
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  And if you can think a little bigger, if you can see
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  possibility and be willing to put yourself out in the world,
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  be open to those possibilities, then you put yourself in
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  positions to make those connections.
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  It's also a reminder that you never know who's watching you,
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  who's cheering you on, who's looking up to you, who you're
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  inspiring and helping get out of bed some days.
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  You never know whose life you're changing, and you won't.
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  You'll never know or see it all. That was hard for me for a
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  really long time. I want to see it all.
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  I want to know the impact. We don't get to see everything.
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  We just have to trust it that we have an impact that's bigger
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  than ourselves in our own small sphere.
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  You're 1 connection away and you might be someone else's one
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  connection. So be a helper this week.
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  Shine your light, be bigger, be bolder, and don't be afraid to
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  be excited about your life because that's the energy we
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  want to put out in the world and that's the energy that draws
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  people to us. The more people we draw in, the
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  more connections we make, the more opportunity is available to
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  us. So I just want to say thank you.
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  I want to say thank you for listening and for being here.
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  Thank you for writing reviews on Spotify and Apple and picking
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  those five stars and leaving your comments for me and sending
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  me messages and telling me what you think about these episodes
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  in these topics. Thank you for being out there
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  and trying and wanting to have impact and wanting to do things
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  a little bit differently than the status quo sometimes.
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  Truly, guys, I mean, thank you for doing that, for stepping up
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  in a bigger way. It makes a huge difference.
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  And I know you can't always see it, but I want to tell you
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  you're doing an awesome job and it makes a huge difference.
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  You have ripple effects that go way beyond what we'll ever see,
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  and that's incredible. I'm so appreciative that you're
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  here. Thank you for this awesome
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  community. Have a great week.
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  And as always, team, thank you for being ready to impact.
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  Thanks for listening to Impact Ready.
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  I hope today's episode inspired you to own your impact and
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  recognize that you. Are powerful by.
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  Elevating our energy and awareness.
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  We can. Create exponential change in
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  this life. If you enjoyed today's insights,
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  share them with a friend and subscribe.
• 16:26
  To the show for more. I truly appreciate you.
• 16:28
  Thanks again for being here.