Create A Sense Of VIBRANCY!

Welcome to the Meaningful Revolution podcast where we talk about people's passions and hope to inspire you to your own. We also answer the question, what if you could just add 1% more meaning to your life every day for the next year? So join us on this Meaningful Revolution. I'm your host, Shawn Butner, certified high performance coach. And we have a really great episode for you today. So let's get into it. Hey everyone. Welcome to the Meaningful Revolution podcast. I'm your host, Sean Butner, and today we're starting season two of the podcast and we're going to be talking about the topic of aliveness. Right? And really this series is me experimenting just a little behind the scenes stuff of just trying out a new format for podcasting. And more importantly, it's also kind of maybe laying some more foundation for what the Meaningful Revolution is, what I think it is. Why? What's the point of it? That kind of stuff that I think is really important that maybe we skipped over last season. So just kind of laying some groundwork here with some ideas. So really, really excited to have you here today. So as interviewers come up to, we'll throw those into the mix because I really did like that format from last season, but this will predominantly be me kind of exploring concepts for you and giving you a couple of tactical things for you to go out and implement in your life so that you can advance your feeling of inspiration. So if there's one word that I think really embodies what I'm trying to do with the Meaningful Revolution, it is that word inspiration. Because, you know, when we are inspired, we are the best of ourselves, in my opinion. So if we look around the world today, there's a lack of inspiration, there's a lack of meaning in also my opinion. And you can see that in politics. You can see that if you just talk to friends and family and you know, the world's been through a lot and we can acknowledge that. And as we've been adjusting to a lot of change in the last few years, people have lost that sense of vibrancy, that sense of, you know, just energy that, that, that, that, the positive energy of really feeling like they're connected to what they do, connected to other people. And since we've lost that, I, I, I think we're going to see a rebound here coming soon. And I'll get into that in a little bit. But, you know, that's part of the, the reason why we, we need a meaningful revolution. I think if we can find more meaning in the things that we're doing, we will really accelerate how we feel about ourselves and, you know, fuel our, our inspiration and it'll help us feel alive. So, you know, and, you know, I talked about this in my journey. So if you remember my coaching episode from last season, you know why I love coaching. You know, it all came from a relationship in my life being impacted with my mom's passing and, you know, having that perspective of, like, what do I want to do in my life? You know, you get clarity on what's important. You get clarity on where you haven't been showing up in your life. You have clarity on, you know, what kind of contributions you want to make while you're. You're still alive because you're kind of reminded that the time that we have here is finite. And so, you know, from that relationship with my mom and being encouraging words from my parents growing up of always follow your passion, do your best, try to be a good person, try to be honest. You know, all those types of good things really propels me into coaching, which has now propelled me into podcasting. And it's exciting. You know, I can't stress how important, impactful that's been for me. But, you know, it's also been, you know, through people that I've helped through coaching. So I had one client, Emily, who was working in schools and you know, she had, she was a single mom and wanting to spend a lot more time with her daughter and be able to volunteer at school and all that kind of stuff and wanted to get rid of the commute. And, you know, through our coaching relationship, you know, we found out what she really was passionate about. And it turned out that she had this idea that having worked in lower income schools or schools where there's a lot of trauma that impacts the student body and faculty, you know, it's just as, you know, she had stories while we were coaching of, you know, going to school and having one of her, the peoples that she was counseling say that, you know, they saw their best friend get shot or murdered or there's violence on the, you know, in their neighborhood or gang fight opened up in front of school. All these types of crazy stories. And, you know, it's traumatic for that student who wasn't directly involved in that. It's traumatic for the person that's receiving that. It's traumatic for the faculty that really, you know, has to now come up with response and support the kid in a particular way or in any way. Like, what do you do in that type of situation? It's pretty mind boggling but she wanted to set up a curriculum that helped those school systems heal and helped those school systems thrive so that students would continue to learn, so that faculty wouldn't jump shit from burnout or from just soul crushing terribleness. And so as a way to. And she found a lot of purpose behind that. So long story short, she really started focus on building that as a business and you know, things took up. She was able to spend more time with her daughter, she was able to, to do work that was really meaningful to her and it really, you know, lit a fire for her to start an organization that really helped, you know, so that's the power of getting just a little bit more connected to what you find meaningful in your day and you have that sense of service, then that, that kind of ripples out. So in her particular case, the, the she started working with one of the universities locally and you know, has her program being taught to a lot of mental health professionals now, which is pretty amazing and pretty just crazy actually when you think about it, you know, that, that ripple effect. So that's the power of meaning, that's the power of chasing what's meaningful in your life and whatever that could be, you know. So as you know, we're thinking about this, it's probably a good time to address how things have changed in the last few years, you know, because, you know, we used to be very comfortable and feel very certain on how we worked, how the economy was going, how the world worked, how we related to each other, that we could see each other. You know, there's a lot of things that were kind of put into one of those like tumblers and shaken up and you know, the last three years have been people trying to really cope and figure out like, how do I live in this new world? And you know, in this new world, you know, we've had to change how we've worked, how we communicate, how we relate to each other, how we, you know, exist in this economy with inflation and all that kind of scary stuff. In a world where there's a lot of tension between nations, when there's a world where there's just everything we've done has shifted. And as we're moving forward, I want to put this case forward that the people that are going to win in the next couple years is a, you know, prediction. I'm not an economist or any type of thing, this is just my opinion. But you know, people that are really going to win in the next few years are going to be the folks that can fully engage in their world, or they're going to be the people that can confidently take bold steps and bold actions towards making things happen and can really feel that sense of joy, of contribution as they move forward. And I think that's super important because if you take a look at, you know, take the economy for an hour, you know, there's, it's inflationary, there's, you know, reports of major countries having huge, you know, shrinkage of gdp. And as that happens, you know, we're seeing right now as I'm recording this, that there are companies that are laying off workers, that there are people that are starting to, like, hoard and save and, and protect as they try to figure out, like, how bad is this maybe global recession going to be, how are we going to move through it? And people are feeling a little bit lost. Right? But you take like Warren Buffett, I believe, has invested more money in the last six months than he has in the last 10 years or something kind of crazy like that. Need to get that fact, you know, straight. So, but it's, it's something like he may, he's made some really bold moves this year. And you'll see that the people that are able to make the really bold moves this year, who are able to, you know, be again, be present, be confident and act with a sense of service and joy, you know, I imagine those bets are going to work out really well for him and for the other major players that are moving. So those are the folks that are going to win in this new world. And I think the folks that are going to be left behind are going to be the folks who just feel stuck, right? They try to live in, you know, 2019 where, you know, we had all sorts of problems that were kind of masked because we're just all humming along. So you have, you know, people, this idea of the great resignation of people quitting bad jobs, people quitting bad managers, people quitting poor pay or, you know, poor hours and all this kind of stuff. And I think what's really going on there is there are businesses that we're not able to adapt to this new world that we live in, where it's a little bit more chaotic. And there are people that were able to figure out how to make work from home work, how to change their businesses, so they're doing direct deliveries or whatever it is, who are also not going to succeed because they haven't kicked into that performance that, that we need to be getting results. We need to be taking those bold moves again. So we really need to have A process on how do we get that engagement, how do we get that confidence, how do we get that joy? And ultimately that's just feeling more human and alive. You know, it's more about feeling like we can express ourselves, that we can direct our lives, that we are in control of our lives and we're not having the environment happen to us, but we're able to do things that can influence how well our families do, how well our organizations do, our communities do, and how we do individually. So I think that's really important. So how do we feel that? And I'm gonna selflessly plug this. This is all about high performance, right? The whole goal of high performance is that you feel that you're confident, that you feel fully present, that you feel fully joyful in what you're doing. And so, and I bring that up because this helps me give you guys a quick tool that I think can really help you advance in, in this time to. To connect with what you find meaningful, to connect with how you feel alive, to help drive that meaning and that inspiration that we're going after in this podcast. So what is the. The one habit that I would teach if I wanted you to feel a little bit more alive in the way that we're engaged, that we're, you know, engaged, present that we're joyful, we're confident in our worlds, and that would be to do a weekly assessment. And I think this is such a key thing because, you know, in personal development that the first thing that people teach is self awareness. And so your ability to consistently be measuring yourself in a way that you can analyze, that you can try new things, you can course correct, I think can really help you get to that next level. So this is the exercise. So every Sunday, and this is what I do, I journal and I rate myself on six different areas of high performance that were popularized by Brendan Burchard in his book High Performance Habits, which is a fantastic book. So go and check that out if you really are interested. I highly encourage it. I give it out all the time to clients and friends and anyone who hasn't read it. So just personally, but it's a really great book, so definitely check it out. And here's the exercise, right? So on a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being low, 10 being like the highest, the best, you're going to rate yourself in each of these six categories. And then for each of these categories, after you rate yourself, you're going to give yourself three words that describe that score for yourself. And this is super important because if you can really do this qualitative analysis of, like, why did I give myself a seven or a 10 or two or whatever, you can start to think, like, how do I change this? And so that next week's better or next week's a little bit more focused or a little bit more efficient. And that's where the personal growth tends to come in. So on a scale of 1 to 10, real quick, grab your notes. The first thing you should grade yourself on is how clear are you in your life on a scale of 1 to 10. So that means how clear are you on your values? How clear are you on what you want out of life? How clear are you on what you need to do to make the things happen that you want out of life? And, you know, what is your score there? Right? Again, like, one being like, I have no clue. I never think about this. And number 10 being like, oh, I am super locked in, super focused, super clear on who I am, what I want, how to get there. And I am just completely rocking it, right? A second category in high performance we talk about so that you can feel more confident, more present, and more joyful is energy, right? So on a scale of 1 to 10, how vibrant are you day to day or in the last week, and how you felt physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, Right? And you might have. You might break this down even more if you want to, you know, really go super advanced. But generally those four areas and energy are what people either are really great at or struggle with. And so why did you give yourself that score, you know, and really, really think about that? How could you get to that next level again with it? Because I think that's super important. The third category I like to rate myself on is courage, right? And that's how bold were you in advancing the things that you wanted, your agenda out in the world? How bold were you in expressing yourself or, you know, how did you not, like, hold back or avoid difficult conversations, those types of things? So it's not like charging into battle with a hail of bullets type thing, but it's more on, you know, expressing yourself, sharing your true, authentic self, sharing ideas, making bold, calculated risks to help you advance that kind of stuff on scale on it. So one being like, I avoid everything. I just kind of, you know, you know, never leave my bed. You know, you definitely might want to seek a health professional if that's you, but mental health professional, but out of 10, that you are constantly out there making things happen. Most people admire you for how brave you are in chasing your Dreams. And I think that's a good way to kind of delineate that scale right there. Okay. The fourth thing that I like to rate myself on that's really important in high performance and I think in feeling alive then is necessity. Like, why, what do you, are you clear on what needs to happen? Right? So like one being like, I just kind of go through life and whatever happens, happens. And 10 being like, I need to advance in my career so that my family can, you know, be provided for, that we can get that bigger house that, you know, I can take care of my folks. You know, you have that, that reasoning or like, hey, this is going to help millions of people if I accomplish this project or my company is going to be so much better, you know, so what is the why here and how connected to you are? That's the, that's the second part that's really critical is how connected to are you? So that again, how connected are you to your necessity? So scale of 1 to 10, the fifth category that we rate ourselves in high performance is productivity, right? So one being like, I never get anything done, 10 being like, I am efficient, I create all the output that I really want to and then some I'm recognized as someone that gets stuff done. They're on a 10. And it's really important on this one, like to think about in time. So like the last week, how productive have you been? Because if it's low, it's going to SAP a lot of the other areas. And these are all interrelated. But I think especially as a performance coach, productivity is something that we're always talking about, whether that's work related, whether that's in your sport, whether that's in a relationship where it's advancing in the way that you want. So all types of different areas of that. But how productive and are you day to day and last week, and then finally the final category we rate ourselves on a scale of 1 to 10 is people skills. So, and this is think about it as your ability to connect with people, your ability to enlist people to your causes to support you. And I'll let you. Do you know people skills are how you communicate? Do you communicate well? Do people understand you? Do you feel like you're understood those types of things? 10 being like, yes on all those, one being like, not at all. And we know from the high performance research this is a proven set of traits that if you rate yourself on continuously or you focus on improving, which is the other half of high performance is how do I beat whatever normal in my life. And we look at, look at it through the lens of these six areas, that's when you start to feel that aliveness, that sense of joy, that confidence again, that, that boldness that, that. And then again such a joy that really helps people, you know, feel their lives, live their lives, you know, feel the day again by working on these. Because if you don't, if you're not feeling fully alive or like you're living your life or that you fully control your life, it's probably because one, at least one of these areas you're not super high in, or maybe a lot of these areas are not rated high enough in. And, you know, it's proven that when you raise even just one of these, the rest of your scores tend to go up. So it's really kind of this powerfully correlated set of things that people can focus on to really reach that next level in their lives, to really do the performance thing and push like we were talking about earlier, right. So if you want to be, you know, the folks that are winning, like, this is a really great assessment to start to figure out what to do next. So again, you make sure you assess yourself every week about this and think about the three words that you assign to each of these scores. There's usually a lot of breakthroughs. There's usually a lot of aha's. There's usually a lot of like, oh, I guess I'm struggling with this a bit more than I wanted to admit to myself or that I realized. And people absolutely love this. It's, it's, it's why so many people love high performance coaching. There's, you know, hundreds of thousands of sessions and people that have gone through that process and they absolutely love it. So not to make this a commercial about coaching, but just to let, just to share that this stuff works and people love it and it's great. So, yeah, so just if you can really be consistent every week again of rating yourself on these six areas of clarity, energy, courage, necessity, productivity, and people skills. I know that you'll feel like you are more alive and you'll feel more inspired. You'll feel like you have more momentum, you feel like you're advancing, and that will get you inspired and get you feeling more meaning and it'll help you contribute to this meaningful revolution. So with that, folks, hope you enjoyed this episode. Next episode, be sure to listen to. We're going to be talking about building connections because that's another part of how people really feel. Meaning. And we'll keep building on this topic here of why we need a meaningful revolution and why you should join. So so I hope you enjoyed it and we'll see you guys next time. Take care. Thank you for listening to the Meaningful Revolution podcast. I hope you enjoyed this episode and if you could please share this episode with three people that you think might enjoy it and like and subscribe on Apple Podcasts. Leave a comment Please rate us because that helps us get the word out. So until next time, listen to the next episode right after this. I know you'll love it and we'll see you then. Take care of.