213: Living Life By Your Own Rules with Amy Jo Martin

Namaste. My name is Sahara Rose, and welcome back to the Highest Self Podcast, a place where we discuss what makes you your soul's highest evolvement. Welcome back to the Highest Self podcast. It is so great to have you here. If it's your first time listening, welcome if you're here every single week.

Hello, Boo.

What it do? Well, I'm really excited to share with you today's episode because it is one about breaking rules, which is something I am all about now, Amy Jo, if you're not familiar with her incredible book, Renegades Write the Rules, or her podcast, why not now, which I was recently on, she is someone who had the perfect life. She was doing social media for Shaq. She was interviewing and working with and doing the social media for top athletes around the rule, running a major business. She even garnered herself a social media following of over a million people. She was on Twitter, one of the first people on Twitter really using that platform. And then she decided that she wants to go live on a boat. And then she decided she wants to go live in a forest. And most recently, which during this episode, she was pregnant, but she recently had her son and was sent through a roller coaster of obstacles and emotions when her son was born premature at six months old. And while she was on the layover in another state and she had to go stay in this other state for I don't know how long, but many weeks, helping this child get out of the intensive care unit so he can stabilize his body to live. So she is someone that is so positive, is always looking at the bright side of things. I mean, I look at her Instagram, I'm like, wow. She's calling this little boy a renegade and a savior. And he really is, because he's grasping for his life and beautifully enough that after months of the icu, he is now healthy enough to go move to the forest where she lives. And she shares about why she made that decision of leaving all of this incredible wealth, everything that she created, to go live a simple life. And I think that this is such a beautiful example for those of you who maybe you're in a successful job. You know, it's paying the bills, everything seems to be right. You're checking off the boxes, but you feel like this isn't your most happy, most authentic, most aligned way of living. And what I love about this is you can write your own rules. The things that other people deem as impossible are just stories in your head that you're telling yourself you actually can do anything you want. And there Actually is no excuse. You know, you can decide, I'm actually going to take this year and live on a boat and work from there. You could work online from a boat, you could work online from a forest, you could work online from a desert. You could save up enough money to not work, if that's what you want. You can make whatever you want happen. And it's such a beautiful example because as I share with you guys all the time, that we need to see people doing these things as examples that we can do them ourselves. And to not let fear get the most of you, because most of us are so caught up into why it won't work, why it's impossible, why it's never going to happen, that we ignore the other 50% possibility that it actually can, that it actually will if you try. So let this episode be a testament of what is possible for you, of not just stepping into the role that maybe you've worked hard for. Maybe you gave everything to get to where you are right now. But guess what? You're allowed to change your mind. You're allowed to say that this actually isn't working for me anymore, and that's what I want. Because that is honoring your truth. And honoring your truth is the only reason why you came here on this planet. So without further ado, let's welcome Amy Jo Martin to the Highest Self podcast. And before we get started, I would love to invite you to participate in my absolutely free five day Rose Gold Goddess Challenge Challenge. For five days, we will be embodying the archetypes of the goddesses that exist inside each and every one of us. You will be stepping into your creative Saraswati, your meditative Parvati, your abundant Lakshmi, your powerful Durga, and your wild Kali. I'm going to be teaching you how to work with these goddesses in all areas of your life and how using them can help you embody your highest self. On top of that, we will be giving away over $3,000 of prizes, including retreat at the Art of Living center for you and a friend. So head over to rose gold goddesses.com to sign up for the challenge today for free. Again, that is. Rosegoldgoddesses.com welcome, Amy Jo, to the Highest Self podcast. It's so great to have you here.

Thanks, Sahara, for having me on. I'm excited to chat with you today.

Yes. So the first question that I'd love to ask you is, what makes you your highest self?

That's a really good question and it's a big one. And I always go with the first thing that pops into mind, I'd say as of the last few years, after some major life lessons, when I'm able to combine my drives, my hustle factor, that whole grind mentality with alignment, I find I'm operating and experiencing life at a different level in terms of my highest self. So it used to just be one side of the coin, that hustle, grind, chase, grasp, and that to its extent almost, you know, it really did me in. But when I finally understood the alignment side and brought in some intuition and started doing some other things, the combo is what I find is my magic kind of sauce. So, yeah, my secret sauce, in terms of not letting one extreme or the other really be it for me, it's that formula.

So good. And you're definitely balancing your vata and your pitta, which we were just talking about, which are those two sides of you, which is awesome. And craving more of the kapha.

Exactly, exactly. And I think it's unrealistic for me to think that that pitta is going to burn out, so I have to just find a way that allows it to be its most positive version. Right. So little dash and splash of the kapha is really helping me. And I'm learning these terms, so I'm giggling in my mind as I say them. So thank you for teaching me, Sahara.

Yeah, you're doing well. So for people who don't know about your work, you're a podcast host, you're a New York Times bestselling author, speaker, found, founder, CEO, you have almost million Twitter followers and are a social media like expert. Can you describe to us just how you got started on this incredible journey?

Sure. So, really, one of the biggest inflection points for me was I was working for the Phoenix suns in the NBA, and this was 2005, 2006 season, and I started experimenting with social media, with Facebook, YouTube, really, Instagram didn't exist yet. A lot of other platforms that many people may not recognize and realized that this space, these new ways to communicate, were basically the most brilliant, innovative form of marketing. So this was the Wild, Wild west days. And prior to this, I had worked in various capacities in professional sports. So this was just kind of my world, where being exposed to these personalities, these athletes, was a way that I realized, wow, we can take their personalities and their brands online and humanize them even more. But they aren't limited to their 24 hours in a day in terms of their impact. They actually can kind of scale themselves. So it was all an experiment. And I got a phone Call one day as I'm sitting at my desk working for the Phoenix Suns, and I was the director of digital media and research at the time, actually the director of new media, because we called it new at the time. And I got a call from basketball operations, and they said, amy Jo, we need you to come down to the locker room right now. Shaquille o' Neal wants to learn how to tweet. And you're the only one in this building that knows what that means. So this was a few years into experimenting. This was 2008. And I did. I went down and I met Shaquille. And he said, well, what am I supposed to share? First of all, 7 foot tall Shaquille O' Neal is something else. Just to meet in person. And then he hands me his shack Berry, which was his BlackBerry. He was not into the iPhone phase yet. And he said, yeah, what should I say? What should I share? And I said, share who the Shaquille is behind the shack? Who is that person behind the personality? Because we want to connect with that. This. That's humanizing and relatable, and people can't find that elsewhere. So that was the very beginning, I'd say probably one of the biggest moments. The why not now? Why not go ahead and head to the locker room? Even though that wasn't part of my job description, in fact, it wasn't allowed. I wasn't supposed to be working with the players, so I asked forgiveness instead of permission on that one.

I love that. Yes. So important to do that sometimes. So you went from working with these massive athletes to building your own personal brand. Can you tell us how you made that switch?

Yeah. So I went to Arizona State University in Tempe. It was the number one party school in America at the time. And I studied marketing, so that classic marketing, branding, advertising, training was under my belt. And conceptually, the term brand is more of a static type of iconic concept. And humans are not static, and we are messy and we evolve. So I think I was constant as I was experimenting with these big personalities. I was also going through this myself in terms of reconciling how do we brand ourselves as human beings? And. And what does that even mean? And I grew up in Wyoming, small town girl, grew up in a trailer. I had never had a spotlight on me. So as my spotlight started to grow through these platforms, you know, it was my first rodeo of kind of dealing with that attention and with that feeling a pressure of wanting to provide value, but also wanting to share a story and tell a storyline that Seems interesting. So it was this kind of, as I look back, this fascinating self evolution and time and I tried to just stay the course of be real, continue to share what you're seeing. And a lot of people wanted to see what we were going to do next. In the beginning it was Shaquille and I and I had these kind of crazy ideas for him, one of which was random acts of shackness, I called it. And they were these stunts to bridge the virtual world with the physical world and meet people in person. And that's really when social media is lightning in a bottle, when you can make that bridge of boots on the ground real life to virtual. And so my presence started to grow and it was easy for me to start to kind of slip into that iconic branding. Right. The stuff I learned in school, your equity is in your brand and your image and storyline needs to be told in an arc and so on and so forth. So fast forward. I ended up starting my own company. It was one of the first social media agencies to really exist. And, and we grew very quickly as a first time entrepreneur in my 20s and I was just trying to keep my head above water, you know, the team grew. We had seven figures in revenue within year two and we're working with Dwayne the Rock Johnson and Nike. And my presence continues to grow. And this is a real life case study of a personal brand starting to elbow out the real person. And so I personally went through this process of realizing the story I was sharing is what I thought people wanted to hear. Yes, I was living this life of flying private with fancy people and doing fancy things. But behind the scenes, the real me was not necessarily feeling that way of, you know, I was burning out, basically. It's a little easier to reconcile it 10 years down the road, but at the time it's a nice little cocktail for drama.

Totally. Yes. And it's hard to realize that you're burning out because you're so in it. And you're like, well, this is the level of work that it takes for me to do whatever it is that I need to be putting out. But then it's just like, well, where do we end? Where does it start?

Oh, and it's rewarding because you're constantly seeing this feedback loop and the results are growing and you're getting this positive reinforcement of more clients, businesses growing. New York Times bestseller. And I was addicted to adrenaline. And I don't know if that's a tendency that Pete does have, but man, that's fleeting. And it's also Hard to realize it at the time because you do think everything's great until you completely run out of gas.

So I want to ask you a question that a listener asked me that kind of stumped me because I'm the same as you. Like, went all in, burnt myself out. Now I'm learning balance and fun and that kind of stuff. But a listener asked me, she said, well, if it wasn't for that period of work where you did end up burning out, do you think that you would have still been successful? And I want to ask that to you.

It's a great question and I think everybody's capacities and thresholds are a little different. Looking back, I can see where there could have been times where I could have eased up a bit and that would have sustained the situation longer. However, it was not my path and so thank goodness I didn't do that at the time because I wasn't in alignment. That wasn't supposed to be where I was headed anyway for that long. So I. It's kind of a trick question because I do believe everything happens for a reason. So this journey that I am on has happened for a very specific reason. And that is so I can share and help others kind of leapfrog my mistakes. But for sure, people could. I think I can see other individuals could have potentially more sustainably grown and continued that. I was on a rocket ship and maybe slowed it down a bit to get more control, to maintain some growth, but I guess it just wasn't in the cards for me. And that wasn't. That's not my personality. It wasn't. At the time I had some other lessons to learn, but I'm grateful that it. I didn't because that wasn't where I wanted to go. I thought that's where everybody else wanted me to go, though, and that it looked good and it fed my ego.

Yes. And I think that we all have to learn what that boundary is for ourselves. And it's really easy to be like, yeah, don't overwork. But when you're in it, you just kind of have to overwork. And then you're able to say, oh, this is why they keep on repeating the same thing in self care. But I think a lot of us, we just learn from experience and there's no way around that.

Yeah, exactly. And I think from an early age I kind of associated sacrifice with making money and I just thought that's how it was supposed to be. You know, if you average four hours of sleep a night and you work the rest, that's sacrifice, but you'll make money and you can sleep later. And I think too alignment is we use that word quite a bit in our day and age and throw it around. But now I really understand what that means if living in your zone of genius versus your zone of excellence. Because what I was doing, I was excellent at. But that doesn't mean I loved it. Just because you're good at something doesn't mean you love it. And so it's learning to rest instead of quit. It's a combination of that. And also when you're enjoying what you're doing and you're aligned that concept in term hustle actually turns into play. It's like I don't subscribe anymore to the grind and the chase and the grasp, but I still do work very hard. But it feels like play. So that becomes more of a dance and a groove versus a fight. And so the resonance versus that dissonance is very clear to me, the difference in that feeling. And it wasn't always so. It's fascinating because that dance isn't always pretty or graceful, but it feels more like play and less like a struggle.

So I'd love to hear how you made that shift to having it feel less like hustle and more like play when you're still getting a lot done.

Yeah, well, there came kind of an epic moment in my storyline where I found myself standing in front of a departure board at an airport and I didn't know where I was standing and I didn't know where I was going. And I was one of those moments I had experienced before is kind of normal. But this time it took an extra long time to even realize where I was. I finally figured out. And then I head over to fuel up for the day to get my Starbucks and I went to sign my name on the receipt. And Sahara, I could not remember my name completely blanked. And I'm just sitting there with the pen in my hand and a complete physiological just drop, just completely out of gas happened. And it was one of the most powerful moments of my life. And it was that, I guess you'd say wake up call. So I walk over and sit down and it was tears just kind of start rolling down my face. And it wasn't the sobbing ugly cry. It was just this. I realized I was an emotionally and physically bankrupt millionaire and there had to be another way. And so in order to untangle having employees in 10 different countries and working with some of the biggest brands and celebrities on the planet, it was messy. I had to really figure out what was a priority. And at that point it was either me or the company. So I ended up taking this company that was, you know, we were in discussions to be acquired at the time and had a $10 million valuation with a multiple on top of that. And I knew there was no way I could continue to live this story and do something that I wasn't believing in anymore. And so I ended up exiting the company in a very unusual way, which is cashing out, winding it up, paying all the investors back, and slowly kind of ramping down to where the team had plenty of Runway to figure out their next gig help them. And I went on, I call it my adult timeout sabbatical and moved onto a boat for a year. Learned how to captain and learned how to sleep again. Some of the basics, eating right, sleeping, started meditating. And that lasted for a while, but eventually I just got kind of antsy the pita and I started a podcast called why not now. Put myself in the listening seat instead of trying to do so much of the driving. And when I started this show, the podcast, I felt like it was my time to learn and ask people for their advice. I talked to Tony Robbins, Jessica Alba, Mark Cuban, Simon Sinek, you name it. And just start to feel my own brain of a different way to do this. And that grew very organically. Started realizing what I do love about social media and what I don't, getting into alignment and have rebuilt a new company. And so a lot of it I credit to understanding that internal GPS that we have in us because I never did before. I just thought just push on the gas, force it, make things happen was how you got stuff done. And now I realize there's another way. You don't have to push so hard and be so reckless. So yeah, those are a couple of things that happened, but that was the pinnacle for sure.

So having done that, just totally stepped away. Living on a boat, meditating, teaching yourself how to sleep, going back to basics now coming back into the work sphere. What are the things that you've taken from that that you're still integrating into your day to day?

Oh geez, pretty much all of it. Nature is a huge level set for me. It keeps me kind of calibrated, I guess you would say. I live in the forest now. I do live on land, but it's. That's been a big component. Sleep is non negotiable just absolutely. Meditation practice has grown from Headspace app to TM and I think just learning a little bit more about body Intelligence. I have an incredible mentor who has helped me understand some of the science behind residents behind and physics behind what happens when our intuition is trying to tell us something. So it's really a combination of those things.

So I have been on the lookout for an incredible organic skincare company that doesn't use preservatives or synthetics and is also zero waste. And that's when I came across Loli. And I am so inspired by this company and also really impressed by the benefits that their elixirs, their serums, their tonics are having on my skin. I'm getting tons and tons of compliments, so I've been loving their plum elixir. It smells amazing. And also removing makeup with their chamomile lavender water. I also am obsessed with their matcha coconut paste. I mean, all of these things I would love to eat as well. And that just shows how high vibe it is when it's all edible products that we can put on our face. So to get your hands on some. For 20% off, head over to Loli Beauty, that is L O L I beauty.com and use coupon code Sahara for 20% off. Okay, real talk. The product I'm about to tell you about is literally the best thing I've ever put into my mouth, and that is saying a lot. And this is Organifi Gold. So essentially it is the hot chocolate of your dreams with none of the sugar and all of the turmeric and reishi with a touch of ginger as well. It is delicious on its own, just with water. When I was on my Poncha Karma and I couldn't have any sugar or chocolate, anything like that, I brought my Organifi gold with me, Poncho Karma approved. And all I needed was hot water. And it was the perfect, just sweet, soothing, desserty taste that I so deeply crave after meals. And it makes me feel so calm, so restorative. It is my optimal nighttime tonic. And literally I've gotten all my friends on it and I'm pinching myself that they are my podcast sponsors because even if they weren't, I would still be telling everyone about it. So head over to Organifi.com and use coupon code Sahara for 20 off. That is Organifi O R G-A-N-I F I.com use coupon code Sahara for 20 off your gold. Love that. And I know that you're doing your TM practice and that's really changed things for you. So I feel like a lot of people, they're Feeling like, oh, well, I have to first get really successful, have all of that figured out, then I can do, you know, meditation and all of that stuff. What advice do you have for people who are just starting now? Like maybe right now is the time that they do really need to push, but they also don't want to go overboard.

Yeah, I think it's really focusing on setting up a sustainable pace and that's where kind of an all or nothing person in the past, historically I have been and realized that actually doesn't help me. So this concept of, oh, I'll do this and accomplish that and then I'll be able to do what I really want or I'll be able to sleep or meditate is actually, if you look at the inverse of that or reverse engineer your self care and programming to be more sustainable from the get go, then you have all the fuel you need. But running off that adrenaline because you're out of gas isn't sustainable because those are fumes that just, you know, they just evaporate. So it's setting yourself up for success by creating a sustainable practice versus foot on the gas.

So very true. So I want to talk a little bit about your niche, which is personal branding and social media. And I copied some of your Twitter posts that I absolutely loved and I just want you to kind of like deepen our understanding of them. So one of them is personal branding is an inside job because we have to let go of what people want us to be. And the point when you finally drop that is when you've arrived at being you, you are you. You don't brand yourself in a world that we're always told to brand ourself. And you're saying we don't brand ourself. What do you mean by that?

Yeah, hopefully that's refreshing for people to hear right now because we get so caught up on wanting to create this perfect Persona and it's actually opposite. It's easier. You already are yourself, so you don't brand yourself. You are yourself. That creates a brand. So what that means is the closer and more aligned you can be with just being yourself, the more successful you will be to connect with other people and connection converts. Whether you're looking to just develop a friendship, a relationship, business wise, whether you're looking to sell something, acquire emails, get people to listen to your podcast, read your book, whatever, get new clients, customers. Conversion happens when you are yourself, when you humanize this Persona you tried to build. So that's what that means. And it's a little Counterintuitive to a lot of us because we see these Instagram feeds that the grid looks like something that came out of Martha Stewart magazine, and we think we need to have those aesthetics to using air quotes here, brand ourselves. But really those are filters. And if we want to connect and convert, we can't filter ourselves. Now, if people are using a certain filter and like a certain aesthetic, there's nothing wrong with that. But don't mistake that for branding and personal branding.

So what about people who are like, well, I'm not anyone special now. Like, no one cares about, like, my dog and all these, like, random things about me. So don't I need to create a cool brand for people to care?

Well, first, welcome to the club. We all worry about whether or not people care about what we have to say if we're interesting enough. So that's human nature. Two things get very clear on why you're using social media. Why are you here? And then secondly, identify your value. What is it that makes you unique? What can you own? What can you say? And that's what you want to deliver. When, where, and how your audience wants to receive it. So it's interesting. There's no room for you to do what everybody else is doing. There's zero room for that. There's only room for you to do it your way. So looking out at other people and trying to do what they're doing isn't going to be authentic to you. So it's important to kind of put some blinders on in terms of comparison, because that's not the right route to go. And that value you have to offer could come in the form of entertainment, education, reciprocation, inspiration, you know, entertainment, meaning humor. It could be an exclusive content. So try to diversify what you have to offer.

So I would love for you, since you're professional at this, like, I love how you came up with the Shaquille behind the shack and having those, like, Shaquille moments. So what are some, like, creative ideas you have for people out there? A lot of listeners, they want to get involved in coaching, health coaching, life coaching, wellness space in general. What do you think are some cool creative ideas that people in this kind of world could use to build their social media?

I think one of the biggest things we can do is start locally, start with your community that, you know, you can connect with virtually and in person, because you just move people one step up that loyalty ladder when you can also connect with them in person. So, for example, the stunts that I would do with Shaquille and with other clients, the ability to bridge that world, the virtual world and the physical world is really powerful. And I think sometimes we think we want to share our message with the entire universe and the globe and geography wise, we just want to, you know, cross every boundary you can. And that's the magic of this space. But it's also so much more potent when you double down on existing relationships or relationships you can also make in person. So especially for coaching, I'd say that's a bit of a tip and trick. And asking people how you can help them is pretty amazing in terms of the response you'll get. So if you have an extra 10 minutes in your day asking, hey, how can I help you? What's something I can do to help you out in the areas of X, Y and Z, your swim lanes and that reciprocation, that exchange of serotonin pays dividends.

Yes. And I've seen you do that on your Twitter. So for an example, someone could be like, hey, probably on their Instagram stories more than their feeds. Would you say, for something like this?

Yeah, it could be on stories. I mean, it could be if in your feed on Insta, if it's either a video of you asking how you can help, or it could be your caption and you could get comments going back and forth. It works really well on Facebook too, because of the algorithm. And of course the algorithm is going to reward engagement. So if you can start connecting other people in too and saying, maybe that's not my area of expertise, but tag someone else and say, this person might be able to help. It's amazing. It can work in each of the format or each of the platforms just a little different based on their functionality.

So like, hey, I have an extra 20 minutes at the airport. I'd love to help you with your 2019 weight loss goals or whatever it is that you're doing and see if anyone comments to build up engagement.

Yeah, exactly. Do you have any questions? Is there. Are you experiencing a roadblock? You know, exactly. And it's use a hashtag, a dedicated hashtag. If you feel like that's something you'll be consistent about and that reciprocation goes a long way because even if people, you don't feel like you get a big response right away, people are watching and you never know who saw that. That then might DM you in a month to say, hey, I know that you are a health coach. I've really been wanting to XYZ and they might become a new lead for you. So not just using these vanity metrics, these real time instant gratification metrics as your guide. Whether or not what you did was successful, it's always about the marathon, right? Never the sprint.

So true. And I think a lot of people, they pose a question like that and then no one responds and then they get embarrassed and they delete the posts. I know I've deleted posts because I felt like it didn't get the amount of engagement that I had anticipated. So would you say, let's say you post something like that, no one's responding just to keep them up or to delete it and write it in a different way?

Well, here's a little innocent tip and trick. If you are going to do this, you might reach out to a few friends and let them know what you're about to do. Just text them or message them and say, hey, would you mind hopping in and helping me, you know, get this engine going and creating a conversation. And it can be genuine, something that they need help with. But as we know, we are all kind of bound and held a little hostage sometimes to that algorithm engagement begets engagement, so it doesn't help to light a little fire and have people that, you know, kind of ready to go.

I love that. And I think having pods is like a really great thing too. So having people that you comment and engage with each other on social media, because it just brings up everyone's engagement.

Exactly, exactly. There's nothing wrong with equal value exchange, especially when it's rooted in the heart of good intention and alignment.

Love that. So do you think now in 2019 world that hashtags are still a real thing or people aren't really searching them?

I still think they're a real thing. I think their usage and functionality consumption have. That's what's changed. And it's varying from platform to platform too. So can a hashtag help you get into the pathways of more people that you may never reach? Yes. Is it harder to do now because of the noise and the volume? Yes, absolutely. I think when I find hashtags most effective it is when you have a real time conversation going. That's something. A current event or a live event on television broadcast. It seems that these spurts and the velocity of high volume quick spikes, that's when hashtags can really be of benefit. But yeah, I'd say they're more diluted these days now than they were back in the day in the wild wild west days.

And yeah, I totally agree. And you know, it's so Funny, because I was just yesterday for this book that I'm writing. It's about different archetypes, and I just, like, looked up Cleopatra hashtag. Like, probably bajillions of people have hashtag that. And then I found the person who's actually going to be the model in my book from that hashtag. So it's a transgender person. So had they not hashtag that, I would have never found them. So people are still searching hashtags. You just never know. Yeah.

Awesome. And look at how you used it. You found value because it was organized data. It's just. That's all hashtag is, a way to organize data. It's amazing.

Love it. What words of advice do you have for the person listening who's like, yes, I want to be an author, speaker, social media, personal brand. I want all of this. And I'm just still figuring out what energy do I need to just move forward. What words of advice do you have for them?

Great question. I was just talking about this with some renegades in my bootcamp. I have a renegade brand bootcamp for female entrepreneurs, and I asked them to first start with one question, and that is, what do I want my day to look like? And we will reverse engineer from there. So rather than thinking, I want to write this book, I want to launch this company or start this podcast or whatever, it's more of actually, what do I want my day to look like? And then let's build around that. And I think so often we think we know what we want, and we think we know what will make us happy. But in many cases, we misdiagnose. So starting with First Things first is my one of my first pieces of advice. And then imagine if you were to draw Venn diagram three circles that are intersecting, and you put passion in one circle, purpose in the other, and skill in the other. Where passion, purpose, and skill collide, bliss and impact resides. So that overlapping area is where I want to live. I want to live in that intersection. And it can be tricky because sometimes it's a moving target. You know, our passions change, our skills can shift. But what I found is that the purpose is what will sustain. And when we have droughts of, you know, I'm just not passionate about this today. I just don't want to sit down and write this book. Going back to that purpose and making sure that's injected into what you're doing is huge, because that will get you through those droughts.

That's so very good. And it's fun. It's all interconnected Right. Like, I think we take it so seriously. But it's supposed to feel good. It's supposed to feel blissful. Like you're supposed to love every moment of this journey, even the more difficult ones.

Exactly. You're supposed to slip into those moments where you lose track of time, and it's supposed to be easier than you think. And sometimes if you catch yourself saying, whoa, I'm getting paid to do this, or, you know, this feels too easy, then you know that you're onto something. Because what you find easy is not the same as everyone else, so. Exactly. It does not need to be a struggle.

Totally. And dropping the story that it is, because I think we hear a lot of, like, being successful takes hard work. And it's hard. It's hard. It's hard. And like. Like, yes, I think we've all experienced that. But if that's the story we keep telling ourselves, guess what? We're going to attract all of the most important difficult situations when, what if the story we tell ourselves is like, oh, my God, it's easy, it's joyful, it's blissful. I barely have to do anything. I just have to be me. And then everything happens for me.

Exactly. One of the podcasts that I love to listen to is Tim Ferriss, and he poses the question sometimes, you know, what would this look like if it were easy? And so if you're finding yourself in struggle mode and you are just. Things are not clicking, what if you just put your laptop away for a second and literally write down what this would look like if it were easy? Because it's kind of amazing to see the barriers we put up for ourselves. We're like, wait, I built that wall that I'm having to climb, so I could probably remove it too.

Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for sharing all of your incredible wisdom with us and just inspiring us to move forward and say, why not now?

Absolutely. Thank you for having me on your show and also for coming onto mine as well. It's exciting to learn from you and also just share. I think that's why we live through. What we live through is to share and we learn what we need to teach. So I appreciate it, Sahara.

Awesome. And where can listeners connect with you?

So on social media, it's me, Jo Martin, for every channel, and amyjo martin.com is my website, and the why not now podcast is available pretty much everywhere you want to listen.

It's a great one. I was just on it. Well, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom again and have A beautiful day.

You too. Thank you.

How incredible was that episode? We did that episode before she had her son. And it has been such an amazing journey for me to watch her on social media just be so, so strong and so powerful with this little boy who, you know, no one wants to see their kid with an oxygen mask on and not be able to hold him and be with him in his first weeks of life because he's so fragile and he's in the incubator. But she is so positive about it. She is making fun out of the situation. She is being upfront with what she's sharing and funnily enough that she called him when they got kicked out of, she said they got evicted from the intensive care unit. So what an just fun way to look at it. Like, oh, we got evicted. Now we get to go move home. It's very hard having a premature style, but she is preemie strong and I think it's just such a testament to who she is. So if there's a mother out there that maybe has a premature child or any issue with your child, I really recommend checking her Instagram out. Amy Jo Martin. I love watching the journey and I'm so happy to see this beautiful little renegade of a boy back in the forest with her. And you know, a lot of people if their child was premature, had an oxygen tank on, they would not let that kid leave the hospital side. But she's still living her life and she's still trying to show this little boy his best, best life. And I have so much respect for her and for everything she's doing. And just as a reminder, while you have your phone out, if you want to sign up for my absolutely free five day rose gold goddess challenge, head over to rosegoldgoddesses.com and you'll be able to sign up absolutely free. I cannot wait to see you there. Namaste.