541. Relaunch your life exactly how you want

And this old man an hour into this walk yells, hey, have a good day. Have a great life. And you and I just looked at.

Each other like, oh, my God. I got tears in my eyes because it was just like. It's just confirmation. We said, hey, God, these winks are not wasted on us. We get it. And we get that we're supposed to share this. Welcome to the earn your happy podcast. I'm Lori Harder, founder of the Bliss project, Time fitness world champion fitness expert and cover model turned self love junkie, lifestyle entrepreneur and author. Each week, I'll bring you a guest or a thought that will help you bust through your fears, connect to your soul, and get focused and clear so you can elevate your life, business, and relationships. We don't wait until we're ready for someone to tell us we're good enough. We take what we want and we announce, anoint ourselves, get ready to earn, own, and unapologetically rock your happiness every single day. Are you with me? Here we go.

Hey, everybody.

Welcome back to another episode of he said, she Said.

All right, so today's episode is going to be talking about the great reopening, as they tend to call it in the media. And really it's about, what is that reopening going to look like for you personally? And here's where it came from. We're on a walk yesterday. I feel like we spent our whole lives on a walk. So good.

We spent our lives working stuff out then.

Yep. And I just had all this reservation around, like, you know, you see all the states opening up and cities opening up, and everyone's excited. And that's a good thing, obviously. But I had a bunch of reservation around when things open back up, that means I can have to do things that I don't want to do again, that I was doing back when life was, quote, normal.

Yeah. I think this is. We were chatting on our walk about how this has been a time for everyone to really look at what's working and what's not. Like, you've had to really sit with your life, sit with yourself, sit with looking at when things go back, what do I want to be doing more of, what do I want to be doing less of?

And we discovered on this walk that, you know, the states have a reopening plan and the cities have a reopening plan and businesses have a reopening plan. So why don't we have personal reopening plans? Right. And. And that's really what this is about. And as we walked, I don't know what? Do we cover five miles on that walk? Yeah, you have a lot that you can work out in a five mile walk. As we walked, I realized it's as simple as I needed to make a list of what I like, what I don't like, and then figure out how I can do more of what I like and less of what I don't like. Now if you hear that, you're like, wow, that's the the dumbest, most simple advice I've ever heard in my entire life.

Except we don't apply it.

Captain Obvious. The truth is, none of us make the list, much less apply it. Right. And in a simple walk, I was able to start rambling off all these things I do love to do and why don't I do more of them? And all these things that I did, but I hated doing them or disliked doing them. And I just felt trapped into doing them. And the biggest point of this walk was I didn't want all the music to start up again and feel trapped. And so I wanted to take the steps to make sure that my reopening plan is not one that I'm not going to like moving forward.

Yeah, you know, this was obviously huge for me as well, but yesterday we really helped kind of focus on your schedule because you are. You're slammed right now, but in different ways. And it's like you were saying how this is actually the happiest that you've ever been, kind of with different things not being creeping into your schedule over and over, but you're also very busy and you feel on purpose. And so, so what we ended up doing for both of us was to keep asking why there are things that we don't wanna do that maybe we still have to do. So differentiating between those, you're really gonna have to sit and ask why. And that's what we did with you, is we tried to do kind of like seven Layers Deep, where we just kept saying, why don't you wanna do that? Okay, but what's the real reason why you don't wanna do that? And sometimes you, after you answered why, like four times, you realized, you know what? This actually doesn't need to go. This needs a perspective shift. And that happened for some of your things, while other things you were like, nope, that's gotta go. Like, I gotta figure something else out.

Yeah. So like, for an example, when Laurie says the seven layers of why, she literally means, after everything you say, ask another layer of but why? But why, and try and get to seven layers of why. And so one silly example when we were walking was I was saying, oh, babe, I've got a lot of anxiety around everything starting up again because, you know, there's a lot of pieces in my routine that I'm afraid I'm not going to like. And you're like, well, why? I said, well, you know, because I have to do them in order to network and continue growing the brand and continue growing all the businesses. And you're like, but why do you have to do them in that way? And I said, well, I don't know. I guess I didn't put a thought in between and. Right. And we just kept going, why and why and why? And it really helped us get to some. Some really good answers. And so I guess if there's two things that you, as a listener can do to help determine your great reopening plan, the first one is actually sit down and make that list of everything that fills you up, Everything you love doing, everything that makes you happy, everything that, you know moves the needle forward for you, everything that gives you life. And then make that list of everything that makes you unhappy, everything that chips away your energy, everything that you kind of had an asterisk in the back your head when it's coming up, everything that kind of sits in your gut for hours or days or weeks as it's coming up, make that list. And then get really real about how can you plan more things that you do like doing. So, for mine, I liked spending time, I've discovered during this thing, weekends, wide open with no plans. I used to have plans on all the weekends. And so I'm going to make it a priority to not have weekend plans at least two weekends out of every month. What'd you call them, Babe? Family weekends.

Family weekends, Yep. Yes. Because we realized that as much as we love doing things with people, like, that does fill us up to an extent. Meeting new people, networking like, that's a beautiful thing. But when you realize that your entire life is being dedicated mostly to that cause, you just feel bad about continuing to say no. Cause somebody's very persistent. Right. Like, we run in very persistent crowds. It's what we teach. You can also find that Chris and I didn't feel close to our closest friends, and we didn't feel really close to our families because we weren't able to spend the amount of time that makes us feel really close and connected and that we just had a moment of. This is not the way we want to live our lives. And unfortunately, we're going to have to do the hard things over and over in order to make sure that we feel connected and stay connected to the people that we truly love and who truly support us the most in our darkest hours.

So sticking with that example, it's not enough to say, what do you want to do more of? And then say, great, I'm going to do more of this. You need a real plan around how you're going to make sure that happens. So in our example, we're going to block off these family weekends on the calendar, at least two a month, if not more. And then we're going to literally use that term. This is part of our plan when people ask to do something. Here's one of the. One of the problems of living in sunny Santa Monica is the whole world comes here to vacation. Now, that may change over the next 12 months, but the whole world comes here to vacation, to do business. So we get 100 invitations from great people every single day, it feels like, to, let's have dinner. Can we stop by? We're in town. And you feel obligated to do these because you like the people, but at the end of the day, it's chipping away at the part of life that you like the most. And so we created the plan that not only are we going to put these family weekends on the calendar, but if somebody happens to ask to do something on one of those family weekends, we're going to honor our word to ourselves and say, sorry, it's a family weekend. And then explain what a family weekend is.

And you guys, family weekend can be substituted for whatever is going on in your life. So if it is a build your business weekend, come up with whatever that is that makes you feel really solid and grounded and rooted in telling people. And, yeah, you're gonna get some pushback. It's gonna be, oh, clearly your business is way more important than me. We got that a lot, too. There are phases of your life that you are going to have to do some really tough stuff in order to make room. So what is that boundary that you need in order to, number one, be happier? Because, Chris, we know that when you and I are happy, when any human is happy, you. You're a magnet. You don't have to work as hard. Like yesterday, you were saying, yeah, but I need to do all these weekends, too, or these weeknights in order to network and get these people into my, you know, groups, because I have to be doing X, Y, and Z. And. And I was like, you know, I am. I was struggling with the same thing. And realized that the more that I follow my joy and create space, the more I think of unique, different ways to connect with people, create real connections, whether that's on zoom or whether that's different. You know, events or dinners where you get everybody together so that you're not doing them as often. But the more people come to you and you become a magnet. So you don't have to be outreaching all of the time. Because all of a sudden, when you're happy, Chris, your content gets better. Like, you're vibrating at a level where people are taking notice and they just want to be a part of what you're doing instead of you having to go out and get noticed.

Here's another. Here's a really good example exactly what you're saying. Another thing from my list. What do I love doing? I love getting interviewed on big podcasts. It's just an enjoyable way for me to share my story and share my knowledge. What do I not like as much? Getting on an airplane, losing two days of my life, flying somewhere and speaking to a crowd of, you know, four or five hundred people. It's not that I don't want to speak. It's that it doesn't give me as much energy and it eats up two days and then makes me feel stressed getting in front of 500 people when I can get in front of 50,000 people per episode by speaking on other people's podcasts. So on that list, my more is more getting interviewed on podcasts, less getting on the road and saying yes to speaking at people's events. Because while it can be a fun thing, it chips away. It quote, costs too much time, too much energy for too small of a return.

I love that. And just to reiterate, like, you guys need a backup plan for when you are looking at your list of things that you don't love if you don't know what you're gonna say when your hardest, like, challengers come to you asking, if you don't know what you're gonna say and it doesn't feel good, you're going to end up on their schedule once again. So you have to have a plan. You have to be really clear on what it is that you want for your life and where did this come from? So in this all you shared, this post yesterday, as we were talking about, we really need to start getting more intentional with our life. Like having a good life, having a great life. And then that old man out of nowhere, like he was walking with a caretaker. He was a bit. He was so cute, A bit senile, older, didn't really know where he was going or what he was doing, but he latched onto us, like, eye contact.

From across the street.

From across the street. And what'd he say?

And he goes, we're so randomly in.

The middle of this conversation, so randomly, he yells.

And I'm not kidding, the guy's like 164, something like that. He yells, hey, have a good day. And then he says, have a great life. And I thought, you know, this is probably an hour into us having this conversation. And I thought, oh, my God, this has never happened before. What are the chances? As we're sitting here working out this process on what our great reopening is going to look like, and we are talking about wanting to have more good days that would turn into a great life. And this old man, an hour into this walk yells, hey, have a good day. Have a great life. And you and I just looked at.

Each other like, oh, my God, I got tears in my eyes because it was just like, it's just confirmation. We said, hey, God, these winks are not wasted on us. We get it. And we get that we're supposed to share this because, you know, I guess here I am, 39. Never thought I'd be 39. Like, somehow you think when you're younger, you're just never gonna hit 40 or older, right? You're just like, ah, young forever. And here I am saying, wow, I'm like, in that middle point of my life where I wanna make sure that I did this thing in a way that felt good and that I truly, like, protected my message and came here to do what I was supposed to do. And it's so easy to just keep living every single day and kind of like waking up and letting life kind of tell you what to do. Like your schedule, social media, like, just, I should show up for this. I should do that. I don't want these people to not like me. Well, to lead a great life and to have a good day, you have to say no a lot. And you have to have a lot of people not like you. But what happens is you make peace with that. And once you realize that, it's truly about making you happy, because that's just the truth. Once you protect. Once you have. Once you're doing what you're supposed to be doing here on Earth, like, if you protect that message, if you protect that calling, if you show up for it, like, everything falls into place and the people who are meant to come into your life come and it is like the most beautiful, fierce, incredible, connected relationships you'll ever have. But you can't get to those without really looking at, you know, are you not saying no because you're afraid of somebody that you actually don't necessarily want in your life for the rest of your life that they may not like you? Like, get really, really clear because you're gonna wake up in 10 years and wonder why you still feel like you are not living the life that you wanna be living. And that is just a very empty, sad feeling. And I don't wanna, I don't want to look back and say, wow, I really was afraid of different people's opinions, so I just kind of live life.

Yes, I couldn't agree more. So, guys, if we've taught you anything today, don't waste this chance to create your own great reopening plan. Right? States are creating them, cities are creating them, businesses are creating them. You need your own personal great reopening plan because you have a chance to design, looking forward any kind of life that you choose to design. Speaking of designing, one thing I'm great at is strategy. And I've been doing free webinars where not only do I share strategy on how to build your business from home, replace your income from home, pivot your business from home, but I spend half of that webinar taking your business questions Live.

With the holidays and the new year coming, you probably are looking around your house thinking that you would love to upgrade and freshen up your environment. And there is no easier way to do that than with your window treatments. Nobody covers windows better than Blinds.com. blinds.com brings your space to life in your way. They have free design help. Other retailers may claim to have experts, but blinds.com has spent nearly 30 years building an award winning team of over 100 design consultants that are ready to help you create your dream space. Always convenient, always tailored to you. Three ways to shop 1. Perfect fit Whether you want a DIY, have it all done for you or you're somewhere in between, choose what works for for you and rest easy knowing the fit is guaranteed. So the holidays come fast, you guys, and you can freshen up your window treatments fast as well. And unlike some competitors, the price you see is the price you pay. No hidden fees and there's zero pressure. From blackout and motorized options to classic shutters, blinds.com has window treatments for every room, style and budget, even shades for your outdoor space. The Black Friday deals@blinds.com are going strong all month long. So don't miss your chance to save big. And as always, our listeners still get $50 off when you spend $500 or more. Just use code earn at checkout limited time offer rules and restrictions apply. See blinds.com for details. 2026 is the year that you launch your business. It's the year that you've become the boss. You become the leader. That idea that you have that has been eating at you forever that just will not leave you alone is going to come to life. Maybe it something that someone tells you you should always sell or a store you've already designed in your head. And with Shopify, 2026 is when you finally make it happen. Shopify gives you everything you need to sell online and in person. Millions of entrepreneurs have already made this leap from household name to first time business owners. Just getting started you guys. I use Shopify for glossy and I remember when they sent me my little shopping bag celebrating my 10,000 sales and I literally cried because I was so scared to take the leap. And I'm so glad that I did and that I use Shopify. It gives you all the tools to easily build your dream store. You can choose from hundreds of beautiful templates that you can customize to match. Your brand setup is fast with Shopify's built in AI tools that write product descriptions and headlines and help you edit photos. So marketing is built in too. You can create email and social campaigns that reach customers wherever they scroll. So as you grow, Shopify grows with you. You can handle more orders, expand to new markets. Do it all from the Same dashboard in 2026, stop waiting and start selling with Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com happy go to shopify.com happy that's shopify.com happy. Hear your first cha ching this new year with Shopify by your side.

Now I'm doing this twice a week, every single week to help all of you with your business reopening plans. So if you want free coaching, if you want to learn how to replace your income from home, no strings attached, no catch. This is just my service to the world. Twice a week for two hours each time go to for the Love of Money.com webinar for the LoveofMoney.com webinar register there and you and I will chat about your business.

Guys for real. Definitely go there. I mean I recently in the last few months have booked a Monday session with Chris every single week because I love being able to bounce ideas off with the way that he strategizes. So I can definitely tell you to be able to do it for free on a webinar is huge. So just get on there and check it out. If it's for you, awesome. You know, if not, great, awesome.

So go check it out. For the love of money.com forward/webinar, I hope to coach you up for free. In the meantime, we want you to share your grand reopening plans. Your personal reopen plan, I want to know with us. So tag Lori at Lori Harder. Tag me @chriswharder on Instagram. We'll even share a lot of your reopening plans if you take us in it.

All right, everyone, until next time, earn your happy. I hijacked it.

I love it.

Thank you guys so much for spending this time with me on the earn your happy podcast. I am so glad that you stopped by. If you could take one second to share share this episode with someone you think would love it, that would be absolutely amazing and we would be forever grateful. Also, please leave us a review if you feel so moved by going to itunes and leaving us an honest thought, an honest comment. Tell us what you think, tell us what you want to hear more of. It would really help us out on our journey to helping thousands and thousands of people. Until then, don't forget, forget to earn your happy. Thanks again, guys. Bye Bye.