027: Investing in yourself and manifesting through self development

Every wireless service comes with a cost, right? Wrong. The TextNow app lets you do your thing for free. Get real talk, real text, and 5G data for must-have apps with no monthly bill. Need more data? Add it right from the app. Done? Go back to free. No long-term contracts, no pressure, no surprises. Just wireless that works around you. TextNow. We've got your back. Download TextNow in your app store today. Wireless plans require the purchase of a SIM card. Visit textnow.com for terms and conditions.

Hi everyone, welcome back to Canny Crystals, the podcast. How are you all? So firstly, let me just apologize for the lack of the episode last week. Naughty boy, slapped wrists. As you probably know, because you'll have seen it on social media, it was my 35th birthday, which also meant it was Canicrystal's first birthday. Celebrate good times, come on! 1-year-old, can you believe it? And obviously with me handing me notice in and trying to tie up loose ends in the NHS, dealing with one of the bloody biggest website restocks I've ever done, trying to see my family, trying to celebrate my birthday, being taken for meals and drinks left, right, and center. The week just flew away with us. Like, I had every intention of scripting, recording, editing, and uploading an episode on the Thursday just so it was ready to go live on the Friday, and out of nowhere I opened my phone to just over 70 orders, which was a birthday miracle to be quite honest. But that took up all of my Thursday, so I was packing, posting, in, cleaning up. So thank you to everyone for making it so special for me. I honestly appreciated every single order, but unfortunately I just didn't have time to record a bloody podcast. So do apologize, but I'm here now, I'm back, yay! So since the last episode, and this kind of ties in with today's episode as well, so don't worry, it's not just me rambling on as per usual, um, I looked into a while ago getting a life coach And I felt that especially now with like handing me notice in with the NHS, that I should really start investing in meself and kind of, you know, building on me own personal development to grow, not just like my business knowledge, but also my spirituality and my personal skills as well. So yeah, I found this lovely woman online called Jude. She's into law of attraction, she's into manifesting, I love her. And after hearing a few people talk about her and her services, I started listening to her podcast, which if you want to go and listen, it's called The Unbreakable Mindset, and I just totally resonated with everything that she said. She also offers this Month to Manifest course, which I started looking at anyway, but then I realized while I was on her website that she also had a free 45-minute phone consultation. So naturally, I booked right up. Everything that she said to me on the phone was just so true, like We talked about what my limiting beliefs were in life, what me money blocks were. We talked a bit about me childhood and me conditioning, how I'd got to where I was now in life. And everything that she said was just really on point. Like, one of the things she actually said rang so true, and you all might connect with this as well, but she said that she was brought up in a house where her parents would sit and watch the news all day, every day, and the only other thing that was on TV was the soaps. And what happens in the soaps? These characters have such huge storylines, so huge in fact that, like, if they just lived a normal boring life, they probably wouldn't be a main character because no one's going to watch a soap that doesn't have any drama, are they? Do you know what I mean? We all watch it for the drama. But what happens there? So someone will go through a 3-month storyline of happiness and love, and then on the night of their wedding or the marriage, what happens? Someone will get fucking murdered. Do you know what I mean? Like, or someone drops down dead, or someone cheats on someone. And it's how they keep you on watching, because like I say, if there was no drama, it'd be pretty bloody boring. And I get that, do you know what I mean? It's, it's for TV. But what does that then say about our lives? My mom always told me that, oh, it always comes in threes. She always says it like, a birth, a marriage, and a death. It always comes in threes. But why did she think that? And Jude was totally right. It's probably because all she's done for the last 50 years is watch bloody soaps. She's now conditioned to think that everything that happens in a soap is verbatim, and that's what people go through in real life, and that's how people live their lives. Obviously it's not, do you know what I mean? Like, we all know that that's not true, but when you've been conditioned for so many years you're of course going to think that that is your reality, do you know what I mean? Um, obviously I brought this revelation up with my mom and she denied the entire thing, naturally, as she sat there with BBC News 24 blaring in the background while she was flipping through the obituaries in the local newspaper. You get the gist. And within seconds, obviously, she came out with, 'Eh, guess who's died?' This literally solidified everything that Jude had spoke about with me on the phone. My mom is like that. Like, she was pretty much the same as how Jude was describing her parents, and she was saying like, that's all the conditioning that we've gone through in our generation, do you know what I mean? We've grew up around that, and she's totally right. So anyway, I agreed to go on this 5-month life coaching journey with Jude. So I signed up. I'm amazed, I love it. And for those of you that do know, and for anyone else that is interested, this year is probably going to be the year that meself and Johnny register for adoption. And I feel that by doing this work and undoing the conditioning that I've had over the years, it's going to be so good for our children because I won't then be passing it down generationally. And anything that Johnny comes up with, like, I'm not going to be like— I need to stop saying like, I know this. But anything that Johnny says to the kids or anything, I can then say, no, no, we need to rephrase that and say, differently, do you know what I mean? So we're not passing anything down generationally, and I'll be then equipped with the tools and techniques to work through each circumstance without passing down all this worry and anxiety and trouble. And that to me feels like the best investment that I could possibly make. It's like I mentioned in a few episodes ago, Denise Duffield-Thomas, I think it was, that mentioned about what do we teach our kids about money. And first memories of money is you putting it like a penny in your mouth or a pound coin or something, and your mum went, ah, ah, ah, don't do that, it's dirty and Straight away, they condition us to think that money is dirty, when in actual fact, we could just rephrase that and say, "No, no, no, in this family, we look after our money. We don't put money in our mouths." Do you know what I mean? So it's just rephrasing and things like that, but I wanna get all that sorted before I have me own kids, before I'm handing down these generational hexes and curses that have been passed to us. Ah, anyway, she also does, Jude, she also does business coaching as well, and seeing as though I've never had any formal business training or any input from a coach, I told myself to just go for it no matter what the cost, because by doing so, I'm telling the universe that I'm ready to take my business to the next level, doing what I want to do, being passionate about something that I have a genuine interest in, and that I'm basically ready for the next step. So I've had me first couple of face-to-face appointments with her, and I just absolutely buzz off it. Jude is a psychotherapist too, so while I'm telling her all this stuff about my past, like being bullied, memories I have from being a kid, I can see her psychoanalysing everything and telling me what that's bringing about as an adult. Like, for example, even down to when I used to buy the bullies chocolates and things at school, I was doing that because I wanted the bullies to like me and I wanted them to stop stomping my head in. And do you know what I mean? Like, I was buying them chocolates and stuff like that on their birthdays to say, like me, basically. So she said that I was probably seeking approval from them, trying to get them to like us. And to this day, I can't even clean the bedroom or clean the kitchen or something without calling Johnny in and being all like, look what I've done, look what I've done, and getting him to come and look at what I've done. And that's kind of just seeking his approval. But Jude told me, the more we work through stuff like this, the only person who I'll be seeking approval from, and the only person that I should be seeking approval from, from is meself. So with that in mind, today's episode, I wanted to discuss exactly this: learning about yourself and how self-development can help you not only to achieve your goals but to manifest your dreams into reality as well. So going back a few years, I started working for the NHS Leadership Academy. So it's basically like— how can I describe this? It's like a university or a college for NHS staff. To cut a long story short. So you could go and you could do a 1-day course, or you could do a full-on degree and a diploma. And there were things in there like dealing with toxic people, or there was like a coaching diploma, or even just like a 1-day course of boosting emotional intelligence. You get the drift. And when I left there and went to my next role, all of the courses that I had now got under my belt from working at the Leadership Academy, they all helped me secure my next role. And now I know that you're saying like, it's no big aha moment that self-development helps you get places. And you might be thinking, okay, Martin, you did a course, it helped you get a job, big whoop, what you're ranting and raving about? But I want— blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, I'll put me false teeth back in. But what I want to talk about is how self-development can enhance your spirituality, your positivity, and your outlook in life. I don't know if you remember, but a few episodes ago now, I think it was back in February or early March, I joined the Denise Duffield-Thomas Money Bootcamp. And initially, even though I paid like £1,500 for it, I know, disgusting, but I kept telling myself that I just didn't have the time to complete it. Even though I've spent all that money, I just kept saying, "I don't have time to complete this." And I would get midway through a module and then I'd get distracted scrolling Instagram or TikTok and procrastinate. And then before I knew it, 4 hours would have passed and I'd be no further forward. And then the next time I came to log in, because I was only halfway through, I couldn't remember where I was up to. So I'd end up going back over things to make sure I'd taken them in. It was just a bit of a vicious cycle, if I'm totally honest, and I was just going over the same thing time and time again. So it wasn't until the last couple of weeks when I've been assigning myself and allowing myself an hour a day or so to have some time for me and have some time for self-development and actually read a book and things like that. And that's when I've actually seen a big difference. I've had so many business ideas and just generally feeling better with my outlook on things since devoting that little time to myself every single day. Now you can even do self-development in your own time where it's not taking up any extra time. And I think this is called net time, NET, so it's no extra time. So it's things, for example, like you could listen to a podcast while you're cleaning the house or while you're cooking or taking the dog for a walk, or you could listen to Audible, do you know what I mean, and take in a book. Or you could have Netflix on in the background while you're working. You're still taking it in, kind of thing. Do you know what I mean? And even though this might not sound like self-development, of course it is. It's helping you learn about something new and even wiggling its way into your subconscious when you're not actively listening. So like, even as I speak right now, you're probably doing exactly that. Some of you might be taking it in word for word. Some of you, it just might be working its way into your brain and you're learning something new. So as well as doing all this life coaching work with Jude, she also offers a manifesting course called A Month to Manifest, and that's next on my list, okay? So I've got this money bootcamp, I've also got money manifesting, and you might remember a few weeks ago I also mentioned about a money manifestation course I went on, and since then I feel like my business has really, really taken off. So I can see all of this kind of culminating and snowballing, if that makes sense. And I've been able to, since doing these courses, I've been able to double, sometimes even triple my takings in a single day. So at the minute, I'll be honest here, my average day is bringing in about £500 to £550 a day. A day. That's what I was getting in an entire week working for the NHS, after tax obviously. Um, but it's all because I've taken in this information, I've put it into action, and I've done something about it. Okay, so to manifest just means to bring something to life, to bring it into reality, to make it happen. I'm not saying I'm manifesting money from thin air and I'm clicking my fingers and it's just randomly landing in my back garden. I'm putting together actions that then result in money being paid to us. And this week I've also booked myself onto a free business coaching call with a lovely woman called Karishma. She's doing a free workshop on destroying sabotaging limiting beliefs within your business and taking it to the next level. There is so much online. There is so much out there. There is so much for free even. And I don't know if you're old enough to remember, but there used to be something called BBC Bitesize. Might even still be a thing, I don't know. And it was just like online courses, but you could sign up and there was like 100 different e-learning courses that you can do. There is loads of things. There's the Open University, they've got loads of free courses. There is always something and there's always something new to learn. Some people feel like doing courses and workshops are all just, I don't know, getting another certificate. And yeah, some of them are, but when you're putting all of that information and knowledge together, that's going to eventually snowball. It's going to compound. It's going to culminate in you getting to where you want to be in a higher position of your life. And at the end of the day, who doesn't want that? Do you know what I mean? I have so many books that have been recommended to me that I've bought, and they're just sat here on top of my wardrobe next to me. In fact, let me just check. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, so 17. 17 books waiting to be read. That's disgusting. These are all books that's going to give me a wealth of knowledge and info, but I just haven't had the bloody time to start. I'm making it my mission to work through them. I've even said to myself that I'm going to read 25 pages of self-development every single day now to help me get through them. There's ones about the Law of Attraction. What else have We've got, what's that one about? There's some about waking up earlier, like the Miracle Morning, 5 AM Club. Then we've got some about productivity, like the 4-Hour Workweek. There's some about working smarter rather than working harder, some about business, some about finances, some even about spirituality, like Fearne Cotton's Bigger Than Us. And then on top of all that, I'm just looking, but I also have, Let me see. I've got 6 books on Audible that I'm midway through listening. That's like 17 and 6, what's that, 23 books that I've still got to take in. So why am I suggesting self-development to help you with your spiritual journey? By undergoing this self-development, you'll figure out what it is that you want to do. We know by now that the Law of Attraction and manifesting all basically relies on you getting specific about your goals you getting specific about your desires and where you want to be in life. By carrying out these ongoing personal developments, you'll be learning more about your abilities and more about your aspirations and where you want to be. And it'll help you figure out where your values, beliefs, and where your values actually lie. Not to mention, like, uncover a clearer purpose for what you're doing. That's not just on a personal level, that's on a professional level as well. You'll be able to make clearer goals. So by figuring out what— figuring out like kind of more about yourself, you'll be able to set clear and well-informed goals about where you want to be. So whether that's taken a course and that's helped you realize what career you'd like to be in, or it might just be learning a new language and it's made you want to travel, expanding your knowledge is a great way to help you make good decisions about your future. Not only will you realize what you do want to do, you'll also be able to rule out the paths that you might basically not be suited to as much as you first thought, and therefore you'd be saving a lot of time by not trying to manifest that something into your life that isn't initially suited for you. You'll also be motivated. So with clear and achievable targets, you'll be more motivated to actually fulfill them, especially if you have a personal development plan to track your progress. This means you'll be more productive in carrying out the tasks that you set yourself, whether that's at work, at school, or at home, and you'll be more likely to complete them to a higher standard. After all, it's the only way that you're going to achieve your goals. You'll also have a better work-life balance. If you're not feeling fulfilled in your current job, allowing yourself some personal development time is a great way to improve your work-life balance. By carrying out your own learning and development, you'll not only be improving your morale and your confidence and your knowledge, you could also be improving your career prospects. So whether that's to gain a promotion or a new job or a career change, doing something that you love and boosting your CV at the same time, that's basically a no-brainer. And whilst personal development might seem separate from your professional life, it could actually be a great way for you to achieve your career goals. It's not just what you learn that could help you thrive at work. By making your commitment to personal development, you're making it clear to your employers. You'll be able to then demonstrate dedication and an ability to learn and grow. And with most employers seeking people who are willing to progress within an industry, you could be well on your way to landing your dream role, all just by going through some personal development.. And it is a never-ending process, like I said before. It's something that you can do no matter what level you're at in your life, no matter how old you are. You can do self-development on your own, online. You can go to a face-to-face class with others. It's whatever suits you and your learning style the best. Now, the deeper that I got into personal development, the more spiritual I felt. It's kind of like little sparks of spirituality ignited within me. I've begun to have more energy and desire to change my mindset and my habits to change. I've been more inspired. I mean, some of the books— I know this is going to sound like I'm an actual friggin' nerd, but some of the books are so inspiring. Like the one I was talking about a couple of weeks ago, Get Rich Lucky Bitch by Denise DaVille Thomas. If anyone out there is listening and they've got their own business, go and fucking listen to that book or go and read that book. It doesn't matter, it's all aimed at women. You don't have to be a woman. I'm not a woman, I don't identify as a woman anyway. Might as well be. But yeah, that book has given me so many good like tips and advice and bits, little tidbits of knowledge. And she even has a podcast and I listen to her podcast every single week called Chill and Prosper. And every single week I'm learning something new about my business. And it's making me inspired to roll these little changes out. And when I am, I'm seeing results, I'm seeing more money come my way. So what I'm trying to say is I've just had more energy, more desire, and I'm changing my mindset and my habits all by getting into personal development. So as I've worked on meself, I've gained clarity on who I am, who I want to be, how I want to show up in my life. And more recently, that's also motivated me to rethink where I pay my attention to professionally. And this has given me the strength to do things that I wouldn't have usually done, like leave me job of 15 years, for example. I've become bolder about, you know, showing the spiritual side of myself to the world again. I've even started to incorporate me more metaphysical New Age beliefs into my social media posts, you know, like things about the moon and stuff like that, not caring about people thinking that I'm weird or different. At first, like, I was just writing about crystals and people were thinking that I was weird for even just writing about crystals. But the more I got into it, I was like, okay, I'm going to start talking about the moon now because I find this really, really interesting. And I tested the water, and I put one post out about the moon, and it went viral. It had like 3 million bloody views on TikTok, do you know what I mean? And that was the first viral video that I'd had on TikTok, and I thought, okay, people are actually interested in this, do you know what I mean? And that's kind of spurred me on. So like I say, I've just tried to not care about people thinking that I'm weird or different and just going with my new beliefs, and I've also started to create small new habits that help me express my spiritual nature and feel more connected to the universe again. So I've been journaling, I've been doing yoga, I've been meditating, I've been visualizing. I've set alarms on my phone every single day at 8 AM and 8 PM. I do EFT tapping. I will do a more in-depth episode on this. I know we've touched on it like basically in the past, but I'm going to do a big episode on EFT tapping, because it's really, really helping me destroy all my limiting beliefs. And every time I do it, things happen. So when I do them to release my money blocks, sales come through. When I do them for anxiety and depression, my anxiety just seems to go away. It's mad. Every day, 8 AM and 8 PM, an alarm goes off with EFT, and I do it on the spot, no matter where I am, no matter how stupid I look, whoever I'm with. That's why I have it 8 AM and 8 PM, because I tend to be at home. But I've also got daily alarms, so 10:30, 1:30, 4:30, and 7:30 every single day. It comes up with positive affirmations. And in my notes, I go into my notes and I have 20 positive affirmations that I really read out and feel every 3 hours. So that's kind of just putting new things into, into like, it's kind of expressing my spiritual nature basically, and just help me feel more connected. But I reorganize my schedule. I'm making time for these daily rituals, and I'm basically making time for self-development while I'm doing that. And personal development is a constant process. Like I say, you don't one day discover that there is no work left to do on yourself. There's always something that you can improve. You can always level up. No ceiling exists for personal growth, and you can find ways to move even closer to fulfilling your purpose and achieving your potential, and the very same can be said about spiritual development. So I'm going to read you out 5 quotes now and who they're by, and I'm hoping that this makes you feel inspired to level yourself up in life. So Oprah Winfrey said— whoops, I've gone off a quote— "Be thankful for what you have, you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never have enough." Einstein once said, Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions. I love that one. Gandhi said, a man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes. Stephen Covey said, to achieve goals you've never achieved before, you need to start doing things you've never done before. And I love that one 'cause that is all about personal development, developing yourself, going out of your comfort zone, doing things that you've never done before. I love that one. And lastly, Bob Proctor said, "Richness is not about what you have, it's about who you are." And again, that is all to do with self-development. Richness is not about what you have, so it's not about material things, it's about who you are. It's about developing yourself, okay? I hope that inspires you just a little bit. So personal development requires that you dig deeply into yourself and that you understand yourself. Spiritual development requires digging deeply into your relationship with the universe and your understanding of life. So as you put time and energy into both personal and spiritual development, you'll discover that you're an expression of the universe itself. And the more you work on your relationship with yourself, the better life becomes for you. That's what's known as the personal spiritual development loop. And from that loop, you'll gain clarity, belief, and courage. And as you apply clarity, belief, and courage to your spiritual pursuits, you'll find yourself with a deep spiritual practice that leads to a spiritual expression and experience. So we know that the Law of Attraction tells us in these 3 steps to ask, believe, and receive. But personal development teaches us clarity, belief, and courage. Clarity is getting clear on something and therefore asking for something. Belief is believing that something is going to happen. And courage is knowing that you can leave your wants in the hands of the Universe to receive what you want in life. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the Law of Attraction's "Ask, Believe, Receive" motto is practically identical to the personal development motto of clarity, belief, and courage. Personal development is the key to manifesting. Have you noticed your personal development work impacts your spiritual development? Let me know. You can DM me on either Instagram or TikTok. My handles are @cunnycrystals or @marttweedy for my personal. Both links are in the show notes below. Let me know what you thought of this episode too. It was a bit of a different episode, but anything you'd like me to talk about next, drop me a DM, let me know. Don't forget to also drop me a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or wherever you listen from. I'd really, really appreciate it. It takes about 20 seconds to do, but it really, really helps me out. So thank you so much from the bottom of me heart if you've done it already. Don't forget to visit cannycrystals.co.uk. I've got some amazing items coming up soon, woohoo, and another massive website restock in the next 2 weeks as well. And I guess I've got nothing left else to say other than I hope everyone has a beautiful weekend, and I'll see you all for another episode next week. Lots of love to you all. Thank you so much for listening. Bye!