Episode 202 - Madeline Anderson-Balmer Rocked The Start A Podcast Challenge!

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the do the Thing podcast. This is your host, Stacy Lauren. Okay, guys, the time is here. We have officially ended the Start a Podcast challenge. And guess what? My next guest started her podcast, and we are doing the celebration interview with her about just what it took to participate in the challenge and to be so involved and engaged with the community and then actually get her podcast started. And I'm so excited to talk to her more about just what she went through, how she's feeling about things, and just celebrating this amazing, amazing do the Thing moment. And she also got the My People award in the challenge, which, as you guys know, is part of the do the Thing formula. It's the M and I'm game, which is my people. And it's surrounding yourself with people who are doing the same thing as you that want the same thing. And this award represents someone that was picked by the community as someone that was encouraging and supportive and really helping them with what they wanted to do, which in this case, it was a podcast. What they didn't expect, I don't think, was the personal growth along the way. So that was the other exciting intangible that came from this. So I'm so excited to welcome Madeline to the show. Hey, Madeline.

Hey. Thank you. I'm happy to be here and celebrate because it's definitely something to celebrate for.

Yeah, thank you for saying that. I just am so. I'm so excited because I think I mentioned this right before we hit record. So many people can see something like this, and especially if you don't know anyone that's participated in a Do the Thing challenge, it's really easy to be like, wait, what's this? Is this real? What am I going to do? What is it going to be? And there's so many what's that? You don't. You don't know and can't answer. And you said yes, and then you went all in. And I'd love to hear more about what that was like for you.

I did. I mean, I'm one who looks at. It came from my Facebook feed, and I have been in digital marketing for a long time, so I know how those things get planted out there. And they do send them. They send you some odd things, but that one popped up a couple times, and I figured, I'm going to look into this a little bit more. And you seemed very legit to me, and it just was something that I've been talking about doing for a couple years, since I talked about retiring, was to start a podcast as just one of the projects that I wanted to do. So this seemed like kind of a responsible way to go about it because it was going to be daily activities and there was going to be a group of people. And I'd had a good experience with a food photography class I took a few months back. That was just a one day thing, but it was fun and I met some interesting people. So I figured I would give this a try. And I'm glad I did. I signed up for it and it was really fun and the community was great. They were very supportive if you got behind or you struggled. I think by nature, people that put themselves out there like this are also people that are supportive. Most people that put themselves out there aren't mean and nasty and critical. That's how I see it.

Yeah, I think that's a good point. It kind of adds to that open space where people are there helping and supporting each other. And you did that from the beginning. I remember you had figured out a technical thing that helped other people and you even created a video to help people through it, which was really, really.

Co. Yeah, I mean, I think some people had. Well, a number of people kept asking how to do it, and writing two or three sentences on a post is not that helpful. So I figured I'll do a screen share and kind of put the video for people. I still did help people one off if somebody asked, they didn't know a certain piece or they had different equipment, But I think there were a few people that were willing to put together a video or get on the phone or do a zoom call and walk people through and share screens. Which was. That's why I said it was a great group of people to work with.

I'd love to find out now, when we go back to you before where you had said you talked about doing a podcast for a few years. What was holding you back during that time?

Initially, it was a plan for the future. It was during COVID lockdown, and I was having a lot of struggle at work. And so when the COVID lockdown came along, I needed to find a creative outlet and I started blogging. And I felt like a podcast would be a nice partnership with a blog. And I just wanted to get the blog up and running and monetize it and kind of play around with that. So I did that all during COVID But then at the end of COVID it was like, okay, I'm kind of tired with this. I moved. It was a lot of chaos in my life. And so when this came up, I Started doing photography and selling photos on Adobe stock and that type of thing. But I still wanted to do the podcast. So when I saw this, it was just good timing because I was ready to start something fresh and new and something I hadn't done before. So it fed my need to be creative. Yeah.

So how is the blog going for you?

I actually haven't written anything in it for a year and a half. However, I have long, long lists of notes to go back in and write. I just, I mean, I paid for it every year. I have a website, the domain and everything. But it's fun and I have a lot of followers and I love to see that. I still have people that go and read it, even if I haven't written anything new. It's a log that talks about travel and recipes and baking and kitchen tips and things like that. And I have a following all over the world. So India is a big audience for me. France is a big audience for me. So it's kind of cool to meet those people and hear what they have to say. Which is also why I like the podcast project because it's kind of the same thing, but it's just growing it in a different way and connecting to people differently. So, yeah.

Okay. On that note, tell everyone about your podcast and what it's about.

So my podcast is about creativity in people's lives and how it feeds you or doesn't feed you. So some people would say I don't have a creative bone in my body, but that's because they think of creativity as painting or singing or something that's very classically creative. And I do those things. But I find that also true. Creative people look at the world in a certain way. They see possibilities. They're great problem solvers. They're the people that other people go to to help them figure something out. Because they don't look at things within the standard box, they look at things from outside the box and can give a different perspective. And so the podcast is kind of about how creativity came into people's lives. Were they raised in a creative household or did they always have an itch to learn how to do something and they taught themselves. Some people were creative their whole lives. They make a living being creative. One of my brothers played in the in a symphony for 25 years and when he was injured during surgery, ended up leaving that and becoming a full time goldsmith. And so he designs custom jewelry. Totally different, but creative. He would Never work a 9 to 5 job. My other brother is a luthier and he's never really worked a regular 9 to 5 job. Sure, he sold cars for a while and he worked in a sporting goods store, but for the most part, he was a musician and taught himself, where he went to a class on how to build guitars and learned how to write music. And both my brothers went to school for music. They have master's degrees in performance. But a lot of people do that and go out and work a 9 to 5 job, they put all that stuff behind because they need to earn a living. And the people that have to earn a living, like myself, I went and got a regular office job. But on the side, I was always creative. So that's the challenge. And in the podcast, I talk to different people about where that creativity came from and how they rediscovered it or connected with it. So one person I'm interviewing had a traumatic domestic abuse issue in her life and was in a coma for almost a year. And when she woke up, she still has a lot of therapy to do, but when she woke up, she just discovered all different areas of creativity that would connect with her. So she does that all the time, full time. She's not able to work a regular job right now, but she's writing, she's had a book published, she paints. So it's just how creativity interweaves into someone's life. Does it help them get past something? Does it help them learn a new side of themselves? And when I talk to people, it's people from all walks of life and doing all kinds of creativity.

Yeah, there's so much in that that I love because I think so many people can get stuck in this person does it this way, so I must do it this way. And when you get to hear people and all the different ways that they're doing it and all the different ways that it starts, it really starts to open the portals up in your own brain of the ways that you can tap into that for yourself.

It takes away fear, too, because if there's not just one way to do things, and that's the do the thing challenge, there was not just one way to do it. I mean, even as simple as you don't have to have an iPhone, you can do it on an Android, you don't have to use Imovie, you can use Clipchamp, there's all different alternatives. And I think once people saw that not everybody's doing it the same, they started exploring new ways to do things or finding their own way that worked for them personally. And I think that's a huge opportunity. And that's what creativity brings about. It's not just about writing and painting. It's about being creative at looking at the world.

Yeah. I had this experience myself with just. Even people always say, write in a journal, write in a journal. And I probably have gotten. I have 50 journals right now that I probably need to donate. I'm like, this journal, this is going to be the one that I'm going to use, and it's got all the different things. Then I discovered voice notes in my phone, which is funny because that's where the podcast came from. And that's how everything's sort of now exploding is from these voice notes. But I learned that I am just not a journal writer and I'm not a journal checker offer. I'm a voice note person. And by me recording in my phone, that's where my creativity is coming from. Because I'm able to be expansive and open and. And I think it's that idea of just like you said, you spoke to it so beautifully. It doesn't have to be inside this box of what other people do. And it's just open your mind up to the ways that you want to express it.

Yeah. And it's interesting that some people love that box. They feel safe living in that box, and they feel threatened. If you maybe even tell them that there's no top to that box, they can certainly step out. Because some people want to live in a black and white world. They're very uncomfortable when there's gray in the area because that means they have to be responsible and think and try something that may be new and they may fail at it. And learning that it's okay to fail and continue on and what's the next thing that you can do? What's a different way to try it? So I had a therapist one time that told me, there's no wrong decisions, just an opportunity to make another decision. Well, it depends on what you're talking about, because there are certainly some decisions that you can't make another decision on. But I think for myself, knowing that if it didn't work out, move on. Because, like I said, did you die? I remember singing in a concert and I started singing the wrong song. I stopped, and two people behind me that were in the choir, I was singing and started crying. And I'm thinking, okay, people paid money to see this. I need to do it right. And I started over again. But at the end, I was like, I got a standing ovation. I think everybody in that audience recognized, oh, that would be me. I would Screw up, and then I wouldn't be able to start over. So making mistakes just makes you real. Yeah.

And there's just that moment when you realize that then you're not scared to try new things because you're thinking, what's the worst case? Someone might be inspired or motivated by me messing something up, and they get permission to then do that, too, and not be so scared of starting.

That's exactly it. I mean, I have a bachelor's degree in theater performance, and so I've been on stage a lot. But I can remember the moment that I realized if I moved on stage and I did something someone hadn't told me to do, but just did it on my own, nothing happened. No one knew. No one threw anything at you. They didn't take you off the stage. And when we were little, growing up, my mother would always say, when you're on that stage, it's yours. Do what you want. It's going to take them a while to get the hook. So that's kind of what I kind of. I try to remember that is give it a shot, give it a try. You've got a little while before someone's going to close you down. And during that moment that you have, maybe you'll learn something new.

I'd love to hear. What kept you motivated during the challenge?

The daily dares kept me motivated. There were some nights when I go, oh, I wonder what tomorrow is going to be like. It was kind of an exciting project to look forward to and wondering if it was something that I could do quick or whether it was going to be something that I had to sit and think about and get some ideas for. That was very motivating to me. And then checking in with everybody else and seeing what they were doing, because I think it's kind of fun. And even if somebody was behind or had difficulty finding WI fi or whatever the issues were that people had, I still felt like, not that you didn't want to let people down, but that we were kind of all on a ride together. So you don't go on a trip or a vacation and leave somebody at a rest stop. You know, you wait till they're done with whatever they're doing, and then they get back on the ride and keep going. So it was kind of bad. It was. It was a journey, and I didn't feel like leaving people behind was the right thing. So that kept me checking in and making sure that everybody was on board and moving forward, even if it wasn't the way I was. Everybody was Learning and exploring things. So that was very motivating for me.

Yeah, I love the way you worded that with that we're all on a ride together. Because that really brings up that power of being with a group of people that are wanting the same thing.

And I find that with the group of people, sometimes you are. And it's the same. You know, teenagers will take risks that they wouldn't take by themselves when they're with their friends. Well, sadly, adults are the same way. Only that most of the time, adults take risks that are thought through a little bit more. But I think that that group mentality, that group adventure, you go further when you've got people cheering you on. If you did everything by yourself, you wouldn't go as far as you do with other people. You just wouldn't. It's a power of team that gets you there.

What was the hardest thing that you had to do during the challenge?

The hardest thing I had to do was probably carve out time to do the actual recordings and do the edits and set them up, because my kitchen has been torn apart. And actually, the celebration was very timely because everything got connected yesterday. So I was like, yay, I have an oven. And I was so tempted to just start baking. Cause that's my creative outlet these days. But having the online party last night was also a good celebration. And I think carving time out from family and responsibilities, or adulting, if you want to call it that, and, oh, I've got to just jump in and do this first. I found that I could do things. It doesn't take hours. You know what? It just did it. And if you need to make two or three recordings and set them aside and then another chunk of time, you can do another piece of it. You don't have to carve out an entire day to do those dares. It isn't if you want to, sure. But I didn't have to. So I would say, good, I have got 20 minutes. I'm going to do this for 20 minutes, and then if I'm not done, I'll finish it later. And that's kind of how I got through it. But the biggest challenge was convincing myself that I had those 20 minutes.

That's such a powerful statement.

I mean, you have to give time to yourself. I've been talking about this with other people and how important it is to put yourself first sometimes. And whether you're a parent or a business person or whatever, you still deserve 20 minutes. You still deserve something. And if you've chosen to do Something, and you don't give yourself that. You're not respecting yourself and your needs. You're not giving yourself the attention you give your best friend. And that's kind of a sad statement. So you need to be your own best friend and give yourself some time. Yeah.

And it's so easy to fall into that trap because you think you're helping everyone else by doing that, by not taking the time for yourself. But what you realize once you start to invest that in yourself, then you're able to spread it to everyone else even greater.

Yeah, you're an example if you're giving yourself a chance to fail, a chance to do something that you're passionate about, or maybe just a chance that to do something you have no clue about, but you just want to find out. I mean, that's being polite to yourself. Is giving yourself a chance to talk, giving yourself a chance to listen to your own voice and say, huh, I can do this. That's important. If you never listen to yourself, you get to the end of your life and you're all alone with you and you don't even know who you are. So rather than being a stranger to yourself, be your friend.

Oh my gosh, Madeline, is that too deep for you? No, it's so good and it's so timely. I'm literally, I met mentioned I'm applying for a TED Talk. And that's pretty much what it is about. It's about waking up and wondering who you are and sort of living in that box that we all think that we're supposed to be in or that we think people want us in. And once you start to expand your comfort zone and do new things, that's when you get to know yourself. So it's hitting home because I literally wrote the one minute application video yesterday, then it's right in line with that.

And I think a lot of people have. They struggle with that because they live up to expectations rather than setting their own. I mean, I spent my whole life proving people that had put boundaries for me that I'm not going to look at the boundaries you set. I'm setting my own. When I think that too many people stop at the wall, they don't look to see if there's a door or can they climb over it. They just say, oh, well, this is what they told me I needed to do, or this is all I could do. Did you try more? No. You set yourself into that boring life. Really, if you don't ever push yourself, no one else is going to push you.

Yeah. Because like you said earlier, it's so easy to just have what's familiar and safe until you do wake up one day and you're like, is this really it? You know, and then.

Exactly.

And then that's when maybe something will change or something. They talk about it with the feather, the brick, or the semi truck. Something major happens which kind of causes you to then wake up.

Well, it is. And a lot of times it's trauma. That's why I've talked to people about creativity. And how does trauma change that or how does creativity help you survive trauma? Because for a lot of people, you look at musicians and poets and you think, wow, they were so creative and their life was falling apart around them. But in fact, that kind of thing puts you in touch with your inner soul and you feel those feelings so much more. And then you can pour that into creativity and create things that are beautiful or bittersweet or horrifying, but it connects with other people because they recognize themselves in those things.

That is such a good point. I hope you'll do an episode about that because I think that I hadn't connected those dots before. I really think that's so powerful. That's why a lot of people that are the most creative have had the most adversity or trauma or whatever you want to call it. And it's because they were able to basically touch that part of them that may not have been touched before those things.

Like my brother, who is the goldsmith now, his son committed suicide a couple of years ago. And it's horrifying and he's still suffering from it. But it made him wonder, who am I now? Who am I going forward with? Because now I'm not the person I knew that I was. And he started doing stand up comedy, so I thought it was funny when you were doing stand up comedy, but he started doing stand up comedy and acting and he's just exploring these new pieces of himself that involve emotion, which before maybe he wouldn't have felt as comfortable doing that. Now that piece of him has been opened. And while it's terrible and every parent's nightmare, for him it opened a new part of himself and he's using those emotions and that vulnerability to explore a whole new area of creativity.

I'd love to have you share with everyone kind of what your thoughts are about your podcast and what your hopes are for it as well.

I think it's going to be great. I don't think it'll be just one episode. I have interviews scheduled with 6 different people but I have 25 plus people that have asked me if they could be on it. So I've got a few scheduled. Try to schedule I have a day, but in the future. So they're not all going to be happening in the same day. I'm only going to do a couple of days so they have time to edit them and do my own pieces of them. But I'm hoping to be able to talk myself about a lot of things I've experienced in my views of creativity in my life and in other people's lives and bring those people in. And also provide some tips on mentoring or raising children in a creative household where expectations aren't so cut and dried and letting children discover for themselves where their creative juices lie. It may be in a 9 to 5 job, engineering. I have somebody who said I'm a data analyst, but I think I'm really creative at it. Could I be on your podcast? I'm like, sure, that would be awesome. So, I mean, I think that it's more about living outside that box and no matter what you do, which is why I say it's all creative. It could be somebody who works at a cash register at the grocery store and knows how to pack things into bags to use those reusable bags to the best of their ability. And it could be someone who packs a truck and puts boxes in the back of the truck and knows how to get every single space in that truck failed. Or it could be someone who is an opera singer, who they've been an opera singer their whole life and they've just been raised in a household that supports that love. And none of it is not creative. There's creative opportunity for all of it. So I hope to provide that kind of information. And then eventually maybe I looked in and I started making notes and things for a workbook to support creativity within a family or with children or with the elderly and different ways to collect. Because a lot of times with the elderly, music, and I say the elderly, I'm one of the elderly. But music and art can really get people thinking and get their brains to kind of function better because it's being used in a different way. So somebody who has dementia or memory problems, like my mother, had a lot of issues with memory and dementia. But if I sang with her, she remembered all the words to the songs. And she was in her 90s and still sing. She wanted to see how many likes she got on Facebook if I posted a video of her singing. So I record me again. So. But those kinds of Things I think people just don't know what to do. They don't know how to get the kids to sit down and let's do something fun together. So putting a workbook together that has different projects and exercises and games to play might be something that I expand into.

And when you decide to, I have a contact. I can send you her episode that I did with her. Her name's Morgan, and she built this amazing business, just even selling coloring books on Amazon. Yeah, and that's what's nice, too, when you have a podcast is the more people you interview, the more ideas like the workbook you'll get. And then all of a sudden, before you even know it, all these new things sort of pop up that get to open just from you being able to talk to people about this thing that you love.

Yeah, I know. I'm looking forward to it and seeing where it will take me. Because when I retired last year, I thought, oh, I'm going to go to culinary school. And I. I looked into it, and last year it didn't work out. And then this year I was going to do it. Then I've been doing the podcast, and I've been experimenting with recipes and looking into some other small businesses, and I decided to. I don't really know that I need to go to school. I could take a class here and there to learn what I need. I don't need to take how to talk to people. They wanted me to take a communications class, and I was like, I don't really need to take a communications class. I have stood in front of large crowds, like thousands of people and spoken to them. I don't need to take a glass and talk to a bunch of students, but I have to figure it out and follow along with where it takes me.

So what was your favorite dare?

Well, my favorite dare. Let me think what that was. I think it's gonna sound weird, but I think my favorite dare was what were the reasons that I wasn't gonna be able to do this? Because I was shocked at how many things I found that would stop me from doing this. None of them did. Although I would say that occasionally that little list would float across my brain while I woke up in the morning and said, oh, I can't do this, I can't do that. But that was kind of entertaining. And then I guess taking the messages that people left us and making a podcast was really interesting because I didn't get that many messages. One, I couldn't hear the person. One, the person just clicked in on that button and didn't say anything. So I talked to her afterwards. I didn't know you leave a message. I thought we were supposed to just click the button. That seems very. But, you know, I had a good conversation with Vicki was the person that had left me a message, and she did it without a message the first time. And then she had, oh, I did it wrong. So she left me another one. And then we had a really good conversation after the fact. And so I was like, oh, this is really interesting. The whole idea of somebody leaving you a message like that was new to me. And the possibility of creating an episode from a message was really very unique. That was something I hadn't thought of before. And the example that you showed us was like, oh, this is really cool, because you could string them all together or you could build off of something, and it kind of made my idea of an episode change ideas and the way you could do. There's a lot of different ways you could do an episode, and that kind of sparked that thought.

Yeah, that actually is a whole episode for you. All in itself is the creative being out of the box of what a lot of people think a podcast could be and being able to just open your mind to all the different ways that you can explore it, basically.

Well, yeah, sitting with my sister out on a. On a highway talking is one way that I probably wouldn't recommend. You could hear her eating and me eating and then trucks going by. So I'm trying to edit all that out, but it'll be interesting. There was no way to avoid the traffic. It was constant, but we could hear us, so that's all that mattered.

That's great. I do have. I don't think I've shared it yet. I have a sound minimizer. You just upload it into it and it minimizes that back, back noise. I have a list of notes now.

So I'm giving you dares now. Yeah.

Yeah. You gave me an idea for a dare. I might post this in later. Is it would be fun for the people that have done that. Did the excuses video, the one that you're talking about with what are all the reasons that I can't do it? Play it and then say, this is what I overcame and this is how I did it. So that might be fun. I'm daring you to do that later because, yeah, it's cool. I didn't think about that as clicking it together because I think. And it's not even about the podcast. It's just about anything you do. It's like, what are the excuses that you have for not doing it? And then realizing once you are able to set the daily goals, whatever it is for yourself, then you're able and have a community of people, then you can do the things that you want.

Well, and true. When you look at something in and in your mind for this, I had my thought of what is a podcast, and then it came up with all these things that would prevent me from doing it. Oh, and, oh, it's a five week thing. Oh my God, there's. There's a whole bunch more that I can't do. And it's a daily activity. Oh, well, I mean, every time there was something else. But in fact, it's one step at a time. No one's asking you to run a marathon in the next 30 minutes. So if I just said, I'm just going to bite it off once at a time every morning, I'm just going to do one little piece and if I don't get it all done today, no big deal, I'll finish it tomorrow, or, oh, I can't do anything for the next three days, I'll catch up. So that was important to convince myself because I didn't set myself up for failure, but I set myself up with excuses if I didn't succeed. So I could just pick one off the checklist and say that's why I didn't finish. But in fact, none of those things really caused a problem because I had other ways to handle things.

So I'd love to hear what you got out of the challenge.

I got a podcast, for one thing I have that. I actually made a decision at the beginning that I was going to go through with this. So at the end I felt good about that because being personally responsible to yourself and accountable to a group like that kind of pushes you there. But also it was fun to do something every day. I mean it. As of June 2, I'll have stopped working for a year. And so I am not used to having to get up and be on Zoom at a certain time in the morning or do certain projects and have people that report to me. And I haven't had that for a long time. So there have been, in the dead of winter, there have been weeks where I just sit and watch reruns all morning. My dogs make me get up. But it's just like getting used to that and then digging yourself back out from that. That was a huge benefit to me because now I'm out of that routine. Now I have a new routine. So giving me A new routine and something that I'm excited about and planning and who can I talk to and all that. Those things are important. And that's what this gave me, was that mindset. It did change my mindset and put me back into being project oriented and being excited about opportunity rather than, oh, I've seen this episode before. I mean, that's kind of where I'm at. I've seen every episode of so many different TV series. I'm like, yeah, I don't want to watch Little House on the Prairie again. Thank you very much. So this is like, I get to make my own episodes and create something brand new that I haven't seen before.

How do you think you might have grown personally through doing the dares and through the challenge?

I already have a huge network of people, so that isn't. I mean, it was nice to add to that. And I definitely don't have. I do now, but there were. There's certainly types of people that do podcasts and that were in this challenge that I don't come across. They're people that are focused in different things that I'm just not connected to in my life. So it was neat to have such a cross section of people. And that was personal growth for me, is hearing about things that it doesn't cross my daily path. So it was kind of just introducing me to new things like that. And then also, I think confidence in learning new skills quickly, because I definitely had to learn clip champ. I looked up what should I do? And got that. And then train myself. And then, okay, now I have this. How do I get it to my computer? And so being able to go through and do all that technology and learn that quickly and put it together to my benefit, that was a big personal growth thing for me. Because usually I rely on my IT department, but I don't have an IT department at all. So growing those skills and being confident in what I've learned and being able to show somebody else how to do it, that was a big piece for me.

Do you think it helped you with anything with. And I'm not saying this is you, but just pick one of these things. Perfectionism or needing to know every step. Before you started, was there any of those kinds of things that you got from this?

I'm a person that likes to read the instructions. I still am. I'm still a person that tries to be on time, and if no one else is there, I get a little angry. I rushed myself here and no one's here, which just happened the other night for a party, and the people thought I worked at the place because I was the only one there when they all arrived. But I do like to follow instructions if instructions are available. So I think that that kind of released a little bit in me to say, oh, well, there really. I mean, other than the basic instructions, it was do it how you see fit, which was new. And I didn't dislike that. I've certainly been able to do things without instructions in the past, but it was different. Participating in a program that was being developed. There was kind of a, oh, we haven't run into the sequel. Let's see if we can do it this way. So that was a little bit new for me as far as doing learning something new, but kind of learning along. And I've done beta testing on online gaming. I've been involved in some beta gaming, so I understand as things get changed. But this was different than that. This was more like, hey, let's see what comes up and then we'll find an answer for you. I really liked that. Which normally I would say that I would have been horrified if that was the way it was going to be, but I was okay with it because everybody was learning together. Good.

And what would you say to someone that may be thinking about joining a Do the thing challenge and maybe is hesitant.

Don'T hesitate. Because if you hesitate, you won't do the thing, whichever it is. But I think most people, when there's a thing they want to do, usually they really want to do it and they don't feel encouraged. And in this case, there's so much encouragement, there's so much opportunity to explore and take things at your own speed and people are there with you. I think that was huge for me. Even though I was moving along, there were plenty of people that didn't. And I think that that community of acceptance from wherever you're at, whether it's something that you're going to do just for this five weeks that we did, or whether it's something you're going to do and run with it for the rest of your life, or it's something that you know nothing about and you kind of want to come in and find out, it's like a. It's a welcoming party that you can join and you can kind of sit on the couch and not talk to anybody, or you can take part in the party and learn something new and maybe you'll learn, oh, I don't want to do this. Or maybe you'll learn, wow, this is really cool. And look at all the fun people I met, and I think that that's part of it. That's an awesome opportunity. With the do the thing challenges, you get to kind of test the waters, but you're testing them with other people. You're not all alone wondering if it's going to work or not and giving up too soon and not having really given yourself a good shot at success.

And what would be your number one piece of advice for the listeners on doing the thing?

I think you should have a big, long list of things you want to do and start checking them off. And doing a do the thing challenge like this will give you, especially for something that might be what somebody considers a bucket list. Go for the bucket list. Don't wait till that bucket's haunting you from around the other side of the door. Get it done now. Get some things in there because you can add more things to your list and do those too. So get it started. Don't wait. That's what my recommendation would be, is don't wait. Do it now.

You just added another question because I have a bucket list challenge that I'm planning right now. And since you're familiar with the dare component, I'm curious, do you have any suggestions for some dares for people that are starting a bucket list?

I would say it depends on how long someone's list is, but I think it would be interesting to pick your top five bucket list items and decide that. Give them a shorter time frame to complete. But just setting a date, I find that sometimes if you're stressed about something, I mean, a bucket list challenge is kind of a fun thing to do. But if you pick a date, even if you have to push off the date, pick a date. So set your top five bucket list things and put a date next to each one of them. When are you going to do it and what would stop you from doing it at that date?

That would be a dare. And then do you have another one.

For a bucket list dare? Ask somebody else to do one of them with you. It's tough to not be accountable if you've involved somebody else.

I love that.

I mean, ask them to do more if you want, but at least get a bucket list, buddy.

Oh, I like that. Yeah, that's so cool. I like that. I'm writing it down. I would love to hear what's coming alive for you right now, just after our conversation.

What's coming alive for me is to get a new calendar, because I use my little phone calendar, but I have so many things percolating right now, partly from doing this challenge and partly from talking to people about it. So that's going to make me, like I told somebody about something. Now they're going to say, how's that going? So I have to get myself a bigger calendar and start writing things down so that I can be accountable for what I said I was going to do. And I don't forget because I know I had two people that while we were talking, I thought, oh, I was supposed to talk to that person, too. So I have to make notes, better notes. And my little yellow stickies on my phone. It's like an app that's yellow.

Nice.

But I have so many of them for all different things. But obviously that's not. That's not big enough. So I think getting myself out there and doing more and not sitting on the couch, hopefully that's what I can get myself to do more of.

Well, amazing. Well, please share with everyone where they can find out about you, your podcast, and all the good things that you're doing.

Yeah, well, my podcast is. It's all creative callcast and it has no apostrophe. I tell people that and you'll be able to find more about me there. It's launching next week, but then also you can find me Madeline Anderson ballmer. I'm on LinkedIn. There's all kinds of writing examples there. And I sing with Sweet Adelines International. I'm with the Buffalo Gateway Chorus, so you can see my face in the chorus.

Thank you so much for doing this with me. This was just unbelievable, getting a chance to talk to you about your experience. And I appreciate just all the contribution that you made throughout the challenge as well.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and I think we both deserve big celebrations for that. Yeah.

And for the listeners, do the thing. Don't wait for opportunity, create it.