On this week’s podcast, Leah and Jen introduce you to the ‘Do It’ Syndrome. The Do It Syndrome starts by surrounding your self with the ‘You Can Do It’ people. These are the people in your life that support you and believe in you. Folks like your parents, your best friends, your teachers are the ‘You Can do’ it people. They encourage you to follow your heart, pursue your dreams, and have confidence in yourself.  When you surround yourself with positive and supportive ‘You Can Do It’ you feel better about your self, have more confidence and live a more fulfilling life!

And, this leads to the second phase of the ‘Do It’ syndrome….the ‘I Can Do It’ part. this is when you have the confidence and truly believe that you can indeed Do It. You know what your goals are, and you are living a proactively and passionate life…which leads us to the third phase of the ‘Do It’ syndrome….the ‘We Can Do It’ part.

This is where the magic truly happens! When you reach the ‘We Can Do It’ phase, you are able to help others and get things done. You have surrounded yourself with other like minded positive people and you work together to make the world a better place! You don’t let negative talk or negative people in your world. In fact, at this point in your life, you have extracted yourself from all the negative people in your world! You realize that life is too short to be around those types of people.

Everyone needs a ‘You Can Do It’ person in their life. Think about it, are you someone’s ‘You Can Do It’ person? Is there someone out there you know that could benefit from a little encouragement and support? Why not vow to become someone’s ‘You Can Do It’ person! That will help them become an ‘I Can Do It’ person, and then together…..there will be one more ‘We Can Do It’ team in the world! So, become a part of the ‘Do It’ Syndrome today! You never know what a big difference you can make in someone else’s life.

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Have you every heard the old adage ‘Garbage In Garbage Out’? It basically means that if we are doing bad things for ourselves, we can expect bad results. This week Leah and Jennifer talk about this adage in more detail, and also discuss how to create new and better habits in your life.

They will ask you to examine the habits you currently have and see which ones are good, which ones are bad and also to determine what types of NEW habits you need to incorporate into your life. It takes approximately 30 days to create a new habit or break an old one. Jen and Leah ask you to take the 30 day challenge! Keep a journal where you write down ALL of your current habits, rank them and see what you need to get rid of or add into your life.

For example, every morning when you get up you probably brush your teeth (good habit), have a cup of coffee and get ready for work. these routines are in essence our habits! And you have the ability to change your habits if they are not working for you. Some examples of habits you may want to get rid of are: smoking, eating fast food to often, watching too much tv, or even not going to the doctor on a regular basis.

Some examples of habits you might want to start including in your life could be: exercising for 30 minutes each day, getting 8 hours of sleep per night, or drinking more water (and less wine).

The thing about habits (and routines) is they become second nature to us. We don’t really see them as habits, we see them as a part of life. So, before you can adopt better habits, you need to first see what types of habits you have in your life.

So, start your 30 day challenge! Each day for the next month write in your journal all of your habits (or daily routines). Then each night before you go to bed, rank them! Are these GOOD or BAD habits? Also in your journal, write down the things you want to incorporate into your life. Label these items NEW habits. Now you have create an action plan for how you want to live your life!

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George Bernard Shaw once said: Life isn’t about finding yourself – Life is about Creating yourself!

On this week’s podcast, Leah and Jen discuss how to live your life as an artist. What does this mean?  Well, think about it this way: To begin a painting, a painter requires a blank canvas, an assortment of brushes, and a vibrant paint palette.  An artist uses these same tools; however, he combines these materials with passion, purpose, and inspiration to create a true masterpiece! The same is true in our lives. Everyday we have the choice to accept being a painter or we can choose to be an artists and design our lives – our masterpieces – and live proactively, with passion and purpose!

When we make the shift from living our lives as a painter to that of an artist, we begin by realizing that we do have control over our lives. We shift to being proactive in our lives instead of living in a constant state of reacting.  In order to get to this, we must first SLOW DOWN and really focus on what we want in life.

One way to do this is to think about the 5 key areas of our lives (our balanced palate) and paint a picture of what we want in each area. Those areas include:

Relationships, Health & Emotion, Physical Environment, Financial, and Spirituality.

Once you have a vision in place for each of these key areas, then it is time to create an action plan and work it. For example, if in your health and emotion area you want to become more fit, eat healthier, and exercise more…..then you need to create the action steps to do that. When we live as artists, we know we are in control. We don’t wait for some catastrophe to happen in a specifc area before we pay attention to that area. We determine what we want and then we make it happen…..we *bridge the gap* between where we currently are and where we want to be. That is what living your life as an artist is all about! It’s about creating and unveling the masterpiece that is YOU!

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On this week’s podcast, Jennifer and Leah conclude their four part series about Life Changing Events by talking about Re-evaluating. Sometimes in life when we are faced with major changes, we need to slow down and assess where we are and where we are going. The *road map* we have planned for our life may need to be tweaked to adapt to the canges we face. In addition, it is always good to give yourself a *check up* to make sure that your path is still taking you in the direction you wish to go.

One way to help you do this is to remember to review the 5 key areas of your life. You might need to make adjustments in those areas to help you stay on course after a major life change.

The 5 key areas of your life that you will need to review are:

1. Relationships: Not all of the relationships we have in our lives were made to last forever. If your major life change involves a relationship (IE. Divorce, loss of a spouse, argument with friend, child moving away from home) this is a good time to assess the other relationships in your life. Remember a strong support system is crucial to maintaining a balanced life.
2. Physical Environment: If your life change involves your physical environment, (IE. moving to a new city or town) realize that you have more control over the situation than you realize. Surround yourself with things that make you happy and bring you joy.
3. Financial: If your major life change affects your financial area, this is a great time to re-evaluate your finances. Remember knowledge and power are two very important tools in this area.
4. Health/Emotion: When we are tested with a major life change in our health and emotion area, many times this is like a wake up call and serves as a reminder that we have to take care of ourselves. Many times as parents we take care of so many others, the questions becomes: Who’s taking care of me?
5. Spirituality: Sometimes major life changes test our faith and belief systems. You need to have a strong sense of self and a higher power to help you get through some of the tough times that will come your way.

Just as an artist is capable of creating many masterpieces, you are capable to turning your life into a beautiful tapestry complete with many different experiences and situations. Remember, you are an original work of art just waiting to be unveiled!

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