Madison Burke: 6 Areas Of Life | The Business Blast Podcast #934

All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I got Madison Burke. It's been a long time coming. Yeah, to have you on the show. Um, she was raised in Michigan, she now lives in Arizona since January of last year, and 6 months into her entrepreneurship journey, the past she has been working on transforming her 6 areas of life: mental, physical, spiritual, emotional, social and relationships. So again, welcome to the show.

Thank you so much, Tyler. I'm happy to be here.

Pumped to have you here. So we like to get to know you. We like to get deep pretty quickly. So the first one I got for you, tell us the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message.

So the best story in my life as an— let's see, I would say, um, Really my spiritual journey. So grew up in a home where we went to church every Sunday, you know, definitely spent time at Sunday school every week. Got to an age where I think everybody experiences where they're like, it's 8 AM on a Sunday. I don't want to get up, Mom. I just went to a sleepover last night. I don't want to get picked up from my sleepover to have to go to church, you know. So many, so many different spiritual journeys that I went through. But then I got to college and really that was when the world kind of opened up for me to make my own decisions. I was paying my own bills. I was able to make a lot of my own choices and my parents supported me in that. And unfortunately, I fell away from where I was spiritually and I didn't realize the strain that that had on me when it came to all of my other areas of life. My spirituality is what I consider that keeps all of those grounded and in place. And so, you know, I was going through college, I was experiencing a lot of the things that kids experience, new relationships, not really liking going to school, you know, the things like just a hill up and down, up and down, up and down, up and down constantly. And when things would get good, they fall down. And I wasn't really into like my personal development journey yet or anything like that. So really all that I had to keep me grounded and in place was my spirituality. And when I left that behind me, that created so many new challenges for my life. And, you know, I went pretty low. I got to some pretty deep and dark places. And, you know, it's, it's it's comfortable for me to talk about now, but it wasn't at the time. It was something that I like felt a lot of guilt and shame about. And you know, my mom would always, you know, chime in and remind me, you know, of, you know, the faith that I grew up with, that I was never alone. And I just couldn't wrap my head around it because I just didn't, I hadn't made that decision for myself. So I moved out here. Long story short, I moved out here after 2 years of college, or after I had been graduated for 2 years, I moved out to Arizona and really just started stepping into like my spirituality and surrounding myself with people who had strong spirituality too. And I actually, you know, recommitted myself to the Lord. And I found that in my personal life with what I had been through, that is what brought me the most peace, the most like understanding in difficult situations. And then, you know, once I started like dipping my toes into this personal development world that I had never even been exposed to, those two together just created like this armor that like nothing, nothing that came at me could crack, you know? So I would say that's like been the biggest thing in my life is just like taking my spirituality, making it intentional, but also taking, you know, the personal development principles that go a lot, go hand in hand with each other, and, you know, bringing those together and making those like my stronghold and my foundation.

Yeah, I love that. So it's, so yeah, so you're, so you went through a short period of time, a few years when things were a little off-kilter. So just to clarify, do you feel like the main reason was because you felt like a disconnect, like spiritually, and it— and then once you then reconnected, then that, that is kind of what brought you back to, you know, the path, I guess, of a better path?

That's a really good question. Um, yeah, I would say, I mean, I heard this at my— I go to a young adults, um, group at a church up in North Scottsdale, and, um, the pastor one day said You know, you either choose to believe or you get to the point where you have to. And that resonated with me because I was like, wow, growing up I chose to, but that's because my family kind of chose for me. You know, like it was just in my nature. It was what— you're most like the 5 people you surround yourself with. If you're surrounding yourself with a spiritual family, you're doing what they're doing every single week. Then you get to an age where you can make those decisions and you rebel against that typically because you've never been able to make that decision yourself. And so I distanced myself from it. And, you know, I got to the point where I got to such a low place. You know, our whole conversation in this will be a big reason why, but, you know, I got to such a low place and I was so dependent on so many other things for my happiness and for focus and for just everything that I got to the point where there was no place to go but up, and there was no choice that I found that brought me peace other than my spirituality and my faith. And so, you know, I went through a lot of my life fearing everything. Like, I was fearing everything around me, everyone around me, every situation, attracting more fear and more negativity into my life. But, you know, the big thing is, is like faith and fear require believing in something you cannot see. And, you know, once I, once that really resonated with me, I just like, it And that happened, that moment was when I started surrounding myself with people of my age that had grown up in the church too, fallen away and come back. So surrounding myself with those people where I felt understood was my biggest thing. And you know, I just one day, I just had this crazy revelation. I was like, I'm gonna try this. I'm gonna do it one last time, but I'm gonna give it my all. I'm gonna be intentional with it. I'm just gonna see how it goes. And like, as soon as I started getting intentional with it, like with everything in life, Like, it— everything was aligning. Everything was working out the way that it was supposed to. And I was like, oh, okay, like, I get it now. I— well, I'm getting it. I don't get it, but I'm getting it. So, um, that was— and that's where I just kind of started, you know, going on that journey. But it really is like who you surround yourself with and all of that, because if I started going down that journey but I was hanging out with people that were very against that Yeah, where I am today.

Yeah, and I think it goes a lot— one thing that I say, and I actually learned one guy that I follow, he's, he's a spiritual guy, Alan Watts. I don't know if you've ever heard of him or not, but what he says is he's like, you can't have darkness without light, you can't have light without darkness. So what I find interesting is it's like, you know, I've, I've hit low point. I think everybody hits low points, but I don't know if— I feel like not everybody maybe hits like the lowest points, you know, where like you were saying where you have to believe.

Yeah.

And sometimes I think it's actually actually a good thing to hit. Because if you stay in this like just comfortable, like up, up, up, and everything's just, you know, getting to court— and there's nothing wrong if you enjoy corporate America, that's fine— but I just mean, if everything's always planned out perfectly, then you just kind of get to this stable position. But if you have a big drop, the only thing left is like a huge reflection of light. And like, I feel like it's good to have that drop sometimes, as long as get out of it, obviously. So yeah, I almost think, I don't know, don't seek it, but it's not a bad thing.

Yeah. And my, I mean, there was a, I can't remember what the video was, but my fiancé showed me this video. And it was basically like a cartoon version of, you know, this guy that was going through the seasons of life. And then he sees like this like golden coin at the top of this mountain. And he's like, that's it. You know, he climbs up the mountain, falls, tumbles, climbs, climbs, climbs, gets to the top of that mountain, and then all of a sudden it zooms out and you see that the gold coin is at the top of the next mountain. But it's not like he didn't have to climb that one. But ultimately, like, he grew every step of the way, but he has to go back down in order to learn his lessons to go back up. So that, when I saw that, 'cause I'm a visual person, when I saw that like little illustration on YouTube, I was like, Yeah, that's huge. Incredible. This is everything, you know, that's it.

That's a good—

you have to show our children from birth.

You got to send that to me after. I want to see that.

I will.

Um, so, okay, so now we'll get into like your, your expertise and industry. So the next one I got for you is, what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise, uh, or industry?

So I'll do it on entrepreneurship and then I'll do it in like my specific niche. So entrepreneurship, biggest piece of advice is— it's a little bit of two things. So it's, it's have patience. Things don't come overnight, you know, you've got to work hard. A lot of people go into entrepreneurship and they're like, oh, like it's just gonna happen overnight, this is gonna be magical. And it's like, no, you have to work twice as hard. You know, you work twice as hard, but it pays off 10 times as much, you know, or even more than that. And so just having patience with the journey, having patience with those ups and downs like we talked about, having patience with, you know, yourself in that, realizing that it's all— you're learning lessons. You either win or you learn. You never lose. And so just keeping your eye on the prize and just having patience along the way, enjoying the journey. And then also I would say I would say is give yourself some credit. So a lot of people don't give themselves enough credit for how far they've come. Like, I'll run into stagnant seasons where I'm like, gosh, I just really feel like I'm not doing enough. I feel like I'm not making big enough of a difference. And like, my fiancé will be like, give yourself some credit. Like, look at where you were last week and how far you've come. Look at where you were a month ago, a year ago, literally. I'm not kidding you, Tyler. I was a completely different human being a year and a half ago, like night and day, like darkness to light, complete. And, you know, just like giving myself credit. Ed Mylett has an amazing podcast, but he really talks— he, one of his, he talks about giving yourself some credit. And there is a podcast on self-doubt, and it's just so incredible. And I listen to it constantly because it's just like filling my mind with those, you know, those positive thoughts about myself. And I actually did a challenge on my Instagram yesterday that was like people to take a video of themselves and telling them a reason that they're proud of themselves in this season of life. And I had a lot of my girlfriends, they ended up doing it and they're like, wow, like I really realized I like wasn't giving myself enough credit. And that felt really good. And so it's like maybe it's looking yourself in the mirror every morning and being like, I'm proud of you. You are crushing it, you're going to crush the day, you know, just those, tying it into those affirmations. And then when it comes to like my specific niche, which is, you know, social media, I would say biggest piece of advice is, you know, there's people look at social media one or two ways. They look at it as a popularity contest, or they look at it as, you know, a place and a vehicle for growth in business, and just expanding. And so, you know, some people tie in a little bit of both, but a majority of people either go one or two ways. They're either intentional with their social media or they're not, because looks will not always be there. So what story are you telling? What, what do you want to share with this world? Because social media is the vehicle for you to share with hundreds of thousands, hundreds of millions, you know, billions of people on there. It's a vehicle for you to share with them every single day. You're reaching people that are in Singapore, Guatemala, you know, Australia, here, and you're reaching them all in the same day, you know, and you're impacting lives all in the same day. And that's just like, my biggest thing is like, if you have a voice, and we know whether we have a voice or we don't, and 9 times out of 10, we do, you know. And it's like, you know, just surround yourself with the right people, listen to the, you know, the right personal development that builds you up, and then share what's on your heart every day. Because what's cool— and I don't know how long this is going to last— but what's trending right now and what's in is vulnerability. And social media is a great place for you to show that vulnerability.

So yeah, I agree. And it's interesting, like, I feel with the first part of what you said, like It's— I don't— it should be, but I feel like it's like not natural to do that. Like, even with myself, it's like we all have goals, like, and I'm realizing as you were saying that, like, every goal I hit, I never like stop and pause and I'm like, dude, you hit that goal. I'm already like looking at the next one.

Yeah.

Whereas if I have an off day, I'll like beat myself up for that for like the next day. So it's like we always like point out our own negatives, but we don't do the same for our positives. And if we did the same for our positives, we'd actually definitely be congratulating ourselves more than beating ourselves up. Like, which is great.

You learn, like, you either won the day, and when you win the day, you will still learn lessons, but you either won the day and just freaking dominated it, or you had a rough day and you, you like, you didn't go to the gym this week, or you didn't You didn't, you know, get these things done that you really needed to get done. But what happened in that? You learned a lesson. You learned to not do that moving forward. So you can either like sit there and dwell on it like, wow, I suck. This week I— you know, or you can be like, ooh, I don't really like how I'm feeling right now because I didn't accomplish what I said I was going to accomplish and have integrity with myself and others. So moving forward, I'm going to do that. And I'm going to make that a point. And maybe that means I have to put a checklist on my phone and check it off every day. Maybe in my agenda, maybe on my whiteboard in my room, you know. And I can't go have dinner with friends until those things are done. I can't go out and have drinks with friends until those things are done, you know. But just always, always, you know, seeing yourself in a positive light. Because if you start to look at yourself and be like, wow, you really messed up. That was, you know, you really need to step it up. It's always good to like hold yourself accountable, but also like don't beat yourself up because that then transforms into negative energy and that's not going to do anything good for you moving forward for sure, or anybody around you. Yeah, exactly. Nobody wants to be around a negative Nancy.

Yeah. Yeah, we don't need no Nancy's around here. No, get out of here, Nancy.

I love that.

Um, so now we'll get a little more general. So my next one for you is, and you may have kind of answered it with your entrepreneurship, but just in general, like what do you think the best, uh, best— what's your best piece of overall business advice?

Overall business advice, that's a really good question. Um, I would say how you do anything is how you do everything, and that's like a well-known quote by a lot of people in the entrepreneurship or self-development world, but it's very true, you know, like if you A small example is like, okay, I work really hard in my businesses and stuff, but I can't keep my room and my life organized. That causes setback, and it causes a decrease in confidence. It causes, because like I'm not as organized, I'm not, you know, so it's like, and that's just a small example, but it's just like how you do anything is how you do everything. If your life at home is messy, your business life is going to be messy. You have to be intentional with that. Every area of your life, whether that be in your relationships, you know, in social settings, whether that be in your spirituality, like business. Everything needs to be intertwined. Everything needs to be in sync. And when you're intentional with everything, like, yeah, at first it takes a lot of work to be able to balance all of that. But once you get the hang of it and you get the balance, give yourself some grace, you know, like make sure that, you know, you're giving yourself credit and grace along the way. But when you get into the groove of things and everything you're super intentional with, you're intentional with your eating, you know, because food is fuel. You're intentional with your physical, you know, because, because, you know, when you work out in the morning, it builds that confidence. It builds that strength internally, externally. And then when it comes to like your business, when you, when you like can check all those things off, you go into your business and it's like, nobody is stopping me. You know, you have to be good with you before you go out and try to like be good with others and like, you know, change others' perspectives on life. And so what I typically tell myself, this is like a little thing that I always told myself, but I'm always like, because I feel like with people, when you have children, it's like, I think it's like the biggest part of you that you feel the most like responsible and accountable for, like their growth. And it's like, okay. Are you right now, if you had a child or, you know, if you do and they were looking at you, would you be setting a good example for them? Would you be able to wholeheartedly give them advice if they were in your shoes and they were struggling with this? Or, you know, because you just want to be careful who you're listening to, right? And so how you do— and I'm going down a rabbit hole— but how you do anything, how you do everything. And so it's just so important that you're like, okay, You know what? If I'm going to be organized in my work life, I need to be organized in my home life because subconsciously, if you're not, those are going to rub against each other and it's going to cause distraction or it's going to cause just you not being as focused. And like I said, you know, at first it takes a lot of work. It's exhausting to be, you know, it's not, I'm not going to sit here and be like, oh, it's so easy to be balanced in all your areas of life. But if you are not balanced in your home life, how can you be focused and balanced in your work life? You know, if you're not balanced in your work life, how can you be balanced in your home life? A good example is when— I mean, and this is just an example, but, you know, I have some friends that work in corporate life that flippin' hate it.

Yeah.

And, you know, they bring that home. They bring that unbalanced you know, just an unorganized and frustrating energy home, and that affects their home life. It's the same way. If you have an unbalanced home life and you're like just not making it intentional to make some changes or just to live a healthier lifestyle, you're going to bring that into your work, and you won't even realize it. And I speak on that based on experience because I worked in corporate. I can't— I, you know, I would come home, and I would just cry, and I would just be frustrated. It was a lot easier to blame people. People in corporate life, you know, a lot easier. I had so many people or so many processes that could be like, oh, it was that, that was, it was their fault. You know, now I'm in entrepreneurship and I'm really realizing, you know, like, oh, everything, you know, is my responsibility. Everything is my fault. So just being intentional with everything is definitely a game changer.

Yeah. It's all on you now. Yeah. So you'd point at you'd be like, yeah, that was Nancy. Um, but no, and I think too, like, it's definitely revolving, like it goes both ways. Um, but like, I think your business is definitely like an extension of yourself.

Yeah, right.

So, and it totally goes the other way as well, but like you can tell a lot by like how somebody's personal life is by like how organized and structured their business is. Yeah, their business is, is like a mess, then like chances are you know, their home is not necessarily not clean, but it's just like their personal life is probably messy as well.

Yeah, it all comes to intentionality. Like, are you being intentional? And if you're not, start with baby steps, small things, you know, like get your laundry done every week, you know, make your bed every morning. I find it, you know, like, if I make my bed in the morning, it is a game changer because like automatically I'm just like, ooh, I'm organized, you know. I completed something because it's a domino effect. Yep, it's a domino effect.

No, the small wins, uh, are huge. Like I, I always tell people that, like, and I do journal in the morning and I'm— and making my bed, it's just like 2 blankets, I just throw it on. But so it's simple, right? But it's just that little thing of just like, okay, I woke up, made my bed, journaled, and these Like together, that's like 7 minutes of activity, but just that thing that like then triggers me to go run for miles and then like come back and start working. Just— but it all started with just like folding a blanket.

Exactly.

Um, so it's the small wins, like you said, the domino effect.

Yeah.

Um, all right, now let's talk about you when you were younger.

Let's do it.

So you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?

I would definitely say— I would say you can do it, as cliché as that may sound. I didn't believe in myself for a really long time. For a lot of reasons. And I was surrounding myself with people that didn't really believe in themselves either. And so I think that, you know, just like, or you've got this. I would say like, you've got this, like no matter what, you've got this. Because I look back at the old me and I'm even just, even just like a year and a half, 2 years ago. And I'm just like, I looked at life like it was happening to me. Yeah, and I attracted more things to quote-unquote happen to me. And transforming my thinking into life is happening for me— oh wow, that really sucked, that hurt, but ultimately I know this is gonna work out to my advantage— instead of being like, why me? Why me? Why always me? Why is this happening to me? It doesn't happen to anyone else, you know, just Throwing a pity party, it's just like, no, you've got this. This is gonna work out to your advantage ultimately. There is a plan that has been in store for you your whole life. All of this is gonna lead you down that path. And that ties in everything we've talked about so far. You're either gonna win or you're gonna learn, Maddie. You're not losing. But when you look at yourself as a loser and you fixate on that, like, wow, I really suck in this season, of life. Like, it just keeps attacking me. Oh, another thing. Oh, car broke down this morning. Oh, got rear-ended. Oh, went to the grocery store, forgot my wallet. You know, just like, it just keeps attracting. And that's what I did. That's what the old Maddie did, is she attracted more and more negativity with her negative emotions and negative energy that she was putting out.

Yeah, I love how you said that, from to me to for me. And that's, that's like a huge shift. Like, so like now Now if something like really bad happens to me, I'm like, oh boy, something real good's about to happen.

Yeah, I just like sit there and I'm like, I even watch my language too. Yeah. It's like if I'm like, frick, you know, like dang it, or if I'm just like, interesting.

I see where you're going over there.

See, my fiancé, he had a business that back in the day that he was making great money each month and it shut down overnight. And you know what he went and did? He went and bought a bottle of champagne and popped it off his balcony. And he's like, I don't know what God is gonna do with this, but he's bringing something cooler our way. I would have been like curled up in a ball at that time of my life, just like bawling, like why? Oh my gosh.

You know?

It's like focus on the things that you can control and everything else that you can't, just be positive about it.

That's another huge thing too.

It's going to work out to your advantage. If you believe that. If you don't believe that, I mean straight up, if you like don't believe like, oh, this could work out to my advantage, it's not going to. And that's you putting out negative energy and whatever you put out is going to come right back.

Yeah, I couldn't agree more. So now we're going to talk about happiness, which I think me and you got a little bit of that.

So that's—

so in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?

In my opinion, I would say the key to happiness is— I mean, really, I strongly believe it's your spirituality. Whatever you believe in, whether that be the universe, whether that be a God, whether that be Jesus, like you believing in something bigger than you, you know, you believing that something bigger than you has created that destiny for you and is not going to let you fall. Because we can't do it alone. And when we— a lot of times, a lot of people that I have even encountered feel like they're alone, you know, a lot of their life. And maybe that's because, you know, their mind works differently than all their friends and their family, and no one believes in them, you know. And that can be discouraging and sad, you know. Or maybe Everyone believes in them, but, and you're happy for a period of time, and then you start getting the nice cars, and you're getting the nice house, and you're getting all these things that are making you happy. But then, like, when you have all those things, it's like, what is your happiness rooted in? It's rooted in materialistic things. You know, it's rooted in just the trips. So what happens when you're not on the trips? What happens when you're just sitting at home, not at the mall buying things, not at the at Ferrari, buying a new Ferrari. And the reason I say this is because I watched an interview with Kylie Jenner one time. It like popped up and I was, I don't follow the Kardashians, but I thought it was super interesting that she was interviewing about her happiness and stuff like that. And they go, you know, like, how do you feel inside? Like you have everything, you can have anything you want. She's like, yeah. Anytime I want a new car, I can go get a new car. Anytime I want, you know, a new handbag, I can go get a new handbag. I can get anything I want, but I'm still not where I want to be in my happiness. And when I saw that, she just basically— and she expressed, she was like, there's something missing, there's something not there. And I don't know what her spiritual journey is, right? So I can't speak on that. But that like, that like rocked me. I was like, whoa. Like everybody puts their happiness in other people, in things, you know, in experiences. But what happens if those people disappear? What happens if you all of a sudden can't have those things? What happens if, you know, you can't go on those trips? What if you get, you know, you get injured and you can't travel for a while? Like where does your happiness lie then? What is your happiness rooted in? And in my opinion and in my life, you know, it's rooted in my beliefs and my faith and my spirituality. It's all rooted there because that's one thing and that's one thing that I know will never leave me or forsake me, that will always be there. And you know, I go through seasons where I don't give it the attention that it deserves. And but ultimately, you know, I've learned that lesson and I'm like trying to get more and more intentional with it and I just find that like If I have the worst day in like the world and you know, I'm like, it's okay, Natty, like you got this, you got this, it's all gonna work out to your advantage, it's gonna be okay. And then I like resort back to like really like what is going to like build me up and pick me up again. It's my belief in Christ. Like honestly, transparently, like it really is. I just, I think about how blessed I am and how I've been saved and how, you know, no matter what I go through, I'm going to be okay. You know, and so that, I think that's like the biggest piece of my happiness is like making sure I'm not putting that responsibility on other people or things. Because when you place your happiness in another person and they're responsible for that, you're setting them up for failure. You are literally setting them up to fail you. And no matter how wonderful they are, they will fail you, and then they will feel like they failed themselves. So making sure that you're putting your happiness into something that's like way bigger than you could ever imagine.

Yeah, and I think just even like you just becoming aware of it really helps because I think like in relationships that can like easily happen, you know, where you both kind of like, like say things at work aren't going well, and then you both come home and you kind of both put your happiness on each other. Yeah, and that like can like spiral in like a bad way of that if it continues like that for a long time. Like, I think, you know, and I'm not a relationship therapist or anything, but I just think like to have a good relationship, like you have to be able to be happy separately. And then when you're together, you can also be like very happy, but you can't just be happy because you're with the other person because then you're putting it on them.

Um, they have a bad day. And not be able to fill your glass or your love language. You know, they may just have a bad day. And so it's like, think about who or what can do that for you and can give you that hope and that sense of happiness.

Absolutely. Great answer. Passed the test. Yeah. All right. So now we'll talk about books. OK. So what is the best book that you've read and what's the number one thing you learned from that?

I have it right under here.

Oh nice, you came prepared.

Heck yeah. So I'm actually in a— I started, my fiancé and I each started a group. So I started the women's group, he started the men's group, and it's really, it's like a mastermind, like-minded individuals, but it is like a Bible study too. But we wanted to like change it up and like have like the personal development intertwined with it. And so this book Keep Your Love On. It's one of my favorite books I've literally ever read, and I'm not just saying that. Like, this book has like everything that you need for those, those 6 areas, you know. But especially, it's basically, it's, it's focused on connection, communication, and boundaries, which is everywhere in life, like business, social, relationships, like friends, you know, coworkers, employees, bosses, everything. Like, your communication with them is so key, and getting on the same page of that is so key, and you're like choosing connection with them. A lot of times people in this world choose disconnection. When something tough comes up, they turn away. They choose to disconnect instead of to be like, hey, you know, I'm having this struggle this week, and You know, I heard through the grapevine that there were some discouraging words spoken in regards to me and my work ethic, and I just want to know, like, if we could talk about that, if we could work on it, if you could just help me, you know, see where I need to improve so that I can, you know, be a better boss or be a better employee. You know, just like that confrontation. A lot of people look at confrontation as unhealthy or scary, and that can be based on paradigms. I don't blame people for that, you know, but healthy confrontation is so good. And this is like all about that. It has a lot about like boundaries, people that really like boundaries that you— like, I didn't even recognize. I mean, I have a very— to be completely transparent, I have a very healthy relationship with my fiancé. However, when I read this book, I was like, oh Holy crap, I have so much to work on, you know? There's so many boundaries we need to put in place to make this like as healthy as we can. And that's not just with, you know, just because the title is Keep Your Love On, that doesn't mean it's about loving or just like being in love with someone.

Yeah, yeah.

It's about like how can you show love? How can you keep your love on no matter what? In a really flippin' hard situation, how can you keep your love on? And choose connection and not choose to disconnect and shut down and not share how you're feeling. So it's really, it's blown me away. It's absolutely blown me away. I suggest to everyone, it's a fairly short read. There is a, you can get it on Amazon for like $10. And then they also, you can buy the study guide for $10, which really it has questions in there where you write things out. That you've probably never processed in your entire life. And I've been processing things and letting things go that I didn't even know was holding me back. So it's been a really cool journey. And like me and the women in my group are reading this, and women can talk, right? I mean, you're seeing that right now. Women talk. We go down every rabbit hole, and then we're like, where did this conversation even start? What question were we actually trying to answer? Um, and so with this book, it's like, it's so cool with the study guide and everything just to have that structure so you don't go too far, but you like go in on each chapter. It's—

yeah, I think it's huge, like what you just said there, because it does apply in all spectrums. I think one of the worst things you can do is like hold in things, like, and it becomes like passive-aggressive. And that is like bad. That is like the most toxic thing ever. And it's— yeah, it's not to say it's easy either, you know what I mean? But it's easier to, um, to, to not disconnect at first, meaning like you should— if something comes up and it's negative, or in your relationship you're not feeling something, you know, it's better to say it right away than let it boil up inside you and then like 6 months later it like comes out when like, you know, he poured you orange juice instead of lemonade and you're like, what the hell?

Yeah, and then it just like, it's like a domino effect into like something that happened like 6 months ago. My fiancé first started dating, he said the one thing, he's like, if we always have open and honest, transparent and authentic communication, there's there's nothing we can ever not get through together. And you mentioned like passive-aggressive. So literally the chapter that we had to read this past week, we had on Wednesday, was about communication and it went over all the pillars of communication. So it went over passive communication, aggressive communication, passive-aggressive communication, all of those things, how people in those areas process those. Because a lot of times we go into conversations To Be Understood Instead of To Understand. And so it just basically gives you like, okay, you know, this isn't like the answer to life, but here's some really good examples on like if somebody that you're in a relationship with or you're dealing with at work is passive in their communication or is passive-aggressive, like here's the best way to go about this. You know, here's the best way, here's the best questions to ask them. And so it's just like, obviously you go into everything with discernment because everybody has a different perspective. But like this just touches on all of that and, and you need that in every area.

Yeah, absolutely.

Every year, if you want to thrive and live an abundant life, like you have to keep your love on as much as you possibly can.

I love it. Another top nugget. Okay. So now tell us your favorite quote and why.

I would say, hmm, my favorite quote, and it all comes back to my spirituality. This is just like, this is who I am, you know. I'm like filled with the spirit.

So we love who you are, it's fine.

When it comes to women, your heart should be so hidden in Christ, or, you know, if if you don't believe in Christ, and whatever you believe in, it should be so hidden in that, that a man has to seek him in order to find you. And that's my biggest thing, is because I want to be so just engulfed in something so much bigger than me that I'm making a positive influence on my partner. With me, it's Christ. And so, you know, like, you know, Luke and I, when we, when we started dating and we started going to church together and kind of like finding out like really what avenue we wanted to go down, I quickly realized that like I needed to be a good example for him, you know, like because men deal with a lot of temptation and a lot of things that come into their life that I need to be like grounded in my faith and continually seeking out my faith. He does too, but it's a It's a big part of like the Christian and the spiritual community is to like hold your brothers and sisters in Christ accountable. And so, you know, my biggest thing was like when I found that I wasn't really seeking out and being hungry for learning more about my spirituality, I just kind of felt like I was stagnant. And then once I like— like every morning if I'm like reading my devotional or reading this book or, you know, reading my Bible and I like I bring something up to him, it just like, it just builds this like amazing communication. And I just think that's so true. I think that I've seen, I've been in both sides of the relationship. I've been in a relationship that wasn't based on anything spiritually. I've been in a relationship that was. My parents tell me that, you know, they're very honest about it. They're like, we don't know if we'd be together if we didn't have that mutual spiritual connection. I don't think any adult thinks that they would be together because you go through so many challenges. Like, this is the easiest it'll ever be, you know, at my age. And so it's like you go through so many challenges in life, and if you don't have that center point to bring you closer, to bring you back together, to be connected, you're just gonna— you're gonna drift, and you're gonna drift, and you're gonna drift, and you're gonna find yourself drifting to the point where you're sleeping in separate bedrooms, you know, like it's just like there's got to be something that's always that you can turn to and come back to, that you both mutually believe and understand in. And so from a woman's perspective, it's so important that, you know, we just go after our spirituality to the extent because we are going to birth a child and we are going to raise children and we are going to raise the next generation. And you know, we have to, it's, we have to be so grounded in ourselves spiritually that we can teach that to the next generation. You know, like there's so much that's in our hands. And so it doesn't just, it's not just with relationships, but that's where it starts. It's like I truly and wholeheartedly believe that The more like I— my heart needs to be so hidden in Christ, and he's my first love, that, you know, my second love, my fiancé, has to seek him in order to really connect with me and find me.

So yeah, I've never heard that before. That is very good. That's some good stuff right there.

Angelo, uh, it's a woman, female.

It's okay.

People who hear this will know. Not Michael Angelo.

No, it was beautiful, so it's fine.

When I read that one time, that's like the quote that has always, even when I wasn't on my spiritual journey, that was the quote that was always in my mind. Like always that one quote that just pops up here and there. I'll be like, ding, ding. Like I'll be eating a salad, ding. I'm like, how did that come up? Even pertain to what I'm doing right now, you know? Um, but it's just something that I've always gone back to. And now that I've really truly like stepped into that truth, um, it's, it's been a game changer.

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

Well, listen, amazing interview. Thank you for coming on. I got one more for you. Where can our listeners, viewers, uh, connect with you online and like websites, social media? Where would you like them to say what's up?

So social media, I'm not really on Facebook much. Here and there I am. It's Madison Burke. So that's M-A-D-I-S-O-N B-U-R-K-E. But where I'm really present is on my Instagram. You can follow me, it's @Maddie_Burke. B-U-R-K-E. That's where I'm most present every single day, doing my best to bring value and to to tell my story and just to share my heart with the world.

So perfect. Thank you again for coming on.

Yes, thank you so much.