Smart Girl Era: Our Favorite Books & Podcasts Right Now

Welcome to The In Between Podcast, a show for women navigating the space between where they are and where they want to be.

This is your go-to holistic business podcast where we dive into strategies, mindset, habits, and of course, making a meaningful income so you can live your dream life.

I'm Astrid, a multi-six-figure luxury wedding photographer and a former corporate marketing girly.

And I'm Alexis with 10+ years in tech as a senior brand partnerships manager and business coach. Think of us as your business besties cheering you on as you level up. Let's get into it. Hello, hello, and welcome back to another episode of The In Between Podcast. It is one half of the pod, Alexis.

And the other half, Astrid. And we are so excited to be back today because we are going to be sharing with you what we have been learning in Q1 and more specifically, what books are we reading? What podcasts have we been loving? Because if you've been here for a while, you know that we love Personally, I love podcasts. Alexis loves books, so we just kind of meet in the middle.

We love to learn. We are lifelong learners.

Yes.

And I, I always find these episodes when I listen to them from other podcasts, I love them because I am always kind of on the hunt for what books people are reading, what podcasts they recommend, so that I can add them to, to my, you know, my queue, if you will. So Really looking forward to digging into what you're learning. But before we dig into all of that, let's do life updates. Let's do some in-betweens. Do you want to go first? Life updates?

Yes. Yes, I can go first. So life updates. Um, I have been at home and not traveling, which I know will be a stark contrast from your life update. Um, but it has felt really good and I feel like I have been just Purging and cleaning my house, and just things that I normally cannot do when I've been in busy season. And so that has felt really good. I have been walking like a crazy girl. So I started in January with a goal of hitting at least five k steps every day, and then now it's went up to ten k steps a day, at least five times a week. And I've been hitting that pretty consistently. So if you've been on Instagram and you follow me, you'll know that I am obsessed with my walking pad. And I recently found out that it's scientifically proven if you have ADHD or ADHD tendencies, that if you're doing a task like movement, walking, or kicking your legs as you're working, that helps with your focus. So now it makes sense why I'm getting so much more work done on my walking pad.

Oh, okay.

So I am in my walking era. And what else? Yeah, it's been just like a good quarter. I have been doing a lot more Pilates classes. My back has healed.

Bless you.

I'm back to lifting. I switched gyms too. I am so excited about that because I don't know, sometimes we just need to change up. And I went back to Workman's for anyone that's local to Effingham. Just more lighting. They revamped the space. Just makes me excited again, that feeling of newness to the space.

I heard they got new equipment too.

Yeah, it's really nice. It's really, really nice. I like it a lot. I mean, I've only been there once, but I love it. 10 out of 10 for one day. And yeah, just cooking a lot more at home. I just feel like I'm in my actually following through with my word and following through on a lot of my wellness habits. And it just feels really good being almost 3 months into it and seeing how much better I feel in my body and my sleep and all that stuff. So yeah, just plugging away, working away. And on the work front, about to upgrade my film camera. really, really excited for that. I had more of like a travel camera that I was bringing to wedding days, but now I'm more going into like an actual film camera that I can sell the service for. And I have a lot of clients asking for that now. Um, it's a must if you're in like the luxury market. So I'm just really excited for it. I listened to like 3 hours of YouTube reviews this morning while I edited. So. Yeah, that's, that's what's on my front. How about you?

You're in your nesting era. Like, you're like, you're into your wellness, you're at home, you're doing things. But like, I feel like you're doing a lot of the things that you want to do but maybe didn't always have time for because of your schedule. And so I just love seeing you so at peace. Thank you.

I know, I feel like I'm my own stay-at-home girlfriend.

Yeah, you're giving very peaceful aura. I will meet you in the chaotic era. My aura is very chaotic right now. But okay, what's new in my world? On the life and business side, I just got back from Spain. I was in Spain for 2 weeks. The company I work for, Circle, they do 2 company offsites every year, every 6 months because we're 100% remote. And this time it was in Spain. It was in Marbella, Spain.

Nice.

And the hotel that we stayed at was unreal. Like, it was the same brand of hotels that's in White Lotus, like season 3 of White Lotus. So every— like, it definitely gave White Lotus as well in terms of the decor and the aesthetic. But it was gorgeous. One of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed in, I think. But had so much fun with the team and got to bond. There's several new teammates in general, but specifically on the marketing team at Circle. So got to meet them in person and like jam with them and build those bonds. I love working remote. I've always worked remote. I'm coming up on a decade in my tech career and I cannot stress the value of in-person and that time together is just so important. So I'm glad I got that. And then me and 2 of my girlfriends who are also my colleagues, Michaela and Emma, We went a week prior ahead of the offsite just to have some time in Malaga in Spain and just had a really lovely time overall. I really liked Malaga. Honestly underrated, super cheap. I was getting glasses of wine for €2, €2.50.

Wow.

We were getting like, oh, let's just share a bottle. It was like €20. That was Croatia 5, 6 years ago.

Yeah.

And yeah, now it's just like harder. I feel like in certain pockets of Europe, they're so well traveled that they just hike up the price for all the tourists. But yeah, I was like, wow, a matcha, an iced matcha for €4. This is better than the States.

50% off deal. Literally.

So I had so much fun with them and went shopping. I have a very short story to tell you guys, and I texted Astrid in real life, but We got to our second Airbnb location, and this is this is you know Ashton and I have done a lot of episodes on travel like in the past. If you go into the archives of the podcast, you will find episodes on like planning trips, solo travel, planning trips with your friends, and you know that we always talk about the importance of Google Earth, Google Mapping, where you are. Airbnb reservation is, and the crazy thing is is that we did that, and we're you're one block away from Hermès and Chanel and Celine, and you're by all these like you're in this big bay area where all of these yachts park, and they have all this like fine dining and really nice restaurants. We're like, oh my gosh, this is gonna be great. Our Airbnb is gonna be in the best part of town. No, nope. We get there. We get up these like little set of stairs and surrounded by the gate to our Airbnb is surrounded by strip clubs. And like the door to our Airbnb was next to this lap dance parlor. And this was at 4 in the afternoon. So we were like obviously fine in the moment, but we were staying there for 3 nights and we wanted to be able to come and go and like feel a sense of safety and security where we were. And anyways, long story short. After we processed it and had a Hugo Spritz, I was like, I don't even care how much money. I got to the point in my brain where I was like, I don't care how much it costs for us to not be in a situation where we're surrounded by these type of mostly men late at night. I just don't want to do that. Girls, go get your bag. No shade or disrespect, but I did not want to be around men hanging outside of our Airbnb door waiting for a lap dance. And we're just like, hee hee, trying to get into our Airbnb. So Anyways, we ended up finding a really cool Airbnb in Old City Marbella, which was amazing. And it all worked out. It was all good. And anyways, sometimes you can plan and plan and Google Earth your way, but you just won't know until you get there. And it was one of those situations where you just didn't know.

Dude, that's wild. Whenever you texted me, my mouth dropped. I was like, what is happening? Also, my math wasn't mathing and I thought it was late at night for you. Oh, I just I can imagine you with all your luggage and stuff and trying to get in there, that it was late, but—

No, thankfully it was in the afternoon and everything was fine and it was all good. But overall, had a great time. Got back to Houston in time to celebrate Matthew's birthday and had a great low-key weekend with him and some of our friends. And now I'm just easing back into— well, not really easing, but jumping back into work and just back to like the daily life. So all good on that front. With that, in-betweens. We always share what we're in between right now because we believe that everybody is in between something, whether it's in life or in business. So I see you thinking, you're like, what am I going to say? Do you want to go first? I do. I genuinely do not have mine yet, so I'm going to pluck it out of my brain.

Yes.

After you go.

Yes, I, I can go first. Also, happy belated shout out, or happy belated birthday shout out to Matthew if he's listening to the podcast, because his birthday was this past weekend. Um, okay, in-betweens. Well, mine is on the business front. So I was texting you about this too this past week, but your girl had a bit of a tax breakdown, um, after receiving a not so fun email from my accountant on like Very unexpected expense on the personal side of my taxes. And honestly, it was just frustrating. Like, I have been so good about my finances and my budget on my personal side and like saving enough money and having like my nest egg and all that good stuff. And then to just have an email where a big chunk of that feels like it's taken away and things that have taken you months to build. was so frustrating. And so I had to really walk my brain through like, okay, well, thankfully we have the resources for it. Like, that's why we have a nest egg so that when these things surprise us, like it's not throwing us completely off. So I was navigating a few of those things. And quite honestly, I've had just a lot of different surprise bills. Like I got a bill for $1,300 for the physical therapist and then like my brakes on my car needed fixed and then a few things around the house needed fixed and then my AC also needed like a few things tweaked. So it was like, no joke, it like racked up to close to $10K personally.

Wow.

That within 2 weeks I had to like just shell out. And yeah, it was honestly really hard. And at the same time, I feel like it was another layer of my money mindset, um, growth of not holding so tightly to money and feeling like I'm never going to get that back. Or like, this was my one chance to save up that money and now I'm halfway through through and I got to go to the back of the line, but more shifting in that mindset of like, okay, money will come again. This is exactly what I prepared for. That's exactly what I needed, why I have the savings. And I remember a time growing up when emergencies popped up and it just had to go on the credit card because there's no other way.

Mm-hmm.

And so yeah, so I navigated that and it was really hard. And at the same time, then I met with my accountant later that week and we reviewed a few things. And long story short, I had tax savings for my business. And so since this is a business podcast, I'll geek out for a second, but I do more quarterly taxes and the goal is just to get to zero by the end of the year. And so I was also frustrated about that because I'm supposed to be at zero. I've already paid so much in. So because the business was close to zero, the savings that I had for taxes in case of an emergency didn't need to be used. And my accountant's like, well, you can just write this as a distribution to yourself and then cover the new expense that you had and the surprise that you had. And so yeah, it's just part of navigating life as a business owner. Started really low, went back up high. And Yeah. And then part of it was just health insurance. So if you're an entrepreneur out there doing this full-time, you're signed up for health insurance, just a heads up that whatever you say your income is at the beginning of the year, if you have a really great year, you may expect the marketplace to then to ask you to pay all of those credits back because it gets readjusted to your new income that was not projected, like the actual income. And so that's basically what happened on my end. So yeah, just a lesson on shifting mindsets, on the importance of savings and how much that can bring peace in a time of chaos and surprise expenses. And yeah, just another layer of money is not— this is not a once in a lifetime opportunity. Money will continue to come and it's going to continue to come tenfold. And that's more what I'm trying and choosing to focus on.

Yeah, man, there's nothing like getting hit with so many random expenses that just makes you realize, wow, I really am an adult. Like getting into your 20s, you're like, oh, okay, whatever. But then 30s, like things really start to hit and you're like, okay, this is, this is on me. I got to figure out how to do this. But I'm really proud of you. It also sounds like there was an aspect of like mindset shifts too, as you were navigating the unexpected. And I think that A big point of growth is to handle things that happen different than our past self would. And it sounds like you really handled this differently than maybe you 3 years ago would. And that's like the whole point, even though it did suck. Like, you're navigating it differently with maybe more healing and more awareness at the forefront.

Absolutely. Thank you so much.

Yeah, girl.

What are you in between?

I am currently in between. This is kind of on the work front as well. I have always been historically someone that holds my weekends to be very sacred. I don't usually work on the weekends. If I am, it's like things for the podcast, but it's not like we're working like 5 to 8 hours on the weekends. And I think I'm in between a mindset shift of based on the season that I am in, it is difficult for me to get everything I need to get done Monday through Friday. And especially with— there's a lot of work travel coming up as well, which means that when I'm traveling, it's really hard for me to get other things done for work. And you know this too, like when you're shooting a wedding, there's a gallery that needs to be edited. But for me, when I'm working an event or I'm doing a big film project for work next week with some, some of our biggest customers, there's a bunch of other projects and campaigns I don't have visibility on. And so I'm just learning that when I am leading different campaigns, saying yes to projects, being the person to go visit and do the thing, do the interview in person, I'm just learning that my time has to look differently to adjust to what my career and job is asking of me, which is exciting. It's all really exciting things. And I'm just also learning that like, okay, this is going to require me working later hours, working more on the weekend for a season of time. I know that it's not forever, but it is something that like I have had to make peace with, with, and now it feels like an empowered choice and it's like, wow, okay. I don't have so much anxiety and stress eating at me during the week because I know that I have some margin and buffer built into my weekends to take care of any overflow that doesn't get done during the week. And overall, that's just been a mindset shift for me and something that I'm welcoming and not being disappointed in myself or judging or shaming myself because Well, I should be able to get everything done Monday through Friday. Well, not this version of me and my career. It just is not where I'm at right now. So just being more direct and logical and pragmatic about what I need to do in order to get things done and take some of the emotion out of it so that I can just show up, get it done. And sometimes I put a lot more energy into, am I doing the right thing? Is this the right thing for me? And I sometimes ideate and overthink when I could just be doing the thing. So that's where I'm at right now.

I am so proud of you. I really hope that in the midst of all the busyness, you can just take a second to be so proud of yourself for how you have navigated this specific aspect of it and be like, wow, past you was so strict about I can only work during the week and the weekends are sacred. And that absolutely has a place. And I feel like that has also provided you that safety of, okay, work is work and home is home. And what a beautiful way to create those boundaries. And now learning to be flexible with that when you've taken on opportunities that you're excited about. No one's forcing it on you. No one's forcing these things like you got to take on these extra projects, you got to work on the weekends. You are getting to choose that. And I do think that is something we don't talk about as much because it was this big publicity on everyone against hustle culture and we don't work past this time and I leave the office at this time. And yes, you should have boundaries and yes, don't be hustling all the time. Don't burn yourself out. But I love to see when there's seasons. There's seasons where you grind, there's seasons when you go for it, and there's seasons when you rest. And it's not feasible to rest all the time. And so I'm proud of you for how you're ebbing and flowing, and thank you for sharing that. I think that's such a lovely reminder for all of us that we can always choose to change and we can always adapt.

Hell yeah, I love that. Also growth-oriented, like let's talk about books and podcasts.

What are we learning?

What are we learning in Q1? We, we sectioned this into Yeah, books and podcasts. Um, do you want me to go first with my first book?

Yes, I'd love to hear. Well, a little backstory, Alexis reads like, I don't know, a million books a year, so her recs are gonna be incredible. I already know it.

Well, I only have 3, uh, but thank you so much. I do feel like I, I have pushed myself a little bit more this year to read more personal development than I have in the past. The majority of my cruising through books and reading so quickly has been for entertainment, reading fiction. And at the same time, because I am at this place in my life where I'm really trying to challenge my mindset and just because things have always been this way mentally, doesn't mean they always have to be this way. So like, to your point, we can always change. I, while I am inspired by fiction, I do think that I am more challenged by nonfiction. And so that's why I've been introducing more of that in Q1. So my first book that I would recommend reading and something that was really helpful for me that I read in January, but I think it's applicable regardless of when you read it, is Manifest Seven Steps to Living Your Best Life, and it's by the author Roxy Nafusi or Nafusi. I don't. I'm. Someone let me know. But she's amazing. She's a self-development coach, and she talks through seven simple steps that you can use to understand the true art of manifestation. So if you are curious about manifestation and you've heard people be like, oh, I'm manifesting this, or I manifested that, but it's like, how do you actually do it? I feel like this book really breaks down the steps and I'm going to share them with you here as well. Steps 1 through 7. So step 1 is to be clear in your vision. A lot of times when we say we want something, we're like, I want a better job. Okay, great. What does that actually look like? Let's get incredibly clear on what type of job, how do you want to feel, how much are you paid? Describe your employer. Is it remote? Are you going into the office? What's the office look like? Like getting really, really clear on what your vision is for what you want. And she really helps you like clarify. And I learned through step 1 that a lot of what I've said I wanted wasn't clear enough. And so I feel like I've gotten a lot more detailed in my pursuit of what I want. Step number 2 is removing fear and doubt. I mean, we could all probably read this chapter every single day because so much of what gets in the way of what we want when we're manifesting is fear and self-doubt. And we're like, well, what if this happens? And the scarcity mindset comes in. And so that was really helpful. Number 3 was aligning your behavior. So you can say that you want something, but do you actually behave like you want it? Do your actions match The desire. And she really brings you to church with chapter number 3. Step 4 is overcoming tests from the universe. So I really like this one because I have gone after something, I've overcome the fear, I'm taking action, I'm being consistent, but then I get some feedback from the universe. Like I launch something and it's crickets, or I try to do something and it doesn't get the feedback that I want. And so I take that as a sign to stop. I'm like, oh, actually I probably shouldn't do this. This is probably a sign I'm not headed in the right direction. I shouldn't be doing this. Instead of, that's a test from the universe and maybe the success that you're looking for is after 4 more attempts, but you would never know because you stopped after the first one. And so that was great. Loved step number 4. Step 5 is embracing gratitude without caveats. This was probably my like most gut punch chapter and step because I am someone that I'm grateful, but also like this could be better. This could be different. I'm grateful, but I could have a little bit more of this and a little bit less of this instead of just like I'm grateful period. I am grateful for the house I have and that it's in Houston period. Not that I wish blah blah blah blah blah. And I feel like that sense and posturing of your attitude is so much more optimistic. And you're like, wow, I am grateful for what I have. And maybe the universe or God will give me more now that I've been grateful for what I have. Versus I think a lot of times we don't always get what we want because we're not thankful or grateful for what we already have. Like we're always kind of posturing for more. So that was a really great step and really helped me kind of take accountability for some of the mindset narratives I get myself into. Step number 6 was turning envy into inspiration. This is a really, really good chapter. And this was a part of my book club as well. So this sparked such good, rich conversation. So I think this is also something that you could do with your partner, with your best friend, with a book club. But the conversation around envy into inspiration, When you see something and you're envious of it or you're jealous of it, a lot of times it's an indication that you want that thing. Like, oh, I see that relationship and I'm jealous of it because I wish my relationship would take vacations like they take vacations. Or, oh, I see this person looks so happy when they talk to their mom. I'm so jealous of that because I don't blah, blah, blah with my mom. Like, there's so many ways that we experience and be in jealousy. But instead of judging ourself for it and feeling shame for the fact that we feel envious and feel that jealousy, which a lot of times is the narrative, you shouldn't feel jealous, you shouldn't be envious. Instead, look at it like an indicator or a turning signal when you're in the car of like, oh, interesting. Like my check engine light's on. I'm envious of that. How do I create more of that for myself? It's telling me that I want more or less of XYZ. Loved that chapter. And then the last one is trusting in the universe. So just having trust in the overall nature that the universe is working in my favor. And anytime anything good happens to me, I'm like, lucky girl syndrome. I have lucky girl syndrome because I feel like good things happen to me. Money flows to me. I have rich friendships because I'm a rich, meaningful friend to people. And being able to say that and have that trust and the fact that what I put out into the world is going to come back to me and just having that reciprocity with the universe. And anyways, that's my recommendation. I just went really deep on that book, but it was great.

I am obsessed. I am absolutely adding this to my list. I have been influenced. I'm like, okay, I need to start reading this now. Because I feel like sometimes manifestation comes across or can come across as this woo-woo crazy thing.

Yeah.

And when you look at it scientifically, it's really just rewiring your brain. And people have truly experienced a lot of the things that they have put into practice. And it's just wild because when we're growing up, you have been given some of the things that you believe. And so manifestation really just expands what could be possible in your world that you maybe don't accept yet as yours. And so I am so excited to read this. I feel like the aspect of being specific with it too is huge. I'm thinking even the last time I did this was like 2022, and it's been a hot minute since I've gotten super specific on dreaming up again. How do I want to feel when I'm 35? How do I want to wake up and where do I want to wake up and what does that look like? And so this is your sign to read the incredible Manifestation book. On my end, I don't have a very detailed description of the book, but I'll give you my synopsis of it. I read The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel, I think is how you say his last name. But it was highly recommended just from a lot of TikToks that I've been watching and podcasters that I've been listening to on money mindset. And I love it because it's not about thinking, okay, when I make $100K, when I make $150K, how I'm going to become a millionaire when I make a lot of money. And it's more about the power of just consistency throughout time for you to be able to have that financial freedom no matter the job that you have. And so he shares a lot of stories of different types of millionaires and successful people and how they achieve that with different types of careers and including people who make a lot of money. So at the end of the day, one of the biggest takeaways that I had from him was as people make more money, they tend to inflate their lifestyle. But just like business, if you are making $200K a year, but then you're spending $250,000, then you are actually in the negative, right?

Yeah.

But if someone's making $80,000 a year, but they're only spending $40,000, they're plus $40,000. And so if you're able to grab that money and like save correctly, invest correctly, that's another aspect is like he really goes into, you can't just save your way to, you know, having money, but it's like the way that you consistently invest and long-term do that. is very impactful. And so I just feel like it's a very encouraging book, no matter where you're at in your financial journey and your career, to just see the impact. If you just start now and start contributing to your investments little by little, it is possible for you to have that financial freedom. And so yeah, I love that book, highly recommend it. Definitely was on a big Finances kick for a while, and that was like the top rec.

I love it. That's been a book that's been on my TBR read for a while, and I've seen it all over TikTok, and I feel like I need to read it. I feel like I'm at that stage where I need to probably like click back into some financial wellbeing and financial wellness.

It's an easy read too. Like, it took me a while just because I kept pausing and starting it, but it's a very short book and easy. It feels more like you're sitting down and having coffee with someone and they're just chatting their way through it. So yeah, highly recommend.

Okay. Love. Next on my list is The Courage to Be Disliked: The Japanese Phenomenon That Shows You How to Change Your Life and Achieve Real Happiness by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga. So this is a really interesting, thought-provoking book. I listened to it on Spotify Audible. I recommend listening to it because it's a bit of an anthology discussion between a philosopher and a young 20-something, like wrestling with the, the thoughts and the shackles of like trauma, past experiences, like how do you actually find True happiness, and yeah, it's based on our renowned psychologist Alfred Adler, and it basically guides you through principles for self-forgiveness, self-care, and decluttering your mind in a really straightforward way. I also really liked there was a pretty big section of this book on the superiority and inferiority complex, and. It was insane. Listening to this, I was like, wow, okay. I see myself in this. It maps behavior so well to these specific complexes. So it's like, oh, this behavior is because you have a superiority complex and this behavior is because you have an inferiority complex. And so when you're posturing, whether you're wanting to be superior or you're at an inferior place and you're trying to work yourself up, You're you're just trying to posture your ego and be liked, or be dominant, be powerful. Like it was just so interesting, and I it's there's aspects of it that feel a little dense and that were challenging. But then there were aspects of it where I was like, this is insane. Like I feel like I'm gonna I'm going to like rethink how I approach relationships and like how. Much we want to be liked and how that dictates our behavior and our own ability to accept ourselves. And we actually will just change so much of who we are and what we want so that people can like us. And that's a big aspect of why so many of us are unhappy, struggle with purpose, struggle with self-acceptance. Anyways, fantastic book, highly recommend.

I love that. I feel like that also just goes straight into self-confidence too, and being able to understand yourself a bit more. And yeah, the courage to be disliked is like, okay, I am so sure of myself that I don't need your approval at all. And I'm sure that sounds like such a great read. I need to read that because I have good girl syndrome of I want everyone to be happy and everything. I've I've healed a lot through that, but there's definitely layers that I need to work through. So what a good read. When did you read that book?

I listened to it in late January, early February.

I love that.

It took me like a week and a half to listen to. But yeah, it's a great like on the walking pad, on a walk. I listen to it on all my walks and it was really good. Okay. Up next for you.

So up next for me, whenever you said that you listened to the book, I was like, oh yes, I listened to this other book in January. I had read The Mountain Is You. It's one of my favorite ones. I read it in 2021, I want to say. And I listened to it now this past January. And I just feel that's like a bread and butter book that everyone should listen to, that you should consistently go back to every few years. And essentially it's a book on self-sabotage, all the different ways that we can self-sabotage our success, our relationships, our routines. And I love how it kind of feels more like an index where you can easily go back to, do you self-sabotage your bedtime routine? Here's what— and then she breaks down what could be happening. You don't create enough time for yourself during the day. So you delay your bedtime in order to gain some of that back, what you can do about it. And then she really breaks down the background and the action of it, and it's just so powerful. I remember the first time I read it, I cried through different portions of it of just understanding where something comes from. And I feel like that was the most aha moment for me with that book. Sometimes we get a lot of advice on how to fix something, but I feel like understanding where it comes from is such a more loving way to approach change in certain areas that might feel more prickly and that you can bring some grace to and be like, oh yeah, no wonder I self-sabotage in my relationships when I have been hurt so much that my body wants to protect me from that. And so how do you work through that? And having this layer of compassion and change and just holding both of them together. So highly recommend if you've been struggling with your routines, with purpose, with your career, just any kind of forward movement, that's always a solid read that I go back to and I can always find some kind of breakthrough.

I love this book. I listened to it last year. And I need to listen to it again, actually. I think it's something that you could— I like that you said it's prescriptive in that you can go back to specific areas of the book, especially if you have Spotify Premium. You can just bop in and out of different chapters based on what you're struggling with. But yeah, I love this one. Okay. So my third and final book is Don't Believe Everything You Think. Why You're Thinking Is the Beginning and End of Suffering by Joseph Nguyen. And wow, I feel like as someone who has really been acquainted with anxiety in the last 6 months, a lot of my anxiety is just due to overthinking and obviously overwhelm and other things going on in my life. But a lot of it is overthinking and then letting those thoughts become beliefs about myself, about my work, about my success, who I am as a person, like all the things. And I really like that it frames suffering as optional instead of something that like we have to experience, or it's like, you know, it's a rite of passage, or like pain is inevitable, but suffering and like living in suffering And being in it for months and months and years and years is an option. And we don't have to choose to stay in the overwhelm or let our thoughts become beliefs. And again, a challenging read, but I wrote here in my notes, overthinking to me equals anxiety, which equals insecurities, which equals doubts, which equals low self-esteem.

Yeah.

Which equals a lack of trust in myself. And I feel like that was the biggest takeaway from this book. And yeah, I listened to it as well on Spotify and really good, like short, challenging, a little dense again in some areas because it's like rooted in psychology, but I really liked it.

Wow. Now you coming with like a mic drop casually into this episode, girl. I need to, I need to like, I need 3 to 5 businesses. I need to mentally process what you just said because that's powerful. And also, I feel like as women with fluctuating hormones, we need that reminder often. I need that reminder often. I will listen to that clip right before my period comes as a reminder because it's so true. We feel like everything's just spiraling and we have just regular life things going on. Plus, for sure, like that week of where our period comes, our hormones fluctuate. fluctuate. And just like that reminder that it's not permanent and that sometimes our thoughts are a reflection of so many things, not just what is true. And the spiral that can come from some of our thoughts is so real. So I love that. And also a reminder to hear, as we wrap up the book section, that Spotify Premium has where you can listen to a whole book. You unlock that for me. And I feel like not a lot of people— I haven't heard a lot of people talk about it, but that's a game changer if you're maybe just someone that's not wanting to pick up an actual book or read on your Kindle and just listen to it while you drive or while you walk. So yeah, I love that so, so much.

Yeah, the Spotify Premium comes with 20 hours of audiobook listening. So yeah, big, big fan. Do you have any more books before we move to podcasts? You do. You have one more book or no more?

No more. Well, so we were sharing the books primarily that we've read this quarter. And so I haven't read any other ones, but I wanted to share the other 3 that are on my radar that I hope to choose one of these for the next quarter. So I really want to read 10X Is Easier Than 2X. I think that's really, really inspiring, especially where I'm at right now in my business. I feel like I've grown quite a bit. And it's been a lot of work. So it feels very encouraging to hear that and be like, okay, well, if 10x is easier than 2x, like, I just need to keep, keep going the way that I'm going. And like, how do I do that? How do I 10x? So I'm curious about that one. The AI-driven leader. Um, I feel like, you know, AI is just everywhere right now. I personally have been using it for pretty much every area of my life. A lot of my friends do as well. And so really understanding like, how it integrates into your business is really powerful. And another money book, which is The Millionaire Next Door. So highly recommended by a lot of people. I feel like it's just a classic. Excited to read that one. So with that, let's move on to podcasts. What is the first one that you have been loving?

I have 3. I think I'm going to do rapid fire if that's okay with you. Just kind of like bop through them. I don't have as much to share on the podcast as I do on the books. But my top fun girly pop podcast to listen to is the Shameless Podcast. It's a pop culture podcast for smart people who love dumb things. And that's like their tagline is like for smart people that love dumb stuff. It's really easy listening. It's a great way to like stay plugged in with what's going on in like the pop culture world. They also do scandal episodes. So they'll pick celebrities, people in pop culture, and they'll do 1 to 3 episode deep dives on the scandals of them. So that has been so fun to listen to. They do 2 episodes a week. I love the hosts, um, Zara and Michelle. They're— it's a— they're from Australia, so that's also like another aspect of just listening to their accents.

I just love, love, love, love, love it.

Um, it's very soothing, it's very fun, it's very girly, but they also think about things differently sometimes than I would have. Like they have different opinions and they also don't agree with each other on certain things. So watching them navigate different viewpoints with each other as well as just different thoughts on what's going on in the world, really lovely listen, 10 out of 10. Um, okay. After that I would recommend this other podcast called Working Hard or Hardly Working by my girl, the queen, Grace Beverly. She can really do no wrong in my mind. She is a 3-time founder. She founded Tala, Shreddy, and The Productivity Method. She's from the UK. She has a really great podcast. She has honest chats with mostly women building businesses. And she covers topics like VC funding, managing your money, mental health, happiness, confidence, building wealth. Just massive props to her. The production value is really good if you want to watch a podcast. This is a podcast that's really lovely to watch on YouTube as well as I think that she uploads videos to Spotify too. I listen on Apple Podcasts, but anyways, fantastic. And the last podcast I would recommend is called Prof G Markets. So I've been trying to give you a little something of everything here. The pop culture side, the women in business side, but then also the economics. And Prof G Markets to me is where economics finance and politics meet. It does skew a little bit more liberal on the spectrum, but I do not think it's like ultra left-leaning. I feel like it's like between right, moderate, and left. I would put it in between moderate and left personally. But just in case you're like, don't listen to this, I really enjoy how they break things down. And I feel like I'm learning a lot about how our current political climate in America is impacting the markets. Good or bad. Like when X person does Y, this is how it impacts the market. This is how it impacts the economics of this industry. And I've just been really interested in learning about inflation, housing costs, 401s. And I feel like I actually have a better understanding of things and it's not as maybe emotional. Like when certain things are happening in the political climate, I can like just look at what's happening in the market. And it's like, this is factual. Like, this is what's actually happening versus like feeding into the emotional spiral that is the internet. So those are my recommendations.

I love those. I love that we're both going to be sharing podcasts that don't overlap. I feel like sometimes our recs are like, oh yeah, I love that one too. Um, but I am so excited to tune into the ones that you mentioned and specifically the last one, because I, yeah, that's an area that sometimes overwhelms me or Just emotionally is just a lot. So I love hearing that there is something out there that is a bit more centered and kind of neutral. So excited to dive in for yourself.

But yeah, I like it.

Yeah. Okay. On my end, I am a big, big podcast girl. I probably listen to at least 5 hours a week because when I edit, I'm listening to podcasts. When I'm driving, I listen to podcasts and I'm traveling often. So the first one that I've been loving is called Small Business, Big Money by Gina Knox, and she's a financial coach for entrepreneurs specifically. And so I really love her tips because sometimes listening to financial episodes, some things don't apply as a small business owner, especially I'm a one girl, you know, primarily on the business side of things. And yeah, I really love all of her advice. I've implemented quite a bit of it. Like my high-yield savings account, like having different accounts for savings and only having basically your operating expenses, like 2 months of it in the main account that you're spending money off of. And I discovered her about a year ago and I have seen a huge difference in my finances and like retaining more of my money since I implemented some of the things that she mentioned. And a recent episode that I loved of hers is called Wealth Building 101 for Small Business Owners. And it's just a great reminder of like the things that you need to be doing outside of just making an income to set yourself up for success, the importance of investing in the market. She runs the numbers on those as well and just overall not relying on one income. So really love her. The other one I love is Restoring Eve. So she has not released any new episodes, But all the episodes that she has on there are pure gold. And so if you are a woman that's a business owner and also loves all things wellness, she is for you. She really dives into how to be in your feminine and how sometimes being in your masculine so heavy in the business side of things is affecting your health, is affecting your acne and gut issues and all these things. Because we're so heavy in the masculine. And so I listened to all her podcasts last fall during my busy season when I was driving a ton. And I've implemented a lot of things from it that have really helped me. Like, for example, leading up to my period, I used to have really bad cramps. And now I've realized that if I eat a lot of carrots or make a carrot salad and I drink the raspberry leaf tea, and reduce caffeine and drink a lot of water, like really focus on those 4 things the week leading up to my period, it is a world of a difference compared to not. So if you're into that, um, she's fantastic. The You Make Sense podcast is, um, more emotionally heavy. So if you are on a healing journey, if you're into somatic therapy, if you're been going to therapy. I think that she does such a beautiful job in breaking down what somatic therapy is, what parts work are. And so if you've been listening to the podcast, I have my own coach. She does similar work to this podcaster, and I've been working with her since August or September, and we do a lot of parts work. And it's been really transformative for me to just realize Okay, when this like big trigger happens, what part of Astrid is popping up? Like, is it 13-year-old Astrid that didn't fit in? Is it 18-year-old Astrid that didn't have money? Like, there's just a lot of different areas and how we can go back and like heal that and be more grounded. So she's amazing. Um, and then— excuse me— and then I have a few other ones that I love. Anxious Love Coach is incredible, and it's kind of along the same realms of the You Make Sense. But my— one of my best friends, Nicole, recommended this podcast to me, and she's just amazing. Like, if you've ever been through a traumatic relationship— and this is more like the relationship side of things— but, um, if you've ever been through a traumatic relationship and then you move on to date and like get married and all that stuff. She talks about the journey of that and basically how to differentiate what is anxiety and what is real as you're navigating those things together. And so she has been incredibly helpful, incredibly helpful too in a world of just having a lot of options. And always— this was her last episode. She's like, We live in a world where you always have options. You can always get better. You can always go on a dating app and find somebody that is doing X, Y, and Z. And so she really breaks down how to know if you have a good partner or if you should be looking for more. And so absolutely love her if you're dating or struggling with that, even within your marriage. And then the last 2 I'll mention is Rich Habits Podcast. So this one's super interesting. It's 2 different types or 2 co-hosts. One is Robert and he's a deca-millionaire with 30+ years of experience. And then the other one is Austin and he's in his 20s and he's an entrepreneur and he's implementing all the strategies. And so they go back and forth and Austin doesn't always agree with some of the things that Robert says. And they bring a lot of variety to the show, which I really love because Finances aren't a straight line. And so getting to hear different ways to do things is very encouraging. And they go into like big picture stuff that I have yet to fully understand. And they also break down like Investing 101, like from literally making an account to like depositing into it every, every time. So really great podcast. And then my ride or die is Gold Digger Podcast. Been listening to her for literally 10 years. Um, just great all around on primarily business, but she does a great job on sharing like her life, her lifestyle, wellness things too that I really love. So those are all my favorites.

Wait, you are a podcast girl.

I love it.

I literally, as you were talking, I went through and added all of these to my Apple Podcasts so I can start listening to all of them.

Oh, I love this. We need to do a debrief of like the books that I read that you recommended and the podcasts that you listen to.

Perfect. I will literally— you know me, I'll text you and be like, okay, listen to this. And I listen to that. Um, but I, I love these because it's interesting, like what season of life you're in is where you sometimes will put your extracurricular focus. Like, what do you want to learn about? So like we're both in career, but like also wellness. journeys. And so, so much of this reflects that. Like, it's— so much of it is, is incongruence with what we're learning. So, um, okay, I think that's everything. Like, we both went through our lists. We also were like, this will be a shorter episode. It's been an hour.

Oopsies.

Sorry, you got us talking about our favorite books and podcasts. We're gonna yap. We're gonna yap about it. I also missed you so much.

I missed you. This has felt really good. And for those of you listening, we did create a lot of the podcasts ahead of time while Alexis was in Spain, so we took a little break from each other and it was too long. It was way too long.

A week is unacceptable.

Truly.

Yeah, truly.

Well, thank you all so much for tuning in. If you end up listening to one of the podcasts we recommended or starting to read one of of the books, please DM us. We want to hear what you thought about it. And if you resonated with this episode, we would love if you left us a review wherever it is that you are tuning in. And if you want to connect with us, you can do that on Instagram @inbetween.pod, and you can connect with me @astrojohannaphoto.

And you can connect with me @alexisteichmiller on Instagram, and I will make sure to have all of these books And podcasts listed in the show notes for you because that's just like the kind of good person I am.

That's amazing.

So I will make sure to have all these links in the show notes so that you can easily like click out to them if you want to listen or, um, if you want to buy the books. So we love you. Thank you so, so, so much for being here and we will catch you next time.