Podcasts about OPC

Perimenopause is basically reverse puberty, and it can run 10 to 15 years before you are on the other side of it. Yep! Lesley and Brad recap the conversation with Dr. Amy Loden, covering what your bloodwork leaves out and why giving birth works like a stress test that reveals the health issues that were already there before you got pregnant. They also spotlight AFSP for Suicide Prevention Awareness Month.If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:Why women need to pay attention to their bodies during perimenopause.What "you're within range" bloodwork actually leaves out about your health.How pregnancy acts as a stress test that unmasks chronic health conditions.Why frequent hot flashes may signal a higher risk for heart disease.Updated hormone research helps you make decisions without outdated fears.Episode References/Links:upLift Teacher Training Waitlist - https://xxll.co/uwseLevate Live Q&A - lesleylogan.co/elevateOPC Summer Tour (Powered by Balanced Body) - https://opc.me/tourOPC Flashcards - opc.me/flashcardsOPC Posters - https://opc.me/postersCambodia Retreat Waitlist - crowsnestretreats.comPilates on Tour - https://xxll.co/potAmerican Foundation for Suicide Prevention – afsp.orgCharity Navigator – charitynavigator.orgCharityWatch – charitywatch.orgThe Jed Foundation – jedfoundation.org988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline – 988lifeline.orgSubmit your wins or questions – beitpod.com/questionsVitality Medical and Wellness - https://www.vitalitymwc.orgDr. Amy's TEDx talk on pregnancy - https://beitpod.com/amytedxThe Postpartum Pivot by Dr. Amy Loden - https://vitalitymwc.org/read-the-bookWomen's Health Initiative - https://www.whi.orgSubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questions If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! 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DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  What better way to be it till we see it, but to listen to our body? Because it's kind of hard to become the version of yourself you want to be if you're not listening to the version of yourself that you are.Lesley Logan 0:08  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started.Brad Crowell 0:51  Take it away.Lesley Logan 0:52  Welcome back to the "Be It Till You See" interview recap, where my co-host in life, Brad, and I are going to dig into the informed convo I had with Dr. Amy Logan Tiffany in our last episode. If you haven't yet listened to the interview, you missed on some good fucking stuff. Oh my god, I felt like my jaw was on the floor a couple of times. It was so good. But listen to this, then go listen to that. And spoiler alert: I already interviewed her for the second one. Yeah, I just did it yesterday.Brad Crowell 1:16  Wow, awesome!Lesley Logan 1:17  Because I was just, oh great, you're back, and it was really, really. It's a really nuanced conversation. I'll explain more later. But today, Brad's going to tell us what today is.Brad Crowell 1:26  Yeah, today's September 3rd 2026, and it is Merchant Navy Day. What is a merchant navy? You ask. Let's start with what it's not. The regular navy is a branch of the countries of a country's military responsible for national defense and maritime security. In contrast, a merchant navy or the merchant navy is a civilian commercial fleet that transports cargo and passengers globally to support international trade. So effectively, they work for a company that moves products around the world.Lesley Logan 1:53  You could be a merchant navy person and work for multiple different companies.Brad Crowell 1:57  That's right. So it has nothing to do with military. It has everything to do with being a ship pilot on a cargo ship, or even a deckhand, or whatever. If you're working in the ports, I'm not sure if you're on ports, if you're part of the merchant navy, but if you're on the boats that are driving around the world, you're.Lesley Logan 2:12  Like part of the merchant corporate.Brad Crowell 2:17  Sure. Not a pirate. Lesley Logan 2:19  Good, but a pirate.Brad Crowell 2:20  Pirates are real, so yeah, they're definitely not pirates. Okay, yeah, but the merchant navy actually would fight pirates. They're.Lesley Logan 2:26  Like a consumer sailor.Brad Crowell 2:28  Yes, yeah, it's like a, yes, that's right, a commercial sailor.Lesley Logan 2:32  Commercial sailor.Brad Crowell 2:33  Yes.Lesley Logan 2:34  Yeah.Brad Crowell 2:34  Yeah. But it's probably not sailing a boat so much as it is sailing a vessel. Lesley Logan 2:38  Vessel, yeah.Brad Crowell 2:39  Anyway, so Merchant Navy Day sails into view every September 3. Cute, a dedicated time to honor the invaluable contributions of merchant seafarers worldwide. These brave men and women ensure the flow of goods, fuel, and food that powers our daily lives and economies. Take a moment to learn about their sacrifices, support maritime welfare charities, and recognize their often unseen work.Lesley Logan 3:00  I couldn't imagine they're probably on these boats for months at a time.Brad Crowell 3:04  Oh, months.Lesley Logan 3:04  Months.Brad Crowell 3:05  Months. I mean.Lesley Logan 3:06  Months on one plate, and then have to come back. They might not ever see their family.Brad Crowell 3:09  Yes, yeah. So it's absolutely the case. And for example, when I used to work in skin and hair care, we used to manufacture the, the glass was actually manufactured in Korea, and so I would have to organize the factory to take it to the port, and then the port would put it on a, it would be in pallets, and then the pallets would get loaded into a container, those 40-foot containers, and then the container would go on this massive cargo ship, and then it would drive across the ocean. It'sLesley Logan 3:41  Like the size of cruise ships, but just for products.Brad Crowell 3:43  Yeah, and then one year there was a strike for the union workers at the port in Long Beach, and I remember our cargo ship got stuck in a line. Lesley, there was a line of 50 cargo ships.Lesley Logan 3:58  Do you remember? Because during the pandemic, it's even happened. I feel like our friend Joe Lilly had to send a ship out to a ship to get his stuff. It was a whole thing because there's, what the fuck? We got to get these products off the ship.Brad Crowell 4:09  Yeah, and that's very dangerous to do that stuff, you know, on the open water like that because there's just complicated.Lesley Logan 4:14  Yeah, so pirates.Brad Crowell 4:15  Well, not. I mean, when you have 50 boats in a row, there's unlikely that there's going to be pirates because there's also going to be the navy, the military, oh, the military navy, yeah, will be out making sure that everything is safe. But still, regardless, yeah, I mean, so they had to sail across the ocean, and then they turn around and they have to go back. But the company that they work for, they might be in a whole other country. It's like an airline pilot.Lesley Logan 4:37  Yeah.Brad Crowell 4:37  You know, for example, one time we were flying to Cambodia, and we were flying through China. And I think maybe it was just me. I sat next to a guy on the plane who was a pilot, and he's from Brazil, flies for a Chinese airline, and then his Chinese flights would go to Europe. His home is in Brazil. He had to fly to China to get on his flight, his job, to fly to Europe, back and forth to China, you know what I mean.Lesley Logan 5:02  Got to.Brad Crowell 5:03  Move, got to move.Lesley Logan 5:04  Got to move. Anyway, anyway, we have to point out what's going on right now.Brad Crowell 5:09  Yeah, what I wanted to point out right now is that at the time of this recording, there are around 6000 commercial seafarers remaining stranded aboard hundreds of merchant ships in and around the Strait of Hormuz following the sudden collapse of a U.S.-Iran ceasefire agreement, so shipping through this vital energy corridor has ground to a near standstill due to the drones and missiles and all the signs that are goingLesley Logan 5:33  Oh, yeah.Brad Crowell 5:33  So hopefully by the time you're hearing this episode, trade is going to flow again, and there are no more trapped sailors. But it's been devastating. You know, they're not military. They're just trying to do their job, and they're stuck on these ships. And they're not getting food. And if they're getting sick, there's no way to get to them to even give them the supplies that they need. It's quite a problem. And sometimes it feels like it's getting solved, and then it all goes to shit again. So hopefully. Lesley Logan 5:57  I know we're over here talking about our gas prices, but there's literal people whose they're not involved with any country or military, and they're just trying to do their job and they're stuck.Brad Crowell 6:05  Yep. Yeah. So just raising awareness and a big, big shout out to those who do this kind of work for their job. Thanks for doing all that because you make the world go round.Lesley Logan 6:14  Yeah. Well, speaking of the world going round, I started teacher training program.Brad Crowell 6:20  Wow. Yeah.Lesley Logan 6:21  You know, because we got to keep bringing in new people to the Pilates industry. Brad Crowell 6:25  Yes, we do. Lesley Logan 6:25  Because some of us are going to retire someday. So, if you heard the rumor that I started teacher training program, I did. I'm here to let you know it's true, and it's called upLift. Starting early next year, you'll be able to find an epic teacher trainer near you that will host my program. I'm going to work alongside them, guiding them and coaching them and supporting them so that they can support you on your journey. So if you are a new teacher or partially trained Pilates instructor, if you want to study under what I've created and my material, you want to go to xxll.co/uws. That's upLift waitlist student, xxll.co/uws. If you're already a comprehensively trained teacher and you're looking for more of a master's program and you want to learn directly with me, that is going to be our eLevate program. That's lesleylogan.co/elevate. We are filling 2028 as we speak. 2027 is full, and only eLevate grads can apply to be an educator for upLift. So, just some food for thought on that. We have been home from our summer tour for a little bit, and we are hanging out. We're doing some good stuff. I'm super excited to be home because it's going to get real crazy real quick. But we want to say thank you to Balanced Body because they sponsored our tour. We're able to go to some really great new cities on our summer tour, and our winter tour will announce in less than a month. And you want to be on the wait list for that, opc.me/events, because the winter tour always does sell out really quickly, really quick, really quickly because we get to hit a lot of cities, a lot of little cities where stuff doesn't go to like conventions and things like that. We get to hit some of our favorite cities. Shout out to Hershey because you always sell out in some places like that. So make sure you are over there. Supporting this podcast when you listen and you share with friends and you leave reviews is one of the greatest things you can do. It's totally free, and I really, really appreciate it. But if you want to continue support the podcast in other ways, if you are an OPC member, that's one of my ways you can do that. And then you get Pilates, and you get support, and you get community, and you get my feedback on your form. So you can go to onlinepilatesclasses.com, or you can also check out our amazing flashcards. Our flashcards are different pieces of apparatus. They're for anyone who loves Pilates. They can be used in a variety of different ways, and you can go to opc.me/flashcards for that. By the way, when you buy our flashcards, a part of your purchase goes to Nevada SPCA. And you might be thinking, Lesley, I don't live in Nevada. Yeah, well, guess what? We got some dogs and cats and bunnies and chinchillas here. Sometimes some lizards that need a home, and you are helping do that. In fact, our last quarter donation supported 114 shelter animals' food for one whole week.Brad Crowell 8:50  Yeah.Lesley Logan 8:51  114.Brad Crowell 8:52  Yeah, that's pretty amazing.Lesley Logan 8:53  Yeah. So, anyways, you can also get our posters. So there's that opc.me/posters. Okay, this is getting longer and longer every week, Brad. Brad Crowell 9:02  Well, this is just quick. So, our upcoming travel stuff. We've got Cambodia coming up in October. If you want to join us on retreat there, get on the waitlist for next year. Go to crowsnestretretreats.com. Lesley and I are going to be in Sacramento for Balanced Body's 50th anniversary party. They have a POT happening in Sacramento, so you can go to xxll.co/pot for more information on that. Lesley's actually teaching in China. We have no idea how to tell you any more information about that. But that's exciting.Lesley Logan 9:27  I don't have any links. But, I'm teaching in China. The second annual Pilates summit outside of Shanghai.Brad Crowell 9:33  Yeah, that's in November. Then the beginning of December, you're teaching in India in Goa.Lesley Logan 9:38  Yeah, and am I crazy enough to go back and forth? Yes, I fucking am.Brad Crowell 9:41  Because you're flying literally to meet me in Denver, and we go on a winter tour. Lesley Logan 9:44  And also, I can't live in any of these places. I have to come home.Brad Crowell 9:50  Let's roll straight into the charity of the week. September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and we're very, very excited to talk about AFSP or the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. It is the nation's leading suicide prevention organization, founded in 1987, and now working through 73 chapters in all 50 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico. The AFSP funds research into what actually prevents suicide, trains clinicians and everyday people to recognize warning signs, supports survivors of loss, and it pushes for policy change, most of it funded not by big checks, but by hundreds of 1000s of small donors, just like you and I, showing up during their Out of the Darkness community walks nationwide. So they do an event, Out of the Darkness community walks, and that's what helps raise money. So it's about as trustworthy of a charity as it gets. They get a four-star exceptional rating from the Charity Navigator. Over 80% of every dollar going straight to their programs, and they have a top-rated distinction from Charity Watch, which is the toughest watchdog in the space. The AFSP also recently announced plans to merge with the Jed Foundation, becoming the country's largest suicide prevention organization, spanning every age group, so any donation is landing at a moment when their reach is about to grow. Suicide has touched your life or someone you love, and statistically, for a lot of our listeners, it has. Yeah, this is a place where showing up really helps. Find more, find out about your local chapter by going to afsp.org, afsp.org, and you can actually, in the United States, there is a suicide crisis lifeline. Instead of 911, it's 988, so you can call or text 988 for free, it's confidential, and it's 24/7. Yeah, so I didn't actually know about 988. I knew that there were prevention phone numbers you could call, but I didn't realize that it was as easy as that.Lesley Logan 11:39  It's important because we all have, we all have hard times. Mental health is a is something that should not be a privileged thing that some insurance companies cover. And then if you don't have that, you don't have that. We all are, no one is immune. And we had a dear friend who actually used to work for the Nevada chapter of the AFSP, AFSP, and I got to see the work that she did for two years, and it's really quite incredible what they're doing just to support people. And I can't think of, like, if you're needing community, what you can go be community for people who need it, and you'd be surprised how that can help. But if you need their help, definitely reach out or go to 988 because this is real shit, you know. So, anyways, what else, Brad? Oh, you guys can send in the charities you want us to shout out?Brad Crowell 12:21  Yeah, text us 310-905-5534. Yeah, stick around. We're gonna dig into this convo with Dr. Amy Loden. Brad Crowell 12:30  Welcome back. Let's talk about Amy Loden. Dr. Amy Loden, based in St. Louis, Missouri, nearly died from severe preeclampsia with heart failure during a high-risk twin pregnancy, an experience that exposed major gaps in conventional care and reshaped how she practices medicine. She's a physician, entrepreneur, and the founder of Vitality MWC, a practice focused on women's metabolic and hormonal health, guiding patients through postpartum recovery, perimenopause, and long-term hormonal balance. She's a TEDx speaker, and she also is the author of the Postpartum Pivot. I will have the link for her book in the show notes below.Lesley Logan 13:09  Important. If you had a baby, you need the book, and it's not, oh, I've had a baby 15 years ago. I think you need the book still. I think it's about all health stuff that happens if you've had babies.Brad Crowell 13:18  Yeah, and what a revealing conversation, you know, with her about what it does to what being pregnant and going through that does to the body and how it reveals things. I thought it was really interesting. So yeah. Anyway, what's one of the things you love that she said?Lesley Logan 13:34  Oh my God, there's so many good stuff. We talked. I mean, we talked about. You've also.Brad Crowell 13:37  Just blended two conversations. So.Lesley Logan 13:39  I'm gonna work on not doing that. We're gonna work on. I'm gonna. Well, I mean, you had.Brad Crowell 13:43  One yesterday. Forget.Lesley Logan 13:44  The one I had yesterday. So we talked about perimenopause, and it's very interesting because I think the way she talked about us in the past, people have treated perimenopause like yes or no. I don't have this thing. I have this thing. No, I don't have that thing. But actually, the symptoms are a sliding scale for every woman, and we all have to figure out where we are on the spectrum, which means we just have to be paying attention to our bodies, which is not easy to you when you're really busy and you've got a lot going on. But so she also said, you know, you are going to have those unpredictable ups and downs. There are going to be some months where your ovaries are working like fire, and you're just like, I'm amazing. There's other months where you just feel like you got run over by a truck. And I think it's really nice to have a doctor who's a female who says that because usually they're, oh, well, you don't have it that bad or we can give you these drugs to cover up those symptoms, but really she's talking aboutBrad Crowell 14:28  Or she said her own experience was, okay, you're within the numbers, see you next time, and that's it.Lesley Logan 14:34  Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, and also it's like, okay, well, you're within the numbers, but are those the best numbers for you, you know? And so really filling out, you have to figure out where you are. You, my listener, have to figure out where you are, because that will help you advocate for what you need. And it's really important. I'm really grateful for the doctors that I've had because they can. They have said you are within range, but it's not optimal for you. So they were able to give me support so that I could be optimal for me, and I like how she, you know, perimenopause is like reverse adolescence, and it's like this, you know, you're when you're a young girl, you're going through all the puberty, and you have all the hormonal fluctuations, roller coaster rides, and all of a sudden, hopefully, hopefully you have some. I don't know, that wasn't my experience with periods, but like you have this nice, enjoyable couple decades, and then you reverse back. Yeah, it's like a.Brad Crowell 15:20  Reverse hormone, reverse puberty, reverse puberty. I was like, the word is there somewhere. Yeah.Lesley Logan 15:25  And somebody said, somebody said, who is the asshole who let mothers go through perimenopause when their daughters are going through puberty? And it's like, yeah, but remember, people used to have kids at 16, so that wasn't happening. Actually, but it's here's the thing: if you actually are really into perimenopause and loving women, if you do some historical work on what women's roles were, and I'm not talking about like the assholes or like what the grandma's roles, I'm not talking about that because I'm not a grandma. But the women who get after perimenopause, they became these healers and these doulas for the women who were having the babies and coming up, and they're also the ones that held the history and the stories, and so if we can think of it like that, it kind of makes us feel like we're going into our queendom, you know, like we're going in something cool. So she said, and in case you don't know this, it can run anywhere from 10 to 15 years for you actually go through menopause. And Brad's eyes just lit up, and just and then we've said on the podcast before, but menopause is one day.Brad Crowell 16:21  I was gonna say that. Yeah.Lesley Logan 16:22  It's one day, and then you're like post-menopause.Brad Crowell 16:26  And then.Lesley Logan 16:27  You're on the other side.Brad Crowell 16:28  You're on the other side.Lesley Logan 16:28  Yeah, and then and then if you're lucky, you get two years before you have the shittiest heart like men do. So like it's really fucking awful thing. So ladies, you want to keep your hormones going real well for a long, long time because it doesn't get easier.Brad Crowell 16:44  Yeah, she also did mention HRTs. She kind of didn't actually explicitly say that, but she mentioned that all the hormonal research that had been done in the early 2000s, a lot of that has been disproven and also challenged. And there's a lot more information about it now. So, you know, if you have an assumption that you about that that kind of stuff that you've had with you for a long time, I would recommend it's worth revisiting.Lesley Logan 17:08  I would agree with her. I know I've had women challenge me on this who've had family members with experience of breast cancer, and I understand their experience. But I am someone who has double the risk, and my breast doctor is not opposed to me being on HRT, and my gynecologist is not opposed to being on HRT. I'm not currently on estrogen either. I'm only on two of them, but they're not even opposed to me doing that because the risks of me having heart problems are greater, and I'm on a serious watch. So she.Brad Crowell 17:36  Did also mention that it's not for everybody. It can't be for everyone. Lesley Logan 17:39  No, nothing can be for everybody.Brad Crowell 17:40  Right. Right. So it's something for you to have that conversation with your healthcare provider.Lesley Logan 17:44  But I will also, before we move on, I want to just want to say, if you are worried about the breast cancer risks, there are ways to get tested multiple times a year. So I'm on an every-six-month test schedule, and so I still have decisions I probably want to think about, but also, I'm pretty sure they're going to catch it early because I'm going every six months. So it is a personal decision you must make, but please don't make it out of fear from people saying shit to you on the internet. Talk with your doctors.Brad Crowell 18:15  Yeah, yeah. One thing that I found really interesting about what she was talking about was the way that being pregnant and then going through the process of having a child or giving birth, she said, what it does is it actually unveils what was already there, right? So for her case, giving birth was a stress test on her body, and that it revealed what already was in her body. Yeah, you know, genetically probably.Lesley Logan 18:40  Wasn't coming up on any tests because it was probably in range. Yeah, we've had family members with this, and it makes me go and go, "Oh my God, we need to text them right now." Because there's things you can do when you're younger to take care of stuff that's harder to reverse when you're older.Brad Crowell 18:53  Yeah, sure. But she said that, you know, giving birth is a stress test of a woman's metabolism and cardiovascular system. She explained that culturally we view pregnancy and complications as something that where the answer is into the pregnancy and then it's gone. It happened during the pregnancy only and then afterwards they're all better.Lesley Logan 19:13  Right?Brad Crowell 19:13  Everything's good. It's gone.Lesley Logan 19:14  But it's not gone. The underlying condition still there.Brad Crowell 19:17  Yeah, exactly. She's saying that conditions such as the one she experienced, preeclampsia, it reveals underlying inflammation or insulin resistance that was a previous, you know, something her body was dealing with before. It just all of a sudden was stressed, and that's where something got stuck, right? So she said those conditions are not done after you've given birth. It's just simply something that's been unmasked by the physical toll of pregnancy, and once it's been unmasked, now you can treat it, and it's important to continue to treat it. And I think that's also why Lesley was suggesting at the beginning of the episode that her book is still valuable, even if you've had a child, you know, 15 years ago, because, you know, maybe maybe you did have something that went on. And you haven't looked at it as something that still exists in your body today that you will, you know, hopefully won't have to deal with, but you might have to deal with it as you age.Lesley Logan 20:08  Well, you have to listen to the episode because I have to listen to the episode because, my loves, women's heart conditions, the number one symptom for a woman having a heart problem is sudden death.Brad Crowell 20:20  Sudden death.Lesley Logan 20:21  Sudden death. I like. I think I like peeked the mic when I heard that. Brad Crowell 20:26  Yeah, I heard. I heard you in in my office. What?Lesley Logan 20:29  Yeah, yeah. So and I share that with you because unfortunately there still isn't enough information about women's bodies. A lot of information is still based off of men's bodies, and so tests and studies I've done on men only in the last decade-ish have they said you have to study these things on women, right? But we don't really know a lot of information that we should know by now. There should be information on that, and so why I'm like so insistent on you knowing this information is that when you're younger there are things that might look like they're in range, but if stressed, your body can't handle it. Now, stress is not a bad thing because you can also stress a body, and like your body responds the way it's supposed to.Brad Crowell 21:11  It gets stronger, and it.Lesley Logan 21:12  Gets stronger. Sure, but not every body does that because of genetics, because of too much stress, because of the fuel you're having with the sleep, where you are with your hormones. Did you have those things? And so it's just so important that we advocate for ourselves, my loves. Because, and I know, I know insurance is shit. Still got to do it.Brad Crowell 21:31  Yeah, got to do it. Well, stick around. We'll be right back. We're gonna dig into these be it action items we have with Dr. Amy. Finally, let's talk about those. Be it action items, what bold, executable, intrinsic, or targeted action items can we take away from your conversation with Dr. Amy Logan? She advises women to specifically pay attention to whether their vasomotor systems, hot flashes, night flashes, night sweats—sorry—are happening most days of the week or more than 10 times a day. If you hit that threshold and you choose not to take hormones, she warns you actually have an increased risk for cardiovascular disease or a stroke. Now, obviously, she's not your doctor, right, or our doctor, and she's not. This is like something for you to be aware of to take back to your doctor. But effectively, that's, you know, when she's talking with her patients. That's her barometer. That's her measuring stick. Lesley Logan 22:23  Can you imagine 10 hot flashes?Brad Crowell 22:26  I cannot.Lesley Logan 22:27  Because I don't even have them. But I can't even imagine. I saw that woman on Instagram where you could like see the hot flash, the one that went around. She had 10 of those a day. You have to take a shower. I don't even how you. I don't even know how you do it.Brad Crowell 22:38  Yeah. So while it's not a blanket prescription, she says, and not every woman in the category can or should take hormones. She said it's important for you to understand that that, you know, if you're hitting a point like that, you definitely want to seek professional help to get a medical assessment so that you can make a really informed decision about your health for your future. She urges this listeners not to base decisions on outdated fears. The hormones that we take today are different and safer than what was in the Women's Health Initiative that came out in the early 2000s. So, what about you?Lesley Logan 23:11  She said, "Be true to what your body is telling you." And I think this is really key because I think a lot of times we brush off or push things off or think we ate something bad that one time, or blah blah blah. But really, your body is talking to you, and it doesn't have to. We don't want to wait till it's in crisis, and then we don't want to go, "Oh my god, everything is wrong." We actually, if we were, if we're really paying attention to ourselves, we can start to spot patterns because the doctor cannot be with you every single day, so they are not going to spot the pattern. But you can bring them the pattern, and you are paying attention to yourself. You can do that, and so if you are struggling, you're doing all the things to sleep, and you're not sleeping. That is something you have to tell because your body is telling you, "I don't have the hormones and the things to sleep, which then all of a sudden everything is going to start to shut down in a terrible way when that happens. So make sure you're listening to your body, and you'll become more wise, and you'll even become a better version of yourself. And I thought, what better way to be it till we see it, but to listen to our body? Because it's kind of hard to become the version of yourself you want to be if you're not listening to the version of yourself that you are.Brad Crowell 24:12  That's true.Lesley Logan 24:13  Anyways, I'm telling you guys, my mind is blown and.Brad Crowell 24:16  We already had her back for another episode, so that's going to come out in the near future. Here, what was that topic about?Lesley Logan 24:22  It's a nuanced conversation about metabolism, and it's specifically for people who are in more of an insulin resistance. So it's not, it's going to sound like it's a weight loss conversation. We are not advocating that everyone needs to lose weight, but there's. Brad Crowell 24:35  She was talking about how movement is involved.Lesley Logan 24:37  Yes, right.Brad Crowell 24:38  And then movement. How soon after you've eaten should you be moving, and what kind of movement, and then also how often should you be eating?Lesley Logan 24:46  Yes, and all of that depends on your health.Brad Crowell 24:48  Yeah.Lesley Logan 24:48  Right. And your health is any different. The conversation is not about this weight is the healthy weight. It's not that at all, but that weight is one metric in the biometrics, and so we go into if you have this measurement off, what could also be affecting in the other biometrics, and then how do we address that? Because it's all part of the same wheel, right? When we ended the conversation, it's a very difficult conversation because I don't want anyone to be like, "This is for me," or "This is not for me," or "I don't. I can be healthy in sights, of course, and we have to go off of your blood tests and then your weight and your blood tests, and so it's this really interesting thing, and I really appreciate it because there is information. If you don't have any of these problems, you get to do your thing and have fun until hopefully forever. But if you are struggling with certain biometrics in your blood work and your weight is off, then it's not about losing weight, like every doctor tells you. It's about doing these things that she talks about to help you get your metrics to be where they need to be, and then the weight may or may not change, but the metrics will be better. Anyways, it's so good. I'm so excited about it. It's really great. So stay tuned. But until then, make sure that you send this to a woman in your life who needs to hear it because there's some epic medical information that no one has told me shocked the hell out of me. And then you can also reach out to Dr. Amy Loden if you would like to talk with her. If you live in the United States, so share with her what your takeaways were. All right. Until next time, Be It Till You See It.Brad Crowell 26:14  Bye for now.Lesley Logan 26:15  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod. Brad Crowell 26:58  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 27:03  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 27:07  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 27:14  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 27:18  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Ladies, if you have ever been told your labs look normal while your body says otherwise, this one is for you. Dr. Amy Loden is a physician who nearly died from preeclampsia and now builds her practice around what medicine misses in women. She breaks down why pregnancy complications are a warning sign, what perimenopause is really doing to you, and why heart disease deserves your attention more than you think. You will walk away knowing what to ask for and why it matters.If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:How pregnancy complications reveal health risks that were already there.Why perimenopause symptoms get dismissed as normal aging.The heart disease signs that look nothing like the classic ones.Why good quality sleep matters more than hours in bed.How to eat and move to protect your metabolic health.Episode References/Links:Vitality Medical and Wellness - https://www.vitalitymwc.orgDr. Amy's TEDx talk on pregnancy - https://beitpod.com/amytedxDr. Amy Tiffany on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/dramytiffanyDr. Amy Loden on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-lodenThe Postpartum Pivot by Dr. Amy Loden - https://vitalitymwc.org/read-the-bookSubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questionsGuest Bio:Dr. Amy Loden Tiffany is a St. Louis-based physician entrepreneur, author, and TEDx speaker dedicated to women's metabolic, hormonal, and cardiovascular health. After surviving severe preeclampsia and experiencing burnout in traditional, high-volume medicine, she pivoted her career toward a personalized, root-cause approach to patient care. As the founder of Vitality, she guides women through major life transitions—from postpartum to perimenopause—to help them recognize subtle warning signs and prevent long-term illness. Through her clinical work and her book, The Postpartum Pivot, Dr. Loden empowers high-achieving women to listen to their bodies, optimize performance, and take control of their long-term health.  If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 0:00  If we're going to call pregnancy a stress test, which is becoming an increasingly common term, is pregnancy a stress test of a woman's metabolism and her cardiovascular system? Then we have to ask, what are we stressing it for? And the way I'm looking at this is a little bit different than how I was trained, which again was if you got the problem, the solution is in the pregnancy. So what if we started looking at pregnancy from the perspective of this is an unveiling, an unveiling of what was already there, and that nothing's actually gone wrong. Lesley Logan 0:29  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. Lesley Logan 1:11  Oh my God, Be It babe. Get ready. Get your notepad out. Get ready. If you're driving, listen. You're gonna re-listen. You're gonna share this episode with everybody. I am so freaking stoked about the guest that we have. I fell in love with her with every single answer, and we need women like this in the medical world. So Dr. Amy Loden is our guest today. We're going to talk everything from postpartum to perimenopause and heart health, because ladies, you can't be it till you see it if you get sick, cannot. And I know it's confusing. There's so much information out there in the world, and it's like, who do we trust? What do we do? And I'm just so grateful I found her, and you're gonna love it. So make sure you get ready to hit share on this episode for women in your life and the men who need to know about what women are going through. My mind is blown on the episode. Here's Dr. Amy Loden.Lesley Logan 1:54  All right, Be It babe, I'm excited. I'm super stoked. We're gonna talk about all things women, health-related, with an amazing professional person who actually studies this stuff, not what I've read, and then I'm asserting to you because I don't want to be that influencer. I think those people need to take a little step back and let the professionals do it. We have Dr. Amy Loden here on the show, who's going to tell us everything we need to know. But Dr. Amy, we tell everyone who you are and what you rock at, kind of how you got here.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 2:20  Sure, thanks for inviting me. I'm happy to be here, Dr. Amy Loden. I am in St. Louis, Missouri. I help primarily women over 40, but certainly anyone who's like, "How are my hormones working for my life or not? How is my weight in the mirror matching the weight in my head or not?" And all the things that come with life transitions from postpartum to perimenopause, beyond, my goal is that women who've interacted with our team will have a better care experience because it's the care experience we want each of us to have had ourselves, and because each of us are not only professionals within the medical nursing communities, we're patients too, or daughters and sisters and mothers and neighbors and all the things. We know how much it sucks to be patient, right? And so we've tried to redesign what is the best thing for our ladies. Now, in full transparency, we do have a few dudes, but most of them have had their arms twisted by our rock-star ladies, and they are the ones that are coming because they're forced to. And eventually, they decide they like us, but we're pretty cool too. So that's who we serve, and that's what we do. And happy to go into any detail or rabbit hole you want to chase?Lesley Logan 3:21  Oh my God, Amy! I love that. When people ask about the people who listen to this podcast, we have mostly women and a few good men because there are some men out there, including my husband. They want to be interested. They want to. They want their partners, the women, their lives. They want to get what's going on. They don't want them to feel like an alien or like they're alone in this journey. So I think that's really, really cool. I also just want to highlight. I love that you brought up your patients too, because as someone who I feel very lucky to go through my perimenopause journey in today's time when people actually are talking about it, versus even 10 years ago, generations were not talking about this stuff, and I just feel it's really nice because then there's information I would never have known about HRT unless my girlfriend had told me about it. Oh, that could be going on, and then I could talk to someone. Can we go back though? Yeah, I feel like to be a doctor like yourself, who has empathy and understands, like you must have gone through a journey as well. You don't just want to do this Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 4:13  Because you wanted to do this. That's true. Lesley Logan 4:16  Maybe there are a few. There might be a few, but typically, like there there has there's a story there that got you to be like I want to care about this. So can you tell us a little bit more about that?Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 4:24  Absolutely, yeah. So definitely with the traditional college to medical school road, really didn't understand that there's a and I say this with all the love in my heart, but there is a bit of brainwashing to be a good doctor, right? And what is a good doctor was who you've been told it is. It's not necessarily an external criteria. It's who does academic medical center say, and that was very different. I learned through transferring all of my non-medical student fears into the actual application of those fears, and then being a patient and living those fears. That I realized there's a whole lot we're not talking about. There's a whole lot that we're not being told, both as doctors and as women, as patients, and it's hard to realize you don't know what you don't know if you've been told you're the expert and you know everything, right? And most doctors don't go around saying they know everything, but there's enough patients who feel like that's what's communicated, that that's the language I'm using.Lesley Logan 5:18  Yeah.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 5:19  And that's really frustrating as a patient, so I didn't realize how frustrating though it was until I was a patient, and I'm a mom of five kids, my third and fourth are twins, and really I am so grateful to live in the United States in a time in history where complicated pregnancies does not mean that mom dies, because I developed severe preeclampsia with heart failure, and my twins came 31 weeks instead of at least 37, and I nearly died the night they were born. They nearly died the night they were born, and I just am grateful that God let me be in this situation that I had the help I needed. Historically, these are not good situations. We see this on TV and in movies frequently. And something like 70,000 women a year across the globe die of the same disease I had, preeclampsia. So it's not nothing, even in our day and age, in certain countries, and even in countries where you have advanced medical care and they do everything right. It can still happen. So, that for me was the pinnacle of this isn't working. What we're telling people to do isn't working because I had done all the things.Lesley Logan 6:30  Right, you were a doctor. You did all the things. I did all the things. You enjoyed all the appointments. You were probably doing, and this is your third and fourth. So you knew what it should feel like. You knew what you should be eating. You knew all the vitamins to take.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 6:41  Correct, and it didn't work, right? It didn't work, and so I think that is the fundamental kind of if you place a pivot on why did I change how I think about healthcare as a doctor, it was because of my experience as a patient for myself. My husband had cancer twice, so being the advocate for him in those types of things, guiding my children and now my parents through healthcare, you start to carry a lot of stories, and you start to see, wow, they're not doing what I think is just the bare minimum. And if they're not doing that for me or for my family, I know they're not doing it for everybody else.Lesley Logan 7:11  Yeah.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 7:12  And then at the same time, holding a ton of grace in my heart because that's—they're doing what they were taught.Lesley Logan 7:17  Right?Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 7:17  Right. And they can't do differently if they don't know differently. You can't be better if you don't know to be better.Lesley Logan 7:23  Yeah.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 7:23  So that is a really tight tension. But I thought I would just keep plodding through and just be a better doctor in that context of me being a patient until a little—I guess it was two years later. My daughter at that time, my oldest, was seven, and I had about 3000 patients. I was working somewhere between 65 and 80 hours a week, and had four kids at that time. And my daughter came up to me one night, and I'm opening the computer. I'm doing work like I do every night, and she says, "You're gonna make my birthday gifts. Like, can I help?" Right, totally innocent seven-year-old looking forward to her birthday knows that her mom shops online, right? And so she's like, "I want to pick my birthday presents," and I kind of stared at her. I was like, "No, no, I'm going to work. We'll do that later," and go watch whatever show. It's probably Paw Patrol for all I know, right? That's in the background. Go watch it. It's gonna be bedtime soon. And she just stands there, and I haven't even looked at her at this point. My eyes are on my computer. I'm just telling her this as I'm going. I'm totally not in the moment, right?Lesley Logan 8:19  Of course, because like you have so many, you have 3000 patients and four kids.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 8:23   I can't keep up. I can't keep up. Right? I'm barely getting enough sleep. I'm not exercising, and I'm just trying to survive. And she doesn't move. And so I remember not totally slow motion, but I remember turning to her and feeling like I was going to be like, "What?" Right? What do you need? And she's just got out of the shower, so her hair's wet. She's got her pink pajamas on, bright big blue eyes, and they're full of tears. And there are just silent tears tracking down her face, and I'm horrified. Oh my gosh, what's wrong? Right now, I'm in fix-it mode.Lesley Logan 8:55  Yeah.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 8:55  And she still doesn't really budge, and she just says in a very sad voice, "Mommy. Why do you love your job more than me?"Lesley Logan 9:05  Oh.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 9:07  Yes. So the twins tried to kill me. She did kill me, right? Like, that was a knife in my heart because nothing ever had I wanted to be better than a so-called good doctor than to be a good mom.Lesley Logan 9:17  Yeah.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 9:18  And that was for me the moment that I realized I'm not doing either of these well, and I'm not showing up how I want to be personally or professionally. I'm certainly not taking care of my health. I'm not doing the things I'm telling my patients to do. Like, it was a moment where I really felt the failures. I felt all the feelings, and I told my husband that night, "This is not working anymore." And he actually thought I thought was talking about our marriage, and so he was like, "Oh my gosh, what's wrong with our marriage?" Right? No, but I need to, like, redo. We have to redo this. I either have to retire, or I have to do something different.Lesley Logan 9:51  Yeah.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 9:51  And he was like, "You're not retiring. You will drive me crazy. Go find something different to do, and I will make sure our family is okay." And so I did. And this June will be five years of having Vitality here in St. Louis and serving women and trying to lean into all the pain and the things and the feelings they're dealing with from all the things and the feelings I dealt with having walked that path.Lesley Logan 10:13  Yeah. Oh, Dr. Amy, I love that you shared that whole story because I think there's so many women who are listening here and, like, they don't have, they may have one kid or they have no kids, but, like, I think we can all relate to, like, having just too much on the plate because.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 10:27  Right.Lesley Logan 10:28  Hello, my high-achieving woman. I see you, everyone here listening. We call recovering perfectionists and overachievers. There's nothing wrong with being a high achiever, but what happens is we tend to just keep saying yes to things, and we're like, yeah, we can fit that one more thing in, that one more thing. All of a sudden, it just comes to, like, a volcano breaking point. Yes, and because we don't, we don't see the signs early that we are at the breaking point. We don't, you know, we, it's almost, it's actually proven to be not true. But everyone uses the frog in the boiling water, right? Like, we just kind of, like, you don't realize how hot it's getting until it's until your daughter is crying in front of you. Oh, exactly.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 11:05  Yes, it was awful. I never want to relive that moment.Lesley Logan 11:08  Yeah, but also, like, thank goodness for her because that she felt brave enough to say that. Like, what a badass she is. I mean, she's just going to be, like, she's just going to be a girl who speaks her mind. She does.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 11:18  She's 13 now, and she heard me tell that story once, and now she's like, "Well, you have to credit me for opening your business because I hadn't said what I did." I was like, "Won't you just tone it down a notch, please?"Lesley Logan 11:27  It's called balance, babe. It's called balance. Yes. Okay. So, can we, like, let's get to some of the health stuff that I think our listeners want to—I want to definitely get into perimenopause, but I do want to, because we started with a pregnancy, and I have had family members who, you know, have had preeclampsia in their, and it's scary. So, how are pregnancy complications connected to long-term heart risk? I don't think anyone's thought about that. I just thought, like, if it's because I don't have kids, like it's going to screw up your pelvic floor, and you might have to rebuild your abs and these other things. But I didn't know it can affect your heart long term.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 12:01  I had no idea. I'm so glad you brought that up. So I actually did a TEDx talk on this very topic, where the idea is pregnancy is so much more than just the birth of a kid. That's how we think about pregnancy in our culture. That's even how we think of it medically, right? Like if you have preeclampsia, you have gestational diabetes, you have high blood pressure, whatever in pregnancy, the answer is end the pregnancy, deliver the kid if they're old enough, right? Like, get, move it along and it's gone. But that I strongly believe is not true. We can't test this in a lab, so you have to do a little bit of extrapolation here. But if we're going to call pregnancy a stress test, which is becoming an increasingly common term, is pregnancy a stress test of a woman's metabolism and her cardiovascular system? Then we have to ask, what are we stressing it for? And the way I'm looking at this is a little bit different than how I was trained, which again was, if you got the problem, the solution is in the pregnancy. So, what if we started looking at pregnancy from the perspective of this is an unveiling, an unveiling of what was already there, and that nothing's actually gone wrong. It's scary. It's horrifying. And yes, absolutely, people die. So how can I say nothing's gone wrong? What I mean is nothing has gone wrong in the context of the situation we put your body in. It's exactly responding the way it should for the context it's in. So if I have underlying insulin resistance, and then I put a pregnancy on top of that or perimenopause, and I'm starting to have more insulin resistance. Well, of course I'm going to develop gestational diabetes. If I'm having a lot more fluid retention and I'm putting up a low weight, of course my blood pressure is going to go up, right? If I've got underlying inflammation, of course preeclampsia is going to develop. So I think we need to stop and think about it as it's not done; it is unmasked.Lesley Logan 13:42  Got it. Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 13:42  And then once you know it's unmasked, you treat it.Lesley Logan 13:45  I see. I see. Because again, we think of pregnancy as just the baby, so you have the baby, but it's well, but there's a problem, an underlying problem that the pregnancy revealed is what you're saying. And so great if having the baby is the safest thing for both people, we do that. But also, you still have this underlying issue.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 14:01  Yes, it's still there. Correct.Lesley Logan 14:03  Yes, and I don't think anyone does that. I think they're just, "Okay. Now you don't have gestational diabetes anymore." But I have had clients who had it, and then afterwards, so what do we got? Oh, I'm fine. Are you correct? I don't think so. I'm not a doctor, but they're not fine. Don't just be diabetes. Yeah, for a moment. Yes.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 14:19  So I actually experienced this as a patient too. I went in after my first pregnancy with gestational diabetes. At the time, I was living in New York City. I walked everywhere. I was a normal weight. I ate pretty clean, and despite being in residency, I'd got decent sleep. I didn't have any other kids. It's my first kid, so I got decent sleep. Right, but I had the baby after having had gestational diabetes. I go see my OB, and she's, "Oh, just follow up with your primary doctor." I go see my primary doctor, and he's, "Your weight's normal, your labs are normal. We're done," and that is how I was trained too. So again, lots of love in my heart. They're not; they're just not told. But for more than 10 years, we've known that women who have these high-risk pregnancies are at high risk not just for diabetes, but heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, dementia. Listen, I can't treat dementia well in the clinic, right? So why wouldn't I want all hands on deck trying to prevent it?Lesley Logan 15:07  Yeah.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 15:07  But that's not how our medical professionals are trained—nurses, advanced practice providers, any of them. And so we're asking people and expecting people to fill in a gap they don't know exists, and so all these reproductive-age women are falling into it. And then where it gets really interesting is some of the same things you have immediately postpartum in all your different types of hormone fluctuations are matched intermittently for 10 to 15 years before menopause when you're in the perimenopausal years.Lesley Logan 15:32  What?Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 15:33  Correct, but that's why these women are feeling, "I'm going to my doctor, I'm putting on weight, I'm doing all the things, it's not working," and they're being gaslit, partly because their doctors don't know what they don't know, and partly because we're not acknowledging this is the same physiologic status of hormones that are different than baseline. So we're not in a country, and we don't have the testing that would promote or facilitate checking what is your normal hormone level at 18, so that we know what 18 should look like, and then by 45, you know, we're not. So we're trying to patchwork together a whole bunch of tests, and different labs have different testing, and different people say different things about testing. It's very confusing.Lesley Logan 16:10  Yeah.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 16:11  And you end up with women suffering. And at the end of the day, that's the problem I'm trying to solve: is how do we stop these women from suffering? Because they are called to live big lives, to be ambitious for a purpose, for a calling. They have a lot to do, and their health is one of their biggest assets. It should not be a liability.Lesley Logan 16:27  Yeah.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 16:27  And that's what's happening, especially for women who are trying to not work just in the home but outside the home. Right? There's a lot they're carrying. Yeah. So that's, I don't remember. Sorry, I'm having a total perimenopause moment. I don't remember where we started with that question here. I'll stop there. Lesley Logan 16:42  Don't worry, babe. I got my focus meds on the ADHD today, so I'm tracking. So we're good. But we were talking about the postpartum, and then we got into those hormones that switch as, and they can repeat into perimenopause. And I think this is fascinating. I love that you brought up. It doesn't matter if you're in the home or out of the home. We have big lives. Correct. We can't have our health be a liability, and I think for a lot of us, it feels like, like my girlfriend's a weight-loss coach for women over 40 who feel like their body gave a middle finger. That's what her coaching is, and it's all about not going to yo-yo diet. That's not going to work. We have to figure out what is the underlying issues, and it can only go so far because you said we don't test our hormones at 18. We don't do that, so we don't know what is normal for us, and I remember I was having a lot of health issues, digestive issues in my 30s, and no doctor could help me. In fact, one doctor sending me to, I was in this weird part where they study HIV and Ebola in the hospital, and she's like, "Do you know why you're here?" I don't know why I'm here. I don't. This scares the hell out of me. This feels like a department I should not be in. I'm not in any pain. I feel like I'm taking someone's spot, and so because he could, he just couldn't figure out what's going on my stomach. So I found someone who did an actual test of everything. He's so range normal. We don't know what normal is for you. We just know what the average person of this population of people that who knows who they were that were tested. So what is normal for you might not be the average. And I was, "Oh well, that's the first time anyone said anything that makes sense. That's the first time." So you can be in range, but for your hormones, but it wasn't in range for you because maybe you were used to higher testosterone, you're used to higher things. And so I love that people like you exist. I'm sorry for the frustration of your own journey, but also without people like you, women like me wouldn't have someone going, "Hey, actually, maybe you should be on testosterone right now," even though the, this is what it is. Mine was actually zero, but people, you know, we can actually get you help because I feel so much better because someone finally was listening to me and thought, "Yes, we're not going to compare you to a random person. We got to compare you to how you're used to feeling."Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 18:42  Correct. And for most people, that can't happen in the traditional system.Lesley Logan 18:47  Yeah.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 18:47  You can't do that in a 10-minute visit.Lesley Logan 18:49  Right.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 18:50  You can't do it when your doctor has 3000 patients, 10-minute visits, and they really don't actually know who you are.Lesley Logan 18:55  Yeah.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 18:56  You just can't. So we've got a little bit of unrealistic expectations as a society, and then you know any women's magazine or journal article you read says, "Talk to your doctor about this." So then you go in, I'm all prepared. I have my list. I've done it too, folks. Right? This is not a criticism, but they, they can't. They don't have the ability to process it, and the way they're paid is based on the questions they ask you for insurance. So every incentive is misaligned, and at the end of the day, women, people are being screwed.Lesley Logan 19:22  Yeah, yeah. No, it's so true. So I'm glad we talked about the postpartum. I want to get into now. We're in the perimenopause, and yep, this is hard because you mentioned the hormone shift of people after postpartum is its own crazy world. I keep checking on my sister-in-law every day. How are you feeling? Are you feeling okay? Right. You feel okay? She's, "I'm fine." Are you fine? Let me just, I just want you to know. It's okay if you feel different, right? I think I'm crazy, but I know that that people don't realize how they're feeling, and it's hard to get to the doctor until it's too late. So I'm just, I'm on her. But for people like me, we didn't have children, so we have never experienced a crazy shift. We just start to experience, "I don't feel like my, anymore," and all the symptoms are so different for every single person. I'm not having hot flashes, but I'm, I got to keep my hair still here. But my inflammation was insane. I was putting on weight and working out and eating the same. And I don't understand what's going on. You know, so can we talk a little bit about what, I don't know where you want to start with that. So you tell me where you want to start with my post, my perimenopausal people who are not necessarily attributing these changes to that.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 20:27  So I think the biggest confusion I see in the exam room conversations is that there's just question of, am I in perimenopause or not? And it's more of a less of a yes-no and more of, are you on the spectrum, and where on the spectrum are you? And so if you think of it as a sliding scale, because some months those ovaries are working really great, and you feel all the feels, and you're 18 again, but a lot of months maybe you're more like 20 or 25, right? And then maybe out of the blue, I feel like I got run over by shock. Nothing's working for two or three months, and then we're back to 25, right? And so it's ups and downs. You're like, what is happening? It is a roller coaster, and it runs anywhere from 10 to 15 years before you actually go through menopause. So I think of it as reverse adolescence, and I think it's completely ironic that God lets us have teenage girls when moms are going through perimenopause because that is just double-adolescence whammy, right?Lesley Logan 21:19  And no wonder, no wonder marriages don't survive certain things. Right, you have a daughter going through puberty and a wife with a pair of menopause. Good luck to the husband. Correct, becauseAmy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 21:28  I want to have sex. I don't want to have sex. I have pimples all over my face. I don't want to go to the house. I do. My belly's bloated. It's not like my mood's up. All the things, and it's all in reverse. So it's a it's a period of a woman's life that I think needs to be acknowledged, and then within the healthcare system, there's more noise about it over the last five years. You're seeing more and more people talk about this, but there's not a lot of standardization, and so you're getting chiropractic, functional medicine, traditional medicine. You're getting all sorts of different recommendations. So my hope is that over the next decade, we start to see some standardization, and we start to say this is what is normal for this population. You still have to apply it to the person. You cannot take population data and apply it to individuals and say that you're going to have good luck, bye. We'll see you in a year. That doesn't work. What I do think is that women need to know what's normal for that time, and then they need to decide, do they want to do something about it beyond what their body is experiencing? And here's some really interesting data that I hope your listeners suddenly stop and listen. If they don't hear anything I've said yet, this will be really important for women who have hot flashes and night sweats. Either one, they're actually the same thing. We call them vasomotor symptoms. When you have those at a certain degree, so that they're happening most days of the week, more than 10 times a day would be an easy target to kind of pay attention to. You have that, and you choose not to take hormones. You actually have an increased risk for cardiovascular disease and stroke. That does not mean every woman in that category can or should take it. There may be reasons they can't, but the hormones we use today are different than what in the Women's Health Initiative that came out in the early 2000s. So you're getting a lot of confusion because women are reading about data from that, not realizing that it has changed, and that study is not going to be redone. It was a huge study. We're not going to see data like that, so we have to make really informed decisions. But cardiovascular disease, hear me, ladies. Cardiovascular disease, which includes stroke and heart failure, kills more women every year than all your cancers combined. Yeah, I get the women and they come in religiously for their mammograms or their Pap tests, right? But they don't know that the bigger risk is that they're going to die of heart disease, cardiovascular stroke, and we know that one in eight women, roughly, have breast cancer risk, and those women get it. One in two women are getting heart disease. So there's one inLesley Logan 23:50  Two.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 23:51  One in two. So that means there's two of us on this call, right? We already know I'm going to get it because I had preeclampsia. So I'm the one. Lesley Logan 23:56  I was going to say. I hope it's not maybe. I hope it's not you. But, like, thank God you know that because I think it's one and two, especially if you don't know. Because if you know that you're at risk, you do. Then you can you do something. I am. I'm double the risk for breast cancer, so I have to do an MRI and a mammogram every six months, and I have some decisions I might have to make in my life. But because I know.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 24:18  Right, I can take.Lesley Logan 24:20  I can take action. Yeah, correct.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 24:22  And you know, using that same kind of history, if someone comes in my office and says that I don't want to take hormones because I was a breast cancer, I'm like, that's fine. But let's look at all the facts. Let's lay it out like your financial advisor does, and then you can make an informed decision. Because just acting out of fear or reacting is not wise either.Lesley Logan 24:38  I actually really appreciate you mentioning that because it's true. If I'm, I'm very lucky in that I still get to do the HRT that I'm on, even with my risk. But also they're checking me every six months, and I'm checking me. So if anything's going to happen, we're going to catch it so much more quicker. Whereas the hard stuff, there's only so much you can do with that. And so if you're, especially if you're not aware. Say there's all conversations, but I liked the way you laid it out with the wealth manager. I just met with mine. He laid out here's where we're being aggressive. Here's where we're doing this. Here's what's going on here. We're going to move this over here because we're going to risk-manage these risks. And I think that's that's a better way to look at it because we're not going to, every single one of us is unfortunately going to experience something because it's a body. We're not a machine. Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 25:21  It wears out.Lesley Logan 25:22  I did not know it was one in two, girl.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 25:26  Yeah, and what's even more disturbing, you may have heard a lot of women have by now that women's heart disease presents differently than men.Lesley Logan 25:32  Yeah, can you tell us just in case my people haven't heard because I didn't know it was one in two? So let's go over the signs.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 25:38  A lot of times people think of what's the so-called traditional? It's the jaw pain, the radiation of pain from your chest up to your jaw, to your back, down your left arm. Very classic symptoms. Classic because it was studied in men, and then we have these so-called atypical for women because they're not typical compared to men, but they're classic for women. And so, got a little bit of lingo here that it doesn't make total sense. But for women, sometimes it's they just feel a lot more anxious than they've been for unclear reasons. They have this sense that something bad is on the horizon. They can't really place why their sleep is different. Maybe they're having some shortness of breath they didn't used to have. Maybe they go up the stairs in their house, with a laundry basket, and they're huffing and puffing when six months ago they weren't. So it can be very subtle differences. It could be a new fatigue. Check labs are normal, but the fatigue's still there. That worries me when I hear women say this. Unfortunately, the number one sign that you have heart disease is sudden death.Lesley Logan 26:33  Oh.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 26:34  So let that sink in for a second. So we can't always wait on what the signs are.Lesley Logan 26:39  Yeah, we can't fix that. Right. Correct. Okay, so that's hard because our signs are also. I feel like high-achieving women would so easily brush away that anxiety.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 26:51  All the stuff. Correct. Because I have a lot of tabs open.Lesley Logan 26:54  Yeah, I got this going on, or I haven't been working out, so of course I'm out of breath going up the stairs. They would just so easily.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 26:58  It's May, it's graduation season. It's wedding season, right? This is just aging, and that's not the story at all. The problem is 10-minute visit with your doctor who has 3000 patients. They don't know who you are. They're not going to notice that this is different for you.Lesley Logan 27:13  Yeah.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 27:13  Decreased exercise tolerance is a big one. And so, if you could walk three miles every day in your neighborhood, now you're like, "Wow, I'm really struggling to get through one." I'm worried about that. I want to know what's going on and why.Lesley Logan 27:25  Yeah. So I guess since one getting a 10-minute visit is hard. I, where I live in, I live in Las Vegas. Last I heard, we are short general practitioners by 1400. I don't have one. I go to a women's clinic, and I'm really grateful. It's a, it's also a student-teacher thing. So I actually, they've caught things because the students are asking the questions because they'reAmy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 27:44  Yes, yes.Lesley Logan 27:46  I love them. I'm so grateful for them, but are there things that women can do to check their heart, or is it just being, is it just noticing the one mile versus a three mile? What can we, what are the signs we need to be checking on?Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 27:57  Certainly be aware of what your body is telling you. Again, if you have to remember nothing else, this is another one: is that your body is smart; it will talk to you, but you have to listen.Lesley Logan 28:05  Yeah.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 28:06  So that's really essential. If something's different, say something. You're right. There's a big collapse, if you will, of how much support we have in healthcare, whether it's nurse practitioners or chiropractor or whatever. And the issue is not all of them are trained the same way. So when I worked in the OB/GYN clinic, it became apparent to both of us, on both sides of it, that OBs know stuff about women's health. I don't know, but I know stuff about metabolic and heart health that the OBs aren't taught, and most women use their OBs as their primary care, at least to a certain age.Lesley Logan 28:32  Right.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 28:33  And again, you don't know what you don't know, so you don't realize what you're not looking for that you should be. And our system's not set up for good collaboration. So if I could tell women, here's a checklist of things I want to make sure you get, your doctor is going to give you some resistance, most likely because they don't realize that lipoprotein with a little a, it's like in parentheses at the end of it, not the big A. Lipoprotein little a. If you have that mutation, and 10 to 20% of our population does, you have a different rate of plaque development, at least risk for that than the average risk will miss. If you have high insulin levels, you have a higher risk that you're going to be on a pathway toward diabetes. Those are not things that are standard checks. So knowing that there's other tests you can ask for, and even if your insurance doesn't cover it, they're not expensive tests. Just get it once, right? Have an idea of what's going on in your body once gives you a ton of information. I offer a lot of our patients to wear different glucose monitors, even if they're not on diabetes. And all my physicians who are listening to this are probably like, "You do what?" But the reason is, if you can figure out that your glucose and insulin are high before you develop diabetes or pre-diabetes, if you figured out that insulin-resistant stage, that's a lot easier to fix, and our doctors aren't even taught about what is insulin resistance, what is the criteria for it, and how do we reverse it?Lesley Logan 29:47  Right, because there's some prevention we can do if we have information.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 29:50  There's a ton, and it's things women can do in their homes or their businesses. It's not stuff I'm doing in the exam room.Lesley Logan 29:56  Yeah, and that's also, you know, you're listening to this podcast, you're kind of a go. Anyway, so you're gonna, you'll take the action. Our health insurance is very bizarre. I thought it was crap because, but it has a lot of preventative stuff that goes on with it. Hey, we want to put this thing in your house and check your heart and some other levels every, I don't know, two or three times a week. They keep calling them. I have two adults. We have two ADHD adults in this household. The box is here. One of us will open it when it becomes the pressure. I just have to hang tight. We'll get there. But I'm really impressed by that because we don't have access to a regular doctor. So what information can we gather so we could be watching it and monitoring it? So we can advocate for ourselves if something comes up. So having that prevention is really amazing. Okay, so we talked a little bit about the perimenopause and the different things. What are some simple shifts that women can make now to protect their future? I mean, obviously we have a wide range of women, so the now is different. But what are some things that they could be doing? Because I do think that they are getting information from the magazines and the Instagrams, and we should get it from the person who's experienced it and has seen it. You know, so you.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 31:00  Some easy things, and I say easy relative because they're easy to do, which means they're easy not to do. So acknowledging that, right? It's real. Number one, understanding that just because you get eight hours of sleep, if they're not high-quality hours, you've got a metabolic risk from your sleep not being normal. That's important to understand because you spend a third of your life asleep, right?Lesley Logan 31:19  What's a metabolic risk? Just in case my people. So.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 31:22  If you don't get good-quality sleep, your cortisol goes up. It's one of your stress hormones, and when cortisol goes up, glucose goes up. When glucose goes up, insulin goes up. Insulin's your fat-storing hormone. So even without your sex hormones being involved, or the ghrelin and leptin you're hearing about with weight and GLPs and all that, just those, you're not getting good sleep. It's going to be a problem. Insulin resistance is going to go up. Insulin resistance means your cells are not listening to the insulin your body is giving it, so your body works harder to get more insulin, and the cells work harder to ignore it, and it just keeps going in a vicious cycle. So if we consider that that's the root cause of a lot of these problems we've been talking about, we fix that. Number one is get good sleep, get good-quality sleep, and it's not, not just enough time in bed.Lesley Logan 32:02  Yeah, so.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 32:03  That's important. Number two is most people don't realize that they're doing it backwards. They're, if they're, if they're even able to get exercise in their life right now, right? So we're going to make the assumption that you figured out some exercise regimen you like. We're, we're at that level, but they're doing it at the wrong time, and they're doing it in a way that they're sabotaging their end result. So rather than going to the gym and then going and eating dinner, or going to the gym first thing in the morning and skipping breakfast and all these things, you need to eat protein and fat, and then you need to move your thighs. I don't care if that's jumping jacks, going for a walk, running up the stairs, something where your thighs are moving regularly for 10 minutes. So make it whatever you like doing. This can be the mom at home who's doing all sorts of fun class activity with her kid, right? Like moving the baby around or the teenager can be equally fun to move around for what it's worth. And then it could be the CEO who's getting ready for a meeting and has 10 minutes after eating whatever lunch she had in the five-minute break she did, right? So looking at what makes sense in your life, but 10 minutes of physical activity, ideally after every meal, that's not realistic, but that's ideal. And then you start with the one meal a day you can do, and you do it most days of the week to start with, because most of us have to figure out how to make it a habit.Lesley Logan 33:15  Yeah.Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 33:15  But movement for 10 minutes after eating, it's, it's crucial. I cannot stress that enough.Lesley Logan 33:20  I didn't realize it was. It makes total sense moving your body after eating because I like to go for a walk after I have lunch. Otherwise, I'm tired. Correct. I can't go back to work now. Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 33:30  The reason you're tired though is because your glucose goes up and your insulin went up to match it. When you walk right after you eat, glucose still goes up, but it's less, and so you have less insulin spike. Insulin is the bright driver here, and so you've got to do the movement after. And if it helps to understand why, think back to what our ancestors did 1000 years ago. Right? We weren't checking hormones. We weren't checking insulin. We weren't talking about hacks. We were trying to survive most of the time. Yeah. But the things they did is they, if they, what, after they ate, they moved around. Right? Like they were building their shelters. They were taking care of the kids. They were moving in the community, helping build, create, relocate, whatever. They were always moving, and they did not get the whole three square meals a day. That's bogus. You don't need three meals a day, okay? And most of my ladies don't realize that they're eating their nutrients potentially in the wrong order for their body. That they're eating them in the wrong time for the cycle of the month they're in, they're not getting enough protein, not getting enough fat for their hormones and their brain, and it doesn't happen quickly, right? It's months, years, maybe even a couple decades before they're, I don't know what happened, but my body in the mirror is not the body in my head. This is not who I am. There's a disconnect, and they finally are at that place where they have to do something, where the body is forcing them to stop because they've pushed it as hot as you know.Lesley Logan 34:44  Oh my God, that's a whole episode. We're having you back. I'm just telling you right now because I want to have a whole episode on the whole. Because what I do know is if you eat certain things, if you work out too late, if you get your cortisol up, sleep that. I have been trying to figure out sleep for over a decade, and I, I get good-quality sleep most of the time. But I'm obsessed with it because I'm like, I don't want Alzheimer's. I do not want heart problems. It doesn't really matter what I'm doing at the gym if I'm not sleeping. None of that matters. Doesn't matter what you're, If you don't get good sleep, all the rest is gonna just fall apart anyways. So it's interesting. It makes sense about the food because I remember when I was having problems with my cycle and I had my one of my doctor friends, she said you should try seed cycling because I just, the worst cramps and, like, the worst everything was just the worst in the world, and so I tried seed cycling and my goodness, you know, I'm not a woo-woo girl, but the seed cycling makes, I got, I had no more zits, my boobs didn't hurt as bad, everything leveled out, and I didn't need any extra hormones for it. I was, whoa, so now there must be more. We need to know about it. So we'll have to have you back for that. I can talk to you forever. So we'll just, this is part one of many. I'm just going to take a brief break and then find out if people can find you, follow you, and work with you. All right, Dr. Amy Loden, where do you hang out? You mentioned St. Louis. Can people work with you if they're not in St. Louis? How does this work?Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 36:03  Yes, absolutely. Best way to get into contact with our office is just going to our website, www.vitalitymwc.org. They can sign up for a consultation, and we can go through what their options are. There is also lots of opportunity if you don't want to work with us directly, but you want to continue the conversation and hear what we're seeing. I do all the social media I can so that people can hear what's being said in their exam rooms and have it in their real lives too. So you can do that on follow me at Dr. Amy Tiffany, whether it's on Instagram or TikTok or Facebook. You find it where they're also on LinkedIn at Dr. Amy Loden. So lots of places depends on what their needs are. One special offer I do have for your audience: we talked about pregnancy and perimenopausal bit through this conversation, they can contact my office for a free physical copy of my book, The Postpartum Pivot. And before you stop listening, ladies, and you think, "Well, I'm not postpartum." If you've had a baby, you're postpartum even it's 20 years ago. Your body's different than it was before that baby, and so you can understand what does this look like for perimenopause and other types of areas that we go through as we grow less young, but grow more wise.Lesley Logan 37:03  Oh my God! Every one of my female females, that's where your Christmas present is. Sorry, just gonna get a doctor because they don't. It's, if their doctor doesn't tell them, they don't know, right? And then they are just going through it. And I feel so bad because every woman in my life is such a badass, and then they get their body doesn't keep up with what they're wanting to do in life, and then it just becomes not just like a liability, but like this hangup. So you are amazing. Okay, you've given us some great stuff already. I mean, we're gonna have to rewind, and I'll listen to this. I've got, you know, getting my notepad out, but our bold, executable, intrinsic, or targeted steps people can take to be it till they see it. What do you have for us?Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 37:37  I want each one. When you be it as you see it, I want you to be true to what your body's telling you, and recognize nothing's gone wrong. Listen when things are happening and they seem like it's a crisis. Nothing's gone wrong. Your body's talking to you. Listen, and when you listen, you become more wise. You become a better version of yourself.Lesley Logan 37:55  Okay, I really love that. We talked about that earlier, but it's true. Some of us think our body is against us, and it's doing something to us. But really, it's like, hello. The alarm bells. Amy Loden Tiffany, MD, MBA 38:05  It's doing exactly what it should do for the situation we've put it in. That doesn't mean we like it. You get diabetes. No one's like, oh yeah, my body did exactly what it's supposed to do. But if we understand that, then it becomes a neutral thought. It's not bad or wrong. It's I didn't listen, so now I'm going to stop, and the best place to reverse is as soon as you realize you're going in the direction. Right? It's not to keep going in the wrong direction. So nothing has gone wrong. We just need to listen. We need to turn around, create a better story.Lesley Logan 38:33  Love it. Love it. This is and then so enlightening. This is so fun. Thank you so much for being you and your and and the journey that you've been on is something we can all benefit from. So thank you for that, you guys. We all need to share this episode with all the women in our lives, and I would love for you to make sure that Dr. Amy knows your favorite takeaways. Send them to the Be It Pod as well. And since I'm going to have her back, not that I even like asked her beforehand, but I'm just going to tell her she's doing that. You can send your questions, and we'll make sure we get that. So, beitpod.com/questions. Until next time, my loves, Be It Till You See It. Lesley Logan 39:03  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 39:45  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 39:50  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 39:54  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 40:02  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 40:05  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

What did you think? Text us by clicking here! We are unable to reply on this app, so include phone # or email address.In this episode of The Reformed Deacon, recorded at the 2026 National Diaconal Summit, Rev. Danny Olinger, General Secretary of the OPC Committee on Christian Education, takes a whirlwind tour through nearly ninety years of diaconal ministry in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.From caring for struggling pastors and families during the Great Depression to disaster response, refugee ministry, foreign missions, and short-term missions, Olinger shares stories of how the Lord has used deacons and congregations to meet needs throughout the OPC's history. He also traces the development of the Committee on Diaconal Ministries and the church's ongoing commitment to keeping Word and deed together.Danny brings the history back to where diaconal ministry begins—the local church—and encourages today's church to “pray for the next generation of deacons,” encourage young men in service, and “give your hearts away.”You can find all of our episodes at thereformeddeacon.org. Make sure to follow us on your favorite podcast player, so you don't miss an episode. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for giveaways and more information. Find other resources on OPCCDM.org.  Make sure to send us some feedback on your podcast player or ask a diaconal question by going to OPCCDM.org.

Lesley Logan celebrates opening applications for her upLift teacher training program, and explains what it takes to trust other educators with a curriculum she built herself. She also admits the new puppy is beating her alarm every single morning, and makes the case that a listener crossing an eye exam off her to-do list counts just as much as a big win.If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co .And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe.In this episode you will learn about:A candid rant about Darla the puppy who beats every alarm.The teacher training milestone Lesley kept quiet about all year long.Why applications open only to graduates of the eLevate program.Which upLift or eLevate pathway fits where you are now.This week's mantra for gracefully embracing imperfections.Episode References/Links:OPC membership – https://opc.me/40Online Pilates Classes – https://onlinepilatesclasses.comupLift - xxll.co/uwseLevate - https://lesleylogan.co/elevate@jennvfitness – https://www.instagram.com/jennvfitnessSubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questionsIf you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  It's Fuck Yeah Friday. Brad Crowell 0:01  Fuck yeah! Lesley Logan 0:02  Get ready for some wins. Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started.Lesley Logan 0:48  Hello, Be It babe. Happy Fuck Yeah Friday! Welcome to our quick-and-dirty episode of the week. We've had a lot of people ask how they can support our podcast, and I just want to say, if you want to support this podcast, please become an OPC member. That is how you can support this podcast. Yeah, because when you're an OPC member, then one, I know that you're actually doing something for you, and you're getting your cup filled, and you're getting a community, and you're getting accountability, and that's how this podcast gets paid for. So, thanks so much. That's how you can do it. So go to opc.me/40 to become an OPC member, or just go to onlinepilatesclasses.com. You don't want to be a member? Get our flashcards, get our posters, tell people about us, watch our videos. Means the world to us, right? If you're like, I don't even do Pilates, I just like this podcast. Hi, welcome. I'm glad you're here. Leave a review, share with a friend. There's lots of things you can do that are free that support small businesses. So thanks for doing all of that, and thanks for even asking. Lesley Logan 1:41  So today's episode is a little rant, my win, a win of yours, a mantra, and we are on our way for the weekend. So at the time that I'm recording this, this is my rant. This rant hopefully is outdated by the time you hear this. I am recording this before I leave for tour, but my rant is that my lovely Darla, my beautiful, cute Darla, my sweet, sweet Darla. Darla's our new dog. In case we didn't announce that here, she wakes me up at night. She does. I thought she'd sleep for the night. She does not, and no, she does not. She actually, she knows my alarm's going to go off in 10 minutes, and then she sets it off before you send in. Like, oh yeah, they have a good internal clock. I was going to tell you right now. I get up at different times. I get to 4:45 some mornings, 5:15 some mornings, 5:30 at the latest. But still, somehow she always beats it. She does, and she is a big girl. So when she gets in the bed, you feel it, and then she takes up all the space. So I'm just gonna say, it's a good thing she's pretty, she's beautiful, she's really sweet. I know this too shall pass, but that perimenopausal ADHD trying to get sleep. Both those two things combined with a puppy. I'm feeling it. I'm feeling it. But my win is something you guys have been hearing about all year, actually. So throughout this year, I've had different wins where I was being kind of secretive about the project I was working on, and recently I got to announce what the project was. I have a teacher training program for new teachers or partially trained teachers, and I'm really, really stoked about the response people have and how people are excited about it and all that stuff. And we're at the date now; it's filling. There's so much to do when you take on a beast of this size; it's just so much to do. But the thing that I'm the most excited, nervous, anxious about is I've opened up the applications for our educators in the next few days. If it's not now, because I know I just I'll have done the coaching, the group call, the Q&A call, and all that stuff, and so we'll open up the applications. And so this only people can apply are people who did eLevate, so that I know who I'm approving to teach. I know how they are. I know their personalities.Lesley Logan 3:41  I know all of it. I know the journey. I know how they approach challenging situations. I want to make sure, you know, I you can't control everybody or everything, but I want to make sure that I can confidently say I know the person who is about to teach you. And so this is the next big step in the upLift teacher training coming to fruition, right? I have to have educators first. So my win is we've opened up applications, and so the next step is I just get to start approving people and talking with people. And the next time you hear wins will be about who I've accepted and the training program they're going to be going through because I have to train them on how to deliver the curriculum that I created. But you know, just to be at this stage in the process is awesome. It just feels, okay, it's becoming more and more real. It's not just me because I've never wanted this program to be about just me. It is my thesis. It is my theories. It is my values. But it is bigger than me. You know, it's bigger than the educators who will teach it too. It's just really about the students and the people that they're going to impact, and so I'm super, super excited about it, and just I'm just blessed. Lesley Logan 4:47  So, if you are wanting to have more information about upLift, you are someone who's interested in being a Pilates instructor, or you are partially trained instructor, you can get on the waitlist at xxll.co/uws, it's xxll.co/uws. If you are a comprehensively trained teacher and you want to study with me, then you want eLevate. But if you don't want to wait till 2028 or beyond, you can actually bridge with one of my educators through upLift. So it's my stuff, just with somebody else. So it just depends on your desire. If you want to be an educator of upLift, then you want eLevate. If you just want to go through it because you want a bridge, then you can go through upLift. You don't have to wait. You can go to a local educator near you. Okay, that's great. That's I'm excited. Lesley Logan 5:32  Okay, this is the part where I show you when, I was about to just give you a mantra and go on, but hello, Lesley, get it together. This is from @jennvfitness. I got both a haircut and eye exam done off my to-do list this week. Good for you. I had LASIK 13 years ago, so I'm just so grateful that I'm out of the eye exam stage. I'm sure it's going to come back into my life, but for right now, I'm doing pretty good. But I remember having that on my to-do list and having that and a haircut in the same week. Way to slay. So thank you. See, wins can be as simple as getting your eye exam done. You guys, it don't have to be a huge project, but honestly, wins can be super, super small. Wins can be that you actually just went to bed the time you said you were going to be, and from ADHD, people going to bed the time you said you were going to go to bed was massive win. It's like you should get an award for it.Lesley Logan 6:17  So, anyways, I'm so grateful for you. Thank you for listening to the Be It Pod podcast, please leave a review or share your favorite episode with a friend. And here is your mantra: I embrace my imperfections with grace. Well, we should say that a few times. I embrace my imperfections with grace. I embrace my imperfections with grace. That is a lot of rhyming. I'm really grateful that we did that together. And you guys, until next time, Be It Till You See It. Lesley Logan 6:45  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 7:28  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 7:33  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 7:38  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 7:45  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 7:48  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Are the PCA and OPC schismatic churches, or were they right to separate from corrupt mainline denominations? In this episode of The Magistrate, Josh Howard and James Baird discuss the theology of schism, ecclesiastical jurisdiction, Redeemed Zoomer’s argument for reconquering the PCUSA, and whether conservatives have a duty to remain inside broken institutions. They explore what constitutes a true church, when separation is justified, the difference between unity and compromise, the Old Testament temple argument, Presbyterian history in America, and why Christians should pursue real unity in faith, hope, and love without pretending doctrinal corruption does not matter.

Lesley Logan continues her two-part series on slowing down, because the detours and side quests that feel unproductive are often what a goal actually needs. She explains how boredom becomes fertile ground for the idea you have been chasing, and why rushing toward something builds pressure rather than the confidence it takes to get there. She also shares what leaving room in a suitcase before Paris taught her about leaving room in a schedule.If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:Why side quests often teach the exact skills you need later on.The reason boredom is where your creative ideas actually come from.What one curious detour in Sedona turned into for Lesley.The problem with a schedule packed too tight for surprise.The one unproductive hour challenge for you to try this week.Episode References/Links:Ep 682 Intuition Series Part 1 - https://beitpod.com/ep682Ep 683 Intuition Series Part 2 - https://beitpod.com/683Ep 691 ft Clare Solly - https://beitpod.com/ep691Ep 568 ft Anthony Benenati - https://beitpod.com/ep568Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros - https://rebeccayarros.com/fourthwingThe Artist's Way Book by Julia Cameron - https://a.co/d/0iZge5DzSubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questions If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  When we create space, we create room for confidence. So, if you are on a sprint, you're sprinting. You can only see what's in front of you, but when you slow down, you can actually take in what's in front of you into the sides of you.Lesley Logan 0:15  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. Lesley Logan 0:58  All right, my Be It babe, my high-achieving women, my recovering perfectionists and overachievers. Hi, how are you? Welcome back to the show. It's episode two in our slowing-down series. If you missed episode one, you should listen to it, or you could just skip ahead and then realize that that's a sign you probably should slow down. I promise they're not long. I promise. So our solo episodes are on topics that you are having questions about. You're sending into the Be It Pod, and you are wondering, needing help on that. We've had some really great guests on the show. We'll continue to have amazing guests, but sometimes we just need a 20-minute-ish chat about a topic, right? Where we can just go, oh yeah, that's that thing, right? Just like a nugget of reminding, and also to know you're not alone because hello, I see you, I see you. As a recovering perfectionist overachiever, I felt like everything, I remember feeling everything I did had to be productive of some kind. So, if I was going to listen to a podcast, it needed to be a business podcast or a self-development podcast of some kind. If I had to read a book, it had to be like that. It had to help me move the needle forward. If I was to go for a walk, I would always listen to something that would move the needle forward for sure. I'm not going to listen to just. I'm not going to just listen to the outside noise. Any space that I had in my life, I go, oh, now I can go work on that project that I've been willing to move the needle forward on. There was not just doing nothing. Lesley Logan 2:18  A lot of dinners that I would do when I lived in L.A. Like they had to always, they were always networking dinners of some kind. When I moved to Vegas, and I took during the pandemic, so obviously in the pandemic, we all lost a lot. But I recognized that when I moved to Las Vegas, I was like, "Wow, if I'm not traveling for work, I don't see any friends. And now that we're months into this pandemic, those same people are not calling. So, did I have friends or just have a network?" Right? I also know that I'm in a decade where I have spent several decades working and working on moving the needle forward. And I don't have kids, but many of you do. And I've had business. I've had worked jobs while also running my own business on the side and trying to date at the time. All those different things. But some of you, you have business and kids and your partner and aging parents. And so honestly, if anyone were to ask you right now, what you want next or what sounds fun to you, if you draw a total blank, you're not alone. Actually, it was in 2020. I was talking with my therapist. I was like, "I don't have a hobby. I don't have anything. I just do for the fuck of it. For fun. I'm just like, what do you want to do?" I was, I don't know. And that's why I went hobby hunting.Lesley Logan 3:39  And if you've been with the podcast long enough, you know that I, it took me a long time, but we get so busy, we have no inner voice that we listen to that says anything nice. We're not able to listen to our intuition. Go listen to intuition series if you need that help. We are often just listening to the judgey voice in our head that's like, "You are not doing enough. You should be doing more. How silly of you to think that you should sit there and just watch a show or learn to row, all that stuff." So, I want us to dismantle that trap today. So, I'm happy you're here. Thanks for being here. I want to talk about why being as curious as possible is actually not going to derail your goals. That the side quests that it will take you on are actually often what you need to learn a skill, or to have a moment of freedom in your brain, so that the idea that you've been trying to figure out how am I going to do that comes to you, or so that you have time with friends to just be yourself and have joy, right, and not have something productive happening. So, I remember when I was in college, I saw these shoes we were selling at my store, and they were hand-painted. And my girlfriend and I were like, "We can. I don't want hand-painted ones. I want. I want to decoupage some." So we decoupaged some shoes. And then when we did that, our bosses were like, "You made those?" We're like, "Yeah. Do you want to make more?" And so then we made them to sell them. And by the way, every dime we made, we reinvested back into the business. And we learned the hard way to have a resale license and to have a wholesale license and to sell and to have a business, there's taxes and others, accountant, all this different stuff, but what happened is a side quest back in college with my best friend Clare, who's been on the podcast, us doing that, it really actually showed me all the different parts I would need to have when I start my own business. So even though it wasn't, it didn't make money. It one, gave me a really cool story. I used to make shoes, and by the way, the shoe company that we used to decoupage, they actually ended up knocking us off, and that's what killed our business. But at any rate, totally fine. We needed to get out of it, anyways. But because of that, it wasn't scary for me to start a Pilates business, right? Lesley Logan 5:55  And so, when we think about little detours or side quests or pauses, often they're exactly what we need to gain a skill that will even not in the same thing. I'm not in the shoe business, but it will translate, right? I see this all the time in video games. There's these little side quests, and they often teach you a different way of using your character, and then there's different ways to get different gems or power-ups or things like that, and then you go back to the regular game, and now you have more skills, right? And so, side quests may not feel very productive, or there might not be an ROI that is measurable. But what they often give you is a boost in confidence, some self-trust, some self-knowing. I also just got to spend time with my best friend. When you're in college and you have a job, that's really hard to do. It's really hard to do. So when you go on a detour, you're giving your brain room to breathe, and that's what we need. Because often what happens is we just fill that space with stuff in our phone, schedules, social media. What's going on? What am I missing out on? Oh, I got to check that. Oh, I got to check with that person. And it's just a rush, and our dopamine brain need is being switched to cortisol injections, and they feel the same, but they are not. So even though my story is about making shoes, it was about getting bored.Lesley Logan 7:18  I do want to say that we need to talk about getting bored. Most of us listening to this podcast right now, remember a time where, as a kid, we got bored. Like we would say, "I'm bored," right? And let's talk to my yoga teacher, who's been on this podcast, Anthony Benenati. His kids, when they say they're bored, he's like, "Yes, congrats! This is a great place to be. This is where creativity comes from," right. So few kids are truly ever bored long enough to get creative because most of the time, when someone says, "Here's the kid's bored," they give them an iPad or something to do or some food. But boredom is the fertile ground of creativity that you have been looking for. That idea, that frustrating thing. Why can't I make this work? What do I need to do? When I am allowing my brain to just wander and follow? Oh, what if I did that? Wouldn't it be cool? We had episode one. Wouldn't it be cool if I did this? What could be better than this? Right? When you let your brain go on that path, you often come up with some brilliant stuff that you could never do in your stressed-out, rushing state. So, as I mentioned, side quests again, video game tip thing, right? Lesley Logan 8:28  Let's look at that example from when you're my recovering perfectionist overachievers. We need to make our time that we do spend reading that business book or listening to educational podcasts, and what if we just swapped one of those things for something that had nothing to do with that? Brad and I stopped listening to political podcasts in exchange for the Fourth Wing series, right? And now that that series is gone, someone just gave us another book recommendation, and I am so excited to go through that because the reality is having something at the end of the day, one, to look forward to because I'm, I can't wait to get lost in that book, and two, that has nothing to do with anything that matters allows us to just put our brain into a place that can actually get some good sleep, right? So look, you don't have to be, a book, doesn't have to be a podcast. Maybe it is a hobby. Maybe you, my girlfriend, she is going into bedazzle mode, right? She is, I'm bedazzling this, I'm bedazzling that because it's fun. It has zero to do with what her job is, zero to do what her house needs, and it allows her to just have something that lets her brain just take a moment, be on a side quest, right? And you'd be surprised how that downregulates the nervous system in a way that takes your stress levels down. I mean, many of us need to be literally thinking about our stress levels, not just for perimenopause, but for our heart, right? For our sleep. If you are not getting good sleep, oh my God, you need a side quest. You need a side quest. Right? Lesley Logan 10:00  I've talked a lot about curiosity. I talk a lot about this when it comes to teaching Pilates, but I really want to suggest that you take a kid-like approach to things. Get curious. Put question marks on things. Right? Too often we're like, I need a five-year plan on this thing that I'm doing. You just need to go, what happens if I do this? Right. We have, ladies, we've spent so much time taking care of so many people. We've often forgotten how to be curious, how to kind of flirt with our future selves. I wonder what I would look like in that style of jean that's out. Instead of going, oh, it'll never look good on me. Like I really thought I'm, I hate that the low-rise is back, but then I kept getting ads for these low-rise wide-leg pants, and I was, I don't know. So then after 72 ads, I was fuck it. I'm just gonna buy it. And honestly, with the long oversized shirts, the outfit looks so chic. It looks so good. It looks. It's also so comfortable, and that takes. But that takes curiosity. I wonder what I would look like in that. I wonder where I would wear that to. I wonder what would happen if I put these shoes on instead of these shoes.Lesley Logan 11:06  We get so used to being in our this is my usual, this is how I do things that we forget that there's this fun thing about being curious and trying things out, and often leads to other ideas and other adventures and other opportunities. When we're on tour, there's often some days we have time, and Brad and I will just pull off to a vintage shop and just walk inside, cause it's fun. We don't even buy anything; it's just fun to go in. Actually, curiosity led my girlfriend and I, we're in Sedona, there's this one more place I want us to go to, and it led us into a sound bath store, sound bowl store, right? And then we were, oh, okay. How much are these things? $15,000. Whoa, didn't expect that. But we ended up going to a sound bath. We got to enjoy a sound bath with bowls that collectively cost $105,000. I'm gonna tell you right now, I felt every dollar of that sound bath in my body, all because we're curious about what's in this store over here. I actually was we're looking for a different store completely. There is magic in detours, and some of your best ideas are gonna be in spaces you didn't plan for. And I'm telling you, that is so fricking true. Some of my best ideas have come from just thinking. Well, what if I did that? How would that fit the plan? I wonder. And then just following it in my brain, right? But that requires having pause time because I cannot let my brain follow a thought or a nugget if I'm rushed up against a deadline. Right? It's not going to work. So now that we know, I hope I sold you on curiosity. Lesley Logan 12:44  When we create space, we create room for confidence. So if you are on a sprint, you're sprinting. You can only see what's in front of you, but when you slow down, you can actually take in what's in front of you into the sides of you. Right? When you go for just a stroll, and so I'm often rushing to get to the gym. And the other day I decided to walk alongside my dad, and I was like, "Has that bar always gone in a full U? I thought it went up against the wall." And my dad looked at him. He was like, "Huh," right? We were just like, "Oh my god, there is space to be curious and see something different because we're not rushing. So the same goes for if you are wanting to take action towards what the the be it till you see it that you're working towards. If you are rushing towards that, you are only able to see what's in front of you. And one, by the way, that doesn't actually create confidence; it creates stress and pressure. But if you actually take a stroll, it allows you to take in all of your surroundings, and you actually have a sense of calmness around you. Think about when we feel safe in a space; it's because we can we know everything that's in it. We can see everything that's going on. We can take it all in, right? You will have more confidence because you know what is what's going on? What's over there? Can make better decisions. So being it until you see it, that next version of yourself, it requires space for magic and coincidence and possibility to enter. You cannot manifest a new reality if you are scheduled is packed tighter than my suitcase in for a month in Europe. Right? There is no room for surprise. You won't even look for surprise. So when we were traveling to Europe, I'll just bring my suitcase back into this. We were traveling to Europe. We were so excited because we had a bunch of flashcards we were getting rid of, and so we were gonna have space to get something fabulous from a vintage shop in Europe. And because we had the space, we went out seeking. We went to 20 vintage shops in Paris in one day. It was so much fun. I got the coolest jacket, and I was, oh my god! But I was really hoping for the purse, you know.Lesley Logan 14:48  But Brad found these great shoes, and we could, if we had packed everything so tight that there could be nothing new added to it. We would not have explored as much of Paris as we did. There would be no room for curiosity because there'd be no room for if we found anything. That goes for your life too. If you pack your schedule so tight, you don't even want a detour, even if it would take you exactly where you're wanting to go, because you don't have room to get lost. You can't trust that getting lost could take you exactly to the right place, right?Lesley Logan 15:20  So, what does this mean for you? What do we need to do next? Now that we've sold you on curiosity, we sold you on creating space, so you have confidence and room to be it till you see it. What do you need to do? What we need to do is play more, have more unproductive time, have time to be curious. Maybe you take walks without your podcast on, or before you turn your podcast on, maybe you look for, we had a guest who said, "Look for three miracles," right? Maybe you don't just go to a coffee shop to work, but you just go to a coffee shop to sit and read a book that has zero impact on your life, right? Maybe you do paint. Maybe you'll learn a skill that you has nothing to do with the career that you're on, but it's just fun. If that feels overwhelming, then I just want you to have one unproductive hour this week, just one. No cleaning, no working, no social media, so no phone. If you've ever read The Artist's Way, you go on an artist date, so you go do something that you have always thought about doing. Maybe there's a bookstore in town you've always wanted to go to, or a coffee shop you've wanted to explore, or someone recommended a salad or a sandwich at this new place that opened up. But you don't, you go and you don't get on your phone when you're there. You just go and you eat. You take yourself on a date, and you see what bubbles up when there's no pressure. I can't wait to hear about it. So please tell us what happened on your magical unproductive hour date by sending it to thebeitpod.com/questions. Maybe that's your win that you're sending in. Like, hey, I had an unproductive hour this week. I did it. I did my. I took myself on an unproductive date. I want to celebrate that with you. And if you know a friend, this could be helpful to please send it to them. Honestly, you sharing this podcast is one of the best things you could ever, ever, ever do. The next best thing would be a member of OPC, and that'd be something that supports you as well. All right, my loves. Until next time, Be It Till You See It. Lesley Logan 17:21  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod. Brad Crowell 18:03  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 18:08  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 18:13  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 18:20  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 18:23  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Are the PCA and OPC schismatic churches, or were they right to separate from corrupt mainline denominations?In this episode of The Magistrate, Josh Howard and James Baird discuss the theology of schism, ecclesiastical jurisdiction, Redeemed Zoomer's argument for reconquering the PCUSA, and whether conservatives have a duty to remain inside broken institutions.They explore what constitutes a true church, when separation is justified, the difference between unity and compromise, the Old Testament temple argument, Presbyterian history in America, and why Christians should pursue real unity in faith, hope, and love without pretending doctrinal corruption does not matter.Watch all of our videos and subscribe to our channel for the latest content >HereHere

Are the PCA and OPC schismatic churches, or were they right to separate from corrupt mainline denominations? In this episode of The Magistrate, Josh Howard and James Baird discuss the theology of schism, ecclesiastical jurisdiction, Redeemed Zoomer’s argument for reconquering the PCUSA, and whether conservatives have a duty to remain inside broken institutions. They explore what constitutes a true church, when separation is justified, the difference between unity and compromise, the Old Testament temple argument, Presbyterian history in America, and why Christians should pursue real unity in faith, hope, and love without pretending doctrinal corruption does not matter.

Join The Debate Network Family as The Ruler Justintime, Brother Niro & The OPC recap NXT GO HOME SHOW & as they give their predictions preview of this sunday NXT HEATWAVE Match Card ! =================https://linktr.ee/CircleOfDebate=================Join our Skool Community The exclusive fan membership of the Circle of Debate YouTube channel! Daily live streams on pro wrestling, sports video games, and anime!https://www.skool.com/the-debate-netw...=================For Business inquiries :thedebatenetwork679@gmail.com=================For all sports news, & entertainment news, pro wrestling & more go to https://gamebreakersports.com/==================================Purchase NordVPN to receivd 74% off from The Debate Network You must subscribe FirstTo get your percantage off along with a amazon gift card!Link Below:https://nordvpn.com/special/ Get 10% off from us when you purchase anything from Dubby Energy Drinks ProductsLink : https://www.dubby.gg/collections/allPromo Code : GAMEBREAKER ==================================

Lesley Logan opens a two-part series on slowing down, because rushing may feel productive but it rarely gets you where you actually want to go. She explains how constant rushing flips the nervous system into a survival response, and what it really cost her to pause OPC's growth for two years because Profitable Pilates' growth needed her more.If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:The real difference between movement and forward momentum.Knowing when a pause is strategic and when it is avoidance.Why you cannot hear your intuition when you are moving too fast.Why rushing makes you say yes to things you would have declined.Setting five-minute buffer gaps between every meeting this week.Episode References/Links:The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks - https://beitpod.com/bigleapEp 400 ft Gay Hendricks - https://beitpod.com/ep400Jay Grimes - https://pilatesology.com/instructor/jay-grimesSubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questions If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  Rest is never supposed to be a reward. I see way too many women using rest or a day off or a spa day as a reward for hard work. Nope, you actually are always worthy of rest, always, all the time, no matter what.Lesley Logan 0:12  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. Lesley Logan 0:54  Hello, Be It babe. How are you? Welcome back to the Be It Till You See It podcast. Of course, now I have vocal fry. I was talking just fine a moment ago, but here we are, and that's because we are not perfect around here. Welcome if it's your first time listening to us. Thank you for being here. This week we're going to talk about slowing down and actually how that can speed things up. And I'm just really excited for us to dive into this topic. We are doing these topics because you asked for them. So beitpod.com/questions is where you send your wins in for us to chat about and celebrate you on Fridays, but your topics, your guest requests, things like that those are all things that I look at and determine for who we invite on the pod and what these little series are for. And I love hearing how they help you. I also just want to say I really appreciate when you share our podcast. It means the world to me. It really, really does. Brightens my day every time I hear about it. So just know that I appreciate even just texting this to a friend who needs to hear it. You know, we can't Be It Till We See It alone. This is not how it works. So we have two episodes on this topic about slowing down, and the overall message, the too-long-didn't-listen, is that how it actually speeds things up. And I am someone who wants to move a mile a minute, so this is definitely a Be It Till You See It. For me, it's something I'm constantly practicing. I'm constantly having to be reminded. I'm recording this in June. You're hearing it in August, and I was telling the team an hour ago we have to get moving on that because the launch date for that is October 1st. Lesley, it is the end of June. There is plenty of time. Is there though? But really, really. So if you have ever spent an entire day going from one task to the other? Just you feel like a hummingbird, but then you get to 5 p.m. and you look at your to-do list and you actually did everything but what you wanted to do. Yeah, you don't only end the day exhausted, end the day stressed out because you did all this stuff, but you didn't move the needle forward. And this is something that I see happen when I coach a lot of Pilates studios because people love to make a list. My Pilates studio owners love to make a list. I see this a lot when I coach Pilates studio owners and teachers. They make a long list of things that they want to get done that they need to do, and then they do none of that, right? And then they be like, "I did all these things," or they make a laundry list of things and they do all of them, but they actually didn't move the needle forward because none of those things actually move the needle forward. That was just what Brad calls the whirlwind, just doing the whirlwind, right? And there is a massive difference between getting stuff done, movement of things, and momentum of things. If you ever watch my cousin Benny, there is this scene in this episode where they get stuck in the mud and they're spinning the wheels, right? And so there is movement happening, but they're not getting enough momentum.Lesley Logan 3:22  They're not going anywhere, right? They're stuck in the mud, and so, hi, I see you, and we're just gonna acknowledge that all of us do that, and if we get honest with ourselves, we're gonna break down while just doing movement, just rushing around, checking things off is actually negatively affecting the growth we want to have, and how taking some breaks, some pauses, slowing down shifts us into a gear that can actually create true progress. Right? I remember years and years ago I was with this girl, and she had this whole speech that there's power in the pause. There is power in the pause. Right? Sometimes, just taking a break and getting a 30,000-foot view is what exactly you need. Otherwise, you're just on the hamster wheel. Maybe there's another wheel to get on, right? So I do understand. I want to just say I do understand this idea that if I slow down, I fall behind because I was a runner. So just so you know, professional runner for a long time, and if you do slow down, people do pass you up, right? But that's not how life is. Life is not an actual race because you are your own path. You're doing your own thing, right? And so, I do think at some point in your life there is time to rush and hustle and get as much information as you can. And then there is a time in our life where we really do need to honor the information. Take time to get that, you know. Especially as I am someone over 40, I've really discovered that if I just take a few pauses, if I don't rush from one task to the next, if I, as I said in another series, go for a walk around the block, I actually get some really great ideas. I get to listen to my intuition. I get to hear my inner voice, and it's really helpful. But I also the complete opposite of that is that in my brain, I am 43 years old, and I do want to be retired soon. And I feel like every day is a countdown to that, which is seriously crazy because there, if I were to take how many days between now and when I want to retire, there's probably thousands. So in reality, I could slow down, but I do understand that feeling of that clock ticking, and I think together, Be It babes, we need to reframe that. We need to reframe that pauses as strategic decision-making time and not a weakness, not a laziness, not a procrastination, because there is a difference between a pause and a procrastination, right? So I will say I definitely had to get hit over the head a few times with this idea. Really had to get hit over the head a few times with this idea. It's a lesson that's just taken me a little longer than I like to admit about slowing down. Lesley Logan 5:55  Okay, so I don't know if a lot of you know this, but I started Agency, Profitable Pilates, membership program at the same time that I kind of started OPC, and you know, I thought they're two different things. I could do this. I have the time, and the reality is, is marketing the two, sure, but actually sustainably operating both was not happening, and I was rushing to do it because I thought, "Oh my god, if I don't get this done, some other person's going to take my idea, and I need to get this going." And I also had, I will say, I was loving traveling a lot and really wanting to get rid of some of my clients, so I needed both to take off so that I could let go of some of my regular teaching, so I can enjoy traveling and just run these two businesses. I thought it's just going to happen in three weeks, and it didn't. Of course, it didn't happen. And in fact, it took a little bit longer. And there came to a point where I actually had to pause OPC's growth because Profitable Pilates' growth needed me more.Lesley Logan 6:54  It was taking off, and if I kept trying to split my time evenly, I would have actually caused Profitable Pilates to not grow and to in fact not help the people and not have the impact I wanted to make. And so I had to hit pause on something, and it was really hard. I had to choose between two babies, one of which I love gets really hard. I actually love them both so much, and one of them is more scalable than the other, and one of them can impact more people than the other in different ways, and but I had to do it, and it was so hard because I will say, OPC, those two years of purposely slowing down its growth still is something we are dealing with today. You know, I'm really proud of what we do. We have a great membership. We have a great community, but there was information I didn't get in those two years because I had to slow it down. So I share that with you because I actually don't want you rushing around to feel like you're accomplishing something, only to end up missing out on the information you could be gathering, so you could make better decisions for where you're going to grow, right? For all you're going to do. So that is why you know we have to actually understand when we go into that rush mode that feels like it's productive. We are not operating from a place of not just authenticity but control, right? And so it does feel like everything matters so much because we actually are grasping for control. But when you are actually in charge of how fast you go and the pauses you're going to take and the scenic route you're going to look at or the thing you're going to take a deeper look at, you are in the more control that way. So it's important. So as we talked about in past solo episodes, your nervous system is very much part of this, and if you are constantly rushing, it's not just a time-management issue. It can actually be a survival response, and that survival response actually puts us in that lizard brain where we actually don't see a lot of stuff as being helping hand, right? So our nervous system, when you're constantly rushing, your brain activates a low-grade survival response. Adrenaline makes you hyper-focus on immediate micro-tasks. You check your email, you cross off trivial to-do items while taking you away from seeing the big picture. You cannot see it when you're in this space, right? Lesley Logan 8:59  Another example of being in survival mode is so. I'm sure you don't know this, but I'll tell you. If your head becomes more forward of your spine, right, like you start to be one of those people whose heads are forward, you see those people at their parts. You start to see people coming at you as an attack and not a helping hand. So if you are in this rushing mode, if you're in the survival response in your nervous system, you are actually not seeing people going, "Hey, I'd love to do this with you," or "Let's collaborate with this" as help. You could not receive it like that. You actually see it as someone trying to get something from you, someone trying to slow you down, someone trying to take your thing, and so you actually perceive some helping hands as something that's going to be a negative or an attack on you, right? And so when we go through that, it just actually means we probably definitely not going to go as fast as we want because it's hard to go anywhere fast alone, right? Well, they say if you want to go fast, you go alone. If you want to go far, you go together. But the reality is, is like I actually do think that you can go far and fast with help of others. My Pilates loves, when you rush a movement. You actually never fully get everything out of a movement, right? In order to rush it, something has to let go. So either letting go the connections of muscles, or you're not fully extending your legs and footwork and fully closing the springs. You're kind of just operating in the middle, and that is movement.Lesley Logan 10:43  And so it's like I'm doing something. There might even be a burn, but you're actually not actually getting the full openness of the hips, the full reach through the feet, the full expression of the exercise. Where the benefits are actually, Jay would always say the Pilates happens the last two inches, right? So you got to finish. You got to close. You have to do a full expression. So it's important that we're not just going so fast and using momentum because while it does feel like we are doing something, we are actually not getting the benefits of the something that we are doing. So if you are my constant doer, mover, working all the time, you're likely unable to have clarity in what it is you're doing because you can't find clarity in rush, right? When you are speeding down the freeway, do you see all the signs? No, they're blur. I remember we were doing something, and Brad was going faster than we should, and he missed the exit, and it cost us so many minutes because we missed the exit. If we had just been going at the speed that we were supposed to be going, we wouldn't have, right, and so when you're rushing, you cannot have clarity. You cannot catch the subtle things that are going, "Hey, look it over here," or "What's going on here," or "Maybe this is a turning you have to have." So that mental noise just becomes this level 10, and that intuition, which we talked about in the past solo episodes, the reason why we have a hard time hearing our intuition is we're just moving too fast to even hear it, right? Because it's often like a whisper. It's often there, "Hey, hi." Your intuition's not yelling at you, right? Your intuition's when you're ready. I'm just right here to let you know that that's the right turn I want you to take. And you know, the other thing is, is if you're ending each day exhausted, if you are my listeners who are in my age group or older, ending your day exhausted does not make it easier for you to do the other things you want to do. Doesn't make it easier for you to show up for yourself for your movement practices. It doesn't make it easier for you to sleep well at night. You're causing so much stress and cortisol. It affects how you sleep. It affects how your body is shaped, right? What's going on with how you digest food? All of that. All because we're just rushing, rushing, rushing. So we actually say yes to things that, if we had just taken time to really fully think about, we would have said no to. I find there's two parts because of the ADHD that I have. My brain goes three steps ahead, so it's always a little faster, and I cut people off and I make assumptions. And it's not because I'm a rude asshole; just because my brain's like, "I'm three steps ahead. I know what you're going to say." In other times, my ADHD works in this amazing place where I can just get into focus mode, and I can do a lot in a little bit of time. And the problem with focus modes and ADHD is you never get to plan when they're going to happen. But what I have found is, if I am taking time to pause for the day to make sure I'm aware of what I'm supposed to be working on, I'm aware of where we're trying to go and grow. It allows me to enjoy those focus modes when they happen, and to at least have awareness when I'm actually in a rush state. Oh, I'm trying to rush this right now. I'm trying to push this through. It never feels good, right? It feels like it's harder work to do. Yeah. So what we need, right? Because now that I we're all in the band, I agree. We go okay, so I just need to hit pause. Yeah, but it's first you have to have the courage to hit pause. So first, just having, I think I need to hit pause is a great place to be, right? Because that's your first breakthrough to many breakthroughs.Lesley Logan 13:56  How many times have you had the most amazing ideas when you're in the shower, or you're on a walk, or you're checking out the moon or a sunrise, and all of a sudden you have this thing that hits you, right? Those are pauses, and notice they're not very long. We don't have to pause for five hours. Doesn't have to be a full day off. It could just be a pause. It could just literally the length of a breath, right? Or it could be five minutes, or it can be in between Zoom calls. You always plan for 10 minutes to go from one call to the next to make sure you've wrapped up your thoughts on the last call. Like self-reflection is one of the best ways to retain information from the things that you did. All that brain fog that people talk about, I think a lot of it is actually just rushing so much. I think I do believe that there is brain fog, but I think a lot of it is like we're not giving ourselves enough time between calls to reflect on what would just happen, what we have to do, and where we're going, so that then the next call starts, we could actually be present enough to take it in, right? So rest is also never supposed to be a reward. I see way too many women using rest or a day off or a spa as reward for hard work. Nope. You actually are always worthy of rest, always, all the time, no matter what, because rest is not. "Oh, I'm going to go and hit this rest stop over here on a long drive." Yes, you're new to those things. It's these little moments that happen throughout the day that allow you to feel like you, to feel like you are in charge. If you haven't read The Big Leap, I talk about all the time, but there's a whole chapter on time. There's Einstein time and there's Newtonian time. And if you listen to episode 400, I actually asked Gay Hendricks about this time chapter. And the reality is, is when we are in our genius zone, we are in our flow state. We can bend time, really, truly can. But a lot of us are rushing around and putting ourselves in Newtonian time, and that is not. You actually end up watching the time go by faster. Ever realized like minutes are long when you're holding a plank, but they're fast when you're just sitting on a phone call with your friends. Yeah, right. Because you don't want to be in the plank, but you do want to be on the phone call with your friends. Same thing. You can actually make time be in your control, but you have to hit pause, right? So, what I'd love for you to do over the next couple days before our second episode comes out, which is hopefully some wonderful ways to help you hit pause. I just want you to notice where you can put five-minute buffer gaps. Can you change any of the calls or meetings you have to have an extra five minutes in between? Can you text people? "I need like, hey, we know we have a call tomorrow at 10. I'll be there at 10:05." And in those five minutes, you are not allowed to pick up your phone or check your emails or anything. You get to go to the bathroom if you need a bio break. But I would also love for you just to take a look outside. Maybe go outside. Maybe smell a plant in your house, something that is not on a screen, and notice what feels good and how you feel before you go into your next call. That's your homework. Five-minute gap buffers, as many of them as you can between all of your meetings, and see what you love to do in those five minutes, not where it feels like, "Oh my god, this is the longest five minutes. I have to sit here and look at this wall." No, not that. Something that allows you to just, you almost look forward to it, right? You almost are like, "My god, I can't wait for this call to be over because I get my buffer." Like that's what I want. Lesley Logan 17:00  All right, Be It babe, let me know questions you have. I would love to hear your rushing stories and what maybe you realized in self-reflecting that you missed out on. Here's the thing: the times in my life where I've rushed and missed out on some great opportunities because I just didn't hit pause long enough to think about it. Those things were not for me, right? What is for you will not pass you. But in reflecting on what I could have done differently, it meant that I didn't miss future opportunities, and I get to take advantage of them and use them in the best way. All right, thank you so much for listening to our podcast. Until next time, Be It Till You See It. Lesley Logan 17:49  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 18:32  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 18:37  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 18:41  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 18:48  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 18:52  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

OPC pastor Chris Drew is our guide as we walk through the 22nd chapter of the Westminster Confession of Faith, "Of Lawful Oaths and Vows." Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIXjf9Ykl9o CHAPTER 22 Of Lawful Oaths and Vows 1. A lawful oath is a part of religious worship, wherein, upon just occasion, the person swearing solemnly calleth God to witness what he asserteth, or promiseth, and to judge him according to the truth or falsehood of what he sweareth. 2. The name of God only is that by which men ought to swear, and therein it is to be used with all holy fear and reverence. Therefore, to swear vainly, or rashly, by that glorious and dreadful Name; or, to swear at all by any other thing, is sinful, and to be abhorred. Yet, as in matters of weight and moment, an oath is warranted by the Word of God, under the new testament as well as under the old; so a lawful oath, being imposed by lawful authority, in such matters, ought to be taken. 3. Whosoever taketh an oath ought duly to consider the weightiness of so solemn an act, and therein to avouch nothing but what he is fully persuaded is the truth: neither may any man bind himself by oath to anything but what is good and just, and what he believeth so to be, and what he is able and resolved to perform. 4. An oath is to be taken in the plain and common sense of the words, without equivocation, or mental reservation. It cannot oblige to sin; but in anything not sinful, being taken, it binds to performance, although to a man's own hurt. Nor is it to be violated, although made to heretics, or infidels. 5. A vow is of the like nature with a promissory oath, and ought to be made with the like religious care, and to be performed with the like faithfulness. 6. It is not to be made to any creature, but to God alone: and, that it may be accepted, it is to be made voluntarily, out of faith, and conscience of duty, in way of thankfulness for mercy received, or for the obtaining of what we want, whereby we more strictly bind ourselves to necessary duties; or, to other things, so far and so long as they may fitly conduce thereunto. 7. No man may vow to do anything forbidden in the Word of God, or what would hinder any duty therein commanded, or which is not in his own power, and for the performance whereof he hath no promise of ability from God. In which respects, popish monastical vows of perpetual single life, professed poverty, and regular obedience, are so far from being degrees of higher perfection, that they are superstitious and sinful snares, in which no Christian may entangle himself.

Lesley Logan records from the road in the final days of her tenth tour, keeping her Friday check in honest about the hard parts before the good ones. She names the boundary problem that highly communicative people run into most, then celebrates a milestone that took several years of quiet groundwork to reach. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:The challenges of dealing with people who make their emergencies hers.The internal argument a perfectionist has under deadline pressure.How eLevate teacher training paves the way for the right people.How Heidi made time for her live mat class despite everything.Recognizing that smallest wins actually count the most.Episode References/Links:Lesley on Plymouth Perspectives Podcast - https://beitpod.com/plymouthperspectiveseLevate Mentorship Program - https://lesleylogan.co/elevateupLift - xxll.co/uwsSubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questions If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  It's Fuck Yeah Friday. Brad Crowell 0:01  Fuck yeah! Lesley Logan 0:02  Get ready for some wins. Lesley Logan 0:05  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. Lesley Logan 0:48  Hello, Be It babe. How are you? Happy Fuck Yeah Friday. Here we are. I am two days from being home, so I have another stop, and then a day off, and then our last stop on the tour. So I am coming at you. Well, I've recorded this early, but somewhere I am in the Arizona area, I feel like, and so we're wrapping up our 10th tour. Oh my God, it's insane! So I'm just so excited to be in your ears today. What was your win? That is what this episode is all about. Also, being real, getting to have a moment and sharing a win. So I hope you enjoy these quick-and-dirty episodes. I hope it helps you kind of be with what's going on because I don't always share on socials, and also I feel like it's weird when people share on socials and expect everyone to have seen it. That doesn't make any sense. It's not all about me. And the reality is, I said this on the Plymouth Perspectives podcast. I'm such a reluctant social media user. Truly, it's part of the thing you have to do to do the thing you want to do in this world, right? Okay. If you are wanting longer episodes, if you're new here, you want to check out our Tuesday and Thursday episodes. Sometimes we do an interview and a recap, and sometimes it's this new thing we're doing this last year, which is solo episodes of me just talking about a topic that you sent in. So send in your wins and your topic requests or guest requests to beitpod.com/questions. Thank you for the requests you've sent in. I will say, I too would love to interview Michelle Obama. That is probably not going to happen until we are a top 0.01% podcast. So keep them coming, keep them coming. I appreciate that you think that I'm that great, though. So if you're in some of my memberships, we have a channel where you get to have a moment, you get to have a little bitch session, and then you have to share a win. So I feel this is a great place where I can actually tell you life is not all rainbows and butterflies, and also have a win, and then share your wins. Lesley Logan 2:31  So my need-a-moment is people who make their emergencies yours. Oh my freaking goodness! I am a very organized-ish person, meaning that I have a whole team that makes sure I get everything done when it's supposed to be done, and they ask me to do it ahead of time so I can procrastinate and all the good things. But recently, I had a lot of different people send emails asking for this thing and this thing from me, and they need this description, need this bio, they need these pictures, and blah blah blah. And first of all, we probably sent it in. Second of all, I appreciate that you need those things. I'm happy to give them to you, but "I need this as soon as possible." Hold on, it's a Friday, you know? Don't you think I'm also catching up on my week? So just people who make their emergencies your emergencies, and I do the best I can.Lesley Logan 3:16  And I also am a highly communicative person, so I find myself feeling really terrible because then I'm, "Hey, I can get this to you on Monday." And, oh my god, what if they need it sooner? Well, then they should have asked sooner. But I have this whole argument. I have this AuDHD. The ADHD has that rejection sensitivity disorder. I'm like, "I need to do it now because they'll never ask me again," right? Which is not true. And then the autistic part: they should have asked earlier. I don't have the time. The conversation I have in my brain when people try to make their emergencies mine, because recovering perfectionist overachiever wants to just get it done when you ask for it, and that's just not how life works. Because then I'll get nothing done.Lesley Logan 3:54  So anyways, that's my moment. But here's my win. So last month, we opened up the doors for round eight of my eLevate program, which is my teacher-training program, which is also the only place where people can become a teacher for UpLift, my new program. It is for comprehensively trained teachers who want to get to know the method, they like the way I teach, they want to study with me. It's a small group of people, right? It's a growing group of alumni, but it's a small group of people when you're in it. And so we opened up the doors in July, and I was just like, "Oh my gosh! I can't believe we're talking 2028. I have dates for 2028." That just overwhelms me. But we had so many people want the spots, and they're so excited. And actually, while they wish they could be in 2027, they're excited about having the time to prepare, prepare their schedule, prepare their budget, all that stuff. And I'm just so pleased because of what eLevate attracts and the women and a few good men that I get to spend time with. I'm just truly grateful. And so I guess the win is just the culmination of the last several years of this program really paving the way for the right people to find it. And round seven literally is wrapping up in the next few weeks, which means that they're going to be in the alumni group by the end of September, and I'm just so stoked for them because they're just epic humans already, and I've just watched them grow and elevate so much. So this feels like a big win instead of having a small win. I mean, I've been on tour. There's probably a lot of small wins, but I haven't recorded them for you yet. So I'm going with a big win this week. Your wins can be quite small. In fact, most wins are. Sometimes, "I got a full night's sleep last night." Right? That's sometimes what the win is. Lesley Logan 5:29  So, in fact, here is a great example of a win that I want you to send in. This is from @heidi.elle.18. Heidi's an OPC member, but she sent this in. She wrote, "Getting in our 45-minute live mat class yesterday." So this is a woman who's got kids, she's got a job, she's on summer break, and she made time for the live OPC class that happened. So I'm so grateful, Heidi, that you showed up. I'm grateful that you recognize it is a win. It is not easy to make time not only for the 45-minute class, but also for the hang time afterwards, and I'm just so grateful. I love seeing your smiling face on that, and also thank you for sending it in so we can inspire people that getting your workout in that you had planned is a win. If you did the thing that you said you wanted to do, that's a massive win. In fact, that's where confidence comes from: doing the thing you said you'd do. So make the things you want to do something you can actually do, right? Don't put so much pressure on yourself. And I recognize that my need-a-moment is the whole debate in my head of not putting pressure on myself. But see? You know what? I'm working on it too, and so can you.Lesley Logan 6:27  All right, your mantra before you take on the weekend is, "I am a beacon of self-love." Oh, I'm a beacon of self-love. I'm a beacon of self-love. Have you ever heard that you have to give what you need in the world? If you're a beacon of self-love, can you imagine all the love you're gonna get? Oh my god! You will. You'll put it out there. It'll come back. It's all that good stuff. So thank you for being here. Thanks for being with our short episodes. Check out our longer-form episodes in the feed that you're listening to this on, and let us know what your takeaways are. We want to hear from you. Until next time, Be It Till You See It.Lesley Logan 6:56  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 7:39  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 7:44  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 7:48  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 7:55  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 7:59  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this recap episode, Lesley Logan and Brad Crowell dig into their favorite takeaways from the conversation with Tara Connaghan, a traditional Irish fiddle player from Donegal whose award-winning podcast decodes the unspoken rules of Irish music sessions. They unpack why unfamiliar spaces feel so intimidating to newcomers, the etiquette of joining as a beginner, the three kinds of people every new learner needs.If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:The importance of supporting local Black-owned businesses.The etiquette of easing into a group as a beginner.Brad's jazz sessions and what his class taught him about listening.Why daily practice outperforms one long session each week.How filling your cup makes everything else feel easier.Episode References/Links:upLift - xxll.co/uwseLevate Live Q&A - lesleylogan.co/elevateOPC Summer Tour (Powered by Balanced Body) - OPC.me/eventsOPC Flashcards - opc.me/flashcardsPilates on Tour - xxll.co/potNevada SPCA - https://nevadaspca.orgBy Black Business Directory - https://www.byblack.usSession Etiquette Website - https://www.sessionetiquette.comSession Etiquette Retreat - sessionetiquette.com/retreatIn Tune with Tradition Podcast - https://beitpod.com/taraconnaghanpodTara Connaghan IG - https://www.instagram.com/tarafiddleTara Connaghan FB - https://www.facebook.com/tara.connaghanTara Connaghan LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/taraconnaghanTara Connaghan YT - https://beitpod.com/arayoutubeSubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questions If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  When you are a beginner, there is an anxiety about how do I join? What's the etiquette? Do I have enough skills to be here? Am I allowed to sit here? Can I sit there? And she explained that you're scared because you just don't know how to enter the space. And I think it's really important to acknowledge that when we're a beginner at things, we're allowed to have some fear, you know?Lesley Logan 0:15  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. Lesley Logan 0:58  Welcome back to the Be It Till You See It interview recap, where my co-host in life, Brad and I are going to dig into the warm convo I have with Tara Connaghan in our last episode. If you haven't yet listened to the interview, you can pause this, go listen to that, and then come back to this. You can listen to this, then go back to that. She has an Irish accent.Brad Crowell 1:12  Yes, she does.Lesley Logan 1:13  So sometimes that's fun to listen to.Brad Crowell 1:15  It sure was. She's also a musician. Love that.Lesley Logan 1:18  Yes, yes. And she has a great podcast as well. It's winning awards, even though it's brand new, because it's so niche. It's a niche in a niche. It's kind of amazing, but we'll get into that in a minute. First, today is August 20, 2026, and it's World Mosquito Day because, you know what? Those little fuckers need their own day. Honestly, because you need to be reminded that they suck. But you need to know how bad it is because it's...Brad Crowell 1:39  Literally.Lesley Logan 1:40  Oh, that's so funny! Pun wasn't intended, but I slayed that. So World Mosquito Day unites global health efforts every August 20th commemorating Sir Ronald Ross's 1897 discovery that mosquitoes transmit malaria. Well, thanks, Sir Ronald Ross. Do you think his parents named him Sir Ronald Ross, or he was Ronald Ross, and then they got the "Sir"?Brad Crowell 2:01  He got the "Sir."Lesley Logan 2:01  Oh, okay.Brad Crowell 2:02  Yeah.Lesley Logan 2:02  Well, this crucial day raises awareness about the ongoing threat of mosquito-borne illnesses like dengue, dengue?Brad Crowell 2:09  DengueLesley Logan 2:09  Dengue, Zika. Brad Crowell 2:11  Yeah, it would be normally known as dengue fever.Lesley Logan 2:13  Yeah, dengue fever, Zika, and yeah. Brad Crowell 2:16  Good luck on that one.Lesley Logan 2:20  Chikungunya. I'm reminding.Brad Crowell 2:25  It could be Chikungunya. Chikungunya.Lesley Logan 2:28  I'm not sure. Yeah. Anyways, well, my speech therapy didn't help me with that one. Discover how you can protect yourself, support research, and contribute to eradication initiatives worldwide. You know what you can do? Keep your fucking still water from being still. You guys, stir your pools. Don't let, you know, I listened to an episode of The Daily years ago when it was good, and it talked about how there are these mosquitoes that can live in a capful, you know those plastic water bottles? That size capful of water in a tire across continents. So on a ship that takes months, and then they can just spread. They don't need a lot of water anymore. So you guys have got to move your water around. Do you remember when we lived in LA and there was a big deal about the virus, and we were like at the airport. Everybody was on guard for puddles and drying things up. It was a weird community. It was before COVID, but LA had a community because people were getting... I don't think it was Zika, but there was a virus being carried by the mosquitoes, and it was a reason why even the airport had to clean up their water. They were giving out fines.Brad Crowell 3:31  I can't remember what it was, because Zika is usually in Asia, but it obviously can spread.Lesley Logan 3:37  So obviously, I talk about standing water around your home, but applying an EPA-registered repellent and raising awareness about mosquito-borne diseases is a great way to support the public health initiatives. Isn't it funny if we just start going around. Everybody today, I want you to go around and go, "It's World Mosquito Day. Do you have any standing water? Do you know how to get rid of mosquitoes?" So Vegas was notoriously known for having no mosquitoes, and now we have lots of mosquitoes. We have a whole mosquito problem, and at UNLV, there's a woman who studies the whole thing. But now we have mosquitoes, and it's really annoying because I thought I only got bit by mosquitoes when I was in Cambodia. Now we get bit all the time.Brad Crowell 4:10  It's not even, I mean, honestly, LA was, I felt like I got more mosquitoes in LA than Cambodia, but it depends on the time of year in Cambodia. I think it depends on the season, of course. But there definitely are mosquitoes there. We had a lot more in Thailand than Cambodia.Lesley Logan 4:26  Thailand killed me. Cambodia, I've learned to figure it out. And when you come to our retreat in Cambodia, we tell you what to do so you don't get bit. All right, you guys, what do we got going on? We're on our way back from the tour, actually. So we're probably either in El Paso or on our way to Tucson right now. We're gonna wrap it up in a few days in Las Vegas. And something you need to know, I'm really, really proud of. I started a teacher-training program for new teachers. So if you heard the rumor, it is true, and it's called upLift, and it will start early next year at a studio, hopefully near you. So, in fact, in the next couple weeks, I'll be taking applications from the people who want to license and teach the program, and then this fall, I'll be training them how to do it. Then I'll be working alongside them to make sure that it is done the way I know it will work and change your life and change the lives of the people that you teach. So you should go to xxll.co/uws if you would like to be a student. This is for first-time teachers or partially trained teachers, or maybe people who want to bridge into classical and they want it to be more of an in-person experience. So xxll.co/uws. And then for those who are already comprehensively trained and you want more of a master's program, you can go watch the recent eLevate Live Q&A call I did at lesleylogan.co/elevate. That's L-E-S-L-E-Ylogan.co/elevate. I did a mini class. I answered a ton of questions. We have a bunch of grads on there. We are filling 2028 as we speak, and only people who graduate eLevate can actually teach upLift. So if you are like, "Oh my God, how do I get my application in?" You won't even find out until you have done eLevate. So there you go. All right, you guys, we got a lot going on. Balanced Body sponsored our tour, so we're so excited because we have to take Contrology equipment everywhere, and we're spending a lot of time with them the rest of this year. I'll tell you more about that in a second. But thank you to Balanced Body for sponsoring our summer tour, and they are also sponsoring our winter tour this year, which we will announce next month. So make sure that you're on our email list so you don't miss out because literally on the summer tour, several cities sold out in one day. Brad Crowell 6:27  In one day. Lesley Logan 6:28  In one day.Brad Crowell 6:29  Yeah. So how do you get on the waitlist? Go to OPC.me/events.Lesley Logan 6:33  There you go. Go do that. Okay. So if you're new here, one of the ways you can actually support us is by being an OPC member. But if that's more of a commitment than you want to make, when you buy our amazing flashcards at opc.me/flashcards, not only do you support us and this podcast, but you're also supporting the Nevada SPCA. Just so you know.Brad Crowell 6:49  Yeah, but I just wanted to say before we move on, becoming a member, you can start with a trial. So it's a 40-day trial for 40 bucks, and you pick the trial based on the equipment you have access to, and then you get to come hang in this awesome community we have. We just revamped our community page, the whole community platform. It's really cool and just awesome people. So not only that, you can do it anywhere you are.Lesley Logan 7:15  Yeah, anywhere you are, at any level, with whatever you got. It's pretty great. It is the workout that works for you. That's what we say. So you guys, we're going to be home for a bit, and then we're going to be in Cambodia. You cannot join us this year in Cambodia, but you can certainly join us next year by getting on our waitlist. We will open up our early-bird special in January. If you hear a dog snoring in the background, her name is Darla. We cannot stop this; it's just going to keep going. But before we head to Cambodia, we're actually driving to Sacramento. I'm teaching, and we'll have a booth at the Sacramento POT. It is the Balanced Body 50th-Year Celebration. The ultimate, the penult, the penultimate, the, what do you call it? I mean, they've been celebrating all year long at all the different POTs.Lesley Logan 7:53  No, but anyways, it's at the headquarter area, and it's gonna be so much fun. And then after that, I'll be at the POT India. So I am at all the 50th anniversary POTS. Basically, I'll be aBrad Crowell 8:03  A 50-year celebration is called a golden jubilee or a golden anniversary.Lesley Logan 8:08  The Jubilee. I don't think they know that. I don't think they do either because they could have done a Jubilee instead of a whatever party. Anyways, here we are. So, if you want information about the Sacramento POT or what I'm doing in Goa, India, which, by the way, it looks stunning. I really will just say yes. I said yes because it's going to be at this stunning resort at the beach in Goa, and there's a bunch of Americans who are also going because they're like, "I wanted to take a workshop from you, and I've always wanted to go to India." And I'm like, "Well, see you there." Me too. So xxll.co/pot will get you information on both Sacramento and Goa. I have no idea how to get you information, but I am going to teach in China this year.Brad Crowell 8:44  Woo!Lesley Logan 8:45  This is a big deal.Brad Crowell 8:46  Yeah, just outside of Shanghai.Lesley Logan 8:47  Yeah, I don't even know how I'm getting there yet at the time of this recording. But we're figuring it out, everyone. Basically, here's what's going on. I am doing a lot of traveling with and without Brad this year because next year I'm not, because next year we're focused only on upLift, eLevate, our tours, and so it's quite an exciting time. I haven't said yes to anything for next year, and we're recording this in the summer, which is kind of insane because usually I'm already booked out, but we're not because we're saying, "Not yet, not yet." Anyways, all right, we got to get into this episode, but before that, Brad, what is the awareness that we're bringing people's attention to today?Brad Crowell 9:25  Yeah. So as you know, we switched to charity of the week instead of questions. So today we are doing something slightly different. We encourage you to seek out local businesses in your community to celebrate National Black Business Month. Yeah. So this month, instead of highlighting just one charity, we're focused on the whole month to go out and support your local Black-owned businesses. Why? Back in 1921 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, it was home to one of the wealthiest Black communities in the country, the Greenwood District, known as Black Wall Street. In the span of about 15 years, it had built up hundreds of Black-owned businesses: grocers, theaters, hotels, doctors' offices, over 1000 homes. And then, over a two-day period, white mobs, some of them literally deputized by the city, burned more than 35 city blocks. They burned them to the ground, and as many as 300 people died. Roughly 10,000 were left homeless, and not a single person was ever prosecuted. Yeah, for decades it barely appeared in the history books, and Greenwood residents rebuilt, but the community never got back to where it fully was. Survivors were never compensated. So when we talk about supporting Black-owned businesses today, it's not just a nice idea; it's part of rebuilding something that was deliberately destroyed.Lesley Logan 10:42  It's crazy because I didn't learn about this. I heard about this around 2020.Brad Crowell 10:46  Yeah, I started to hear about this. Actually, there were TV shows that were focused on this in the superhero world, and I started watching it, and I was like, "Whoa, this is crazy! How did I never hear about this?" And then I started to really learn more about it, and it's just tragic. It's just unbelievable. It's unbelievable.Lesley Logan 11:04  Here's the thing: if a hurricane does this, we're in an uproar if the government doesn't go in fast enough and fix things, right? But this was deliberately done. This is not, it's just hate racism. Yeah. And then no one went in and helped any of these people, and so yet again, a group of people were set back even further. So not only did we not do restitution after slavery, when they finally do get ahead, well, let's burn it to the ground and create even more problems. And so it's just really fucking frustrating.Brad Crowell 11:34  There is a, you know, if you're wondering how to go support local Black-owned businesses in your community, there's a great resource that you can use, that is ByBlack.us. It's a national directory built by the U.S. Black Chamber of Commerce. It's searchable by location and even has curated city guides. So wherever you're listening from, you can find Black-owned businesses near you. And if you're local to us in Las Vegas, check out the Greater Las Vegas Black Chamber of Commerce at glvbcc.org, and also the Henderson Black Chamber of Commerce or the local directory called Black Biz Connect Las Vegas.Lesley Logan 12:16  Yeah, and that came up just when we were doing this search, so you can also figure that out by putting your city in. It's just a great thing to do if you want to just be... Here's the deal: we vote with our dollars, and so every single day there are things that we have to do for these fucking billionaires because we can't get away from it. But also, you can do this, and you can make small changes. So it's really important. We recently, at the time of recording this, had donated $800 to the Nevada SPCA, right? And I was like, "Oh, I know it's only $800," and they're like, "It's a lot of money. Thank you so much." It's from your flashcards for quarter two. And I said, "Oh, can I find out what does that do?" And they were able to show me what $800 can do, right? It can feed 114 shelter animals for one week. So when you take your dollars and you put them locally into a locally owned business, you are making major impacts. The ripple effects are things you can't even understand or see. And then when you direct that to being a Black-owned business, you are actually helping. It's just something that's really, really amazing because that means family members and friends of that business owner are seeing that they can be successful as an entrepreneur. If you can't see things happen in your life, it's really hard to be it till you see it. So I just think it's important. I thought it was a great way to honor this month. And so just put your city in and put "Black-owned businesses," and you'll get a list, I'm sure.Brad Crowell 13:33  Yeah, awesome. So thanks for supporting your local Black-owned businesses. And if you have any Black-owned businesses, or actually any charities at all, that you suggest that we do some research on and then bring to the pod, text us at 310-905-5534. 310-905-5534. Stick around. We'll be right back. Brad Crowell 13:54  All right. Well, let's talk about Tara Connaghan. Tara is a traditional Irish fiddle player from Donegal with nearly 40 years of experience playing music. I think she said more than 40 years of experience. In fact, I think she said she's been teaching for 40 years.Lesley Logan 14:10  I mean, she doesn't look that old, so I don't think she could be. I don't think she's in her 60s.Brad Crowell 14:14  Regardless, she's very, very clearly an expert. She's the creator and host of the award-winning podcast, In Tune with Tradition: Perspectives on Session Etiquette and Irish Traditional Music. That is a very niche pod.Lesley Logan 14:29  It's a niche in a niche.Brad Crowell 14:30  It breaks down the unspoken cultural rules of Irish music sessions. She also teaches adults and leads private immersion experiences in Ireland for musicians wanting to dive deeper on session culture. Side note: She actually has a tour coming up in September 2026, so next month. So go to sessionetiquette.com/retreat for details. Pretty sure she said it's happening in Ireland. Lesley Logan 14:55  I think so. And also, by the way, if you don't even know what Irish music is and session etiquette, don't be like, "What is this podcast episode about?" I don't know, because actually everything that we discussed about that can be applied to being a beginner at anything. So I really, really like it.Brad Crowell 15:09  Yeah. Yeah. So.Lesley Logan 15:11  Well, I'll just go first. So I think we can all understand. When you're a beginner, there can be a performance anxiety of sorts. You're not sure if you're wanting to be a knitter. Okay, an example: Andrea Maida and her husband and Brad and I went to a knitting store because Andrea Maida, a dear friend of ours, Pilates instructor, is a knitter. So we go to a knitting store, and there's a whole table of all these knitters, and they're just hanging out. And Andrea's like, "We can just go talk to them." And I'm, "I don't... are we allowed to go talk to them?" And then the first thing someone says, "Are you knit worthy?" Remember that? "Are you knit worthy?" And I was, "I don't know." If I was an aspiring knitter, I can tell you right now that I didn't feel welcome. I felt anxiety. But the other people, "Oh, don't let her get to you. You can sit down here." But I didn't know the etiquette of walking into a knit place. And so, when you are a beginner, there is an anxiety about how do I join? What's the etiquette? Do I have enough skills to be here? Am I allowed to sit here? Can I sit there? And she explained that you're scared because you just don't know how to enter the space. And I think it's really important to acknowledge that when we're beginners at things, we're allowed to have some fear, you know. Brad Crowell 16:15  100%. I mean, it's just natural. It's part of it. It's like getting on stage the first time you're on stage. Your throat is parched. You're completely freaking out inside, but it just takes practice. The more you do it, the less you're in that headspace. Yeah. But also, too.Lesley Logan 16:32  You play jazz, right? You play jazz.Brad Crowell 16:35  I played jazz. It's been a long time.Lesley Logan 16:37  But there are sessions. There's times when people get together to just play, and then there are times people can join in, right?Brad Crowell 16:43  Yes. So I'm going to talk a little bit more about that when I share what I really loved about this conversation. But yes, in the jazz world, it's called a jam session, right? And you hear musicians, "Let's get together and jam." I generally hate a jam session when it's not jazz music, honestly. It was interesting to hear her talk about the different levels of learning and the different layers of how people interact in a jam session. Because when I was younger, when I was studying jazz and I was performing, I play the trombone, for all of you who don't know. I started playing in fourth grade, and I went all the way through college studying very intentionally on the trombone. And I was really good at the time, really, really good. I wasn't ever recording on the trombone because what I was really passionate about was playing the bass and singing. So even though I was really good on the trombone, that wasn't really where my heart was at the time. When I was playing it in college, you'd get together with people, and if they were not that good on their instrument or they hadn't had a lot of experience playing with other people in a space where you're listening to other people, then you don't know what to do. And this is a perfect parallel. Have you ever been in a conversation where someone only talks about themselves?Lesley Logan 18:06  Yeah.Brad Crowell 18:06  The whole fucking time.Lesley Logan 18:08  Yeah.Brad Crowell 18:08  And they never ask a reciprocating question.Lesley Logan 18:11  Yeah.Brad Crowell 18:12  It's not a back-and-forth.Lesley Logan 18:13  Yeah.Brad Crowell 18:14  Yeah. Musicians can do that too. They can just take over.Lesley Logan 18:17  Well, and I think to wrap up my point, what I love is just like she says, once you learn the rules and the etiquette, the anxiety can disappear because you know what the rules are. I think a lot of times some of us are afraid to be beginners, and then we don't ever get to figure out what the rules are, so we never feel like we can be a beginner. But if you know what the rules are, then you know where you can play, right? I think, in a non-musical example, I get people who want to be on this podcast all the time. They're like, "We should do a pod swap." They pitch me. I'm okay. I love the balls. I love that confidence. They have 10 episodes. I have 700. I appreciate the invite, but that's not a mutual thing. I'm bringing so much more expertise. They're not going to have the conversation I want to have with 700 episodes with their 10. Or maybe they have a whole other following. They could back that up. Maybe they're up-and-coming. But really, no offense to them, it's not like they are below, but they actually need to go get experience with other people with 10 episodes, coming over here is not really going to be helpful for them because they don't really, you have to have experience to play. Like in Pilates, I absolutely love taking sessions from people who've been teaching for decades, right? But I'm not going to be, "Oh, you want to do a trade, Jay? Sandy, should we trade?" No. Not that I can't teach them something, but really it's not an equal exchange of information.Brad Crowell 19:37  Yeah, I mean, this rolls straight into one of the things I loved about the conversation. She was talking about the etiquette of joining sessions as a newbie or a beginner. She said it's a very gentle process where you're kind of coming into it in a gentle way, and the anxiety of it and the, you have to be self-aware enough to know that you are easing your way in. For me, the easy parallel is growing up in a large family where I had lots of aunts and uncles and thinking about Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas dinner or something where everyone came over and they had the kids' table and they had the adults, right? And the kids' table, their conversation was generally about kid stuff, but I always ended up gravitating toward the adult table. And when I would get there, I had nothing to contribute to the conversation because I was 12, right? What do I know? I don't know anything about anything. But I'm listening to the adults talk about adult things, which I didn't even know what they were talking about. Didn't matter. I didn't have anything to contribute, so I didn't say anything, right? So when I was mentioning earlier, sometimes people can be in conversations where they 100% dominate the conversation, and it's not a conversation; it's one-sided. Alternatively, the other side of that is never contributing to a conversation and not having the confidence to speak up. And a lot of people never get past that, right? Even imagine if I was 12, then 15, then 18, and I'm still sitting at the adult table, but I'm not talking. I'm not participating in the conversation. I'm still taking it all in, but why am I not contributing back, right? So there's these two sides of the fence there. Lesley Logan 21:19  There's two extremes, and there's allowing yourself to be an observer because you're new to that table, and then at some point, you got to shit or get off the pot.Brad Crowell 21:27  Yeah, that's right. At some point, you actually have to participate. Lesley Logan 21:30  And I think where it happens is there has to be someone at that table who also invites you in. Brad Crowell 21:33  Yeah, maybe. Yeah. Lesley Logan 21:34  Remember the knitting table we started with? That woman who was, "Are you knit worthy?" I was, "I don't think so." I don't think I even replied to her. But then there was, "Oh, come sit down! Don't let her scare you!" Right?Brad Crowell 21:45  That's right.Lesley Logan 21:45  There needs to be someone who is aware of all the dynamics, who can be the guide.Brad Crowell 21:51  Yeah.Lesley Logan 21:51  You know, and so then you attach yourself to the guide, and you allow the guide to show you what's going on, what's the appropriate behavior here. We're watching The Pitt again, you guys. I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed. There's so much nuance to The Pitt. I love it so much. Dynamics, everything, everything. I can apply science of learning to The Pitt. All these different things, right? And that Mel King, bless her soul, her character just speaks in my heart. But she's going to high-five people after they save a guy's life, and no one high-fives her because that's not the etiquette. It's not what you do. It's your first day, babe. You're in their third hour, right? And so she's, "Oh, okay." She sits down. So she's trying to observe what the behavior is and trying to learn how to fit in. And it takes time. You're going to get it wrong. And that's the thing. You are going to fuck up at some point. You are going to think that you're invited in and you're doing the right thing. But actually, they changed the rules last week, and they moved it half an hour. And that doesn't make you a bad person. You just got to have self-awareness, you know, and then also a little gumption.Brad Crowell 22:50  Yeah, and I think, you know, thinking back to etiquette of joining a session as a newbie or beginner, it is valuable to sit at the kids' table when you're a kid so that you can have conversations with your peers, and then you learn something from that so that when you do move to the adults' table, you have some understanding of just how conversation works. So in the same way, with music. Lesley Logan 23:11  I think it's good to outgrow the kids' table because, yes, then you can recognize that you were the guide at the kids' table, and now you're over at the adults' table, so you can spot who the guide is over there. You know, I think it's good to have the experiences.Brad Crowell 23:24  Yeah, and that's definitely how it works with jazz and jamming. It's important to work with people who are, well, I mean, you talked about this specifically with Tara, the people who are where you once were, people who are where you are at now, and the people who are where you want to be, you know, so that you can be a guide, you can have fun with your peers, you can learn from someone who is where you want to be. And so, for example, here in Las Vegas, once a week I go to a local bar. They host a jam night, and it's a jazz jam night, and they encourage people to sit in. Bring your instrument, come play. We'll always welcome you in. You can always play for a tune or whatever. And then generally, what they'll do is they'll let you name the tune so that you have the confidence. "Okay, I know this song."Lesley Logan 24:16  Oh, I love that.Brad Crowell 24:16  You know, and then basically they all know all the songs. These guys are pro musicians. They're absolutely incredibly well-versed, and if they don't know the song, they can figure out the song in the moment. They're amazing, right? And so it's actually really intimidating because, especially if you're a newbie playing with a crew like that, those guys are the pros, right? And so it's great experience, but it's also like you're not really in their circle. You know what I mean?Lesley Logan 24:44  No. I do love how they approach that. I love that because they're actually saying, "Okay, you've been sitting here long enough. We can see that you're jamming with us. You're tipping your head to the beat or your foot to the beat. You can do something. You pick the song." So they're allowing you to have confidence in what you're going to do. And then they get to invite you in, and then after that they never have to again, or you get to keep coming. You broke the seal. It makes me think of David Doss as well. Remember when David Doss played at the Horse Trailer Hideout, and he noticed you were whistling, and then he's like, "Do you know the song?" He invited you in.Brad Crowell 25:14  Yeah.Lesley Logan 25:15  Because you have done karaoke, and you've been in bands, and you've toured as a singer. The stage doesn't scare you, but he does that with people all the time, and often they are not performers. Brad Crowell 25:26  Right. Often they're not. Lesley Logan 25:27  But he is allowing them to pick a song that they can do well. And I think that's just something for those of us, I think we all can take the application of etiquette and things like that to everything. I have people I go to learn from because they challenge me, right? There are people I challenge, and then there are people that I challenge to challenge people below. We all have to be doing that. Otherwise, first of all, the people that I go to, they go to people. Why? Because if they are not learning from other people, they're not going to be a good teacher for me. So I think we can all recognize where we are as the person who is the expert in one room, but maybe we're a beginner in this room. And how can we make sure that we're moving along, but we're also moving other people along? We can't always be the guide. At some point, we have to pass the torch.Brad Crowell 26:11  Yeah, you're right. You're right on the money on that. It is important to set yourself up to be a guide for the next generation coming along. There's one other thing I wanted to mention about the conversation before I moved on, and that is about the skill of listening and responding to others in a musical context, but also in a conversation. For example, I just did it. I acknowledged what you said, and then I changed the topic. Right? When I was in college, I don't even know how I met this professor, but he said, "Hey, I want you to come audition for this class. You can't just join the class; you have to audition for the class." I was, "Okay." So I didn't even know what that meant. He didn't give me anything to prepare. I didn't know what was going on, so I just brought a bunch of music with me that I could play. And he was like, "All right, cool. I want you to play this thing," and I just played it. And he was, "Okay, cool. Now I'm going to play this on my guitar, and I want you to play along with me." And then we did. And then he's like, "I'm going to let you lead, and then I'm going to play along with you." And I was, "Okay." And we did this half-hour audition, right? And afterwards, he asked me a few questions, and he invited me to join this class. And literally this entire class was what he taught was the art of listening, right? And it wasn't what the class was even called. I can't remember what it was called. It was an unbelievable class. And this guy is one of the most astounding musicians I've ever met. He could hear an entire song and then write the song down afterwards in musical notation. He had.Lesley Logan 27:41  That's a crazy memory.Brad Crowell 27:42  It was perfect memory and perfect pitch. He could listen to a song and understand exactly what was happening. He could see it and write it out. Lesley Logan 27:48  What a savant!Brad Crowell 27:49  Yeah, savant, completely. But what he did in that class was so awkward because there was no music. There was no jam. You didn't have a rhythm that you were playing to. He took our class and he said, "All right, today in class we've got a French horn, two guitars, a bass. We got a guy playing the timbale, which is a weird drum that is amazing, and we got a trombone player, and then there's a guitar player. So go." We're, "What do you mean, go?" And he's, "Someone can start playing, and then if you feel inspired by what they're playing, I want you to play off of what they're playing. And then other people are going to jump in, and they're going to play, and then you're going to play, and together it will turn into something." And we were, "What the hell?"Lesley Logan 28:35  Every day for a whole semester?Brad Crowell 28:37  Not every day. It was once or twice a week. I can't remember. But it became one of my favorite classes to go to. And he told us, "You're never allowed to record this class. This class is not about turning this into a song. That's not what this is. What we're doing here is we're listening to each other, and we're responding based on what we're listening to." It was amazing. Unbelievable.Lesley Logan 28:56  That's cool. By the way, based on the science of learning, that's exactly what you're supposed to do. You just throw people in, and then they have to start swimming.Brad Crowell 29:03  Yeah.Lesley Logan 29:04  If you don't, you just start drowning. So somebody feels the pressure enough to go, "Fuck it, okay?" And then other people are like, "Well, I don't want them to be alone," so they jump in. And then what happens is you start taking the knowledge that you have, the skill sets, and you start applying it to your long-term memory. It comes out of short-term memory. It moves into long-term memory because you're forced to hit recall because you're not actually reading any music. When you read music, you can leave that stuff in short-term memory and let it go. It switches to long-term because you're forced to listen and apply something that you've learned that could fit. It's fucking brilliant.Brad Crowell 29:37  Yeah. People have told me over the years, "Brad, when we're in a conversation, I feel like you're really listening to me," and I genuinely attribute that to this class.Lesley Logan 29:46  I would say you definitely do that better than I do on every day.Brad Crowell 29:49  Yeah, because I had to. I learned how to do that in the class, and now it's just part of it, you know. So anyway, just the art of listening and how do you listen and how do you participate in a group like that? How do you encourage and respond? And sometimes you're taking the lead. Sometimes you're not taking the lead.Lesley Logan 30:07  I think this whole thing you can apply to anything you want to do. Brad Crowell 30:10  Yep.Lesley Logan 30:10  Because everything is with people. So anyways, we have to wrap it up. Brad Crowell 30:14  I love it. Sorry, I got really excited about this episode. All right, stick around. We'll be right back. We're going to talk about those Be It Action Items. Brad Crowell 30:21  All right. So finally, let's talk about those Be It Action Items. What bold, executable, intrinsic, or targeted action items can we take away from your conversation with Tara Connaghan? She emphasized that time and consistency are the only true replacements for convenience in the learning process. Okay. Time and consistency are the only true replacements for convenience in the learning process. What does that actually mean? What is she talking about when we say convenience in the learning process?Lesley Logan 30:48  I think you've got to make learning easier. You have to not only do it for some time, but also consistently. So, for example, I'm doing the upLift Beta program right now. There's one person who, at the time of 30 days, has had halfway to 100 hours already, right? So that is time and consistency. They're picking up different things versus some people who only have nine. Now, I'm not saying one's better than the other. Actually, they're observing different things. But if you are only picking up something one hour once a week, you are going to have a harder time as the learning continues because you're having to restart and remember everything once a week versus if you were to even do 15 minutes every single dayBrad Crowell 31:27  Yeah.Lesley Logan 31:27  It might even be the same amount of time from the one time a week to the seven times a week. But because you have the consistency of picking it up, you're actually having more convenience.Brad Crowell 31:36  Yeah. She specifically said you don't build it up in one go; you build it up every single day. And it's more valuable to have 10 to 15 minutes a day than it is to do an hour once a week.Lesley Logan 31:46  It's the same, by the way, guys. This applies to everything. I do not write one newsletter at a time. I write all of them. I do not do one podcast at a time. We do several because the setup, the getting ready, all that stuff. It allows you. It's just better. So just be more consistent. You put it all together. You'll get there.Brad Crowell 32:02  I mean, Pilates and music, it's so much muscle memory, you know. And you can't cram muscle memory. It doesn't work. Motor learning does not work. She was equating it to brushing your teeth. You do it twice a day, forever. You've been doing it forever. So it gets to the point where it's rote. You don't even think about it anymore because you've done it so many times. You know how to do it without actually processing it. You can think about something else while you're doing that. She said, "How do you do this? How do you make sure that you get your 10 to 15 minutes a day in?" She said, "Keep your instrument in easy reach. Make it visible."Lesley Logan 32:36  Yeah, whatever your instrument is.Brad Crowell 32:38  Yeah.Lesley Logan 32:38  I love that.Brad Crowell 32:38  What about you?Lesley Logan 32:39  She said, "Pick the thing that fills your cup and go for it."Brad Crowell 32:42  Yeah, just in life.Lesley Logan 32:43  Yeah, in life, pick the thing that fills your cup and go for it. Do the thing that really gives you so much joy and fills your cup. And I think this is really important. A lot of times, a lot of us are focused on the thing we don't do well, and they're like, "Why can't I get this?" And there are people who can get that for you. I was coaching someone today for Profitable Pilates, and she's not good at tech, but I don't have an online business, right? And so I'm listening to her whole thing she's working on, and she's doing all the right things according to all the right coaches. Then it comes out she needs nine clients, and I was like, "Girl, you don't need to be online for these nine clients for your online business. You could just tell 27 people what you do and then ask them to refer you, and I bet you'll get nine people. At worst, you get three. Yes, those three people refer you three people." But you do not need to pick the thing that you're not good at to make this business work. You need to pick the thing that you're good at and make this business work. So it applies to everything. Pick the thing that fills your cup, and then do that thing because when you fill your cup, everything is easier, including being in rooms that scare you. So yeah, I'm Lesley Logan.Brad Crowell 33:44  And I'm Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 33:45  Thanks so much for being here today. Make sure that you tell Tara what touched you, what made you think of something, what aha moments you had. Send in your wins to the beitpod.com/questions, and we'll see you later. Until next time, Be It Till You See It.Brad Crowell 33:57  Bye for now.Lesley Logan 33:58  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod. Brad Crowell 34:41  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 34:46  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 34:50  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 34:57  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 35:00  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Being a beginner as an adult is its own kind of awkward, and most of us just call it nerves. Irish traditional musician and award-winning podcast host Tara Connaghan says that is not it at all. The real problem is that nobody handed you the rules of the room. She takes Lesley through the four stages of learning, why the frustrating middle is where most people quit, and the rock bottom that gave her clarity. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:Why five to ten minutes of practice a day beats one long session.The trouble with joining sessions built for high level musicians.What makes correcting an adult learner harder than correcting a child.Why boundaries make newcomers feel safe and know if they fit.How to pick a group that matches your current skill level.Episode References/Links:Session Etiquette Website – https://www.sessionetiquette.comSession Etiquette Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576848312798In Tune with Tradition Podcast - https://beitpod.com/taraconnaghanpodTara Connaghan Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/tarafiddleTara Connaghan Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/tara.connaghanTara Connaghan LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/taraconnaghanTara Connaghan YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5tQCcQU81_mewa2uMRbq7AEp 153 ft Tanya Dalton - https://beitpod.com/ep153Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert - https://a.co/d/010vNZRZEat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert - https://a.co/d/00rGaxuPSubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questions If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Tara Connaghan 0:00  It's too intimate to be putting pressure on it because I did lose it. So I put my hands on my heart because I feel like it's here. The music, when I play it, it's here. I suppose maybe because it is a fiddle as well, or a violin, but it's something so close, and I have lost it. I did lose it for a while, and if I lost it again, I don't know if I could survive that second loss. Lesley Logan 0:22  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast, where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world, and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity, and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guests will bring bold, executable, intrinsic, and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and be it till you see it. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. Lesley Logan 1:03  Okay, Be It babe. Here's the deal: we have a unique topic on the podcast, but actually, we go extremely applicable to your life, if anything. We're going to talk about learning. We're going to talk about rock bottoms. We're going to talk about etiquette with the types of people that you're wanting to be around, and I think it's just quite fun. Tara's my new Irish friend that I didn't know I needed. Her name's Tara Connaghan, and she actually is an award-winning podcast host, and she teaches people how to play Irish music and also be in Irish sessions and the etiquette for that. And you're, what? But all of it is, I think, really the conversation is so helpful because if you want to be it till you see it, and I want to be in a pickleball league, or I want to be teaching X thing, or I want to learn this new skill, some of the things we have to understand is the process of learning, and then the etiquette of how do we join these groups? What are those things? So it's really quite fun. I can't wait for you to hear her, and then you'll have to check out her award-winning podcast because that's so great. Here is Tara Connaghan. Lesley Logan 1:59  All right, Be It babes. This is going to be fun. This is going to be totally interesting. It's a topic I've definitely never had a guest on before, and that means we get to learn something new, but also learn things that we can use along our way to something unique. So, Tara Connaghan is our guest today. Tara, can you tell everyone who you are and what you rock at? Tara Connaghan 2:18  Hi, Lesley. I am an Irish traditional musician. I love playing Irish music. I love playing music in Irish music sessions, particularly. I'm from the northwest of Ireland, which is Donegal, which is kind of, it's not part of Northern Ireland, but it's more northerly than Northern Ireland. But it's geographically Northern Ireland, but not politically, if that makes sense. So we're in the Republic of Ireland. Very confusing. And I've lived all over Ireland. I've lived around the world a couple of bits, but mostly I'm always kind of living around Ireland. But I'm back in Donegal now for the last maybe 12 years, and I just love sessions. But I teach adults a lot, and they're always worried about joining into sessions because they're maybe newcomers to the sessions. So I always thought it was performance anxiety that was the problem, but actually, what's feeding the performance anxiety is that they don't know the etiquette to joining sessions. And so that was why I decided to start a podcast almost a year ago about etiquette, teaching people the etiquette of joining sessions, and I'm learning so much. Oh my God, it's amazing. Lesley Logan 3:21  Okay, there's so many things I want to talk about because, first of all, what are sessions, and then to know what the etiquette is, but also it just goes into a lot of us do label something performance anxiety or just blanket anxiety when really it's we don't know how to be a beginner, we don't know how to enter something new. We don't know how to... It's hard to join a group because when you're an adult, all the groups are already kind of filled, and you're, I've got to join in on something, and they already know everything, and I don't know, and we don't know how to be beginners. Is that kind of what's happening? Tara Connaghan 3:50  Totally, totally, yeah. Lesley Logan 3:52  Okay, so just so we have the definitions, what are sessions, and what is the etiquette? Tara Connaghan 3:56  A session can be lots of... There's lots of different types of sessions and different functions for sessions, but the main session is that it's a group of musicians who get together to play Irish music. Lesley Logan 4:09  Okay. Tara Connaghan 4:09  That's kind of the simplest term or the simplest way of explaining it. It's people who kind of know what Irish music is, and they want to play it with each other, and they want to kind of share their music together, and it's like a team. It's a team. Lesley Logan 4:22  Okay, like you're making a band, but you're not a band, like a group. Tara Connaghan 4:25  Yes, yeah. But there's no... Usually there's... Well, I say usually. A session is usually something without microphones, although sometimes it has microphones because it's maybe for tourists or maybe it's a noisy pub or something. So usually the ones that are in the corner with no microphones, they're just playing to each other. Lesley Logan 4:44  It's like jazz when they get together and they just play together. Okay, so there can be sessions of any kind, but sessions for this would be the Irish musicians getting together. And then is the etiquette different for the Irish music versus, I guess, any musician, or what does that look like? Tara Connaghan 5:00  I don't think it's particularly different. There may be slight differences. I think maybe one of the things is that you could be playing in a session with some of your heroes. They're quite accessible. Irish traditional musicians almost would be classed as... they're professionals but amateurs. Lesley Logan 5:17  Okay, okay. Tara Connaghan 5:18  Because they're not all making a living from it. Okay, so you could have some of the highest-quality Irish musicians playing in a session. You might have just come across, or maybe you've never heard Irish music before, and you walk in and you could be listening to some of the most amazing musicians. Lesley Logan 5:35  That's so cool. I love this. I love this. So this is... I am grateful for the definitions because you're an expert in this area, but this is the thing for a lot of things, right? You could be in a chess group or a mahjong or pickleball. I'm a Pilates instructor who travels to teach Pilates instructors, and I find that if I want to just be in the group, sometimes the nervousness from the other people who maybe watch my videos or things like that, they get nervous and they have this performance anxiety, and it's like we're just here to kind of hang out. So, I guess if we could take it in a broad sense, how did you get here? Because we don't wake up going, "I'm gonna teach this." You know what I mean? It's not like what you tell someone in kindergarten. "When I grow up, I'm gonna teach Irish music." So, can you go back to your journey? Tara Connaghan 6:23  I mentioned that I teach the adults mostly. I have a fortnightly fiddle class that I do, and I also teach at different summer schools or camps or things that we would teach music at throughout the year. And for the last... I've been playing music for nearly 40 years. Oh my god, I am playing music for 40 years. Oh god, that just dawned on me. Oh my god. Lesley Logan 6:45  That's amazing, though, but it's annoying because, wow, so much clout, and also, oh, I'm older than I thought. Tara Connaghan 6:53  Yes, yeah, yeah. So I've been teaching a long time. I do prefer to teach adults. I just have a natural sort of bond because an adult wants to be there. They're putting all their time and their energy, and they really want to be there. Whereas kids, the parents want them to be there. So I just want to be with people who want to do something, and then I can help them. If they don't want to be there, then I can't help them. So in every workshop, even though it's more about repertoire, when you're in the workshop we're like, we learn this tune and we learn this tune and we learn... So we might learn maybe three tunes a day or maybe one tune, depending on the levels of people. And always within one of those workshops or classes or camps, there will always be questions. Once one person asks, "Do I have enough tunes to start, to play in a session? Or can I sit there? Am I allowed to do this? Am I allowed to do that? Do you have to have this?" There's so many questions, and because there's so many unknowns, and they don't know the answers, they are terrified. And then when you're anxious and terrified, you probably do actions that you wouldn't normally do. Lesley Logan 8:02  You make mistakes because the nerves are taking away the ability to be present. Tara Connaghan 8:08  Yes, yeah, yeah. And then they start... Then things happen, and they're like, "Oh, and such-and-such gave out to me for doing something." And I think we've all been given out to. It's a natural sort of... If we go back to the animal kingdom, there's kind of a natural, "Look, you don't do that. You don't do that. Don't do this," and you're kind of almost like a cat would do to its kitten. Lesley Logan 8:31  Yeah. Tara Connaghan 8:33  It's not that you're trying to say you shouldn't be... There's no kind of "you shouldn't" or whatever. But it's just kind of a, "No, no, no. Wait this," or "Wait for your turn," or "Wait to this." So it's kind of the natural... You're teaching the natural language of your culture, whatever. But that's normally given to children. Lesley Logan 8:51  Right. Tara Connaghan 8:52  It's very hard to give that to an adult who is your peer in terms of age, but not your peer in terms of skill, and that's a really difficult thing to do. So Irish people are very, very bad at giving feedback. They don't want to offend anybody, so we just say nothing, and then things can blister away and fester. Lesley Logan 9:11  I wonder if anyone is good at giving feedback very often because we're not trained at that. You don't go to college and learn, "Okay, in your life, if you have to give feedback to someone, this is the way you give it." That's not anything anyone's trained in. So if your culture is more, "We're just not going to say anything at all," it's just going to fester and blister, and we'll just put you over there in the corner. Other people will just tell you what it is and honestly cramp someone's spirit. You could just step on a flower. So I think we all have to learn how to be better at feedback, but it's different when students are learning because when you're younger, yes, there are still personality types that are putting pressure on themselves to be perfect. No matter your age, there are different levels to learning. Correct? Because whether or not you are learning Irish music or anything, every learning has a level. Tara Connaghan 10:02  I mean, there's the four stages of learning. So there's when you're totally unconsciously aware. You're completely unaware. So when you were maybe two, your mother tied your shoelaces. You didn't tie your shoes. You didn't even know that shoelaces existed. They're just not in your conscious realm at all. And then maybe as you get... maybe four or five, you're like, "Oh, hold on a second. My mother's tying my shoes. I want to try that." You start getting, "I want to try it." Then there's that stage where you're conscious of it, but you realize how bad you are at it. So your competency level is pretty poor. You're incompetent, but you're consciously incompetent, so you know you're shit at it. Lesley Logan 10:45  That's so hard because it's so frustrating. Tara Connaghan 10:48  So frustrating. You're like, "I can't..." Sorry, I don't know if I can curse. Lesley Logan 10:52  You can curse on this show. Totally. Tara Connaghan 10:56  So you're so frustrated, as you say, and so many people give up at that stage because they're like, "I can't do this. No, I'm out." That sounds like me with surfing or certain things. I'm just like, "No, I can't do this. I'm out." Lesley Logan 11:10  I understand that. With ADHD, I can be okay being bad at something, but I have to get good at it quickly. Otherwise, I'm out. My attention span's not there. But it is interesting. We see that in people in all learning things, right? I teach people how to teach Pilates, and you can see even if they're already teaching Pilates, when they discover that there is stuff that they didn't know they didn't know, then there's a frustration that no one told them, "I didn't know this." But you can't be told, no one is expert at everything when they're new. You just start new. Okay, so then we're pissed off, we're frustrated, and if we don't quit, what happens next? Tara Connaghan 11:52  So if we don't quit and we keep going, then we start getting to a place where we're more competent. We've got a bit more competency. There's a big range within that. You're starting to get competent, and then you grow up to being much more competent, and you're consciously aware that you're competent. So it's maybe when you're six or seven and you're still tying the shoelaces. You can tie them, but it takes a bit of... You're still focusing on it. That takes a huge amount of energy, so it's a very exhausting stage where you're focusing on, "I have to tie the shoe. I have to do this loop and that loop." And your fingers are just faltering at it. The same with playing an instrument. You're kind of like, "I have to watch my left finger..." Lesley Logan 12:42  "...this thing, and then breathe, and then this one." You're still talking yourself through it. Yes.  Tara Connaghan 12:46  Or even driving. "I have to put my foot here, and I have to look at the clutch. I have to put on my seatbelt before all of that, and I have to look in the mirror." I have to do this. There's so many things. Your brain is still running through the process of how to do it. Then you get to the last stage, which is you're competent, but you're unconsciously competent. So it's totally, did you remember tying your shoelaces this morning? No. You just did it. It becomes ingrained so that you don't even know that you're doing it anymore, but you can do it. The same with playing the fiddle. I'm thinking of something else because it's unconscious. It's already in the muscle memory of my fingers. It's in the muscle memory of my brain, my elbows, my whole body. My body does it, and then I can focus on, not something else, but something like, the next level, which is, "How do I do it better? How do I do the intricacies?" You're listening and going, "Oh, such-and-such did that. I might do that." You're listening for something else. Lesley Logan 13:54  Yeah, you can take more in. My husband's a musician. That's not me, but I can attribute it to things in my world. I retook a workshop I've taken from this person before, and I thought I was just going to sit there and get reminded of a few quotes I liked from them. Then they said something, and I was like, "What? What is that?" And it was just like, "Oh, I didn't know the thing before that. It wasn't ingrained in me, so I couldn't even pick up on this if I wanted to." It was always there, but I didn't have the capacity to hear it or see it or understand it because I just had to get the muscle memory there so that nuance could even stand out. Tara Connaghan 14:35  And that takes years. We're in such a culture that everything is convenient. It's quick. Everything's fast. But I don't think there's anything that can replace just time of learning and putting the time in. Lesley Logan 14:52  Tara, how do you help people do that, though? Because obviously what you do is so unique. But however you help them, we all have to understand that it does take time, and it's hard for adults because there's so much unconscious competence happening because we're in our life. We can drive home without even realizing it. There's just things that we do. It scares the fuck out of me every time. I'm like, "How did I get here? Whoa." How do you remind adults to be patient to go through the different stages? Tara Connaghan 15:18  It's not easy. None of us like it for anything. I got a sewing machine. I am crap at sewing, because I never did it in school. I did woodwork instead. It just takes it. I just have to remind people it may only be five minutes per day, and then supplement it with a couple of maybe intense weekends or an intense week where you really focus on it, almost like 12-hour days. That really supplements it. But you need the five minutes per day, five to 10 minutes per day. I think, really helps people. Lesley Logan 15:53  Okay, let's dive into that because I think people think, "Oh, I'll just do this on my day off." But if you just do several hours on one day, it's almost... Do you think it's better if they were to do five to 10 minutes per day for six to seven days is better than one day for two hours? Tara Connaghan 16:10  Absolutely, 1,000%. Lesley Logan 16:12  And why? Do we know why? Tara Connaghan 16:15  There are actually studies that show that because you're building up the muscle memory. You don't build it up in one go. You build it up every day. You don't wash your teeth just once a week. Lesley Logan 16:27  Right. Right. Tara Connaghan 16:28  You wash them every day because ifLesley Logan 16:30  You washed your teeth for two hours once a week, it wouldn't even make up for it. Even though it's like three times the amount you should brush your teeth, it doesn't even make the difference. Tara Connaghan 16:38  No, it's not going to make the difference because the plaque is already there. It would be too hard to remove it. That's just what it is. And five to 10 minutes, that's nothing. Lesley Logan 16:47  Right. I think that's the hard part because people go, "That's nothing. So does it even matter?" Tara Connaghan 16:53  Yeah. So, tomorrow... I'm learning the concertina as well. I do play the fiddle. I've played the fiddle for almost 40 years, but I have a concertina, which is this little kind of hexagon-shaped instrument. I normally have it at my desk, but I'm not at my desk. I'm actually in New York. Lesley Logan 17:10  Cool. What's a concertina? I gotta look this up. I need a visual. Lesley Logan 17:14  Concertina. Lesley Logan 17:16  Concertina.  Tara Connaghan 17:17  Yeah, so, hexagon-shaped. Lesley Logan 17:21  This is... Oh, that's cool. For everyone who's not Googling this while they're driving, please don't. First of all, they're not cheap. It's like an accordion, but a hexagon has six or seven sides. Tara Connaghan 17:40  Your fingers are working from both sides. Lesley Logan 17:43  Yes. Tara Connaghan 17:44  Yes. So it's very petite and dainty. It's a real kind of woman's... Lesley Logan 17:50  It's so beautiful. An accordion is not sexy. Nothing's sexy about an accordion. This is quite cute. This looks like the Victorian era. Tara Connaghan 17:56  Yes. It's very ornate, and designs in it. So I'm learning that now. I had it right beside my computer because you're, especially if you're doing something, and then you need kind of like coffee beans to refresh your brain. So I used to have that, and I'd play for five or 10 minutes. I didn't have access to my concertina for about 15 years because I had lent it to somebody else, and they forgot to give it back to me. Eventually I got it back recently, and I started playing for about five minutes whenever I got bored, well, not bored, but my brain is overworked and overwhelmed and I needed to deep-dive into it for five minutes. The first day I was like, "Oh my god, I can't even remember where the notes are." I was like one-finger typing. Lesley Logan 18:45  I understand. Yeah. Tara Connaghan 18:47  Until, after a couple of weeks, he came down to the office and said, "That actually sounded quite good." Lesley Logan 18:55  Because it came back to you because you just had it. I love what you said, that you had it right next to you. For anything we're wanting to do, my listeners know I was studying the tarot, and unfortunately it got away from me because I had the app, which is great because when I was traveling I couldn't have the cards, but I'm a physical kind of person. So when I was at home, having the cards and the book at my desk, while I'm waiting for the Zoom call to start, I could just read a page. Having those little doses of information actually allows you to take it in. Whereas it's a lot, especially when you're in the incompetence, it's a lot in the brain to do it and you don't retain as much. I'm studying the science of learning right now, I'm really interested in this, and there's a whole lot we have to do self-reflection and self-quizzing. That's actually the best when you're learning anything. You're not waiting for the test to come where you cram, or in music, I guess, the concert to come where you perform. You have to kind of test your skills on your own and then learn from what you don't know. Tara Connaghan 0:00  Yeah, and I think for joining a session as well, you have to learn to play with other people, and that can be a big learning curve as well, because it might be that you've just started an instrument, so this is totally new. You've got a new instrument. Oh my god. I'm still trying to figure out where the notes are. I'm still trying to figure all this out. You're still kind of incompetent. And you need to learn also how to play with other people if you want to join a session. Lesley Logan 20:26  Yeah. Tara Connaghan 20:27  I think those kinds of camps are a great place to do that. They can be big sessions, so you can kind of hide behind people for a while until you get a bit more competency in playing with others because it's a really different skill, being able to listen to yourself while listening to others.Lesley Logan 20:45  How do you, how do you get the... Because that's a bit of courage and bravery, to go from playing by yourself in your home to, okay, I'm going to take this. What advice do you have for people who... There's embarrassment, there's nervousness. How do you get over yourself enough to go? Because I'm someone who'd be a fly on the wall until I'm shoved off the cliff. That's kind of me. But how do you get yourself ready?Tara Connaghan 21:06  I think it's a good idea, if you're learning from a class situation where you've got classmates, then maybe your teacher might have a once-a-year or once-a-month or once-a-week session where they encourage you to come, if you want to join a session. It's a very gentle process where you're coming into it in a very gentle way. What I would definitely not recommend you do is go into a session where there are high-level musicians who need something totally different. So if you're a beginner musician, you want to be feeling kind of a belonging. You want to sense this sense of community. A high-level musician who's been playing for 40 years, they already have that. What they want is challenge, and you're not going to challenge them if you're a newcomer. So don't be afraid, or don't be... not afraid, but don't be putting yourself in that position. Don't take it personally, I think is what I'm trying to say.Lesley Logan 22:01  Well, this makes a lot of sense to me because in life, if you have a skill or there's something you're doing, it's really good to have people who are your equals, so your classmates, like you mentioned. And then there's the people who are below you, in a different level. Playing with people below you builds your confidence because, whoa, I'm not like that anymore, right?Tara Connaghan 22:19  Yes.Lesley Logan 22:20  Playing with people who are at the same level as you makes you feel comfortable and, okay, I've got my people. But typically, if you're going to play with people who are above you, you'd be paying to play with them. You're in their workshop or you're in their thing because they need people above them to challenge them and people like them who understand what they need. And if they're going to have people below them, it's because they're teaching them.Tara Connaghan 22:43  Exactly. And I think it's funny that you should pick that up so quickly because that seems to be something that we've... I suppose we're so close to it, you can't see the wood from the trees when you're so in the middle of it. And so it's only recently that I figured, from conversations actually, that's more of a teaching environment when we're in a session with people that are below us. And that's a very different thing. That's quite draining because you're giving a lot of energy, and you're not.Lesley Logan 23:10  Getting yourself filled up. There have to be sessions for the person who's more of the expert to be filled up. I get that totally. I teach a lot of students, and I have no problems doing that. But when I am in the workshop to learn, if people bother me to understand, I'm like, "Oh, I'm not in that brain. I'm here." So I find I'm very particular about the places I go to learn in or be challenged in because I want to stay in that frame. And if you are wanting me to teach you in that space, I'm a little bit... Okay, I've got to get my cup filled.Tara Connaghan 23:45  I suppose I would love to be able to say that certain things in certain situations... I think we are quite welcoming.Lesley Logan 23:54  Yeah, and that's the hard part because I don't want to stamp on anyone's flowers or anyone's willingness to learn. And I also think they don't understand what they don't... You know what I mean? They don't know that they're just asking a question. And you are an expert, and you are someone who usually teaches. But there has to be a space where you can go be yourself and be challenged.Tara Connaghan 24:13  Yeah, yeah. I think so. I have found that some people like to shame skilled musicians for having that, and I'm trying to call that out and go, "No, I'm not happy that that is something that should be definitely there."Lesley Logan 24:26  I think that's interesting, right? What an awareness we can have because it's fine to have the need to have the space to be in your creative space or to not be in teaching mode, to be in play mode or creativity mode. And also, how do we remind people of the rules of the space without hurting their feelings or pissing them off or making them feel like they're stupid? I don't know if you have those in Ireland, but people have these signs in their house, like, "In this house, we believe in science," and things like that. There, we believe in these... When you walk into the space, if these-level musicians are playing, you're free to watch, but please write down all questions and save them for your... You know what I mean? It's okay to be in their presence, of course, and be inspired. But this is when you're allowed to ask the questions. I guess it goes back to the etiquette. It's like having rules for... If you're a house that has no shoes on or shoes off, it's kind of like that.Tara Connaghan 25:25  Yeah. I suppose it's always being one of those environments that is very spontaneous. So I think when you have a spontaneous environment, the thought of rules makes it really kind of...Lesley Logan 25:38  I understand. Yeah. Well, Tanya Dalton, we had her on the show, and she talked about when there are boundaries, everyone can be more creative and have more fun.Tara Connaghan 25:50  Yes.Lesley Logan 25:51  She explained it, and you guys, I'll put the link in the show notes because I actually don't remember which episode number she is. But she said if there's a school playground and there's no fence, and the teachers tell the kids, "Hey, stay close to the school building to play," you're going to have some kids who literally don't leave the wall. They just play next to the wall. You're going to have some kids who play in the middle, and then you're going to have some kids who are going all the way to the edge because they want to see how far they can go. But if you put the fence up and you say you just have to stay in the fence, then all of a sudden everyone can play. So I guess it's interesting because some people don't want to have rules on things to affect the creativity, but they'll have more creativity if they just have some set rules.Tara Connaghan 26:35  Yeah, and I think everybody feels safer as well then if there are some sort of boundaries. Especially newcomers can feel safe because they know, "Right, well, this is maybe not the session for me," or "This one is the session for me."Lesley Logan 26:47  Yeah, because I'm the girl who'd be next to the wall because I don't understand. I don't want to fuck it up, and I don't want to embarrass myself, and I don't want to make someone mad. So I would be the person who doesn't even join any session, even the ones at my level, because I wouldn't... So I think that's where it's important. No matter what the thing is that we're joining or learning, we have to understand the etiquette, but also the people above us have to define that so that we can.Tara Connaghan 27:11  Yeah, yeah, I guess. Lesley Logan 27:12  Or at least the host of the place. Tara Connaghan 27:15  Yeah, yeah, yeah.Lesley Logan 27:17  So Tara, your enthusiasm and joy for what you do is so contagious. I really do love it. How did you get to keep your passion for this? Because I have to imagine that in the 40 years of playing music, Irish music hasn't been famous for all 40 years. How did you keep it going? What did you do? Then you're in this new space where you have this podcast. I guess people listening to this have been doing things for 20 or 30 years, and sometimes they wonder if they should keep doing that. Is it worth doing? How do they know when to stop? What advice do you have for that?Tara Connaghan 27:55  I did have a time in my early 30s, which is almost 20 years ago. god, sorry.Lesley Logan 28:03  It's all right. I just looked at pictures of myself at 25, and I was like, "Whoa, that was a long time ago."Tara Connaghan 28:09  When I arrived in New York a couple of days ago, I had a suitcase, and I was trying to walk up the stairs, carry it up the stairs. And this young fella, I think he was probably about 25 or something, said, "Do you want me to help?" And I was like, "No, no, I've got a friend coming. She's going to help me as well." And he said, "Oh, if this was my mother, I would hope somebody would help me." And I was like, "Oh my god!"Lesley Logan 28:27  He was being so sweet, and also...Tara Connaghan 28:32  The realization. But of course I could be his mother. But I don't even have kids.Lesley Logan 28:36  Tara, I understand. I have friends my age who have kids who are in high school, so I was like, "I could have a high schooler." Tara Connaghan 28:44  Yeah, I could totally have somebody who's gone through college, finished college. Anyway, let's not go there. So in my 30s, I did have a bit of a, wow, I thought I would be somewhere different. I thought things would feel different. There was that kind of realization: Is this it? There was always this kind of, I thought it was going to be different, and I thought it was going to be amazing. I went through maybe not a spiral downwards, but I was just lost for a while. And then, it was kind of a spiral to a couple of things. I had somebody who was really, really close to me pass away, and that person held my future dreams. So that totally took the carpet from underneath me. I was like, "Well, what do I do now?" It was totally the end now. And I think when you get to rock bottom, you go, "What are the things that are actually really important?" That's what I had to do. I just had to go food, water... I mean, we're talking basic. I think I had probably experienced a bit of PTSD at the time, post-traumatic stress disorder, because I couldn't plan ahead. All I could think of was the next hour and what are the basic needs that I need. So food, water, shelter, friendship. And I thought, "You know what? Music is what fills my cup." And so I had to figure out what was the thing that fills my cup? I have loads of interests. What was the one thing that I really wanted? And I think when you get to rock bottom, things become so clear. I'm not advocating for getting to rock bottom, but if you want clarity, you will find it down there.Lesley Logan 30:37  I think years ago I heard someone say you can't take someone's rock bottom away. You can give advice, but also, sometimes we don't learn what we need to until we are there. Some of us just need to clear everything away. I have to say, I am so grateful for the rock bottom I had because it was, "Okay, I've got nothing. So if I'm going to add to this nothing, it better be something I want." I don't want to add. It was the first time I had a clean slate. I don't want to add stuff I don't want. So I agree with you.Tara Connaghan 31:11  Declutter.Lesley Logan 31:12  Yeah.Tara Connaghan 31:13  It really declutters the mind, and it really focuses on just the important things. Music was the thing that, it's almost like the light at the end of the tunnel, but it was just something that I had that was present, that was just filling my cup, as you said. So I kept doing that. Not that I was doing it all the time, but when I needed that sort of, because I went home to my parents' house, and I slept for about six months. I didn't go outside the door. I remember having relations saying, "Oh, you can't do that." And I was like, "Please don't ever tell anybody that they can't take the time that they need to recover because I needed that time." It took a good few years, but I needed the six months of complete and utter sleep. Then it took another couple of years before I was able to get back to being a normal person again. I'd say I'm a huge amount stronger because of it, and just more clear. So.Lesley Logan 32:12  Yeah.Tara Connaghan 32:12  Music is just... yeah. And I think every time I'm in a session, the other thing is if I'm playing for money, it's a job.Lesley Logan 32:20  Yeah.Tara Connaghan 32:22  So I kind of removed that. Even though I still get paid, I removed the, "Oh, this one is a gig." It's, "I'm going to go and I'm going to play music. Fantastic. If somebody gives me money at the end, great." Sometimes I want to make sure that it's good money at the end, but I looked at it differently. It wasn't for the money. It was for the music, and then somebody gives me money as well, and that's great.Lesley Logan 32:46  I appreciate you sharing that journey because I think we all look at other people and go, "Oh my goodness, they must have loved this their whole life," and not realize that there are parts of their lives where they loved it, but they didn't get up for six months. Everyone is on an up-and-down journey that hopefully always ends up, but it's going to have its own nuances. And if we don't take the time we need to find what fills our cup, then I don't know that we get to enjoy it. I feel like life is worth enjoying. Yes, sometimes we get paid for things we love, but also we should do things because we love them.Tara Connaghan 33:26  Yeah, totally. So I think that was how I got out of that sort of, "I'm doing it for the money." I don't know if you've ever read Big Magic.Lesley Logan 33:37  Obsessed. Great book.Tara Connaghan 33:39  Fantastic.Lesley Logan 33:39  I'm not sure I agree with her in the more recent years of life, but I love that book. So, everyone must, required reading. So good. Required reading.Tara Connaghan 33:51  Yeah. It just gives so much freedom to your creativity as well. It's like, "Oh yeah, that's so cool." It's like it's a muse. You're the host of a creative idea, and you entertain it, or eventually it'll just go, "Look, I'm an idea, and I need to be created. So if you're not going to create me, somebody else will have to do it." Such a great idea.Lesley Logan 34:14  You guys, if you're wondering what is she saying, you have to go read the book. It's, ideas want to be born, it's Elizabeth Guilbert, I believe that's her name. She wrote Eat, Pray, Love, and she even shares that she still worked as a professor even after she wrote that book, even after it was a bestseller, even after it became a movie. It was years before she thought, "Okay, I can just be a writer for a living." I think that's a really important lesson for all of us who are doing something we're passionate about because the pressure you put on it changes the joy you get out of it, and also what you create.Tara Connaghan 34:50  Yeah. It's too intimate to be putting pressure on it because I did lose it. So I put my hands on my heart because I feel like it's here. The music, when I play it, it's here. I suppose maybe because it is a fiddle as well, or a violin, but it's here anyway. It's something so close, and I have lost it. I did lose it for a while, and if I lost it again, I don't know if I could survive that second loss.Lesley Logan 35:17  Yeah. Thanks for sharing that. I think that's really important. Tara, you're so fun. We're going to take a brief break and find out where people can find you, follow you, take sessions with you.Tara Connaghan 35:26  Yeah.Lesley Logan 35:28  All right, Tara. Where do you hang out? They can listen to your podcast. Can anyone play Irish music? Tell us everything.Tara Connaghan 35:36  They can listen to it on Spotify, Amazon, Apple, wherever. It's called In Tune with Tradition. There's also the subtitle, Perspectives on Session Etiquette and Irish Traditional Music. There is a website called Session Etiquette. I also have a tour kind of thing coming up, a private session experience in September 2026, at the end of September. We've got a couple of places left on it. It will be in Ireland. Brilliant. I can't wait.Lesley Logan 36:07  I feel like September in Ireland is probably good weather. Tara Connaghan 36:10  Sometimes. Actually, do you know when it's been really good weather? It's April. April for the last three or four years has been really good, really dry, sunny. Then the rest of summer's awful, and around September sometimes it can pick up again.Lesley Logan 36:23  Feels like Vegas weather, but probably different. April is so beautiful here. Don't take me away, but the summer? Get me out.Tara Connaghan 36:32  I'm in New York, and it was really, really hot for the last couple of days. Today is nice. It's just perfect.Lesley Logan 36:38  Yeah. That's an interesting place to be when it's too hot. Okay, we've talked a lot about learning and things like that. You've given us so much already, but what bold, executable, intrinsic, or targeted steps do you have for people to be it till they see it?Tara Connaghan 36:52  I think they should listen to my podcast, number one. The reason I'm in New York is because it's an award-winning podcast. It has just won some awards.Lesley Logan 37:01  Get out. Congratulations. That's amazing!Tara Connaghan 37:06  Yay! So, anyway, but more actionable steps: I think life is short. Just pick the thing that fills your cup and go for it.Lesley Logan 37:15  Yeah.Tara Connaghan 37:16  If that's Irish music, fantastic. If it's not, do the thing that makes you really, really just gives you so much joy and fills your cup because otherwise you'll always be trying to fill your cup with something that can't fill, can't do it.Lesley Logan 37:31  I agree. I think that's so true. Oh my gosh, congratulations on your podcast. That's incredible, you guys. That's not an easy thing to do, especially with a new podcast, so way to go, Tara. I agree. I was just watching a show, and it's clear there are people on the show who don't have anything else. They don't have something that fills their cup. My husband's listening to somebody, and they're... If you don't have something that's a hobby, something that's creative, friends and family, and work that gives you purpose, if you don't have those three things, f you take one of those away, you put too much pressure on the other things, and they're never going to give you the tripod. You're going to fall over. So I feel like that's really important for today. I think we all need that information. Lesley Logan 38:15  You guys, go listen to Tara's award-winning podcast. Go listen to it, and go figure out if it's... If you don't know what's filling your cup, maybe it's time to start trying new things and be consciously incompetent for a little bit. It'll get better. Share this with a friend who needs to hear it. And until next time, Be It Till You See It. Lesley Logan 38:33  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 39:16  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 39:21  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 39:25  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 39:32  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 39:36  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In episode 501, Tony Arsenal and Jesse Schwamb dig into the parable of the watchful doorkeeper in Mark 13:32–37 — four tightly packed verses that Jesus uses to call his servants to alertness before his return. But this isn't a passage about spiritual caffeine and white-knuckling your way through the Christian life. Tony and Jesse unpack what "stay awake" actually means through the lens of Reformed theology: active, differentiated stewardship in the ordinary means of grace, faithful vocation in every sphere of life, and a corporate ecclesial readiness that belongs to the whole church, not just the individual. This episode reorients the familiar language of watchfulness away from anxiety and date-setting toward the sturdy, quiet confidence of a believer who knows who they are, whose house they serve in, and why that identity drives everything. Key Takeaways "Stay awake" is a command about identity, not performance. The doorkeeper doesn't do what he does to become the doorkeeper — he's already the doorkeeper. Christians are watchful because of who they already are in Christ, not to earn or secure that status. Vocation is not optional waiting — it's active, differentiated stewardship. Christ's ascension corresponds to the master's departure, and the interim period is characterized by each servant being given his own work, reflecting Calvin's doctrine of vocation and the Reformed insistence that the Christian life between the ascension and the Parousia is not passive. Watchfulness is corporate, not merely individual. The church, as the pillar and buttress of truth, is called to a collective readiness. In Presbyterian polity, every act of a valid church jurisdiction is an act of the whole church — meaning each member has a genuine stake in the faithfulness of the whole body. The ordinary means of grace are the means of watchfulness. Prayer, the Word, the sacraments, fellowship, and sitting under preaching are not supplementary to vigilance — they are the very instruments by which God preserves and prepares his people. Two errors must be avoided: speculative date-setting and practical indifference. Uncertainty about the hour of Christ's return is neither an invitation to calculate nor an excuse for carelessness. It is the very grounds for sustained, ordinary faithfulness. The warnings of Scripture are themselves a means of grace. Following Westminster Confession of Faith 17, the sobering warning of verse 36 is not a threat to the elect's final security but a pastoral instrument by which God preserves his people in living, active faith. The rooster-crowing language of Mark 13 anticipates the Passion narrative. The clustering of watchfulness, the night watches, and the crowing rooster in this chapter echoes the Garden of Gethsemane and Peter's denial — a connection particularly resonant given Mark's traditional association with Peter's testimony. Explanatory Paragraphs Vocation and the Active Interim One of the most theologically rich observations in this episode is the way Jesse frames the master's departure as corresponding directly to the ascension of Christ. The key phrase in verse 34 — "each one his task" — is not incidental detail. It reflects the Reformed doctrine of vocation at full strength: every believer, in every sphere of influence, has been given particular work to do on behalf of the Lord during Christ's bodily absence. This is not a passive waiting room existence. It is an active, differentiated stewardship that is deeply personal and yet accountable to the master who owns the whole house. The ascension does not mean abandonment, and the parable makes that clear by the fact that the servants are left in charge — trusted, commissioned, and expected to be about their work when the master returns. The Church's Corporate Readiness A standout contribution of this episode is Tony's move from the individual to the ecclesial. Drawing directly from OPC Book of Church Order, Chapter 3, he argues that church power is not vested in officers alone but in the whole body of believers. This means that when any legitimate church jurisdiction acts — whether in discipline, instruction, or governance — it is the whole church acting. The parable's doorkeeper is therefore not just a figure for personal piety; he is a figure for the corporate watchfulness that belongs to every member of the household. Tony's point is that a Christian who is disconnected from his local church, indifferent to what is being taught and decided elsewhere in the visible church, is not simply failing at individual holiness — he is failing to be awake in the fullest sense the parable intends. The Ordinary Means of Grace as Watchfulness Itself Perhaps the most pastorally stabilizing insight of the episode is Jesse's observation that watchfulness is not some extraordinary spiritual heroism layered on top of normal Christian life — it is normal Christian life. The ordinary means of grace are ordinary precisely because they are the regular, appointed instruments through which God delivers his grace to his people. Prayer, the Word, the sacraments, and fellowship are not preparatory disciplines that get you ready for the real work of being watchful. They are the work. Tony reinforces this by noting that a person who persistently refuses the ordinary means of grace is not simply being unwise — they are declining the offer of God's grace, which is a far more serious matter than mere spiritual lethargy. Memorable Quotes The doorkeeper doesn't do what he does to become the doorkeeper in this parable. He's already the doorkeeper, and the fact that he's the doorkeeper explains why he's given certain responsibilities and certain commands. That's the way it is for us as Christians. - Tony Arsenal The warnings of Scripture are themselves among the ordinary means by which God preserves His people... the sobering possibility of being found asleep functions pastorally not to threaten the loss of the elect, but to press home the seriousness of watchfulness as the fruit and evidence of genuine faith." - Jesse Schwamb When I go into a patient encounter at the hospital, or when I pull up to a red light, or when I order a sandwich at McDonald's and they get it wrong — I bring with me the fact that I am a Christian, the fact that I am a servant of Christ, that I am a doorkeeper in the house of the living God. - Tony Arsenal Full Transcript Jesse Schwamb: [00:01:00] Welcome to episode 501 of The Reformed Brotherhood. I'm Jesse.  Tony Arsenal: And I'm Tony, and this is the podcast with ears to hear. Hey, brother.  Jesse Schwamb: Hey, brother. Well, we've got some more kingdom teaching on tap right from the mouth of Jesus. We're going through all the parables, if you haven't been tracking with us so far, and we're finding ourselves in Mark chapter 13. And as J- only Jesus can do, packs four verses with all kinds of rich, robust theology, and it's all in this kind of strange setting, actually. A guy heads out of town. He hands his servants the keys. He tells the doorman, "Hey, watch the place," with the same kind of e- enigmatic and vague energy that I imagine, like, your cable internet provider gives you when they give you an arrival time between now and Friday. And then Jesus lists literally, like, every possible hour He might show up, evening, midnight, rooster clock, dawn. And all of this is for His glory and for our benefits. [00:02:00] And we're gonna somehow try to see if we can take all of these four verses, which are so jam-packed, and fit them into our conversation. That's our challenge, and it's gonna be yours to listen to. So welcome to this episode.  Affirm or Deny Segment Jesse Schwamb: But before we do all of that, it is everybody's favorite time. Well, except for Wicked Scriptures. That is really everybody's favorite time. Second favorite time is where we find something in our lives, Tony, that we either affirm with because it's awesome, it's exciting, want everybody to know about it, or conversely, we deny against something because it's just not that great. We don't like it. Don't waste your time with it. So everybody longs to know, in this conversation, are you affirming with or denying against?  Tony Affirms Psalm Music Tony Arsenal: I'm affirming something tonight. Uh, the listener might remember, I don't know, maybe a month and a half back, I affirmed a particular setting of Psalm 63 in the Trinity Psalter Hymnal. And as I was kind of, you know, looking around for, I wanted to find a track to sort of maybe add to the end of the episode just to sort of, [00:03:00] like, put a point on that. I stumbled on, um, a song, singer, I don't know if you'd call him a songwriter, 'cause he's mostly just writing song- psalms. But he's, he's arranging them. He's, you know, writing the guitar line for it or whatever. Uh, his name is Matthew David Montgomery. Uh, I don't know that you would know him from anywhere, but he's on, um- Apple Music, YouTube, Spotify, wherever. Uh, he does an arrangement of O God Show Mercy to Us, which is Psalm 63, uh, setting A, I believe, in the Trinity Psalter hymnal. But, um, it's, it's in other hymnals, other psalters, uh, under the same name with the same tune. Uh, he has a beautiful singing voice. He does a lot of, uh, what's typically called, like, finger style, uh, guitar picking, uh, which is just very melodious and very gentle and soft. Um, it would be a great addition to, like, your morning devotional time to just, like, pick a psalm that he sings, that he's, he's recorded. Um, you can get most of his stuff for free on, uh, YouTube, or again, if you have Apple [00:04:00] Music or Spotify, it's available there. Uh, again, his name is Matthew David Montgomery, and he's got several, uh, several albums. He has ones that specifically is psalms called Psalms for Singing. Um, and then he has a couple finger style hymn songs, uh, hymn albums that are like, you know, like I don't know, more modern hymns, He Will Hold Me Fast, Only Holy God- Right kinda like Getty, um, Getty-style and City Alight songs, those kinds of sort of that complex of modern hymnody. Um, but he's excellent, and it's excellent theologically rich sound music. Um, I haven't listened to everything, but he seems like he's in kind of that, uh, sort of vein of worship music production producer peoples, um, that are just putting out good, accessible music. I know, like, a lot of small churches, uh, have in the past have had to resort to using tracks like this actually to sort of lead their vocal music. Um, that would be something to think [00:05:00] about. It's simple. It's arranged in a straightforward fashion. Many times it's arranged according to the psalters, which are by, almost by definition are designed for congregational singing. So it's good. It's great. Use it for family worship, listen to in your car. I don't know, workout music. I don't know if you would work out to this, but I guess you could try. Um- I love it ... but yeah, I usually, I usually listen to, um, Oh God, Show Mercy To Us probably, like, once a day. I listen to it usually in the morning to kinda center my day and get my head in the right space. Um, but yeah, it's just good stuff. David, um, Mi- Matthew David Montgomery, uh, the specific one was Psalms for Singing, but, um, all of his stuff is really great.  Jesse Schwamb: All right.  Jesse Affirms Hymn Devotional Jesse Schwamb: People are gonna think we're totally conspiring now, but I promise we're not. This is just how our minds work in collective fashion, that we never speak about stuff together. So my affirmation is right in the same vein. So I'm actually excited about this one because it might just be the golden age of daily books about, like, theological meditation. It might be. And [00:06:00] so this one is really good, and I'm super stoked because I'm kind of on the cusp of this one because I got an advance copy of this book, and it's just out now. It's called Awake My Soul, and it's daily readings, 365 hymn texts taken throughout church history from the Middle Ages to 1900. And each hymn for the day includes s- a suggested tune and then, like, a short historical slash, like, theological meditation. The beauty of this- Wow One, I'm learning all kinds of new hymns that are not my favorite. Two, you can either read them or... There's no music included in this, except that in the back there's an index that will give you... There's, like, a little code every day. This is like a s- it's your own treasure hunt. There's a little code on each day, and if you take that code and go back to the end of the book, what you'll find there is names of popular hymns or songs that you do know the, the tune to, and then you can take that same tune and use the same poetic meter that the hymn is in that you don't know, and guess what? You can actually sing it. So you're prepared every day to sing [00:07:00] music and to sing brand-new music with great confidence and high conviction. So this is, like, the bridge here. Go listen to some good music. And I would say if you wanna buy this, because it is brand new, go to hymnworks.com. It's by P&R Publishing. That's where you'll find the best price. It's, like, 25 bucks. It's a beautiful clothbound, like, handsome two-color printing with a ribbon. And also Passion Week and Advent are clearly marked and can be adapted for use in any calendar year. So there you go. Like, it's the double-barreled affirmation for good singing, good hymns. By the way, for all the brothers and sisters of exclusive psalmody, we see you raising your hands in the back. Actually, if you're doing exclusive psalmody, you're in the front. So we see you in the front, and this- And you're  Tony Arsenal: probably not raising your hands.  Jesse Schwamb: You're definitely not raising your hand. We see your hands  Tony Arsenal: in your pockets. Jesse Schwamb: We see you standing there  Tony Arsenal: stoically.  Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. We see your hands in your pockets, never coming out. That's fine. Yeah. Uh, this book also is for you because so much of it is actually just, uh, the psalms adapted for kind of [00:08:00] more, when I say contemporary, between the Middle Ages and 1900 worship. So, uh, there you go. I think this is lovely. Uh, we didn't plan it, but you've got two great resources for daily living and daily singing.  Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  Building Daily Liturgy Tony Arsenal: And, you know, I think, um, there is sort of an element, and I'll be quick about this, where we are set up... We have such a, like, a dearth of riches in terms of accessibility to musical worship. And y- you know, used to think of it as, like, daily devotions, but I think the more, I think the more accurate and I think a, a more theologically rich term is a daily liturgy. Right. Um, you know, with books like Be Thou My Vision, um, by I think it's David Gibson, or, you know, he has, like, the Christmas version and the, um, I think there's an Easter version of it where it really walks you through a, a full daily liturg- liturgy with, like, a call to worship and a, a confession of sin. And, [00:09:00] um, and you could take these resources, whether it's an album like David, uh, or, like, um, David Michael Montgomery. That's a country singer, I think. Whatever the guy is that I recommend. I don't have his name in front of me. Uh, whether it's an album like that or whether it's- Right ... this resource Jesse's talking about, or like I've said before, like, just the trendy Psalter Hymnal app on your phone which will play the music for you and display the words. You can take this and there... I, I hate to say it this way because I know there's a lot of people that, that make good profitable use of sort of like evangelical, I would call it, like, fluffy devo kinda stuff. Uh, which ironically on my list of affirmations of things that are in the queue, there's, there's a devotional resource that even kinda falls into this category. Yeah, there is. But, um, there really is no good excuse for not having some sort of robust daily worship pattern. Right. Um, because you can, you can really make use of these resources to create a pretty cohesive, well put-together, pleasurable kind of [00:10:00] daily worship set or liturgy or experience, I don't know, whatever word you wanna slot in there. Um, a- and really get... Like, really just have an excellent experience out of it, really have good resources. So yeah, I'm, I'm on board. I think it's great. I would love to, I would love to be able to, uh, to take a look at that. So maybe next time we're in the same geographical location you'll have to show me. Jesse Schwamb: Oh, I'll bring it. We'll, we'll do it. It actually doubles as a hymnal because it's all indexed, so you can actually- Yeah ... just use it as a hymnal. I love books that give you two purposes. Oh, that's a double threat book right there. And that means, like, for the spaces taken up in your life and on your shelf it can do more than one thing. That's like having a kitchen appliance that, like, I don't know, is like an air fryer and it brews beer. Like, that's worth- Yeah ... the space all the time  Tony Arsenal: Yeah, I, I just recently found out that they make washers that are also dryers, and they're in the same machine, and- Wow.  Jesse Schwamb: That's transformative ... I  Tony Arsenal: would feel like a millionaire if I had one of those- Reading Mark 13 Parable Jesse Schwamb: 'cause- Well, speaking of [00:11:00] feeling like a millionaire, and I think what you challenge us with is settling in some patterns of daily worship and living for God, it just so happens that Jesus has some instruction for us in that same way- Nice ... in Mark chapter 13. So let me start beginning in verse 32. And if you're tracking along or keeping score at home and you've gone to this chapter, what you're probably gonna find is we're actually in the, the parable of the fig tree, or just at the end. But w- we're not gonna touch that one, not yet, so don't get too excited. We're actually coming right at the end of that. So picking up in verse 32: "But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone." Now, this is Jesus speaking: "See to it, keep on the alert, for you do not know when the appointed time will come. It's like a man away on a journey who, leaving his house and giving authority to his slaves, each one his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay awake. Therefore stay awake – for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the [00:12:00] evening, at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning – lest he come suddenly and find you sleeping. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake." Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  What Stay Awake Means Tony Arsenal: Yeah, it's a good, uh, it's a good parable. And, you know, this is covering a lot of the same ground as other parables that we've, uh, approached. I think what's a little bit, uh, unique or different about this one is that some of the, some of the cautions that we, um, brought out with the other parables, because they were actually longer and had more details, um, some of those cautions don't necessarily apply the same way here. Jesse Schwamb: Right.  Tony Arsenal: Right? We, we talked about the parable of the 10, of the 10 virgins, or the wise and foolish virgins, whatever you wanna call it, and we talked a lot about how this language of, like, stay awake seemed to be misapplied, uh, as, like, falling asleep is foolish. Because in that para- that particular parable, [00:13:00] um, both the wise and the foolish virgins fall asleep. It's not the falling asleep that was the problem, it was the being prepared, um, for the master's return. Uh, in that case, having the proper equipment, having your, you know, your lamps trimmed, your oil ready, all that stuff. In this parable, um, it really is about being awake. Like, being awake is the task. Yes. It's the specific command. That's right. And so our task tonight is to unpack a little bit about what it even means to be awake, what does this parable say to us about that. Um, but I, I think this one falls a little bit more in line with kind of what we maybe... I know this is weird to say. It falls a little bit more in line with what we've been talking about as a, sort of like a little bit of a legalistic approach to some of the parables. This one really does have, I th- I think, has more to do with, uh, the, the sort of production that Christians are expected to have.  Jesse Schwamb: Right.  Tony Arsenal: The, the, the holiness, the good works we're expected to have, and how [00:14:00] that plays into kind of our alertness, our, our fittedness for service, uh, and, and maybe ultimately even the way that we're rewarded in the last, the last times or in, in heaven. All of that kinda plays in here, and this is kind of like Mark's equivalent to sort of like the eschatological parables that we talked about at, at the end of Matthew in, you know, Matthew 25 and, and sort of that area  Jesse Schwamb: I totally agree.  Vocation and Stewardship Jesse Schwamb: I think this bad boy, even just the first verse, it's like a compact statement of the doctrine of vocation and providence all wrapped into one. And it's easy to read it and just kind of fly by that stuff and say, "Of course, I need to be aware of what's going on. I need to be aware of God's presence or seek Him in worship." All that's true, but there's a lot in this because, of course, the master's departure here corresponds clearly to Christ's ascension. There's like a real bodily absence that nonetheless does not amount to like abandonment. And then to your point, what I think starts to differentiate us from some of like the [00:15:00] other parables where we've been very careful about parsing this, has been this assignment, each his own work. It's reflecting like a really traditional like Reformed, I think, emphasis, even from like Calvin's doctrine of vocation, that the Christian life between the ascension and the Parousia is not one of like passive waiting, but there is like an active differentiated stewardship, and it's every believer. And even though it's just a sentence, there's like a lot of particularity in this to remind us that each one has a task, and that task is something that you should undertake on behalf and for the Lord  Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah, and this, um, the other element of this, um, that I think is interesting is, you know, we don't wanna, um We wanna be careful not to try to build entire theological, like edifices, edifices. I'm not sure which word is right. Edifice. We don't wanna build huge theological structures on top of like slight variations in words. And, and I know that, um, that can [00:16:00] sometimes be very popular in our circles and, and I'm, I s- absolutely support the grammatical historical interpretive method. I don't think it's the only el- only, you know, hermeneutic we should think about. But I definitely agree with the words matter and the meanings of the words matter. Right. But we can also go too far in, like, making an entire theological point hang on the particular choice of a verb pars- like a verb tense or mood or whatever. But I think it's interesting, um, w- the sort of what we might call the parable proper starts in verse 34, but in verse 33 it says, "Be on guard, keep awake, for you do not know when the time will come." That's not the parable. That's Christ giving a command to his immediate audience, and then I think vicariously therefore for us. When we get into the parable and it, and it says, uh, that the command for the doorkeeper, right? So the, he, he takes his servants, he puts his servants in charge, and I s- I take that to mean, [00:17:00] like, he leaves the house to them. Like, he leaves them to their task. They're, they're not, they're not having to report to anybody. They just manage the household- Right ... autonomously or independently. Um, each with his work, so there's this idea that, like, each of the servant has their own proper sort of realm of the house that they manage, right? The gardener's managing the garden, the, the house, you know, the, the, um, the, the person who's in charge of the money is managing that. And the doorkeeper, which is a particular role, his task, his charge, his, he is commanded to stay awake. Now, the phrase, the word for stay awake in verse 30, uh, 34 is not the same word that's used in verse 33. Now, I, I have not done the word study on this or, or the c- commentary work to know how significant that is, but we do affirm that the Holy Spirit inspires each individual word.  Jesse Schwamb: That's right.  Tony Arsenal: And I think we could make an argument that sometimes a word is just used, um, at least on a, on a [00:18:00] human level. It, it's just you don't wanna use the same word multiple times. Like, just like anyone writing any sort of pi- piece of work, you don't use the same word repetitively. You vary the words. You use, use synonyms to, to spice it up and to give it some variety. But also, I think there may be some significance in the fact that within the story, within the parable, the command to stay awake is a particular word, and then a different word to stay awake and to be watchful, and there's this repetition, "Be on guard. Keep awake." Like, those are parallel statements. Um, those, that's a significant thing that that word is different  Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. It's a huge, I think, reminder that there's all... The- even, again, I can't believe how much is packed. Now that I think about this, we start talking about it into, like, a single sentence. But every believer, like every servant in this house, has been given some kind of task suited to his place. I believe that's what Jesus is trying to impress us with. And that idleness is not an option countenanced by the text because the doorkeeper's [00:19:00] particular charge to watch, like you were saying, functions to me, I think, almost like a synecdoche. Like, it's f- for the whole- Yeah ... household's duty. His vigilance stands for what is in fact required of every servant, since verse 37 will then extend this command to, like, everybody. So just- Yeah ... within, like, this little space of writing or this little space of teaching, I think what we have here is, like, it's realistic for us to say we've got the twin realities that ground really biblical ecclesiology in the interim period. We have Christ's real absence, but that's, like, against, I would say, any collapsing of the already into a fully realized eschatology. And then you have Christ's ongoing ownership and authority over his house, which is the church, against any notion that the church is left to autonomous self-governance. So the house, in other words, re- remains Christ's, and the servants remain accountable to him, not to themselves, like you've just said, and each one is accountable to God in a unique way according to the task that he's given them. So again, this beautiful marriage of [00:20:00] both the responsibility, the providence, and the responsibility that we have before God in being responsible to him, but also that he is governing all things for his good and for his glory.  Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  Doorkeeper Role Explained Tony Arsenal: And you know, I think, um, the word doorkeeper here too, uh, you know, as I peek at the Greek a little bit, the word doorkeeper is also a much broader term than, uh, it might seem. You know, like I think, you know, one of my kid's favorite shows is like Curious George, and there's a character in the, the story that's literally named Doorman, and he's just the guy that like opens the door in the apartment that- Right ... Curious George and the Man in the Yellow Hat. But the word doorkeeper in, uh, in the Greek here, when applied to a, a female, is understood to be like the janitor. So the doorkeeper might even be considered something more like the master of the house. Like think of like, um-  Jesse Schwamb: Lady's ...  Tony Arsenal: uh, like the, the head butler, right? In like if you think of like Downton Abbey, right? Right. The, the guy who actually like takes care of and like [00:21:00] runs, the house manager or something like that might be a better way to look at it. And I think you're right that his charge to stay awake, to keep alert, it does extend to the entire household, but it also is a particular command for that figure.  Jesse Schwamb: Right.  Tony Arsenal: Right? So yes, everybody is given their task. This, this person, this doorkeeper, he is, um, called out specifically, individually, right? It's not as though he's the only servant in the house. There's all these other servants, they each have their task, and they're all commanded to keep about their business. The doorkeeper, the master of the house, the, I don't know, head butler, the head ch- the chief janitor, I don't know what you would want, the head custodian of the house, um, and don't think of custodian or janitor in terms of like- Like the school janitor who like cleans the toilets and mops up after the kids throwing up and stuff. The, the janitor or the custodian of the house is really the person who kind of like runs the household, the sort of like head servant of the house. [00:22:00] His command to keep watchful, to be on guard or to be alert is because, um, the, the master's return is sudden and unexpected. Right. And so if the doorkeeper doesn't keep up with things, if he's not awake, if he's not running things, if he's not managing things, if he's not alert and awake, then not only does his task get, get, um, undone... And I think like we think of it like, "Oh yeah, be on guard." You sometimes hear this parable or, or variations of this parable taught as like you gotta keep the wolves out, like he's the guard at the door. Right. I don't think that's what this is getting at. It's really more like if this, if the doorkeeper s- falls asleep on the job, then the entire house falls into disarray, and you can't recover that when the master all of a sudden is at the gate. If you're just the guard, I guess you might be able to snap to attention and like, you know, pull your pole arm or whatever it is up. Like you might be able to snap to attention and kind of fake it. But if you're the guy who manages the entire household and the [00:23:00] whole household is in disarray because you've fallen asleep on the job, there's no recovering from that when the master taps you on the shoulder and says, "Please wake up, I'm home." You just can't recover from that. And so I think that's, that's the element of the story, the element of the parable that we probably need to think about a little bit more is, all right, w- no one of us is the doorkeeper of the church.  Jesse Schwamb: That's right.  Tony Arsenal: But also none of us are not the doorkeeper of the church. So like we all have a role and a responsibility in, in the church to sort of like be a part of, an active part of the church, an active part of God's kingdom, which is not, I'm not trying to say we're all gatekeepers, right? We're not all called to be r- to rule over the church. Like there's a particular office of ruling elder that I would say exists, uh, you know, that's codified in the OPC. But even within other kinds of s- setups, there's usually some sort of elder, you know, setup where there's elders that are not teaching elders. They're not there to like teach and minister and, and preach. They're there to [00:24:00] like govern the church and support the needs of the body spiritually. That's really, uh, you know, like a particular office, but that's also a task and a role that we all share as Christians is to, to sh- sort of, I almost said shepherd, but that doesn't feel right, but it also doesn't feel wrong. To sort of like manage the business of the congregation and the church- That's right ... and the, the invisible church as a whole. That's the task of every Christian, and that's really what this parable's getting at, I think.  Jesse Schwamb: I think so too. And I, I don't wanna, like, build too far a bridge away from that point. I think it's worth sitting there for a second because what occurs to me as you were saying that is I just happened to be reading Calvin's commentary this morning in 1 Corinthians 5, and he builds this whole theological argument around this idea that he, he basically is saying, "Why should the Corinthians mourn over one man's sin?" And he gives two reasons. First, as a consequence of the communion that exists among the members of the church, it's becoming that all should feel hurt at or so it's deadly if one of their members should fall. And the second is when such an erroneous sin is [00:25:00] perpetrated in a particular church, the perpetrator is an offender in such a manner that he pollutes the whole society. That is to say, I think it's kind of in line with what you're saying, that corruption in one place will affect the entire body. That is like falling asleep, pulling away from the mission Being found outside of the mission of God's, uh, for God's glory is something that hurts the church body. And we might ask, like if there is in our own lives a persistent sin, some kind of corruption, then we ought to ask, is there any form of corruption that we're contributing to the body of God? And I think those, these like real consequences of what it means to live in a way where we find ourselves, again, outside of what it means to worship whole heartedly, to worship with heart, soul, and mind, all of which we do imperfectly. Yet at the same time- Yeah ... are we being awake? Are we being made aware? Watchfulness and Rest Jesse Schwamb: I, I wonder if part of what's envisioned here and in view with Jesus' teaching is not just this idea... Almost like I think sometimes we, we say stay awake or we say be [00:26:00] watchful, and of course like I love that Jesus mentions like the four watches. Like that's, I think, like a distinctly kind of Roman division of the night into four three-hour segments. And of course it's gonna suggest to Mark's gentile audience that, and, and underscore this point, that it's not which watch, but that no watch may be presumed safe from the master's arrival. And so I think when we hear that stuff we think, "Well, this means like don't fall asleep." In other words, like there's going to be a test somewhere in your life or all of your life where you're going to be legitimately tempted to take a rest, and you can't take a rest. You gotta keep like just going thrust or no th- you, there's no other choice- Right ... but to give it your all. I think what's better here and what's in view is in all areas of life, are you awake to the reality that God has given you work to do in the spheres of influence that you have, in the particular place in which you live, among the church people whom He has given you to worship with? Are you aware that at all times you ought to be moving and working and for His glory, [00:27:00] even while you are literally sleeping in rest so that you might do those things for the next day? So I- Yeah ... I don't wanna get too hyped up on it's kind of like, again, what's the spiritual equivalent of always drinking Celsius and Red Bull and just like toughing it out- Yeah like with your eyes wide open. It's, it's way more than that.  Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah, uh, this is gonna seem like a weird transition, but it's, it is but also isn't. Um, I, I saw an interesting video the other... I'm getting super nerdy here right now. But, um, I saw an interesting video on YouTube the other day that was talking about how strange it was that there is like a night shift on the Starship Enterprise on Star Trek Next Generation. But, but actually like- It, it demonstrated something to me that, like, even on a, you know, this is obviously a fictional television show, but, like, even on a spaceship where there is no sun, there is no actual reference- Right ... for what a day is, right? We think of a day, and, and rightfully so, it's locked into a 24-hour cycle because of the [00:28:00] way God has created the Earth to spin, and the sun, and the sunrise, sunset, et cetera. But in this fictionalized universe, in this fictionalized world, there's no sunset. There's no, uh, chronology, yet they still divide on, on this, they still divide the day into these three watches. And it's funny, 'cause they talk about how, like, well, there's, there's the day shift, there's the sort of like second shift, and there's the night shift. And they actually even, like, turn the lights down on the ship to simulate a day-night cycle. And, and what it got me thinking about, and I think in the parable, obviously, like, it's the four watches of the night. Um, I play a lot of Dungeons & Dragons, and, like, when you're gonna do what's called a long rest, you have to determine who's gonna set a watch. If you don't set a proper watch, then the dungeon master may make it so monsters show up and you don't get your long rest. This idea that- Even resting is an appropriate and necessary execution of- Right ... the task to be watchful. That's right. Like, I think that's important. If you are, um, i- if you think of like, uh, Lord of the [00:29:00] Rings, right? And they set a watch. Uh, the responsibility of the people who aren't on watch is to make every, every use of that time to sleep so that if something happens, they're alert. And then when also when it's time for them to take watch, they're able to be watchful. And, uh, the other thing I wanna, wanna just comment really quickly on, because I, I, I didn't do a lot of prep for this episode. Big shocker. We don't prep a lot for these episodes. And this is another Markan parable that I'm not super familiar with.  Church Alertness and Power Tony Arsenal: But one of the things that as we're talking through it I'm, I'm becoming more convinced of, is this really is about not just any one individual being alert, although there is implications for us. It's really about the whole church being alert.  Jesse Schwamb: That's  Tony Arsenal: right. Like, the church is the, uh... I, I think it's in, I wanna say it's in Timothy, I don't know where, but the Church is the buttress and pillar of truth, right? So that's not to say we're the, we're the arbiter of truth, but I wanna read this. The... I don't know any other podcasts, although in our circles there [00:30:00] probably are other podcasts that you might hear someone reading out of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church book of Church Order, Form of Government, chapter three, verse, uh, passage one here. Uh, but this is, this is, as I said, uh, BCO chapter three, Form of Government. Uh, and this is, the chapter is titled The Nature and Exercise of Church Power. And when I was coming into the OPC, I don't think I was surprised, uh, in terms of like I thought the theology was different. I was pleasantly surprised to see that this was articulated and how clearly it was articulated. So I'm just gonna read the whole section here. It says, "The power which Christ has committed to His Church is not vested in special officers alone, but in the whole body. All believers are endued with the Spirit & called of Christ to join in the worship, edification, and the witness of the Church which grows as the body of Christ, fitly framed and knit together through, uh, that which every joint supplies according to the working and due measure of each part." Sidebar commentary. The BCO doesn't [00:31:00] have proof text, but if they did, they would just be citing to Ephesians 5 here. Um, back to what the text says. "The power of believers in their general office includes the right to acknowledge and desire the exercise of the gifts and calling of the special officers. The regular exercise of oversight in a particular congregation is discharged by those who have been called to such work by the vote of the people." So just to summarize that, officers, at least in the OPC Um, ruling elders are nominated and voted into, into office and essentially, uh, given their powers, their official powers, their official responsibilities, not by the presbytery, uh, and not by some hierarchy, but by the congregation. They call from within.  Church Authority From Congregation Tony Arsenal: But that, that means that the power of the ruling elders, the, the authority of the ruling elders, is not derived from some hierarchy. It's derived from the [00:32:00] authority and the exercise of power of the whole church. And the other thing, I won't read this, but the other thing that I found, um, really interesting that I really like is in Presbyterianism, and, and I, I believe Presbyterianism is what the Bible teaches positively as a command. I know there are other church polities, and I know everybody is trying to figure it out, and we don't all agree. I think Presbyterianism is the right way.  Jurisdictions And Whole Church Acts Tony Arsenal: But either way, um Presbyterianism works on a s- sort of an idea of, uh, jurisdictions, right? And they're kinda concentric circles. They're not necessarily hierarchical, but it's, it's narrow jurisdictions and then broader jurisdictions. And the most narrow jurisdiction is the session of a local church over that congregation. But what's really interesting is that the, the Book of Church Order calls out that when any valid jurisdiction of the church is exercising its authority, it's not just that jurisdiction that's [00:33:00] acting. That's an act of the whole church, the entire Orthodox Presbyterian Church. So in a congregation where someone is in unrepentant sin and that, uh, session makes a decision, votes a decision to excommunicate that person, to remove them from the rolls, consider them to be an unbeliever, that's not just an act of that jurisdiction. I- i- as a member of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, when some church in Sacramento, California, I don't know if there's an OPC in Sacramento, I assume there probably is, but some church in Sacramento, California, the presbytery or the session excommunicates someone, I am e- I'm engaged in that act. That's an act of the whole church.  Watchfulness Beyond Personal Piety Tony Arsenal: And this, the, the only reason I go there and I bring, I kind of dive into that level of granularity is I actually think that this is kind of what this parable is teaching, is that as individuals, we need to be alert because the whole church acting is the whole church acting. So whether this takes the [00:34:00] form of me just being really un- un- like, locked into my local church and making sure that I'm active in my local church, or whether... And I think there are some of us who are called to this, um, and I think our, our podcast in some levels sort of takes this shape a little bit, are watching what other people in the church are doing and sometimes are offering corrections, right? It is not the case that an average blogger has ecclesiastical authority in the strictest sense, but when I see, or, or anyone who is sort of involved in online commentary, podcast, blogging or otherwise, I see someone in the church teaching something elsewhere and I call that out, that's me sort of fulfilling this command of Mark 13. I'm being watchful Because what that Christian says or does, if they're truly a Christian, actually does have something to do with what I believe. It actually does have something to do with me as a believer. That doesn't mean that you should get up in everybody else's business. That's not what I'm saying. Like, sometimes- Right ... the thing [00:35:00] that's going on in the church over there is just that thing that's going on over at the church there. But for example, there was a pretty high-profile, um, uh, ecclesiastical, I don't know if it was a trial, but like an ecclesiastical deposition, I guess, um, for a presbytery down in the Southwest, um, about some pretty gnarly things that were being said by an elder in the OPC church, and I wrote to that presbytery. They haven't sent it to me yet, but I wrote to that presbytery and said, "Hey, what you did at that meeting is an act of the whole church that I'm a part of. Can you send me the minutes?" And I have a right to do that, because I wanna see what's going on. I wanna understand what statements they're making on behalf of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church of America. Or, I just combined like 1,000 different denominations- Yes, you did. ... into one sentence. But I, I think the point is clear, like the, the parable of the watchful doorkeeper or the porter is not about exclusively, I do think there's an element of it, but it's not about our individual piety. It's about the sort of readiness state of the entire church for [00:36:00] Christ's return, if you really boil it all down  Avoid Date Setting And Indifference Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, so we, I think before we leave verse 35, we, we are at least contractually obligated to say, though we've said it before, that there are two errors here that we should definitely seek to avoid. And because we're talking about, again, this idea that we do not know when the master of the house will come, that is the reason why we wait, and we are watchful, like you just said. But it means that the first is any kind of, like, speculative date setting, which is a fool's errand. We've talked about that at length. Yeah. The second one, again, I think we're contractually obligated to say, is a practical indifference, maybe sometimes dressed as, like, pious agnosticism, like treating the uncertainty of that hour as grounds for some kind of spiritual carelessness rather than heightened attentiveness. So I think where all this wraps up with what you said about one representing all, that, that is the church's responsibility. Yes, you're right. In Timothy we get the command that this is the center and the pillar. So I... That obviously all this coheres with just straight-up biblical [00:37:00] doctrine of assurance and perseverance, because the elect are kept by God's power through faith. So what that means is watchfulness is not some kind of, like, anxious uncertainty about final salvation, but instead it is, like, this disciplined fidelity in the means God has appointed. Ordinary Means Of Grace Jesse Schwamb: And what are those means? Like, I feel like this is where everybody just shouts back, "Ordinary means." You know what I mean? When I say means- ... you say ordinary. Means- Or I should, I should say it the other way around. Ordinary. But this idea that, like, what are those things God has put into our lives, has appointed for us to use, has commanded us to up- obtain for ourselves by his power? It's prayer, it's the word, it's the sacraments. It's a mutual watchfulness within that visible church like you were just describing, and it's precisely because the timing of Christ's return has been sovereignly withheld from creaturely knowledge. So there's actually a lot in this that I think assuages that, that really sensitive Christian conscience, which is like, "Well, are you telling me I have to do more?" That's not what we're saying at all. We're, we're saying, "Do the things which God has empowered you to do." And guess what? Those things [00:38:00] are just very chill, very ordinary things that take on extraordinary influence and power in our lives by the work of the Holy Spirit. So again, it's like this whole thing of saying, like, when we work, we work. When we pray, God works. It's the same kind of thing here. There is work to be done. There is a watchfulness to undertake in all the activities of our lives. But it is not like whatever the, again, the equivalent, like, is of, like, spiritual, I don't know, like shots of espresso and, and Celsius to just try to, like, by all accounts, by your own power, somehow just not sleep. Uh- Yeah ... not sleeping is not what this text is about. It's actually about being aware, worshiping in awareness around all the things, and then devoting ourselves to all the stuff that we keep talking about, to praying, to studies in the scripture, to having family devotions and time of worship, to baptism, and to the Lord's Supper. That's what watchfulness is all about.  Tony Arsenal: Yeah. [00:39:00] Yeah, and I, I think, um, you know, this is again I do think this parable has more to do with the idea of kinda getting after it. I, I think that's how we usually talk about it, like getting after holiness. Yeah, it is. Um, I, I think this parable has more to do with that than some of the other parables with similar language that we've talked about. But I, I also think, um, as Reformed Christians, uh, we get the, we get the cart before the horse if we think that even though that's what it's about, that that somehow places the onus on us to do the good works, right? Right. The good works are prepared for us in advance that we might walk in them. And, uh, i- it's not even right to say, like, our responsibility is to walk in them. That's not even quite right theologically. Like, we are going to walk in them. Like, that's, that's the thing, is the doorkeeper is given this charge. He's commanded to stay awake, and in good Augustinian fashion, it's really more along the [00:40:00] lines es- of the doorkeeper is made to stay awake because he's been commanded to. Jesse Schwamb: Yes, that's right.  Tony Arsenal: And I think that's, that's really key.  Fruit Checking And Assurance Tony Arsenal: And yes, there is some- something to say for, uh, fruit checking. And I, I know that there are probably some in our audience that just, like, threw up in their mouth a little bit when I said that. Um, but the, the reality is, a lack of fruit, uh, i- in our life, and by fruit I'm talking about good works. Primarily I'm talking about the ordinary means of grace, like you said. A, a person who is refusing to avail themselves of the ordinary means of grace, right? Right on. Regular church attendance, prayer- Right ... the sacraments, Bible reading, um, sitting under the preaching of the Word, fellowship with other believers. Um, I would even say to some extent regular s- regular financial support of the Church. Mm-hmm. Um, and, and I... There, there are times where that may not be, uh, the most feasible thing, and so that's a decision between you and the Holy Spirit and for you to discuss with your pastor. [00:41:00] But, but the reality is God has given us these ordinary means of grace as a gift and as a way to nourish and support us. When we refuse to take part in those, and I use the word refuse intentionally, when a person refuses to attend church, for the most part most of us who have had a season where we don't, don't attend church, and I, I had a long season when I was in college where I just didn't attend church. There was no good reason for it. I just didn't do it. And if I'm being really honest, it was 'cause at that time in my life I had some sinful patterns that I didn't wanna face up to, right? That's usually what it boils down to.  Jesse Schwamb: Right.  Tony Arsenal: Um, but for those of us who d- who refuse to, uh, take part and to avail ourselves of the ordinary means of grace, that should really cause us to question our salvation. Not because the ordinary means of grace cause our salvation, but because the ordinary means of grace are exactly as they're called. Exactly. They're the ordinary means by which God delivers His grace to us. So if we're refusing to receive God's grace, it means we're refusing to receive God's grace. And the only people ultimately who are not forgiven are [00:42:00] those who receive to ref- you know, refuse to receive God's grace. So I think this, this passage has more to do with us in an indi- sort of on the individual level, us being actively engaged and partaking in the, uh, the administration of the covenant of grace, to use a more technical term, right? The administration of the covenant of the grace are the visible means of grace. If we refuse to be baptized, if we refuse to partake of the Lord's supper, if we refuse to attend church and to sit under the preaching of the word and to pray, then we are, we are turning down God's offer of grace. That's right. We're taking the gift that He desires to give us, and we're saying, "No thank you." Well, when we phrase it that way, it's a flat rejection of God's grace that we're engaged in.  Church Mission And Readiness Tony Arsenal: But on a, on a sort of like big picture scale I think it has to do also along with these lines that I'm talking about of the Church itself being ready. Well, how does the Church prepare itself for Christ's [00:43:00] return? Again, the ordinary means of grace, right? We prepare ourselves by teaching and ministering, right? C- I think it's Colossians 1:28. If I was on Reformed Forum, I'd have this memorized 'cause it's their, like, theme verse. But, like, equipping every person for the ministry of Christ, equipping every person, making sure every person is, uh, mature and ready. Like, all of those things come together as the primary mission of the Church. And I know this is gonna trigger some people, but, like, evangelism is not the primary mission of the Church. The primary mission of the Church is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, which takes place mostly on the Lord's day. I think all of that, the personal dimension, the corporate dimension, all of that coalesces in this command to be watchful, to stay awake, to be on guard, to s- be about the task, to be in charge of the commands you've been given. All of those different concepts come together in what Christ is talking about here in verse 37 when He says, "I say to you, I say to all, [00:44:00] stay awake." Like- Right ... that's what we're talking about. So it's not as simple as personal piety. It's probably not as complicated as some sort of, like, I don't know, least of these, feed-the-poor schema that happens sometimes. All of that happens. It really is just about the Church being the Church and doing the things the Church does, both on the individual level, but also on the corporate level. Perseverance And Scriptural Warnings Jesse Schwamb: And that's why, as loved ones of God, then we can come to verse 36, which is the full warning, and we actually read it as a great comfort. So it says, "Lest he come suddenly and find you asleep." And after all we're talking about here, the way I read this warning against complacency is entirely consistent with, instead of being contradictory to, the doctrine of perseverance of the saints. Because perseverance is not fatalism, and I'm just... I'm still learning this, loved ones. Like, and even here, what I marvel at is the warnings of scripture are themselves among the ordinary means by which God preserves His people. So I go back to the Westminster [00:45:00] Confession of Faith chapter 17, which notes that, "Believers may, through the temptations of Satan and of the world, fall into grievous sins, and so incur God's displeasure, even while never finally falling from grace." So that sobering possibility of, of quote-unquote being found asleep I think functions pastorally not to threaten the loss of the election, of the elect, but to press home I think, like, the seriousness of watchfulness as the fruit and evidence of genuine faith, which is what you're talking about. That, that's kind of like the Reformed theological jam in a sense, and that's why, where I think we'd anchor like James 2, Hebrews 3 and 4. There is, like, a call of the necessity of perseverance in the means as the mark of the true as opposed to be merely, of course, like some kind of profession of discipleship. The visible church, and we talked about this too, mixed as it is, is here warned that the formal membership in the household is no substitute for actual wakefulness. And so I hope we see that warning as not something [00:46:00] that's like, "Well, you gotta, you gotta check yourself every day 'cause if you just step out of line once, if you fall asleep at any little thing, then it just goes to show you that you weren't serious enough." Instead, it's like you said, Tony, like even the warning itself is proof positive that God will save, that He arrests, that He holds everything firm and secure, and that even the setting of the table or the preparing of the good works and then the way in which you walk in them, we might ask, how is it that you are even walking? Yeah. And so even this is all an act of God, whether we speak about that, uh, that justification, that initial positional sanctification, and even the progressive frame as well is all f- happens here because God is in fact doing that good work. So it's a good warning because it reminds us that what's, I think, the particular and special dispensation of the Christian is that in this falling asleep, as the Westminster Confession says, it may mean that we fall even into grievous sins. We're incurring God's displeasure. We're not disrupting our [00:47:00] identity in Christ, but we are disrupting our harmony with Christ. Yes. And so we always want to seek and to live in that kind of beautiful harmony where there is, I think, obedience for a word. There is a special fellowship that comes from being close to God in this way. We should always strive after that and want that very thing, but at no point does the Christian who even falls into grievous sins, as the Confession reminds us, fall outside of God's mercy and grace. Merely we fall outside of God's pleasure, and we r- we're finally returned to grace by His power in our lives, whi- which He Himself affects so that even in our fall, even in our death every day, there is a little bit of resurrection that restores us. Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  Rapture Ready Misreadings Tony Arsenal: Yeah, another way, um, another way to put this, um, and I, I don't mean to trugger, trig- to trigger, uh, our dispensationalist friends and family who are listening to the show, um, there are I will speak from my own experience coming out of a dispensationalist framework when I was in [00:48:00] high school and early college. Um, there was a lot of focus on being, quote, "Rapture ready." And I, I think sometimes we can read parables like this to think that stay awake means be Rapture ready. And what that means is, like, in some forms of dispensationalism, and I think probably many forms of dispensationalism, there's this idea that, like, if you're not right with God in, in this sense you're talking about, if, like, you're in disharmony with God when the Rapture comes, you may ultimately be saved, but you're not gonna be saved by the Rapture, which means you're gonna have to deal with the tribulation, and that's no good. So, like, if your piety's not on point when the Rapture happens, all your friends are gonna be taken away, and you're gonna be left behind, right? I don't think it's too much of a characteristic- a caricature to talk about Left Behind when there's an entire dispensational book series about this, right? Right. The whole concept behind the Left Behind novel is that it's populated by people who thought they were Christians who weren't. Uh, and some of [00:49:00] those are because they had a false profession of faith. Some of them were just back- what, what a lot of people would just call backslidden Baptists or backslidden Christians who, who had a genuine profession of faith but just weren't living in a holy fashion. I think we can sometimes read this, whether we're dispensationalists or not, we can read these kinds of parables in light of Rapture readiness. I think it's, it's both more assuring and also infinitely more severe than that. Right. It's not about Rapture ready. It's about whether you're saved or not. Right. Whether you are in the kingdom of God, whether you are among the household of believers. All of the people in view in this parable are members of the master's household, right? Uh, they're all his servants. So it's not as though there are some who are, um, outside of his family that are be given, being given a command to be watchful. There's also no consequence implied for the doorkeeper if somehow he's not watchful. It's more along the lines of if you're in the faith, if you are the doorkeeper or a [00:50:00] doorkeeper in the g- in the king's house, then you ought to be watchful because that's what you do. And so there's no, like, implied consequence. There's no assumption that the doorkeeper somehow won't be watchful. So I think if there's any sort of, like, gut check, status check that needs to happen, it's really more along the lines of are we in the Lord's household or are we not? That's right. That's right. And I think that's, that's what you're getting at. If we're in the Lord's household, if we're members of his house, if we're servants in his kingdom, then we will be awake when the time comes. We will be awake when he returns.  Rooster Crow And Passion Echoes Tony Arsenal: And the other thing, and I'll just throw this out there maybe as a tease. I don't, I don't think there's enough here for us to come back to it next week, uh, although I've been wrong before, and sometimes Jesse and I have conversations right after that turn into the next episode. I think it's really interesting- I don't know if you ran into this when you were reading it, but- Yeah ... verse 35: "Therefore stay awake, for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening or at [00:51:00] midnight or when the rooster crows," that's a very interesting phrase to me- It is, yeah ... "or in the morning." It's just another chapter or two when- Yeah ... we see the disciples fall asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane, right? Gethsemane. Um, the disciples fall asleep. We see language of the watches, right? The, the hours that Christ is alive and dies on the cross are associated with the watches. Right. And then of course the rooster crowing. And it's a very well-known, um, uh, I, I don't wanna call it a fact 'cause that might be too strong, but it's a pretty accepted, uh, theory in, in the sort of, uh, academic understanding of the, the authors of the Gospels that Mark, uh, Mark actually represents Peter's testimony. That the sort of a- apostolic imprimatur of the Gospel of Mark is actually that M- John Mark, probably while he was ministering with Peter, was being told these, this account, and he's collecting Peter's, Peter's [00:52:00] statements on the events of the Gospel It is very interesting to me that this phrase about the rooster crowing associated with being watchful and ready in the service of the master- Yep would appear particularly in the gospel that's asso- associated with Peter. Right. And I'll throw that out there just as maybe food for a discussion- ... in our Telegram chat, but I do think e- even that is sort of for our benefit, right? Right. We're not talking about, uh, this isn't a parable about what happens when you betray Jesus and hang yourself with a rope, right? This isn't, this isn't Judas who never was a believer. If we're drawing this peril- parallel, this is a parable about Peter, or related to Peter's experience, uh, who was restored, who ultimately had a moment of sleepiness, I guess, both physically and, you know, spiritually here. Had a moment of, of sleepiness, but ultimately was awake when the master came. That's right. And I think, like, there's something there for us to tease out, and, and again, [00:53:00] maybe we'll leave that for the Telegram chat. Maybe that's just for your own personal study. I've done zero commentary work, so maybe this is a connection that I feel- ... is super novel, but actually everyone else makes. Um, but I just thought it was really interesting how closely that language, that sequence of the watchfulness, the watch, sleepiness, awakefulness, and the rooster crows, how closely that lines up to the events that w- would be if we were going through Mark sequentially- Yep ... we would be encountering in just a couple chapters, right? In just chapter 15. They're coming up. Um, we're talking about this exact thing. So it's very interesting to me, is it... The Holy Spirit is amazing in how He has put together this. Yes. Even if, even if that is a super tenuous connection, it's still a connection. And- Agreed ... I have a tough time thinking anyone who's familiar with the, the passion accounts would read this and not go, "Woo." That's a lot of language from the passion account. It's a lot of- Yes ... language related to what happened in just a few chapters.  Jesse Schwamb: Yes. I'm with you. Like we said, there's so much that's within these couple of verses, and you'd have to think if you were reading this with brand-new eyes, [00:54:00] with eyes that never seen this text before, and you were just going straight through, you'd come in just a few short chapters to that whole narrative in Gethsemane and be like, "What? Did he, didn't he just, didn't this guy Jesus just say to them- Like be watchful, stay awake. And here they're... Isn't that ironic? Here they are in the garden, and he said- Yeah ... to them again, "Stay awake." They fall asleep. He comes back, he's like, "Could you not watch for one

Lesley gets real about people who police grammar mistakes on social media and what that urge to correct others actually reveals. She makes the case for staying in your own lane, letting go of perfectionism, and minding your own work instead of everyone else's. She rounds out the episode with community wins, a check-in from the tour, and a grounding mantra for the week ahead. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:The typo that blew up and why Lesley refuses to take it down.What a fully sold-out tour reveals about a team under pressure.Listeners jump from part-time to full-time, and what it proves.A mantra for anyone still learning to trust their own becoming.Episode References/Links:eLevate Mentorship - https://lesleylogan.co/pilates/elevate@ashwilsonpilates - https://www.instagram.com/ashwilsonpilatesSubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questions If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  It's Fuck Yeah Friday. Brad Crowell 0:01  Fuck yeah! Lesley Logan 0:02  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. Lesley Logan 0:47  Hello, Be It babe. How are you? Happy Friday! Welcome to your Fuck Yeah Friday episode. I'm really excited to actually record this because it's taken 17 tries, and I'm currently looking at a blank screen that's supposed to be my notes. But we'll see if it comes up, here we go. Oh my goodness! I don't want my every single "I need a moment" to have to do with technology, but my goodness, technology really wants to be my moment that I need today. It's not, though. So it's middle of August. Thanks for being here. On these Fridays, I just like to be real with you, what's going on in my world, what I get frustrated about, what I'm celebrating, what you're celebrating, because I share your wins and a little mantra to get you on your week. If you are in my business coaching group or my eLevate mentorship, then you know you get to have a moment, but you have to have a win, and it's important to have wins at the end of the week. Just some, and it doesn't mean you completed anything. It just means that you moved the needle forward. You found some aha moment that gave you permission to be more yourself. Something doesn't have to be very big. You'll hear from the listeners who have sent in their wins, which you can too, to beitpod.com/questions. You'll hear that some of these wins are just getting one morsel of a thing done, right? Lesley Logan 2:00  So before I get into your wins and mine, a thing that I am having a moment around, I really have to be honest, is just people who point out grammar mistakes on social media. Come on, if someone rarely has a grammar error, and then you point it out when they do, don't you just think that's annoying? Between autocorrect and weird thumbs and how you'll pick this word, a different spelling of the same word comes up, unless it's in every sentence someone says or every paragraph, they probably hate that it happened. Guess what? Once it's out there, you can't fix it. It's not in the captions. It's in the thing. You just gotta let it go. So I will say my most recent one. This happened to my own followers told people like, "Come on, this is stupid. Why are you doing this?" They actually kind of beat up on the person a little more than I would have preferred. I wouldn't have done that, but it is just, it's like a little narky. You know what I mean? In a world where there are literal leaders who are killing people, you're gonna tell me that I used the wrong wear? You're gonna tell me I used the wrong wear? It's like I'm not an idiot, and the recovering perfectionist in me is embarrassed. Can we just not? People stop trying to get people to be as perfect as you are holding yourself up to be. That's what that really is. So that is the moment that I was so frustrated about the other day because Jesus, oh my God, total mistake. Yes, I'm embarrassed and also not taking it down because it blew up and did really, really well. So we're just gonna leave it that way. Now every third comment I have, someone telling me it's spelled wrong. Okay, thanks. Oh my God, did you see in the other comments that we already addressed this? I don't know. I think it goes back to last week's thing. Why can't we just stay in your own lane, do your thing, focus on what you're doing, and then if you can't say something nice, just don't say anything at all? I don't know. I see people spell the words wrong too, and guess what I don't do? Tell them. I'm like, you know what? They'll figure it out. It's not necessary. They didn't ask. If they ask, maybe, but they didn't ask. Maybe I'm the only frustrated person by that, but I am. Lesley Logan 4:11  But my win, my win. We're not done with the tour yet. We have another week. My win is that this is one of the most sold out tours we've ever done. This has been, every tour is so fun. Every tour is its own unique thing. I'm really, really proud of my team. This is a team win because one of our most integral people is on maternity leave, and the team was able to come together, step up, and put this tour out there without that person. That doesn't mean we don't need her. We absolutely do. So hi, Meredith, if you are listening, need you, but that we could do it. Without them is just a sign of how well our team works together and the mission that this is, and how much the attendees want it too. Right? In fact, every single one of you who has attended the tour or shared the tour, you're part of this win. So I'm just so grateful. We have another week left on this tour, and about nine days actually, and I'm having a great time. It's a lot of fun. It's really nice to get out of Vegas in August, and also it's Darla's first tour, so that's the most fun. So that's my win. I'm on tour and having a great time, and we were successful preparing for it.Lesley Logan 5:17  Your win, time for your win. You guys send these in to me, and then we get to talk about them. This is from @ashwilsonpilates: "Just got full time teaching at a studio I've been working at for the past few months." That's so cool, Ash. You went from part-time to full-time. That's just a massive sign that what you're doing matters, and people want more of it, so I hope you take that and save this win for when you need it because, my goodness, going full-time in teaching is a huge deal, and I'm so excited for you. There're gonna be days when you're like, "What am I doing?" And you'll remember, "Oh my God, I did so well just starting out that they wanted me to be full-time. These clients want me, and what I do matters," and it does. You're amazing. Lesley Logan 6:02  Your mantra is I appreciate the journey of becoming. I appreciate the journey of becoming. I appreciate the journey of becoming.Lesley Logan 6:14  Oh babe, this is so fun. I'm so grateful for you. I'm so excited I get to do this podcast with you, and that we get to chat about all these things and share and be part of each other's lives. If you have one to send in that I can celebrate with you, please send it in to beitpod.com/questions. If you have a theme you'd like us to do an episode on, either with an interview, a guest, or a topic, we do solo episodes as well, I want to know. Just send them into beitpod.com/questions. Until next time, Be It Till You See It.Lesley Logan 6:40  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review, and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 7:23  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 7:27  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 7:32  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 7:39  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 7:42  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

You can't be it till you see it while your nervous system is running the show. In this part two of the Regulation Series, Lesley gets practical about calming a dysregulated nervous system, walking through top-down tools and bottom-up somatic resets for when your mind won't quiet down. She frames self-trust as the safe place you come back to, and regulation as self-parenting rather than one more thing to discipline yourself into. Whatever your nervous system is carrying today, there is a tool in here to meet it. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:Prioritize nervous system regulation before making decisions.Understand your autonomic nervous system responses.Cognitive tools to time-box worries and racing thoughts.The somatic tools to practice that calm the body.Build self-trust by honoring the achievements you tend to forget.Episode References/Links:Weighted Blanket - https://bearaby.com/collections/weighted-blanketsSleep Mask - https://nodpod.com/products/nodpodSensate (10% discount ) - https://www.getsensate.com/BEITEp. 709 - ft Megan Applegate - https://beitpod.com/ep709Submit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questions If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  Something that does help me is a brain dump. I will just sit down and write down all the things that are on my mind because there are open tabs in my brain and they're all running. Your computer runs slower when all your tabs are running. Lesley Logan 0:39  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started.Lesley Logan 1:22  Hey, Be It babe! Welcome back to the Be It Till You See It podcast. We are in our second episode of the Regulation series, so if you have, this is your first time listening to us, hi, welcome, and you should go listen to the first one because otherwise this will make no sense. Or you can listen to this one. You know what? I'm a believer of you doing you. So I'm excited because the last episode we talked about not needing more discipline and not another journal and another plan, but really actually having awareness of when we're dysregulated and regulated. Because when we are dysregulated, we cannot be successful, and when we're regulated, we notice it's not about discipline; it's just about showing up, being yourself, being the version of you you always want to be. Right? You are definitely not able to be it till you see it when you are dysregulated, overwhelmed, stressed out, worrying, spiraling, all that stuff, right? Lesley Logan 2:07  So, how do we regulate ourselves when life gets lifey? Because let me just tell you, life gets lifey every day. Every day, life gets lifey. I was having a really kind of solid, awesome day, and then I got some bad news, and so life got lifey today, on a day when it should just be chill, as just chill. Tuesdays are chill days for me, right? So how how do we not let our nervous system run the show? Because I mean, let me tell you right now, if I let my nervous system run the show after that news, I would not be recording this right now. That's the for sure. But because I was able to understand how I was feeling, I was able to take a moment for myself. I was able to do the things I need to do, so that I could come back here and go. You know, I can do this right now. I can do this right now because this matters, too. This matters as much as the other thing that's bothering me matters, right? And I mean, my goodness, every time we open up our Instagrams or emails, there's something there to derail how we feel about ourselves, about what's possible, all that stuff. Lesley Logan 3:02  So now, since we know what was keeping us stuck, how do we actually shift our biology, our brain, our mood in the middle of a crazy day? It might happen multiple times. How do we do that? So the thing I want to take away from this episode is regulate first, decide second. So you know this. I know you know this. I know this. I know you know this. But just in case you need the reminder, we never send an email or make a pivot or critique ourselves in a dysregulated state, right? When you, have you ever? Oh my God! Why this? What the fuck is this happening? And why is that happening? Why is this person doing this?Lesley Logan 3:39  And you go to respond, and you you know, it's not the response you want to do. You send it, and you already feel regretful because that's not how you are. It's not how you want to be perceived. It's not how you want people to receive that information. So we need to notice, become aware, and then regulate ourselves before making the next decision. I will also say I heard this other thing that could be really helpful is the instant reaction we have is kind of a pattern how we were raised, trained, the thing that got us to adulthood that made us feel safe, and then oftentimes we're just ah I haven't gotten over that I haven't I still have that problem but actually the second thought you have is the person you want to be. It's the person how you want to react. And so if you can, instead of getting stuck on, I don't want to react, that I hate that I'm reacting like that. And instead you go, "Oh, there's just that old brain, my old thing, trying to run the show." Hold on, I do this one thing over here, and then I'm back to being the person I am, the person I want to be receiving that email, the person I want to be receiving that news, right? So, regulate first, decide second. Lesley Logan 4:47  So we need to we need to talk about your internal landscape, right? We got to talk about your autonomic nervous system. So I'm not a scientist, but a simple explanation of our default survival mode. These are simple. Okay, simple. But you've got blazer, the fight or flight, right? You move fast, you breathe shallow, you get a little snappy. That's you. Something happens, you're ready to take action. You're ready to kick some ass. You also can be a freezer, right? You can freeze or fawn, so you can go numb, right? You can say yes to things you hate, like a fawn response. Oh, I'm so sorry. It's my fault. I did that. It's not you. Calming the person down, but taking yourself down with it, right? So we got to understand that's how things can react, right? Those are the simple versions. And if you are having hormonal shifts, then your threshold for stress is lower. And so, things that didn't bother us 10 years ago could bother us now, and that's okay, right? If you are dealing with just other health stuff, sometimes you get activated a little more quickly. Your threshold is lower. So, those of you who already have a lot on your plate, you know, it can be harder to stay regulated. So I just want. I think it's really important to map out what's your internal landscape. What is your go-to when things aren't going well, right? What is the way that you tend to go? Lesley Logan 6:11  In the last episode, I talked about how I will tend to worry about things I can't control, and then focus on all the things we haven't done either. So I'll just like go, and that's not working, and that's not working. That's not working. And Brad, hold on. We were talking about this one plugin that doesn't work, and now you're talking about 10 things we're still working on. Why are we catastrophizing? That's me, right? Really important that once we once you take a second to go, who am I? How do what? What are the signs that I'm not regulated? So that then you can build your regulation toolkit, right? Your real life regulation toolkit. So these are some tools that could work for you. They might not work for you, but I'm giving a few, right? So and if you come up with your own, let the Be It Pod know, so we can share it with other people on FYF episode. But you can have something like a more like a top down tool, a mental cognitive tool. Some people like time boxing, so worry windows, so this is the idea of something comes up that you want to worry about, and you actually just go, "Oh, I'm going to put that at the 1 p.m. I can worry about that at 1 p.m. but right now I'm working on this.Lesley Logan 7:11  That is the idea of parking the car or driving away, postponing the thing, or park and then and and worry, but don't don't try to do think two things at the same time. The thing you're working on and worry. So have some worry windows. That isn't something I could do because I have ADHD and sometimes I you know love to fuck around my calendar. So that's not for me. But it might be for a worry window. And then maybe you don't have it scheduled to worry. But maybe when you start to worry, you're like, you know what? This is gonna be a worry window. So I'm gonna worry about everything right now. I'm going to get all on the table, get out, get out of my heart, get out of my mind. I'm going to set a timer, and now it's done. Right? Something that does help me is a brain dump. So I will just sit down and write down all the things that are on my mind because they're open tabs in my brain, and they're all running, and they are, you know, your computer runs slower when all your tabs are running. So I will go. Okay, hold on. I got too much in my mind. What is everything I think I need to get done? And then you look at the list. holy fuck! That's so many things. No wonder. No wonder I felt dysregulated. No wonder I feel overwhelmed. I'm overwhelmed. There's too many things. I had a girlfriend who took all the things that she had to get done and she gave it to her chatbot, and her chatbot goes, "Well, no wonder you're exhausted and feeling overwhelmed. This is enough work for three years." Lesley Logan 8:27  So those were top down. Here's some bottom-up tools. This is more somatic, right? That's stuff you can do that's mental, cognitive, but also you can actually take action on it. Bottom-up tools are for more body. I think these are really great for when the mind really won't quiet down. So there's a five-second psychological sigh. We talked about this a couple times on the pod. It's two quick inhales through the nose and a long exhale through the mouth. It's just in, in, out, in, in through the nose, out, right? Oh my gosh! You do that a couple times, and it literally resets how your body is. If you're weight training and you do a heavy weightlifting set, if you do that afterwards a couple times, it'll reset the whole body. It's crazy. Also, you can do this: if you take your index finger and thumb together and you breathe in, it's more chest. If you take your middle finger and your thumb and you breathe in, it's more diaphragm. If you take your ring finger and your thumb and you breathe in, it's more stomach. And if you take your pinky and your thumb and you breathe in, it's more root, right? So if you find yourself in that dysregulated state and you're taking short breaths, you can go to your pinky and your thumb and just ground yourself down. Ooh, takes so little time. You can do it in one breath. All right. Lesley Logan 9:38  Another thing you can do is just change the physical temperature, so cold water to the face, right? I actually do love my cold plunge. It is set for a woman in perimenopause. It's not 32 degrees, but I do like it because I don't wake up going, "Oh my god, it's rainbows and butterflies! I'm so excited!" I never get enough sleep. I wish I could get eight hours. I can be in bed for eight and I get six and a half. My body just has a really hard time. Seven is really a sweet spot for me. But I still don't wake up going, "Oh, life is great." But I get in that cold plunge, and okay, I can take on this day. I can take on this day, right? Weighted blankets, a firm hug, right? So I have an eye mask that is weighted that I can just put on my eyes. I don't take naps, but I can just put it on my eyes. Or I have a weighted blanket—we have a link for that that I can find for you guys.Lesley Logan 10:29  But I have this weighted blanket that I just love. I could just wrap it around me, and I'm okay. It's a big hug, because what I don't want when I'm dysregulated is a hug from somebody else, because I don't want their energy. And then this other one I think could be really helpful: it's like a microdose concept. A lot of people think, "I need a spa day, that'll relax me." Oh my god! I'll tell you right now, what won't relax me is a full spa day. I'll be like, "There's so many things I need to be doing right now. I should be doing these things." So when I'm dysregulated, a spa day is not what I need. What I really have found to be helpful is just taking 90 seconds of intentional breathing between calls, walking around my block, it's a little hard in the summertime, but fall through spring, I can. It takes me 12 minutes to walk around my block, 15 if I take the dog, because they like to smell things. Even on the way out the door: "This day sucks." By the time I get around the corner: "All right, I got this. Right, I got this." You just need some things. I have a Sensate. It's this really cool tool that you can put on your chest, and it really helps regulate your nervous system. There's different Hrz of music you can play. I have found that if I work with this one type of music on, I stay quite focused and a little upbeat, so it keeps me positive. I love having it in the background; I get so annoyed when I have to turn it off. So I find that that can be really helpful when sometimes it's not like you're not doing the tools, but there's just so much life lifeing that you need regular, regulating moments, right? Because you're waiting for results from this thing, and you're anticipating this thing, and then there's this going on, and there's that going on. There's so much going on. It's not just one thing once a day that helps you; it's 10 little things that just keep bringing you back. And so this brings us to self-trust, your future self, your Be It Till You See It self. When you take the time to listen to yourself, you can actually hear your intuition, right? You can hear it, and so if you make listening to your intuition a priority, you'll actually want to do it more. And the thing is that when your brain is buzzing with anxiety, that intuition gets drowned out. It sounds like static, and it's not there. So I would really encourage you to spend time trying to hear your inner voice, your inner intuition, so that you get so obsessed with how helpful that is that you'd rather spend time there than in the dysregulated state that probably feels safe because that's probably how you were raised and that felt safe to you. For me, I know that I will do whatever it is I said I was going to do, not because I'm disciplined, but because I have a history of achievements that I have done because I did the thing that I said I was going to do. And so what I will say is, if you haven't taken time to do a data dump of just how much you have achieved and how much of the things you said you would do that you did do, you need to do that because if you don't, then you don't have self-trust. And if you don't have self-trust, you can't become a safe place for yourself. So no wonder you feel dysregulated. No wonder you don't feel successful. No wonder you think you need more discipline, because you haven't taken the time to honor all of the things that you did. We had a really great guest about resume building, and she talked about making sure you're writing down your achievements. We have FYFs on this podcast. You're supposed to send them in, and if you're not going to send them in, at least write them down. Write your wins down, right?Lesley Logan 14:05  My girlfriend wrote down her wins every single week to put them in a jar, and at the end of the year, she took out all 52 and read them, right? And some of them were, oh my god, I forgot I did that. Whatever you need to do to build self trust, you have to do because without that, it's really hard to regulate because you don't have a safe place to come back to, and I'll just say it's really hard to be it till you see it if your current nervous system can't handle baseline stress. So, if you are in a space where just your baseline stress is a lot for you, I really encourage you to take some time to get honest about what is it that you are really responsible for. What can we let go of? What can you say? I know I said yes to this, but I need to delay that. What can we postpone? What boundaries can we put in place so you have a container of stress that you can actually handle? Life is. Stressful. Stress also builds diamonds, guys. So stress is not bad. Stress also builds stronger bones. Stress is how you build stronger muscles. So stress is not bad, but we need to get your nervous system to a space that can handle your baseline stress. And then when it comes to being it till you see it, taking the time to understand who is a version of you that you want to be, and how do they handle it? What do they do? What actions do they take? Can you take any of those actions right now? Can you do a version of that right now? We can't do all of that, but you can do a version of it. If you think that when you have more money, you'll take time off, that's a lie. You're telling yourself there are rich people who never stop working all the time. Have you watched the White Lotus? The Thai, the Thailand one is perfect example of that. Right, these people couldn't get rid of their cell phones. So I just want to say, if you think when I have this, then I'll have less stress and I'll be more regulated, more relaxed. That's not true. To practice for it right now, and sometimes it means saying no. Sometimes it means not talking to some people. Sometimes it means just taking a break. It does until you can get you got to know yourself. You have to have self trust to get to be able to be it till you see it. So, what I like to say is, what's one thing in this episode that you can take action on right now that will actually feel good to you and doesn't feel overwhelming? Is it the worry box? Is it the brain dump is it making a list of all the things that are going on right now that you're supposed to be doing and that you're not, and then seeing what you can get rid of, which you can just go, I can't do that right now. Is it taking time to get back to your inner voice? What is it that you are? Can't do all. Don't tell me I'll do that one too. I'm gonna do that one too. You're just going to overwhelm yourself, babe. You're just going to dysregulate yourself in trying to regulate yourself. So let's not do that. It's also something I really think is important: is regulation is an act of self-parenting, not a chore. It's not a task. It's just taking care of yourself. One other little tidbit I want to give you is maybe what you need to do is just set an alarm three times a day. That ask yourself, "How am I feeling right now? How am I feeling right now? Am I feeling? Do I feel good right now? Do I feel overwhelmed right now? Do I feel excited right now? Do I feel overwhelmed right now. I feel regulated, dysregulated. Just notice that maybe at the end of every day you feel dysregulated. Okay, that's an interesting pattern. That's good awareness. So what's happening between the last time when you felt good and the end of the day? What are you doing too much of? What are you forcing yourself to do?Lesley Logan 17:45  Whether you have ADHD, perimenopause, whether you're in the sandwich generation, there are always tools, but you have to know which tool works best for you. You cannot always bring a hammer to everything. Sometimes we need a drill. Sometimes we need a screwdriver. Sometimes we need a crane. Sometimes we need cement. So, what do you need? Take time this week to figure that out. Otherwise, just taking more advice from all the other people is just gonna overwhelm you and put you in a dysregulated state when you're trying to get better. Isn't that silly, to get dysregulated trying to get self-help? But it happens all the time. It happens all the time with my perfectionists and overachievers, my people pleasers, my firstborn parentified daughters. I see you. We're not trying to be monks. We're just trying to be aware. It's our job to figure out what helps us feel good and helps us take on what we want to be, what we want to do, so we can Be It Till You See It. Thank you for watching. I hope this is helpful. Let me know what your takeaways are. Send this to a friend who needs to hear it. Until next time, Be It Till You See It.Lesley Logan 18:53  TThat's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod. Brad Crowell 19:35  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 19:41  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 19:45  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 19:52  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 19:56  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In part one of the Regulation Series, Lesley Logan reframes a belief many high achievers cling to: that success comes from more discipline. She explains why feeling stuck is often a biological state rather than a character flaw, and how learning your regulated and dysregulated patterns can affect your decisions. Drawing on perimenopause, late-diagnosed ADHD, and her own overachiever tendencies, she shows how guarding what you let in, from your feed to other people's chaos, keeps you steady. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:Why chasing more discipline can keep you stuck in the shame cycle.The real challenges with ADHD and how it affects your regulation.The importance of self-awareness and the need to redefine success.The gateway effect and why a racing brain blocks creativity and confidence.A simple daily noticing practice that shortens your recovery time.Episode References/Links:Ep 400 ft Gay Hendricks - https://beitpod.com/ep400The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks - https://a.co/d/0aNfSwP7Submit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questions If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  What if success isn't about discipline? What if we didn't actually need to get more discipline and buckle down and get everything right? What if that wasn't what we needed? What if actually what we needed is just some more regulation? Lesley Logan 0:17  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started.  Lesley Logan 1:00  Hey, Be It babe. What if success isn't about discipline? What if we didn't actually need to get more discipline and just buckle down and get everything right? What if that wasn't what we needed? What if actually what we needed is just some more regulation?Lesley Logan 1:21  Hi, I'm Lesley Logan. Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast. I am doing a solo episode this week, and it's about regulation. And this comes actually because we've got some great episodes coming out where we're talking about midlife, perimenopause, just all the things that make life life. But I'm increasingly aware of all the podcasts I've done where people ask me what success means to me, and it's really funny because whenever I answer, I'm like, "Oh, I'm doing that right now. Success is being in control of my own schedule." And really, if we think about it, success is just being aware of how we feel, right? And so, look, I will say I was a hustler. I've been someone who's been busy my whole life. As a kid, I remember when my speech therapist met with me, and they were like, "Okay, we want to work with you." I was like, "Oh, I couldn't possibly work with you. I have sewing classes on these days. I have dance class on these days. I have gymnastics on these days. I have softball on these days, I have church." All the things, right? This was the second grade. What are you, about eight years old? And I was so in control of my schedule. And then in high school, I had a job as soon as they let me have a work permit. So I was in sports, I had a job, and I was taking AP classes. Always been a busy person. And what happens is you go through your life, and then systems don't work anymore. The thing is that what we know is that after 36, you're probably in some perimenopausal state. So my lovelies who are younger, yes, it's coming. Those of you who are on the other side, hey, way to go! But things change, and we have an episode on astrologically about how things change, too. And the thing that's so weird about being at a certain age is that you can have achieved so much, and then you can still blame yourself for having not enough discipline, or lacking discipline, or lacking organization, willpower, or motivation when you feel stuck, or hit a wall, or feel overwhelmed. And then what happens is we want to go buy another planner, or we sign up for another course, or we think we just need to wake up earlier, or we go into this weird shame cycle. And then that kind of feels good. I remember someone showed me a meme: "I'm amazing," and then it goes, "I suck. This sucks. I can't do this. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm amazing," right? It's like this creative's cycle. And the reality is sometimes we do that. "Okay, all this stuff is going wrong. I just lack discipline. I'm gonna get another planner. I'm going to sign up for these things.Lesley Logan 4:02  I'm going to do this," and, "Okay, now I feel better," because we took some action, and action always brings clarity, so it does make things feel better. But it doesn't actually, it just becomes part of this cycle that will just keep repeating itself because it's not about the discipline, right? This is not a character flaw you have. When we go into these spirals, it's often just a biological state. It's a dysregulated state, right? And I wanted to say, we will talk about this more, but I am not suggesting that I am regulated all the time. I would not say that, but I do want to acknowledge that awareness is key, and being aware of when these things are happening is the first thing you can do, right? So I'm teaching people how to teach Pilates for the first time, and some people already have been teaching a little bit, but now they're going through comprehensive training with me, and you can't know all that stuff, I mean, I can talk to you about it, but first you just have to be aware that that is the sidekicks and what you're seeing happen. You have to start there, right? So that's where we're gonna start. Lesley Logan 5:09  There are two versions of you, my love. There is a regulated you, and that you, you know that you, that's the you that is calm and decisive, that does take the messy action or the first next step. And it's almost like people are throwing tennis balls at you and you're whacking them back, right? Whacking them back. I love a regulated me. I'm like, "Woo! My inbox is at zero. You need that? I'll get that to you, no problem." I don't go, "Oh my god, I need that thing right now." I'm like, "Oh yeah, no problem. Here you go. Here's this. How about I get you these things?" The regulated me is not delulu, but definitely at ease, able to take on hard things, excited by what I'm saying yes to, not annoyed by requests from people that are last fucking minute. The regulated me is like, "Oh, you want this? I can take this on. Oh yeah, no, I'll go do that. Oh, I'll do seven more new things." The regulated me just feels at ease with things and doesn't have this like "what the fuck," right? It's so funny when my husband freaks out about the internet in his office, and I'm like, "Oh my god, can you calm down? I can hear it across the house." And then of course there's the other side, right? There's a dysregulated you. There's a dysregulated me. The one that gets overwhelmed, trapped in task paralysis, mindlessly scrolling, or oversnacking, or doing seven other things besides the thing you need to do, or I'm the one yelling, "Why is this computer not working?" And so, can you think about a time like that? I'll just say, when I get dysregulated, a few things happen all at the same time: my sleep goes bad, and then because my sleep goes bad, I don't really feel good in my movement, and so I tell myself, "Oh, I don't need to move because I didn't sleep very well." That's probably true, but then I'll just start work early. Wrong, wrong, always the wrong answer. I should not do that. I should do something else that is for me to regulate myself so that when I do go to work at the normal time, I would actually see all the things as the regulated version of me, right? But of course, now we're tired. Now we didn't fill our cup, and now we're seeing things and it's like, "Why doesn't this person understand that? Why is this why it's gone?" When you feel yourself like, "Why are they? Why is that person? Why is this person?" When you're upset in the car in traffic, it's a dysregulated you, babe, right? And it's not that you need more discipline.Lesley Logan 7:30  No, it's a biological state, and what we need is to figure out what our regulated and dysregulated states look like, feel like, sound like, smell like, just noting the things, right, so that we can be aware. Because until we are aware, we can't change anything, right? And I just want to also add, my loves who are getting late diagnosed ADHD: hello, I see you. Late diagnosed auDHD. The reality is I thought I was going crazy. I was like, "Why all of a sudden so frustrated by all these things? Why am I getting irritated about this thing? Is this perimenopause? Because this sucks." And when I found out, it's like, "No, this is my brain's operating system." My ADHD people, you will just go buy another journal. That is not the next thing you should do because you've got a stack of them you don't use, but you're like, "Oh, what a pretty journal that is." I have pretty journals that are just for decor, I don't even try to write in them anymore. I am aware that I'm buying them just for the look of it. But our nervous system is functioning differently and it does things outside of what we often desire, like a dopamine high. I will tell you right now, there's a lot of things that I do just for the dopamine of it all, and having awareness around that really does help. But our brain is also three steps ahead of everyone, right? Like my psychiatrist said, "I can help you focus, but I can't keep you from saying yes to things you don't have time for." And so, really understanding yourself is one of the most important things I could say you need to do in order to feel successful, right? Because again, we could define success as whatever it is. But if you are dysregulated, you're always going to feel like you're not successful, right? If you're unaware of how you operate and what you need, right? So systems really, really work, my ADHD people. I know you don't want them, but they really, really work.Lesley Logan 9:24  But also, even if you don't have ADHD, if you are balancing perimenopause with kids and your aging parents, and you run your own business, or you work for a high-stress business, or all of us in this life, there's a lot of life going on. And I just want to say, I don't have children, and my parents are independent right now, so I have more time than my friends who are older than me who don't have kids, but their parents are aging and have more needs. My friends are in a different place in their life about what they're thinking about and planning for versus me. They are getting ready for retirement; I am still building that. So we often compare ourselves to other people in our life, and we have to be really mindful of that, right? I also don't get to blame myself, "Well, you don't have kids, so you should have time for this." That's not healthy either, my loves who don't have children. We have to be honest, all of us have so many different responsibilities, and if we are operating from a regulated state when we're answering questions or answering requests, we will actually give a better answer to those things so that we actually can stay regulated. But when we are in dysregulation and trying to do all these things, one, we're not doing it out of a place of love. That is for sure not happening. There is no love in a dysregulated state, and we start to just get overwhelmed by the mundane, the things that we have to do every day anyway, right? So I just want to say that because I know that there's a lot of people who just have a lot, and they're like, "Okay, I just need one more thing that will make this easier." There probably isn't, but if you can be aware of what you need to do to feel like you're coming from a regulated state, then you are going to be able to make decisions from a better place. And sometimes those decisions are to say no, right?Lesley Logan 11:11  And then those of you who love Pilates, I do want to bring a little Pilates analogy here. When we do our Pilates, if we are just doing choreography, that will be like a dysregulated state. For example, you're doing the 100 and the carriage is bouncing everywhere, or you're on the mat and your head is bouncing everywhere. That is not regulated. That is not connected. But you're doing the 100 and the carriage doesn't move, or you're doing the 100 and everything feels strong. It's hard. Life is hard, but it feels possible, and I think that that is where I'm hoping we can all wrap our brains around. Life isn't going to feel easy and then hard and then easy and hard. It can actually feel hard all the time, but possible, like you're in control of how you feel and how you operate in that, right? So I've been mentioning regulate and dysregulate, but maybe we need to talk about what it looks like. A lot of people might think dysregulated is just a temper tantrum, and I have those. Sometimes I'm like, "I just want to have a temper tantrum like a three-year-old. There's something that feels really good about screaming right now." But it also can be hyperarousal, like fight or flight, right? Compulsively overworking or micromanaging people, or having this invisible clock of anxiety, you're feeling rushed to do things, but you made up the deadline, or there is no deadline. I will also say, if you read The Big Leap, we talk about that book a lot on this podcast, Episode 400 is the author, when I am dysregulated, I will tend to worry about things I have no control over, and then I will also look for all the things that haven't been done. These are all bad, by the way: "That's all going to happen, and none of this is done." None of those things are done, but that doesn't have anything to do with what could go wrong here, and has nothing to do with the thing we need to work on, right? But I will just pile it on. You could have hypoarousal, though, that's a freeze or fawn state. Procrastination disguised as researching, or people-pleasing to avoid conflict, or taking up a couch state, right, and going, "Oh, I'm just percolating." So you can be dysregulated and look calm, but really you're not working on the thing you want to be doing, right? Does that make sense?Lesley Logan 13:31  So I sometimes will play a video game when I am feeling out of sorts because there's something about moving these colors around that helps bring my heart rate down and bring me into a different place, and then I can go, "Okay, hold on. What am I avoiding?" So I just want to say it's okay to end up doing those things, but being aware that what you're doing is what you're doing is really, really important. I think a lot of times we go through life very unaware, right? In Pilates, if I tell someone to pull their shoulders back and they're as far back as they can go, that person is unaware that their shoulders are very much forward, and they don't have the ability to pull them back. So I have to first make them aware of what back means because they think back is what they're doing, but it's not. And then I have to help them, right? And there's a perfectionist shutdown cycle that also happens, right? You set some impossible standard, hi, I see you, it's this all-or-nothing mindset, then you can't meet it, then you panic, and then you just shut down and give up. And you often don't tell anybody about that thing that you're going to do, because then you can go through the cycle and you don't have to let anyone know. Yeah, I see you. I've been there. I understand. "I'm gonna go to the gym every single day." Then the first day you hit traffic, there's a new construction site, you get there and you forgot your pants, so now you can't do anything, and you're like, "This didn't work at all."Lesley Logan 15:11  And then you shame and blame yourself, then you have a shit day, and you didn't do enough reflection on how to solve the problem for tomorrow. So then tomorrow comes, and you're like, "I can't do it. It's not fun." So here's what we have to do: we actually have to redefine the goal of what we're trying to achieve in regulation, and also probably what success is for us, right? So I wanted to say that being regulated does not mean that we are a monk who never gets upset, that is crazy and unattainable. It's unattainable. Come on, unattainable, right? I have seen monks, and I am impressed by them, but you guys, they have nothing else to do but be regulated and calm as fuck. They have nothing else to do. Someone else makes sure that they are fed. Someone makes sure that they have clothing. Someone makes sure that they have a roof overhead. They have nothing to do but pray and meditate. You, my love, are not a monk. You have so many things to do on top of it. So it's not about being someone who never gets upset. Lesley Logan 16:14  And it's also important that we talk about success and being regulated as not the absence of triggers. I don't like when people say, "You triggered me," because that's not real unless someone actually knows what your triggers are and does it on purpose. But yes, you can be activated. That's how my therapist would call it:, activated over triggered. But you can be activated by something I say or do, and that doesn't mean you are unsuccessful or that you're not a regulated person. No, it's actually the speed at which you acknowledge it and then recover, right? Today I had some bad news that came before I hit record on this, and it really sent me into a state, and I saw myself wanting to spiral worse than the thing that I was made aware of, right? And I was like, "Hold on, hold on, we don't have to go there. That has nothing to do with the thing that's making us sad right now, and we can feel those feelings, take a moment, and think of all the things we can do to maybe be part of solving that problem." And also, it wasn't my problem to solve, so I really actually just have to feel my feelings and send some good hope, and then I have to go back to the thing, right? Because if I let this thing derail my whole day, then I'm even more behind. And then what am I going to do? Probably go through that shame perfectionist cycle, right? Now, if, what was going on, I had control of taking action and taking action would be the step to take. And I might still be behind, but I actually can acknowledge that was because I was taking action to solve the problem. But it's the speed at which you actually acknowledge the difference, right? I have somebody in my mentorship program who's like, "I want to stop negative self-talk." You're probably not going to stop that, but what you can do is get faster at catching that you are doing it, right? So how long does it take you? Right now, is it taking you 20 minutes, 10 minutes to realize you're doing some negative self-talk? Okay, can we get that to be a little shorter, and then a little shorter, and then eventually you say the first line and you're like, "Shut up!" Right, that kind of thing. How quickly can you recover if you know what your activators are? What boundaries can you put in place? Can't put boundaries in place? That person or that thing is going to activate you. Okay, how quickly can you acknowledge that and go through recovery so that it doesn't derail you, so it doesn't put you in a dysregulated state? It can still upset you, can still frustrate you, you can still feel your feelings. But to literally take you off your course, my love, that's such a bummer, right? That'd be such a bummer because then the things that you're here on this planet to do, you won't be able to do, right? Lesley Logan 18:44  There's another way to redefine the goal. It's called the gateway effect. You cannot access creativity, strategic decision making, or genuine confidence when your body thinks a tiger is chasing it. Our lizard brain goes into flight or fight, or is searching out for a tiger that's gonna eat it. When that's where your brain is at, you can't be creative. Impossible! You're trying to survive, trying to survive. So I see this a lot. At the time that I'm recording this, there's a lot of people who are upset in my industry about something that was posted that I know nothing about, nor did I seek out because I do not care, because going and seeking that out would just dysregulate me. Of course I would get upset by what I saw, and then it would make me sad about people, and then it would make me worry about how this could negatively affect my business, and then it would make me worry about my financials, and then it would make me worry about my future, and then it would make me go, "Why am I even trying this new thing when people could be so shitty about it?" So I don't go look at that stuff, but I was made aware. And the thing that I found was that so many people were fighting me on seeing the thing because I wrote this post about being in a state of practice and not judgment, knowing why you teach and not caring who is the person who trained you. And I noticed how many people wanted to fight me on how it needs to be louder for those people who need to hear it. I'm like, "Well, they don't want to hear it. They're in a state the don't want to hear. Why would they listen to me? They don't want to be there. They want to be in their awful world." And it's interesting that you want to be in that awful world with them. You're letting them do that to you when you could just put blinders on and go, "That's for those people over there." That seems so crazy. Why would I even give them any attention when I have an impact to make over here?Lesley Logan 20:32  So if you keep opening up your socials and the things that you see are causing your brain to go into "a tiger is chasing me," you've got to change your algorithm, my love. That world is shit, right? I get that, and you know what? I really struggled in the last couple of years with promoting things that will help people because there are people dying, there's genocides happening all the time, and so every time I open my phone, "This person fucking did this. These people died." It's not that I don't care about that stuff; it's that I have to make sure I only see that stuff after I've done the things that I can do, because I actually don't get to decide who the leaders are in those cases, because I voted as hard as I could, you know, and I have to go, "What can I do?" So I walk dogs for a shelter. I stay informed in politics, but before and after work only, so that I do not feel like a tiger is chasing me, right? I think it's just really important to understand, babe: I don't think you need more discipline. I think you need to be aware of when you're being dysregulated and what's dysregulating you, so that you can do the things you want to do. Lesley Logan 21:46  So on our next episode, we are going to do some practical regulation and some self-trust. You know I always like to do information and then strategy, so that's what I'm gonna do. So my love, until Thursday, can you do me a favor and just notice your states throughout the day? Notice when you feel it's so easy to tackle that inbox, and when it feels so hard. Just notice. Don't do anything about it, just notice. My love, that's your practice on being a recovering overachiever. All right. Please do me a huge favor: if our episodes are helping you in any way, can you please share them with a friend who needs to hear it?Lesley Logan 22:23  Leave a review, tag me in sharing it so I can see what you loved about it. Whatever it is, it would really mean the world to me. And if you want to support this podcast in any way aside from leaving a review or sharing with a friend, you can be an OPC member. Yep, that's one of the best things you could do, because at OPC, we are a place where you get to practice moving your body, pouring into yourself, listening to it, understanding when you feel great, and just getting to know yourself so much, being curious, being in community, having some accountability, not more discipline, having fun, finishing optional. So go to onlinepilatesclasses.com to check out our membership options. And if that doesn't work for you, then thanks for being here. Thanks for being you. Thanks for downloading this episode. Thanks for listening all the way through. You're amazing. Until next time, Be It Till You See It. Lesley Logan 23:13  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 23:55  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 24:00  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 24:05  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 24:12  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals. Brad Crowell 24:15  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Protecting your attention is not the same as not caring; it's what keeps the work you love possible. Lesley Logan opens August from the road with an honest look at the fighting that keeps breaking out in the Pilates industry, and why she keeps it out of her feed on purpose. She explains what gets lost when instructors tear each other down instead of pointing clients toward each other's strengths. She also shares the response to her teacher training announcement, a listener win over procrastination, and this week's mantra. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:Why a curated algorithm protects the work Lesley came here to do.The industry hoopla that resurfaces every couple of years, and who profits.A teacher training announcement Lesley made without expecting the response.One listener win about procrastination, plus this week's closing mantra.Episode References/Links:UpLift Waitlist - xxll.co/uwsOPC Summer Tour - https://opc.me/eventseLevate Mentorship Program - https://lesleylogan.co/elevateSubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questions If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  It's Fuck Yeah Friday.Brad Crowell 0:01  Fuck yeah!Lesley Logan 0:02  Get ready for some wins. Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast, where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained 1000s of people around the world, and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity, and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guests will bring bold, executable, intrinsic, and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and be it till you see it. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started.Lesley Logan 0:48  Well, hello, BE IT babe. How are you? Happy Friday! Oh my god, it is August. Oof! I'm on tour right now. And if you're new to this podcast, hi! On Fridays, we keep it short. We keep it sweet. It's a way for those who listen to feel like we have some time together, and I get to share wins of yours. You get to hear some wins of mine, and you also get to, I don't know, hopefully feel like you're not alone in some things. So, if you are in our communities for eLevate or for our Agency, we have an "I Need a Moment," and you're allowed to have a moment, but you have to have a win if you have a moment. And I am very notorious for coming in after you've poured your whole heart out and no win was posted. I'm like, "You know, where's the win?" And it's not because we're looking for toxic positivity, but it's because we are trying to see that even in the muck there is a lotus flower.Lesley Logan 1:35  So, at the time that I'm recording this, there's this big thing going on that I continue to be made aware of, even though I changed my algorithm a long, long, long time ago to not see a lot of Pilates stuff. So if that shocks you, it's not because I don't care. It's because I care so much that when I see negative crap on the internet, it just makes me sad. It makes me not actually want to do the thing that I am here to do on this planet, and so I just don't. I don't deal with it. And I have some really great friends who are also in the industry who also have their algorithms set that way. So if you're seeing that me and some of these people are not participating in this debate or didn't participate in the stuff going on last month, it's not because we don't care. It's because we intentionally don't let that stuff in because it would keep us from loving what we do. And so the thing is, I'm actually just so tired. I've been teaching Pilates for almost 20 years, and every couple of years there's this big hoopla of how not good enough some people are, and how much of assholes other people are, and blah, blah, blah. And then we act like it's only in our industry that this happens. Bullshit happens everywhere. People tear each other apart all the fucking time. You all know something? This is why a bunch of stock market bros own a bunch of Pilates studios, because we're all busy tearing each other down instead of focusing on what we're really great at and then making sure that we know who's really great at things we're not, and then sharing that with other people. That's what I have to say about that. So I'm just tired of it. I'm so over it. And if you're, you know, this is where I'm voicing myself.Lesley Logan 3:07  But my win, since I'm not going to leave you with that, if you're like, "What is going on in the Pilates industry?" It doesn't fucking matter. It doesn't matter what it is because in two years it'll be happening again, something similar and not the same at the same time. But the reality is people want us to fight with each other because then we are not busy focusing on making the impact we want to make, which would actually change people's lives and also yours at the same time.Lesley Logan 3:31  So my win is that last month I announced my teacher training program on UpLift publicly. I announced it on Instagram and it got so much love. Like even with all the shit that was going on in the Plaza industry, like my post about my teacher training program got so much love. So not a single person going, "Who the fuck do you think you are? It's only people saying, "Like I'm so glad you're doing this. Finally, a program I can refer people to. I want in on this. I want to learn this. I want to do it. And it just made me so happy because that's not at all what I expected. I kind of was just making the announcement to make the announcement. To be completely honest, I did not expect hundreds of people to go on the wait list. So I'm just well pleased as punch. I really, really am.Lesley Logan 4:15  Okay. So, oh, if you want information on it, you can get on the waitlist at xxll.co/uws. If you have any problems with that, there is an internet provider that can suck it because they are assholes. It's this one internet provider that drives me crazy when it comes to my short links. And so, if you have the internet provider, hit me up. I have a special link just for you. It's just not very pretty.Lesley Logan 4:38  All right, let's get into your win. Your win first one up is gonna be from @hopesewell, " Marked some things off my to-do list that I've been procrastinating on." That is massive. That is so massive. When I knock something off a to-do list that I've been procrastinating on, I am like the most proud of myself. And also, sometimes because of my ADHD, I realize, well that didn't take very long at all. It was on my wait list longer than the half life that it took me to do it. So I feel you, Hope. Thank you so much. I know you're a big OPC fan, and I get to see you on the summer tour. I'm so, so excited.Lesley Logan 5:11  So thank you for sending your win in. You guys can send your wins into beitpod.com/questions. That's also where you can send in any topics you want us to do our solo episodes on or guests you want us to feature. This podcast is here for you. It's not just for hearing me talk to myself. I talk to myself all the time. I don't need another outlet. So definitely send in what you need.Lesley Logan 5:30  And your mantra before I let you go is: I honor and cherish my life. I honor and cherish my life. I honor and cherish my life. Be It babe, I hope you do. That's the only way you could be it till you see it, anyways. Honor and cherish it. All right. Until next time, Be It Till You See It. Lesley Logan 5:48  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 6:31  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 6:35  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 6:40  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 6:47  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 6:50  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this recap episode, Lesley Logan and Brad Crowell revisit Lesley's conversation with Amy Dickens, a joy advocate, author of 101 Ways to Spread Joy, and creator of Joyfully You. Amy found joy after years of mental health struggles and turned it into a practice for nervous system regulation. The hosts get honest about what it costs to stay positive inside a negative industry, and why joy is something you build rather than something you wait for. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:The importance of being the joy you wish to see in the world.How relationships act as the key predictor of joy and happiness.Building community as a learnable skill to combat the loneliness epidemic.Miracle walks as an active practice for noticing and maintaining joy.Calendar blocking to prioritize scheduling connection and joy before work.Episode References/Links:UpLift's Waitlist - xxll.co/uwseLevate - lesleylogan.co/elevateOPC Summer Tour (Powered by Balanced Body) - https://opc.me/tourOPC Pilates Flashcards – https://opc.me/flashcardsOPC Pilates Posters – https://opc.me/postersNevada SPCA – https://nevadaspca.orgOPC YouTube Live – https://onlinepilatesclasses.comVaccinate Your Family – https://vaccinateyourfamily.com101 Ways to Spread Joy - https://www.livejoyfullyyou.com/101waystospreadjoySubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questions If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  It's the idea of, like, okay, your house burnt down, so at least I get to design that master bedroom that I wanted. Like, that would be a toxic positivity thing. Finding joy is the neighbors that came over and showed how much they love and support you, and brought you new items and new things. I think finding joy or being the joy doesn't mean that you're not feeling feelings. It just means that you are not hyper-focused on all the shit.Lesley Logan 0:25  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started.Brad Crowell 1:08  Take it away.Lesley Logan 1:09  Welcome back to the Be It Till You See It interview recap, where my co-host in life, Brad, and I are going to dig into the delightful combo I had with Amy Dickens in our last episode. If you haven't yet, listen to that interview. Feel free to pause this now. Go back because you missed out on some joy stuff. Like it was all joyful. Super joy. Brad Crowell 1:23  Yes you did. Lesley Logan 1:24  So, if you want to miss on joyLesley Logan 1:26  It was delightful. Lesley Logan 1:27  You can listen to this first to see how much joy is in it, and then get that joy intrigue fixed by listening to her episode after. Today is August 6th. It's a day after my brother's birthday, 2026, and it kicks off.   Brad Crowell 1:39  Clutter Awareness WeekLesley Logan 1:41  Which I'm sure the people who have clutter also hate that it's kicking off on a Thursday, but that's how they did it, which takes place annually, shining a light on the often overlooked issue of physical and mental clutter. Ooh, mental clutter too. This week encourages individuals to identify, confront, and overcome disorganization in their lives. Join the movement by decluttering a space, donating unused items, or learning new organizational strategies. So, I am super excited to say that I have, by the time you listen to this, taken all of our old dish towels, studio cleaning towels, old towels, Brad doesn't like that, but I'm taking old towels, all to the SPCA, the Nevada SPCA, because they will use them, and I got myself some new microfiber towels for the studio. And I'm gonna find kitchen towels that actually soak up shit because the ones we have, I don't know if you noticed, Brad, they just move it around. They just move the liquid around. There is something wrong with these towels, so they are gone. I'm taking them away. Time for some matching cute towels.Brad Crowell 2:45  That is funny. Yeah, you're not wrong, and it's interesting because sometimes it's easy to get stuck in cleaning just so that you can focus, and then... Lesley Logan 2:55  Well that's definitely ADHD...Brad Crowell 2:57  But then other times I go through not cleaning, and it just piles up. Things just pile up. Lesley Logan 3:02  I'm looking at a basket, and I was looking at it before we started this call. Before I knew what the week announcement was, and I was like, "This should be a box. Why is this an open basket? And why is this basket here?" And then if we take, you guys cannot see because what you see is very strategic, but this podcast room has become Monica's closet. I'm just gonna say it. If you know Monica from Friends, this is Monica's closet. And by the time you hear this, I'm going to say that we have done something to it because it's time.Brad Crowell 3:34  It's time to declutter.Lesley Logan 3:35  Alright. So tell us. Make sure you send a win in of what you decluttered this week. Send in a win to the beitpod.com/questions. Okay, really quick, as you have heard, the rumors are true. I created a teacher training program for new teachers or somewhat trained teachers who want to study Pilates the way I teach it. So if you like the style of my Pilates instruction, you like my tutorials, my flashcards, you want to go through my training. It's called UpLift, the capital L. And the educators for this program are people who trained with me through my mentorship program, eLevate. And so, if you are a comprehensively trained teacher and you want to study directly with me, then you want to do eLevate. If you actually just want to train through a training that I've created and that I'm very intimately involved in, but my eLevate grads will be teaching, you want to go through UpLift. So, UpLift's waitlist for teachers and people who want to be in that training is xxll.co/uws, and if youBrad Crowell 4:29  Yeah, that's just to also make a distinction, UpLift is for people who are not yet teachers.Lesley Logan 4:34  Not yet teachers. However.Brad Crowell 4:35  But eLevate is are for comprehensively trained teachers already.Lesley Logan 4:40  Yes, and I have to keep saying this because it's important. The industry is very unique. There are people who've only been trained on Mat or Reformer or Mat and Reformer, and so if you want to do a comprehensive training, you could go through UpLift because you cannot go through eLevate because you have to have had a comprehensive training to do eLevate. Yes. If you are already a comprehensively trained instructor and you're like, "Oh, I want to learn your teaching style, but it doesn't have to be directly with you. I prefer something in person." You could be a bridge participant in UpLift. So it's definitely for people who want to become a Pilates instructor. But there are ways where you're already doing some sort of teaching that you may prefer UpLift to eLevate. Those of you who are asking me how you can be an educator for eLevate, I love you. Thank you. I'm so glad you're so excited. You actually need to go through eLevate. So the actual proper channel is to go through eLevate, and so you want to go to lesleylogan.co/elevate. If you just want to study with me and not teach UpLift, you can still go through eLevate, but you have to be a comprehensively trained instructor. Boom. There, we did it. Okay.Brad Crowell 5:41  Slayed.Lesley Logan 5:41  We are on summer tour. We are on the road. It's happening. I don't even know what day, we must be in Lawrence, Kansas, or we might be in Nashville today. Hold on.Brad Crowell 5:49  The 6th. I think we're in Lawrence or Knoxville. Let's see.Lesley Logan 5:53  Well, I don't know what day the tour starts, and I actually haven't looked, but we do start in Denver. That sold out. Lawrence, Kansas, that's sold out. Then it's Nashville. Then it's Knoxville, a rooftop location for the mat class. It's going to be so freaking cool. Then it's Greensboro, North Carolina. I know we have a day off before we go to Augusta, Georgia. Then Atlanta, Georgia.Brad Crowell 6:13  We're in Lawrence on A ugust 6.Lesley Logan 6:14  August 6. So this is Lawrence, Kansas. Second day of the tour is August 6. Oh, we start on my brother's birthday. There we go. That'll be easy to remember. So there is, at the time of this recording, still space in stops 3 all the way to 14, but spaces are very much running out in Atlanta, Huntsville, Birmingham, Jackson, and Tucson. In fact, they might already be gone by the time you listen to this. But there is some good space in Nashville, Knoxville, Greensboro, Augusta, Frisco, and El Paso. So in El Paso, we're going to be teaching in Spanish. I mean, I'm going to have a translator. I don't know how to teach in Spanish. I know how to understand if she's saying what I said in Spanish. So don't worry, I can hear that. So our tour is powered by Balanced Body, which means we have gift certificates and prizes to give away. We have the Contrology equipment to bring in, so you can try it out. We have a discount, something you can use to buy your own equipment. Sure. So come on down, opc.me/tour. And then if you're new here, don't forget to check out our Pilates flashcards and our posters. Our flashcards are amazing, and you can buy them from us and support an amazing small company, and part of the money that you spend goes to the Nevada SPCA, which helps dogs, cats, guinea pigs, chinchillas, and bunnies get well taken care of till they find their furever home, as they would say, furever home. And if you want our posters, we have those, too.Brad Crowell 7:38  I caught that (inaudible).Lesley Logan 7:39  Yeah, well, you just looked around like, "What did she say?" So, opc.me/flashcards, opc.me/posters. Look how easy we make those links. What is not easy is if you want to send your win in to celebrate that you got those posters or flashcards, you have to send it into beitpod.com/questions. All right, we no longer take your questions here. We do those on Sundays on YouTube, on our YouTube Live, so come to that. Our OnlinePilatesClasses.com has a YouTube channel, and we go live every Sunday chatting with you. So instead, we bring up a charity that's topical for the time. So what is it, Brad?Brad Crowell 8:15  That's right. All right, this month is Vaccination or Immunization Awareness Month.Lesley Logan 8:19  Vaccination or Immunization Awareness Month.Brad Crowell 8:22  That's what it is. So August, we're focusing on Vaccinate Your Family. Kicking off our immunization spotlight, we're featuring Vaccinate Your Family, a nonprofit with serious roots. It was founded in 1991 by former First Lady Rosalynn Carter.Lesley Logan 8:34  Love the Carters.Brad Crowell 8:36  And former Arkansas First Lady Betty Bumpers.Lesley Logan 8:41  It looks like "Ladybug" if you go too fast because it says "First Lady Betty Bumpers," and I just read "Ladybug."Brad Crowell 8:46  That's amazing. Originally as Every Child By Two, renamed Vaccinate Your Family in 2018. Lesley Logan 8:52  The goal was to like get people vaccinated by two years old.Brad Crowell 8:55  Its mission is to protect people of all ages from vaccine-preventable diseases by reaching everyone in the U.S. with science-based information and a real pathway to immunization, including a tool that helps families figure out how to actually pay for vaccines and a grassroots advocacy program that trains everyday people to share their stories. In a year where measles has come roaring back across our entire country, the work matters more than usual. And this month we're featuring a very well-vetted...Lesley Logan 9:22  YesBrad Crowell 9:23  ...charity. I mean, they don't get more vetted than this. They have a 92% score and four-star rating from Charity Navigator, plus a Gold Seal of Transparency from Candid. Whether you're a parent, a caregiver, or someone who just wants families to have clear answers and real access, this one is absolutely worth a look. Find out more and support them at vaccinateyourfamily.com.Lesley Logan 9:42  And I think this is really important because it's a really weird time right now where people are trusting influencers over actual science-based information, and that can be very harmful. Not just for the people who get misinformation, but also for the people that that misinformation negatively affects, right? Like there are people who believe that these vaccines are causing autism out in the world. Autism has been here before vaccines. It's not a thing you catch. It's a thing that's part of how your body and brain all work together. And when people spread that misinformation, it negatively affects people who are autistic in a way that's unfair and unwarranted and awful. But the other reality is there are people who cannot get vaccinated for whatever reason. Like there are people who are either not old enough for certain vaccines or their system is going through something. They have cancer or things like that, and so they cannot. And so as a community, we are supposed to be doing this together. And because of misinformation about vaccines that has been debunked too many times, the U.S. is no longer measles-free, and in fact, they think that we'll never get it back. And it's a sad thing because measles does ruin your entire immune system, including things you were already immunized from.Brad Crowell 10:59  And you could die.Lesley Logan 11:00  Yeah, you can. And if you want to see a real-life example of how they educate and talk about that and be entertained, watch The Pitt. Yep, very interesting episode about that. Maybe you don't die, but maybe the person that got exposed to it in those first four days that you had it...Brad Crowell 11:12  Yeah.Lesley Logan 11:13  ...couldn't be vaccinated. I mean...Brad Crowell 11:14  When they did, I can't remember if it was smallpox or measles back in the day. The pitch was not everybody can get the vaccine.Lesley Logan 11:22  Yeah.Brad Crowell 11:23  So therefore, it's incumbent on us to give a shit about our neighbors who can't get it.Lesley Logan 11:28  It was polio.Brad Crowell 11:29  I think it was polio.Lesley Logan 11:30  Your great uncle got polio.Brad Crowell 11:31  You're right. I think it was polio. So not everyone can get the vaccine because of immunity stuff. So the best thing for the community is for everyone who can get the vaccine to get the vaccine so that we are not carriers or passing things along. A nd it protects others.Lesley Logan 11:49  Well, and also it's really interesting. Dr. Divya on Instagram did this whole thing about the best peptide you can get, the best peptide. And she talked about how amazing peptides are, what peptides are, how they come from your body. GLP-1, the P stands for peptide, and everyone in the world is super into peptides. And she said the best peptide is a vaccination.Brad Crowell 12:09  Right. B ecause that's what they fucking are.Lesley Logan 12:14  That's what they are.Brad Crowell 12:16  Right. Yep.Lesley Logan 12:16  It's hard. It's fucking hard. Anyway, there's a lot of bad stuff. I understand there's all the awful history about how a lot of vaccinations were done and how racist stuff happened, and so I get that there are so many layers, and I don't want our conversation here to be pedantic or small about it. But I do want to acknowledge that we got rid of fucking measles, and now we're not.Brad Crowell 13:17  Yeah, now it's back.Lesley Logan 13:18  Vaccinate your family, if you want to help support them, to help people who are not misinformed yet get taken care of and get the help they need because a lot of these things are free if they know about it.Brad Crowell 13:30  If you have a charity that you think should be featured or we should be talking about, let us know. Go to beitpod.com/questions, and you can also leave us a win for the Friday episode. Stick around. We'll be right back. We're going to talk about Amy Dickens.Brad Crowell 13:43  All right, welcome back. Let's talk about Amy Dickens. Amy is a joy advocate, author of 101 Ways to Spread Joy, and the creator of Joyfully You. She helps people reconnect to their joy as a tool for nervous system regulation and transformation. After struggling with mental health challenges into her mid-to-late 20s, Amy discovered that finding joy became her turning point. Her experience led her to explore how community and intentional joy practices reshape lives, and she's known for leading joy parades in the streets and helping others overcome social anxiety to build meaningful connections. That's pretty freaking cool.Lesley Logan 14:23  So cool. And I have to be honest, I'm sure someone in her life was like, "You're gonna make money doing this?" But she is, and she's doing a great job, and she brings such a smile to your face. I loved so much of what she said. When we show up as the joy that we wish to see in the world, that creates this invisible ripple effect, and it's so true.Brad Crowell 14:43  Did you say be it till you see it?Lesley Logan 14:45  Be it till you see it. I think that's what she said. That's what I said. Yeah. No, and I think this is so true. If there's an idea, if you need love, go give love. If you need joy, go give joy to people. Go smile. Go be. She says in a world full of fear and divisiveness, joy acts as a breath of fresh air. Yeah. And it really is true. In the industry that I'm in, it can be really negative, really nasty. I'm super pissed about people taking my IP and all this stuff. But I have this girl who's in a similar situation where someone in another country is using her stuff, has gone through all these efforts, and she's finally at the end of the rope. She's like, "All I can do is actually just put all the evidence on Facebook, call them out, and blast it because I can't go any further." And she's like, "Would you help me share this?" And I said, "I can't do that." I said, "It's not that I don't support you. Not that I probably wouldn't do the same thing. It's that I try not to put out negative stuff in this industry. I try to find a positive way to talk about the shit so that there's hope." And that goes through, like, how can we figure out a way to be the breath of fresh air?Brad Crowell 15:50  Yeah.Lesley Logan 15:51  In our offices, in the family situation, so that not only do we experience joy, but people do too. And maybe those people who are fearful and divisive might actually, I don't know. Maybe something happens when they experience a little bit of joy..Brad Crowell 16:03  Yeah, it's interesting. It's tough to stay focused on the positive, especially if somebody is maligning you or stealing from you. So yeah, that's a hard thing.Lesley Logan 16:14  I think that's a distinction in the joy. And then we had a guest last year where we talked about toxic positivity. Being a breath of fresh air and finding joy does not have to be in the shit that's happening. It can actually be next to the shit, right? It's like the idea of, like, okay, your house burnt down, so at least I get to design that master bedroom that I wanted. Like, that would be a toxic positivity thing. Finding joy is the neighbors that came over and showed how much they love and support you, and brought you new items and new things. I think finding joy or being the joy doesn't mean that you're not feeling feelings. It just means that you are not hyper-focused on all the shit.Brad Crowell 16:54  Hyper-focused on all the shit. Yep. I really loved when she was talking about how do you predict joy and happiness. She said that the number one predictor is your relationships.Lesley Logan 17:09  Yes.Brad Crowell 17:10  In life.Lesley Logan 17:10  We were talking about this with another person. Not us, with another person. You heard a guy talking about happiness and quality of relationship. It has to be with three prongs. So this is very fascinating. Your number one predictor of happiness is your relationships, and it's like the idea of you're the average of the five people you hang out with.Brad Crowell 17:28  Yeah, sure.Lesley Logan 17:28  So if they're shitty people, you're probably not going to have a lot of joy.Brad Crowell 17:31  Yeah, she said it includes both deep, intimate relationships, but also saying hi to random strangers.Lesley Logan 17:37  I like that you do that. My mom does that. I think I smile. I acknowledge.Brad Crowell 17:43  Yeah, I definitely started doing that when I was a teenager, and I would just compliment people. You know, "I like your shoes," or "I like your sweatshirt."Lesley Logan 17:52  All the time. They don't even listen sometimes. He said something one night in the airport. He told this one person, "I like your jacket," and a guy with a shitty jacket was like, "This thing?" And it was like, "No, I was talking to her."Brad Crowell 18:02  It was like, "Oh my god."Lesley Logan 18:04  But anyways, we all had a good laugh, so there was joy there. And you were a little pocket of joy for someone.Brad Crowell 18:09  So funny.Lesley Logan 18:09  Yeah. But if you are, "I can't say hi to strangers because what if they're crazy? What if they come at me?" Ladies, I feel you, which is why I actually make sure I'm very kind to the people behind the counter of the places that I get coffee. They are safe. They are behind the coffee thing.Brad Crowell 18:26  Yeah.Lesley Logan 18:26  Someone vetted them to work at that coffee place, and so I will bring joy to them. And then if I want to the people around me, I have a witness. So I feel good about it. I don't do it on the street as much, but, you know.Brad Crowell 18:36  She said that even saying hi to your neighbor actually matters for your mental health and joy. Yeah. So saying hi, or waving, or being kind to the mail person or whatever. She said we are in a loneliness epidemic right now, and learning to build community is a skill.Lesley Logan 18:51  Yeah. Brad Crowell 18:52  Learning to build community is a skill. The hard part requires being brave, that moment of hello, but the payoff is actual community and connection, right? That is amazing for our own loneliness, our own mental health, for our own joy and our own happiness. So she said, you have to put yourself in situations where you feel really scared and you're doing it anyways.Lesley Logan 19:17  It's like she listened to the podcast.Brad Crowell 19:20  Yeah. Actually, I was laughing because so many things—do it scared. She didn't say "be it till you see it," but she basically described that. A lot of the things that she was talking about, I was laughing because I was like, "Oh yeah, we say that. We talk about that."Lesley Logan 19:35  I love it. I love it. I know, and I think that's really true. There is a loneliness epidemic. One thing that I love about our situation where we live now versus the apartment, because we couldn't really just, I guess we did know our mail person at the apartment, but we know our FedEx driver, we know our UPS people, we know our mail lady. And even the ones we don't know, we're always out there. We meet them outside, like, "Hey, how's it going?" They know. They're like, "Oh, this is the Pilates house, right?" They probably don't have a lot of engagement. They're just on the roads dealing with people. So if you just even be nice to them, you might be the impact that they need.Brad Crowell 20:20  By doing that, you're the impact that you need.Lesley Logan 20:22  Yes, I agree. I remember, oh my gosh, when I worked in retail, we had the same UPS driver Monday to Friday and a different guy on Saturday, and we loved our Monday-to-Friday guy. We would talk to him every day. One day we didn't have him. He's like, "Oh yeah, I was subbing around in Newport." "You're going to leave us for the ocean, aren't you?" And he's, "No, I'm in AC all day. I don't have to do anything." But we were such good friends with our UPS driver, and it was something to look forward to every day. It's like part of the routine. Here he comes.Brad Crowell 20:47  That's fun. Yeah, I love it. Well, stick around. We'll be right back. We're gonna dig into those Be It Action Items. Welcome back. Let's talk about those Be It Action Items that you had with Amy Dickens. What bold, executable, intrinsic, or targeted action items can we take away from your convo? She said she uses two practices for maintaining joy. The first one is miracle walks.Lesley Logan 21:12  I love this.Brad Crowell 21:13  Yeah, and she said... Lesley Logan 21:14  Like, the miracle dreams person we had.Brad Crowell 21:17  She said, just walk around. Walk your block. And she said, "Look up." She changes her perspective instead of looking down at her phone or ahead on the sidewalk. Look up. What are you actually seeing? She said, "You cannot return until you identify three miracles on this walk." Okay, so miracle number one might be dew on a leaf or birds singing, right? So three things where you're just observing something that is amazing, something that is astounding.Lesley Logan 21:43  I do this every morning. I take a note of the moon and the sunrise every morning.Brad Crowell 21:48  I love that.Lesley Logan 21:48  Yes. I see if I have a third one.Brad Crowell 21:51  For me, it's often like a cactus. I'll take a closer look at them because they're all fascinating, how they grow. It's completely different.Lesley Logan 22:01  They change every day.Brad Crowell 22:02  Yeah, it's crazy.Lesley Logan 22:03  Especially right now because of the flowering.Brad Crowell 22:05  Yeah, I know. This part of the year is so beautiful in Vegas. She said this trains your brain to actively scan for beauty and joy in places you've already walked a thousand times.Lesley Logan 22:16  Yes.Brad Crowell 22:16  So instead of just letting it all pass you by, even in the city, there are amazing things to see. So I love it. Miracle walks is one. Two, calendar blocking. Prioritize scheduling connection and joy before filling your calendar with work.Lesley Logan 22:31  This is actually very much on brand with what I say when I teach people how to do their schedule on our retreat, which is you have to put your priorities first.Brad Crowell 22:40  Yep.Lesley Logan 22:40  Sleep.Brad Crowell 22:41  Yep.Lesley Logan 22:42  Light is genius. Sleep.Brad Crowell 22:43  Yeah, your rocks in your schedule, the way we describe that, is prioritizing the opportunity for connection and joy should be paramount. It should absolutely be a part of your schedule.Lesley Logan 22:56  Yes, yes.Brad Crowell 22:57  You know, for me, youLesley Logan 22:58  You cannot fit joy in. You're gonna fit it in. It's gonna stress it out.Brad Crowell 23:02  Yeah, for me, it's been sitting on the front porch, drinking my coffee in the morning, just gathering my thoughts and enjoying the day. You know.Lesley Logan 23:10  You know what we have not done?Brad Crowell 23:11  Tell me.Lesley Logan 23:12  We have not told the podcast we have a dog.Brad Crowell 23:14  Oh. We have a new dog.Lesley Logan 23:18  Yeah.Brad Crowell 23:18  Congratulations, us.Lesley Logan 23:20  Yeah. We'll talk more about that another day.Brad Crowell 23:22  Yeah, we'll we'll share that more, if you're on socials. I'm sure you've seen it on Instagram.Lesley Logan 23:26  And your morning, the reason that thought dolphined up, is because you sit out on the porch in the mornings with the dog.Brad Crowell 23:43  Yes.Lesley Logan 23:43  And Darla tried to join this routine, and it did not bring Darla joy.Brad Crowell 23:47  She lasted about five minutes. It did not bring Darla joy. Lesley Logan 23:50  No, no, no. Brad Crowell 23:52  What about you? What was your biggest takeaway?Lesley Logan 23:53  Okay, give yourself permission to follow your joy, whatever big or little ways that might be. Okay, this is really important. Let me finish her thought. Take a deep breath. Be honest with yourself. Write it all down. Say, "Okay, today, what would I feel like if I was 5% more alive right now?" So she's giving you permission to follow your joy, whatever that is. I want to just make sure I say this. My loves, my ADHD people, my high overachiever perfectionists, just because something brings you joy does not mean you have to get paid to do it. So please, permission to follow your joy and not make it have a return on investment other than joy.Brad Crowell 24:35  Right.Lesley Logan 24:36  As soon as I started telling people I was reading my tarot, I kept having people say, "You do a reading for me." No. Don't take my joy from me. And so I stopped telling people because they're trying to make a job out of it. And then some people might go, "Oh, why are you doing that? You can't make money from that." That's not your point. So just protect your joy thing. Yep. Okay.Brad Crowell 24:52  I love it.Lesley Logan 24:52  So, in giving yourself permission to follow your joy, you don't have to rewrite your whole life story, but allow yourself just a little of that as a tiny little reframe, like a new way of telling the same thing about yourself or a new way of adding something in. You're not changing everything about yourself to add a little bit of joy, but you are probably an affirmation of, like, "I am someone who sees joy in my morning walks." That's not changing everything you are, but it's changing that one little spot and reframing those things. So, anyways.Brad Crowell 25:22  Yeah, I dig it.Lesley Logan 25:23  I think she's great.Brad Crowell 25:24  This was a really fun podcast. Her demeanor and her attitude were amazingly joyfu and it's contagious.Lesley Logan 25:30  Oh yeah. And also, 101 Ways to Spread Joy. All these people who can do 101 anything, I am already impressed because 101, that is so many. Give me 10.Brad Crowell 25:44  Check that out. Amy Dickens, 101 Ways to Spread Joy.Lesley Logan 25:48  I'm Lesley Logan,Brad Crowell 25:48  and I'm Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 25:49  Send this to your friend who needs to spread some joy so they can feel some joy. Send the episode with Amy, and then they'll come here and see how chaotic we are, and then hopefully they're stuck. And until next time, Be It Till You See ItBrad Crowell 26:02  Bye for now.Lesley Logan 26:03  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 26:46  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 26:51  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 26:55  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 27:02  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 27:05  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Are you waiting around for happiness to just appear, or are you actively hitting the "joy gym"? In this episode of Be It Till You See It, host Lesley Logan sits down with Amy, author of 101 Ways to Spread Joy, to unpack why joy is a practice, not a coincidence. Amy shares how she came through severe mental health challenges and social anxiety by learning to choose joy on purpose, take bold risks, and send a positive ripple out into the world. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:Why spreading your own joy sends an invisible ripple outward.How to purposefully train yourself to learn to be joyful.Why your relationships are the top predictor of happiness.What it looks like to schedule the moments that fill your cup.Simple joys and the miracle walks Amy takes each morning.Episode References/Links:Amy Dickens Website - https://www.livejoyfullyyou.com101 Ways to Spread Joy - https://www.livejoyfullyyou.com/101waystospreadjoyJoy Bootcamp - https://www.livejoyfullyyou.com/joycampJoyfully You Podcast - https://www.livejoyfullyyou.com/podcastAmy Dickens Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theamydickensAmy Dickens TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@theamydickensAmy Dickens YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@theamydickens/shortsEp 400 ft Gay Hendricks - https://beitpod.com/ep400Submit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questionsGuest Bio:Amy Dickens is a leading voice in the power of joy and play as tools for transformation and nervous system regulation. As the creator of Joyfully You, author of 101 Ways to Spread Joy, and host of the Joyfully You Podcast, Amy helps people reconnect to their aliveness through laughter, movement, and community. Whether she's leading parades of people dancing through the streets or speaking on stage about the ripple effect of joy, Amy's mission is to remind us that joy isn't a distraction from growth—it's the doorway to it. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Amy Dickens 0:00  Give yourself permission to follow your joy, whatever big or little ways that might be, and to let yourself just kind of be brutally honest. Like, if I had no fear, what would that look like?Lesley Logan 0:10  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast, where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousandss of people around the world, and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity, and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guests will bring bold, executable, intrinsic, and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and be it till you see it. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started.Lesley Logan 0:52  All right, B e It babe. Get ready to smile. Get ready to... First of all, I'm just gonna tell you right now, I'm a fast talker. She's an excited talker. So if you normally listen on 2.0 speed, it might be a 1.5 episode. I'm just saying, but we're talking about joy today. Amy Dickens is the author of the best-selling book 101 Ways to Spread Joy, and I think we really need this right now. I think we need to one, understand how do we even feel joy in our own selves, and then two, how does that allow us to spread joy with others? And it's a really great story. I mean, I could have talked to Amy for hours. I'll be really, really honest. We kept it short, and I think there's at least three takeaways, maybe different ones for one person, another thing that made more sense to you. But I really do think that there's three awesome things that you can take away from this episode, if not more, and it might be one of those ones that you kind of hit rewind and go, "Wait, what did she do?" and add it to your list of things to try out because you got to feel all of our feelings. But one thing I think we really need to spend a little bit more time feeling as joy in our lives definitely helps you be it till you see it, and you're going to hear all of that in this episode. So here's Amy Dickens.Lesley Logan 2:00  All right, Be It babe, this is going to be... I'm just gonna say it. It's gonna be a joyful conversation. Every part of my being says it's going to be that way because we have Amy Dickens here, the author of 101 Ways to Spread Joy. So, Amy, can you tell everyone who you are and why you rock at joy spreading? Because I think that this is interesting. I've never met anyone who says this is what I do for a living.Amy Dickens 2:23  Yeah, yeah. It's funny you say that because I literally just met somebody else that does it this past weekend at a Joy Maker Bootcamp, and I'm like, whoa, other people do this? I thought I was the only one, but yeah. So I grew up with a ton of mental health problems until my mid to late 20s, probably, and it was joy, really, that helped respark me into this person that I am, to rediscovering the joy of living, kind of thing, in all the big and the little ways, and the true power of who I am as a person and that authenticity. And the more that I lean into it, the more I was like, "Whoa, this is who I really am." So I'm on a mission to really help reconnect people to their joy, so that they can become who they really truly are in this life, and then also it's turned into how can we create the world to be a better place? Because when we show up as the joy that we wish to see in the world, that creates this invisible ripple effect that, in turn, is kind of creating a new world, basically, for us to live in and co-create.Lesley Logan 3:24  Oh, 100% Amy. I mean, like they always say, your vibe attracts your tribe, right? So if you 're not joyful and you're going in like an Eeyore, of course, the only people who are actually going to talk to you are the Eeyores. It was really funny at my wedding, t hese two women who didn't know each other, I saw them talking and hugging the only air conditioning vent, and I was like, of course those two would be talking. Of course, that's just the cynic nature in them finding the cynic nature in each other, and they're just going to be cynics covering up the AC and stealing it from everybody. And no wonder the y're turning everyone into them. So it's just kind of funny how, I do agree. The more joyful we are living our life, it invites other people to be joyful too, but it does make the world a little bit better place, and it's really hard saying that. We're actually recording this during a time that the world does not feel very joyful, Amy, doesn't feel very joyful, and I feel like it's really easy for people to even think that this is a toxic positivity conversation, that it's not even thoughtful and considering what is going on. But I'll just tell you a little background that you don't know about me. In my spaces, there are places where you can complain. It's c a lled an "I need a moment" channel, and you're allowed to need a moment and bitch. But I have a rule that you have to have a win. You h a ve to share a win at the same time. You don't get to come back later and do it. You got to do it at the same time because there's always something good going on too, and there is a balance, and we can't just throw up on people and then come back and do joy later. So tell me, knowing what we know, what's going on right now.Amy Dickens 4:41  Yeah.Lesley Logan 4:43  Is seeking joy like a waste of time, not thoughtful? How can we do that in a way that doesn't feel privileged? Do you know what I mean? I made this a huge question. I'm sorry, I just laid it on you.Amy Dickens 5:00  Lay the huge questions on me. I'm here for it. I am all about it. Yeah, I personally have a really deep belief, deep in my bones, that we need our joy now more than ever. And then also, little caveat is that when I say this, I don't mean that we have to live at this peak state of bliss and joy 100% of the time.Lesley Logan 5:00  Like, don't fuck my joy up. Take your bad news over there. Yeah, it's not like that.Amy Dickens 5:22  Right. It's like, okay, we get to be a human that has the full spectrum of human emotions, and we aren't repressing stuff because that also doesn't work. We've seen that, we've been there, we've done that. We know that that's not the way, just shove it and ignore stuff. We can feel the whole thing, but I feel like where I'm looking at the world, and I've been the past 12 years on this whole self-help journey, it feels like joy often was a missing component in a lot of things that I was seeing. I truly do believe that our joy... I lead these joy parades, so my joy parades, I get people singing and dancing in the street. The whole point is to basically uplift yourself and to be this little uplifting moment, this breath of fresh air, this glitch in the matrix, kind of like whoa, people are looking up from their phones and suddenly they're dancing and singing "Who Let the Dogs Out" with us or something on a random Saturday, and it uplifts them. The response I get is otherworldly, and at the same place where we start this, oftentimes there happens to be a protest for something on the other side of the street or something, and it's a little bit edgy. And sometimes people feel a little angry at us for like, what are you doing? Amy Dickens 6:33  And to me, I feel like we are just taking two different paths of you know like trying to use yes, right? It's like the same coin, like kind of thing. But it's just like, oh, you can either do this way or that way. I'm not saying your way is wrong or right. This is just the way that feels like my part to play. And it feels like if we can show up in a joyful way, because I know myself personally, I make different choices when I'm in an angry state, when I'm in a fearful state, when I'm in a joyful state. And I truly believe that if we can start to be more joyful and connective with each other, that we will start to create different decisions. That we will show up and like create little micro pockets of a new world, rather than create. There's so much fear. There's so much divisiveness right now, and we're just. It feels like we're getting more and more separate, and to me that feels scary. To me, that feels not like not creating the world we wish to be in. When we're like, you're different, we can't talk. You think different things, we can't talk. I really would love to create a world of like, can we even dance together in the street for a second? I don't even need to know. And then from that space, there can be a level of safety almost because we all laugh and like we all want belonging.Lesley Logan 7:47  Yeah, it also makes me think like which party you want to be at, right? Like, like at the Portland protest, talk about joy, like that you were seeing with the frog guy and all the things, and like the you're not that our whole thing is about protesting, but I do think that like it's important that we talk about how joy can exist in a place where you are where you are still wanting to to support causes that you care about or rights that you care about. And like one of our first protests that we went to while living in Vegas, there was drummers and there was music and performers who were singing, and it just made everyone flipping us off look so weird because it's like we're having a great time. Like you look so strange, and so part of me is like, I want to be at the joy protest. You know, that's what I want to be at. Amy Dickens 8:25   Absolutely, yeah. And I mean, like I've heard someone else say she was like, "There's a war on happiness, and like there kind of is sometimes. Well, certain people they get mad at like joyful, happy people. Lesley Logan 8:27  Well, I want to go back to a little bit how you said something about growing up, and I don't remember a time of actual pure celebration. Look, my parents listen to this, and they're gonna be like, "Excuse me, we did celebrate on April 13th at this time." I'm sure there was, but Im' thinking about, the way I interpreted things is like, "Oh, I won, but the team won, but I dropped the ball. We did this, but I could have done..." Every achievement of celebration was also really that the thing that I took away, just the personality type that I have, was all the things I could have done better. And so it's very rare that you're just in the joyful moment. And not that you shouldn't reflect back about what's going on, but I do think that we too often, because we're busy and we are doing too many things, we are not taking the time to celebrate what we did do, and then on a separate time sit down and go, okay, so what is the postmortem on that? Because otherwise we ruin the joy part by talking about the things we could have done better, which we could do the next day, right?Amy Dickens 9:39  Absolutely, yeah. There is such a focus on what didn't work and complaining, and we have a negativity bias already, biologically as humans. So we're just wired for that. So it's challenging to unlearn our old programming and say, how can... Because I think most of us could probably agree, I think most people can say: do you want to be more joyful? I think most people would probably check "yeah" on that box.Amy Dickens 10:05  I don't think many people be like, no,Lesley Logan 10:07  I have enough July.Amy Dickens 10:08  I would like to be miserable. Honestly, I have I have had a lot of people like on the streets be like, I'm already joyful. Like, all right, cool. That's all good. Like, more power to you, man. But I I think that it's a hard pill to swallow to say it's kind of hard to retrain ourselves to learn to be joyful. Like it's I call it the joy gym. You know, you have to go to the gym or you know some workout class to build muscle. And if you don't go, like your muscle fatigues and you lose that. And it's the same thing with joy. Like you don't always want to go to the gym. You don't always want to make a choice to choose to be a different person, to choose to like move your body or think in ways that a joyful person would. There's like a slight discipline, and also I think a a need for that why that pulls you to oh this is why I am making this choice to be a joyful person because I know that if I'm showing up in like this joyful way, I get to create a ripple of impact around me. I can make someone's day. I can be the person with the energy in the room that is impacting everyone to kind of have that whole like, whoa! I feel like so much more myself. I feel so much more empowered after talking to her, inspired, or just like I just feel good, like we all know those people, and we can be that person. And it's not like if you're not that person, because I wasn't that person. I straight up was not even close to that person.Amy Dickens 11:31  And it was over the years choosing again and again things that filled my cup and were joyful to me, and living a joyful life and a life of purpose and all of these things. And it's a big old bumpy road, right? But also saying, okay, how do I practice and also mess up a bazillion different times at trying to be her? What does that version of you look like? And it's trial and error. And sometimes it feels uncomfortable when you're not used to doing it because you've never done it before, and it doesn't really make it wrong. You can just say, hey, not that way, but let me try this way this time.Lesley Logan 12:02  Well, that's just Amy, and you just mentioned "be her" with, obviously, the Be It Till You See It podcast. I think it's this interesting thing. A lot of us are waiting until when we get somewhere, right? Oh, when I get this, and when this happens. And we actually do have to be it till we see it. So to be a joyful person, you actually cannot wait for a joyful moment. You have to be the joy that you want to see. Like that's what they say, right? So, can we talk a little bit about that? You weren't always this joyful person, and you were trying to be a joyful person. What did being a joyful person before you were a joyful person look like? What did going to the joy gym look like? What was the first rep?Amy Dickens 12:43  Yeah. I mean, for me, I wouldn't say I'm the most normal cookie of all time. I'm kind of an all-or-nothing kind of girly sometimes. So for me, it really looked like I had this huge breakup moment with a person I was with for 11 years, and it was this whole restructuring of my life. And I said, "Whoa, I'm gonna follow my joy." What does that even look like? I don't even really know. Like, what is it that only me, as an adult woman, wants to do? And I realized it was these big things that were often really joyful and really scary to another part of me, and that was the reason why I hadn't done any of these things. I've always wanted to do a yoga teacher training for like eight years, and I was like, why have I not done that? Because I was like, "Well, I'm not a yoga teacher," was the story that I had. And I said, oh, well, you're never going to become a yoga teacher unless you do the training. That's literally the only way to do it. No one walks into that door and is like, "Yeah, I'm already a yoga teacher."Lesley Logan 13:41  Right, no one's born with the certification. You have to go do it.Amy Dickens 13:44  Right! But I had to really let myself take risks, not think very much, and let myself fail and learn that fail in quotes, you know, and just do stuff and flop. So I think I was like, what if I do this and it doesn't work, or I can't be her? And I just would take bold leaps and book one-way tickets to places. I was pretty wild and extreme. And it doesn't have to look like that, but I do think that the nugget of wisdom within that was allowing myself to say: what is it that really would spark joy inside of me, make me feel alive? What would that look like on a big scale or a micro scale to follow that, to empower myself to make a move towards becoming that, and knowing that I do it scared, and knowing that at first it was uncomfortable and that didn't make it wrong, but the more you gain the confidence by doing it... You don't get confidence by just thinking about it or prepping for it. You get the confidence by doing the reps, and you're like, oh, suddenly my comfort zone's bigger because I've been doing this. And now there's a new edge for me to walk into.Lesley Logan 14:54  It's the craziest thing. Everyone is like, "I'm just waiting to... When I'm more confident, I'll do this." And it's something that I have struggled with in supporting people and coaching people: wait, do you think that some people were just born confident and others were not? Because that's not what I think. I think that somewhere along the way, some people's confidence bucket was upheld and supported, and some people's confidence buckets were kicked down the street. But we all have one, and the only way to keep confidence or get it back is to do the thing you said you'd do scared, and be willing to fail and flop and try again. And I think some people have a really hard time with either rejection or the failure of it all. There's a perfectionist problem that affects people from experiencing joy. I don't think you can be a perfectionist and a joy-filled person. I don't know, I could be wrong. Have you met a perfectionist who's joyful?Amy Dickens 15:57  You know, I would say there's a lot of recovering perfectionists that I've met, they're like, hey I have joy. I'm definitely raising my hand here.Lesley Logan 16:05  Like all addicts I've ever heard on TV, constantly, they're forever going to AA, saying, "Hi, that's me. Hello, I am Lesley. I'm a recovering perfectionist, yes."Amy Dickens 16:14  Recovering perfectionist, and you know, I have some days that are great and some days that could be better.Lesley Logan 16:21  Yeah.Amy Dickens 16:21  Yeah, and I think that a huge part, in retrospect and just reflecting on how many people that I've talked to... and this wasn't really a conscious choice at the time... was because I used to have horrible social anxiety, like very, very intense, like could not really talk to anybody that I didn't know extremely well without feeling like my whole body was flushed and tense, and like I needed to run (inaudible).Lesley Logan 16:44  That's so hard because how do you get to know people if you don't talk to them? That's really difficult. Oh, this is so hard to get over.Amy Dickens 16:53  Yeah, and it was really just throwing myself into the deep end of: okay, you gotta sit with this and learn that people aren't scary by being with people. And now we know that the number one predictor of joy and happiness is the quality of your relationships in your life, both the deep, intimate relationships and just the number of random strangers. Apparently, that's really good for our joy and our mental health. Just be like, "Ah, hi, bud! Get the mail today?" Apparently, they say that that's great for you.Lesley Logan 17:22  That is hilarious. I didn't know that, and no wonder. In L.A. in an apartment, I lived near people for... how long did I live there? Seven years in the apartment. I didn't know anyone's name. We would just walk past each other. My neighbors , I've lived here almost six years, and we know every neighbor's name. We know them all.Amy Dickens 17:41  It's not even like you need to hang out all the time, but there's... for some reason.Lesley Logan 17:44  I'm definitely more joyful. Yeah.Amy Dickens 17:45  ...communalness to it. And I think that that was also a part of my journey to becoming more joyful was learning, because I think so many of us are like, how do we make friends as adults? How do I...? And there's this loneliness epidemic, you know, it's just all over. I think learning how to heal that and really value... okay, I need to learn how to make community, to make friendships, to be bold and brave and put myself in situations where I feel really scared and I'm doing it anyways. I'd have questions on my phone in case my brain would go blank at first, because I was like, oh my god, what if I don't know what to say? And I'm like, oh yeah, I'll have some juicy questions on my phone so that I can learn how to have this conversation, or give myself training wheels, or I do fun things with people. I'd be like, I love dancing, and dancing's so regulating. So that's a great way to try and meet people. Lesley Logan 18:37  And now you can go to a silent disco, so you can be someone who's introverted and who loves to dance, and you can go be amongst a ton of people, but by yourself, so you can build up the confidence to being in a group of people. There's just so many different ways you can do things now. And I just read that the World Health Organization says that being lonely, loneliness is terribly bad for both your physical and your mental health. We are designed to be amongst people. So I just want to take a step back because you mentioned having mental health issues growing up, terrible anxiety. When did you get a resume together for a joy job? I'm gonna be really honest, Amy. If I was your parent, I'd be like, "Can she make money spreading joy?" I don't understand. So, can we talk a little about the journey to going... that you went on that made you not only an expert, but someone who wrote a best-selling book? It seems a little odd.Amy Dickens 19:32  Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. It certainly was not the trajectory that I ever had in mind of, "Yes, I'm going to graduate college, and this is what I will do with my degree."Lesley Logan 19:44  Is there...? I mean, there are happiness coaching degrees that I know because I've interviewed people who are certified in happiness coaching, but I don't know if that's what you did. So tell me more.Amy Dickens 19:55  No, that certainly was not the plan. Because of all of my mental health and all this kind of stuff, I was obsessed with self-help, reading all of the books, doing all of the courses for the past 12 years, and then got really into teaching yoga. That was where I started all of my joyful experience. And then from teaching yoga, I started learning to make people dance on the mat, and then it turned into: ooh, what if we played games together instead of doing yoga at all? And then suddenly I'm leading workshops in how do we get people to authentically connect and use play to regulate their nervous system? And emceeing events started happening, and it was just all of these happenstance things start, I wasn't planning on doing this. Somebody just kind of asked me if I would do something, and I said, "Sure, I'll try and do that. I've never emceeed an event before. Why not? Let's see." And it was fun. And then through that, you're uplifting people. And before I know it, I'm leading parades of people dancing through the streets, just on a mission of spreading joy around. It's been such a journey. In there, there's a whole coaching certification and business that I had started at the time, and a million other things. I think there was just this part of me that was like, I am on a mission, and I know that because deep in my bones this mission chose me. I didn't say, "I want to be the joy lady." It just felt like: I need a purpose. What is my purpose? And it just kept coming to me. I was like, okay, because it chose me, this is inevitable that it will work. There is no chance that it doesn't. And if it's not working yet, I just gotta keep going. And I gotta have fun with it too. That's the huge part of it.Lesley Logan 21:40  Amy, if you're having the least amount of fun becoming a joy coach, I'm just...Amy Dickens 21:48  I'm gonna be real honest. There was definitely that moment where I had a whole shame spiral because I was so perfectionist in this one moment. I literally burnt myself out, and I was like, oh my god, I am so stressed about being this joy coach and making this business work, I'm an imposter. Oh my god! Lesley Logan 22:07  RightAmy Dickens 22:09  Yeah, absolutely. And I was like, okay, I gotta learn to enjoy the journey because the journey is 98% of it. The destination is this tiny little, "Okay, reached that goal, onto the next part of your journey." And it's fine and great to have goals, but to just be solely focused on the destination... Learning to enjoy life itself is a skill. Learning to just be like, "Wow, I'm freaking joyful for no freaking good reason," that is a skill, and I see it as a gift to this world. If you can feel the blessings of this day that you're like, "Wow! I can walk, I can breathe, I can move my body," all of these incredible things that we take for granted each and every day, rather than focusing on the negative, we can create really incredible things from that space. Each and every one of us, when we're in that connected space to our true gifts, our power, our gratitude, there's infinite abundance that we can create from that.Lesley Logan 23:08  I'm kind of wondering... You just mentioned a few things, like "I can breathe" and "I can walk" and I do these things. I think we do forget that there is joy in those things because it's certainly not joyful when your leg falls asleep or you're sick in bed. You're not feeling joy then, and you're like, "I miss being well," but you weren't enjoying how well you were before you were sick. Do you have any tools for people who are like, "Okay, I'm gonna practice feeling the joy feeling"? How did you practice being her, being the joy?Amy Dickens 23:40  Yeah, I mean, if we're gonna take the joy, there's almost two different camps, and one I would say is simple joys. To me, my number one way that I personally practice this is I get outside when I'm feeling really stressed, and I look up, I look up at the sky, I look up at the trees, I change my perspective, and I take a deep breath. It's a very simple, one-second thing that you can do. You can do it between a Zoom call in one minute if your door is close enough. It's something about changing your perspective. You're looking up at the sky and the trees, and it's like, whoa, I'm a human being. I'm not just this robot that needs to be hyper-productive. There's something about it that just instantly brings me back into: whoa, I am not just here to do, do, do. I am here to be a human being and just enjoying the little simple things. How much can I romanticize and enjoy this moment in my life? Can I put a sweet playlist on in the background and change the way in which I'm working? Can I slow down and eat a meal? That's constantly what I'm still working on to this day.Lesley Logan 24:49  I keep saying I'm going to. I do have an hour-long lunch break, and it's so easy to be like, "Oh, I'm just gonna do one more thing," and now the lunch break is only 20 minutes, and "I'll just do this while I'm doing that." It's definitely a bad habit. That is one I would like to try to find the joy in slowing down. But I couldn't agree more. The simple joys. I love that you brought it in two camps so far because sometimes when I'm stressed out, I just take a walk around my one block. You're stressed out, and then somehow around a corner, all of a sudden you're like, "Oh, okay, I'm ready to go back in." It's a really weird thing how quickly our brain will shift if we give it the opportunity to experience a simple joy.Amy Dickens 25:32  Yeah, it just needs that little simple moment. And I've been taking these miracle walks in the morning where I leave my front door and I say, "All right, I'm not going to come back until I find three miracles." And I'm like, okay, I know I only have time for a walk around the block, so it's about 10 minutes. And it expands your definition of what a miracle is. It's a little piece of dew at the end of a leaf, or some birds singing and flying in front of your face, or whatever it might be that you notice on that same block you've walked a million times. But that, in and of itself, is training yourself to look for the joy, the beauty, the good in the world in a place that you've been a million times.Lesley Logan 26:06  Oh my god, Amy, what a great idea! That is so great.Amy Dickens 26:08  It's so fun. I love it. I've been having so much fun with it. And then the other camp is, I'd say, those bigger joy moments. Like I love to look at my calendar before I fill it with as many calls and all of the things as I can, and say, okay, how can I plan moments of connection of things that fill my cup? Like I love singing and dancing, and if I were to fill my calendar with everything else, there's no time at the end for the things that really fill my cup that I love to do. So I started a few years ago just thinking, okay, a lot of them are just recurring, so they're just in my Google Calendar. It's like I know I go to choir at this time. I know I have dinner with my friends this day of the week right here, and you don't really move things unless it's absolutely necessary, and that keeps my cup consistently filled because I'm making sure, hey, there is time for me to have connection with other people, because I spend a lot of my time not with humans face to face right now. So it's important to build that human connection to the things that we love to do or exploring new things too. That's also something that I try to schedule in at least once a week. It's like, okay, a new networking thing, or can I have coffee with someone that I've never met before? Just kind of those little serendipity moments of let the magic in. Let's plan to be open to life surprising us rather than it just being like...Lesley Logan 27:29  I love... I'm a big fan. I have this whole way of having your ideal dream schedule, and to me, dreams do come true. And ideal, obviously, not perfect. It just is the ideal thing. And I always talk about how your sleep and your workouts have to go in the calendar before anything else. And the things that bring you joy, they have to be in there because you're right. If we put everything else in first, there's no room. You can't squeeze joy in. So I think your big joy camps, the things that truly fill your cup, whether it is going to choir or going... Like some people want to go to the library. They love the smell of books. That you might have to schedule in and make sure it's there, so you're not going, "Oh my god, it's been three months since I went to a library." No, if it brings you joy, it should be happening so regularly so that you can actually get through all the shit, because there's gonna be shit.Amy Dickens 28:15  Yeah, absolutely. Because I think that we don't realize that being joyful, it's like rocket fuel in our tank. I think we all know that, or I can call on an experience when you were feeling so joyful, so lit up, so radiant, and it was effortless to create and be inspired. And not that we have to be at that peak state all the time, you know. We still ebb and we flow. But if we consistently are filling our cup, then it's going to actually help us be more efficient, really, in the rest of our life.Lesley Logan 28:46  I think so. I think so. You know, I think a lot of people, though... I interviewed Gay Hendricks on this pod, and his whole thing is that people have, you know, you're in your genius zone, and when getting in your genius zone, your zone of genius, you end up often upper-limiting because you're uncomfortable. Like you have a joyful moment, and then you kind of self-sabotage. How do we handle that pendulum swinging back and forth? Because we have to feel our feelings and we got to go through there. But how did you kind of allow yourself to just be in the joy, or did you ever self-sabotage out of the joy? I feel that's what a lot of our listeners struggle with, is they'll experience seeing something joyful and then they'll get a call that their friend got fired, or this bill came in, and it just sucks them right back down. And so it's how do you feel the feelings, but not lose the joy?Amy Dickens 29:29  Yeah, absolutely. I definitely have a PhD in penduluming from one side to the other. They didn't even know they made up the degree for me. They were like, "Ah, yes, Amy, you got the Amy Dickens Award for penduluming between the two extremes so much." And I think that that was also a gift to learn how to stop penduluming and continuously pendulum back towards the joy to a balanced state in the middle, and life still gets lifey. That's not the whole thing with joy, is that it's like, yes, nothing ever happens to me. But when it does, I personally have a really deep belief now that I think really helps me, is like: don't take things personally. Life is happening for me, not to me. All of these things that have been so ingrained into who I am at this point that when life starts to get lifey... And I've also seen life fall apart so many times that I know it always works out. If it hasn't worked out yet, I just keep going, and eventually things will come back together. So I've noticed I've become a lot less dramatic. I was a very dramatic human. You know, like, "Oh my god, I lost a friend," and whatever it might be was just always felt like the end of the world to me, and it would suck all of the joy out of me. And I think I'm realizing, wow, those things are real and I do feel them deeply. And I'm a big crier, and I feel the things and I process, and I'm like: what is this here to teach me? How do I move through this? How do I regulate my nervous system through this? And realizing, wow, I have this one wild and precious life, and I'm gonna continue to choose the joy when it feels time. And I think a big part of that is also discernment. It's like gaining that wisdom of discernment that only we can have for ourselves. Only we can say, "I know that I'm done feeling this grief," or whatever it might be, anger, fear, "and it's time to shift myself into a different state." No one else can really tell you when it's time for that. I think that that's also just a trial and error thing, and learning to listen to the wisdom of our body and our intuition and ourself, and to trust ourselves to say, "Actually, I need to be sad right now, and that's okay, because I trust myself in that." And I also say not days like "I'm having a bad day," but "I'm having a bad moment," because then that leaves the next moment to be open to being something different. Because if we have the whole label on this day, then you've kind of already pre-decided, and it's okay to not have a joyful moment. It's a human experience.Lesley Logan 32:04  Yeah, no, I agree. I mean, you're gonna have a loved one pass away, or a breakup's gonna happen, or you are gonna be disappointed on how a project went. But I do like that you get to label the moment, but not the whole day, or giving yourself that permission to feel that moment, but not let it take away from the little miracles you could see or feeling the feelings around it. You said not being so dramatic, and I think as someone with ADHD, and I attract a lot of people with that, what I've discovered is I think that drama that some of us kind of go to, that swinging back and forth... My team is like, "You're swinging back and forth from your microphone, stay there." But that swinging back and forth is a dopamine hit, right? We go dramatic and high because it kind of feels the thing that our brain survives off of. But if we can actually get our dopamine hits from some other places, then we don't have to go such a deep swing. It could be like, "Whoa, this moment really sucks. It's a good thing that's not personal, it's not about me. And somehow this is going to work towards my favor." I'm disappointed in this moment. We go walk around the block and feel that disappointment, and then hopefully... You just gave me some great ideas, and I learned so much about myself. Thanks, Amy.Amy Dickens 33:20  I also had that. I'm seeing that as well. And there's a big part of the titration, you know, like when you're like, "Oh, it's a bad moment," and just having that moment of, oh... even if most of the day was bad, but you had like, oh, they were all just a bunch of bad moments, and then I had this one moment with a friend where I laughed for five minutes, and then I kind of sunk back down into it. But that little uplifting moment does so much for your capacity in your nervous system to continue to hold whatever it is that you're holding, that I don't think we really recognize to the fullness of it sometimes.Lesley Logan 33:54  Yeah, I couldn't agree more. All right, I could talk to you forever about joy because this is just the most contagious thing. Thanks for spreading it here, but we're gonna take a brief break. I want to find out where we can get your book, and I think you've got some good Be It Action Items for us. I just have a feeling.Amy Dickens 34:06  I'm so excited.Lesley Logan 34:08  All right, Amy, where can people buy your book, 101 Ways to Spread Joy, and where do you hang out? Where are your joy parties? Tell us everything. How can we stalk you in a joyful place?Amy Dickens 34:18  Absolutely, you can get the book, 101 Ways to Spread Joy. It's on Amazon. Amy Dickens. You can see all the rainbow color on it.Lesley Logan 34:25  O h my god, it has a disco ball on it. I'm already in.Amy Dickens 34:27  Everything I make has a disco ball. Always. I did it on accident.Lesley Logan 34:31  Amy, are we friends that have never met? Like, we must be friends. I'm so into disco balls, it's unbelievable.Amy Dickens 34:43  They're great. When the light hits a disco ball... I mean, biggest light hack.Lesley Logan 34:46  Okay, Amy, I have a sequined kimono. You'll have to Google one. And just so you know, I bought it... I'm like, this is kind of ridiculous. It is so ridiculous. I did a whole photo shoot with it. But at any rate, I got it in my car, like I bought it at the store, and put it on to drive home because I'm like, I'm gonna wear it right now. I was my own disco ball in the car because the sun was shining so much, I was blinding my own self. I was like, "Oh my god, this is (inaudible). Amy Dickens 35:09  All the cars next to you, they're like, "I can't see."Lesley Logan 35:12  Yeah. So, anyways, I cut you off. Everything you create is a disco ball. So your book is where again, just in case I distracted people with my, Amazon, okay. Amy Dickens 35:19  Amazon, easy peasy. Just go to Amazon, you can find it there.Lesley Logan 35:22  Perfect. And then where do you hang out on socials? Where like where can they get a little joy boost?Amy Dickens 35:26  Yeah, absolutely. You can find me on all the socials @theamydickens. If you want the first 10 pages to my book, you can get it for free on my website, livejoyfullyyou.com, and get a nice little taste of it. And if you're like, "Ooh, I like that, I'll do a little bit more," then you're totally welcome to do that. Yeah.Lesley Logan 35:44  I mean, my goodness, you guys. I'm sure there's at least 101 days left in the year, but maybe more by the time you hear this. You could do one joyful spreading thing a day and see how you end up feeling. I imagine you'll feel more joy after spreading joy.Amy Dickens 35:55  Oh, that's one of the secrets to life, is spreading joy and just being of service to making the world a better place, it's a huge life hack.Lesley Logan 36:04  Yeah, I love that. Okay, you've given us some great tips already, and honestly, your book probably has some great bold, executable intrinsic or targeted steps that people can take. But what else do you have for us?Amy Dickens 36:13  Yeah, I would say to give yourself permission to follow your joy, whatever big or little ways that might be, and to let yourself just kind of be brutally honest. Like, if I had no fear, what would that look like? And just journal it out, take a deep breath, be honest with yourself, write it all down, and then maybe say, "Okay, today, what would I feel like if I was 5% more alive right now? What would I do? What could that be?" And allow yourself to do that. It doesn't have to be like, I rewrite my whole story and I throw away all the things that are not working right now. But allow yourself to just take that little reframe of: Can I put five more percent of my time and energy into my joy? What would that look like? Because it's different for every single one of us. Something that brings joy to one person might not be the same thing for me or you or somebody else, and it's just so important because it's not something that you need to earn. It's something that you practice, and it continues to give back to you. I think some of us are waiting for joy to knock on our door, and it's a choice. We have to cultivate it and learn that. Yes, sometimes it does surprise us and say like, "Hey, I'm here," but it's a practice. It's a skill that we can learn to cultivate. And this is here to be your full permission slip to live this inspired, alive life that you're so worthy and deserving of, and to follow your joy and know that it's a way to creating the world to be a better place.Lesley Logan 37:41  I love that. You are right. A lot of people are waiting for joy to hit them on the head, as opposed to... actually, no, joy is waiting for you to come to where it's at. You gotta come to it. You gotta go seek it out. You gotta go find the joyful moments. Oh, you're so good. This is so great. I'm really excited we had this conversation, Amy. Thank you so much for being you. Thank you for these wonderful Be It Action Items . Thank you for helping not just spread joy, but also you have such an amazing aura with your joy that this is like a fun conversation. I'm sure people are smiling, and they're going to have a more joyful day because they listened to this episode. So y'all have to go share this episode with a friend, probably the Eeyore one, so that they have joy, and this could be your point one to the 100 W ays to Spread Joy. Yeah, this is your pre-homework. All right, Amy, thanks so much for being you. And everyone else, until next time, Be It Till You See It.Lesley Logan 38:33  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review, and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcasts. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others be it till you see it. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of the Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @beitpod.Brad Crowell 39:16  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your hosts Lesley Logan and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 39:20  It is transcribed, produced, and edited by the Epic team at Decennio Co.Brad Crowell 39:25  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music, and our branding by designer and artist Gianfranco Chofi.Lesley Logan 39:32  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 39:35  Also to Angelina Herrico for adding all of our content to our website, and finally to Meredith Route for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Lesley Logan opens this FYF episode with an honest admission that everything takes longer than you want it to, even when you trust it will work out. From there she turns to gratitude, celebrating the round six eLevate group and two students who reclaimed overhead exercises they had not done in years. Their success came from staying curious rather than assuming the door had already closed. It is a warm, grounded case for honoring the wins right in front of you. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:Lesley's honest moment about things taking longer than planned.Round six eLevate crew in their five weekends of education.Celebrating her team's achievement and integration of a new hire.Spring training students land overhead exercises missing for years.Taking the win gets harder when you compare to who you used to be.Episode References/Links:UpLift Waitlist - https://xxll.co/uwsSubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questions If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  It's Fuck Yeah Friday.Brad Crowell 0:01  Fuck yeah.Lesley Logan 0:02  Get ready for some wins. Lesley Logan 0:05  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started.Lesley Logan 0:49  Hello, Be It babe. Welcome back to your Fuck Yeah Friday episode. These are kind of fun for me. I hope you're loving them. I would love to know if you're liking the new style, the new topic, the new "I need a moment," or if you preferred when I would rant about something I saw on the internet. I don't know. You let me know. This podcast is supposed to be for you. Otherwise, I'm just talking to myself. And by the way, I do that a lot because after this, I'm filming a YouTube episode, and then after that, I'm filming OPC classes. So I talk to myself a lot. So I would like to know if what I'm talking to myself about in this room is actually meaningful for you. So definitely let us know. You can send your wins in, or your topic suggestions or requests, to beitpod.com/questions. You can send anything there. And we've had lots of people go, "How do we support the show? We don't do Patreons." We got a lot going on. You can support the show a number of different ways. OPC, being a member of that is definitely one of the best ways you can support the show. That is the most meaningful, wonderful way to support this show. If that is something you're already doing, or if it's not and it's in the picture for you right now, another way to support the show is just subscribe on YouTube. You can subscribe to our show. You can subscribe to our Online Pilates Classes YouTube channel. Those are free. YouTube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses, and then the Be It Pod is its own handle, so you can check those out and subscribe. Those are free. That's a great way to support. Some people are like, "How do I support charities that have no money? You have time." "I don't have time." "Well, then you have friends who have got time." "I don't have..." You have people in your life you can donate your sheets to. There are ways to support if you don't have time and money and lots. Sometimes it's just telling people about the thing that you love, or the thing that you want to support, or the thing that needs support.Lesley Logan 2:22  So, all right, my "I need a moment" for today. Honestly, I really don't like that, we know once you get to a certain age, you realize that everything takes longer than you want, but you don't want it to, right? Everything takes longer than it's supposed to, but you don't want it to, and so I'm just frustrated because everything, everything, everything, everything is just taking longer than I want. And I know it's all going to happen the way it's supposed to. I know it's all going to work out the way it's supposed to. I know, but I hate how long things are taking. Just a month ago, I had this one contract that we thought was done 17 times. That's how many times we thought it was done, it got kicked back, and it got kicked back, and it got kicked back, and just like, I want to check this off the sheet. Why is this taking so long? And then on top of that, I had this other thing that I was doing, and it was supposed to get here on this date, and then it was on that date, and then this date. And it's like, okay, you're stressing me out. Now you can see why I lie to you about when things are due, so that I can get it when it needs to be done. Because my goodness, if I told you the real date, you would miss the real date and you'd fuck me over. And so I just hate that everything takes longer than you want to. And even when you know it, it's still disappointing. It just is.Lesley Logan 3:39  All right. So enough of the ranting. Enough of the "I need a moment." My win is that we are heading into the fifth weekend of eLevate. So round six is all their education will be done after this weekend, which is insane. They still have their assessments to do and things like that. We still have loads of fun to have with them with their final assessments. But the learning of 500-plus exercises, they will have wrapped that this weekend. And to have done six rounds of this and still love it, I think, not to still love it, but to be so excited for the next one, it's just, I feel really lucky to get to do what I do, and that people are enjoying it. And it's been a really busy work season for me. This year is a really head-down, get-the-work-done year between the upLift beta program, getting things ready for the educators to apply this in the fall, and just really a lot going on there. And to be able to be present for all of my different projects is a massive win. And to just take a moment to celebrate what the round six peeps have done is important. And I'm really proud of them. I'm proud of the team. During their program, we had one of our major players on maternity leave and a new teammate come on, and I'm just so proud of the work that they have been doing together to make sure that program is as enjoyable as when it's been past team members and things like that. So they're just great. I'm really, really grateful, and what a win! So, yeah, I'm sitting here in a lot of gratitude for what I get to do, and really proud of that.Lesley Logan 5:27  So the two wins I want to celebrate came through our spring training. We had two different people in two days have success doing overhead exercises that have been outside of their practice for years. And so, ladies, you know who you are. One gave a shout-out on Wednesday afternoon, and one on Thursday morning, end of the spring training event. And their wins are because they showed up for themselves. They were curious. They were focusing on the connections, and they didn't get in their head about, "Well, I haven't been able to do that in two years, so I can't do it today, so I'm not even going to try." They were listening to all the different teachers and all the different classes ahead of them, and really getting involved in it, getting interested in it, getting into it. And then because of that, they were able to listen to their body and go, "You know, maybe I'm going to try ." And I just want to say thanks for trusting us. And then, on top of that, thanks for celebrating and sharing with us, so we could celebrate you. It's really easy to compare yourself to your old self, to the body you used to have, and the things and exercises you used to be able to do, and then not take the win when you have it because, well, three years ago you could do that, and then some. And that's how the world would want you to do it, right? That's how people are raised. It's like, "Well, of course, you should be able to do that by now," and that's bullshit to me. To me, we will have exercises and abilities that will go in and out of our lives. Some will be in and out. Some will be out forever. Some will be in forever. We have to celebrate what we can do. We have to take a moment to do that each and every day because it's already hard. Life's already hard. So thank you to my ladies in spring training who shared their overhead success with us. It was fun for us to celebrate with you those classes, and I've just been thinking a lot about you as I've been recording wins for this month, and I just had to shout you out because I'm really proud and impressed by you. So thanks so much.Lesley Logan 7:26  All right, send your wins in, my loves, to beitpod.com/questions so you can hear it on a day you need to. And your mantra for the weekend is I am lightening my load. I am lightening my load. I am lightening my load. Yes. So if you are feeling like lots of things are exiting your life right now, it's because you're lightening your load. So let it. Thank you so much, my love. Share our podcast with friends who need to hear it. And until next time, Be It Till You See It.Lesley Logan 7:54  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 8:36  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 8:41  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 8:46  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 8:53  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 8:56  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In part four of the Permission to Change series, Lesley Logan reframes changing your niche as recognizing the superpower you already have. She walks through a simple self-awareness map built on three buckets, your values, your skills, and your interests, and shows how the overlap points to work that feels aligned instead of forced. She shares how her own experience shaped the way she built OPC and Agency. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:Finding your superpower and what it is that you do.Building a self-awareness map from your values, skills, and interests.How to find the sliver where your interests meet community needs.Using your values as a filter for every future yes.A Pilates analogy that proves alignment shows up through movement.Episode References/Links:StrengthsFinder - https://high5test.com/cliftonstrengths-freeLesley on Pilates Perspectives - https://beitpod.com/pilatesperspectivesSubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questions If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  You need to understand that you are not starting over. You're not restarting. You are refining because you have years of accumulated wisdom. You have years of achievements, years of data that you have survived every one of your bad days. Lesley Logan 0:16  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started.Lesley Logan 0:59  Welcome back to Be It, babe, but we are talking Permission to Change again this week. We're going a little deeper. This is a little more nuanced. This hopefully gives you some questions to ask yourself when it comes to finding your superpower and what it is that you do, so you don't have to start all over. Because oftentimes it's not actually that we have to start all the way over; we often just have to maybe even just redefine our title, or redefine who we're reaching out to, or who we're inviting into our lives based on having, like, "Oh, hold on, this is what actually lights me up," or "This is what people love about me." We've had some really great guests on the show who are all StrengthsFinder coaches. There was a woman we had recently in the last year who I loved so much out of Utah, and then there was a guy out of Texas that I really, really liked. When you understand what your superpowers are, it really helps you sometimes relook at what your role is. Sometimes that means you get to stay in that role, but you just have different responsibilities. And sometimes you have to totally leave, right? Or you actually just do a lateral change. Like my neighbor, he actually took a lateral promotion because he really wanted to be working on developing people's skill sets in the business versus always talking about the data. So that's really cool.Lesley Logan 2:17   The guest we had, she talked about how she found herself really wanting to be a support tool, showing people where they could grow, what their superpowers were, as opposed to doing the actual day-to-day work. For me, in the last episode, I talked about how I had created a niche that I wanted to explore out of, and the reality is, because I figured out what my superpower was in that role, it allowed me to apply it to another job. So I didn't get to stay in that job. I got to apply it to my personal, my Profitable Pilates business where I coach people. Because what I'm super, super good at is helping people achieve what their goals are, right? So I want you to have ways of kind of figuring that for yourself, because it may actually allow you to see, "Oh, maybe I'm spending too much time in the areas that are not in alignment, and this other area over here that is in alignment, if I could just spend more time there, I could actually continue on doing things and be in more alignment." Look, I love that you listen to this podcast, seeking out support and inspiration and answers, and that's awesome. And I hope you keep doing that. Also, sometimes we're too often looking outside ourselves for the right answer or the next trend or the perfect formula. I see this all the time in the Pilates industry. Everyone's chasing whatever is going to get them more views instead of talking about what they do best, because most of them don't know. We ask people all the time, "Who do you help? How do you help people? What's your superpower in that?" And they're like, "I help everybody with everything." No way, no fucking way, no way. There has got to be people you would not help. Would you help people who don't want to listen? Okay, well then you don't help everybody, right?Lesley Logan 4:05  Do you help people who don't want to do private sessions or don't want to do group sessions? No, you actually do have a niche. You do have something in there. So I really want us to, I hope that this gives you some permission to recognize that you can curate your own space by going inward and really asking yourself some deep questions that could help you see that you're a badass, right? I did an episode with Balanced Body's podcast called Pilates Perspectives. It came out in June of 2026, so this year. I hope you listen to it because we talk about how, like Joy says, I created a niche within a niche, and I was like, "Yeah." I really created what I needed because it didn't exist, or at least if it did exist, I didn't feel welcome. And I hope this episode gives you permission to curate and create what it is that you need, so that you can show up the way that you want to in full alignment. Okay?Lesley Logan 5:00  I think it's really easy, people look at what I do, and they're like, "Oh my God, she was just all-knowing. She's like I don't know, like I was dropped out of outer space and exactly what I'm doing." But I really did create it, and I created OPC based on like, I was traveling a lot, and I wanted my people to have a way to take class when I was traveling, but I also didn't want them to lose what it is that they loved about in-person classes. That's how I created OPC to be different than what's out there. I created Agency, Profitable Pilates as a space not for franchise owners of 70 studios, but for the single to one or two studios, like the homeowner, home business to single studio or two-studio business owner because they were being left out.Lesley Logan 5:47  The business advice out there is all bro-style, all about KPIs and numbers, and not at all about impact, right? So I created what is needed in the world. Those people, those studio owners need that kind of support because, yes, they can make good money impacting great people. But if they're only listening to the business coaches out there, it's based on churn. It's actually accepting the fact that people are not going to stick around. I want your people to stick around, so I actually want you to have client retention. I want you to get them the benefits that they want. So I am one of those people who sees what's out there and then makes it my own. If you remember my decoupage shoe story, I saw painted shoes and I was like, "Oh, I could do that with this thing, and then that would solve this problem over here." So I'm not an inventor, but I am definitely someone who can spiral out a good idea to help a group of people who don't feel accepted in that, who don't feel seen, right? Like in the Pilates Perspectives podcast, I talked about how I became a Pilates instructor. At the time, it was very weird to not be a dancer and be a Pilates instructor. So I just, now it's not weird at all, but back then it was so weird, and I felt embarrassed, and so I really had to. I became a teacher who clients who didn't feel like they belonged in those spaces could be with, and then that led to teachers feeling like they could be safe in my space, and that led to this. Not that there's anything wrong with the dance teachers at all, that's not what I'm saying. But, you know, we all can't make everyone feel seen. Some of us are better off at making certain people who are who we once were feel the most seen.Lesley Logan 7:30  So, how do you go inward and get into a self-awareness map, if you will, to figure out what unique things you have, so you can get alignment? Okay, so you're going to have three different little circles or groupings that you're going to do. So the first one is values. So when you go into your values—and we actually in Profit Pilates have a great course on how to figure out what your values are. You can actually buy it. It's a really fun little tool that you can do, a little strategy you can do, but your values, right? What are your values? So I want you to think of wherever in your life that you're trying to change, right? So if it's a friendship role or a family role, what are your personal life values? Or if it's a role in a job that you have or in your business, what are your business values, right? What are those values, and then when you have those down, it's going to help you really understand why you're going to say no to things. Because if things don't align with your values, it's not going to work. Now, how do you use those values to find life alignment? Well, I want you to kind of think about if you are in your values, you are actually protecting your peace, your honesty, and your nervous system, right? And your values will have probably changed from today than 10 years ago. So if you haven't done this in a while, it's probably time to update them. But when you look at those values, it's really going to be helpful to go, "Okay, so in the area of my life that I'm trying to change, in the niche that I'm wanting to realign, what about it is out of alignment of these values?" This way, you're going to understand what you should be avoiding, and then also what about it is in alignment with my values. So then you're not throwing the friendship, the job, the event, the thing, the routine out the window. You're going, "Okay, I can keep this part, but this part has to change," and then you can use your values in a way to figure out how that's going to change, right? Or you can ask questions, or you can sit and pause and percolate on it. But you can also just say, "Hey, moving forward, I'm absolutely down with these three things that I said I would do. These two things over here, I'd love to meet with you to see how we can find a new way of doing them, right? Because they're just feeling misaligned."Lesley Logan 11:18  Or maybe there is something that people are needing that would tap into your weird skills, right? Maybe you're really good at listening. Maybe you're really good at organizing. Write them down.Lesley Logan 11:29  Next bucket, I want you to write down your interests. So if it's business, if it's what you do, what are you the most interested in? I have people who are so interested when they come to get coaching from me. I'm like pelvic floor, scoliosis, neurological conditions, osteoporosis. Great, write it down and then go back through. Do you have all the skill sets you need for that? No. Okay, that's on your to-do list. Okay, how does it align with your values? All these things go together, right? What are the world's interests? Like, what are the people in the communitywhat are their interests? Because you want to know what your interests are, and then what are their interests? Because there's going to be a happy little medium, and that's where you're going to plant yourself, right? What do you naturally research or talk about, or what do you do when no one's paying attention or no one's paying you, right? Those are your interests.Lesley Logan 12:17  Okay, so when you can get these things written down, and you can look at them, and you can start to see, "Okay, this is where these overlap. This is where I'm missing some stuff. This is where this is going on. Oh, my interest is this thing over here, but their interest is this thing over here." Okay, whoa, they feel really far apart. Is there a place where those two things overlap in one sliver? It's a little sliver, right? Like if you like Italian and someone likes Mediterranean, there is a sliver of overlap in those two things, right? So, how can you put all this down and then take a moment to see? This is your self-awareness tool. This is how you're going to figure out how to continue to align yourself in things that make sense for you. This is how you're going to start to change things, because if you base things on your values, it becomes a really great filter. If you say yes or raise your hand for things that are within the skill sets that you like and overlap with your interests, oh my gosh, you're going to feel like everything is something that's enjoyable and not a heavy lift even on bad days.Lesley Logan 13:24  So you, my love, you need to understand that you are not starting over. You're not restarting, you're refining, because you have years of accumulated wisdom. You have years of achievements, years of data that you have survived every one of your bad days. And we know everything evolves, and we let other people change their minds and other people do new things. We've got to allow ourselves to pivot because we're not throwing away our past. We are taking every lesson, every communication skill, every ounce of confidence we've ever had, and we're channeling it into something that's lighter and better focused, that's in alignment.Lesley Logan 14:09   And so, I know it's hard when you're a professional overachiever, but I want you to normalize taking some action, some imperfect action, something messy, because that is how you're going to get clarity in your refinement. If you try to plan this entire pivot out, this realignment out without actually taking steps, it is not going to work out because you're not going to be getting to collect data along the way, right? Just like when we do Pilates, I don't watch someone stand still to see if they're aligned. I could, but I actually watch them move because it lets me see: is there any part of that movement they find alignment that they work with balance, or oh no, they always are imbalanced? So that's exactly why when they're standing still, right? We find alignment when we move. You will find alignment in taking action. You will find clarity, and you're refining who you are. So, full permission here granted to refine who you are, to be more aligned with what feels good to you. And I would love to hear the changes that you make, or the things you discover, the values and interests that became more clear. Just send it to thebeitpod.com/questions. You can send your wins in there as well. We'll celebrate you on Fridays. And my love, I hope you like the series. I hope it's helpful for you or a friend in your life. Please share it, and that is how this podcast grows. And until next time, Be It Till You See It .Lesley Logan 15:38  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 16:21  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your hosts Lesley Logan and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 16:25  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 16:30  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 16:37  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 16:40  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Lesley Logan comes back for part three of the Permission to Change series with a look at niches, alignment, and knowing when something you built has stopped fitting. She shares how a job she carefully curated turned into her own set of velvet handcuffs, and why a life that looks good on paper can quietly start to suffocate. Using stories from her own career pivots, she explains why realigning is not the same as failing. What looks like quitting is often just proof you are ready to grow. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:The importance of giving yourself the same permission slip you give others.How to extract yourself from a trap without burning your whole life down.Your past niches give you real data, not vibes, to move forward.Stepping into alignment creates permission for the people around you.Why the people who truly get you will support your evolution, not question it.Episode References/Links:Permission Series Part 1 - https://beitpod.com/ep676Permission Series Part 2 - https://beitpod.com/ep677Ep 709 ft Megan Applegate - https://beitpod.com/ep709Submit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questions If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:01  In your life, a lot of things that worked will stop working, and that is not a sign to force it to work. It is a sign to get curious about what will work, so you can get back into alignment.Lesley Logan 0:13  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast, where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousans of people around the world, and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity, and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guests will bring bold, executable, intrinsic, and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and be it till you see it. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started.Lesley Logan 0:56  Hey, Be It babe, we are back with more episodes for that Permission to Change series because you requested it. You asked. We've had two already. You can go back and listen to them, or you can listen to this one. They all stand alone a little bit on their own. This one is actually because this one's a little more nuanced in that it's about niches. Niches is typically thought about as in the niche, the riches are in the niches, like what your business is, but it doesn't have to be that you're an entrepreneur and a niche could actually be a habit or a daily routine or a role in your family. So I think that there's a way too. Whenever you hear niche, you can think of alignment versus alignment, right? And so I want to talk about that. But thanks for being here, this is a solo episode week, so we'll have two episodes in our Permission to Change series. This one, and we'll have another one. They'll kind of go together, and I like doing these. I hope you like listening to them. If you hate them, let us know. If you love them, I would love to hear that too. If there's anything you want us to talk about more, we can do that as well. So I wanted to say, I think a lot of us, at the time that you're actually listening to this podcast, the age that I imagine you are, you have built stuff in your life or in your career or a daily routine, something you have created a role in your family or in your friendship group, and on paper it looks really good, and maybe even for a while, it felt really good. At some point, good things we can outgrow them, right? Can feel a little suffocated, frustrated. You want to change it. What I will say is, some of us will end up burning our whole life down, but that's not actually a good idea. Sometimes it is, but most of the time we just need to extract ourselves from the situation, like surgically remove that and evolve it. Right?Lesley Logan 2:53   I'll have a couple stories for you. So one I've told before, one I've told in different ways, different topics, but it's really applicable. So I had really created a good job for myself. The company I worked for, I was known in it. I was successful. People in power knew who I was. I'd impress them. I had a pretty locked-in schedule. I had power and control, and I could do a lot of things, right? And I was on a day off, and I saw an alert on my phone from a boss that I h a d, and it just sent me into a panic attack because while I had created, curated everything that I thought I wanted, I had been doing it for quite some time and had just gotten a little stale and suffocating and stressful, and I didn't know that you could create your own velvet handcuffs, but that's what I did. And I will say in that instance I did not blow everything up. I actually sat down with Brad and thought about, well, what do I want to do if we could snap our fingers, and then how do we carefully build that up so that I can extract myself from this thing that I've curated? Because you outgrow it. I will say that job was really great when I needed it.Lesley Logan 4:17  In 2010, I had left my full time salaried job, and I was like, "How am I going to make it?" And they're like, "Do you want this job?" And I was like, "Oh, that is how I'm going to make it. Yes." So it had been a lifeline when I needed it, for sure. And then I had created this niche for myself where it felt so great. And then there was parts of my life that I wanted to evolve, and I couldn't because of this trap that I had, my good- on- paper trap that I created. And I think it can be really difficult because we want to move faster. Ladies, w e don't want to ever be seen as a quitter. Everything should look successful, so we often don't remove ourselves from things because how can we explain that to other people? It's so embarrassing. In fact, it took me a long time to get out of a relationship with a partner that I knew a year prior to I really wanted to get out of, and a year prior to that we even took a break. But because it looked good on paper, and leaving there wasn't a good enough excuse in my ADHD brain. How am I going to do this? What are people going to say about me? All this different stuff, right? It really put me in a position where in 2013 I did blow up my life because that's the only way I felt like I had the confidence to actually get out of it. Like I had to do all of it at one time. Looking back, I probably could have done it a little differently, but I'm so grateful. You cannot take anyone's rock bottoms away.Lesley Logan 5:52  I share all this with you because, my loves, too often as recovering perfectionists and overachievers, we often are like, "Well, I said I would do this. I've been successful doing this. This is the thing that I do, so I have to keep doing it. Right?" If you always host Thanksgiving dinners, and it's become a slog, this is your permission slip to no longer host them. If you are always the one setting up dinners with all the girls, and it just feels like no one ever will do it, your full permission to stop. We are allowed to change our mind, to change what works for us, because we are changing all the time. Hello, your body is changing. Your body's changes are signs that even your desires for what feels good in your work and life will change. So we got to give ourselves those permission slips. We give them to other people. Why not ourselves?Lesley Logan 6:43  So, the thing I think about when I think of a niche is it really is meant to teach you, right? So, like data collection, right? Whatever job or project or event you did, there is data, actual data, not just vibes to go back on, and leaving my cush job that I curated for myself was not failure. I left on a high note, and a lot of people thought I was silly to leave, right? But I had this data that I have built every single studio I've ran for them. I have turned it around, so I can do that for other people. Right? So I don't need this cush job anymore because I can do that for other people with my own business that I'm creating. And after 10 years of doing that, I felt like I had to evolve again. If you have noticed the change we made at Profitable Pilates, we started doing that in 2024. Big announcement in 2025. Here we are in 2026, and we have another evolution of it. And it's not because I don't love what I'm doing and I'm not good at it. It's because how I am as a coach has changed, and so then the products that I offer have to change. But because I was in that niche, because I did it for so long, I have the data to back up that not only can I make those changes and still help people and still have an impact on people and still make it affordable for people. But I can do it and be successful at it.Lesley Logan 8:25  So when you have, when you are, whatever that role is in your family or whatever that project is you've always been doing or whatever, or that business you've been doing, you have data from every single time to show you that you're really successful doing those things, and so you can apply that success and that information and that confidence to everything else you're doing, anything else you're doing, right? And I think we can be really hard on ourselves, especially my ADHD friends, because it looks like we can be flaky because we bounce from one thing to the next. But our brain isn't, we're not flaky. Our brain is literally looking for a dopamine high. So, what I highly recommend, my ADHD loves who are listening, is if you feel like you're bouncing all around all the time and you haven't actually dug into a niche to get that data, then you do need to get systems in place. You do need to get some support from an ADHD expert who can help you put systems in place so that you can get the data from a niche, and then you can find better alignment in other places. You can apply that to where you are drawn to for better alignment. Doesn't mean you have to stick with something you don't like. No, I'm not saying that at all. But you do need to have systems in place so you can get the data, so you can get the confidence, so that you can move on. So you're not seeing yourself as a flaky person, but instead someone who has information and is making better decisions, right? There's, it's a nice way to reframe it. I do think that a lot of us are afraid to change our routines, our habits, our titles, our roles, because we are afraid of what people will think. They'll think we quit, or we must have failed, or there's something wrong with us, and so that creates like a social anxiety. We often feel like we have to figure out a way to articulate it in a way that people can understand us, but my love, that's just your perfectionist talking, because I actually think that the people who truly love and care for you don't need you to be perfect. They need you to be honest, and when you evolve, when you step into alignment, you are actually giving other people permission to do the same.Lesley Logan 10:43  So, for example, when I became a Pilates instructor, everybody told me to charge less than these other people because they've been teaching longer than me, like $5. And I was like, "That's so okay. Yeah, I get that. Like, they have more experience than me, but like I'm gonna have to work more hours to make the money I thought I could make doing this." And then I was like, "Well, who are you basing your rates off of?" And they're like, "Oh, we're basing our rates off of this person over here." And I was like, "Well, who are you basing your rates off of?" And they're basing this person over here. And I was like, "Well, when did you raise your rates last?" And they were like, "Oh, I just lowered them because of what's going on with the economy." I was like, "Holy fuck! Everyone is basing their rates off of someone who isn't even giving room for anyone to be underneath them to grow."Lesley Logan 11:26  My loves, every time you step into alignment, you are creating a permission structure for those around you, r ight? The rates I charge for sessions allow people who do have less experience than me to make a livable wage, right? So, if people around you don't understand what you're doing, one, that's okay. They're allowed to not understand. You do not have to explain it to them. And two, if they're judging you for it, they're probably not your people, right? So, permission to change friend groups, and I know it's hard as an adult. It's hard to make friends, right? It's truly difficult. There's a reason why my husband and I are best friends, and I know people think that's so weird and whatever, blah blah blah. But honestly, in today's world, for how our lives are, if he wasn't, I would probably not see my friends very much. So it's really nice. But he gets me, and I get him, and we get to give each other reminders to evolve. And hey, you're out of alignment. So the people around you should actually be like, yeah, I saw this coming, and not like, why did you do that? Because if they truly get you, they will see that you are out of alignment, and then this thing you're doing is stepping into alignment. If they are worried about how this affects them, then they'll be a little frustrated, and that's okay. They're allowed to be frustrated. You don't have to do things for other people ever. In fact, if you go back to our slowing down series, you will discover that the more you are curious, the more you are able to see what's going on around you. The easier it's for you to see, like, oh, these are my people, and oh, those aren't my people. That doesn't mean you ditch them. It just means that you don't do things for their benefit. You do things for you, and if it doesn't benefit them, it's okay. It is okay, my people pleasers. It's okay.Lesley Logan 13:27  All right, so this is a quick episode, but I just wanted to say that in your life, a lot of things that worked will stop working, and that is not a sign to force it to work. It is a sign to get curious about what will work, so you can get back into alignment. This podcast has evolved; the niche of this podcast has evolved because you have, you, the listener; me, the host. We have evolved. So, in order for this to keep working, it has to be in alignment for what we need, right? So, if you allow me to step into my alignment, you have to allow you to step into your alignment. Can't have standards for other people that we won't give to ourselves. We can't give freedoms to other people we don't give to ourselves. You are so worthy to change things that no longer feel aligned. You're allowed to extract the data from the experience you've had to build up your self-trust and your confidence, so that you know that going into this new thing, you're going to be successful over there too. Because you were successful here, you can learn new things. Look, you did it over there. Goes back to that episode with the guest we had, I believe Megan Applegate, who is like a resume builder, right? She's like, you need to take stock of all of your accomplishments, every single thing you did, even if you're a part of a team, because it's all part of helping you have self-trust and confidence that you can do new things. You can apply that to a new job, apply it to a new niche or a new role, or a new event.Lesley Logan 15:00  All right, take some stock, take some data collection time this week. We'll come back with another episode helping you find your superpower. So if you're someone who realizes you're out of alignment and you're not sure what alignment is, we're going to talk about that, so you don't have to start all the way over because that's not always ideal either. So send this to a friend who needs to hear it. And until next time, Be It Till You See It .Lesley Logan 15:20  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 16:02  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 16:07  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 16:12  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 16:19  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 16:22  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Being an adult is hard. Having ADHD makes asking for help harder still. Lesley Logan opens up about a doctor's appointment that ate up her entire day and left her more frustrated than when she started. She is honest about how exhausting it is to ask for support, and just as honest that finding real purpose does not require a grand plan. Because wins do not have to be huge to count, sometimes they just have four legs. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:Why getting diagnosed with ADHD was its own difficult thing.A doctor's appointment that left Lesley feeling unsupported.What a Friends episode has to do with Lesley fostering a dog.Who actually earned the win this week according to Lesley.Her mantra for the weekend and why she wants you saying it.Episode References/Links:Submit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questions If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  It's Fuck Yeah Friday. Brad Crowell 0:01  Fuck yeah. Lesley Logan 0:02  Get ready for some wins. Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. Lesley Logan 0:50  Oh my god, I do love these. I hope you do, too. They're super fun, they're quick, they're easy, they make us feel like human beings, and they truly are here to help us do more of what we love and be it till we see it. And in doing that means we're not perfect, and so sometimes I think people think, oh, it's so easy for her, blah blah blah blah, or she makes it look so easy. Nothing is easy, my friends. Every day there's a new obstacle, okay, every day there is some sort of fire to put out, there is something going on. And so I am hoping that with the "I need a moment" added to this episode, and then my win, it's helping you see I get pissed off at things too, things don't always go my way as well, because we're all humans just trying to make our way through this world. Lesley Logan 1:33  So today's rant is this. All right. So, I have ADHD, and I mean, obviously you can hear that I have ADHD, and I knew that going in and getting diagnosed with ADHD and getting the support for ADHD was going to be its own difficult thing, because I hate phone calls, I hate doctor appointments, I hate this stuff, and now I have to have a monthly appointment. So, super excited because one, got the appointment, got the medication I needed, went to the second appointment, everything is good. Was told I get telemedicine, phenomenal. So excited. Then, then my doctor moved offices, and I had to start all over, and I had to go in because I couldn't do telemedicine with this person, because she'd never met me before. Gonna drive 25 minutes through construction to get to her. The person at the front desk, did they greet me? They're like, "No, go fill out the tablet over there." Right? She's like, "Oh, you can fill out the tablet over there." So I fill out the tablet that I'm there. Super annoying, because then I went to the bathroom, and then I'm waiting in the waiting room, like a person does, and then they call me in to do all of my weights and my blood pressure, and ask them all these questions, and they're like, okay, we need to go have you do a urine sample. And I'm like, but I just went to the bathroom, why didn't your girl, who's sitting in the front desk, tell me don't pee? So I'm frustrated, because with technology being added to these documents, great. Okay, maybe that's one less person. I didn't have to stand there and wait while she finished her phone call. I don't care, because now I have to sit there and wait until I have to pee again, so I can leave. I'm just frustrated because it's really hard to get the help you need, and then when you get the help you need, and you're like, nailed it, this is going to be great and easy, and make my life easier, they go and make your life harder, and then they add on to it. And so, at any rate, being an adult is hard, and it's like the people who make the rules for people with ADHD don't understand what it's like to have ADHD. Like, everything about that appointment is more than, I had to cancel the whole day because I had to do that. I was like, I can't, I can't do anything else today after this. This is too much. This is too stressful, too much of my brain. Lesley Logan 3:41  Anyways, I know my ADHD people, I know you feel me, I know you get me. So, what's the win? The win that I want to celebrate with you guys this week is that we fostered another dog. So, if you've been listening to all the FYFs, you've heard me talk about Darla. I think one of them... we fostered another dog, and I'm gonna call it a win this week, because you know what, there's a lot going on, and fostering this dog is a gift. I remember the Friends episode where Phoebe's like, there's no good, there's like no selfless deed, like every good thing you do is for selfish reasons. 1,000% on this case. Okay, so fostering this dog is so much fun, because one, I get this new dog in the house, which is just so fun. She's so cute. I get to love on her, and I get the dog love from her. And then I get everyone who's like, "Oh my god, it's so sweet of you to foster." It's like, it is so sweet. So I get words of affirmation, I get to feel like I have so much purpose. Like, all of a sudden fostering a dog has become my way of, I make myself feel so good about myself, but you can do that too, you can go foster a dog and feel so, you'll have the same feeling, I promise you. If you have felt like, what's my purpose in life, go foster a dog, you will all of a sudden feel like, wow, I'm one of the best people on the whole planet. Lesley Logan 5:00  So, our win. This is the second dog we're fostering. Really, the win is Bayon's, because Bayon got along with her, and at first, it looked like she was gonna drive Bayon crazy, but I think she's (inaudible) around Bayon, she's like, I don't know if I like him, I think he's too much for me. But she is cute, she's got a great waddle. Hopefully, by the time you hear this episode, she's been more than adopted, and my goal of this year being a foster dog house is, we're two now, we're at two, and that's that's the win. All right, see, wins don't have to be huge, they can be that you're volunteering, you have a lot to brag about, because it inspires other people too. Lesley Logan 5:38  All right, here we go, your mantra for the weekend, ready? I am a beautiful person, both inside and out. I am a beautiful person, both inside and out. Babe, you are a beautiful person, both inside and out. Believe that. All right. Share our podcast with friends who need to hear it. Send your wins into the beitpod.com/questions. You can also in that link send where you'd like topics for us to have on, different experts you'd like me to interview, or want me to do a solo episode on, or if you like the solo, just give us some feedback, let us know, right? If that's too much for you, you're like, oh my god, my ADHD won't allow me to do that, well, then talk about the pod, or join OPC and be a member of our OPC platform, because that's where we hang out, and we can do Pilates together and support you in all that you're doing, all right. Until next time, Be It Till You See It. Lesley Logan 6:23  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 7:06  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 7:11  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 7:15  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 7:22  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals. Brad Crowell 7:26  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Lesley Logan and Brad Crowell break down the conversation with recruiter and resume writer Megan Applegate, founder of Career Blueprint Solutions. They unpack why a blank LinkedIn profile can make even strong candidates look like they don't exist, how to frame your resume around the value you deliver instead of a list of duties, and why staying comfortable quietly keeps your career stuck. They also share a four-step plan for positioning yourself for the promotion you already may be qualified for. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:Applying for roles even when you don't check every box.Why a blank LinkedIn profile makes strong candidates look invisible.Recognizing the cost of comfort and why discomfort means you're growing.How speaking your imposter syndrome out loud can be really helpful.A four-step plan to position yourself for your next promotion.Episode References/Links:upLift First Time Teacher Training Program - https://xxll.co/uwseLevate Live Q&A - https://lesleylogan.co/elevate2026 Summer Tour (powered by Balanced Body) - https://opc.me/tourOPC Pilates Flashcards - https://opc.me/flashcardsPilates Posters - https://opc.me/postersProject Marilyn – projectmarilyn.comMegan Applegate on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/meganapplegateMegan Applegate on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/dreamjobaheadCareer Blueprint Solutions - https://beitpod.com/careerblueprintsolutionEp 226 ft Ryan May McAvoy - https://beitpod.com/ep226Ep 691 ft Clare Solly - https://beitpod.com/ep691Submit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questions If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Brad Crowell 0:00  Growth is only possible when you realize that getting uncomfortable is where you actually need to be, and that can be, well, uncomfortable, scary, a little bit scary, but you may already be doing some things that will help take you to the next level.Lesley Logan 0:16  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started.Brad Crowell 0:59  All right, let's do this. So today is the 710 Megan Applegate. Take it away there, Lesley.Lesley Logan 1:08  Welcome back to the Be It Till You See It interview recap, where my co-host life, Brad, and I are going to dig into the strategic convo I had with Megan Applegate in our last episode.Brad Crowell 1:10  Oh yeah, it was strategic.Lesley Logan 1:17  She is a resume whisperer Brad Crowell 1:21  and LinkedIn QueenLesley Logan 1:22  Yes, which we all need, me included. But I just kind of, I'm like, you guys, if you have been one of those people who doesn't apply for a job because you don't qualify for all parts, you need to talk to Megan, because she's a badass. Anyways, before we get into that, you can go listen to her right now, and then listen to us talk about some stuff before we talk about Megan.Brad Crowell 1:39  Yeah.Lesley Logan 1:40  Today is July 23rd 2026, and it's National Gorgeous Grandma Day. So, today we celebrate the incredible grandmothers in our lives each year. This special day encourages us to recognize their timeless beauty, unwavering love, and invaluable wisdom. As we're reading this, I'm just thinking about my two grandmas, and I'm just gonna say,Brad Crowell 1:58  invaluable wisdom, Lesley Logan 2:00  unwavering love, I'm not so sure, I will give them their... timeless beauty... my grandmother was beautiful. Both my grandmothers are beautiful in their own way. One looks like an actual grandmother from the day I was out of the womb, and the other one had tattooed eyeliner and purple hair, so.Brad Crowell 2:17  Amazing.Lesley Logan 2:18  Anyways, invaluable wisdom. Show your appreciation by spending quality time, showering them with gifts, or simply telling them how gorgeous they truly are. Seriously, if your gorgeous grandma is still here on this earth, pause this now and call her, and then come back, because we're going to talk about Megan Applegate. Brad inserted that very seamless, and it's in there. He knows I don't read these things before we get them on the air, so I'm like that one reporter, Keith Olbermann always makes fun of him, because he just reads whatever's on the teleprompter. I would just get myself in so much trouble because I would just read what's on the teleprompter, but then I'm like, what?Brad Crowell 2:49  Hilarious.Lesley Logan 2:49  Unwavering love and invaluable wisdom. Well, one of my grandmothers, the first time she drove, she backed the truck into a tree and left the engine running until it died, backed into a tree, and so she never got a driver's license. So that was some wisdom.Brad Crowell 3:05  Never drove again, that's hilarious.Lesley Logan 3:08  She was a stubborn one. Anyways, you guys, I have a teacher training program that I've been talking about online now, so I have to share it here. If you listen to the FYFs, I've been kind of hinting at a project that I've been working on for quite some time, and I'm really proud of the work I'm doing. Now we can actually share it, so it's all true. It's called upLift, and the L is capital in that, because I like to be cute. It's going to start probably early next year, and you'll be able to find an epic teacher trainer near you that will host my program. So if you know someone who wants to become a Pilates instructor, or you're listening to this and you've done some instructor training but not a full comprehensive, you're going to want to get on the waitlist to go through the upLift program, which is xxlll.co/uws. Now, if you are already comprehensively trained and you would prefer to train directly with me, then you actually want to be in my mentorship program, or some people call it a master's program, and you want to go to eLevate. We already have done a live Q&A call, because it happens on July 9th.Brad Crowell 4:13  And that's what, oh. Lesley Logan 4:15  This is July 23rd, 2026. I just said the date, it's National Grandma's Day, so looking at Brad in real time trying to make this sheet. So anyways, you missed the live call, but you can still watch it and hear all about it. If there's any spaces in 2028, go to lesleylogan.co/elevate. Now, if you're like, "2028, that's so far away," look, if you just want to go through the training that I've created, upLift is going to be for you in 2027 and you can be with one of my educators. If you want to be with me, then you want to be in eLevate. If you want to be an upLift educator, you need to go through eLevate, so there's all that. Okay.Brad Crowell 4:48  If you want to be an upLlift educator, yes, you have to go through eLevate as well. So, if you have questions about that, just. Lesley Logan 4:54  If you are like, "This is my first time. Why does everyone rave about the show? What the fuck are they talking about, the grandmas and Pilates?" Just keep listening, it gets better. Okay, stick to it. We're gonna "be it till you see it" for you. Our summer tour is literally around the corner. We are leaving next week, I think, or maybe in 10 days. Yeah, so at the time of this recording, the first two stops are sold out. The third stop is in Nashville, and it has the workshop space left. Knoxville is our rooftop mat class repertoire. Brad Crowell 5:26  That is gonna be so fun. I'm really looking forward to that.Lesley Logan 5:29  Same, me too. And then we'll be back in Greensboro. We've never been in Greensboro in the summer, so this is really exciting. It's a really cool studio, it's an old mill. And then we're gonna be in Augusta, Georgia, and then we're gonna be in Atlanta. Look, the time we're recording this, it had three spots left total at that stop, and then someone just bought one, so there are two spots left at the time of recording, which is,Brad Crowell 5:48  in Atlanta,Lesley Logan 5:49  in Atlanta, Then Huntsville, Alabama has five spots left today, which is not today when you're listening to this, so check. Then we have Birmingham, Alabama, and then Jackson, Mississippi, both of those had two spots left today. And then we have Frisco, Texas, which is north of Dallas. There was room, there's plenty of room in the workshop there as of today. Not plenty, but there's room. El Paso, we're gonna have a Spanish,Brad Crowell 6:12  This is gonna be really cool.Lesley Logan 6:14  translator, in Spanish. I've.Brad Crowell 6:16  It's our first stop in El Paso to teach.Lesley Logan 6:19  Yeah.Brad Crowell 6:19  So really, really excited about that. And yeah, first time having a translator in the United States.Lesley Logan 6:03  I'm so excited! I've had translators before, but this is gonna be so fun, but not in the States, so this is gonna be great. So we are in El Paso, and then we're gonna be in Tucson, a couple spots left there, and then Vegas, and that's half sold out. So all this is the bragging to say, get your tickets, what are you waiting for? opc.me/tourBrad Crowell 6:30  opc.me/tour Lesley Logan 6:32  It is powered by Balanced Body, which means we have gift certificates, prizes, and we're bringing Contrology equipment for you to try out. So, you're going to want to go do that. And then, if you are new here, don't forget to check out our Pilates flashcards. We'll have them at the tour, but you can actually get them from us. I had someone ask me, "Is it better to get from you directly or from Amazon?" And I said, if you like giving Jeff Bezos money, you can get it from Amazon, but if you want to give a small business, a family-owned team money, which means the money goes to, first of all, if you buy flashcards from us, we give money to the Nevada SPCA, and we give money to our team, and all that good stuff, and we can keep making these flashcards, you go to opc.me/flashcards. So, anyway, she said, "Of course, I love supporting small businesses," and I said, "Thank you." And then we also have posters, and people have been asking about this. You want to know something? Don't buy the ones on Temu, they stole mine. You are welcome, while we are waiting for them to take that shit down, to go find them and leave a shitty review. Tell them that they're stealing, because they fucking are. But you can buy ours that have good images.Brad Crowell 7:49  Tell us how you really feel.Lesley Logan 7:50  I'm so fucking pissed. I'm pissed, but I have my "I need a moment" on the Fuck Yeah Fridays now. I think I've mentioned it already there. But at any rate, opc.me/posters is where you get the posters, and you kind of want both, just saying.Brad Crowell 8:04  Kind of want both.Lesley Logan 8:05  And the posters ship from wherever they print around the world. So, my peeps who live internationally, the shipping on the posters is not going to be terrible. The flashcards, so sorry for where you live, but we do have people in high places like Canada and Australia, and we are working on some othersBrad Crowell 8:22  Working on the UK,Lesley Logan 8:23  working on the UK. We've got a couple of options. You know what? Think time travel, things move slowly. Just gonna say it, my brain moves fast, but things move slow. All right, as you know, we talk about a charity, and this week's charity, who's up, Brad?Brad Crowell 8:36  Yeah, this week we are featuring Project Marilyn. This week we're highlighting Project Marilyn, a Las Vegas nonprofit fighting period poverty right here in southern Nevada. Founded in 2019 by Wendi, I am gonna butcher this name, Schweigart,Lesley Logan 8:52  or Schweigart,Brad Crowell 8:52  Schweigart, and named after her late mother, Marilyn, the organization,Lesley Logan 8:56  Who was probably a gorgeous grandma.Brad Crowell 8:57  Well, clearly, she must be a gorgeous grandma because she had a daughter, so.Lesley Logan 9:02  Well, she had a daughter. Her daughter might not have a daughter, but her daughter is giving. Brad Crowell 9:05  Oh, she's probably a gorgeous grandma.Lesley Logan 9:06  Her daughter is giving period supplies for free to all these kids around here, so she kind of has a lot of grandkids. Brad Crowell 9:13  Yeah, the organization makes sure everyone has a healthy, dignified period by providing monthly bags of tampons, pads, and hygiene wipes to people who cannot afford them, supplies that are among the least donated and most overlooked basic needs out there, and programs like SNAP and WIC won't cover.Lesley Logan 9:29  It's like your food stamps.Brad Crowell 9:31  Yeah, so what started with one woman honoring her mom has grown into a real local force, a volunteer crew called the Period Posse, back-to-back best nonprofit recognition in the Las Vegas Review-Journal's Best of Las Vegas Reader Poll, and a tripling of its reach in just the last couple of years, all while staying lean and locally run. If you've ever taken a clean, dignified period for granted, this is the chance to make sure someone else can, too.Lesley Logan 9:57  Also, so many of us who have all the access to all the period supplies in the world have had moments where it doesn't feel dignified, and so if you're like.Brad Crowell 10:06  Also, we charge a lot for that too. It's very, it's taxed.Lesley Logan 10:11  It's taxed, it's fucking annoying. If men needed period supplies, they'd be fucking free, and I know it feels like we harp on that, but truly, it would. The fucking female razors are more expensive, and they're the same fucking thing, they just make them pink and charge more. So, if you are like, "Guys, why did you do a Las Vegas one?" I actually have had connections with Project Marilyn. I've been at different charity events that they're at, they do really great work. If you are in Las Vegas and you go to their website, you can actually find out where they have locations for free period supplies, like the local library. You go and you just say, "I have a package from Marilyn," and they will just give you free period supplies. Isn't that the cutest thing? Brad Crowell 10:35  That's pretty cute. Lesley Logan 10:37  There's another organization that sponsors them that's more national, and that is the Alliance for Period Supplies, and they are doing really great work trying to do different things in the legislation, and also work on ending period poverty. It looks like this one works with smaller organizations to keep getting the supplies out there.Brad Crowell 11:09  Yeah, go to projectmarilyn.com M-A-R-I-L-Y-N if you want to donate, or if you're looking for something a little more national, theLesley Logan 11:17  allianceforperiodsupplies.org. Just so we're all clear, 76% of Americans believe period supplies should be free of charge at public schools and public universities, and you know where they were free my whole adult life? Equinox. I could get free period supplies at my fancy gym.Brad Crowell 11:34  Did not know that.Lesley Logan 11:35  Yes, I could, you can. So it was perks of being a member. But anyways, I just really like this, I like the idea. I think if we could help, it would also be great if these period people businesses would stop making the tampons in crinkly, loud paper, so these poor girls don't have to hide it in their sleeve and it crinkles, and then everyone knows what they're doing. Stop making things embarrassing, and also teach boys to not be assholes about it. All right, now we're good. I'm off my soapbox.Brad Crowell 12:02  Hey, if you have a charity that we think we should feature, or if you have a question that we might answer on our Sunday YouTube lives, go to beitpod.com/questions that's beitpod.com/questions and you can leave us either a win for the Friday episodes, or a question, or Lesley Logan 12:17  No questions. You can leave a charity. The link is so outdated, but we're not changing it, because it's living there. The questions we answer on Sundays on YouTube. Brad Crowell 12:25  That's what I was gonna say. So you can send in your question, and we'll answer it on YouTube on Sundays if you want to.Lesley Logan 12:31  All right, I guess, yeah.Brad Crowell 12:32  So stick around, we'll be right back. Brad Crowell 12:35  All right, so let's talk about Megan Applegate. She's the founder of Career Blueprint Solutions, and a recruiter, resume writer, and career coach who has spent the last seven years helping high achievers land the roles they actually want. After a 20-year career in hospitality, she pivoted into recruiting and built her business from the ground up. Today, she guides clients through the realities of modern hiring, from getting past the applicant tracking systems to positioning themselves on LinkedIn so the right opportunities come directly to them.Lesley Logan 13:06  Yeah, I was really excited to have her on because, you know, not everyone who listens to this wants to have their own business. A lot of people who listen to this want a good job, and there's so much uncertainty in the world with AI and all these different things. I'm tired of hearing the statistics, even though we've known it for years, where women are just not necessarily applying for jobs because they don't hit all the boxes they think. She has really navigated the change in how you apply for things, how you position yourself, and she's quite good at it in a way that made me feel like, "Oh, I could fucking have a resume." I mean, I'm not gonna do it, it's like writing my bio, just makes me cry, but for people who need that... We just had Clare Solly on, talking about exiting a career, exiting a job, whether it's your choice or someone else's, and so I just thought this is a really great resource for everyone who was really inspired by that episode. Something I love that she said is to understand that as you grow, you will naturally pivot your career or business, and I thought that was really cool because I think it's really easy to compare ourselves to past generations where we feel like our jobs are not linear, so then we look spastic. It's like, no, actually, it just shows that you are learning, and that learning is taking you into another direction, and your curiosities are taking you to different places. She said it's important to stay relevant by constantly questioning your methods and asking, "Should I do this differently?" I think that is a great thing that we could be doing because it forces us to actually keep our brain young and involved in what's going on. Sometimes we just get so set in doing things the same way, and there might be a better, faster way, or a way that actually challenges you, or a way that you could learn something new, because if you are learning every single day, it really does keep you current and up to date on what's going on, makes you more hireable.Brad Crowell 14:56  Yeah, I mean, it's easy to just sit back and be like, "Okay, I got this. It's rote," and so you're not actually staying on top of the industry and the changes in the tech and all that stuff.Lesley Logan 15:08  Well, it's also hard. We have so much things to do.Brad Crowell 15:13  but one of the things that we do in our company is we challenge our team and we say, "Hey, look, you are the expert on video editing, let's just say, so when you're out there scrolling through Instagram, and you're in your world doing your thing, and you find a tool that you think makes sense to help you with this job, that's the kind of thing that you're going to come across where we are not. If it's relevant, then you can bring it into the conversation." What does that tell me as the employer? "Oh, this person is paying attention, they're trying to be more efficient or find better tools," and that goes a long way. Honestly, if you're a Pilates teacher, this is effectively continuing education. It's the same kind of thing.Lesley Logan 15:56  Well, and also, it's interesting because, speaking of Pilates education, I announced the teacher training yesterday before I recorded this, and I had immediately someone going, "Well, is there going to be workshops after the program?" And I was like, "Of course. Also, first, people have to go through the program," so there probably won't be that until after 2028, and maybe even longer, because they won't know what continuing education they want to do. What I loved about what Megan was saying is, yes, keep learning every day, and go with what's exciting for you and challenging you. because the thing that happens is, too often we are like, "I have to learn everything," and then I got people taking both perimenopause andBrad Crowell 16:40  pelvic floor Lesley Logan 16:41  and neurologicalLesley Logan 16:43  and scoliosis and Lesley Logan 16:44  neural, so those are, and then your neurological stuff, and then you've got people who want to like study, like NFL people, and it's like you, that's too many different types of people, you can't be an expert, you'll get overwhelmed, and that's going to stress you out, so you won't know what you're most interested in or who you're attracting. Then you get good at what you're doing, and you're like, "Oh, I trust this expertise," that's what Megan said, and then you're gonna go, "Oh, I'm gonna go over here and learn this thing," right, and take every day, as she said, and learn. So I think it does take some time. You got to get good at your job so you know what the job is, and then you got to go, "I could do this better, or faster, we could be doing this over here," and when you do those things, your bosses do pay attention, and then you have to make note of that because it's going to help you if you want to switch jobs. It's totally fine to switch careers and switch jobs because you might be intrigued. Anyways, I want to get into what you love, so. Brad Crowell 17:35  Well, I mean, it rolls right into it. I was going to focus on what she was talking about, the cost of comfort, right? And so it's effectively the same thing. If you're like, "This is rote, I don't have to think about it, I'm just clocking in and clocking out," there is a cost to that. Basically, what she said is that it equals staying stagnant and the same. When you're comfortable, growth is only possible when you realize that getting uncomfortable is where you actually need to be, and that can be, well, uncomfortable, scary, a little bit scary, but you may already be doing some things that will help take you to the next level. When you are thinking bigger, thinking outside the box, when you are applying other things you're learning to your current job, it's going to shift and change, and it might be a little bit uncomfortable. You might actually have to go have a conversation with the person that you work for and say, "I had this thought, what do you think about this?" That actually brings to their attention that you're thinking, forward thinking, but it also helps when you're uncomfortable. It's consistently challenging and challenges you in a way where imposter syndrome can be easy to have sneak in, so you're constantly pushing against that. It's a muscle, the more you practice being in an uncomfortable place, the stronger you will be when you're battling the imposter syndrome.Lesley Logan 19:13  I just had someone tell me that they're putting off doing this one thing because they just had this imposter syndrome around it, and they're like, "I'm already doing this thing over here, if I take the final test, then I don't know, if I fail, it would just kill me." And I was like, "Oh my gosh, you have imposter syndrome. You have gone to extra workshops, you've done a comprehensive training. There are shitty teachers out there who've done one training who are stealing my lines and someone else's lines and putting it out there, and because of their sexy outfit, need thousands of followers, and they're asshole teachers. You are a great teacher, and you're letting imposter syndrome keep you from finishing? No, no. Next time you have imposter, think about the asshole teacher who does not care as much as you out there making the money you're not making." Sometimes you have to figure out that there are people who are not deserving of the job or the thing or the role or the raise that you need and want and deserve, and they're getting it because they're not getting stuck in the imposter, they're not letting the wall hit them.Brad Crowell 20:12  Yeah, I think imposter syndrome is so tough because it's almost always an internal conversation. It's very rare that someone else is like, "You're not qualified to do this." Now, there are haters on the internet that are gonna leave comments that say that, and those people can take a long walk, but this conversation typically happens hidden in your own head. In those moments, you could speak it out loud.Lesley Logan 20:38  Oh yeah, if you say it out loud, it does sound really... it does sometimes sound a little silly, it doesn't have as much power. You're like, "Whoa, what a weird thing to think."Brad Crowell 20:46  Yeah, the other day I was battling an internal conversation, and I thought, "What's the worst that could happen? Like, what is the absolute worst scenario in this fear that I have?" And then I spoke it out loud, like, "Oh my god, everything could come crumbling down," or whatever it was. Then I thought about, okay, well, what if that did happen? What would happen next? What would happen after that? I'd have to get back up and start over. And would I do it? Yeah, I would. It would probably not be fun or exciting, but now I would go back into it knowing all the things that I know today, and I would skip every mistake that I made the first time through doing whatever the thing was, because I already have the lived experience and knowledge, right?Lesley Logan 21:37  Yeah.Brad Crowell 21:38  So yeah, imposter syndrome, when you speak that out loud, that can be really helpful.Lesley Logan 21:43  Yeah, I like that idea. I think it's just also so easy to get in your head and say those things for yourself because someone somewhere along the lines told you it, or made you feel that way. Now it's just this thing. Honestly, when I was studying with BJ Fogg about habits, unraveling those thoughts is really difficult to do because you have to be aware that you're having the thought at the time to unravel what's the prompt that's happening. But at some point you do become aware, and that's where just speaking out loud will be helpful because it does take its power away. Brad Crowell 22:15  Yeah. Lesley Logan 22:16  And if you were to tell your best friend you were having that thought, for fucking sure they would be like, "What the fuck are you talking about?"Brad Crowell 22:17  Are you kidding? What's going on here?Lesley Logan 22:26  Like this one thing I went to, they made us all write down the things that we say to ourselves, you know, the shitty things we say to ourselves, and just write them down, and then. Brad Crowell 22:34  Read them out loud.Lesley Logan 22:36  Get this.Brad Crowell 22:37  Come on.Lesley Logan 22:37  They, even worse, they asked for two volunteers, and these two girls stood up. Brad Crowell 22:41  Switched.Lesley Logan 22:43  They made them switch the letters.Brad Crowell 22:45  Oh my god. Lesley Logan 22:45  And then, read it, look the person in the face and read it. "You're ugly, you're fat, you don't know what you're talking about." I'm crying. "You don't know what you're doing, you made these stupid mistakes." And they can't get through the letter because they are crying because they're like, "Well, it's not true, this isn't her." And they're like, "It's not true for you, you're crying because you know..." Anyways, oh my god, it's so awful, but it works. Brad Crowell 23:10  That's powerful. Lesley Logan 23:11  I don't know, maybe it's drama, but you gotta speak it out loud.Brad Crowell 23:17  Gotta speak it out loud. All right, well, stick around, we'll be right back. Brad Crowell 23:23  All right, welcome back. Let's dig into those Be It Action Items. What bold, executable, intrinsic, or targeted action items can we take away from your combo with Megan Applegate? She said, "Shift your perspective to view your resume like a sales document that paints a picture of your value." Now, there's so much in that one sentence, shift your perspective so that you view your resume like a sales document that paints the picture of your value. After listening to this interview, it was really interesting because one of the things she kind of slid in there but one of my biggest takeaways, was she said, "I get these amazing, fantastic candidates for roles, and as a recruiter, I recruit them to then place them," and she said they have all the things, they look good, they are successful, they've got an amazing history, they've got the resume, but then when they go to their LinkedIn, it's empty,Lesley Logan 24:13  right,Brad Crowell 24:13  and it makes them look like they don't exist,Lesley Logan 24:16  are not on top of their shit, they're not present,Brad Crowell 24:18  yeah, and so it was really interesting, because we coach people all the time when they're like, "Do you have to post on Instagram? Like, no, but yes, because you don't have to post every four seconds on Instagram. But if someone in your neighborhood is like, "Oh, I'm looking for a Pilates teacher, and they look up a blank Instagram profile, they're gonna be like, Lesley Logan 24:36  Is it open? Brad Crowell 24:36  Is this person real? You know, I'm not sure.Lesley Logan 24:39  Yeah, you don't have to post daily, but you could post once a week, even every other week, as long as it looks like, oh, they were around.Brad Crowell 24:44  Yeah, honestly, even once a month, it's just that there needs to be something there for them to see. Lesley Logan 24:49  For them to see the experience that they're going to get. Brad Crowell 24:51  So, with the LinkedIn thing, though, she said you want to be positioning yourself as a thought leader,Lesley Logan 24:58  yeah,Brad Crowell 24:59  and I thought, oh, that's really. Interesting. What does that mean? What does it mean to be a thought leader?Lesley Logan 25:03  Our guest, Ryan May McAvoy, kicks ass up this on LinkedIn. If you want to see an example besides Megan Applegate, Ryan May McAvoy will blow your mind. She is a thought leader in the HR world. So, I think about her all the time.Brad Crowell 25:16  Yeah, so how do we do that? What I would say is, if you had a second teacher in your studio, or even if it's a home studio, let's just pretend you have a second teacher, right, and you tell the person here at my studio, "This is how we do the thing," whatever the thing is, when they come in the door, we have a smile on our face, we treat them with whatever. These are thought leader kind of thoughts, where you're sharing your perspective, your expectation, what you want to do. It doesn't have to be a super long 20-page article, it can just be quick snippets of things that you expect or do for your space, for your clients. Honestly, once you get started doing this, it comes easier down the road because you start to get the hang of it, but it allows you to have an ongoing timeline of events on your LinkedIn profile. If and when you ever did need to build a resume, she said this is great because if you treat your resume like a sales document that paints the picture of your value, where are you pulling the resume stuff from? If your thought leading is about a win that you just experienced, "Today I sold a 10-pack," and it doesn't seem like it's a big deal for people who don't understand the industry, but it's a big deal. What does it actually mean? It means that a client made a decision to better power their life and all the things, and I get to be here guiding them through that experience, right? You could be saying, "All right, cool, now that was my first 10-pack, now I've sold 20 10-packs to different clients," and it kind of operates like a description of your career in a way. If you're marking these wins right, celebrating these wins and turning them into some kind of a thought that you're just sharing on your profile, then later, if you ever have someone look at your profile, it looks like you're a real person.Lesley Logan 27:21  Yeah, I love that.Brad Crowell 27:23  Yeah, what about you?Lesley Logan 27:24  Well, she had a four-step executable plan for career advancement, so I thought that'd be fun to repeat, which is start by deciding if you want to stay in your field and specifically understand where that next promotion is. So the next step will actually help you with that, but I thought, what a great action step you could take right now. Then search the internet for relevant job descriptions to find the key language, the KPIs, and the keywords employers are using. This way you can start to see what wins you have that are around those things, because you might already be ready for the promotion at another company, or you can actually strategically position yourself for a promotion in your own company. Look at those descriptions to figure out what they're saying and what they need and the problems that they've solved, so you can position yourself as a solution. That goes back to Brad's thing on your resume. Then update your resume and LinkedIn to signal where people can find you so they can reach out for that specific role. So you're literally taking all the things that your next job wants, and then fixing up your LinkedIn and your resume so it's ready, and then you... I don't know, you turn your light on, and that's what they call it, right? They turn a light on on LinkedIn.Brad Crowell 28:32  I have no idea.Lesley Logan 28:33  I think you do, and then other people, and that's how Clare Solly got the great job that she has.Brad Crowell 28:39  Yeah.Lesley Logan 28:39  Yeah, you turn your light on, right? Is that what you do? Brad Crowell 28:42  Open to work. Yes, turn your light on.Lesley Logan 28:44  Yeah.Brad Crowell 28:45  Most likely looking to activate the open to work feature. So, I don't think they call it turn your light on, but it's called open to work.Lesley Logan 28:51  I guess you can't call it turn your light on because it sounds like Roxanne. What's the one. Brad Crowell 28:56  That's exactly the one that you referenced in the interview?Lesley Logan 28:58  What's the song? Turn your light on. What's the song?Brad Crowell 29:03  Are you talking about Santana? Put your lights on.Lesley Logan 29:06  No.Brad Crowell 29:07  "Turn your light on." The Overtones? I don't actually..Lesley Logan 29:12  I guess Roxanne would go, "Don't turn the light on." And then, but there is, there's a song. It's in my head. It doesn't matter. Brad Crowell 29:20  I tried find it, because you referenced it, and I did not find it. So, there is a Judas Priest song, turn your light on.Lesley Logan 29:26  I wonder if I know Judas Priest. Ah, so the ADHD fails. It's like it's in there, it's in there. You guys, I'm Lesley Logan.Brad Crowell 29:34  And I'm Brad Crowell. Lesley Logan 29:35  Megan Applegate had some great tools for you as well. So, make sure you go to her website and check her out, because she definitely has some really great tools. You can go find her on LinkedIn and do all that stuff. Listen to her on the episode, because she's brilliant. So, if this really resonates with you, I'm Lesley Logan.Brad Crowell 29:48  And I'm Brad Crowell. Lesley Logan 29:49  You should send this episode to a friend who hates her job right now.Brad Crowell 29:51  Yeah.Lesley Logan 29:52  That's who this episode goes to.Brad Crowell 29:53  It's who it's for.Lesley Logan 29:54  Megan's episode goes there. This one is an interesting introduction to me and Brad. Thank you. Go Be It Till You See It.Brad Crowell 30:01  Bye for now.Lesley Logan 30:03  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 30:45  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 30:50  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co. Brad Crowell 30:54  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 31:01  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals. Brad Crowell 31:05  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Megan Applegate spent twenty years in hospitality before becoming a recruiter, resume writer, and career coach. In this episode she and Lesley Logan dig into why finding work feels so different right now and what still gives people an edge in their career. Megan shares grounded strategies for standing out, rebuilding confidence after a setback, and getting noticed by the right people. Whether you love your job or are ready for a change, this conversation gives you real steps to feel ready for what is next. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:Why the old resume playbook may no longer get you hired.Mapping job descriptions to prove you already qualify for the role.The old colleague trick that quietly dissolves imposter syndrome.Optimizing your LinkedIn so recruiters can actually find you.What you should never say when an interview gets uncomfortable.Episode References/Links:Gecko Hospitality – https://www.geckohospitality.comMegan Applegate on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/meganapplegateMegan Applegate on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/dreamjobaheadStrengthsFinder Test – https://high5test.com/cliftonstrengths-free/Career Blueprint Solutions - https://beitpod.com/careerblueprintsolutionEp 691 ft Clare Solly - https://beitpod.com/ep691Submit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questionsGuest Bio:Megan Applegate, Founder of Career Blueprint Solutions. After a powerhouse 20-year career in the hospitality industry, Megan did the unthinkable: she walked away from the familiar to build a recruiting and career development empire, with zero formal training and no financial safety net. Today, as the Founder of Career Blueprint Solutions, she uses that same "all-in" grit to help high-achievers navigate their own pivots. Known as the Recruiter Insider, she deconstructs the hiring process through her proprietary T.A.P. Protocol, moving professionals from "guessing" to "certainty" and helping them architect a legacy career that matches their true market value. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Megan Applegate 0:00  I think most people just don't know these days what the strategy is, and to know that there's so much that they do that's probably already at that next level in the first place.Lesley Logan 0:15  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. Lesley Logan 0:57  All right, Be It babe. We're gonna get into it, because this episode is great. This is for those of you who are like, "Oh my god, I don't love my job, but I don't want to work for myself," or, "Shit, I'm out of a job and I need help." We have the resume queen, I literally called her a doula, she is so great. I learned so much. I don't even need a resume right now, or probably hopefully ever, I love what I do, but I know many of you do. No matter what your role is in this world, there are tips for you here. I don't care if you love where you're at, you're going to want to listen to these tips or write them down. They're so, so tangible, tactile, things you can actually do and check off and feel good about yourself. So, here is Megan Applegate.Lesley Logan 1:41  All right, Be It, babe. I'm really excited. We haven't had a topic like this in a long time, and it's definitely time to be talking about this topic. And we have the best guest I could even think about, because I was doing a lot of research on this one, and I'm really excited because Megan Applegate is here, and she is... well, I'm gonna let her tell you everything that she does. So, Megan, what do you rock at?Megan Applegate 2:00  Yeah, so thank you for having me, Lesley. I'm very excited to be here, and I'm one of those people that was a 20-year veteran in the hospitality industry, and thought I loved what I did for so long until I realized that I didn't. And when that happened, I didn't really know, and next I had something fall in my lap, and now I've turned into a recruiter, a resume writer, a career coach, and entrepreneur in the last seven years. So a huge pivot, huge turn, but I love what I do now. It's completely different. It's a beast in both ways, right? Good and bad, if there is a good or a bad, I don't know that there always is, but I love what I do.Lesley Logan 2:48  Oh, Megan, I agree. Nothing's ever as good or as bad as we think it's going to be, but there's always the good and the bad. But hold on, 20 years in hospitality? I mean, I don't even know how one person lasts in hospitality. That's a long time to deal with the people.Megan Applegate 3:01  Yeah, yeah, it is.Lesley Logan 3:04  Was it like, did you have to deprogram, or did you have to remind yourself you're not in hospitality anymore? How did you, you know what I mean? It's hard to make a big shift to shift careers.Megan Applegate 3:15  Yeah, I would say yes and no, only because part of what turned into a different career involves hospitality, so it made it a little bit easier when I was approached with the opportunity to get into the first business that I own and do, and then from there it came into a second one that I own on my own now. So, with that being said, I still actually love hospitality. I still love the people, and I know it so well. But now I get to recruit in it and help people find jobs in it. So it's almost like just taking what I already knew and learning a whole new sector of it, which I think is cool.Lesley Logan 3:56  Right, right, like going to a deeper level on that. So, instead of being, I guess, B to C, where you're working with the people in the hospitality, now you're working with the people who are going to work with the people.Megan Applegate 4:08  Correct. Yeah, on the recruiting side, it's both. It's finding the clients that need us to help them with the headhunting, finding these top talented professionals, and then also being the advocate and that career agent for the candidates, and understanding both sides of what that looks like. A lot of people only know one side and they don't know both, and so it's almost like an advantage to understand how to help people navigate that knowledge that you otherwise have, right? Because.Lesley Logan 4:41  The hirer is like, "We need these people who can do these things."Megan Applegate 4:44  Yeah.Lesley Logan 4:44  And then the people are like, "How come no one's looking at my resume? How come people don't see the greatness that I have?" And really, you're kind of a mediator slash negotiator slash doula.Megan Applegate 4:59  Yeah, it's been an interesting adventure. I'm seven years in deep with this change, and it's proven to move me in all kinds of different directions, which I'm excited to get into.Lesley Logan 5:13  Yeah, I would love to get to that. Before we dive into some stuff, I do want to chat about... seven years is a long time to look back at who you were and how that was. When you were leaving hospitality and coming into this, or maybe you fell into it, were there things that you had to work on with yourself to step into this? "I'm now the entrepreneur, now I'm not working for this company, I'm working for myself." How did you help yourself change that mentality?Megan Applegate 5:42  Yeah. Well, there's all kinds of emotions. I think there's so many we could talk about, right? It's very sticky. You're excited but scared. At some point I didn't trust myself. So, there was a lot of working on understanding that you just have to keep trying new things to see what will work, and to trust your expertise and what you're learning to do, and I think that was a big lesson for me. I think, as an entrepreneur, I just had this vibe of, like, now I get to be as successful as I want to be, right? I'm going to make so much money and all these things. Because when you're working for somebody, there's a cap on you, and so when you change into that mode of "I'm so passionate about what I do and my expertise," when you don't see that happen overnight, it can be a little daunting, you know, to be like, "Wow, hey, is it me? Am I doing something wrong? Can I not trust myself? Am I not..." I mean, there's so many things, because if you've never owned a business, how do you know, right? So, I think there's a lot of that that went into setting the ground rules of understanding you just have to take every day, every day, every day, and learn and learn and learn, and you will pivot and pivot and pivot, and I still do to this day. I think, "Can I do this differently? Should I do this differently?" I think I'm on my third version of the newest business I have, just because I keep learning.Lesley Logan 7:18  Yeah, I understand that a lot. I love that you share that. When you work at a place, you get to leave at the end of the shift or the day with your salary, going, "Okay, I did the things I was supposed to do on this day," or, "I'm behind on two things, okay." But when you are working for yourself, you really have to define what "done" is and what success is, because otherwise it can feel like it's too easy to go with vibes. I've been working for myself for so long, and I still have to remind myself to not go off vibes. My husband's like... I'm like, "Oh my god, things aren't going really well right now." He's like, "Let's look at the data, because vibes... no, we're not doing vibes right now. Data is always better." Lesley Logan 8:04  Okay. So, one of the reasons why I have you on is because I do feel like right now there's a lot of uncertainty when it comes to finding work. If people have a job, they're staying whether they like it or not, which always bothers me, because we shouldn't let employers treat us badly or be in a place that's not right for us. But there's a lot of uncertainty, and then there's people who are wanting to switch careers and look into something else, and this is Be It Till You See It. I wanted to pick your brain and talk a little bit about how can people who are seeking out work highlight themselves, or what should they be thinking about? I don't know, that's 17 questions, Megan. You are the expert here. I haven't had to fill out a resume in so long.Megan Applegate 8:47  Yeah, well, neither have a lot of the clients I do work with, truthfully. Things have changed and shifted so much lately in what looking for a new job is and what that strategy is. It used to be like if you had longevity, you had great companies on your resume, and you had a few connections, then it would be super simple. And now people come to me, and they're like, "The game has changed, what do I do?" Because it is, especially with AI and all of the platforms that are involved, and all this weaving in of... you can't just rely on what you've done in the past. Right now we're in a huge employee market where it's very competitive to look for a job. People are being flooded because you make it so easy to apply to jobs these days. You just hit the easy button, right?Lesley Logan 9:47  Yeah, I just heard this ad where you can almost pay for this extra thing so you're the first person, you're on the top of the pile. You remember how you used to be able to pay to be "A" on Southwest Airlines? Like, pay to get your resume to be the top of the pile on those online things. I was like, "Oh my god, this is just like... that's only the people who have the extra money can do that."Megan Applegate 10:09  Well, honestly, and I don't even know that I believe that, really knowing what I know about how that works. And so it's all about understanding that you have to be a problem solver, and you have to realize that if you can paint the picture... it's like your resume is a sales document. We are so in tune as humans to not understand what we are actually really good at, and no one seems to understand that they need to keep track of all of these wins. You get in a job and you just get so focused on what you're doing in one lane that we're never thinking two more steps or two more years down the road to be like, "Am I documenting? Do I know what I want to do next? Am I continually networking with people? What am I doing right now that is above what every other person is doing?" If you're not constantly thinking about that and understanding that you're creating your own brand, you just get stuck in the hole, and then five years later things have changed, and you're like, "Oh my god, what am I doing?" And it's very scary. You're thinking, "Well, I have all this experience, and I meet this job description that's online, but yet no one's calling me." That's where I have realized, in my experience, there's so many nuances around getting through the ATS system, getting by the recruiter who looks at your resume for 10 seconds, finally getting to the hiring manager, and then trying to convince them in that one-third of your resume of why they should call you. There's so many different things. I wish I had a magic bullet just to say "do this one thing and you'll be fine," but unfortunately it's a strategy. It's truly a game these days.Lesley Logan 12:04  And it's so... you're like... so on the podcast every Friday, we celebrate wins. I think they're really important. Most people won't send a win in until they've completed something, and I'm like, "A win is, you know, you got up today." Sometimes that's a win. But I love that you highlight: are you documenting things that you're doing or things that you've learned? Because I have found, since I don't have to build a resume, one of the things I have to do is submit to get CECs for things that I train people on. So I have to show that I've had education from these places, or to teach this workshop, "When did I learn that thing?" And if we're not taking time for just a little document, just some running note like an achievement or a compliment you got at work, I love this, because then, with the help of AI, you can really put your wins together in a nice, concise little paragraph. You could do that, but if you're not documenting, it's really hard to remember what you did two years ago. Especially when you're not happy at your job, you're forgetting that you had a win.Megan Applegate 12:59  Yeah, and it's not just always about what you do individually. It's about looking at what you're doing as a team. And people think, "Well, I can't take credit for that," and I'm like, "Why not?" They just get very down in the weeds of what should be on a resume, and it becomes this long laundry list of things that are not relevant, and I think that that is one of the biggest things is before you can build that, you have to know where you're going. I mean, who is your audience? Who are you talking to?Lesley Logan 13:33  So then do we have to change our resume for every single application?Megan Applegate 13:38  No, no, you don't. No. And honestly, a lot of people have that in their head that they have to. There's definitely things you can tweak within the resume, just keywords in general, if that fits more specifically to one thing versus another in your industry, if it's this job versus this job. But no, you shouldn't have to change it every time. You just need to have a point of view. You need to be somebody that solves problems, and you need to know who your audience is, and you need to know where you're going. If you don't know, then again, how can you put together your narrative of what problems do I even need to set to solve?Lesley Logan 14:29  Yeah, I agree. And I love this, because this episode's coming out after my girlfriend and I chatted about exiting a job, either on your terms or not on your terms, right? And so we had a really good chat about that, and this is such an even greater follow-up because ideally you're thinking about this before it's not on your terms, right? Ideally you're doing this while you have something else, because there's a lot more confidence while you're getting paid to go look for something else. I always say it's easier to get another job while you have a job. I guess I worry about some of my people who have that fake imposter syndrome, I call it fake because they are successful, they have done amazing things, and for whatever reason, they either lost the job that they were in, or their life changed and they had to take a pause in work, and now they're coming back into it. As you said, the game has changed. It's like when people realize the dating game has changed; now the resume game has changed. Is there a pep talk to give people? How do they know where they're going? How do we get them off the ground and go, "You are good, let's pull out these wins." Are there things that they can do?Megan Applegate 15:34  Yeah, I mean, I think that just understanding... I always tell people when I work with them, I'm like, go out on the internet and find... Well, first of all, before you even do that, what excites you? Let's just dive down a little bit further into, "This is what you do, but do you love every single part of this, or do we want to focus on what you truly let go and then you just succeed with? What motivates you? What are your strengths?" Finding that is number one, especially if you're thinking about pivoting. I think there's nothing wrong, I mean, I did it, and yes, it was from a 20-year career into entrepreneurship, but I work with a lot of people that will pivot into a completely different industry. And when we work on that, we start with that: what makes you tick, what would you love to do every day, and get them excited about that. Then once you kind of understand that, you can actually go out and start to truly find those jobs, find where those jobs are, look at those job descriptions, and map what you are really good at with what it's saying. I think that will a lot of times pull people out to be like, "Oh, okay, so I do have a lot more wins and what it takes to get a job." I also say find a colleague, find an old colleague, somebody that can remind you how great you are, because, like you mentioned, the imposter syndrome, that is a huge wall that people bump into all the time. I get comments about a resume that I redo for someone, and they're like, "Megan, are you sure this is even me? I feel like an imposter here," and I'm like, "Yeah, it is you. You just don't understand that it's okay." This is the one time that it's okay to vibe on yourself. Sometimes we don't see it because we're in it all the time, we're in the weeds of our own everyday life, and therefore because we live that, we don't see ourselves as an expert because we just assume everyone has the same kind of knowledge that we do. So I always tell people, find what's important, what you love, find somebody... most people have a BFF at work of some kind, right? Even if it was a couple jobs ago, ask them for coffee, ask them just to be like, "Hey, can you help me kind of energize and re-remember all that I did that was amazing," especially if you haven't written it down.Lesley Logan 18:27  I love this, because one, everybody wants to be helpful. People just want to be helpful, right? And you're not asking them for a job, you're actually asking them, like, "Hey, can we just go over that time we did some things? I'm struggling here." People want to be your cheerleader, and you're gonna give them this opportunity. I think this is a brilliant... I remember years ago, my husband and I were trying to apply for a Global Entry card, and they wanted your last 10 years of addresses. Of course, when you're apartment living, that could be 10 addresses. I remember Brad asking one of his roommates, "Hey, do you remember our address here?" And the guy's like, "I don't know, check eBay." And it was like, oh, hold on, there's this place that's holding all these addresses that I had things shipped to. But sometimes we just have to ask someone. The thing is, they're not in it.Megan Applegate 19:10  They're not stuck in your everyday life that you just live in and assume that everyone else knows what that looks like.Lesley Logan 19:20  Yeah, yeah. Do you think the internal barrier that people get stuck on is the imposter syndrome? Is it not believing in themselves? What is on the inside of people that makes them realize or think that they're not able to do this, to put themselves out there and get a job that they deserve?Megan Applegate 19:40  I think it's partly that, but I don't think it's fully that. I think most people just don't know these days what the strategy is, and to know that there's so much that they do that's probably already at that next level in the first place. So that's why I'm always saying go find some job descriptions. If you're a senior whatever, and you want to be a director, go find what that looks like, and then find where you have correlations to it. Because I think that once you can do that, it helps kind of boost that confidence to be like, "Oh yeah, you know, I can do that," or you kind of understand where your shortcomings are and you can work on, "Okay, so I need more leadership experience," or what have you, if I want to get to where you're going. But if we just kind of stay where we're comfortable... we always talk about we're comfortable, but what does that equal?Lesley Logan 20:44  Yeah.Megan Applegate 20:45  Right? It equals stagnant in the same.Lesley Logan 20:48  Yeah, yeah.Megan Applegate 20:49  So getting uncomfortable is where we need to be..Lesley Logan 20:51  Well, also, that's so funny that you said that. I would never have thought... that's like a total 'be it till you see it.' Look at the job that you'd want to have. What are they asking that that person has, and then you can recognize where you have it and where you don't. But also, there's that statistic that women won't apply unless they're 10 out of 10, and men will apply at a 4 out of 10, or whatever it is. But I love that, because you can really see, and that will help you highlight, "Oh, hold on," it might even jog your memory of the things that you've done and really pull it up there. I think that's a brilliant strategy that I would never have thought about, because it's like, "Oh, this is a job that I've done, so this is a job that I'm ready for." But a lot of people are thinking they have to get promoted before they can go somewhere else to get the job that they want, but you might be able to step into a role at a level that you want to be at because they actually need what you've already been doing.Megan Applegate 21:46  Yeah, and that's a huge part of the recruiting side that I've learned, too. If you want to be recruited for a promotion, and not only what you're doing taking you from one job to another that's the same, you have to have the right signal, if you kind of think about it that way. From a recruiting perspective, not necessarily just a resume where you're actually sending resumes out and that kind of thing, there's so many things that we can do from promoting your own brand, and part of that, especially with LinkedIn, is who... again, we go back to that audience. Who are you trying to signal? Are you signaling to anybody? Are you even visible? Can you get recruited, and if you can, does it point to where you want to go next, or are you stuck in just the laundry list of what you've done? Is it forward-thinking to that next role, or are you just in the past?Lesley Logan 22:49  Can we go this route? Because, first of all, LinkedIn is like a thing. I work for myself.Megan Applegate 22:56  You're like, I'm not on LinkedIn, I don't know. Lesley Logan 22:58  And everyone's like, "Lesley, you've got to be on LinkedIn, because all those women there would do your Pilates classes online because they're busy and amazing." And I'm like, I don't even know how to break through on LinkedIn. But one of my girlfriends, the job that she has now, which is like a dream role, which I can't say what it is, but if I did, everyone would be like, "How did she get that job?" It's because she turned her light on on her LinkedIn. She had it pointing towards what she wanted, not what she was at, and she got it. Someone was like, "Hey, you should apply for this," and then she fucking got it. I was like, "That's how it works?" I had no idea. I would have thought a thousand people were applying for that job, you know? And they might have been.Megan Applegate 23:46  Yeah. Well, but it's true. I mean, honestly, there's so many people that have a profile on LinkedIn, and they might have a picture, and they might have the basics, and that is it. And I'm like, "Why even bother, truthfully?" It's funny that you say that, because I'm the opposite. I am very, very strong on LinkedIn because of what I do, but yet, Instagram, I'm like, "Oh my god, what am I doing?"Lesley Logan 24:15  Honestly, Megan, I really should just learn how to be on LinkedIn, because that might be the safest, quietest, non-stressful place to be.Megan Applegate 24:24  It is. I will agree with that. I do see that sometimes people, if you're a little bit controversial in what you say in advice, some people will get on there. But honestly, those are the times where it just goes, "Oh my god, all of a sudden 15,000 people just saw this because of this one jerk."Lesley Logan 24:46  That's great.Megan Applegate 24:46  I'm pretty sure Instagram could do the same thing, but yeah, LinkedIn is huge, and people don't always see that. I know it's social media, not everyone loves it, especially the older generation, which a lot of times are the people that I work with that get to the point of, "I've been in my job for so long, and I'm just struggling to even get an interview, and what's going on?" So I work a lot with that age group, and they're like, "But I don't know how to be on LinkedIn, I don't know how to be online." I'm like, honestly, you don't have to be active all the time. You just have to have a profile that signals the right thing, that's completely optimized. It uses the right keywords for that job that you want. Have a background image that says your name and your contact information, have a headline that says what you want. Just teaching people how to understand what, as a recruiter, I'm looking for, and what pops up when I'm looking. So you can just do that. You don't have to Lesley Logan 25:53  be active that much because the optimization will do the work for you, because recruiters will find you. And as long as it doesn't look like you've been distant for seven years, it's been updated, it's not as much as like, "I have to post on Instagram almost daily if I want to stay relevant." I don't think you have to do that on LinkedIn to get a good job.Megan Applegate 26:13  No, you don't, because again, there's one side that's the recruiter piece of it that just tells us who you are. Maybe even just sharing things once in a while. You don't even have to have your own feed that says a lot. If you want to become a little bit more of an executive level, I would say posting some, just so that you could be a thought leader. Specifically, your expertise will help you even more, because it just shows you have a voice, a perspective, and you're active. A lot of times when I find somebody, they might look good, but then I realize after talking to them that it's from four or five years ago, and they haven't touched it since, and it's not even updated, right? I'm just like.Lesley Logan 27:03  Yeah, because you don't want to waste your time either. Okay, so you know people are... there's a lot of worry that AI is going to take all of our jobs, and I'm sure at some point it probably will. But is that something that people have to be worried about, or is it again just figuring out what they want to be doing, and then selling themselves above, or do they have to understand how to use it? What is the working job-seeking market right now? What's the misunderstanding about that, that if they just kind of understood it better, they would be able to be hireable or have the dream job that they're still looking for? Because I do think people might be worried that their dream job is gone.Megan Applegate 27:41  Right. Yeah, I mean, that's totally valid, and I agree with you. I can't say that won't happen in some cases. I don't see that happening to an extreme where we're all gonna all of a sudden be unemployed. I think for me, and what I try and help my clients with, is understanding AI, you have to treat it as your friend. You cannot think about it as a negative, because it just is what it is, right? It's here to stay, and if we just push against it, we are just pushing ourselves further down the line of, "I can't, I won't, it's terrible." We have to look at it like, what do you need to do to maybe upskill, so that you give yourself more variety of what you can do in your lane, right? And really, you might have to think about what does that look like. I'm not a prepper personally, that's a lot for me even to think about. But in this realm, in job searching, and in the strategy, and just not even just when you're out of a job, but in general, if we look at the whole of what should we be doing in our world of career advancement, even if we have a job, we have to always be thinking about where does my path lead next. Who can I connect with? Where can I build my brand? Where can I be an expert? Where can I upskill the skills or something I want to do, so that you're always putting yourself to have an option, right? The option, or multiple options, ultimately is the goal. Because when we don't, and all of a sudden shit happens and you get laid off, and you're just like, "Oh, hell, what am I doing?" If you would have put yourself in a position to be ready for that, even if it was a year from now, for people to find you, to have your resume updated, to be present on LinkedIn, to be networking, to have an idea of where you want to go, get in front of having some of those skills, then your life will be so much easier.Megan Applegate 30:00  I love, I agree. I mean, like, it's not, you don't have to be like the prep, or like, the world is gonna fall down, but also, like, having, having, I mean, that's what I mean, just like, have an idea of where you want to go, where you want to grow, and keeping that in your mind's eye, because also you don't want to be at a job that you don't like either, like, that's just gonna suck, and suck you dry. We've been talking a lot, like, to help, like, the employee out. I do want to, like, we do have people who, like, are employers, and I will say, like, recently we had a hire for a role, and we've had the same person for so long, and they went, they're like, "I'm going on maternity leave forever," and I'm like, "That's so nice for you. Okay, great, thanks for letting me know now." But it took, I will say, it took us so long to hire someone because everyone was using AI to answer everything. We love that you can use it, but we actually would like to know what your personality is like. We hire on personality around here, because sometimes you have to do different roles, like sometimes you have to step in and fill for someone. So great, but who are you? Do you fit with the family? What are some things that employers should be doing to have their light on correctly so that they're really attracting? Because that's hard. It was frustrating how many people... Are you using AI on the call right now with me? Are you literally? You're not even answering the question, you're reading the answer.Megan Applegate 31:30  Oh my gosh, yeah, that's hard. I have a lot of clients that started utilizing video more than anything else. And again, I know I could still be reading AI somewhere in this office, right? But we are making people do a lot more video interviews so that you cannot hide behind the phone and things like that. People can see you. We've had clients that are insisting that the candidate basically record themselves for 30 seconds to a minute so that they can send in a video that is not necessarily anything to do with the job, but like, "Who are you? Do you have a personality? Would you fit in? And why would you potentially want to work for us?" And I'll be honest, the candidates are pushing back. They're like, "Wait a second." And I get it a little bit, because we don't want anyone to think that someone's hiring on appearance, right? Because that's the danger zone.Lesley Logan 32:49  Yes, correct.Megan Applegate 32:50  But at the same time, you will eventually be in person with somebody if you're good at interviewing, and you shouldn't just hire somebody over the phone like that. I do see that's where things are going, where they're almost not giving a chance, they have to be in person, they have to show their personalities in order to be vetted, to even be accepted. And getting away... it's one thing to have the technical piece of it, you got to have these platforms, you got to know this, you got to know this. But I think gone are a lot of the predictive index personality tests that you take, and it just says whether you're a great score or not, which I'm just like, man, those suck, right? Why? But anyways, I think that people are going away from that and just trying to get a little bit more personal.Lesley Logan 33:55  Yeah. I love that. For a lot of the work that we've had to hire, sometimes it's just a project-based thing, if people won't get on a camera with us, it's like, "Well, I can't hire you, because how do I know you're the one doing it? How do I know you're not outsourcing it to something else?" I don't want just random people working with me; I want to be working with the person I'm working with. And so that has been an interesting thing, how many people are like, "Oh yeah..." and it's like, "Okay, then no." So, on the job descriptions, we'll do an interview, you have to answer me on camera these things, because we don't want to waste anyone's time. I don't want to waste time with, "Oh, fill this out." And then I will say, for us, we still do a StrengthsFinder test, but after we are pretty sure we're gonna hire them. Because we actually just want to know what are your top five strengths, just so we can fit. Especially if you're my assistant, you cannot have the same strengths as me, because it's not gonna work out.Megan Applegate 34:53  Yeah, no, and I think that's a great approach. One of the companies I work with actually utilizes that when we're looking for recruiters. They're like, make us do something similar, but it's based on the recruiter approach of what makes a good recruiter, right?Lesley Logan 35:15  Yeah.Megan Applegate 35:15  So it's not a break or make; it's like, "Here's how to manage this person.Lesley Logan 35:20  Yes.Megan Applegate 35:21  Based on their personalities.Lesley Logan 35:22  Yes.Megan Applegate 35:23  Based on whether they're more extrovert, or they're more systems-driven compliance, or are they just gonna do whatever they want." So I think that there's definitely value in that, as long as it's truly not a make or break. I have a client we're working with right now where they have to take the assessment first, and that will determine whether they even get their first interview.Lesley Logan 35:47  I think that's terrible, because I'm a terrible test taker, so that would make me very nervous to get past that to get to the interview. I think I would be better after I did the interview, once I knew you don't want to know the person, anyways. Megan Applegate 36:01  Hopefully there was so much to be said, you know. We go in a million different directions, but real quick, when you get to the actual interview side of this whole strategy here, I mean, there's so much to be said about personality, how you can connect with people, how you can make yourself memorable, how you can leave impressions, and people will make decisions on that over anything else.Lesley Logan 36:27  You are 100% correct. Lesley Logan 36:28  I'm definitely someone, I had to give myself a rule of 24 hours. I have to wait 24 hours because I would just get wooed by people. I need 24 hours because the thing that bothered me about them will come to me in 24 hours. But can we real quick, for people who are interviewing, who get nervous, who have sweaty palms... we already know that if you have a confident stance you're more likely to get the job, but also, are there things people should not say in an interview?Megan Applegate 37:01  The only thing I tell people not to say is just don't bad mouth the last employer. Don't place blame, don't say, "We didn't make this because of this person." Nobody wants to hear that, even if you have horror stories and you really want somebody to truly understand and feel for you about what you've been through with your last job. It's kind of a gimme, but you can't do anything like that. Everything has to be positive. And I think sometimes, especially if it's a bad situation, the less you say the better. People are so scared to go in and be like, "But I was fired," or, "Something happened," and I'm like, let them ask you about it, don't bring it up. And then when they do, you state a fact, and then hopefully you point the direction and you move past it. You don't state the fact and then give the laundry list of why. If they want to know, they'll keep asking, and you just have to keep being truthful, honest, transparent, and not placing blame. If you did something wrong, say it, but you are the only one that's seeing that fear there. If you can just be like, "I am gonna say what it is, and then we're just gonna move on," I think that helps a little bit.Lesley Logan 38:33  Yeah, because also it's not like the people who hire you haven't experienced either losing a job or exiting a job. They're human beings too, you know what I mean? They've had people that they love that they hired that got fired, these things happen. So I think that's about not letting it be, "Oh, let me over-explain this thing."Megan Applegate 38:55  It goes back to their resume too. People get really specific about numbers and details, and I'm like, "I need metric-driven information to make it seem like you've got solutions and you're solving problems and all this stuff," which is proven to help people with resumes. But they'll be like, "I don't know about 15% or was it 30%?" and I'm like, nobody will fact-check you, I promise. Don't overthink it. No one is going to be like, "I'm going to call and I'm going to find out if this is true or not." Don't lie—I don't mean that. Don't inflate where it's like, "Really? I question that." But it's more of a psychological impression. You just have to get out of your own way sometimes around that and meet me in the middle, is all I'm saying. Don't be too much this way, and don't be too much this way. You have to be in the middle.Lesley Logan 39:58  Megan, what are you most excited about right now?Megan Applegate 40:02  I am most excited about starting to potentially think about building my own team with the career coach side. I don't think I fully mentioned this before, but the first piece of what I do with recruiting is with Gecko Hospitality. It's a national, recruiting, hospitality-specific firm, and it's a franchise model, which is how I got into it. It was a little bit easier when I first started the business for North Carolina and Missouri. And then from that, four years in, came the baby of this second business, coming into the resume writing and the career coaching and that side of, "Oh my gosh, there's so much that people don't know, I need to help them." So that piece of it, I'm starting to get to the point where I'm ready to build a little bit of a team there. So that's exciting.Lesley Logan 41:01  That's so cool. I'm like, "Oh my god, I'm not even looking for a job, and I want help with my resume from you."Megan Applegate 41:10  I'm sure you went through this too years ago, of just like, "Okay, I can't handle this anymore," and recognizing that starting a business from the ground up, there's so many things to do. You have to know what you're good at and what you're not good at, and figure how to hire people, or at least get help with those things. It took me a long time to realize that; I was just like, "I can do it all." No, you can't.Lesley Logan 41:33  And also, you have to do it all sometimes so that you can hire the right people for it. But also, in order to grow, you've got to, unless you just like it where it's at. But if you want it to be more, you want to help more people, and I actually feel like we're at a place where you're going to have more people who are going to need help with their resumes of standing out. Because with the changes and the companies that are adopting AI, people are going to need to really be thinking about what other things they can highlight that they've done, because there's a ton of stuff that AI cannot do well, you know.Megan Applegate 42:09  Absolutely. They can put a well-structured sentence together, but what information do they have to be able to do that? And then you don't sound real, and that's a problem, like you said.Lesley Logan 42:25  I was watching some ads, and I was like, "AI wrote that," because no one talks like that. No one actually goes "however," and no one says "quippy" in everything that they say. This one girl on Instagram was like, "Oh, I love what you're saying," but you are reading a script that you ran through AI with your idea, and I think I would have just liked your raw idea, because I would have been able... you know what I mean? I would feel like I was talking to a girlfriend; I feel like I'm talking to a bot. Anyways, oh my gosh, well, I'm so excited for you. We're gonna take a brief break and find out how people can work with you and get their resume helped, and their career coaching and all that stuff, and then your Be It Action Items.Megan Applegate 42:56  Awesome.Lesley Logan 42:57  Okay, Megan, where do you hang out? If we've got people who are like, "I should start talking to her now, because I don't know where things are gonna be next year," where can they work with you?Megan Applegate 43:05  LinkedIn, as we talked about, is probably the best place to find me. I've got a couple different businesses, but just find me, Megan Applegate, on LinkedIn. My Instagram handle is @dreamjobahead, and my website is careerblueprintsolutions.com so, those are the three areas.Lesley Logan 43:22  I love it. I love it. We'll link everything below, you guys. This is definitely an episode I know people are going to send to friends, because everyone has a friend who is needing this help right now. You've given some really great strategies, actually. But we love to end with a bold, executable, intrinsic, or targeted step people can take to be it till they see it. What do you have for us?Megan Applegate 43:40  I think we kind of talked about some of it, but if you want my four tips in terms of actually being ready for a job, I would say understand where you want to go, that is number one. Actually go out and figure out, "Okay, I've been in this industry, do I want to stay, and if I do, where do I want to go?" Always understand where that next promotion is. Once you figure that out, go out onto the internet, find those job descriptions, save them, find the key language, the KPIs, the keywords, whatever you want to call it, figure out what they're saying they need and the problems that they solved. Then go to LinkedIn and find two to three people on LinkedIn that have that job, look through their profile, and hopefully it's pretty complete, and figure out what they're doing. Then you have to go and update your resume and your LinkedIn profile to signal where people can find you so they'll call you for that next role.Lesley Logan 44:47  So doable. Like, actually doable, one step at a time. One step leads to the next step, you can't skip ahead, and then you're gonna turn your light on. Megan Applegate 44:56  Turn your light on, be visible. Absolutely, love that term. I'm gonna start utilizing that now.Lesley Logan 45:05  Is it Roxanne? "You don't have to turn your light on," that's the wrong song. There's another song. Brad will tell us what it is on the recap. Megan, you are a gem. I really do appreciate this, because I've had so many people come on and tell people, "Go and follow your dreams, follow your bliss," but some people, their bliss is working for companies and being in a role and doing the good work. This is the first time I've been able to really support them in actionable strategy, so I just want to say thank you for being you and being the blueprint career coach that you are. I feel so grateful. My loves, we already said it, but I'm gonna say it again: send this to a friend who needs to hear it. Leave a review for this podcast. Go check out Megan Applegate's website and her on LinkedIn, that's a great way to start your LinkedIn journey. Megan Applegate 45:54  Go find me and then copy what I did.Lesley Logan 45:56  Yeah, there you go. Sometimes that's the way to do it, right? It's already done, you can just follow along. If you have questions about this, feel free to let us know; I'll happily send them off to Megan. We'll connect you, but you guys, you don't have to sit there and wait for something to happen. You can actually start making changes before you're ready, and that is exactly what Being It Till You See It is. So, thank you so much, Megan. And until next time, everyone, Be It Till You See It.Lesley Logan 46:22  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 47:05  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 47:10  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co. Brad Crowell 47:14  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 47:21  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 47:24  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this Fuck Yeah Friday episode, Lesley Logan makes the case for celebrating the small stuff instead of holding your wins hostage until everything feels perfect. She shares an honest rant about technology that overpromises, a candid retirement-planning win with Brad, and a listener who finished all ten Spring Training classes. She digs into why tiny, bite-sized celebrations are what actually turn good intentions into habits. It is a warm, grounded reminder that the thing you just did is already worth honoring. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:How modern tech overpromises while quietly making life harder.What Lesley and Brad's real retirement plan looks like.The listener streak that shows why consistency wins.Where confidence support actually comes from, and why.Why holding your celebrations hostage backfires on you.Episode References/Links:634 ft Gregg Lunceford - https://beitpod.com/ep634481 ft Steve Selengut - https://beitpod.com/ep481352 ft Tess Waresmith - https://beitpod.com/ep352@lmarieinsta - https://www.instagram.com/lmarieinstaSubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questions If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  It's Fuck Yeah Friday. Brad Crowell 0:01  Fuck yeah. Lesley Logan 0:02  Get ready for some wins. Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. Lesley Logan 0:48  Welcome back to the Be It Till You See It podcast. This is our Fuck Yeah Friday. This is where we share some wins, we get some mantras, we get to just be in each other's lives a little bit. I want to know what's going on with you. Send it to me, right? Send me in your wins, send me what you're working on. Send us the topics that you're wanting us to do solo episodes on, or get some interviews on. Also, I just want to say thank you to those of you who have bought flash cards or joined OPC recently, because your support of OPC is what powers this podcast. So, if you have not checked out what we have at OPC, we've got some really great work and get stuff for you, and so if you're Pi curious, Pilate's curious, we've got stuff for you, don't have to be a Pilates expert to join OPC, is for people who want access and accountability to their Pilates practice, and so big thank you, big shout out to all of you. Lesley Logan 1:33  Okay, maybe I should welcome OPC members who join, who are Be It Pod listeners, I don't know if I should do that, but maybe you should do that, maybe we should do a little shout out, so you can hear your name. It's fun to hear your name. It's fun to hear your name on a podcast, especially this one, because it's top 1% podcast, right? Okay, so my "I need a moment" is that I'm currently sitting on my phone because it won't stop dinging, even though it's on do not disturb, and my frustration and my rant is, okay, what? What is Do Not Disturb for if I get disturbed on it, and it's like, oh, well, if your favorite, so your favorite thing get through, because, of course, I want my husband to get through, but then it dings on him texting me, and it's like, well, why, why are you doing this? I do Do Not Disturb for a reason, so how do I get to totally turn off, but then you can't have it turned off, because what if someone has an emergency? Then Brad did something to his phone, so nothing gets through, which means literally there was one day when our websites went down, his sister and I are trying to call him, and I'm doing the double call, and all this stuff. We got to the point where I almost sent my father to the house to wake him up, because we're like, "We need to talk to you, and we couldn't get through. So I'm annoyed that Do Not Disturb work so badly that my husband has turned his phone to a place where we can't even call through, and it doesn't work at all for me, and that my phone is beeping, and I have to sit on it. Why do this podcast? Because in those last episodes, you probably heard it dinging, and I apologize for that. That's annoying. But, why? The thing about technology that pisses me off is, don't tell me it's great, and it's making my life easier when it's making my life shitty. You know what I mean? But then, if we don't have it, then it's like, well, that's gonna suck, right? That will totally suck.Lesley Logan 3:06  So, anyway, all right, now a win, because if you get to complain, you have to have a win, and when you're not, we talked about this last week, the win does not have to be in the same complaint, doesn't have to be from that, because that I don't want to talk, I want to be like, oh, so and so died, but the win in it is, that's terrible shit, that's not it at all. My win is Brad and I adulted, we talked with our wealth managers, and things are looking good, and that's, you know, that's nice, because it doesn't feel like the world is doing well, and I am an elder millennial, and I want to be an elder millennial who gets to retire like I am, I want to retire, not today, don't freak out, but I want to be someone who gets to retire, that feels like a great.. we don't.. we've had guests on this podcast who talk about having your retirement persona. Let me tell you what it is. It is owner of a compound with my Golden Girl lifestyle, and all of my DINCs, dual income, no children couples, each having their own motel room, and then we have this massive Pilates studio slash gym, massive restaurant-style kitchen that we all get to cook in, so no one has to cook in their place, and no one has to have all these different, they just have a, their motel room is like their their place of living, their personal space, but then we have all these communal spaces we can take care of each other, because who else is going to take care of us? So, my win is that we're at least investing in a way that I was going to allow us to retire someday, more money would be better, but we're doing pretty good, considering what's going on in the world today. So, that's a nice win. Lesley Logan 4:36  So, now let me pull my phone out, so I can read one of yours. This is @lmarieinsta. I did all 10 Spring Training classes, and joined OPC! That's insane. @lmarieinsta, way to go. 10 classes, huge. I watched the ones that I wasn't in because I had to do the thing, and if you did, those were hard. Way to go, way to do all 10, proud of you. See, you guys, that's a win, right? When you're like, I committed to something, and I'm going to do what I can, and then you celebrate that you did it. We've got to normalize celebrating that you did the thing you want to do. It doesn't mean that you did this, shouldn't make a massive project, like I'm into spring training, and I'm celebrating that I did the spring training. That's the thing, right? Some of you are holding yourself hostage on celebrations that you're like, "I don't get to celebrate that I signed up for this language class until I can speak fluently. No, you have to celebrate, you signed up for it, you have to celebrate that you went to it, to celebrate that you quizzed yourself on it, to celebrate that you study a little extra, you have to celebrate these things. That's what makes them habits. That's why we do this. It's why we celebrate. So you get a little dopamine high, and then it makes it easier to do more things for yourself. People are always seeking out confidence support. You want to know where confidence support comes from? From doing the thing that you said you would do, and that's why you got to make it small. You got to make it bite-sized. You got to make it things that you can do. Lesley Logan 5:54  So, your mantra: I am a reflection of love and kindness. I am a reflection of love and kindness, a reflection of love and kindness. Yes, you are. All right, Be It babe. Thanks so much for listening. I hope you are loving these Friday episodes. If you have any questions about OPC, what we do there, our flash cards, how to use them, you can go to onlinepilatesclasses.com or you can reach out to us. We'll be happy to answer them. We have phone numbers you can chat to. Okay, until next time, Be It Till You See It.Lesley Logan 6:24  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 7:06  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 7:11  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 7:16  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 7:23  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 7:26  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In part one of this two-part safety series, Lesley Logan digs into why so many people tie their sense of safety to the money in their bank account. She traces where that wiring comes from, unpacks the difference between financial security and real emotional safety, and gets honest about the seasons every business and every life moves through. With warmth and a few hard-won stories, she offers a grounded way to feel steady. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:The 1974 credit law that still shapes women today.Why one slow week can make you feel like sinking.Where real safety lives when the money disappears.How broken promises to yourself erode your confidence.Reframing a hard season as evidence of a new season.Episode References/Links:Ep 352 ft Tess Waresmith - https://beitpod.com/ep352Ep 649 ft Tess Waresmith - https://beitpod.com/ep649Ep 53 ft Launa Jae - https://beitpod.com/ep53The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks - https://a.co/d/0aNfSwP7Submit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questions If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  What we have to do is find a paradigm shift, and move away from I feel safe and my bank account is X, to I feel safe right now because I know how to navigate whatever comes. Lesley Logan 0:05  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast, where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained 1000s of people around the world, and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity, and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guests will bring bold, executable, intrinsic, and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and be it till you see it. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. Lesley Logan 0:44  All right, Be It Babe. Welcome back to our safety series. Welcome back. I hope you enjoyed a little discussion about money and certainty and security, and where it actually comes from, and what's going on, and all these different things. And I hope we can have a great conversation about it, so you can send in any aha moments, wonders, wins, to the Be It Pod at beitpod.com/questions. Also, DM us on Instagram and let us know what your takeaways are, or if you have more questions that you want us to do a third episode or fourth episode on this. Lesley Logan 1:31  Alright, so today we're going to talk about becoming your own safe harbor, and that's just because, again, we talked about how it's so easy for us to put safety and security in what our bank account says. And for good reason, we know money makes the world go round and you have to have it to pay your bills and to be in a safe place, and so yes to all those things, and also really understanding what is secure and safe to you, so that on those bad bank days you don't just throw everything out the window and go "I suck at all of this." And I think this podcast, a lot of things stem from confidence, either having it or not. And what is important is that I think it's really tricky how self-confidence actually works because it comes, as I mentioned last episode, from doing the things you said you would do. So, I think some people look at someone like me and they go, "She's so confident," and then you think, "Oh, she knows this is going to work out." And actually, what if confidence was not that everything will work out, but knowing you can handle it even if it doesn't? That is the type of confidence I want you to have, because that's where I think security and safety really come. And I will just say, I know we have a lot of listeners at all different ages, we have a lot of young listeners, and so you might be at a different point in your life where you haven't had a lot of bad days that you've survived yet, or maybe you've had, I definitely did, but there's still this feeling that when bad things happen, they're the worst things in your life. And I'm over 40, and I know a lot of listeners here are over 40, and we have survived a lot. We have survived 100% of our bad days, as I've said in the last episode. Some of you have survived divorces, a lot of you just survived grief, career pivots, parenting challenges, health changes, and so I actually wanted to say, because you've survived all those things, I don't think you have to go find more self-trust, more confidence. I think you can remember you had it, you have it. I think it's about going, "Oh my god, there she is, there it is. I put it in the back of the closet over there, I forgot." You know, and so I think my first homework assignment for you from this episode, to get a strategy around how amazing you are, to have certainty and the safety that you are amazing, is look back at your history, go down memory lane, get out the data if you own your own business and look at how much you have done, look at the adaptability that you have. We tend to look back and think of all the good stuff, and so then when bad stuff happens, we don't want to go back there because it hurts or it stings. But if we go, "Whoa, I survived that." You guys, like I've talked about on the pod a few times, I don't think you guys realize I truly did leave someone, became without an address, couch surfed, totaled my car, then found out the studio that I rented space where I made my income was closing. Oh my god, I should have felt the most unsafe in that moment.Lesley Logan 4:16  And I was like, "Oh no, I've been here before," because I had been homeless before, and what I actually just need to do is figure out where the studio is going to be, so then I can find the apartments, then I can get a car. That's all. I made a plan. So you got to go back and you got to look at the data of what you have survived, so you can see that you can do this, you can do anything, and also most of the bad things that happen are never as bad as the worst things we've had. But we conflate them, we catastrophize them, and so they all feel as the same bad, but they're not. So I hope that little trip down my memory lane helps you realize I'm not the only resilient one here on this podcast. You are, you have survived 100% of your bad days. And if you would just pat yourself on the back, that's why we do FYFs, celebrate the wins of what you survived, because you learn something from it every single time, right? You don't do things the same way. Lesley Logan 5:33  I also know that many of you listening to this podcast are do-it-all-yourself, and that feels safe to you, and I am that person. I'll just do it myself, and then it will get done the way I want, and then it'll be perfect, and I will have certainty and security and safety. But the reality is that we end up not trusting anybody when that happens. We think we have so much self-trust that we're the ones who can do it, and then we trust no one, and then we become actually more and more alone, and that is not necessarily what creates safety. That does not create long-lasting confidence, and I'm not saying that you have to have a business partner or a life partner, or anything, you can hire people, or you can ask for help, or, if you like a book, join a book club. There's just different things we can do so that we are not just doing everything all ourselves all of the time, because there's just too much in one life for anyone to do. Maybe you actually leverage AI to help you with the things you need to do. People are always better, but also, if you want to feel safe and secure, if you have these emotional up and down roller coasters where you just feel like you have certainty and uncertainty, chances are you might be trying to do it all yourself, and it's exhausting. You not only don't have anyone to trust in doing something, but then you start developing this inability to trust people. Lesley Logan 6:26  And then another thing that is affecting us, if we are hyper-independent type people, we're in that trap, is we actually can get into a place of, "What if I lose everything?" We start to panic, and then we go back to that catastrophizing situation, and we worry, and it actually doesn't prevent anything bad from happening, but it does ruin your present moment. I had an incredible interview with an astrologer, Aleks Ceho, and we actually talked about intuition and how you can have an intuitive thought and bad things could still happen, but that doesn't mean your intuition was wrong. It means you heard your intuition and it gave a warning. Does it mean that you should have heard it a split second sooner? No, you listened, right? So it's just really important that we don't allow the worry of what could happen keep us from what is happening and enjoying that, because if we don't enjoy it, we don't learn from it, and then we don't have the muscle we need for when the bad shit happens. All right, that's how it goes. Lesley Logan 7:27  So, we've had a couple of somatic experts on the podcast, Lauren Zoeller and Keri Ford, and if you are really into somatics, they are experts, you should go listen to their episodes. But I can tie it into Pilates, right? So, if you do Pilates correctly, you should not feel tension anywhere, because tension just creates rigidity. But you should feel connection, and connection to our muscles allows us to have flexibility and stability, right? So, our center creates some stability so that we can move our limbs, or our limbs help create stability so we can move our center. And so I think it's really important that safety is not the same as rigidity. In fact, a lot of us are thinking that tension and rigidity and these strict rules, "I'm going to do it all myself, no one can help me," it actually does quite the opposite. And what is rigid will eventually break, but what is connected can bend, right? Can flow and move with it. Lesley Logan 8:38  I definitely can think back to a few times where my trying to control everything and how it went out just caused not only more stress on me, but just more stress on the people of my team because I could not articulate what was needed, because I was in such a fear state that I was actually just talking about what could happen versus what I wanted to happen. And so I will just say, if you keep talking, if you hear yourself talking about what could happen, what could happen, you are not focused on doing the things for what you want to happen. And so then guess what happens: the thing that could happen, because that's where your focus was, right? We had Brad Bizjak on the podcast, I think he brought this up on a podcast, where the most car accidents are in the rural areas and they hit a light pole, but there's hundreds of feet between light poles. How is this happening? Because they're focused on not hitting the light pole. Right? I want us to get out of the hyper-independence trap and actually move into some rituals for finding safety, that safe harbor. If you listened to the habit series, you know I like little tiny habits. So I want you to create micro-promises. I love the messy action, you're not not taking that, but you're not going big and bold and seeing what sticks to the wall. You're actually going to want to be taking tiny little actions, messy, right? Like, "I'm gonna do this thing and see how it goes," but instead of making this big all-or-nothing thing that can feel scary, especially if you're listening and you're over 40. If you're in your 20s, you can go big and bold and have the most fun, you should. If you're over 40 and you're like, "That stuff kind of scares me when you say that, Lesley," I feel you. That messy action doesn't have to be like quit everything. You don't have to quit it all. You can take a little micro-promise, you can make one little tiny action step today and see what that unveils and reveals. In episode 305, he said you can't see the whole staircase, but you can see the first step and you take it. So, take the first step, the first little action that you can know. It shows the next one, and then you'll start to see that you have the security that you're looking for to take more action and really build that trust in yourself, especially if you don't have it right now. Especially if you're like, "I wish I had the self-trust that you have." Well, then you have to take baby actions, you know, not the biggest mess, the tiny one, tiny, tiny. Lesley Logan 11:07  You also have to make sure you're taking time to regulate your nervous system. Talked about this before, like oh my gosh, sometimes you feel stuck, but you just have a dysregulated nervous system. Well, sometimes you feel nervous, feels unsafe, but you have a nervous system that's picking up on something. And I said it in the last episode, but you have to actually have non-negotiable daily practices for yourself that allow you to feel safe and secure. And I wouldn't do fluffy shit, I wouldn't go, "I'm safe, I'm secure." No, what makes you feel that way?Lesley Logan 11:38  Does it make you feel safe to have a wonderful bedroom that has no phones in it, that has the right lights at night, that you shut the door? What makes you feel safe and secure? Does it make you feel safe and secure if you check the bank account every day or once a week? What are the things that you need to do so you can actually ground down, right? And if you need even more, then there's somatic work you can do. So there's logistical, like financial check-ins, lock the door, have a friend that knows where you're at at all times, and then there's the somatic one, which is like maybe doing some breathwork or Pilates every day, something that moves your body that takes the stress out of your brain and your body, and connects your mind and body back together. It's really easy to tell ourselves some funky stuff in our brains, right? Lesley Logan 12:23  So, what we have to do is ultimately find a paradigm shift and move away from I feel safe when my bank account is X to I feel safe right now because I know how to navigate whatever comes, right? We have to really understand that there are going to be things that happen, and maybe it's not a bank account that makes you feel unsafe, but maybe it's a phone ringing, or maybe it's someone asking for a meeting but not telling you what it's for. There are so many different things that can all of a sudden make us feel like our boat, which was in a safe harbor, is now in a storm all of a sudden. So we, one, have to know what those things are about ourselves. For one of you it could be a bank account, for another it's a boss, for another it's a mentor. There are these different things that could happen that really just immediately dysregulate us and make us feel unsafe. So, if you know yourself, then you can go, okay, so then, what are the things that I can look to to be my north star, to be my compass, to be my anchor? What are those things? Because what ultimately will happen when you have those touchpoints is that you actually will stop fearing uncertainty, and you will finally have freedom to do all of the things you want to do, whatever that is. Lesley Logan 13:40  Because the reality is that we have six needs as humans: we need certainty and we need uncertainty. And my ADHD people, you need uncertainty, you love a little bit of change. I'm ADHD, so I need certainty, and I don't like it, I want everything to be exactly the same, and I want it to be different all of the time. And so just so you know, this was a really hard, hard thing. I think I had to hit my rock bottoms a few times so that I could actually go, "Whoa, I have survived 100% of hard days." And if I want to move this company to where I want it to be, if I want to be as big as it can be, if I want to have the impact that I want to have, which is impacting tens of thousands of people who love Pilates, then I cannot feel unsafe when shit hits the fan. I cannot, because it will just ruin my dreams. I will not ever get there. I hope this helps. I really do. And one last thing that really helps me is like just sometimes when you say things out loud, even to yourself: I feel very unsafe right now. I feel very worried right now. I feel this. And then you go, why? And if you start talking to yourself about those things, you start to realize, oh wait, hold on, there's this thing over there, this thing over here.Lesley Logan 15:00  And if you, oh my god, send in wins and you hear them on Fridays with me on a shitty day, you might just hear about a win you had and go, "Oh wait a minute, this bad thing's happening, but I had that thing happen there, I forgot." So all of a sudden you go from feeling unsafe and uncertain to feeling very secure and having that self-trust reminder. I want to do that for you, so send in your wins to beitpod.com/questions if you have topics you would like these little episodes to go into, please ask. If you want to talk more about one of the things that I said in these two episodes. Ask so that I know, and I'll make another episode. We'll go deeper. These are for you. They're definitely not for me. I talk to myself all day, my loves. So I want these to be for you. I want these to change your life. I want these to support you in everything that you're doing, because you're doing everything well. You're doing a great job. You're doing better than you give yourself credit for, and the world needs you. You are the only person who can do what you do the way that you do it. All right, until next time. Be It Till You See It. Lesley Logan 15:54  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 16:36  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 16:41  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 16:46  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 16:53  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 16:56  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Every summer, something extraordinary happens in Ojai.Nearly 1,000 new plays arrive from writers across the country. After months of rigorous evaluation by dramaturgs, directors, and theater professionals, only six or seven are chosen for the Ojai Playwrights Conference — one of America's premier incubators for new theater.Those playwrights spend two intensive weeks rewriting, collaborating with acclaimed directors and dramaturgs, and hearing their words brought to life by professional actors before live audiences. It's where promising scripts become exceptional plays.Readings of these fresh works with professional actors takes place July 30 to August 2 this year on the Thacher School campus.In this episode of Ojai: Talk of the Town, host Bret Bradigan sits down with Jeremy B. Cohen, Producing Artistic Director of the Ojai Playwrights Conference, for a fascinating conversation about what separates good theater from great theater, why live performance remains unlike any other art form, and how the Conference discovers bold new voices whose stories may one day appear on stages across the country.They explore the creative workshop process, the elusive qualities of compelling dramatic writing, the importance of artistic risk, and why Ojai has become one of the nation's most important destinations for playwrights.Whether you're a theater lover, a writer, or simply someone fascinated by the creative process, this conversation offers a rare look inside the making of new American theater — before the curtain ever rises.We talked about the OPC's integral Youth Workshop run by Kim Maxwell and her daughter Lily Brown, Jeremy finding his people in the theater world in western Massachusetts, running the venerable Playwrights' Center in St. Paul, Mn. and Broadway legend George Abbott. We did talk about Marie Kondo, Komodo dragons, or looksmaxxing.Check out OjaiPlays.org for schedule and much more.

In part one of this two-part safety series, Lesley Logan digs into why so many people tie their sense of safety to the money in their bank account. She traces where that wiring comes from, unpacks the difference between financial security and real emotional safety, and gets honest about the seasons every business and every life moves through. With warmth and a few hard-won stories, she offers a grounded way to feel steady. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:The 1974 credit law that still shapes women today.Why one slow week can make you feel like sinking.Where real safety lives when the money disappears.How broken promises to yourself erode your confidence.Reframing a hard season as evidence of a new season.Episode References/Links:Ep 352 ft Tess Waresmith - https://beitpod.com/ep352Ep 649 ft Tess Waresmith - https://beitpod.com/ep649Ep 53 ft Launa Jae - https://beitpod.com/ep53The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks - https://a.co/d/0aNfSwP7Submit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questions If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  Emotional safety and security comes from boundaries. Sometimes we blame it on the money, but it's really the people we're letting in our brains, letting rent space there, letting treat us a different way. So, you have to have some non-negotiables. You have to have daily practices that keep you grounded. So, no matter when the numbers fluctuate, you do these things anyways. Lesley Logan 0:19  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast, where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world, and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity, and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guests will bring bold, executable, intrinsic, and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and be it till you see it. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started.Lesley Logan 1:02  Hi, Be It babe. How are you? We're back with a solo series. This is going to be more of a safety series kind of a thing, but also talking about money and uncertainty. And I think I've had many of you in the DMs sharing how you're loving these solo episodes and sharing some of your wins and some of your questions and needs, and we thought that this would be a really fun series that we could probably build off of as time goes along. Where the series kind of starts is like, if you've ever looked at your bank account and then questioned your entire life, you're not alone, you're just not. The reality is that somehow we really conflated what is in our bank account with the certainty that we need in our life, and then we've equated uncertainty with feeling unsafe. This is not a money episode, although if you need to listen to some money episodes, our episodes with Tess Waresmith are amazing. But what I'm hoping that you get from today's episode and this two-part series is just that financial fluctuations are real, so you're not alone. It's totally normal to have that, and your financial fluctuations and personal safety are not always the same thing. They can be, and I understand, because not only have I been homeless, I have also seen what being unhoused over time can look like, and especially if you're a woman. So, I do understand that, but I do think it's important that we just have an honest conversation, maybe have a dialogue. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, because there's a lot of different reasons why financial security makes us feel secure when it's actually not. Lesley Logan 2:33  In fact, in doing research for this episode, I was kind of like, I want to chat a bit about the history, especially in the States, but I think in most of the world, right? If you were a woman, you had to marry well so that you would have a house and, in air quotes, "safety and security." But if we read stories, we watch things like Game of Thrones, all these different things, we see historically how they treated women, but yet somehow we were conditioned that, well, that is the safe thing to do, and that's the safe thing to be in. The reality is, because women didn't have access to bank accounts, it was literally the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974, women needed a male co-signer for credit. And so the reality is, like most of us listening to this, our mothers didn't even have access to their own credit card with their own name on it until they were probably sometime during the marriage to our parents or someone, right? So very few women had access to bank accounts. I had an eLevate member here who was sharing how her mother could not get money out of the bank account that her husband had to fix something because he was out of town, and this is like in the '50s and '60s, but that's not that far away.Lesley Logan 3:46  These are in the lifetimes of the people who raised us, and so, because of that upbringing in their minds, we have this generational feeling in our bones that money equals security. And so a lot of us, for better or for worse, have taken jobs or not taken jobs based on the security the money will give us, but that doesn't always mean that we are safe, right? That does not mean that the people that have that are going to treat you well, does not mean that that is the safest place for your personality and what your needs are. But I just want you to know, like, if you have that feeling and you're wondering, why can't I just let this go? Because I know there's money there. I know that I'm okay. I know that I have savings. I know this is a bad week, and this has nothing to do with who I am as a person. If you know that in your heart and it's hard to get into your head, you are not alone. It is this historical thing that we all have, and it's been raised into us. Lesley Logan 4:40  I remember not thinking I wanted to date this one person, but all the women around me going, "Oh my god, he has a great job and a great car, he's got like a legitimate career path," because I was a retail girly, and so what kind of career path did I have? Right, that's what they're really saying, but I was too young to really get that. Another reason why we can have these feelings and conflate financial security with certainty and safety is like that idea of being a good girl, traditional conditioning, being polite, and don't talk about money. And so if we don't talk about money, then we don't know what other women are making in the same field, and so we don't know that in some areas we're being undercharged or underpaid. In fact, if you remember when the Sony emails were hacked, all these people were able to see how much the men were getting paid for less lines than the women were getting paid. What it really reveals is the men asked for money and women didn't, and the women weren't asking other people what they were getting paid, so they didn't know that there was more money to ask for. Because we have to be the good girl, and if we're asking, then there must be something nefarious about asking, and so we then are conditioned to be polite, right? Lesley Logan 5:46  And so, if we go against that conditioning, we become an entrepreneur, we work for ourselves, we can constantly feel like we are in friction with society, like, "Ooh, am I allowed to negotiate? Am I allowed to charge more than other people? Am I allowed to have these boundaries, or should I just be grateful that these clients will pay what I want?" So then they can say that they want to come at a different time, and all of that stuff goes through our heads, and so you're just not alone, right? So this brings us to the brain and the business and the worth, but I know not all of you are working for yourself, so I want to just honor that you might be an employee, and there is some security in that, right? Like, our financial institutions definitely believe that if you have a W-2, you are more safe to give a loan to than someone like me. And I get so frustrated, not because I'm jealous of you or anything like that, we all have our different things that are going to work best for us. So, there's nothing wrong with being an employee versus being an entrepreneur. You should do what is right for you, but it does make me laugh that the bank thinks that's more secure when I know I can bet on myself, and companies can let go of people at any time. So we fool ourselves into what is technically, in air quotes, "safe" versus what could be safe, and it might be safer to be in a job, so just know that I'm not saying that. But in life every single day, there are these little tricks we play to make us think, "Oh, I'm safe now that I have this, now I'm safe," right? And we're not really getting to the root of what is safety, what is it, right? Lesley Logan 7:10  So let's get into some brain, business, and worth stuff. Entrepreneurship, most people in our lives have told us how it is the most uncertain thing, and it is. I'm just going to tell you right now, absolutely everything is, none of us are actually psychic, unless you are, right? So, the reality is, it doesn't matter if you work for yourself or someone else, it is uncertain always what's going to happen tomorrow. We don't know. And so I wanted to say, being a small business owner is really hard. It's fucking hard to compete with companies that have way more money, and also in the way that the customers expect a small business to be, because these big businesses can have your stuff within four hours to your house, and I have to take four days, right? And I have to charge you for shipping, and they don't, and so it's really hard, right? And so you can feel like you're constantly two steps forward, seven steps back, three steps forward, two steps back. You're just like, oh my god, sometimes you feel like you're just treading water and going backwards.Lesley Logan 8:07  Revenues do fluctuate, like clients change and seasons shift, and the thing is, no matter what business you're in, people are always like, "What's the safest thing?" It's like, what are you talking about? Every single business has a season, we as humans have seasons, the earth, the universe has seasons. So, there are seasons for harvest, and there are seasons for planting, and there are seasons for rest, which means the money is not going to be the same all the time, right? And so, then, until you can get to a place where you can trust in yourself and the seasons, you end up in this nervous system trap where your brain reads the vibes of a slow financial month as just physical danger, right? And our brain is primed to prioritize survival, and that's not a good long-term strategy, because what ends up happening is you will constantly be doing these random things to get money versus taking time from a regulated nervous system space to make decisions on your business that will help with the long haul. I had a business coach who told me this. She said, "Your business should be boring. This is not a place where you get entertainment." And so getting to have a boring business is really great, but the boring business that I have means that I know that April is a terrible financial month for us when it comes to income, and so is July. They just suck, and if we don't have great months going into April, and then between April and July, we could be fucked, right? And so we can scramble, and we've had that happen, because there are years that are just, oh my god, thank god for this year, and there are years going, "Okay, am I going to keep doing this?" But what we have to make sure with our nervous systems is that we're never just going off of vibes, we do need to make sure we're going off the data. And if your bank account is saying zero, then we actually need to go into the data of what brought your bank account there to zero. Oh, you invested in yourself. Oh, you paid this thing out, but this is coming in next week. Sometimes we forget that we planned for it, right? So, scarcity versus fact is something else we need to just take a moment.Lesley Logan 10:13  That brings us to that. So, like, it's really easy to catastrophize a shitty situation and jump like, "Well, that's gonna make that bad, and then that's gonna go bad." We're not gonna have time for that. And I definitely do this. If you have read The Big Leap, you know that one of the best ways to get yourself out of your genius zone is to worry. And when you take the shitty issue that you have of, "Oh, my bank account isn't reading the way I want," and then you catastrophize it, not only do you create doom and gloom loop stories, it makes it really hard to look at the actual data. And the actual data might show, "Oh, all these bills got paid, I am debt-free in this area over here, and my paycheck comes in 48 hours." Okay, great, you are slaying, you are in fact the opposite of unsafe, you are so secure, right? But we can forget the things that we did, especially my ADHD, high-achieving, over-achieving, perfectionist people, it's really easy to forget the plan when we check something out and it just hits a little differently than we expected it to.Lesley Logan 11:18  And then we have to just also talk about, a lot of times as women, how we have been raised to feel worthy, as opposed to just knowing we are worthy, are very different things. You know, there is so much that we tie into our identity of like, are we a good sister, are we a good daughter, are we a good friend, are we helping the people in our house, all the unpaid caregiving labor that women do, especially the daughters listening. I do have an episode coming out with a statistician on good daughtering, but there's just so much unpaid labor. But then we wrap our identity on the revenue we create, but if most of our time is spent with unpaid things, then we think we're not worthy, but in fact we're the most worthy person that anyone in our life has. We are worth so much to them, but we don't feel that way, because we think our worth is tied into the revenue of what's in our bank account and not to what we bring to the table, which is probably just so much more.Lesley Logan 12:04  And by the way, the way that society is going right now, this is fucking awful, right? It's like every other day that I pull up my Instagram, and there's some guy who's shitting on some guy who should be shat on, to be honest, who's talking about like, you know, she needs to carry the bags and take care of all the things, and my work is having the response of bringing the money in. It's like that is not a team. I mean, yes, you've delegated tasks, but that's just not how it goes. And to be honest, I fear for that girl in that video that I saw. So he makes all the money, and then what? What do you get when he moves on to somebody else? There's no security in that, that's why it was so uncertain and so unsafe for women for so long, who could not get jobs, who could not have bank accounts, who could not have credit cards, who could not get their names on deeds, they were not safe at all, right? Because they couldn't leave their husband, because where were they going to go? How'd they get money? He could leave at any time, and they'd have nothing, right? And, by the way, he's not safe, a lot of people died mysteriously because divorce wasn't a possibility, right? So we have to remember, ladies, like we are so much more worthy than what we are being paid for because of the worth we bring to the people in our lives, what we do for them, right?Lesley Logan 13:36  So don't make your bank account a report card on your value, because that's not what it is. And you know, I feel this, 2023 was this weird year, because we had this server issue, a bot sent infinite traffic to one of our servers, and it overwhelmed our server, and then to get rid of the thing that that bot was attacking, it caused our website to run like it was 2005. And so we had to rebuild a 1,000-page website as quickly as possible, and it fucked with our SEO and all this stuff, and it cost so much money, because that was not what we were anticipating on spending money on. At the same time, we were trying to wrap up buying this house, so to make sure we had all this money in our bank, and it was just so stressful. We actually ended up having, and then we have to pay our taxes at the same time, because you pay your taxes so we could have the deed on the house, like all these different things were going on. And we had the money for the taxes, we were not expecting to build a website when we were planning for that, and so just all these things hit at once. And there was this one other unforeseeable bill that was not $100, it was like thousands of dollars. And it just in that moment when we're buying this house that I get to sit in and I love so much, I couldn't have felt more rich and poor at the same time. Like, I can afford this house, and yet every dime I have is gone to make all of this stuff keep going, and we did have to borrow and put a thing on it, and give it to pay our friends and family back, with interest. That's the right thing to do. And it can affect your self-worth. You can feel embarrassed about it, or you can go, "Wow, this is a fucking shitty time. I have a friend or family member who can help me. I'm going to do the right thing, and I'm going to be out of this," right? And so there's no reason to be embarrassed, and I'm still great friends with the people who helped me out through that time. That wasn't the first time in my life when I had to ask for help, and none of those things make my worth less, right? It just actually helped me through a tough time, and you would do that for someone else if you could, and there will be a time when you have to, right? Lesley Logan 15:44  So the other thing when it comes to security and safety, and when you wrap it up with your money, my neurodivergent listeners, hello, I see you. We already live in overwhelm. There's already so much going on in our brain. Our brain is three steps ahead all the time, and so when you have some financial uncertainty, not only is it easier to go into catastrophe situations, but you can go there much faster than anybody else. You can amplify the heck out of it, and you could add shame and panic to that quicker than anybody. And the reality is that you have to fall into the data over the vibes, you have to pull yourself back. "Hold on, let's back it up, back it up. What is real? What do I know? What about this makes me feel unsafe, but what's actually true? What's the actual reality?" Lesley Logan 16:38  And so, my perfectionists, that all-or-nothing mindset: "My business is failing." Just because you have a slow week. It's not failing. You're jt having a slow week. If you're in the first couple years of any project you're doing, you don't know the seasons yet, so it makes it really difficult. And if you are working for yourself or you're taking a hobby to be a side hustle, and you don't take the time to really get clear about your self-worth and what matters, and what is going to be something you can lean on for certainty in your business, and what will always be uncertain, and how you're going to handle getting the data so that you don't go off the vibes.Lesley Logan 17:15  If you don't do that stuff, you're just going to live in a constant state of emotional dysregulation and decision fatigue, and you're not going to actually be able to... you're not gonna have fun. I mean, I'm not saying that work is always fun, but it shouldn't make you feel like shit, right? Whether you're an employee for someone or you work for yourself, we have to figure out what are the actual things that I can say make me feel safe. How can I request those at my place of work or in my life if I work for myself? What numbers am I going to go off of so that I know what's going on, so that I have a bit more predictability, right? What will always be a little uncertain in this business? And where can I have certainty? Here's why I have certainty: I will show up every day and work hard. I'm so certain of that. I am so certain that I am very resourceful. If this shit hits the fan and spews it on the walls, I can find new ways of cleaning it up, even if every other tool is gone. Like, I am a resourceful person. I have certainty that the human that I am and the way that I put things out into the world, people will always want what I've got. Now, I have uncertainty in when they will want that. I have uncertainty in, if I put it out there, will people buy it? I have uncertainty of when people are gonna be ready for the thing I have to offer. All that's uncertain. I cannot predict when people are ready to buy. I can't choose the people who are ready to listen to this podcast, but I can predict that I will show up to work tomorrow, right? And so I think that's really important. Lesley Logan 18:47  So that leads us into rewiring our brains for safety and those harder seasons, like we need a little toolkit. There's a difference between emotional safety and financial safety, they are two different things. And so while money can create stability, your emotional safety actually comes from internal self-trust, community, and boundaries. And I want to just talk about internal self-trust. That would be confidence. That's where a lot of people struggle the most, because they actually consistently, on little bitty things, failed to do what they said they were going to do. And because of those little tiny things, "I'm going to go for a walk in the morning. Oh, I'm going to get up and read this book. I'm going to journal..." and you don't do it, you are just carving out at your confidence, your self-trust, right? So it is important if you want to feel safe that you ditch the all-or-nothing mindset and commit to doing things that make you feel good in your life, or that you can do that are at doable dosages, right? Not like, "I'm going to work out every day for an hour" no one can say and do that, there's so many days I want to work, right? Lesley Logan 20:03  So, also, emotional safety and security comes from boundaries. Sometimes we blame it on the money, but it's really the people we're letting in our brains, letting rent space there, letting treat us a different way. So, you have to have some non-negotiables, you have to have daily practices that keep you grounded, no matter when the numbers fluctuate, you do these things anyways. You guys, I have so much work on my plate, so many things that I am excited about and equally stressed about, and I do not start working on them any earlier than my day starts with work, because my non-negotiables have to happen so that I can do that with love, grace, energy, stamina, endurance, excitement.Lesley Logan 20:46  If I come out to those jobs out of fear, out of rush, out of like, "I gotta get this done," then, like, no. My daily practices that keep me grounded allow me to show up and have emotional security, so no matter what is going on with the finance of the businesses, I know that I can show up and move the needle forward in the direction it has to go. And then if you're like, "I have all those things, and I still see the bank account in a certain way," then we need a little bit of a gentle reframe, right? We need to say, "What if this season I'm in is not evidence of failure, but instead just evidence that I'm in a different season?" right? Like, this is just a different season. I'm out of the other season, I'm in the new season right now. What if we reframe how we feel about things, and go, "Okay, so I invested X, Y, and Z in this, and so because I made that investment..." as opposed to, "I spent, ...I made that investment, I now will have these things coming to me on these dates," and then tell them this is what I'm going to be doing, right? Like, we have to change how we talk about ourselves and talk to ourselves, and talk about what we're doing in a way that is not toxic and gaslighty, but actually a pick-me-up, actually makes you feel like things are possible. Because if you don't, you're never going to feel safe in anything you do, whether you work for yourself or other people. It's just not going to work. You're going to constantly feel like you're sabotaging yourself, right? There are seasons, there are ebbs and flows. It is a real thing. And so, if nothing changed in your life but what the money in the bank account is, then how would you be any less safe than you were the day before? Lesley Logan 22:26  So, if you take nothing else away from our conversation today, I just want you to remember that your financial anxiety is not personal failure. It's part of a historical echo and a biological response, and you are building a system to help yourself in this world that wasn't built for us to have those systems, right? It's only in our generation that women are allowed to do the things that they're able to do, and so it is hard, and it is exhausting, and it is uncertain, and you're doing it, you're doing all the things. And so there are going to be days that feel like shit, but it doesn't mean you are shit. There's gonna be days that feel like failure, but you are not a failure. There are gonna be days that feel like they suck, but you don't suck, right? So, you have to take some time to write down what are the things that I can bet on, that I have certainty around, that I have security around. And when you're feeling like, "My bank account has shifted, and I'm fucked," you can look at those things and go, "Do I have these things still? Oh, I do. Okay, great. So, my bank account sucks, but I have all the things that I need right now." Knowing why we feel this way and why these things happen, it's helpful. It's half the battle. Lesley Logan 23:40  So, I know most of us are over 40 here. I know we also have some young listeners, hello, babes, I'm happy you're here. And we don't just need mindset shifting, like, I hope that this got your mindset to shift, we are going to need a new framework for safety. We have spent decades thinking safety means controlling every variable and overfunctioning and building a fortress of hyper-independence. And I'm not going to take away your independence. I want all of you who want to just live your life of independence that way. But also, I want you to have wonderful, amazing relationships, and that means friends who lift you up. It doesn't have to be partners in life that support your amazing boundaries, that can help be that reminder that everything is okay when you forget. And what if true safety isn't about ensuring nothing ever goes wrong?Lesley Logan 24:24  I kind of really want to get us all to what if true safety is knowing that you are entirely capable of navigating it when it does, right? Like I said, I have certainty around, like, if shit hits the fan, I can be resourceful. I want that's the security I want for you. So, in our next episode, we are going to dive into part two of this conversation. We are shifting from the brain and the history to the somatic and the strategic, and so we're going to kind of just dismantle the trap of doing things all alone, even if you are all alone, so that you can feel like you are safe wherever your harbor is, even when your revenue is going to fluctuate. And I love this quote, and it comes, I've heard it many times, but I know we heard it on our podcast a few times, and one of them was Launa Jae, and it's, "You've survived 100% of your hardest days so far." You have. So we have to start trusting our track record. Until then, Be It Till You See It. Lesley Logan 25:18  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 26:00  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 26:05  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 26:09  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi..Lesley Logan 26:17  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 26:20  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Lesley Logan's posters are showing up as knockoffs on Temu, and she has a few things to say about it. This Fuck Yeah Friday episode, she opens up about the frustrating side of building something people want to copy, then pivots to a hard-won win from a teacher training program she has been quietly building behind the scenes. It is the kind of week where she names what is frustrating and still finds the good happening alongside it. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:Why complaining out loud does not cancel out a win.The frustrating reality of strangers profiting off your images.What six weeks inside a brand new program revealed.The mindset shift that lets you celebrate unfinished progress.Episode References/Links:OPC Membership - onlinepilatesclasses.comOPC Flashcards - https://opc.me/flashcardsNevada SPCA - https://nevadaspca.org/Uplift Waitlist - xxll.co/uw@home_grown_pilates - https://instagram.com/home_grown_pilatesSubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questions If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  It's Fuck Yeah Friday.Lesley Logan 0:01  Fuck yeah. Lesley Logan 0:02  Get ready for some wins. Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. Lesley Logan 0:48  Welcome back to the Be It Till You See It podcast, my loves. It is our Fuck Yeah Friday episode, and this is our short and quick... it's that coffee chat with... although you're not with me, but I hope we're feeling like we're on a coffee chat. I'm going to share something I want to rant about, but then a win of mine, and then a win of yours. And the thing is, in life, you're going to complain. In life, there's going to be things you want to vent about. It's not toxic positivity to also see a win, not a win in the issue. I think that's where the toxic positivity is. I'm not saying you find a win in the problem that you're having, I'm saying you find a win that's happening in your life as well, and that's healthy, right? That's really, really good stuff. So, if you want to share your wins and send those in, you can send it to thebeitpod.com/questions. Also, this is where you can send your topics in that you want to make sure that we're either interviewing a guest on, or that you want me to do solo episodes on. I hope you are liking the solo episodes. I would love to hear more than some reviews, and if you love our podcast, and you want to support it, one of the ways you can do that is actually by being an OPC member. onlinepilatesclasses.com is where we have real Pilates for real bodies, we just want to do Pilates workouts that work for you, and we're really proud of the work that we do over there. And when you buy any of our flashcards, did you know that we take a percentage of what you purchased, and we give it to the Nevada SPCA? And while I'm talking about that, I have a cute little foster down at my legs, her name is Darla, and she is just a freaking... she is so cute, she's a little cow, and I'm kind of obsessed with her already. Lesley Logan 2:15  So the rant has nothing to do with Darla. Here's our rant. One of my followers had sent, "Hey, did you know this person's using your images in a book?" and so we go on Amazon, we do a takedown, done. I rant about it. People go, "Oh, did you know that this person's using them in a manual?" Oh, and then someone else goes, "Oh, have you seen this book about you? Have you seen that you're in this book? Oh, I just found this book about you." AI books all ran about me. I probably ranted about this before last month, so I'm going to tell you the most recent thing that happened that is new, you guys: fucking Temu is selling my posters, and I'm really pissed off about it, because you can see my watermark on there. And also the review is about how shitty the quality of the pictures are. Yeah, because it's a knockoff, and so now you're making me look bad. So, those are not my posters, those are my posters on Temu, but I'm not getting the money. So, feel free to go over there until I get them taken down and talk about how shitty it is to steal from people. And so, then I told people, "Oh, go ahead and leave a review." And then guess what happened?Lesley Logan 3:15  Somebody left a shitty review on a fourth book that I didn't know about, that is me, so I'm just tired of people using my image, and I'm gonna rant about that once a month until we get these lawyers to do their work on it. So that's going on, that's that. So my win, my win is we are six weeks into me teaching a beta version of my teacher training program that I have been working on for new Pilates instructors and Pilates instructors who want to bridge. So if you've been wanting to learn Pilates and you've been looking for programs and you read my book or maybe didn't, but you're looking for something solid this fall, I'll be onboarding the educators for it, and next year they'll be able to start running their own programs. I'm not running them, I'm actually going to be guiding them on running them, because I run eLevate, which is my mentorship program for teachers, and I can't be everywhere, can't be everywhere at once, but I'm really proud of the work that I've done. So, the win is not that it's completed, because it's mostly completed. The win is that I started the beta program, we're six weeks in, and I'm fucking loving it. The group of people that are trusting me through this beta program, I'm so grateful for, ladies and gentlemen, you know who you are. It's really wonderful to get to teach them, but also really, really great to have them be part of how I curate this manual and this program, because they're all different types of learners, they're all in different experiences of life, and I'm really, really proud of the work that they're doing. I'm proud of the work that I've done, and if you are like, "Oh my god, I'm jonesing to do this program," we are creating a waitlist for people that I can send off to the educators, and also announce when there are educators. So if you are wanting to know when Uplift is available to explore an educator near you, I want you to go to xxll.co/uw. That's going to take you to a waitlist for people who want to learn and study the Uplift program, and so that's that. For the people who want to be educators, you have to be part of my eLevate Alumni group to be an educator. So, more on that later. That's not the win. This is not an ad, but I am just so freaking proud of the work that I've done, and the team has done, and that these people have done. So, I know two weeks in a row, the wins seem really, really big, but a couple months ago, I told you that I'm working on this thing behind the scenes, and I'm almost done. This is the thing, so you know, I've had little wins on this along the way. This is a bigger win of it, but there'll be more wins to come, because until it's complete and going, there's more wins to have. Lesley Logan 5:44  Okay, one of your wins. Are we ready for it? This is from @home_grown_pilates, "I finally have the freedom and means to travel." Ah, what a win! What a win! I love that. You know what, that's a huge one. Jeez, but also just that you're celebrating that you have it, so many people would wait till they do travel, and that you are celebrating that you have just the ability to do it. Ah, that's what these wins are all about. That's what FYF is all about. So, thank you, @home_grown_pilates,, for sharing that, so you can inspire other people. Lesley Logan 6:20  All right, let me get to your mantra. Every day I grow in self-acceptance. Every day I grow in self-acceptance. Every day I grow in self-acceptance. Yes, you do. You're doing it. You're doing it, and you're being it till you see it. So until next time, take care of yourself, please. If you can't support OPC by being a member, which means you're supporting yourself, then definitely share this podcast episode or one of our interviews that you love with a friend who's a hero, and if you don't have a friend, then you can leave a review. Those are all very helpful things. So, thank you so much, my loves. Talk to you soon.Lesley Logan 6:53  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 7:35  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell. Lesley Logan 7:40  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co. Brad Crowell 7:44  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi. Lesley Logan 7:51  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 7:55  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time. Lesley Logan 8:09  It's okay, you can sleep. I didn't mean, I didn't need to wake you. You're good. Oh my gosh, you guys on the pod team. I am fostering a dog, and she.. I clapped, and she was so sleepy, and now she's like, what? What does that sound? Here we go.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Daniel is joined by Sagar Saxena, Senior Product Engineer at Siemens EDA specializing in computational lithography, optical proximity correction (OPC), and advanced patterning solutions for leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing. Sagar has led the development and deployment of advanced OPC technologies, including… Read More

Lesley Logan and Brad Crowell recap the conversation with Julian Barnes, co-founder and CEO of the BFS Network and a leading voice on boutique fitness market data. They unpack what his numbers-first view of the Pilates business reveals about pricing, client commitment, and the confidence it takes to run a profitable studio. With twenty plus years guiding studio founders, Julian brings hard data to the soft topics most owners avoid. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:What it really means to sell the transformation not the process.How to help clients see the cost as an investment.Where courage and conviction change who becomes your client.Signs the Pilates bubble is bursting and what survives it.Stepping into your authority so clients commit and get results.Episode References/Links:OPC Membership - opc.me/beiteLevate Waitlist - xxll.co/waiitlisteLevate Replays - lesleylogan.co/elevateOPC Summer Tour (Powered by Balanced Body) - https://opc.me.tourOPC Flashcards - https://opc.me/flashcardsOPC Pilates Posters - https://opc.me/postersEp. 697 ft. Adrian Starks - https://beitpod.com/ep697Ep. 698 Adrian Stark Recap - https://beitpod.com/ep698Ep. 53 ft. Launa Jae - https://beitpod.com/ep53If I Die by Christopher S Lombardi - https://a.co/d/0eorMLTNFree Will - https://www.freewill.comBIPOC Resources - https://mhanational.org/bipoc-mental-healthSubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questions If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  You have to understand that if people are making decisions based on cost, they will always do that. You have to bring it back to the investment of the transformation they want to have, and how badly do they want to have that. Lesley Logan 0:13  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. Lesley Logan 0:55  Welcome back to the Be It Till You See It interview recap on my coast in life. Brad and I are going to dig into the enlightening convo I had with Julian Barnes in our last episode. If you haven't yet listened to that interview, this will make a lot of no sense, because it was a different type of interview. It wasn't really an interview of what Julian does, it wasn't really a Be It Till You See It, it was very much a "let's talk about the Pilates industry." Brad Crowell 1:17  Yeah, it was an industry debrief. Lesley Logan 1:18  An industry debrief, and so. Brad Crowell 1:20  It was kind of cool, actually.Lesley Logan 1:22  Yeah, and I also, coming off of the recap of Adrian Starks, it made me even more aware of our purpose when it comes to Pilates business coaching. Because I don't know if Julian asked me this when we were on camera or off, but he was like, "You like helping these small studios?" And I was like, "Because that's what accessibility is." There's got to be different types of Pilates studios, because people need different things, and everyone shouldn't be in a 14-person class.Brad Crowell 1:48  Yeah.Lesley Logan 1:49  So, anyways, it's a really... if you are a Pilates instructor, or you have one, then they need to listen to both these episodes. After you listen to the amazing announcement of today, the holiday and the charity, and the other things, if you want to go off to an FYF or something else, I won't be offended. If you like the sound of this voice and you want to keep supporting it, and Brad, just the voice.Brad Crowell 2:12  Just the voice.Lesley Logan 2:13  You should be an OPC member. OPC is not for people who are obsessed with Pilates, I mean, it is, but it's really for people who just want easy access to real Pilates, and then a safe place to be imperfect, and to be themselves, and to be supported, and to be like, "It's okay if you missed a week, you're welcome back. We're all here for you." And if so, "Oh, you recover from injury. Oh, I had that one. Here are these things." It's where you get community support, and you're not alone. So, go to opc.me/40Brad Crowell 2:39  Yeah, actually, we got a new link for you. It's opc.me/beitLesley Logan 2:43  opc.me/beitBrad Crowell 2:45  B-E-I-TLesley Logan 2:47  B-E-I-T. I'm still waiting for my "just be it" things, given that everyone can distill people's shit around here. Why can't I just have "just be it"?Brad Crowell 2:59  I love that.Lesley Logan 3:01  It's okay, but we have "be it," and you can be it too, and you can be an OPC member while you're being it. I promise, I promise it helps. Today is July 9, 2026, and it's International Emergency Kit Day.Brad Crowell 3:13  That's right. It's Emergency Kit Day, y'all. This is a Boy Scout talking to you right now.Lesley Logan 3:18  Today is a day to raise awareness about being prepared when disaster strikes. An emergency kit, sometimes called a go-bag or disaster bag, is a portable kit that has essentials you and your family need to survive in case of emergency. They are easy to grab when you need to evacuate for whatever reason, usually a natural disaster. This day is a reminder to check your kit or build one today. It will make all the difference when an emergency happens. We have first aid kits, but that's what I thought this was, and it's clearly a go-bag, which we do not have, Brad.Brad Crowell 3:44  Yeah, we don't have. I don't have the movie duffel bag that's like, "Go, go, go," and you grab it on the way out the door, or the baby bag when someone is pregnant and has to run to the hospital, they got a bag ready. We probably could put one of those together. I think that would be wise. Don't let someone sell you a $300 go-bag. Put it together yourself.Lesley Logan 4:07  Just put it together. Just please put it together yourself. Photocopies of things are really great. If you learn anything from the fires of LA, it means you need to have copies of very important documents: birth certificates, passports, but also insurance policies, wills, whatever that is.Brad Crowell 4:24  I should digitize those and just put them.Lesley Logan 4:25  Can we have a digitized go-bag, Brad? Because I gotta be honest, we're gonna have to then remember where it is. Because I thought there's an emergency kit thing, and it was so funny, because you were asked if you had one recently by someone, and you're like, "Oh yeah," and I'm like, "Thank God they asked you, because if they had asked me, I'd be like, 'We don't have one.'"Brad Crowell 4:47  But not only that, if you have an emergency kit, go through it, because when was the last time you had it, or opened it, or used it? I went through ours, I don't know, six or 12 months ago, and I pulled everything out, and all the Band-Aids, the stickiness of the Band-Aids was just gone.Lesley Logan 5:03  Not sticky.Brad Crowell 5:04  Yeah, so I was like, "Oh wow, yeah, all this expired in 2005." So I got rid of all that and replaced everything. And then sure enough, somebody asked us, "Hey, do you have an emergency kit?" And I was like, "Yes," and I can stand by that everything is ready for you here. Yeah.Lesley Logan 5:23  And it's really funny because we actually have a really massive emergency kit in the bathroom by our studio in the house, and I was looking for Band-Aids in the bathroom that I get ready in every day. And then I was cleaning things up and getting ready for people to show up, and there's this massive Brad kit, and I was like, "Oh, we have a massive emergency kit," and I opened it up. No Band-Aids. Zero Band-Aids. That has not been updated. I'm like, clearly this is not a real studio, because. So go check your emergency kits, go create a digitized go-bag, because. Brad Crowell 5:56  We want a digitized go-bag, and then maybe a real one that's like, if you got to run out the door and you need a change of clothes or some shoes or something. This is notLesley Logan 6:02  This is not what the holiday is, what the holiday is, but there's that If I Die book. Have you seen this? I got asked for it on my Instagram. It's called If I Die or When I Die, and it's all these important things, and we should really fill that out.Brad Crowell 6:16  Everything You Need to Know Journal. If I Die.Lesley Logan 6:20  Brad's gonna find a digital one.Brad Crowell 6:21  I found it already. Yeah, well, this is a book, actually, by Christopher Lombardi. Collect all the information your loved ones will need to know at a difficult time. And he said, "When my father passed away, I wish I had such a book."Lesley Logan 6:35  Yeah, well, that's interesting. It's a little too much adulting for me in one day, but I like the idea of it.Brad Crowell 6:40  Yeah, there's also When I Die planners with pockets.Lesley Logan 6:44  Pocket.Brad Crowell 6:44  Yeah, that has little pockets in it.Lesley Logan 6:46  Oh, for things like my card, I have a card in Brad's office attached to the refrigerator from when my dad dies, a number to call for them to cremate him.Brad Crowell 6:54  Yeah.Lesley Logan 6:54  I know where the card is.Brad Crowell 6:56  I mean, there's even Reddit arguments about this: I made an "If I die" packet for my husband. My family is now calling me morbid for this effort. I think it's smart.Lesley Logan 7:05  It's incredibly smart, and it's not morbid. And you are gonna be... here's the thing, we talked about grief two weeks ago, had nothing to do with people, but we're just gonna bring it back up, when someone is dealing with the loss of a loved one, the last thing you need to figure out is the fucking password to your shit.Brad Crowell 7:22  Yeah.Lesley Logan 7:23  Don't do that to people. I'm watching The Pit, and that is a trap. You don't want to be dealing with that, plus what is their insurance? All that stuff. No, no, don't do that to people. And as I say this, Brad and I are hypocrites, because we have yet to sit down and do our fucking thing that his parents asked us to do three times, which is the DNR and the will thing, and all that stuff. So.Brad Crowell 7:48  There's a, we talked about this before, there's an organization called Free Will. Make your free will online.Lesley Logan 7:54  Okay, well. Brad Crowell 7:57  freewill.comLesley Logan 7:57  Well, this day just turned into a very helpful day, and my ADHD is really overwhelmed. Upcoming travel and events, you guys, eLevate 2027 is full, sold out, can't take another body, but you can join us today.Brad Crowell 8:13  You can join us today.Lesley Logan 8:17  At 1pm Pacific time.Brad Crowell 8:19  Is that 1pm? Lesley Logan 8:20  Yeah. Brad Crowell 8:20  I'm glad you know that.Lesley Logan 8:21  It's at 1 p.m. to learn about 2028 Elevate, and if you're like, "Well, Lesley, thanks, I'm going back to this on a different date," there's probably a replay up.Brad Crowell 8:31  Yeah, there'll be a replay. We'll put the replay up on the Elevate page, I'm sure.Lesley Logan 8:35  Go to xxll.co/waitlist, and if you missed it. Brad Crowell 8:40  Then go to lesleylogan.co/elevate and that's where the replay will be.Lesley Logan 8:45  Yeah, summer tour is really close, a few weeks away.Brad Crowell 8:49  OPC Summer TourLesley Logan 8:50  Yeah. Brad Crowell 8:50  Come join us in real life, I'm very excited.Lesley Logan 8:52  How many cities are we going to?Brad Crowell 8:53  13 or 14Lesley Logan 8:54  It's the reason we're recording prior to the announcement, so we don't know, but what I can say is it's probably mostly sold out, so you want to go to OPC. I can confidently say that.Brad Crowell 9:04  Yeah, I mean, we're getting close to.Lesley Logan 9:07  Well, because these are not conventions, these are literal pop-ups. These are small studios, we're talking small classes and workshops, and we do that so instead of having 50 people in a workshop, there's 25 and you can actually get to talk to me, and we get to take pictures, and we get to nerd out on Pilates. And the workshops are only 90 minutes. You don't have to take a whole day off, you can just take a part of a day off, and you get to be with other people. And Balanced Body is sponsoring our tour again, and so we'll have the Contrology equipment with us, plus some really fun prizes. So, opc.me/tour.Brad Crowell 9:41  opc.me/tour come join us.Lesley Logan 9:43  If you're new here.Brad Crowell 9:45  If you're new here.Lesley Logan 9:46  I make flashcards with Pilates exercises, and they have QR codes that take you to videos, and they have the setup and action on the back, and they have really cool tips that I gave you that are my words based on these things. If you like the way that I talk about Pilates, they're right there. And they've been edited by a contemporary trained teacher with contemporary women, and they've been edited by someone who's never done any of the stuff before. Shout out to the spine corrector, because after that, she wanted to buy one. So that's how good that deck is. So, go to opc.me/flashcards.Brad Crowell 10:12  Yeah, opc.me/flashcardsLesley Logan 10:15  And if you have the flashcards, do you know that we have posters, and you can get our posters at opc.me/posters? And you want to know something fun about the posters: we make no money on them. However, the shipping, because they're printed on demand, the shipping is cheaper because it's usually shipping to near you versus the flashcards, which come from us. By the way, my Aussies and my Canadians, we have distributors on the flashcards, so just reach out to us if shipping shocked the hell out of you. We have distributors in Australia and Canada.Brad Crowell 10:44  Yeah, awesome. Well, we used to do a question answer session here, but we're going to skip that. We've moved all the live Q&As over to YouTube for Sunday morning at 9 a.m. Pacific, and we shifted our focus here because we really like celebrating good works that other people are doing, and sharing about it with you all. Lesley Logan 11:06  Being more aware about things, just the different things that exist out there, and the different ways we can support things that might be of interest. And so July is actually an awareness month of a lot of awarenesses. So when I looked up July month.Brad Crowell 11:22  It's a month of awarenesses.Lesley Logan 11:23  Yeah, one of the things that July is an awareness month about is the ADA laws, and it's like a Disability Pride Awareness Month. It's also an awareness month of mental health awareness for minority communities.Brad Crowell 11:36  ADA for non-Americans, it's the Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA. So, yeah, and that was a big fight that started in California many years back.Lesley Logan 11:45  Yes, I learned a lot about it. It's very impressive. Yeah, and so anyways, I wanted to highlight the mental health awareness for minority communities on today's episode, because last time we did a recap, we actually did talk about mental health, and I just thought it would be a perfect time to bring that up. This charity is Mental Health America, and they actually have a lot of information and support for BIPOC mental health specifically. And if you go to mhanational.org, they actually have a whole section, because they do have a lot of support for the BIPOC community. Culture, ethnicity, and race all play a large role in the way that each person experiences the world and the types of mental health support that they may need. MHA's online BIPOC Mental Health Resource Center offers a wealth of information and tools to bring light to the unique experiences of Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities and empower and uplift BIPOC individuals on their mental health journeys. And I just thought that this is a really cool resource in case you need it, or there's someone that you know who needs it. Because the reality is, is that if you have had a different experience in this world, having a therapist or someone who can understand that is important, and it's key. And I just think that, how cool that there are people who are making sure that resource is easy to find. They'll have blog posts, but they actually have a whole resource page where you can find someone and find some help near you, especially with the shit going on in the world right now. Specifically in the US, I know we have a lot of international listeners, but they just fucked with the Voting Rights Act one more time.Brad Crowell 13:15  Yeah.Lesley Logan 13:16  And we are back to Jim Crow era shit, and it sucks, because the answer to all this is that we all have to vote in November in a way that tells them to fuck off, but also, people of color have been trying to do that for a really long time. You and I were listening to what's his name, that amazing senator from Georgia, who's a reverend, and he's like, "I lived my whole life under that act, and now my children have to fight..."Brad Crowell 13:44  Raphael WarnockLesley Logan 13:45  Raphael Warnock. "My children have to fight for their rights," and I just...Brad Crowell 13:50  Yeah, I mean, it's.Lesley Logan 13:51  Top of life.Brad Crowell 13:52  It's fascinating to hear him talk about that, where he's like, you know, I don't know how old he is, but he's an adult, he's a senator, he's been a pastor for a long time. He has two kids who are younger than 10 years old, and he said, "For me, because of the changes that happened in the '60s, I actually grew up in a more equitable time that allowed me to become a senator as a person of color," and he said, "Unfortunately, my kids are not going to have that."Lesley Logan 14:23  And what they're doing in Tennessee, where they just literally got rid of the one Black Congress person, just terrible stuff. And that's all just... even if you're like, "Well, that's politics," well, politics affects life, and on top of that, if your job and all these different things just becomes really heavy, we need to make mental health support seem like the same thing as you're gonna go get new toothpaste, or you get your things done, like you go to the dentist for cleaning twice a year, we go three. Mental health support needs to be as routine and normal as all of that, and also if you're BIPOC community, I think it's important that you have people who understand what you're going through, because it is different.Brad Crowell 15:05  Yeah.Lesley Logan 15:05  And you're not alone. So, hopefully, mhanational.org resource helps you. If not, and there are other ones out there that you want us to highlight, please send it in. We would love to do that. We'd love to use the platform to do that to help people who need that.Brad Crowell 15:19  Yeah, so leave us a voicemail, 310-905-5534, or you can also share your wins for our Friday pod at beitpod.com/questions. Brad Crowell 15:31  Let's talk about Julian Barnes. Julian is the co-founder and CEO of the BFS Network, the company behind the most comprehensive market research in the boutique fitness industry. He spent 20-plus years helping fitness and wellness businesses build the structure and strategy they need to grow, and he works directly with CEOs and founders of multi-location studios across the country. He brings a data-driven, numbers-first perspective to the work of building a profitable studio.Lesley Logan 15:59  Yeah.Brad Crowell 16:00  And it's really interesting too, because I mean, his background is law, and then he... I don't remember exactly how he got into fitness, but. Lesley Logan 16:07  He told the whole story. It's very weird how he got into it, but. Brad Crowell 16:10  He told us his story, but it wasn't, it was when we were.. we were talking about.Lesley Logan 16:15  Oh, sorry guys, it was definitely at dinner, but it was like, "Oh, he was helping this out, then he did this thing, there was his trainer." It's really kind of cool. Too bad that that's not on the pod, because it doesn't matter, because that was not what he wanted to talk about. But it really went along with Adrian Starks's finding your purpose kind of a thing. So, at any rate, just know that Julian is the evidence of doing that. If you listened two weeks ago, you know, it's interesting, because a lot of people think that studios are only studios if they have multiple teachers and group classes and things like that, and I think.Brad Crowell 16:47  Maybe the word "legitimate studio," right? Because they are still obviously a studio, a real studio, or whatever.Lesley Logan 16:55  But you and I see a studio as anything where a teacher is teaching in, and that studio could be a one-person show.Brad Crowell 17:03  Yeah.Lesley Logan 17:04  And that person can teach small groups and groups and things like that. And so it was interesting to hear the different ways that, in air quotes, legitimate studios are doing things, the numbers they have. But on the non-data side, one of the things I love that he said was there's no transformation without the transaction, and this is really important, because for any business owner who is listening to this, people don't buy your process. I'll just be really honest with you, please don't tell them your process, no one cares. But they cannot get the transformation they want to have, the goal they want to achieve, without paying you the investment of what that is, that's just part of the deal. If they want to have better posture.Brad Crowell 17:45  There's no transformation without the transaction, yes, but let's, before we go further on that, can we take a step back? What do you mean specifically? What's an example of "don't sell the process"? Because how are people actually making a mistake with that? Lesley Logan 18:02  What does thatlook like? They're saying, "We have classes on three days a week at 10 a.m. and your package of six sessions allows you to come two times a week." That's selling the process, right? "You come three days a week at 10 a.m." or "Mat classes are at 6 o'clock" or "At our studio, we have mat, semi-private, and private sessions on the Cadillac Tower." All of that's process. It's overwhelming information. It's words that they don't want to hear.Brad Crowell 18:30  It doesn't even mean anything to them.Lesley Logan 18:31  Even if they know what most of that stuff is. That's not what they actually care about. They care that you understand the problem that they have and where they want to grow, and that you are excited and a trustworthy person for that, and I think where a lot of people. Brad Crowell 18:50  And that's what they will pay for.Lesley Logan 18:51  Yeah, as well. Yoga Works doesn't exist anymore, it's a perfect example. Their entire advertising model was "first two weeks free, your first two weeks are free." That's a process, right? They were not selling "get meditated in 14 days or less" or "de-stress from traffic," right? They weren't selling what you were gonna gain from doing the yoga for two weeks, whereas if they had actually talked more about how you would feel when you left the yoga class.Brad Crowell 19:29  Sure.Lesley Logan 19:30  I think more people would take them up on that for two weeks free, because it's like, "Wow, two weeks free, this class must be full." No, they weren't, and they're not in business. But I see this all the time in people posting about their Pilates stuff: "Hey, I've got, I'm opening up two spots on Mondays and Wednesdays." Unless someone already trusts you, that's unhelpful. Launa Jae, who's been on our show, has done this really well: "Hey, I'm opening in two weeks, I'm moving four spots for women over 40 who are tired of yo-yo dieting, and they want to actually make a change that lasts a lifetime."Brad Crowell 20:03  Right.Lesley Logan 20:03  You can hear the difference, right? "I'm accepting four new clients," or "In two weeks I will have four spots available for this type of person."Brad Crowell 20:11  Yeah.Lesley Logan 20:12  That is listing the transformation someone's gonna have. She doesn't say, "And when you sign up, you'll have to do eight weeks of macro counting." No, she's not saying that, because no one wants to do that. That's too much information. Yeah, and then we get this a lot, because people will say, "Pilates is too expensive." People have been saying Pilates is too expensive since it was fucking cheap. People have been saying Pilates is too expensive since I started teaching, and people weren't even charging $1 a minute, right, for a private session. But you have to understand that if people are making decisions based on cost, they will always do that. You have to bring it back to the investment of the transformation they want to have, and how badly do they want to have that? Brad Crowell 20:51  Yeah, that's the shift.Lesley Logan 20:52  Some people don't actually want to pay the investment that the transformation would cost, so those people will always be looking for a deal, constantly frustrated. They're the ones who are buying this silly tool this week, and the next thing over here, they're bouncing around. But there are people when, if you reframe it to the investment for what you want to achieve, as Julian said, the investment you want to achieve for your desired goal is going to be one of time and money, right? So you change the word to investment, and then in doing that, you're going to shift the mindset from cost to investment, right? Which is a really good shift you want to make in someone's brain, because they invest in things all day long. They invest time in scrolling on their Instagram, they invest time in being in traffic, they invest time on a lot of different things. So, how can we shift the investment of time and money to something that actually works for them? When I was teaching mat classes only, and I was trying to get people in them, I would say, "Stop spending time in traffic, spend that hour in Pilates and get home in 20 minutes after,"Brad Crowell 21:54  Right.Lesley Logan 21:54  So I had people literally come to my mat class two nights a week that I had it, and they loved it, because instead of sitting in traffic for 90 minutes, they did an hour of Pilates, and then it takes them 25 minutes to get home, same amount of time, but they actually got a transformation to go with it. So really shifting that mindset. And then when people do ask for discounts, you have to have some confidence in the product that you have. I keep telling our agency members, "You need to have courage and conviction in what you do," and that also means telling people how they have to be to be a client of yours. My trainer has so much courage and conviction, she is like, "You cannot be a client of mine if you can't commit to this many times." Yeah, and I really do think that if a lot more Pilates instructors said that, yes, they might have fewer clients in the beginning, but I actually think they would have more later, because the transformation of their clients that they're getting would get them more clients.Brad Crowell 22:44  Yeah, I think this is a perfect transition into what I was hoping to talk about, which is... there was a moment where he was talking about Steve Jobs and the iPhone, right? And he's like, he wasn't like, "Hey, do you think it'd be cool if maybe you guys might want..." none of that. It was like, "Hey, check out this amazing tool that we built that's gonna change your lifeLesley Logan 23:07  Yeah.Brad Crowell 23:07  radically," right? And he said, so he was talking about confidence, right? And there's a difference between polling your audience and getting feedback, and how do you present the thing that you sell or do, right?Lesley Logan 23:21  Absolutely certain that there were NDAs signed of people who were looking at the iPhone before we got it. Brad Crowell 23:27  Yeah, but Julian pointed out that you have to be confident enough that the universe will present you what you need when you need it, riht? Lesley Logan 23:35  Yeah.Brad Crowell 23:36  And that is a scary thing. That is the "leap and the net will appear" kind of approach, right? And obviously, that's definitely something that gets severely tested, and Julian acknowledged that, for sure, especially when you have financial needs, and the wrong clients are coming through your door, but saying... y'all were talking about clients, and the clients that will stay with you for the long haul or not, right? And it's always a scramble at first, like we'll take anybody who comes in the door, but what if our messaging, like we were just talking about, was attracting the correct person who we want to serve and is excited to get the transformation? Yeah, they're going to stay with you way, way longer. And I am... I don't know if you picked up on it if you listened to the interview, but I was so proud because we had a bunch of agency members fill out his big questionnaire, and he compared agency members' stats against the industry stats. And what he said was that agency members retain their clients longer. Yeah, and I was really, really excited to hear that.Lesley Logan 24:49  Yeah and it's because our Agency members, even their process to become a client of theirs sets them up so that they're not getting these crazy wackos that just want to bounce from place to place. They are actually set up to make sure that they are the right client, they're advertised in the right place. One of our members is actually changing her website to being specifically their Pilates studio for women over 40.Brad Crowell 25:15  Cool.Lesley Logan 25:15  Right? Because she's like, "I'm tired of getting calls from 20-year-olds who are comparing me to this other studio over here. That's not what we offer. And even if they can't afford my intro offer, they don't like the classes because they're not for Pilates princesses." And it's like, right. So, there are women who are fucking tired, like, "I want to go to Pilates, but all these Pilates princesses are pictured." And so this client of ours has women over 40 pictured. That's going to matter so much to them, right. And so I am so proud of our agency members. They have solid businesses, and you have a business you can depend on, you're not going off what the trends are. And I really think that right now the Pilates bubble is bursting in several ways. One, Hailey Bieber just announced that too many studios are out there, and they're crappy teachers. Hailey Bieber wrote this. And then The Guardian did an entire article about how people are getting hurt all the time doing Pilates. And here's the thing: if you were doing real Pilates, you could not get hurt if you were actually ready for the exercise that you're doing. Most of the time, people are getting injuries because they're in large group classes that are not on real reformers, and or their teacher was not trained thoroughly enough, and so the teacher's boss is all about how fun the class is and how entertained and how packed the classes are versus the results that they're getting. And I think Julian would back me up on this. Going back to the transformation you want to have and the investment you have to have: I have to get you that transformation, which means you have to show up, but I have to have the teachers that are quality. And so I actually think between the recession that we are all expecting to show up and the fact that people are not going to see the results they want by studios where the people aren't trained fully.Brad Crowell 27:04  Yeah.Lesley Logan 27:05  I do see the pendulum swinging now. How far is it? It's not going to swing that far if you are a solid studio that truly knows what you're doing and why you do it, and you're not begging people to take class for you by offering it for free, but instead you're like, "If you want to participate here, here's how often you have to come, here's the transformation we can provide you, and here's how we do that." You come every other week, I can't get you shit.Brad Crowell 27:26  Yeah, and being real with them. That's where that confidence comes into play, having the confidence to know that the universe will present you what you need when you need it. I remember trying to convince clients, I remember how much time I spent trying to convince clients that we were the right agency for them, or coaching group for them, or web development company for them, or whatever. And it always felt like I'm really good at that, but then we would land a client and they were just the fucking worst client. They never delivered the photos that they said that they had, or they never gave me copy, and so ultimately I'd start this project, we would take a deposit, start the project, and then get stuck, right? Or we would have clients come in, they'd pay us one time for coaching, and then they would never participate, and then they would disappear. And that just felt like such a waste of effort on both our time and theirs.Lesley Logan 28:25  Totally.Brad Crowell 28:26  That time payment didn't feel worth it. It certainly wasn't satisfying. We didn't help them, right? And so.Lesley Logan 28:31  It's also why we've even changed how agency operates now, because it definitely is only attractive to people who are willing to actually do the work.Brad Crowell 28:39  Yeah.Lesley Logan 28:39  You have to do the work. You can't just do calls with me or Brad every quarter and whine and whatever, and then go, "Well, I got this action, I can go make a checklist, and I can feel like I did something new." No, Agency now requires you to ask a lot of questions, put your problem in there, go watch a course, come to an office hour, ask which course to watch, ask what next steps to take, like, you actually have to do the action. And the reason I love that more, even though it's definitely not a sexier sell, is that what we do actually fucking works. I know that, and the people who've listened to us have been with us for years, and when they do the work, it works. Period, end of story. And we recently were at an event, and I saw one of our ex-Agency members who paid because they wanted the transformation, but didn't want to do the work. And then this person would also do the things I said not to do all the time, and then they would come back with a problem. And it's like, "Okay, with the contract you've already signed, there's not a lot I can do, because you made a contract without asking our opinions, and then you signed it." And that person is like, "Yeah, I've just been so overwhelmed, and I'm closing these two studios, I'm doing this, I'm just downsizing a lot." And I just wanted to go, "I fucking told you." Yeah, but here's the thing: I have courage and conviction in how we coach and who we are for, and I know what we can do with people who will do the work. And that means, though, you have to also have courage and conviction in what you offer as a studio. And if that means telling someone, "I actually don't work with clients who are in and out every single week, unless they're gonna do homework, and if you're gonna do homework, it means you have to do it three to four days a week." You have to tell people, "I just don't work with those people, because I don't want to take your money, that's dirty money." Any studio that takes your money and tells you that they can get you what you want, and you're only going to come in once a week or every couple of weeks, is lying to you. If you educate people on that, I'm telling you, you will get a great client. And here's why I can tell you this with my own courage and conviction, with another story: I used to sell a teacher training program for Equinox, and I would always ask people, "Where are you in your research process? Oh, I'm the first person you're talking to? Great, let me explain to you how training programs are not apples to apples. Let me explain to you what it is that you need to be looking for, what questions to be asking." By the way, these are all in my book. "What questions to be asking, what you need to be experiencing, what these things are. When you go and look to other places, I want you asking these questions, because if they don't have answers that work with your life, it does not matter the price, you will be stuck. So I can tell you right now, based on the local programs that I know that exist, we are more expensive on paper, but here's where we solve a lot of those problems. Why don't you go back, do your research, call me back, let's do another thing." I could follow up with them, and there'd be people who say, "You're too expensive, that's too much time, I can't make blah blah blah." And then they would come back and they'd sign up, because they would go do the research, and they would realize that on paper, while we're more expensive, we actually have more things. So you have to have that with people, because if someone's gonna price shop, they're gonna price shop, but I can tell you why. "Oh, well, we're more expensive than them because we're three people, not 12." Hello, educate them. They don't know.Brad Crowell 31:53  Yeah, they don't know. Lesley Logan 31:55  So you're getting resentful of them, but they don't know what they don't know. You have to say.Brad Crowell 31:58  Yeah can also say something like, "Our teachers have 600 hours of certifications under their belt," or something like that.Lesley Logan 32:04  Yeah, when people would do that when we were at the studios, like, "Oh, well, this is more expensive than the Pilates across the street." "Yeah, well, those teachers can only teach on one item, they can only teach on a Reformer, and that's all they're trained on. These are comprehensively trained teachers. These people did at least nine months to a year of training, they spent $8,000-plus, and they have access to all this equipment to get you the goals you want. But if you have to go off of that investment, I get it, go do it over there." Anyways, well, I could keep talking for hours, but we should get to the Be It Action Items, because clearly, I love Julian's data, and I love that we can help people. Knowing what the data is really helps us understand where they are in their business and what they have to focus on. Because you're not going to focus on new clients and retention at the same time. If you have great retention, you don't need new clients.Brad Crowell 32:51  Right.Lesley Logan 32:52  You know, you don't need as many anyways. Okay.Brad Crowell 32:54  Yeah. Well, stick around, we'll be right back. All right. So, finally, let's talk about those Be It Action Items: what bold, executable, intrinsic, or targeted action items can we take away from your conversation with Julian Barnes? He said on client commitment and transformation, Julian said that the first step in the transformation is transforming your daily routine. He emphasized that people need to adopt a new routine, one that says, "I'm coming on Tuesday morning, Thursday after work, and Saturday morning. I'm committed to this change," right? For studio owners, you are more likely to be successful if you present a prescription that gives your client the opportunity to adopt a new routine from day one.Lesley Logan 33:41  Yeah.Brad Crowell 33:41  Right? Like, think about it, if you've got a person coming in the door and you try to get them to make a change, let's say you've had a client for a really long time, and then you try to get them to make a change, do they make the change? Very rarely, right? People get annoyed at change, they get frustrated at change, they like what they like, they like what they have. But if you set that precedent right out of the gate, this is how people get change here.Lesley Logan 34:08  Yes, right, I love that. Well, also, I had a client who was always late, and they'd always apologize, and I had a client before them and after them, and I never gave them more time, and they weren't asking. I said, "Hey, don't apologize to me. This is on you. If you only want a 45-minute session, I have no problem with that. But if you want the full session, you have to ask yourself why you don't feel worthy enough to have a full session so that you can figure out how you have to leave work early. But that's the change you have to make. It has to be based on what you want, it can't be on me." And you know what? She was never late again.Brad Crowell 34:41  Yeah, it's a great example, because what Julian said, which I thought was kind of snuck in there again, he said, "Keep your power."Lesley Logan 34:52  Yeah.Brad Crowell 34:53  Right? We have power. The power is that we are the authority figure, right? And I mean, not in a tyrant kind of a way, but you can say to someone, "This is how it works here, this is how we see people have success here, and this is what we recommend for you."Lesley Logan 35:10  I think we'll just go into my action takeaway, which is like, if you're actively listening to what they have to say, you literally hear what they are, and you use those words, and you connect them to how your services are offered, then you have to step into the authority, because they came to your house.Brad Crowell 35:26  Yeah.Lesley Logan 35:26  If this person came to your house, and you are a "no shoes in the house" person, would you just go, "I guess I'll let them wear shoes"? No, this is a no-shoes house, right? It's a no-shoes house. So, if you are like... I always tell people, take my shoes off, we don't, but you're the person who does, how come you can't be that at the business where you actually are an authority? This is where, I think a lot of people have doubt about the benefits that they can have, because they themselves have forgotten their own practice.Brad Crowell 35:53  Sure.Lesley Logan 35:54  And they themselves have not made any clients actually have consistency, and so they're not actually having the benefits to back up their power. But you have 100 years of Joe Pilates's work working to go off of. So if you are a new teacher, you have 100 years, literally 100 years. This is the year, this year is 100 years that he came to the United States to go off of this, and then you go... I'll give you the advice that I was given, and we'll wrap this up. My first week as a teacher at a studio at Equinox, this teacher said to me, "The best advice they can give you is to get one client and make them your own, like, make them obsessed with you, and you'll have all the clients." And I made those clients obsessed with me, and they did start getting results, results that they weren't getting with their other Pilates instructor, because I got them from... right, because that other Pilates instructor let them come and go. So, please, I was like, "Nope, you have to make up that session you're about to miss next Sunday. I'll see you on Friday. Let's do it. Let's go. I'll make the time." And it's because, one, I need the money, but two, I listened to that advice, and that advice gave me conviction and authority to sit here today and tell you, if you make people be consistent, they get results.Brad Crowell 37:05  Yeah.Lesley Logan 37:06  So be the boss. They came to you.Brad Crowell 37:08  Yeah, they came to you. Don't give away your power.Lesley Logan 37:11  If you need help with that, if you need these pep talks, you should just go to agency.Brad Crowell 37:15  Yeah, this couldn't be an easier segue here. Lesley Logan 37:19  I mean, so profitablepilates.com/agency go there. We have for sure, at the time that we're recording this, one amazing way to work with us. It's quite possible the second way, which is a secret, is available. I'm not sure.Brad Crowell 37:31  It's possible.Lesley Logan 37:32  possible. And if you don't see it, then you book a call with Brad, and you ask him which one is best for you and what's going on there. But we can help you. We can help you.Brad Crowell 37:40  We can certainly support you with these things.Lesley Logan 37:42  Yep.Brad Crowell 37:42  And you can keep your clients longer, too.Lesley Logan 37:44  Yeah, you get all the benefits that our clients get.Brad Crowell 37:47  Yeah.Lesley Logan 37:47  And also, guess what? You get a predictable, boring business, which is so nice. Go be entertained by your streamers, not by your business. Okay, life's stressful enough. I don't need an up and down on my business to be what's going on, what I'm going my vibes off of. Okay, I'm Lesley Logan.Brad Crowell 38:04  And I'm Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 38:05  Thank you so much. I hope this was fun. It was an interesting deep dive into the industry, and Julian, his company does some really great work that is on the data. So, BFS is the company. We'll put the links in the show notes. Share this with a Pilates instructor friend who needs to hear it.Brad Crowell 38:21  Yeah.Lesley Logan 38:22  And until next time, Be It Till You See It.Brad Crowell 38:24  Bye for now.Lesley Logan 38:26  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 39:08  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 39:13  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 39:17  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 39:25  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 39:28  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Plenty of Pilates studios look successful from the outside. The numbers tell a different story. In this episode, Lesley Logan sits down in person with Julian Barnes, co-founder and CEO of the BFS Network, the boutique fitness industry's market intelligence company behind the annual State of the Industry report. Julian brings the data from 500-plus studios across 46 states. Lesley brings the how. Together they break down the five numbers that separate a real business from an expensive hobby, and what it actually takes to keep clients for years instead of weeks. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:The five KPIs that profitable studios track every month.Why referrals still beat social media for new leads.How to structure an intro offer that converts.The objection scripts that turn a maybe into a yes.Why holding clients accountable is what kills churn.Episode References/Links:BFS Network – bfsnetwork.comBFS Pilates Studio Benchmarks Report - BFSreport.com or BFSpilatesreport.comFacebook https://beitpod.com/thebfsnetwork https://www.facebook.com/thebfsnetwork?mibextid=wwXIfr&mibextid=wwXIfrSubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questionsGuest Bio:Julian Barnes is Co-Founder and CEO of the BFS Network, the premier growth accelerator and market intelligence company in the beauty, fitness, and self-care industry. He leads BFS' CEO Network — the premier peer-to-peer leadership network for multi-location, multimillion-dollar operators who are building to scale — and serves as Managing Director of the Global Leadership Council, whose members collectively operate more than 10,000 locations worldwide. He also serves as an Outside Director for a global fitness brand. Barnes created NYU's Institute in Entrepreneurship & Small Business Management and served on the US Tennis Association's Investment Committee, which managed a $200M portfolio. He holds a BA from Tufts and a JD from UNC Chapel Hill.If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Julian Barnes 0:00  You have to be confident enough, both in your own abilities and that the universe will provide for you the right way. You have to be confident enough to say no to the wrong person, so you keep space open for the right person, as you said, and you have to be confident that the universe is going to bring that right person to you.Lesley Logan 0:24  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. Lesley Logan 1:05  All right, Be It babe. This is really for my Pilates studio owners and teachers out there, people who want to open a Pilates studio. We are going to get deep in numbers, and you're hearing me talk a lot about my thoughts about the Pilates industry and how you are going to have a profitable Pilates business. So it's kind of fun. If you've never heard me talk Pilates business, and you want to hear my thoughts, you can. For those of you who are Profitable Pilates members, you're going to hear some of my favorite things to say, and I think you're going to be really impressed with how amazing your studios are doing compared to others. But also, I think it's really important to know what the stats are. What is going on in the Pilates history? It is changing. There are a lot of studios, but are these studios actually as successful as they look? Lesley Logan 1:28  So, I think this report is really fun. If you watch it on YouTube, you're gonna see the visuals of these numbers. If you're like me and need to see them, you can watch it there. We'll also have everything in the show notes and in the blog as well. You guys are awesome. Here is Julian from the BFS Network. Lesley Logan 1:43  All right, loves, this is gonna be fun. You guys get to hear me in my own element, probably a little more behind the scenes of what we do with other businesses, but we have an incredible guest here. We'll talk a lot of numbers, so if you're a visual person, you might want to watch this on our YouTube channel. Julian from the BFS Network, you are here. Hello, tell everyone who you are and what you rock at, because they're going to want to know.Julian Barnes 2:18  Lesley, I am here in your home studio in Las Vegas. This is not Zoom. This is.. I could touch your high five. Here we go. There we go. Awesome. Hello, everyone. My name is Julian Barnes. I am the co-founder and CEO of the BFS Network. I am based in New York City, here in Vegas to hang out with my good friend Lesley and Brad. We are the BFS Network. For today's conversation, the most important thing I'm going to share is we are known as the premier market intelligence company in the boutique fitness industry. We publish the State of the Industry report, which is the annual report, which is the most comprehensive report in our industry. A lot of data, a lot of KPIs, a lot of metrics, all focused on showing what profitable studios do. So I'm here today with Lesley, and I'm going to share some of the numbers, and she's going to tell us how to achieve those numbers.Lesley Logan 3:13  Yeah, I'm excited. Let's go, let's do it. I'm a visual person, so I'm glad you got a visual for us.Julian Barnes 3:18  So the first thing I want to just talk about is who participated in the survey. In addition to the Profitable Pilates community, this survey has been conducted over the last 18 months, 500-plus studios worldwide. Most importantly, it is the overwhelming majority, 89% of the studios that participated in the survey have three or fewer locations, and most of them have one location, individually owned, self-financed, no private equity, no investor. So we're talking about just the regular studio owner who bootstrapped and saved, and maybe borrowed from the bank to open, that's who's in here. There's no Solidcore in here, there's no Barry's, there's no SoulCycle. And if there are some independent Club Pilates franchisees, they're individually owned, they're not big corporate, so that's.Lesley Logan 4:17  Not one of those people who owns 75 or 100 sharing. Yeah, yeah.Julian Barnes 4:21  Exactly. All right, so that's who's in it. Also, there's broad geographical distribution of the survey, meaning 45% of the responses came from cities with a population of half a million or more, 45% came from cities 50,000 to half a million, another 10% are rural areas less than 50,000, 46 out of 50 states, so we have geographic representation, we have market size representation, one, two, and three locations, no PE, no investors, so we're talking about the average mom-and-pop small studio everywhere in this country.Lesley Logan 4:57  Okay, you know I'm gonna want to have dinner where the four states are, so we got a find studio close to. Julian Barnes 5:01  It's like three S's. No, three N's. So it's North Dakota, Nebraska, and I forget the other two.Lesley Logan 5:08  Okay, I have a really great city for you, Nebraska solo owner, really pretty incredible, open for over 20 years. Julian Barnes 5:13  That's what we need. Okay. So that's who we're talking about. The way we're going to rock today is talk about the BFS scorecard, which is six KPIs. I'm going to share with the listeners, all of you, the six KPIs that profitable studios track, and I'm going to tell you what those KPIs are. And then we're going to come back, and I'm going to ask Lesley how and what a studio should do to achieve those KPIs. So, I am the "what" today; Lesley is going to be the "how."Lesley Logan 5:49  Yeah. So, for those of you, this is how it was explained to me, and I think this is a lot of fun for my peeps to listen. He's gonna be that Steve Kornacki at the big board, and I'm gonna come in as Rachel Maddow or Chris Hayes. I mean, obviously I watch a news channel, so there we go. So I'm gonna come in with my opinion and my punditry.Julian Barnes 6:07  You don't have blonde hair, so you're not that other channel.Lesley Logan 6:09  I'm not. Also, these are still my cheeks, my lips, my eyes.Julian Barnes 6:18  All real, keeping it real. Okay, so KPI number one is number of leads per month, and Profitable Pilates studios generally are generating somewhere between 10 to 50 leads per month. The number one response is more than 50 leads, so 30% of the respondents generated more than 50 leads, and then the tie for second was less than 10 leads per month and 10 to 25. Less than 10 was 20%, 10 to 25 is 21%, so that's basically a tie. I don't know for sure, but if I had to guess, the studios that are generating more than 50 leads a month are probably mat Pilates with larger class sizes, and yeah, they need more leads.Lesley Logan 7:09  I think anytime you need more leads, it's probably better having more class-based classes. Yeah.Julian Barnes 7:13  Exactly. And so the studios with less than 10 or 10 to 25 are probably more of the Reformer.Lesley Logan 7:19  Yeah.Julian Barnes 7:19  So number of leads per month is the first metric to track. I'm going to run through these quickly, and then we're going to come back. Okay, so the first KPI is number of leads per month, and the highest response was more than 50 leads per month. 30% of the Profitable Pilates studios that we surveyed generate more than 50 leads per month, and I would imagine that the majority of those are Pilates mat classes, where they have more people in seats and bigger studios, and they need to fill classes. Tied for second was less than 10 leads per month and 10 to 25 leads per month, and that is between 20 and 21% of the people who completed this assessment selected less than 10 and 10 to 25. So number of leads per month is the first KPI that we're going to talk about. Second KPI is the conversion rate, and let's see if I can do this, because I'm not an idiot, is what I told you, right?Lesley Logan 8:19  You're doing great. So there we go.Julian Barnes 8:22  Conversion rate of leads to first-time visitors. I can't wait for Lesley to break this down, but it's one thing for someone to email you, to DM you, to IM you to say, "I'm interested, send me more information about your studio." It's another thing for that person to actually walk in the door, and so conversion rate of lead to first-time visitor, Profitable Pilates studios are converting at more than 30%. 54% of the Profitable Pilates studios are converting at more than 30%. So think about that: for every 10 leads, the best studios are getting three of those 10 emails to walk in the door, right? So, conversion rate of leads to first-time visitors. Now they came, they took a class, they bought the intro offer. The question is, what percentage of those people made a second, bigger purchase? They already purchased the intro offer. I like to think about it like this: you go to a restaurant the first time and you have a nice meal. My question is always, am I going to come back? And especially if you bring a friend with you, maybe it's your favorite restaurant, and you bring a friend with you to your favorite restaurant, and you pay for the dinner. The question for your friend is, did you enjoy your dinner, and did you enjoy your dinner enough that you would come back and pay for it? That second purchase, same thing applies with studios, so they bought the intro offer. Did they come back? And Profitable studios, 55% of Profitable Pilates studios convert to a second, bigger purchase more than 30% of the time. So see how small these numbers get: for every 10 leads, three walk in the door, and of those three that walk in the door, only one is making a next purchase. So Lesley's gonna break that down. She is chomping up the bits, waiting for me. Lesley Logan 10:13  I can't wait. Julian Barnes 10:13  All right, so those are the first three KPIs. Okay, so the last two KPIs we'll talk about are average member lifetime value, which is how long they stay, and so the largest category for Profitable Pilates studios, 28% of Profitable Pilates studios have a lifetime value greater than two years. The good news is, hence the name of Profitable Pilates, that 71% of the Profitable Pilates studios that completed this assessment have an LTV of more than two years, and that's really important. I'll let Lesley weigh in on why that's important, but the number is more than two years. You want to be an LTV more than two years. Julian Barnes 10:56  And finally, the last KPI we're going to talk about today is churn, and churn means how often your members leave and you have to go refill that spot. You can't grow if you're constantly replacing someone in your studio. So Profitable Pilates studios, 43% of profitable Pilates studios minimize churn to less than 5%, but here again, the Profitable Pilates community that Lesley runs, 71% of the people who completed this assessment have a churn less than 5%.Julian Barnes 11:31  So let's recap. The five KPIs are number of leads per month, converting those leads from lead to first visit, converting the first visit to a second purchase, assuming the first visit is an intro offer, second purchase, then how long do they stay, and do you retain them by minimizing churn? Those are the five KPIs. That's what Profitable studios do in the Pilates sector. Lesley, now tell the people.Lesley Logan 12:02  Oh my gosh.Julian Barnes 12:03  Tell the people, Lesley, what they're supposed to do to achieve these numbers. How do they get these number of leads per month?Lesley Logan 12:11  Okay, so here's a really great... I just want to say I'm really proud of the people who filled this out, because my goal has always been for the people we coach for the long term. I'm like, your business should get really boring, like it should get really predictable. My goal is that some of our people need one lead a month because they actually don't have room, and they're actually referring out to other businesses in the area. That obviously is more of a smaller studio that doesn't have large group classes, but that is the absolute goal, because it's better to be entertained in your life, your business should not be so entertaining. Lesley Logan 12:39  So what I would say is, for studios to have a really great conversion, if you don't know how many leads you're getting a month, that's important. You got to start there, and you want to know where they're coming from, because that really does help you understand where you're spending your time marketing. Everyone tries to sell you to the moon and back that you should be on social media. You might not need to be, depends on your community, right? Depends on how many people are there, and depends on how many leads you need. I know that sounds crazy in 2026 that I would tell someone that it's not about social media, but it's not, more and more people are not necessarily trusting what they're seeing on socials because of AI and things like that. So, you really want to have an amazing network of clients who love you, who refer people out, so you're getting strong, solid leads, because those are gonna be the ones that actually come in over just reaching out to see what's going on.Julian Barnes 13:22  You just said something I want to jump on. I didn't mention it, but we also asked studio owners what was their most effective lead gen tactic. You want to guess what that answer is, Lesley?Lesley Logan 13:33  Referral.Julian Barnes 13:34  By far, in every modality.Lesley Logan 13:39  Yes. And here's what people.Julian Barnes 13:40  It's two to one, like it wasn't close. And again, these are profit, not just Pilates, all modalities. The number one lead gen tactic is referrals. So when you said people don't trust what's on the social and socials, what do people trust?Lesley Logan 13:56  They trust their friends.Julian Barnes 13:57  They trust people they know, people who they know, like, and trust.Lesley Logan 14:00  So here's the thing: if you are a new business right now, or you need people right now, if you're spending all of your time marketing yourself through stuff online and buying ads, that's one way to do it. And you will get people. I'm not saying that doesn't work, but you will get more people quicker if you actually tell the people who know, like, and trust you, whether they're clients or not, "Here's what my studio does, here's who we help, here's how we help them. Who do you know?" If you say, "Who do you know?" it opens a loop. You open a loop, people aren't likely to say, "I don't know anyone," because they'd have to think about that. But if you say, "Who do you know?" it opens this loop, and they start being aware of it. And if their friend's like, "Oh, my shoulder hurts," they go, "Oh, I just heard about the studio down the street." People will refer you people, and those are the people who actually come in, more likely than not, than someone who's just cruising the internet and filling out the contact form. Whoever fills out the contact form, honestly, it's whoever gets to them first and doesn't bug them.Julian Barnes 14:49  Let's take the people behind the scenes for a second. Before this call, we were chilling out in your backyard, and is it safe to say that we have some fundamental disagreements about how studios actually operate some things, right?Lesley Logan 15:27  I think that's okay, though.Julian Barnes 15:36  I wanted them to know that the things you and I agree on are the most important fundamental aspects of running a business. The things we disagree on, I say they're on the fringe, they're just a matter of choice. But this, having referrals, know, like, and trust that, it is tested over time.Lesley Logan 15:26  Yeah, I mean, it's so true. And also, it just makes it a lot easier on you if you need clients today. You opened the studio recently, or you hired a new teacher, or you opened some new classes, you need people to fill those seats today, you will always have a faster rate of transitioning them into clients if you're going to your community and the people who trust you, because they will talk about you, they will have a trust transference. If you are waiting for people to fill out your contact form, then it's like, well, they wanted you at 11:00 PM last night while they were watching someone on some TV show doing what they thought was Pilates, so they reached out, but now it's 8:00 AM or 9:00 AM in the morning and they're at work. Then it's like, "Well, I'm too busy this weekend," so you got to get people when they're excited. Lesley Logan 16:07  If you have a 30% conversion rate from the lead into coming in, that's great. I actually don't think that that's a terrible... I think if you have higher than that, you are doing great, but if you have lower than that, that's where I have concern. I feel like 30% feels very fair. Where I want you to really look at is from that, when they come in, if you have a lower than 30% conversion rate, you really do have an issue, because the numbers just get so small, and you're actually just wasting a lot of time. You're working really hard. And so I think this is where you, as an owner, need to look at what your onboarding experience is. How are you setting people up? Are you getting them with the right teacher? Are you the only person who's teaching them? Then it really is on you, what's going on?Lesley Logan 16:47  And this is where I think a lot of people make mistakes, because they try to sell Pilates, or whatever the modality is. People actually don't want to buy process; they want to buy the transformation, they want to buy the passion from you. And so this is where, if you're a studio owner and you're not the one who's doing these intro offers, they're going into a class, or they're going into another teacher's experience. You need someone who's got passion and actually can read the person, because you have to take what their goal is and what you offer and show how they get there. Nobody wants to hear, "Oh, you're going to buy the four-session-a-week package," because that's, no, that's a process. They want to buy in on the belief that you have that you can get them to where they want to go.Julian Barnes 17:24  You just said the magic word, and I don't know if people really heard you or want to go back. You said they want to buy the what, starting with the letter T?Lesley Logan 17:34  Oh, the transformation.Julian Barnes 17:35  Say that again.Lesley Logan 17:36  The transformation. They want the transformation, they want the end result.Julian Barnes 17:38  I like to say that there is no transformation without the transaction. There is no transformation without the transaction. So you have to ask the question, why are you here, and you have to actively listen to what they say, and then be prescriptive in your answer to the question. Okay, so you want X, Y, or Z. Great. Here's how you're going to get that: two times a week, three times a week. You're going to take this class, that class, this class, etc. You're going to give them a prescription, just like a doctor would give you a prescription, and tell them when they ask what does it cost, you reframe it. The investment for you to achieve your desired goal is going to be one of time and money. The time is twice a week or three times a week, and the monthly investment for that is going to be X.Lesley Logan 18:29  I agree so much, because if you can actually get them to understand that this is a tool to the transformation, and they can make that transaction, and you break it down, you can also be honest with them, and this is where trust is really built. Some people are going to come to you with goals that are not in alignment with what you do. If you actually tell them... for example, in Pilates in LA, every single person wants to lose five pounds, and it's like, "Well, here's what we know about science. Science would say, if you want to lose weight, it's a few different factors, and any fitness is part of the journey, but it's not the tool." The actual tool, especially if you're serving women, is: what are your hormones like? What are you eating? And then you can go from there. But if all you do is work out to lose weight, you might lose a couple pounds, you might change the metabolism you've got, but it's actually not going to get you to the goal. Lesley Logan 19:20  And so this is where it's really cool for people, and this is what I coach people on their first-time sessions, is find out what they're there for, and then tell them you can or can't help them. So I would always say, "Here's how Pilates is going to be part of your journey, here's what we can't do, but here's what we can do." First of all, most people are lied to so much, or sold a bunch of smoke and mirrors, that they actually will like that you told them that. They might not buy from you, they might go to someone else, or they might try something else and come back, because they actually believe and trust you. I really do believe in being authentic here. And then when you're teaching the sessions, you need to actually tell them, "Here's why I've chosen this exercise for you, here's why this exercise is going to hit your goals." That's what people don't do, they just keep talking about Pilates this, Pilates that. Pilates is now on every corner, so maybe that worked in the 1990s or might have worked in the early 2000s, but it doesn't work today. You actually have to say, "With my eye, I'm seeing your shoulder is doing this, and you have back pain, and so what I'm seeing is because of this imbalance, you're gonna have back pain until we get this balanced. So, here's these three exercises we're going to do, and they're going to help you with this." You have to actually tell them, take them behind the scenes. I like to say that their first sessions, their intro sessions, are like going to a buffet. They get to see all the different options, and you're going to talk about all the different options, and then you're going to prescribe them, like Julian said, like, "Hey, okay." First of all, I never say, "Did you like that?" You got to just go with confidence. You're like, "Thank you for letting me teach you," because that gives gratitude, it lets them know the session's over, and then you go into, "You said you wanted this. Here's how we're going to get there. Here's the process." Julian Barnes 19:20  Here's the roadmap.Lesley Logan 19:20  Yes. And then if they're like, "Whoa, that's too much for me." If you go through all the investment and all the time, and they're like, "That's more than I can spend right now," you can say, "I understand. We can take a little longer; instead of coming three times a week, we can do two times a week, or we can do this and this," but you have to actually help them find a way. I get it, some people don't work out, so that's not even the money, it's the actual going from zero times at the gym to coming three times. You're asking a lot, so this is where you have to be honest, and this is where I think our industry really needs a little kick in the pants, and a nice one. People that are with me a long time have heard me say this: if you aren't going to hold people accountable to their goals, you're going to become a to-do that they move around all the time.Julian Barnes 21:28  1,000%. And remember, they came to you. You didn't go find them.Lesley Logan 21:34  Yeah.Julian Barnes 21:35  Even if you did, even if you went to the local farmers market, you didn't force them to give you their email. Lesley Logan 21:40  Yeah.Julian Barnes 21:40  They gave you their email. They walked into the door. You have to ask them why they walked in, and you have to actually listen, so you can connect what they said with what you're going to say. You know what you're going to say, you know what your packages are. The question is, can you connect your packages to the goal they told you they want to achieve? It is not about giving permission, you are the person in the position of authority.Lesley Logan 22:09  Well, that's the thing. You just said you are the person in the position of authority, and that's where people don't see themselves.Julian Barnes 22:15  Retain your power.Lesley Logan 22:16  And so when people come to us, I have to constantly remind them that you're so worthy. If you have people who are late canceling and you're not charging them, I promise you, you're losing that client. That's not a client you want, by the way, but it's also you're losing that client because when push comes to shove. Julian Barnes 22:31  They're not committed. Lesley Logan 22:33  Right. When their budget has an issue, when something comes up, they're like, "Oh, I'm going to cancel my Pilates," because they're not actually seeing results, because you didn't hold them accountable to get results. I think this is where people really have to actually remember there is such a thing as you being in relation to them, and there is a camaraderie, but you're also the expert. They came to you, and the only way that they can exchange the energy is to pay you that worth, but you have to hold them accountable so that they get those results. And when you get them the results, that's why you don't have churn, that's why your churn is so low, and that's why you'll have clients for life. And by the way.Julian Barnes 23:05  We're gonna come back to that. Lesley Logan 23:05  Okay I just want to say, I think a lot of people go, "Oh, this person came to me, I hope they like me." You can't be like that if you want a business that actually works and doesn't stress you out at the end of the day. You have to actually have the authority, because you are the expert. They don't know.Julian Barnes 23:21  You have to be a little bit like Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs said you don't ask the customer what they want; you tell the customer what they need. None of us raised our hand and said we want a phone, remember the Blackberries and the Treos, and we want a contact management thing, we want to surf the web. No one said, "I want that." He presented it to us and said, "Here, isn't this cool?"Lesley Logan 23:45  Yeah, right. I think that's where, I understand some people's first-time sessions are in a group class. I would argue that that's a harder way to sell things. I would absolutely say, if you are a class-based studio and you want to have clients for life, you should have some sort of onboarding that allows them to be either on their own or in a very small group of other people who are also on an intro, so that you can actually find out why they're there and actually tell them how these exercises on whatever equipment you're teaching them actually help them reach their goal. Because if you just put them in a class with a bunch of other people, first of all, they get lost, and the experienced people get annoyed if the teacher keeps teaching to the newbie. You're going to lose people; they're going to start going, "I'm not getting challenged here, I'm going to this studio over here." So, I really do believe in an onboarding journey. And, of course, people are going to say, "Oh, this studio over here will let me in." Great, you should go to that studio that doesn't have any worries about you getting hurt and doesn't want your sessions to be personalized. No problem. I understand you want to get started. I actually believe in villainizing a little bit of the thing that you are not doing, so that you can actually tell people, "Here's why you wanted to work with me. Here's why you want to trust me, because I actually care about why you're here, and you're not just a number on my Reformer, you're actually a person whose impact I want. I want you to have the transformation you wanted." But I also think when they're in that first session, whatever it is, a week or a session, I really do think if you don't tell them what you're seeing in their body that's keeping them from the goal they want to have, you are missing out on an opportunity for them to understand how smart you are and how much of an expert you are. If you tell me that you want to have better posture and I'm seeing that your hip is up to one side, you have to tell people, "Oh, I noticed this, no wonder your posture is having problems. So here we're going to do these exercises." I always said this, but I think it's really where people miss out. This is where teachers keep it to themselves and they actually don't tell the client what they're seeing; they just pick exercises, but the person doesn't know why you're picking that. So, you have to peel back the curtain, so that they can see that you're in there with them, you're a partner in this journey, and you're gonna hold them accountable to hitting the goals they want, and then when they hit those, you're gonna set new ones.Julian Barnes 25:40  Right. All right, so let's talk about KPI number three: percentage of new visitors who purchase a membership or a bigger package. So we're talking specifically about people who purchase the intro offer, they finish the one week or the two week or the one month, whatever the intro offer is, they finished that. Did they pull out their credit card and make a second purchase? What should studios do, owners, and instructors do to increase the probability of a yes?Lesley Logan 26:11  I love this question so much. I'm going to take us back a little bit. So I want to go back to the intro offer. You need to pick an intro offer that actually fits the goals you need. If you need a lot of clients, the intro offer needs to be very simple, very easy. I wouldn't even give people two weeks, I think that is crazy nonsense. I also don't like free; I think you have to charge. It's very hard to go from zero to whatever you're charging. So, I would say if you need clients yesterday, you're doing a single-session intro offer with a very much hands-on experience, where someone is told, you find out what they need in an interview style, and then a concierge style at the end about what's going on. That's what you need. If you don't need a ton of clients, then your intro offer can be a little longer, and can actually be a higher need to say yes, meaning instead of doing a private session and the intro offer is $60 for one session, it might be $180 for three. That obviously is going to get rejected more, because it's a bit more. "I don't know if I want to spend $180 on you, I just met you, I don't even know you." But you don't need a lot of people, so you're like, "I only want the best to come through," right? So you really want to make sure you're picking that. Now, obviously, the higher the intro offer's time and money commitment is, the more likely you're actually going to have a second purchase if they do it in a condensed form of time. That's why I disagree with two weeks or one month, I really do, especially for in-person. I think you want to keep things quick, because when that dopamine high is happening, that's when they're more likely to buy. If it's three sessions that they can take over three weeks, good luck, because they only felt the high in the moment when they drove their car home, they actually didn't get the benefits. But if it's three sessions in one week, you're more likely to get that second purchase. You want people to feel the benefits, because let's be really honest: Joe Pilates has a quote that everyone likes to use, but they don't finish the sentence. "In 10 Pilates sessions, you feel different. In 20 sessions, you look different. In 30 sessions, you have a whole new body." But they don't finish it: "If you come three to four times a week, or your money back." That's what Joe said, that's what his ad said. If you're just coming to Pilates once a week, it'd be like trying to study Spanish once a week. I can recognize words, but I'm not going to be able to understand Bad Bunny, that's not happening. I have to do it multiple times a week, and science is there, no matter the modality. Unless you're doing something three or four times a week, you're actually not making a change.Julian Barnes 26:58  Well, that's the key, right? Earlier you said you're here for the transformation. The first step, I would argue, in the transformation is transforming your daily routine. What you just said is people need to adopt a new routine that says, "I'm coming on Tuesday morning, Thursday after work, Saturday morning." I'm committed to that change. See, hear these terms: commitment, investment, transformation. They need to commit. You need to present them with a prescription. You are more likely to be successful if you present a prescription that gives them the opportunity to adopt a new routine from day one.Lesley Logan 28:10  Here's the thing: you will sound more confident when you're talking with them if you're making them rise up to the occasion. It is understanding their intake forms.Julian Barnes 29:12  You're leading them to rise to the occasion.Lesley Logan 29:18  Yes. Here's the thing: are you more likely to come to the person who says, "When do you want to come in?" If you're someone who's listening who says, "When do you want to come in? Do you want to come in next week?" I'm going to tell you right now, your business is a hobby, and eventually the IRS is going to audit you, so that's not going to be good for you. You're not gonna be profitable. If you're telling people, "Hey, you should come, you're gonna come two times a week. I have 10:00 AM on Tuesdays and Thursdays, does that work for you?" That is me telling you. You're going, "Hmm, does it work for me?" But you're not, you're more likely to look at your calendar like, "When do I want to come in? Oh, next week actually feels really full. Now I can't come in," right? You want to actually tell people and prescribe people and have the confidence in what you're doing, and this is where I think a lot of people have a lot of fear. "Oh my god, they'll think I'm being rude." No, they won't. They're going to think that you're in control. This is a business. It's a business. Lesley Logan 30:06  And also, I don't want to waste people's money, so you can even say that. Look, here's the deal: if you're only going to come once every other week, this is kind of a waste of money. You shouldn't really do this; you could probably do something at home on YouTube. If you really want the transformation, you have to commit to it, and the commitment looks like this. That's where I would say, whether you do memberships or packages, I don't like unlimited, because that is craziness, you also can't prescribe people the times to come in. "If you want to hit this goal in the next three months, I recommend our three-time-a-week commitment. If that's too much for you, there's a two-time..." You have these things that people can choose, a journey, a path. If you're only gonna have one time a week, here's the deal: you can never miss, and I'm gonna need you to do homework, because the reality is, one time a week, if that's all you can afford time or money-wise, I get that something is better than nothing, but you gotta do something at home. Otherwise, it is a waste of your time and money, and I don't wanna waste your money. And when you talk like that with people, they're like, "Oh, this person really knows what they're talking about." When you ask them, "When do you want to come in?" a broken clock is right two times a day. You're going to get some people, but those are the type-A people who happen to be near you or close to you, and they kind of like you. You're not going to have a business where it's easy to predict how much money you're going to make month after month.Julian Barnes 31:15  Would you say that transformation requires the three C's? You need to change your routine, you need to be consistent about the changes you're making in routine, and you have to be willing to get rid of your comfort zone, get out of your comfort zone. Very little change occurs when you're comfortable.Lesley Logan 31:37  Oh, you know what happens: if you don't change, the world does, and you just actually get further behind. So I do think that... I love all those three C's, and I think that's really helpful for people. Here's the thing, the objections you're going to get are three. There might be some other ones, but these are the three I've heard teaching for a really long time, and I used to run nine studios for a high-end fitness company, so I have heard them all, which are: "I don't have the money." Guess what, everyone says that when they actually don't really want to tell you why they can't do it, or they didn't like it. It's an easier thing. You're not going to go show me your wallet, right? So, "I don't have the money," and "I don't have the time." This is one for people who want change, but they're afraid of leaving their comfort zone. So, this is where you actually have to have a speech ready in hand. "I get that. I'm a very busy person. Here's what we're going to do: we are going to pre-schedule your sessions for the next month, so you can schedule your whole life around it. How about we start two weeks out, because it's a little easier? Two weeks out, it's not overwhelming. We're going to schedule your whole life around it, and because of our cancellation policy, you're going to cancel your friends over this, and you're actually going to get the transformation." Or they have to "think about it." If they have to think about it, there's a couple things going on. You weren't good enough at making sure they understood how what you're doing is going to help them with their transformation. You didn't get an honest goal out of them, or you actually didn't tell them how you're going to get there, so they're kind of in, but they're not sure. Or you have way too many offers. If you have too many offers, "I don't know what to do. If I see we have these packages, and we have these packages, we have this class over here, we have this class over here..." It's too confusing for me, and I have to think about it. You want things to be very easy for people to make a yes. And so, if they have to say, "Oh, I have to talk to my husband," that is also a way of saying, "I don't have the money," or "I'm not sure," because most women have the ability to spend the money on what they want. The first time I ever heard this as a brand new teacher, I said, "No problem. If your husband has any questions, here is my number. Remember, these are the goals we talked about, here's how we're going to get there." And if you want me to chat with him about how this is going to work out, I'm happy to do that. Guess what? He came up to my studio the next day and he said, "My wife can come as much as she wants, whatever she wants, she can come as much as she wants. I just want her to be happy," right? Most of the time it's not the husband; it's that she was not sure if she was worthy of the commitment, and we have to hold space for that. But if you can actually think of the objections you have, and then come up with your responses ahead of time, you're gonna come off more confident when they have those. And then guess what, they can go think about it. Okay, great. "I'm gonna reach out next week, I'm gonna reach out tomorrow, I'm gonna call back on the follow-up. Is that okay with you?" You'd be surprised how many people come in if you follow up.Julian Barnes 34:04  Now, here's one of the areas where we may disagree. I agree with everything you just said. Sometimes it's okay to say, "We may not be for you."Lesley Logan 34:13  Oh, we're not going to disagree on that. I love that.Julian Barnes 34:17  I hear you. The three objections: don't have time, can't afford it, not sure. Okay, I hear you. We may not be the right place for you. We are the place for people who are willing to make a commitment to the transformation they seek. We work with people who are committed. We work with... and then whatever's in your community, you know, describe them. They might be business owners, executives, presidents of corporations, whatever is in your tribe, in your community. We work with the best of the best. If you want to be part of that, we'd love to have you, but I get it, we may not be for you, and that's okay. Lesley Logan 34:56  That's okay. Julian, I love this, because I just coached someone today, and she was talking about, "Oh, they got sick and they couldn't do this, and now they're good there." I said, "You should fire them as clients, they're not good clients." In fact, I would call that dirty money. Every single teacher out there who's taking clients who just come in willy-nilly, that is dirty money. It's actually never going to get you good referrals. There's certainly not gonna be a walking billboard. The best advice I ever got when I first started teaching Pilates, best advice, a teacher took me aside on my first day, and he goes, "Get one client and make them obsessed with you. You focus every energy and everything you have on that one client, and you will have clients for life." And he's not wrong. I was gifted a duet session from a teacher who was moving, and I took that to heart. They're like, "We can't come next week." I'm like, "Oh, well, I'll see you... let's go with an extra one this week. Gotta make it up."Julian Barnes 35:43  Exactly right.Lesley Logan 35:44  And they're like, "What? We don't do two in a week." I'm like, "Well, you're missing next week. I'm not gonna wait two weeks to see you. What change are we gonna have? We gotta do this." They never miss a session. Guess what? Within two weeks, I had two of their friends from their building, right? Because I was like, "If you want to work with me, this is how often you have to do this." And here's the thing: when you tell people, "We might not be for you," one, some people will rise to the occasion because they don't like to be rejected, and two, you're leaving space for someone who's going to actually add to the community and make your business successful. And, by the way, more importantly, you're going to make an impact on them, because it's not fun to teach people who are not committed it's, actually exhausting.Julian Barnes 36:18  I know you believe in karma.Lesley Logan 36:19  I do. Julian Barnes 36:20  Right, as we sit in a room full of crystals everywhere.Lesley Logan 36:24  Some people, I'm wondering when their karma is coming. I'm just gonna say.Julian Barnes 36:28  So you have to be confident enough that the universe will present you what you need when you need it, and that confidence is really tested when you have some financial needs and the wrong client walks in. You have to be confident enough, both in your own abilities and that the universe will provide for you the right way. You have to be confident enough to say no to the wrong person, so you keep space open for the right person, as you said, and you have to be confident that the universe is going to bring that right person to you.Lesley Logan 37:12  Yes. Well, and.Julian Barnes 37:13  But it's not going to always be on your schedule.Lesley Logan 37:15  No. And that... well, that's here's the thing, we've been talking about these different leads, you actually don't get to decide when people are going to finally come in the door. So you have to make sure that whatever you're doing is making sure it's put in front of them and reminded in front of them, and they're reminded again until they're like, "Oh, I'm finally ready." We actually don't get to decide when they come in the door, but once they're there, we absolutely can say, "You're in my house, and in my house, this is how we do things," right? Like my house, you can leave your shoes on, we got a dog, he goes in and out, this is a desert, we're fine, but some people's houses, the shoes go off. I was just at a friend's house who's in the Pilates industry, and he's like, "Yeah, you take your shoes off," and we went upstairs, and he's like, "Oh, there's a deck, put these slippers on," and I'm like, "Oh my god, there's so many rules!" But guess what, it's his house. Those are the rules of participating in his world, and so I would just say it's okay to have these rules. It really helps people understand the boundaries, and it will make for better clients who are more consistent, and guess what, they will go back to the best way to get clients: refer you better clients.Julian Barnes 38:15  Great. So now, how do we keep them? How do you recommend that your clients act in such a way as to increase lifetime value? First of all, what is lifetime value? Second, why is it important? Third, how do you increase it? What is it? Why is it important? How do you increase it?Lesley Logan 38:34  So you can correct me. I'm going to do a simple lifetime value with clients: like if you have clients for two years, how much money do you often make off them? And getting an average of a lifetime value really helps you understand how many clients you really kind of need for your business to predict or project what you want to make. You want to make a million dollars for your studio, and your average lifetime client is X. Then you need 25 of those clients to get there, right? So it really helps you understand the business you're going to have. And our businesses, we have a really amazing lifetime value of a lot of our clients. It's kind of insane for our membership bases that are online, what they are, and so once we know those, it really helps us understand how much money are we going to spend marketing, right? Especially if you're an on-demand business or membership basis.Julian Barnes 39:12  How much you're willing to invest in marketing.Lesley Logan 39:14  Yes.Julian Barnes 39:14  If you know that your member is paying you 100 bucks a month, which is 1,200 bucks a year, and they have an average tenure of two years, then you know that you have about $2,400 for every client.Lesley Logan 39:27  Yeah.Julian Barnes 39:28  So now you back, that's not even that's before profit.Lesley Logan 39:30  Yep. Okay. Yep.Julian Barnes 39:32  Now you back that down and back that out and say, "Well, how much am I willing to invest by an acquisition cost? Am I willing to invest $100 to make $2,400? Sure. Am I willing to invest $2,000 to make $2,400? Not so much."Lesley Logan 39:32  There are people who will do that, and I think they're crazy.Julian Barnes 39:33  So you know that number because you want to know how much you want to invest.Lesley Logan 39:37  Yes, and it's really important, and it really does take time to get that value if you're a brand new studio. This is going to be something. Julian Barnes 40:00  6 to 18 months, minimum. Lesley Logan 40:02  So it's really important. What was the second two questions?Julian Barnes 40:06  That's what it is. How do you keep your members with you for two, three, four years? How?Lesley Logan 40:14  Okay, so first of all, this is going to sound crazy. If your value system doesn't include commitment and consistency, you've already started your business off on the wrong foot for a long-term lifetime value of a client. You have to actually have in your value of your business, "We want committed or consistent clients." What are we going to do? It's part of our value system to make sure that happens. Maybe that comes from communication, maybe that comes from transparency, maybe that comes from responsibility, maybe that comes from community, but you have to decide in your value system how you're going to get there from the get-go. Because everything in your value system dictates how you make decisions on who you hire, what services you offer, what days you're open, all that stuff, right? Second thing is, if you're not making sure your clients are consistent, if you're just letting them cancel and there's no fees, they're not committed. Guess what, they're going to eventually go somewhere else, because no one's making sure they show up.Julian Barnes 41:11  The word there you're looking for, I think, is accountable.Lesley Logan 41:14  Yes.Julian Barnes 41:15  Accountable. You have to hold your clients accountable to the prescription for the transformation that they said they want. You didn't tell them what they wanted; they told you what they wanted. You told them how to get it.Lesley Logan 41:29  Yeah, exactly. So, I think this is where people are afraid they'll lose clients if they uphold a cancellation policy. Nope, you'll lose them because you didn't. Now, you might lose them in the beginning, like, "This is too harsh." Great, this is not the studio for you. That studio on the street is in charge, go there. I don't know if you'll get your goals, but you won't be charged for not showing up here. You said you wanted to do this; I held a space for you, right? It's really important. And you'll say it in your own words, but I promise you, I promise you, I had clients when I was in LA... I taught in LA for 12 years. I was there for 14, taught 12 years in LA, and when COVID hit, I still had more than half of my clients from the first year I started teaching.Julian Barnes 42:08  How? What did you do to maintain that LTV?Lesley Logan 42:12  Aside from my boundaries, if I traveled, there was a teacher coming into their space at their exact same time, so their schedule didn't change just because my schedule changed. I think this is really important: no matter the size of your space, you've got to have backups or a backup policy in place, so that you can get sick, have to travel, or have a baby, and make sure that they're taken care of at the schedule that they committed to, because it's really hard for them to move their schedule, right? Second thing, if you're not reinstating what they're getting from you, you think that they're mind readers, they're not, right? So, you have to remind them how far they've come, how close they are to their goal. "Oh, you've hit this goal, where are we at now?" You also need to actually... they talk so much, they are nonstop, they think you're their therapist. If you're not listening to the things they're saying they're going to go do with their family, "Oh, you're going to go hike such and such volcano in Europe? Okay, we're going to add some exercises in to make sure you can do that. Oh, you want to start running a marathon? Okay, we got to do these things to help keep your hips open, otherwise your back's going to hurt." You need to hear the things that they're saying they want to do with their kids, their family. You have to insert yourself. Julian Barnes 43:15  You have to listen. I'm hearing you say, 'Listen, listen.'Lesley Logan 43:17  And what do most teachers do? This is the thing, I say this, the industry is having an amazing moment right now, but I promise you, right now, because all the teachers are focused on cues, and all the students are focused on how many people are in the class, you are going to see the pendulum swing the other way. Because people are not there for your cues; they're there for the transformation. And if you're not looking with your eyes at what their body is doing, you don't know what cue you need. You have to see what they're doing, and then give them the correction that they need in that moment. And because we have different learning styles and things like that, you can't... I'm sorry, you can't have memorized cues. You have to learn how to be present, and be present to listen to what they're saying when they're leaving. What are they saying? "Oh, you know, my sister's coming to town next week." Guess what I'm saying: "Oh, is your sister coming with you to class? Do we need to reschedule your sessions?" Because if you can start to train them, then they're never missing, they're getting the consistency. But you have to know that their goals are going to change with their life. My clients, 12 years long, I mean, it's amazing what height we got out of them, and they're older. So I think it's really important for people to actually remember that the impact you want to make is there if you listen, and they'll stay because you keep reminding them how Pilates is part of their life.Julian Barnes 44:32  And so churn, to wrap it up, LTV and churn are related. You want your LTV to be high so they stay with you for many years, and you want to reduce your churn, which is the percentage of clients or members who leave your studio. What are some of the best practices that studio owners can implement to minimize churn?Lesley Logan 44:53  So, I think this is where, if your business is based off waitlists and 12-hour things, and hoping people cancel so they will get off the waitlist, you're actually going to have churn. I actually think this is where we have to really think about who we're trying to serve and how we're serving them. And I would really make sure that your clients are able to be part of the journey of the growth of your business. They should be part of it, celebrated, reminded that they're there. They always need to have a name. Every single person, whoever you hire, no matter how big you get, if they are not saying people's first names, and also following up, "Oh, you've been gone for two weeks because of X surgery. How are you doing? Yes, we paused your membership, but..." actually check on them. "Oh, I don't want to bother them." Oh my god, they won't respond if you're bothering them! We have to actually stick around and be in people's lives, and follow up and remind them that they matter and that they're missed. And if you have any teachers who are not remembering people's names and not remembering that they've been gone, you're going to have a churn problem. I think the reason why my businesses have grown, even in coaching people, and that we have people who've been with us since day one, is because we constantly remind everybody who the OG people were. These people are here; they've been with us for the long haul. They remembered us when it was small, but they're being introduced to the new people when it's bigger, and they're feeling that they're part of a community. I think people forget that people, at the base of everything, just want to belong. And if you're not able to look them in the eye and remember their name and introduce them to somebody else, they're going to feel unseen at some point. So I really do think that churn is reduced when you see people as a human being.Julian Barnes 46:27  So, I have a bonus question for you which is, right in your wheelhouse as a veteran instructor, more like a comment for you to reply to, from the very beginning of this conversation, you haven't used this word, but it's my takeaway of what you've been saying: impact. We talk about how people want transformation. Talk about how do you convert from lead to first-time visitor? How do you convert from first-time visitor to second purchase? How do you keep them a long time? How do you minimize churn? To me, the answer is impact, and what we, at BFS, don't focus on front of house, we're not Pilates instructors, but you obviously are. And so what I like to remind people, and I'm going to ask you to elaborate, I like to remind people none of the processes, none of the systems, none of the messaging, none of the stuff matters if you're not delivering fire classes each and every time. Agree, disagree, assess?Lesley Logan 47:29  Oh, I agree. I also think it's really interesting because I come from this as a classical Pilates instructor, but I coach a lot of contemporary-based Pilates. So my fire classes on the Reformer always start with footwork and probably end with the same exercise. So, when you say fire classes, I think it's really important that I say.Julian Barnes 47:47  I want to say impact. The classes have to deliver impact.Lesley Logan 47:50  Yeah, they have to. Well, I'm saying I'm agreeing with you. I'm also saying you don't have to be someone who's recreating the wheel every time, but people have to feel so different than when they walked in the door, because if they feel the same, then they're not coming back. This is a nice hobby that they have, you fit the thing, but as soon as road construction's up or their job goes across town, you're out of it. Here's what I know about being a teacher for so long in LA: people would drive across freeways to stay with the same teacher because of the impact. Why would they do that when there's a studio... it's LA! There are, and by the way, it's LA, like New York, the best Pilates instructors in the world are in these places, and they're going across town. Why? It is because of the impact. And I think this is where people lose their confidence: they see other people doing things and go, "Oh, I should do that, too. Everyone's Reformers are beige now; I should do beige. Everything is this." No. What is it that you said you would give people, and what is it that they want? And if you can stay clear on that and keep understanding what their new wants are, you will have them for life.Julian Barnes 48:59  This goes back to something you said earlier today: take one client and give everything to, say that again, you said?Lesley Logan 49:07  Take one client and you make them obsessed with you, and then you'll have clients for life.Julian Barnes 49:11  Okay, so unpack that, because I think you're talking about how do you make them obsessed. To me, that sounds like you're saying give them 110%, teach the best class every time, you are the best.Lesley Logan 49:38  It goes back to accountability. I'm going to give 110% in every session, but you have to show up for the sessions, and it's a two-way street, I'm not in your body, right? So you got to make sure that they feel like they can trust you to tell you what's going on, but they have to show up

It's Fuck Yeah Friday, and Lesley Logan is fired up. This week she's celebrating a big one: teaching over 300 people Pilates at Electric Daisy Carnival in 98-degree heat, something that scared her and thrilled her in equal measure. She gets honest about the nerves, the things weighing on all of us right now, and why you have to keep celebrating the good you're doing. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:Lesley's relatable rant about apps that change without asking.The real reason your nervousness might be a good sign.Why having people in your corner actually matters.How celebrating wins changes how your whole week feels.A simple weekend mantra to carry you through hard days.Episode References/Links:@mymarialoisa - https://www.instagram.com/mymarialoisaEDC Las Vegas - https://www.electricdaisycarnival.comSubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questionsIf you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  It's Fuck Yeah Friday. Brad Crowell 0:01  Fuck yeah. Lesley Logan 0:02  Get ready for some wins. Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. Lesley Logan 0:48  Hey, Be It babe, welcome to your Fuck Yeah Friday. I'm a little fired up today, to be honest, a lot of things this year. So, let's get into it. If you're new to the Be It Pod, we do interviews and recaps on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I've been doing some more solo episodes, and you guys have been loving that, so we'll get more into that. If there's a topic I'm gonna do, you got to tell me, because I want to make sure these are fun for you. Then, on Fridays, I have an "I need a moment," I give a win, I share one of yours, and that is how we end our week, because my loves, if you are not celebrating the wins that you have in a week, it can just feel like everything is just really hard. Lesley Logan 1:21  So, my "I need a moment" and an "I need a moment" is something that we do in our communities for our eLevate members who are in our mentorship program and our Agency members who are in our business coaching program, and there's a channel where they get to rant, but they have to go share a win. So this is where I get to rant. So my rant is that everyone thinks that they should update their platforms without asking, "What do I want?" I was just going to do this work right now, and it took me six minutes to get started instead of the regular one, because my platform that I use is like, "Oh, we're gonna change your button note that tells you where all your work is. We're gonna hide it under those three dots, it's my work." I need it to be where it needs to be, a button where I can see it, and it's like, oh, there's a button where you can go, "Would you like to go back to your original profile?" Yeah, yeah, I would. Lesley Logan 2:11  And you know what I also don't like? My freaking tool that we use for projects, which I'm not gonna put on blast here, because we do love them, but I'm a little mad at them. You did this the same week that Slack also made updates, and Slack is like, "Oh, look at this new way of doing it here," as if it's easier. It's not. It's still showing me I have an unread thing, and I go to the unread, and I can't find it. So, my rant is that I should be the only reason why I'm behind, not the platforms, not the platforms. Okay, more to say on that, but I just feel like this is the elder millennial talking, right? Lesley Logan 2:44  My win is, okay, this is a big win, and normally our Fuck Yeah Fridays are little wins, but my win is, you guys, I taught over 300 people at the Electric Daisy Carnival! Yes, EDC, Las Vegas, they invited me to teach. I was so freaking nervous to do it. Over 300 people did it in 98 degrees under a tent with misters, and then they did a family photo, and it was just freaking me on. And my dream of more bodies doing Pilates is really coming true, because of course I love doing the conventions that we do, and things like that, but more importantly, I want non-teachers to get to do Pilates. That's why OPC exists. Of course we have lots of teachers who take on it, and you should, because it is a place for you to have your personal practice.Lesley Logan 3:26  But I really also want to do these big events where I'm going to people who have never done Pilates or have only heard of Pilates a little bit, and so it was just a massive win. And I looked so good. It's another win. My hair looked amazing, my outfit was amazing. If you hear a panting dog, that's our foster, Darla, so she'll be another win later on in the program. So, anyways, that's my win. I put myself on a big stage that scared the fuck out of me, and I loved it, and I can't wait to do it again. And there definitely are talks for next year. Lesley Logan 3:55  So now that we've celebrated me, actually, let me just put a little thing on that. You guys, you really should put yourself in situations that scare the fuck out of you. You should. The whole drive there, Brad's like, "Are you okay?" I'm like, "I'm really nervous right now. I'm so nervous because this is something I really care about. I really want to do a good job. I want to be asked back. I want these people to love the type of Pilates that I teach," which I think is really important and really good. "But I'm nervous that they're not going to like me, or that no one's gonna show, because it's so hot, and they put me on at 1 o'clock and it's so hot." And so we called my publicist, who's a dear friend, and we told her what we were doing, and she got appropriately excited, and started screaming, and getting so excited for me. So, thank you, Allison, for being you. I would just say, everyone, make sure that you have people in your corner that you can celebrate, or at least talk to when you're feeling a little nervous, because other people in my life are great, but I needed someone to get appropriately excited so that I could get out of my nervous energy and my nervous head. So, get that in your life, right? That might be another win. It's scary, but it's good. Lesley Logan 4:53  Okay, your win. But, anyways, yeah, go be a beginner. All right, so this is also on the same theme. @mymarialoisa, she said, "I'm beginning classical Pilates instructor training with Lesley Logan, dream come true." Have to find out in the next episode what that means. All right, loves, as you know, we must do a mantra. Also, you should send your wins in, send your wins in, because @mymarialoisa is going to hear this on a day that she's probably stressed out about that program that she's doing with me, and you need to hear a win that you had in the past, so you can go, "Oh, I'm doing new things, I can do hard things. I had a win a couple weeks ago, so this day is going to be better," because, oh my god, life is really fucking hard, isn't it hard? It's hard. There's a lot going on. Lesley Logan 5:36  I was just talking to my, I'm just gonna ramble for a second before I give you your mantra. I saw my client this morning, and she's like, "How is everything going? How's Electric Daisy Carnival?" And I told her how great it was, because she's been to it and she loves it, and so we're talking about it, and I was like, "Yeah, it was so fun." And then, Ebola is out on outbreak. There's all these things going on, so it's really important that we take a moment to celebrate the things we are doing, because there is a lot for our nervous system to deal with on a daily basis, and you are doing good things, so I love that, Maria. Thank you for sending your win in. You can send your wins in to the beitpod.com/questions. You can also send in topics you want me to do two or more episodes on, my opinion, things like that. Lesley Logan 6:18  Your mantra for the weekend is: I'm a source of kindness to myself. I am a source of kindness to myself. You are a source of kindness to yourself, my love. My love, share this with a friend who needs to hear it. Send your wins in, go celebrate yours, tag me in your wins if you want to do that. That's super fun. I want to celebrate you. And until next time, Be It Till You See It.Lesley Logan 6:37  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 7:20  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 7:25  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 7:29  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 7:36  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 7:40  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In part two of the Messy Action series, Lesley Logan reframes messy action as something you reach for first, not a backup plan or a last resort. She explains why holding out for the right conditions quietly keeps you stuck, and what it really takes to move forward when you cannot see every step ahead. Lesley also shares honest stories about how small daily practices helped her push past fears and grow her Pilates business. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:Acting ‘as if' filters your choices through who you want to be.How starting with 25% of the plan beats waiting for perfection.Lesley's messy studio opening and why clients loved the evolution.The power of smaller steps and running a nervous system check.Why building a small win stack keeps your momentum going daily.Episode References/Links:The As If Principle by Richard Wiseman - https://a.co/d/0b99DSxoEp. 694 Stuck Series 1 - https://beitpod.com/ep694Ep. 695 Stuck Series 2 - https://beitpod.com/ep695Ep. 613 Habit Series 1 - https://beitpod.com/ep613Ep. 614 Habit Series 2 - https://beitpod.com/ep614Ep. 616 Habit Series 3 - https://beitpod.com/ep616Ep. 617 Habit Series 4 - https://beitpod.com/ep617Ep. 619 Habit Series 5 - https://beitpod.com/ep619Ep. 620 Habit Series 6 - https://beitpod.com/620Ep. 622 Habit Series 7 - https://beitpod.com/ep622Ep. 623 Habit Series 8 - https://beitpod.com/623Submit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questionsIf you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  Messy action isn't what you do when you don't know what you're doing, it's how you figure it out. Lesley Logan 0:04  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. Lesley Logan 0:47  All right, Be It babe. Welcome back to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we do take messy action, and after 700 episodes, I hit my elbow on the thing, so I think that's perfect for the topic today. Because, my goodness, if you think you're supposed to be perfect after 700 episodes, you are mistaken, because you are a human being. I'm a human being, and we are all over here just trying to do the best we can. And if that's all you take away from this episode, that is enough. But we are on our messy action theme. So, on Tuesday, if you didn't listen to that episode we talked about stuck and how that can affect you taking action. Then we had a theme two or three weeks ago, maybe more, on what's keeping you stuck, and so the reality is that there's a lot of different things that keep us stuck, and we are often the reason why. We are often the one that gets in our own way. We blame it on other people, but it's typically usually us. It's our nervous system, it's our protection mode, it's our fear of responsibility, failure, judgment, all the things. So I want to talk about how messy action is a strategy. It's not just throwing things to the wall and seeing what sticks, although that can be it. It's actually more of a mantra to get you to take the first next step. So it's not a backup plan, it's not a last resort. I really think that's important to say, because most plans don't go the way that you expect, but if you have this idea that it doesn't have to be perfect, I just have to keep the next step going, then you will actually realize that you're not on a plan B or C. You're just working the first plan and following it with the momentum that it's getting, following the flow of the river. If a river hits a rock, it doesn't go, "Oh, I must stop." It goes around the rock, right? It goes on the next thing. It creates. It creates the Grand Canyon, so we keep going where it wants to go. So truly, messy action is the way forward. I love this: messy action isn't what you do when you don't know what you're doing, it's how you figure it out. It's not what you do when you don't know what you're doing, it's how you figure it out. So, instead of us reframing it like, "I don't know what to do here, so let's just throw this at the wall and see what happens," no, no, I gotta figure out what I gotta do, so let me try this over here. It's an experiment, right? If you skip ahead to the lovely intro, I like to listen to the intro on 1.5 speed, I'm not gonna lie, I like music that fast, but be it till you see it is identity through action, that's what it is. It's acting as if. There's a really good book called The As If Principle, and so if you act as if, then someday you will just become the as, the person, who you want to be, because you're practicing being that person. You're filtering things and decisions through the person you want to be. What would that person do if I was already that person? As opposed to waiting, which we already talked about in the last episode, how waiting is exhausting, it's annoying, it's frustrating. So messy action is really just normalizing imperfection.Lesley Logan 3:22  It means starting with 50% or 25% of the plan in mind. You know what the destination is, you don't really know the steps right before it, but you know that if you take these steps right here, you might get there. It's kind of like when they went off to see the Wizard. They're like, "It's that way," and they didn't know that there was a forest of apples and a bunch of monkeys that they were going to, but they could see it in the distance, and they could see the road right in front of them, and that's what they did. That's what starting with messy action is. It is posting before you think that the post is actually perfect, because I'll actually tell you that social media doesn't care if it's perfect. It's actually a waste of time, just put things up there. It is learning in real time. You get to be a learner. I'm still learning Pilates, and I've been teaching it for 20 years. I'm still learning. It's trying things out and adjusting as you have more information. That's taking messy action. Because having the perfect plan, let me tell you, things change. We taught at EDC. Let me tell you how much of that they had figured out to the T, who has what radio, who has what wristband, which wristband can go with what. Everything was well thought out, and then the weather sends it over 100 degrees. Okay, we've got misters. All right. Oh, now the weather is going to be 56 degrees, and the wind is going to go freaking crazy. You can plan everything to a T, and then the wind blows. So it's actually learning in real time. Okay, what can I do? What can I do? What can I do? We always talk about how if you want to support this podcast, you should be an OPC member. At OPC, we actually tell you it's brave and courageous to replace what you can't do yet with something you can do, and in doing that, you're constantly asking yourself, "Okay, what can I do? What can I do? What can I do? I can't do this, what can I do instead?" When you have that as a muscle in your brain, it allows you to take messy action more quickly, more easily, and just try it out. Oh, that was actually too hard for you today. Oh, that was actually exactly what I needed. Great, now you know. Messy action is not being reckless, it's being real. It's doing what needs to be done right now, and it definitely gets ruined if you're trying to be perfect. Lesley Logan 5:20  So, okay, I've told this story before, but I don't think I've told it in this context, and maybe you're new and you haven't heard it. In 2018, early 2018, I realized I needed to open my own studio. I never thought I would, didn't really want to. I liked the freedom of renting, but that freedom was getting hampered because the studio was getting busier, and so for me to film and record my tutorials, I had to go later and later at night. I don't like the evening. I was having a hard time recording at home because, one, I only had room for the mat, and two, they were doing construction all day long. And it was just really annoying to constantly move our furniture around in our studio apartment so I could film, and I wanted to add reformer classes. So if I wanted to add reformer classes, I needed to open my own studio. So I thought I had this perfect plan. I knew the location I wanted. I ordered the equipment that I wanted. I had the perfect move-in date. I told the studio that was being run by some friends of mine when I was going to leave. I was like, "Let me stay until it's time, till my equipment arrives." And guess what? I didn't get to wait till my equipment arrived. They didn't like that, and so luckily I had the keys to the space. We had hung some stuff on the wall, and I texted all of my clients, "Hey, we're going to be here tomorrow, starting tomorrow. This is so exciting. Here's where you're going to come."Lesley Logan 6:38  And on the first day, I didn't have a trash can, didn't even have a trash can for them. They're like, "Where do I put this paper towel?" And I'm like, "Oh yeah, right over there, just in that box. I'm gonna go get a trash can on my next break." I also borrowed a Reformer from a friend, and I borrowed a Ped-O-Pull from a friend. I was just asking people, like, "Hey, what extra things do you have while I wait for my stuff to show up?" And then every day, Brad and I would try to put the studio more and more together, hit a Bed Bath & Beyond up with my coupons, and got the things that I needed. Got a fan, got a trash can, waited for a chair to come, it took forever, so it was frustrating, because I wanted my clients to move into this perfect studio. Guess what? They actually loved being part of the evolution. They actually thought it was fun to see every time they came in what new things we've done to the studio, what new equipment had arrived, what pieces had arrived. And so, yeah, I was embarrassed that I wasn't able to finish out my time at the other studio, but if I had let that drive the decisions I was making, I would not have been able to see what delight my clients took in being part of the journey, being part of the creation, letting me know, "Oh, I like that over there. Oh, actually, let's put that. Have you tried that over there?" It was so fun to let them help me decorate, so it was actually one of the coolest things that ever happened. And I'm really grateful, because my clients actually got really excited about the Ped-O-Pull because they had to use the Ped-O-Pull for 30 minutes, because that's all we had. It was just a lot of fun, and I would have missed out on that memory and that challenge, and how it made my brain have to force itself to be creative in that situation. Lesley Logan 8:13  So, how do you do that? What would help you take messy action? Well, make the next step smaller. Can you do it in two minutes? Make it one step only, so it's not like, "Oh, I got to build my website with messy action." No, I need to order, buy the URL. Okay, I need to look at platforms where I can run a website. Okay, I need to choose a platform that I like. Oh, actually, before I do that, I need to compare the platforms, right? Like, what do I want them to do? Don't put "build your website" on your daily tasks, because that's too overwhelming. Can I make it fun, right? For my ADHD people: put music on, add movement to it, set a timer. I love a timer. I have a little kitchen timer on my desk, and it's really helpful for me when I'm feeling stuck and I just need to take action. I'm like, "Okay, I only have to work on this for the next 15 minutes," right? And that really helps me just get going, because I only have 15 minutes, so I'm just gonna do the best I can. I would also say remove the planning loops. You probably have planned enough already. Take the first step in your plan, but if taking an action just feels too big, it's because it's too big, right? So, you got to make it as small as possible. Go back to our habit series if you want to understand what that means and why that's important. Especially for my people who need the dopamine high to keep going, gotta make it small, gotta make it achievable. The other thing I would just say is make sure you're doing nervous system checks. You know, are you breathing? You start to hold your breath while you're thinking about doing something. There's a lot of fear that we got to breathe through. It's gonna be really hard to take action if we are holding our breath. And if your nervous system is feeling overloaded, overwhelmed, say it out loud. It's really, really helpful. Like, Brad and I will be working on something, and sometimes I'm like, "Oh my god, I'm just having, I'm actually scared, I'm having too much emotion around this right now," and it really does help to call that out, and to go, "Okay." Because why am I doing that? What's the fear that I'm having there? Is the fear that I'm having around this because I have a fear of responsibility, fear of judgment, fear of failure? Okay, so what is coming up? Because a lot of times it's just stuff that's in our head from our past experiences, or the way we were raised, and we can get in our own way when those things didn't even exist. We just made a story up. So it's really important that you're doing a nervous system check, that you have people around you that you can go, "Hey, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed right now. Can I tell you what's going on?" And their job is not to be like, "Oh, you're fine." Their job is to go, "Sure, what's going on?" And then not give you 17 pieces of advice. It's to remind you to take messy action, and you can do this, right? I was having a little anxiety getting ready for something. I talked about this in an FYF. My husband's like, "Oh, let's call these people," and I was like, "Absolutely not. Those people are not going. I love those people. They're great people. Those people are not going to make me feel better in this situation. They're going to make me feel more nervous. So, who else can we call?" So, he called someone else who screamed with joy and exclamation, which really got me out of my head, right? So, maybe the first thing you do for your messy action is write down who do you call when you need a reminder to take messy action. So this is a hopefully good reminder. You're not forcing yourself into action, you are supporting yourself into action. Not forcing yourself into messy action, you are supporting yourself into messy action. Lesley Logan 11:33  Well, you know, at this podcast we really love to celebrate little wins, right? Sometimes I have a big win that we share, but typically they're like we're in the process of something, and so what's really important for me to help you understand when it comes to messy action, you have to build momentum, which means having a small win stack. So every single day, what did you do that day that we can celebrate? Because if we're waiting until you finish the project, like for example, building the website, we're gonna be waiting for a fucking long time, six to eight weeks at least, right? Longer if you don't know what you're doing, so how can we be like, "I bought the URL," and make that super fun, and take people on the journey so they can share with you? The momentum is built in moments, not masterpieces. And so, yes, it's really beautiful to look at the sculpture when it's done, but mostly sculptures take years to do, and if artists only celebrated when it was done, that's not the best way. I would say they need to celebrate along the way, because it makes them enjoy the process. You're gonna enjoy the process more. So, this whole podcast is about being it until you see it, and the only way to be it until you see it is to act as if, which means you're not gonna know how to do it perfectly, because you're not her yet. You're being it until you see it to be who that person is. You don't know who it is, you're guessing, and so the only way that we can do that is to take the messy action, take some action, because it's the antidote to fear, it's how we get clarity. And if you really do think about, if you really do embody, be it till you see it, then you would be asking yourself, "Okay, the version of me that I want to be, what would they be doing right now?" Well, they would be doing this thing. Okay, then I go do that thing. They wouldn't be scared of that, right?Lesley Logan 13:05  For example, I remember when I was first starting the brands, and I was just getting really overwhelmed by all that I had to do, all the decisions I had to make, and I heard this person say, "CEOs don't put out every fire, they know which fires to put out." And I was like, "Oh, I'm the CEO of this company." I'm not now, thank God, I am the Chief Pilates Officer, the CVO, Chief Visionary Officer, but at the time I was the only employee for the company, and I was like, "Okay, I'm not supposed to put out every fire, I'm supposed to know which fires to put out. So if I was a CEO, what fires would I know are the ones to put out?" And just by acting like I knew what I was doing, I was like, "Oh, it's this one over here," right? That's it. That's the thing. So you're just gonna keep practicing what this whole podcast is about, be it till I see it. Ask that version of you, what would she do? What action would she take? She wouldn't be getting in her own way, you know that. And here's the deal: every time you take action, you actually prove to yourself that you can do it. You teach yourself what's possible, and that's how you build confidence. It's not by waiting. We do not build confidence through waiting. In fact, we actually chip away at our confidence every time we delay taking action on the thing we want to do. We do. It's how it works. It's how it works. So, my loves, now that we know you're not stuck, and we know you're not unmotivated, and we know you're not behind, you've just been waiting to feel ready, waiting with a little fear, waiting until things are perfect. But we're not doing that anymore, because the be it till you see it version of you would take the messy action. Lesley Logan 13:51  So, I want to know which action you're going to take. What's your first next step? Send it in to the beitpod.com/questions. Send in what you're needing more advice and support on when it comes to be it till you see it. What's a topic or an expert you need to hear from to help you know what next steps to take? What's another subject we could do a solo episode on? You ask me, we'll create it for you. That's what this podcast is all about, because I'm here to help you be it till you see it, because that's what I'm working on. We're all in this together. You're not alone. So send this to a friend who needs to hear it. And until next time, say it with me, Be It Till You See It. Lesley Logan 15:16  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 15:59  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 16:03  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 16:08  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 16:15  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 16:18  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

What did you think? Text us by clicking here! We are unable to reply on this app, so include phone # or email address.In this episode, guest host Brad Hertzog sits down with OPC CDM Administrator, David Nakhla, Pastor of Presbyterian Church of Cape Cod in West Barnstable, Massachusetts, Chris Cashen, Grace Fellowship, Zeeland, Michigan member, Stephen Majauskas, and OPC missionary, Heero Hacquebord following their recent visit to Kharkiv, Ukraine—just miles from the Russian border. There they witnessed firsthand how one small Reformed congregation continues to proclaim Christ and care for its community despite the daily realities of missile attacks, displacement, and uncertainty.You'll hear how acts of mercy are opening doors for the gospel, why the ministry of presence is often one of the greatest gifts deacons can offer, and how the courage and perseverance of our Ukrainian brothers and sisters challenges us to think about our own service to Christ.Whether you serve as a deacon, elder, pastor, or church member, this episode serves to encourage you to embrace difficult ministry opportunities, trust God's providence, and remember that faithful service often begins simply by being present. It also reminds us that we have the privilege of standing alongside our brothers and sisters in Ukraine through the OPC's Ukraine Crisis Fund, where our prayers, giving, and encouragement continue to strengthen this vital work.You can find all of our episodes at thereformeddeacon.org. Make sure to follow us on your favorite podcast player, so you don't miss an episode. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for giveaways and more information. Find other resources on OPCCDM.org.  Make sure to send us some feedback on your podcast player or ask a diaconal question by going to OPCCDM.org.

This week on Theology Simply Profound Bob talks with Pastor Imre Szoke and Deacon Akos Szolosi of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Central and Eastern Europe. These brothers were in the Midwest to join with the OPC's Diaconal Summit.Mentioned in this episode:Join Us In Person: Four Upcoming Reformed Forum EventsBefore today's episode, Camden Bucey shares four opportunities to gather with Reformed Forum in person over the coming months: Apologetics and Evangelism Seminar — August 4–5, 2026, Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Taylors, SC. Camden Bucey and Carlton Wynne lecture on apologetics and evangelism for the pastor at the GPTS Summer Seminar. Details: https://reformedforum.org/event/apologetics-and-evangelism-seminar-greenville-sc/ Discovering Christ in All of Scripture — August 28–29, 2026, Cahaba Park Presbyterian Church, Birmingham, AL. A Friday evening and Saturday morning seminar exploring how every part of Scripture reveals God's redemptive plan in Jesus Christ. Details: https://reformedforum.org/event/birmingham-alabama-seminar/ 2026 Annual Theology Conference — September 25–26, 2026, Lakeland Church, Gurnee, IL. The Covenant of Grace: One Savior, One People, One Purpose, featuring Dr. G. K. Beale. Early-bird pricing ends August 31. Register: https://rf26.reformedforum.org/ Christ the Center 1000th Episode Celebration — February 19–20, 2027, Hilton Austin, Austin, TX. A live recording of episode 1,000, a shared dinner, and conversations with longtime friends of the ministry. Details: https://reformedforum.org/event/christ-the-center-1000th-episode-celebration/ Seats are limited — register today at https://reformedforum.org/events

Feeling ready is a myth, and waiting for it quietly keeps your dreams stuck. In Part 1 of this two-part series on messy action, Lesley Logan unpacks why so many of us stall before we start and what fear is really doing underneath the surface. She blends personal stories with practical honesty about beginning before everything feels in place. If you have been waiting to feel ready, this episode is your nudge to start. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:Feeling ready is a myth that keeps you procrastinating.The hidden fears that quietly keep you stuck.Why ADHD makes you freeze and the simple fix that helps.Perfect timing is an illusion and the 2020 move that proves itTaking one brave step without blowing up your life.Episode References/Links:Ep. 694 Stuck Series 1 - https://beitpod.com/ep694Ep 3 with Rob Mack - https://beitpod.com/ep3Submit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questions If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  When you wait and you're afraid to take action, it does make you feel safe, but waiting keeps your dreams safe, and also keeps them stuck, which means it keeps you stuck. Lesley Logan 0:12  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. Lesley Logan 0:54  All right, be it, babe. How are you? Oh my gosh, welcome back to the Be It Till You See It podcast. This week, instead of an interview, it's me. Both episodes, we're actually talking about messy action, and we love messy action around here, because it's in the intro. If you're new to our podcast, sometimes we have interviews and recaps, and lately we've been adding these solo episodes in, and hopefully you're liking them. We'd love to hear topics that you want us to have interviews on, or that you want us to get some solo episodes on, if you want to hear my opinion on things, stories, things like that. That's why we're doing this, because people asked. So, here's the deal. I'm a recovering perfectionist and overachiever, and that means that I try to do things way before I'm ready, but I didn't used to be that way. I used to be someone who had to make sure everything was in perfect order before I would do the thing, which actually just meant that I was honestly procrastinating, because the reality is feeling ready is a myth. In fact, oftentimes when we feel ready, it's because the thing we want to do is no longer scary, because it's no longer we're the only one doing it. In fact, other people are doing it so much now, I just feel safe. And then it's like, well, do we miss our boat? Do we miss our chance? And the arguments would be that, no, you should just do the thing because you're the only person who can do what you do the way you want to do it, but if you're waiting to feel ready, you'll be waiting a long time, and then really we've missed the opportunity to do the thing, because there are lessons that we will learn in our quest to feel ready to actually get there. And so to be honest, we know ready is a myth, and we also know that if readiness was required, no one would ever begin, because being a beginner is scary. And when we see people who are beginners, we see them make mistakes, and we don't go, "Oh, what a beginner." We're like, "Oh my god, look at them doing that thing," right? So we have to have that same grace for ourselves, and no one truly ever feels 100% ready. It's hard, because on social media these days everyone looks like everything's curated and perfectly ready, but everyone's actually scared. Everyone's doing things as they go, and they just make it look like it's ready to go, but inside, nothing's ever ready. We just launched something today, and the link works for some people and not others. That doesn't mean we wouldn't prepare like a fuck ton, but weird things happen. Little tech gremlins get in there, so I just share that with you, because it's so easy to look at other people going, "Oh my god, they have it all together. So, when they start something new, of course, it's ready to go." No, everyone is doing the best they can, and then you won't actually know that things are ready to go until you get out there and you do it, and so you may as well just take the messy action, because you'll learn the most in the first place.Lesley Logan 3:28  Now, a few weeks back, we had a series on being stuck, and I find a lot of people are stuck because they actually are wanting to do something, but they're waiting to feel ready. In that series we talked about motivation isn't the problem, it's this: we feel stuck because we're not moving forward towards the thing we want to do, but we're not moving forward because we don't feel ready, and we put ourselves in this position, and we actually make it on our brain that we have to have motivation to get ready. I heard someone say we'd be ready to be ready, and I don't even know if that's possible. We have to be willing to be imperfect and to take an action based on the information that we have, and then reflect, correct, and continue, right? So take the first step and reflect and correct and continue. I'm thinking of one of our very first guests, he's like, "You're never going to see the top of the stair, but you could see the first one, and then when you take the first step, you'll actually see the second step." And that's kind of how everyone does it. Everyone does it, right? I have recently talked about how I have a teacher training program that I'm creating, and I've never created a teacher training program before. I've taught them, I've seen others, I've never created my own, and it's hard. And I like going, "Oh, I don't like how this is not organized," but to be honest, I have to move forward with the beta group, because the only way I'm organized in the right flow is to try to put it in a flow, right? That's the only way. Lesley Logan 4:42  So, anyways, a lot of people also wait. I just want to say, if you are waiting to feel ready, oftentimes it's a protection thing, right? You have a fear of judgment, fear of failure, fear of success, a lot of different fears, fear of responsibility. Oh my god, what if it does work out? What if the teacher training program I am really excited about does work out? What kind of responsibility do I have now? Sometimes we have a fear of that, so then we make up reasons and excuses why we're not ready to move forward, because that fear is legitimate. It's totally real, and so I think it also just comes back to what your nervous system feels safe doing. Some people feel safe flying by the seat of their pants, and some people don't feel safe that way. And what? Look, it's a human need to need certainty, and that things are going to work out. It's also a human need to need uncertainty, and have surprises and experiments. So just know that you need both of those things. A lot of times we're protecting ourselves, that fear of judgment, what people think if I fail, and so, honestly, if you don't start, then you can't fail, right? But also, if you don't start something, then there's parts of you, the potential, the be it till you see it you, that also doesn't get to happen, and everything is moving forward, so you have to, as well, right? I think when you wait and you're afraid to take action, it does make you feel safe, but waiting keeps your dreams safe, and also keeps them stuck, which means it keeps you stuck. Lesley Logan 6:16  The other reason that you could be afraid of taking messy action is, hello, my ADHD ladies, lots of ideas, no clear place to start, and you end up in a freeze space until something motivates you, and you end up in this focus mode that's just amazing to do. And so then the reality is you shouldn't label yourself as stuck because you're just overloaded, like you're overwhelmed. I do have a thing for this, so if I have an idea, I put an idea on this parking lot. It's on a big Post-it on the back of my door, and if I look at it the next day and I know what it is, then I can keep working on it. And if I look at it the next day and I don't know what it is, and I'm not as excited, I don't.Lesley Logan 6:57  There's a 24-hour rule with ADHD people, because we are dopamine seekers, and I will say that if you have ADHD, there is a good chance you are going to be good at taking messy action because of the dopamine kick, but also because you have so many ideas, you could get stuck, or you could use other ideas to distract you from the thing that you're really wanting to do, because you don't feel ready. So, look at that, ADHD is its own conundrum, but overwhelm is real, and I want to acknowledge that, because I don't want you walking away from this episode going, "Oh, I'm supposed to do this when I don't feel ready, but I have all these other things." No, there might be several reasons why you're feeling stuck and afraid to take messy action, and so we have to unravel like an onion. What's the thing that's keeping you stuck? What's the thing that's keeping you from taking the first step forward to see if you like the thing? Sometimes you have ideas on things you want to do or be, and if you don't actually start working on it, you might not realize that you don't like it. I've done some things I was really, really proud of at the time, and then the longer we do it, the more I'm like, I'm not really into this anymore. I want to make changes, but if I had never taken the messy action in the first place, I would always go, "Oh, someday I wish I'd done that thing." Well, now that I have more information, I'm glad I did the thing, and I'm glad it's leading me over here. And so I would just say your dreams will be more curated and more unique to you and more supportive to you when you take the messy action. Lesley Logan 8:22  Another reason why a lot of people are afraid to take messy action is the perfect timing illusion. I'll start when... and here's the deal, there's no perfect timing. It's like that whole joke that you make a plan and then God laughs. I remember in 2019 Brad and I being in Las Vegas and really having a good time in the downtown area arts district, which is really close to our house now, and we're like, "Wow, we could really live here. Wow." And we had friends who owned homes there, and we're like, "We could own a home in Las Vegas, that is crazy. We should do that in 2022 or 2023. In fact, let's make sure that as we finish out what we planned for 2020, we are keeping in mind what we want to do in 2022 and 2023." Great. So then what happened in 2020? Yeah, we ended up moving to Vegas, because that was the perfect timing. Could you imagine if we stuck with our plan? No, we took the messy action. We moved. I mean, the reality is everyone took messy action in 2020 because that's what you had to do. That was the only option, right? So, I hope that that story helps you, because yeah, it's good to have a plan. It's good to do your research, and then sometimes you have to just move before you're ready. If you're feeling stuck, I get it, but it's just really a lack of movement. It's a lack of taking a step. Action does bring clarity and is the antidote to fear. It's why it's in the intro of the show. It's so funny that we're doing this episode after 700 episodes, because the reality is the intro is this episode. We often say, "I feel stuck," but really, let's leave the emotion and look more at a reality of are we just taking a step forward? Have we done one thing towards the thing we want to do? Especially for my ADHD people, sometimes we just need to start with one thing, and then it is the domino effect that we're looking for, right? And I will say, for my overthinkers, it's really easy to try to think your way forward, but you got to move your way forward. Action is more than what's in your mind. It's a physical embodiment. It's something that you do with your feet and your hands.Lesley Logan 10:25  It's sending the email, it's making the phone call, it's buying the URL, it's hiring the thing, it's exploring, it's doing the research, right? Do the research. I want to say, I get it. I get also the comfort in feeling stuck, and it's actually kind of comfortable, because then you always have a reason for why you haven't moved forward. If you have a reason, then you can't fail. But I also want you to know, it's one step at a time always. Being it till you see it is one step at a time. Messy action is one step at a time. I'm not saying blow everything up, right? My goodness, I think I've talked about this on the podcast before, but it took me a year to break up with a relationship I had before Brad. A year, because I was like, "Well, it's not the right time, I don't have the amount of money." And that's right, I couldn't blow my life up a year before. I did not have the situation to land on, so I worked. I tried to figure that out. I worked on the relationship and tried to figure out what I would do if the relationship didn't exist. I got myself ready to be ready, and then I kind of blew it up a little bit, but I did some messy action, but I didn't blow it up completely, because I had a landing pad. I will just say, don't punish yourself, don't harp on yourself. If you have been like, "Oh my god, Lesley called me out. I've been waiting to be ready for two years now. I've wasted all this time." No, you haven't. You have gotten more clarity, and this episode is hitting you when you need to hear it, that you are like, "Oh my god, okay, I'm gonna do the thing, I'm gonna take the messy action." Messy action is one step, it's not 20 steps, it's one, it's one. So, if waiting to take messy action, waiting to take action has been keeping you stuck, and we're acknowledging that now, and we're on the same page now, then the real question is how do we actually start moving forward, especially when you don't feel ready? So we're going to dive in deeper to how to start moving forward in our next episode, because we're keeping these bite-sized. We are, and I hope that that is helpful, because it's nice to have an hour-and-a-half-long episode that's inspiring, and of course I want you inspired, but also it's nice to have a bite-sized episode that just goes, "Oh my god, I have been living in fear, making excuses, researching myself to death, waiting to feel ready, and now I know I just need to take a next step." So, on Thursday, we're gonna talk about how to do that and dive in deeper. So, I would love to hear more about what you've been wanting to do. What have you been waiting to feel ready to do? That could be a first next step in getting your momentum going. Share it with the Be It Pod. Send it into the beitpod.com/questions. Let us know this is the episode that inspired you, and let us know what your win is. Your win could just be like, "I listened to this episode and I am ready to feel ready." Thank you so much. Send this to a friend who's feeling stuck. And until next time, Be It Till You See It. Lesley Logan 13:14  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 13:57  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 14:02  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 14:06  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 14:13  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 14:17  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode of Conversations That Matter, Jon delivers a clear, Scripture-grounded evaluation of the top news impacting Christians over the past two weeks. He breaks down the big progressive wins in New York City, where Mayor Zohran Mamdani-endorsed candidates Brad Lander, Claire Valdez, and Darializa Avila Chevalier swept their Democratic congressional primaries — ousting establishment incumbents in a significant shift for the left. Jon also explores how NAPARC churches are addressing issues of race and ethnicity, provides a recap of the recent PCA General Assembly, major Supreme Court wins for the Trump Administration, J.D. Hall's interview with Tucker Carlson on Christian Zionism, standout moments from The Jeremy Boreing Show, and more.00:00 - Welcome & Podcast Introduction03:48 - Personal Updates: Album Release, SBC, Jeremy Boring Show & Mississippi Trip07:55 - Napark Churches & Denominational News (PCA, ARP, OPC, etc.)12:34 - New Christendom Press Controversy (Antelope Hill Vendor)20:52 - Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Update30:00 - J.D. Hall on Tucker Carlson & Related Interviews45:00 - Jeremy Boring Interview Reactions & Christian Nationalism01:05:00 - Galatians 3, Abrahamic Covenant & Theology of Israel/Jews01:40:00 - Romans 9-11 Explained: Gentiles, Jews & Future Restoration01:55:00 - Closing Thoughts: Tribes, Truth, Community & Practical AdviceTo Support the Podcast: https://www.jonharrismedia.com/support/Become a Patronhttps://www.patreon.com/jonharrispodcastSubstack: https://substack.com/@jonharris Follow Jon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jonharris1989Follow Jon on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jonharris1989/Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/conversations-that-matter8971/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode of Christ the Center, Camden Bucey welcomes Adam York and Randy Lee back to the Reformed Forum classroom for the second part of a conversation on global theological education and OPC foreign missions. Whereas the previous discussion focused especially on Uganda and faith-centered finance, this episode turns to York's recent teaching trip to Ethiopia and the biblical-theological material he taught on the Gospels and Acts. The conversation traces major themes from John 1:51 and Jacob's ladder to Matthew's genealogy, Jesus as true Israel, the Sermon on the Mount, the parables of the kingdom, Peter's confession, Matthew 24–25, the Great Commission, and the book of Acts. Along the way, York shows how the hope of heaven opened in Christ, the end of exile, the gift of the Spirit, and the church's missionary calling all belong together in the unfolding work of the risen and ascended Lord. Participants Camden BuceyAdam YorkRandy Lee Resources mentioned Hope Orthodox Presbyterian ChurchOPC Foreign MissionsOPC Short-Term MissionsReformed Academy

中国现有 1600 万家一人公司，每三家新企业就有一家是一人创业——但当 AI 把生产效率推上新台阶，一个人到底能撑起多大的生意？撑到什么时候又必须招人？ 本周，《科技早知道》在亚马逊云科技中国峰会现场举办了一场名为「One Person Company | AI 时代的创业复兴」的圆桌论坛，请到了两位 AI 时代的实践者分享他们的 AI 实验：余一打造了自己的数字分身，帮自己做自媒体一年从 2000 粉做到近 20 万，她把 AI 看作能独立决策的合伙人；归藏是设计背景的独立开发者，PPT Skill 在 GitHub 收获超 2 万 Star，他更看重工具的可控性——agent 是工具，不是员工。 在现场，我们聊了聊非技术背景的人如何用 AI 跑通产品开发和内容生产的全流程；OPC 的天花板在哪里，什么时候必须引入团队；以及当一个人真的用 AI 把生意跑起来之后，和 AI 的协作关系到底是什么样的。 本期人物 丁教 Diane，「声动活泼」联合创始人、「科技早知道」主播 余一，大厂高级研究员，HowOneAI & AI 跃迁者调研主理人 歸藏，CodePilot 作者，AI Agent 产品实践者 时间轴 [05:05] 从视频号到调研工作台，AI 自运营是怎么跑起来的 [10:47] Skill 能赚钱吗？现在在哪卖、卖给谁都还没有答案 [13:53] OPC 最难的不是做出来，是获客和复购：agent 该先改造哪一段？ [19:27] 奇葩 OPC 样本：卖减肥药、卖定制鞋、做保险销售，真正赚到钱的是哪类 [24:05] 超级个体的天花板：为什么 OPC 终究可能需要团队 [28:35] 超级个体的一天怎么过：上下班也很重要 [31:13] 被 AI 卷进去是什么感觉：AI 带来的负面情绪螺旋 [37:22] Agent 是员工还是工具？ [46:48] OPC 能融资吗？VC 体系和一人公司之间存在天然冲突 亚马逊云科技创业复兴活动报名 点击链接报名 幕后制作 监制：Yaxian 后期：迪卡 运营：George 设计：饭团 商业合作 声动活泼商业化小队，点击链接直达声动商务会客厅，也可发送邮件至 business@shengfm.cn 联系我们。 加入声动活泼 声动活泼正在招聘全职商务运营经理、早咖啡内容实习生和社群实习生，如果你也对播客行业的内容制作感兴趣，欢迎[点击招聘入口](https://eg76rdcl6g.feishu.cn/docx/XO6bd12aGoI4j0xmAMoc4vS7nBh?from=from_copylink) 关于声动活泼 「用声音碰撞世界」，声动活泼致力于为人们提供源源不断的思考养料。 我们还有这些播客：声动早咖啡、声东击西、吃喝玩乐了不起、反潮流俱乐部、泡腾 VC、商业WHY酱、跳进兔子洞 、不止金钱 欢迎在即刻、微博等社交媒体上与我们互动，搜索 声动活泼 即可找到我们。 期待你给我们写邮件，邮箱地址是：ting@sheng.fm 欢迎扫码添加声小音，在节目之外和我们保持联系。Special Guests: 余一 and 歸藏.

In this Fuck Yeah Friday episode, Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach, rolls out a fresh take on the FYF format, you can name what is hard and still claim a win in the same breath. She shares the messy reality behind working for yourself, celebrates listener wins, and reflects on fostering her first dog solo during a packed travel season. It is a short, energizing reminder that a hard moment and a real win can live side by side. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:The revamped FYF format pairs an honest hard moment with a win.Lesley's need a moment about recording her own episodes.How a Lesley's win proves the busy schedule excuse doesn't hold.Getting rid of internet inspiration that isn't inspiring right now.Celebrating the interview process instead of waiting to get the job.Episode References/Links:@meganslatteryyogaandpilates - https://www.instagram.com/meganslatteryyogaandpilates@mymarialoisa - https://www.instagram.com/mymarialoisaSubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questions If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  It's Fuck Yeah Friday. Brad Crowell 0:01  Fuck yeah. Lesley Logan 0:02  Get ready for some wins. Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started.Lesley Logan 0:48  Hey, Be It Babe, welcome to our Friday episode. And this is our FYF episode, our fuck yeah. It's Friday, and Brad and I decided that we wanted to make some changes to the FYF episode, and one of those things is we're incorporating more of what we do in our communities, like we do with our agency members and our Elevate grads and our Elevate members, which is just you're allowed to need a moment, but you have to have a win in the exact same moment. So you can't come in here and all over everybody with your need a moment, you have to actually have a win to go with it, right? So that's how we're going to do that. I'll have, or Brad will have, or we'll get some guests to have when we want to complain about, and then they'll have a win, and then we'll share your wins that you send in telling that, and then if you want, I guess you could also send in your I need a moment and your wins. Lesley Logan 1:30  So here's my I need a moment, because it's happening right now. My internet is freaking amazing, it's amazing, I have the best internet, and when I come into my pod room, I'll have the best internet, and then I hit record, and it's like, actually, your internet's crap in this moment. Now it's crap, and it's just so annoying, because it's like, well, I only have one hour to do this thing, and I'm spending 17 minutes trying to figure out why my great internet is bad in this one spot at this one moment. That's my first world problems right now. My win is that I've been able to start doing something I've been wanting to do, which is foster dogs, which is not easy to do, because I have a dog, not easy to do, because I love them, and I want to keep them all, all the dogs, and also I travel a ton. And so back in April into May, I got to foster my first dog, and I did it by myself, which is really cool, because I have always had dogs, but I've had dogs with family or partners, and so it's just there's someone else who can do the thing with the dog. And so for nine days I was responsible for a dog by myself, and not a small dog, like a big one, and so my win is that I nailed it. I did everything I could to get this dog adopted, a family to be seen as just this wonderful addition to anyone's family, and I had the best time, all while keeping with my crazy busy schedule. So, you know what that means? It means we all can do this. So, anyway, that's my win.Lesley Logan 2:56  Now, for our next segment, we got rid of the inspiration from the internet, because I'll just be really honest, the internet is not very inspiring right now. So, your wins, here we go. We got two from you guys. @meganslatteryyogaandpilates said, hosting second soft launch in my house/home studio/big sale today. Tired, but doing it. And it's like, yeah, look, here's the deal. Working for yourself does not mean it's easy. I don't know why people think that if it's hard they must be doing it wrong. No, if it's hard and you're tired, you're probably doing it pretty darn good. Now you know you got to sleep and do some other things, but it's possible. Lesley Logan 3:30  Okay, next win is by @mymarialoisa. Interview for my dream job and sign up for the OPC training. Ah, that's so fun. We had such a good time with that training, so super, super proud about that. And I'm so glad that you got to join us, and that was one of your wins, and you got to interview for your dream job. You know what, I love that you celebrated the interview process, Maria Luisa, because so many people would just celebrate, like, wait for them to get the job, or then have a moment, because they might not have, but you celebrated the interview. Yeah, that's how we be it till we see it, babes. That is how we do it.Lesley Logan 4:05  And then we end our FYFs with a mantra. So here we go. And the win is not that my internet is great right now. That is not it. The mantra is not, I have great internet. Here's what it is, self love comes to me naturally. Self love comes to me naturally, self love comes to you naturally, Be it babe. Yes it does. Yes, it does. And if it doesn't, you just say that 17 times until you believe it, until you do it, because thoughts are not facts, but since so many of us make them, then change your thoughts, so you can change your facts, and self-love will come to you naturally. Lesley Logan 4:40  All right, babe. That's our episode for this Friday. We keep them short and sweet. If you want something longer and you want something to be more in depth, make sure you're checking out our series that we're releasing every other week, and our interviews and recaps. We've got lots of good stuff for you. We also have some really fun things we're highlighting when it comes to our recap special. So ways for you to get involved and help, because sometimes it feels like we're not doing enough, right? You might be like, oh, she fostered a dog, what am I doing? Well, listen to the recap episodes, because we highlight a charity that you too can work with. So until next time, Be It Till You See It. Lesley Logan 5:13  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 5:55  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 6:00  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 6:05  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 6:12  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 6:15  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this recap, Lesley Logan and Brad Crowell unpack the deeper implications of Adrian Starks' conversation on purpose, grief, and the resistance that comes from fighting your own path. They explore how purpose isn't something you find, but something you actively build, and why the attempt to force alignment often backfires. The episode tackles the unglamorous realities of change, self-reflection, and what happens when perfection gets in the way of progress. Whether you're struggling with imposter syndrome or questioning your direction, this conversation invites you to reclaim agency over your own story. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:How supporting LGBTQ+ communities strengthens your own alignment and values.The importance of taking control of your purpose before it gets defined for you.Why the more effort you put into controlling something, the more it slips through your fingers.How self-reflection reveals when you're outgrowing something or being called into something newImposter syndrome shows up when you're going against the grain of your purpose.Episode References/Links:OPC for 40 days for $40 - opc.me/40eLevate 2028 Waitlist - lesleylogan.co/elevateOPC Flashcards - opc.me/flashcardsSummer Tour (Powered by Balanced Body) - opc.me/tourPrism Foundation - arprismfoundation.orgAdrian Starks Website - https://adrianstarks.comEp 191. with Adrian Starks - https://beitpod.com/ep191100 Acts of Love by Kim Hamer - https://a.co/d/0dugkBGkEp 244 with Kim Hamer - https://beitpod.com/ep244Ep 235 with Krista St-Germain - https://beitpod.com/ep235Ep. 688 Outgrowing Series 1 - https://beitpod.com/ep688 Ep. 689 Outgrowing Series 2 - https://beitpod.com/ep689Submit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questions If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Brad Crowell 0:00  We think purpose is just going to find us, and we're gonna be like, "Oh my god, that's what I'm here for, that's the thing," right? Instead, what clearly seems actionable is purpose is something that we are out there doing, and whether or not we chose to do it, we're still out there doing it.Lesley Logan 0:21  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. Lesley Logan 1:04  Welcome back to the Be It Till You See It interview recap, where my co-host in life, Brad, and I are going to dig into the purposeful convo I had with Adrian Starks in our last episode. You know what, I think that's what we said the first time he was on, because his podcast is all about being purposeful, so if you haven't yet listened to that interview, you can pause this and go listen to that one.Brad Crowell 1:23  What is he like? 190-something?Lesley Logan 1:26  It was like 151. Brad's gonna look it up and... and you can then come back and listen to this one, or you can listen to this one, because we chat about a bunch of stuff, and then our favorite things. And then you can go listen to the amazing one, because you have all the choice in this world. You get to do what you want to do, and we got to meet a bunch of you amazing podcast listeners when we were in Arizona the other day.Brad Crowell 1:46  It was 191.Lesley Logan 1:47  191Brad Crowell 1:48  Yes, I can't believe.Lesley Logan 1:50  Wow, nailed it.Brad Crowell 1:51  I did.Lesley Logan 1:52  I don't even know. You must have cheated. You must have seen it.Brad Crowell 1:55  I heard it in the episode.Lesley Logan 1:56  You heard it in the episode.Brad Crowell 1:59  Because I went back and listened to it. Lesley Logan 2:00  I was like I love you, but there's no way you came up with that on your own. Anyways, we met a bunch of listeners at the POT Arizona last month.Brad Crowell 2:10  We sure did.Lesley Logan 2:11  I love that you love the pod, and also I heard that people are loving the solo episodes. If that's the case, please leave a review and tell me what you want me to talk about. Also, another way you can support this show is to become an OPC member, because when you're an OPC member, that money also supports this podcast. Just be honest, so the best thing you can do is to go be a member of OPC. One, you actually get extra stuff out of it. If you like these little pep talks that I do on the podcast that are solo, at the end of every one of my classes, I give you a little pep talk. It's not a mantra, but it's something close. So you can go to opc.me/40, and then you can join OPC for 40 days for $40, and then you can see how great we are. Okay, today is June 25, 2026. It's Bourdain Day.Brad Crowell 3:00  It's Bourdain Day, and this is.Lesley Logan 3:02  A quote from Mr. Anthony Bourdain: "If I'm an advocate for anything, it's to move as far as you can, as much as you can, across the ocean or simply across the river, walk in someone else's shoes, or at least eat their food. It's a plus for everybody." Anthony Bourdain backed up his words with action, all the while urging us to do a lot more than simply try new foods in exotic places with fascinating strangers. He desperately wanted us to break out of our comfort zones and see the world in person through the eyes of people we would never otherwise meet. Watching his TV shows, first No Reservations, and then Parts Unknown, enabled us to spend time with the real-life explorer who trotted around the world in search of, well, the things that make us all human: food, yes, but also love, spirit, and passion. Bourdain, who suffered from depression, took his own life in 2018 at the age of 61. "Anthony was my best friend," tweeted French chef and close friend Eric Ripert at the time. "Exceptional human being, so inspired and generous." Ripert, along with another longtime friend, José Andrés, who does some amazing work in this world, declared June 25, Bourdain's birthday, Bourdain Day in 2019. So, if you are thinking of suicide, or worried about a friend, or in need of emotional support, the Lifeline Network is available 24/7 across the US. Call 800-273-8255. I think there's also a short number, I feel like there's a short number that you can call, but we had a dear friend.Brad Crowell 4:20  You can call 988 in the United States.Lesley Logan 4:22  Thank you. Yeah, yeah, who worked with a suicide prevention network in Nevada. And life's really hard right now. It's harder than people think. You look at people and they seem to have it all together, and they don't. A lot of people are tired, a lot of people have a lot going on. So reach out to a friend you haven't heard from or talked to in a while. You just never know. You might help them out, but also make sure you have these numbers, because there are people who are experts who can also support.Brad Crowell 4:49  Yeah.Lesley Logan 4:50  Upcoming travel, Brad, predict this, because what, go ahead, Brad.Brad Crowell 4:54  Yeah, Anthony Bourdain was very inspirational for me. He was living the travel bug that I always had, and when I was in college, my friend and I used to watch his show every single week, No Reservations. I just loved that he was so angry at his producers in that show, and he would get so pissed about cursing and smoking cigarettes on TV. I guess it wasn't live, but on TV, and then.Lesley Logan 5:23  They could just edit it out.Brad Crowell 5:24  hey could have edited it out, but they didn't. Yeah, it just was really inspirational for me. And then he did some amazing stuff too. He was in Beirut when that.Lesley Logan 5:36  Yes! And then also, don't forget his wonderful documentary about food waste.Brad Crowell 5:40  Yeah, food waste.Lesley Logan 5:41  If you haven't seen it, you must see it.Brad Crowell 5:43  It's called Wasted!Lesley Logan 5:44  I think it's called Wasted!Brad Crowell 5:45  Yeah.Lesley Logan 5:45  We actually watched it, and the next day he died by suicide.Brad Crowell 5:48  Yeah.Lesley Logan 5:49  That was really tragic, and that documentary stuck with me. So it's really, really important, because we all need to be aware. In certain countries, they're doing a much better job about food waste than we are. Go Japan! You were commenting from the documentary, so yeah, for me.Brad Crowell 6:03  It was amazing because I never was a chef, but he worked in the food industry, I worked in the food industry, and I got his book Kitchen Confidential when I was in my early 20s. I just thought he was amazing. So, yep, in honor of Anthony Bourdain, and as Lesley was mentioning, if you or anyone you know is suffering with suicidal thoughts, there is support out there for you.Lesley Logan 6:28  Yeah.Brad Crowell 6:29  Yeah.Lesley Logan 6:29  In other news, there are no spots left in Elevate. Every single week in the last few weeks that you've heard that there are spots was a lie.Brad Crowell 6:37  They are sold out.Lesley Logan 6:40  For 2027 anyways. We are already taking applications for 2028. We'll be able to let you snag your spot and reserve it, and all that stuff. But we're going to have a wonderful Q&A call this summer on July 9, I believe it's at 1 PM Pacific time. You can go to lesleylogan.co/elevate to get on the waitlist. We'll have that call information, and you can register for the call. Oh, I should do ll.co/waitlist. Actually, sorry, my producer is doing this in real time, everyone. Anyways, what I want you to do is get on that waitlist, because I do update you monthly on when we have dates and when we're accepting applications, and when you can deposit. I know that 2028 will fill up as soon as we open up those applications, but that means you have a whole year-plus to protect those dates like your life once I figure out what they are. Lesley Logan 7:31  summer tour is coming, but the tickets are available. They've been available for a few weeks, actually a month to be precise, and many cities are sold out. You're like, "Lesley, now that I know you record this in the past-future, how do you know?" Because I do! When we were in Arizona, we actually met many people who were like, "Oh, I'm going to Tucson," and I was like, "Okay, we're probably out of spots in Tucson." So I know that some of these slots are sold out. You want to go to opc.me/tour. Our tours are sponsored by the wonderful Balanced Body and Contrology company. Balanced Body is celebrating 50 years, so it's a really big year for them. It's kind of amazing what they're doing, and it's really special. So I want you to make sure that you join us, because Balanced Body allows our tours to go to more than six places and to do it with a lot of fun. We're bringing Contrology products into the studio so you can try them out. And if you're new here...Brad Crowell 8:25  Welcome.Lesley Logan 8:25  Hi! We also have Pilates flashcards. Did you know that we do? You don't have to be a Pilates instructor to love them. They're actually really wonderful for helping you have access to great Pilates where you are. They're so great, in fact, that people steal my images all the fucking time to put them in their shitty books, but you can get the real thing with the best information that has been edited many times and has quality videos at opc.me/flashcards. Sorry, I'm a little pissed off over here about something, but I am. If you follow me on Instagram, you know how long this has been going on, and just as we were about to hit record, I found out another fucking person is stealing my images from my flashcards.Brad Crowell 9:08  Three more people.Lesley Logan 9:09  Three more people.Brad Crowell 9:10  Yeah, so it's a thing. That's crazy. Anyway, you should know what's crazy.Lesley Logan 9:16  Is that they thought someone wouldn't find out? You know what I mean?Brad Crowell 9:21  I mean, maybe they just don't care.Lesley Logan 9:22  Maybe they don't care, or they're like, "Oh, she only has like 30,000 followers, so no one will know." But my followers know me, and even people who don't follow me are telling me, because I am recognizable at any rate. But you can get my flashcards, the real deal, and support a small business who is going to take on some of these big-ass companies, because there is a company that is a big name that we're about to take down anyways. I'm excited about it. Lesley Logan 9:49  Before we get into... we used to do audience questions here. If you're new, you don't know that, so this is not a new thing for you. But if you're old and you're like, "Oh, I just popped in here on this one," we don't do that anymore. We answer questions on YouTube at 9 AM Pacific Time Live, and that is where I answer them. If you're a member, I answer questions wherever you are a member, so as long as it's part of your membership, right? If you're an agency member, you can ask business questions there. If you are an OPC member, I answer personal Pilates questions there—I answer all those. Plus, there's YouTube, and YouTube is free. People don't know that, but it is. It's free. You have to watch, according to one comment, a diabolical amount of commercials, but it's free. Yes, "diabolical" was the word that was used. However, what we decided to change this to is many of you want to help out people in your life, but often don't know how to help, and there are so many different shitstorms in the world, like, which firestorm do you help with? The reality is that you can help either by just sharing with a friend who needs to hear that this charity exists for them, or you can share your time, or you can share it on your platform, or you can give them money, even $2. Lesley Logan 10:55  So, because June is Pride Month, we are going to wrap up the month's theme with another wonderful LGBTQ+ charity. This is the Prism Foundation, and it was founded in 2021. The Prism Foundation was started to organize and execute initiatives for the LGBTQ+ community in the state of Arkansas, using a multifaceted approach to achieve the following outcomes: increase access to affirming and comprehensive healthcare, align resources that address barriers to care and health disparities among the community, and create safe spaces for both virtual and physical activities and services that serve LGBTQ+ Arkansas.Brad Crowell 11:32  Correct me if we're wrong here, but I think it's Arkansans.Lesley Logan 11:35  What is also exciting, because I was doing some research on them, they are also really aware of what is happening in the states that are surrounding them that are affecting trans people. Part of their vision is: "We are increasing access to healthcare as top of our priorities. We're also focused on creating pathways to fulfill our basic needs, including overcoming barriers to legal aid services and developing supportive community spaces physically and virtually." Lesley Logan 11:59  I think this is really important because unfortunately, and at the time of this recording, there have been some awful things that have been said about trans people from the government that we are under in this country. I won't even repeat his words, because they are too horrible to repeat, that he said this week. But we need to be protecting our people who are different than us, because the fucking people who are taking from you are billionaires. So support the LGBTQ+ people in your area, because one, they are beautiful human beings, and two, they are always there supporting.Brad Crowell 12:39  That's true, there's very much of an activism mentality in that community.Lesley Logan 12:45  Yeah.Brad Crowell 12:45  Really like.Lesley Logan 12:46  And also, my goodness, they have to be tired. I'm sure they are. Anyways, I really like what that Prism organization is doing. I think it has to be hard to do what they do in the areas that they're doing it, so if you want to support, there you go.Brad Crowell 13:05  You can go to their website at arprismfoundation.org to read more about what they are doing and how you could support them.Lesley Logan 13:14  And if that is not your area, because you're like, "I'm not Arkansan," or "I'm not in the Midwest," then look up ones in your area that are doing something locally for you, because there is always a local outlet of something, like we've talked about before on this podcast. We love supporting a restaurant because Bronze Cafe—everyone who's local to Las Vegas who listens to this show, when you buy meals from them, they support the LGBTQ mental health community center here.Brad Crowell 13:38  If you have an organization that is doing good things that we should find out about, and you want to be featured on the pod, call us and leave us a voicemail.Lesley Logan 13:49  I love that. Then it's your favorite charity.Brad Crowell 13:52  At 310-905-5534 and tell us why they're amazing. You can also submit wins, by the way, at beitpod.com/questions so that we can get you in on the Friday episode.Lesley Logan 14:09  Times now, Brad, I have had people tell me that they heard their win months after they submitted it, and it really made their day because they were having a rough day. So I tell people this. Also, just so you know, we've changed the Friday FYF. I bitch about something, and then you were gonna come, but we haven't had a chance for you to bitch about something.Brad Crowell 14:30  Oh, yes.Lesley Logan 14:31  Which is what we do at our other communities, and then I celebrate a win, and then I share their wins. That's cool, and I do a mantra, so we had a change to it because it's quite nice. Maybe my new "need a moment" is that all these people use my fucking image.Brad Crowell 14:46  Well, we'll save that for Friday's episode. Stick around, we'll be right back. Brad Crowell 14:51  All right, now let's talk about Mr. Adrian Starks. Adrian is a professional speaker, voice narrator, and host of the Your Purposeful Life podcast, who openly embraces his authentic, unpolished self, including his fun side as a comic card and superhero fanatic. Having shed the rigid suit-and-tie expectations of his early career, Adrian is deeply protective of the energy he puts into the world, intentionally choosing to step away from the microphone rather than record an episode if he's having a bad day. So, good vibes, right? As a fellow human seeking purpose, he helps his audience navigate what he identifies as the three continuous cycles of purposeful living, and encourages people to make a mess, figure out what works, and ultimately have fun with their journey.Lesley Logan 15:36  Well, we love mess over here. We love messy action, and we're so big on that. Yeah, I also love... I mean, we had a great conversation about evolution, but one of the things we talked about is he said when we try to make things perfect when they're not meant to be—well, nothing's supposed to be—there's going to be major resistance because everything has to flow a certain way. He used the metaphor of salmon noting their journey upstream against the flow of the river is what ultimately exhausts them, and I think that's so true. I think we try to get things to be so perfect, just like, you know, we make it too precious, and you kind of hold on to it too tight. Then you aren't able to hear amazing things or be curious to go a different direction, you know what I mean?Brad Crowell 16:19  I was just talking about the idea of, like, the more effort you put into controlling something, the more it slips through your fingers. And yeah, I mean, I totally get that. Here's how I equate this. This is going to be an amazing parallel for all you ultimate frisbee players out there, of which I know I'm speaking to the right audience. Obviously.Lesley Logan 16:40  I'm sure we have a good two.Brad Crowell 16:42  Clearly, clearly the right audience. I grew up playing very, very competitively, playing ultimate frisbee, and whenever you were gonna throw the frisbee all the way down the field—the disc, as it were, if you put all of your might into that throw, that huck, as it were, is what we would call it, inevitably, you would mess it up. It would curve to the right, or go out of bounds, or whatever. But if you took a half a second before that huge throw, and you just eased and paused when you threw, you paused, and then just let it happen—it would go where you wanted it to every time. It took a long time, and I could always tell as soon as I released the disc, like, "Oh man, I did not do that right." I feel like life is like that too. When you are forcing it, things do not go the way that you want them to, but when you go with the flow, you know, while you're directing it, then things seem to happen a lot more organically, usually. All the things, right?Lesley Logan 17:49  Yeah, it's like a tough balance, right, because.Brad Crowell 17:52  Still have to direct it.Lesley Logan 17:53  Well, because you don't want to just be blowing with the wind, but you also need to feel the flow, right? Like, there are some obstacles that tell us, like, "Not that door," right? That doesn't mean it's a stop sign, it's just like a doorway, like, "Nope, not that door." And I think it's like really understanding, you know, why are you doing this? Why are you doing any of this? Because if you can keep your "why" in mind, it can keep the perfection from taking over, because perfection will honestly end up making something so clean and perfect, no one wants to touch it and do it, or they don't really know what it is, and it's exhausting. It's exhausting to be perfect. Lesley Logan 18:30  Oh my god, there's just certain people in my life, whenever I see them, I'm like, "How long does it take them to get out the door?" Because we just saw someone this past weekend at an event, and every time I see her, I'm like, she's so perfectly coiffed, it must take forever to get out the door, because there's not a hair amiss. The outfit is... the nails match the shoes match the... I mean, like all of it. I'm like, I know how long it takes to get my nails done, so they're just gonna be what they are for four weeks. So, I don't know, I'm just saying this is... if you want to be my friend, don't be perfect, okay?Lesley Logan 19:06  The last thing I'll say is he explained that when we go against the grain of what our purposes are, it creates major resistance that makes us feel like we're not worthy. So, hello, my people who feel imposter syndrome, it's because you're going against the grain of your purpose. If we're truly good at where we are, while we always can improve, we don't need to be perfect. There is this thing... "improve" is the wrong word. We are always... this is something that happens with Pilates instructors that I meet. You always are going to be learning. There's never a point that you're not learning, but there's a difference between chasing down every single person to go through their version of a program with, and also just learning from the body in front of you today. You know what I mean? Every time I teach a new person, a new client, I learn a new way of explaining something. Today we were doing OPC spring training, and this wonderful person asked a great question. I was like, "You know what, I've explained this before, but never to a person with that brand of equipment, with that years of experience, with that understanding of the exercise." So even I am learning something I already know in a different way so I can explain it. It's just... there's ways to learn and improve yourself without having to constantly feel like you've gotta sign up for this next thing, you know? So, anyways.Brad Crowell 20:21  Stay tuned, because how do we know what our purpose is, you know? How do we even know if we're going against the grain? Stick around, because we're going to talk about that in the Be It action items. Brad Crowell 20:32  But what I really wanted to talk about myself was grief, which is interesting because it was an interesting topic that y'all skipped over. You were talking about grieving, not just like a person who might no longer be with us, or obviously a pet or any of that, but even an experience that was supposed to happen, but it didn't, you know? And you were very excited about it, or you had a lot of effort and planning into it. I mean, we know we've been talking about opening a studio for a really long time, and we spent a lot of money, we spent a lot of time at the beginning of this year and last year—beginning of this year like really thinking, planning. I mean, I can't even tell you how many phone calls I made to the city, and I spent hours putting together a plan, a business plan for this. And then three months in, we decided to pause the whole thing because we realized that we were pretty much forcing it, you know, because there was one key thing that was holding us up that was like, "Wait a minute, how are we going to solve this problem?" It was kind of like one of those, "Well, we're gonna... we could... we'll make it work. We'll figure it out. It's gonna..." you know. All of a sudden I was like, "Why do we need to do that? We don't even need to do the studio. It's just gonna cause a lot of stress. And what we could be doing right now is opening a major problem for ourselves." So what we decided to do instead was solve the problem that we would be opening for ourselves first, but that's going to take time.Lesley Logan 22:01  Yeah.Brad Crowell 22:02  Right. So even though we spent this time putting this whole plan together and decided to hit pause, it's interesting because, okay, there's actually another path that is going to set us up for success in the future when we do bring that studio back around. However, it doesn't mean that you don't feel bummed about it. I drive by the location that we picked out, that I've talked with the landlord.Lesley Logan 22:26  I know.Brad Crowell 22:27  And the neighbors, and the city about, and a contractor about.Lesley Logan 22:30  And I envisioned the sign.Brad Crowell 22:32  100 times.Lesley Logan 22:33  I still don't think it's not going to be in that center. I just think it's not that unit. It's just that unit needed way too much money. Yeah, not the rent, but the build-out was like jaw-dropping. It honestly made the grief a little bit easier, I'm not gonna lie, because it was such a "fuck no," you know what I mean? Like, it was just like no fucking way. And so, I do understand there's grief because that's not happening today, and so we still drive by it every single time, but I also think this is where good reflection comes from, too. It's like, in reflecting, it's all out of our control—the parts that are the obstacles, yeah. So I go to bed knowing we did the best we could with what we had in the moment, and had we not had this other stupid bill come through that we're like, "That's a fuck no," we probably would have forced the salmon up the stream a little bit. I think so, because we definitely.Brad Crowell 23:34  Would have.Lesley Logan 23:34  Anyway, would have made it work, but it would have been a hard stress.Brad Crowell 23:38  More complicated than it needed to be. Yeah, but.Lesley Logan 23:40  I do think there is a way you have to grieve changes. We have Elevate members who are like, "I'm grieving the teacher I used to be," because they used to just narrate a Pilates class, for lack of a simple thing. And it's like, "Well, no, now you get to watch it, and you get to see what it is." Part of you is excited because you know better now and you have these more potential possibilities now, but also there was a time that it felt easier, right? And you're a different person when you're in this unknown space. So, like, I'm excited when we open that studio. I'm past the grief thing, but also sometimes I look back at that studio, it would have been really great if it was a Pilates on it already.Brad Crowell 24:19  Yeah, well, that's the thing. You know, you were talking about how grief doesn't really go away because you had built a mental pattern around a person or a thing or an experience that was supposed to happen. You had built that into your thinking, and what ends up happening over time is we think that way a little bit less. It doesn't mean we don't think about the thing, but the expectations that we had alter, they shift, right? And so, you know, what Adrian was talking about was someone, I think he was talking about someone who died, if I recall, and he said sometimes he just needs to embrace when that emotion comes up. He embraces it, he leans into it. He's like, "It's okay for me to feel this right now," and he encourages letting that emotion flow for multiple reasons. It's a testament to how someone or something impacted you, but also it's really important to feel those emotions. So.Lesley Logan 25:16  Yeah, it's hard. I don't know, it's like there's certain... you know, it's really interesting, like there's certain people, places, or things that you grieve in different ways. Our LA studio, I don't ever look back and have tears, like I'm sad with that studio, because it was the right thing to do to make the change, but I do miss having that cute little space.Brad Crowell 25:37  Yeah.Lesley Logan 25:37  You know, I miss it. Yeah, I think back of it fondly, not tears, like, "Oh, I don't have that place anymore," but like, "What a fun two years I had in that space." It was such a... like a treehouse, you know. So, grief doesn't always have to be devastating either, but you have to feel it. We have some great grief podcasts, by the way. Haven't had any recently, but the two that we had were so good: Kim Hamer and another woman... I want to say Kara, but I don't think that's what it was. She's like Coach Something, and they're both on grief. Kim Hamer has a wonderful book on 100 Acts of Love, and her episode about her husband and that grief was so interesting, and what she has done. She was so raw and wonderful and thoughtful. And then there was a woman before her in the episodes, and I'm just talking like as if it's going to come back to me, she actually, unfortunately, watched her husband die, and then she went through all this grief and she was like, "How come this is happening, and why am I not over it?" She literally became a grief coach.Brad Crowell 26:42  Yeah.Lesley Logan 26:42  I want to say it's Kara, but it's not.Brad Crowell 26:44  I have no idea.Lesley Logan 26:46  Anyways, our wonderful producers will figure it out, I'm sure. But you can just go into our catalog; it's definitely in the first 200 episodes. Good luck! Well, here's the thing: if you can find Kim Hamer, it's within two months of Kim Hamer that I remember. So, okay, we're gonna get into our Be It action items, and I can see Brad is going to Google that.Brad Crowell 27:05  Yeah, one was Krista St-Germain.Lesley Logan 27:08  That's the one.Brad Crowell 27:09  And the other was.Lesley Logan 27:12  Kim Hamer. Kim Hamer! So sorry, replace Hamer everywhere I said Scott. There you go.Brad Crowell 27:23  All right, stick around. We'll be right back. We're gonna dig into those Be It action items. Brad Crowell 27:29  All right. Well, welcome back. Let's talk about those Be It action items that we got from Adrian Starks. What bold, executable, intrinsic, or targeted action items can we take away from your combo, Adrian? It's weird to call him Starks. Starks, it sounds like he's like... like.Lesley Logan 27:48  Tony.Brad Crowell 27:49  Yeah, but I was thinking like a football player, like the way that you.Lesley Logan 27:52  I just want to go "Adrian," that's all.Brad Crowell 27:54  Starks redefines the word goal, and I've really loved this, y'all. He's so full of these quippy things that are so applicable, and this one really blew my mind. He said, "I love a goal, but I redefined it with the acronym of Get Out and Live, Get Out and Live." And I was like, "Wow, that's really great." I love that he views goals not as rigid markers but as triggers to move outside of one's comfort zone, scare yourself a little bit, and then break a rut. He suggests regularly asking yourself, what is actually going on here? What am I not happy about? What do I actually want? Specifically focusing on immediate desires rather than five-year plans, he recommends detoxing from social media for several days at a time to avoid the world of comparisons that definitely leads to self-doubt and imposter syndrome.Brad Crowell 28:51  Imposter syndrome, yeah, exactly.Lesley Logan 28:53  Comparison is the thief of joy.Brad Crowell 28:54  Comparison is the thief of joy. What about you?Lesley Logan 28:58  Well, he said your purpose in life is not something you find, it's something that you do, and it's going to change. It's going to evolve with time, and I couldn't agree more. It's so funny. Recently, I posted pictures of myself as a brand new Pilates instructor. I actually wrote a whole series called Outgrowing Yourself, and it's either already come out or it's coming up. No idea. I think it already came out, outgrowing your old version of yourself. And it's so funny, because I don't look back at her going, "Oh my god." I mean, when I said, "Oh my god, I look so young..."Brad Crowell 29:27  You look like a child.Lesley Logan 29:28  I look like a child. I was 25, but I think about what her goals as a new teacher were to where I am right now, and I can say looking back I never have thought, "Oh my god, I'm no longer living my purpose," because my purpose has evolved as a teacher. Because I've evolved in the more that I know, and the people that I teach, and the things that I'm drawn to. There's things that people like, "Don't you want to do this?" and it's like, "No, that's a no, I don't." And even right now people like, "Oh, what about next year?" I'm like, "I think I'm staying home a lot, actually a significant amount of time. I'm staying home." And they're like, "Oh, really?" And it's like, "Yeah, because if you do take the time to get to know yourself, and you do stay aligned with what you want, and you do stay aligned with your purpose, your life has to evolve." And then, because that evolves, and your purpose evolves, I'm like, "My life has to reflect what I'm doing, and then what I'm doing then takes me to my next thing, which means my life has to reflect what I'm doing, and so..."Brad Crowell 30:26  I agree with you on this, but also let's go back to his statement, because I think I remember trying to figure out, like, what am I going to do with my life, or what's my purpose? And we all know that it's important to have purpose in our lives, but I also think a testament to this is the conversations that I've had recently with my parents, who just retired.Lesley Logan 30:51  Yeah.Brad Crowell 30:51  Right. And then the interview that we had with the retirement coach, whose name I'm not recalling, but it was in the last 100 episodes. Lesley Logan 31:01  Definitely. It was definitely, was it this year?Brad Crowell 31:04  But the point is that we think purpose is just going to find us, and we're gonna be like, "Oh my god, that's what I'm here for, that's the thing," right? Instead, what clearly seems actionable is purpose is something that we are out there doing, and whether or not we chose to do it, we're still out there doing it. I mean, I think about my parents with their job, and the thing that was keeping my dad focused on the job was the job. Ultimately, if you step back and look at that, it's not necessarily like whatever... I don't even know what the projects were that he was working on.Lesley Logan 31:45  Ever.Brad Crowell 31:46  Yeah, but the point... I mean, I wasn't intimately involved in the company they work for, so I don't actually understand all the nuance of the things, but he built that purpose over a career of 42 or 43 years, and then now all of a sudden he's thinking about ending it. It doesn't matter how mundane the job is, he's, "Oh, what am I going to do with myself after this? I'm not sure, I don't know," you know. And so that's where we find ourselves unwilling to make a change as well, but then you have... that's like.Lesley Logan 32:16  No, I want to argue with you a little bit, and I'm glad your dad doesn't listen to this podcast. I feel like he did what a lot of people his age did, which is like, "This is my job," and that job became the purpose. Yeah.Brad Crowell 32:31  But that's the point of what Adrian said.Lesley Logan 32:33  But I don't think so, because I think it goes to that saying: if you don't have goals, someone will make their goals your goal, and so I feel like.Brad Crowell 32:43  Your purpose can be inadvertent. Yeah, if you don't take control of what you do, then your purpose will be defined for you, or it can accidentally become your purpose. Yes.Lesley Logan 32:53  And if you don't like it, then you're the person going, "Why is my purpose just to do this project for this many years?" Where I think it's important is this is where self-reflection is so important, because when you self-reflect, you are aware of when you are outgrowing something, or you are being called into something. I don't know if we had a conversation with Adrian, but I definitely had a conversation, and I wrote a newsletter on it, is that a lot of people in the Pilates industry, like, "I need to figure out what my space is in this industry," and it's like, never do that, don't do that. Because no one that you admire ever sat and goes, "What is my little circle in this industry?" No, they went out and carved their path, they created their thing. There'll be an episode coming out that hasn't already with me on Balanced Body's podcast, where they're like, "You carved out this thing." I'm like, I had to, I had to create the thing that I needed. Some of you are already living your purpose, but you actually are looking at other people and going, "I need to look like them," and you haven't taken the time to reflect back, going, "Actually, the thing that I'm doing is the thing that's my purpose, and it's helping these people. And so now that I'm aware of that, I amplify that." Because you're out there amplifying and doing it, it will evolve, because you will continue to hone in and understand and be curious, and change things. So either it inadvertently finds you, and you're doing someone else's purpose, and they'll be grateful, or you discover what it is. But if you look inside.Brad Crowell 34:20  But that's... yeah, it goes... you were both talking about self-reflection, but it goes back to, you know, your purpose in life is not something you find, it's something that you do.Lesley Logan 34:29  Yes.Brad Crowell 34:30  And it is also... it's a change and evolve over time.Lesley Logan 34:33  It's kind of like those movies where the person goes out in seek of what their purpose is, but really their purpose was there all the time, but they weren't taking the time to see that it was there. Go self-reflect anyways. Anything else, Brad?Brad Crowell 34:47  Yeah. He said with purpose you can navigate and make adjustments, right? And he talked about figuring out what actions match the frequency and energy of where you're at right now.Lesley Logan 34:57  Yeah, that's true. That's great.Brad Crowell 34:59  Yeah, I mean, we'll just leave it... we'll just leave that there. Go back and listen, because...Lesley Logan 35:04  Adrian is great.Brad Crowell 35:05  Yeah, he's great.Lesley Logan 35:05  And I, by the way.Brad Crowell 35:06  He does voice acting. How cool.Lesley Logan 35:08  Well, let's listen to his voice.Brad Crowell 35:09  Yeah, it's amazing.Lesley Logan 35:10  Honestly, like, he should really write sleepy stories, like those sleep stories. I would listen every day.Brad Crowell 35:16  Yeah.Lesley Logan 35:17  I also would even listen to him share bad news with that voice, because it's just like, you know, like the BBC type, where it's just matter-of-fact, you know what I mean? Like, I think I could be like, "Okay, well, we're not all gonna die, so there we go." Adrian, thanks for being you. Thanks for being back. You guys, I'm Lesley Logan.Brad Crowell 35:34  And I'm Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 35:35  Share our episodes with a friend who needs to figure out what their purpose is, and then leave a review. Yes, and then send in your win, because you're someone who likes this podcast, or someone likes a checklist, and I just gave you three things that are easy to do, easy to check off. You're gonna feel super successful in your day, so then you can go Be It Till You See It.Brad Crowell 35:52  Bye for now.Lesley Logan 35:53  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod. Brad Crowell 36:36  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 36:41  It is transcribed, produced, and edited by the epic team @desenio.co.Brad Crowell 36:45  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music, and our branding by designer and artist Gianfranco Chofi.Lesley Logan 36:52  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals,Brad Crowell 36:56  Also to Angelina Herrico for adding all of our content to our website, and finally to Meredith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Most people are waiting to find their purpose. Adrian Starks says that's exactly why they're stuck. The podcaster, voice narrator, professional speaker, and entrepreneur behind Your Purposeful Life returns to the show to share with Lesley Logan about the real cost of perfectionism, the salmon's lesson on fighting your purpose, and the daily self-reflection practice that quietly rebuilds your direction. This one's for anyone in a rebuild season, ready to stop searching and start moving. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:Why saying "I don't know" is the most underrated leadership move.The three cycles every purposeful life moves through on repeat.What happens when you stop checking in with your own purposeThe two questions Adrian asks instead of just journaling his thoughts.The real difference between nice people and kind people in your life.Episode References/Links:Adrian Starks Website - https://adrianstarks.comYour Purposeful Life Podcast - https://beitpod.com/purposefullifeAdrian Starks on YouTube - https://beitpod.com/adrianyoutubeAdrian Starks LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/feed/?nis=trueAdrian Starks Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/adrian.starksEp 191. with Adrian Starks - https://beitpod.com/ep191The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish - https://a.co/d/0iNbLUALAre You My Mother by P.D. Eastman - https://a.co/d/0clbpmbUSubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questions If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Adrian Starks 0:00  Your purpose in life is not something you find, it's something that you do, and that is going to change. It's going to evolve with time, and that's okay. Having self-doubt is okay; not knowing everything is okay.Lesley Logan 0:13  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. Lesley Logan 0:55  All right, Be It babe. I'm gonna keep this short and sweet, because you've got some gems, some nuggets, some magic coming at you. We have one of the best conversations I had at the beginning of this pod, episode 191. Our guest is Adrian Starks, and he is back, and he is back with so much. It's so fun how a difference of a few years can make when you're living your life and you're following your purpose and reflecting what you can do and what you learn about yourself that you can share with others. So here are so many amazing tips on helping you find your purposeful life. And if you love Adrian, go check out his podcast, Your Purposeful Life. Lesley Logan 1:29  All right, Be It Pod, we have a guest back. I think, honestly, this might be the biggest gap from the first episode to the next episode. So, Adrian Starks, we have a lot to talk about. We, one, probably have to reintroduce you to everybody, and then two, we have to hear what you've been up to, how you're being it till you see it. So, tell everyone who you are and what you're rocking at these days.Adrian Starks 1:48  Well, it is so great to be back, Lesley. Let me tell you. My name is Adrian Starks, of course. I'm a podcaster, voice narrator, speaker, entrepreneur, all the good stuff. But yeah, that's who I am.Lesley Logan 2:01  Are you reading books? Are you a narrator like that? Are commercials what we're doing with it? I mean, a great voice.Adrian Starks 2:06  We're reading books, we're narrating for commercials, we're doing a lot of things.Lesley Logan 2:11  Cool, that's so fun. How did... okay, we have to talk more about that. But first, so we had you on for episode 191, and I was on your pod, and we really had a great time because you had some really great "be it till you see it" moments. And I think maybe we can go back a little bit of the be it till you see it where we left off to here, because maybe I missed it, maybe I didn't get as excited, but I can't believe narrating commercials and stuff like that. That's got to be so fun using this amazing voice you have to do what you're doing. So take us back a little bit, so we can get to the present.Adrian Starks 2:48  Okay, so how did I get into that? Well, that's a good question. I started out as speaking, professional speaking, and then I just started making connections along the way, started auditioning for certain things. I did a lot of things on certain platforms, like reading for children's books, I did some audios for other people's books, and then one thing led to another. The next thing I know, I'm getting offered opportunities to do other things, like narrating, and it's fun for me. I enjoy it, and I love it. So that's where I'm at today, doing that, along with podcasting, along with just being it till you see it.Lesley Logan 3:20  Yeah, how has your podcast changed? It's been like almost 400 episodes since we've talked, so that's like at least two years.Adrian Starks 3:28  Yeah.Lesley Logan 3:30  Because when we start our podcast, we have an intention of what it is, and then we evolve. The podcast has to evolve. What have you kept the same, and what have you realized that as you've changed, you've changed?Adrian Starks 3:44  Wow, the podcast has evolved, and I've changed over time, in a way of not so polished like I was before. Before, I was very astute, and I had to talk about this, talk about that, and make sure all my answers are correct. Now I was like, you know what, there's some things I just don't know, and I'm gonna show certain sides of myself that no one's ever seen. So now people are seeing the comical side of me. I'm into comics, I'm into a lot of fun things, comic cards, comic books, superheroes, of course, reading. But the podcast has evolved in a sense of me now just... I'm not looking for the answer of purpose. I just want to understand what people's perspective of it is, and that has changed.Lesley Logan 4:30  Oh, I understand that. I get that, because it's called Your Purposeful Life. And I love that you're like, "I thought it has to be astute. Everything has to have an answer, because that's what everyone wants." Everyone wants an answer. I have these students in this mentorship program, and they asked a question, and I talked for seven minutes. My fathom is like that's like a monologue, and I was like, "I have fully answered your question, and I want to acknowledge that it doesn't sound like there's an answer in there because you want yes or no."Adrian Starks 5:01  That's the truth.Lesley Logan 5:01  But it's such a lot of questions about our life and the things that we do. There's nuances; there's things that might be too much purpose for you and not enough for someone else. And so it's complicated.Adrian Starks 5:14  It's very complicated. And I go by the philosophy of Socrates. He said that "I know that I know nothing," and that is something that is very courageous to do in this day and time. Yes, we want to be knowledgeable about things. Yes, we want to have things that we give to people that are correct, because, like in your case, when you're teaching people, you want the knowledge to be there for them. But there's a lot of cases where there's just some things we don't know, and that's okay. That's what learning is for, and being able to be a person in your field and be a leader, and say, "You know what, I don't know, but I would like to find that answer out with you, or find some type of solution to what this is." And that's where I feel like we're living now in this day and time; people are looking for solutions, but they're also looking for connection to that solution.Lesley Logan 6:06  Yeah, and I think there's a trust to be built there. There has to be something that there's an alignment. I actually remember when I first became a Pilates instructor, I think I had to know the answer to everything, and I have found that my clients and the students I teach, they might not love when I say, "I don't know. Let me think about it," but also I may never know. The person I studied under has passed, the person he studied under has passed, like there's just going to be some things we don't have an answer to. So I think it's very brave and courageous to be like, "I don't know the answer to that, but this is what I know, and I know enough of this to keep going in this direction." Being a recovering perfectionist and overachiever, I used to really need someone to tell me the right or left turn to take, and I've gotten better at going, "Oh, I'm going to take this left-hand turn, and based on the information I have, it should get me where I'm going, and if it doesn't, we'll get as far as we did, and we'll figure it out."Adrian Starks 7:05  That is the same way with me, too. You and I both share that common theme of being the perfectionist and wanting to have, we call these Type A personalities, they want certain things a certain way, and that's okay. But there are times where you have to just let things flow. I was thinking about this the other day. I had a day where everything seemed to be going against me, and I was trying my best, because I'm very stubborn, to make things go the way that I wanted them to. And the more I did that, I found that there was more resistance, something got delayed, something didn't happen, something fell through, and then I realized that, okay, I'm going against the nature of things. And when we go against the nature of things, when we try to make things perfect when they're not meant to be, that's going to be major resistance, because everything has to flow a certain way.Lesley Logan 7:57  Yeah.Adrian Starks 7:57  I'm all about looking at nature as a way of teaching, and if you look at the salmon, so I'm from the Pacific Northwest, here in Seattle, and the salmon, when they go upstream, that one last journey to lay their eggs then spawn, they go upstream. That's the last thing they do when they get there, is do that, and then they die. Now, the question remains: is it the exhaustion that gets them? Is it just that that was their purpose, like we're going to go back, we're going to give life, and then that's it? Well, there's a number of things going on, but the true essence is that that journey against the flow of the river, that's what exhausts them. So, by the time they get to the top and they do their thing, there is no energy left to go back.Lesley Logan 8:47  Yeah.Adrian Starks 8:47  And when I look at our days and our lives, and when we're going against the grain of what our purposes are, then that creates major resistance. It makes us feel like we're not worth it, makes us feel like we're not perfect. It makes us feel like we're incompetent, and the answer to that is that we're not. We're truly good at where we are. We can always be better, but we don't need to be perfect.Lesley Logan 9:11  Yeah, I interviewed someone about being 1% better every day, and eventually that just is too compounding for me. I've done math, and that's a lot, for the recovering overachiever. 1% better every day, and it's like some days you're gonna be 3% worse, because you made a mistake that you had to go learn and unravel and go back, and that requires... there's just things, it's a lot of pressure. But I do think that as long as your intention is to be a learner and to continue to put out what you feel your creative spirit is, then you're going to make mistakes, but you can recover from them and keep going, and you learn more, you have better muscle strength. Some days when you're having those resistances, you actually just build stronger resilience for what you're going to do, because the closer you get to the thing that you want, you'll have a lot of rejection along the way. People doubting that your idea is a good one, and you need to strengthen your resilience, so you can get to where you want to go. Because when you get there, there's going to still be some doubters; it's going to be even more, because now you're more known for it. And so now there are these people who are like, "Who do you think you are?" And it's like, I think I'm the person who's been working on this for 20 years. Where are you? You just got here.Adrian Starks 10:25  Exactly. That's what people see, they see the outcome, they see just that result. They don't see the build-up to it.Lesley Logan 10:31  Yeah.Adrian Starks 10:31  And it's like when you look at trees when they grow, you don't see the roots that are deep into the ground that have spent years getting its grounding so the tree can go upward and it can balance itself. You only see the blossoming of the tree, and we forget that there's a lot going on in the dark here, a lot that's causing this tree to be the way it is. And I love the fact that you said learning too, because that kind of rang a bell with me when I talk about purposeful living. There's three cycles, and one of them is learning. We have to be constant students of ourselves and our environments, learning what is actually going on in my environment, what am I not getting, what mistakes am I making, what can I improve, and then that learning process will trigger the second step. Once you realize that, that second step is growth.Lesley Logan 11:19  Yeah.Adrian Starks 11:20  We trust what we've learned. Right now, we're beginning to put it into action a little bit. We're starting to apply it, like, "Okay, this didn't work. Let me dial back here. Let me try this now. Let me try something different. Let me try a different road. Let me not go down this road anymore." And then, once you do that enough, that growth, then we move into the third part of the cycle, which is self-expression. That's the complete trust that now you've learned it, you put it into action, and now you know what works and what doesn't work for you. Now you're just going to have some fun with it. Then once you start having fun, the confidence builds up. Okay, now let's learn some more, let's grow some.Lesley Logan 11:58  Yeah.Adrian Starks 11:59  And you just keep doing that over and over through your lifespan here on the planet. And the beautiful thing is, like you were mentioning, you don't have to be perfect doing it, make a mess, and then clean it up as you go.Lesley Logan 12:10  Oh my god, I think the best things... I look at them in my office at the end of the day, and I'm like, "Yeah, we did some great work here." Maybe that's the ADHD that just puts things down instead of putting it away, but at the end of the day I look and go, "Oh yeah, if I thought I didn't do anything today, I was wrong." Clearly, I've been in every place in this room, I've done all these things, and I think that's a sign of a good day. It's interesting. I think another part of that growth process you're talking about is putting yourself around people who are the next step ahead, because if you end up doing all of that, and then you're just surrounded by people who haven't done that, it's really easy to either get a little full of yourself or to stop growing, or think that there's not another level. I've always had some great friends in my career that are about seven to 10 years ahead of me in age or in the profession, and I love it because they are always telling me what their complaints are, and I can go, "Oh, well, I don't have to experience that complaint. That sounds like a terrible thing, that sounds really exhausting." If I just change it now, I feel like I'm a little bit... not skipping ahead, but just having stronger guidance towards where I'm at and what I'm doing. So it's almost like the HOV lane on the freeway. I'm still going to be in a little bit of traffic, but it's a little less, less people.Adrian Starks 13:33  No, I agree with you. I love that, because it's so true. We do need to surround ourselves with people that uplift us, inspire us, and also show us what not to do. We can learn two ways: learn what to do and learn what not to do. A lot of times, learning what not to do is even bigger than learning what to do. It saves you time and energy. And we also have to be careful, too, with people that are around us that may be, not intentionally but unconsciously, pulling us away from that thing that we really want to do for ourselves, for our communities, for society. We get used to just being the person that's like, "Okay, we're good, we have a good time, and we get along." But is this person really, or this group, are they really challenging you to grow? Are they really allowing you to see things that you need to see in order to move forward? And it's hard. It's really hard to think about that consciously, because we get so used to just being in the group, and we can talk a lot about self-reliance, but we need each other.Lesley Logan 14:40  Yeah.Adrian Starks 14:41  You can never ascend alone; I believe that completely. Back in the day when I was doing my professional speaking on stages, I was in Canada, I was speaking, I thought it was all about me. I was like, "Hey, I got the answers, I'm teaching everybody." Then, boom, COVID hit. Humbleness, you know. It was like there was nobody around, because I was just by myself, and I was just doing my thing. I didn't have that group or those people to reassure me to say, "Hey, okay, you need to recalibrate here. We're doing this over here, you might want to take a look at what we're doing." I didn't have that group, and I'm glad that you said that, because there needs to be people that kind of challenge you. But at the same time, when you hit a pocket where it's like, "What do I do? How do I get better?" then you have that group to look to, or that person to look to, as an example.Lesley Logan 15:40  I agree. I think it's really easy, and I see it happening now, because it's almost like we forgot that there was a COVID. My schedule, even though as intentional as I've been, it's been very busy, and people are like, "Oh, when are you coming back?" And I'm like, "Probably not till 2028. I have not accepted any gigs for next year. I've not accepted any gigs." I've got an idea that I need to do, and that's gonna require me to be at home, and I've got another idea that won't happen unless I'm at home, so I gotta do that. And people just look at me like, "What?" And I'm like, "This is how busy I was pre-COVID." And then during COVID, it became very clear who my friends were because we were just at the same places at the same time, and who my friends were because they wanted to talk to me even when we weren't running into each other. So that really helped me go, "Okay, these are the people who care about me, no matter how they benefit, right?" And then these other people, they're not bad people if that's all they want to talk to me, but it's just that it's interesting to note who you want to share things with. But I think we have to realize that there was this beautiful time that helped us reflect on where we were going, and we got this reset, and how we used it hopefully was intentional. And then now we're back at it, and it's so easy to forget what that was. I'm seeing people fall back into the patterns of pre-COVID, and I'm like, I need to have intentional relationships. And speaking back to your podcast, my purpose is something that will probably change, will change as my life goes on, but if I'm not paying attention to it, I'm not gonna realize that; I'm gonna be doing five years ago's purpose.Adrian Starks 17:19  It's true. In the purpose thing, it's not what you find, it's what you do, and it's constantly evolving with you. We talked about in the beginning, you were asking me about what changed and what brought this about; it was just the changing of my purpose. I realized that there were things now that... okay, now I'm interested in this, or now this is moving into this direction because of these external situations that I can't control, so how do I adapt? Thomas Carlyle, he was a Scottish philosopher, and he said that a person without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder. What that means is that when you don't have a rudder in your ship, when something comes around unexpectedly, your ship just starts spinning and it goes off course. But when you have a rudder, meaning you have a purpose, something you're working with, no matter what's happening, you can navigate and be like, "Okay, let's make a little adjustment here. This may not work, but we're still going to go ahead with the plan." The plan is just altered a little bit, and that's what it is to be purposeful. It's just actively knowing that this year was different than three years ago, and so this year, what can we do that matches the frequency and energy and intensity of where we're at right now? And that's what I've come to realize, it's just you don't have to look back and say, "This is where I was, oh poor me." A lot of people felt this way, and I felt this way, like what happened to that spark, what happened to that person that was doing all these things over here? And I have to come to a reality check. Life... shit happens. Things happen, and we can't control them, but we also have the amazing ability as human beings to adapt and adjust.Lesley Logan 18:56  Yeah.Adrian Starks 18:56  We're the only species on the planet that can do that. All the other things of nature and animals, if there's a cliff, they just keep going because they know they got to get on the other side, migration-wise. But when it's us, we're like, "That shit ain't working. This is not working, we'll go over here." That's our ability to do that, and that's why I said the purpose, it's like you can guide it, it doesn't necessarily have to pull you, and that's where we get our true self-creative factors coming from and just making changes that we need to make in our lives.Lesley Logan 19:30  Yeah, so I want to go back to because you know what your podcast has become now. Brad and I have been making changes to our pod, and we were on our vacation in Europe, and we're listening to a podcast, and it started with like... I say we're gonna stop playing the music before the ads. Why are we doing that? Because if we want it to sound really produced, we have great producers, they're listening to this, you guys are amazing, love you, but they're great producers with or without that. And all these other podcasts I listen to, they don't have the music going into it, they just go into an ad. And that's kind of annoying, but you know what? How the podcast gets paid is for ads, so sorry, that's how it's paid for. These things cost a lot of money to do, so we're doing that. And it's like, "Well, what else?" And I'm like, "You know, I'm actually bored of this. I'm actually tired of that." And then you're like, "Oh my god, but my listeners are so used to it, people don't like change." But also it's like, "But this is my podcast, and I have to like doing it." So, what are some changes you've made, or decisions you've done? And then, did you think about how did you... did you tell the listeners, or you just did it? How did you do it?Adrian Starks 20:32  I have to say, to be honest and fully transparent, I did not tell my listeners I was going to take a hiatus off. I just did it. And what's interesting is that listeners... they begin to listen more because they missed that space. There's this saying that people don't miss you until you're gone.Lesley Logan 20:53  Yeah.Adrian Starks 20:54  When people don't hear from you, they get very curious. I always say this to people, I say, "I'm incubating." They're like... "I'm cooking up some stuff here, I'm working on some other things that I'm just incubating right now, but there's still things you can listen to." And I think that it would be nice to tell our listeners that, "Hey, I'm going to go on a five-month hiatus here, or six months, or seven months." But in all honesty, I don't think that would be... for me, that wouldn't be a good idea, because then they just stop listening. They'll just start moving on to something.Lesley Logan 21:23  Yeah because they know, "Okay, they'll be back in six months."Adrian Starks 21:25  So they're like, "Well, he's not gonna release anything new, so we're just gonna move on to the next person." And some people will do that, but I think that at the end of the day, we're human. If we're taking off and we're gone, we're gone. And when we come back, then we can explain, like, "Hey, I was gone for a minute. This is what's been going on." People want the real these days, and they want to know what is going on in your life.Lesley Logan 21:48  Yeah.Adrian Starks 21:49  Like I remember when professional speaking was so polished, everyone was on stage, they had suits and ties on, and I'll never forget I started out with a suit and tie. For some people, they can feel good; that makes them feel great. But I was like, "This is not me, I can't be this person." So I stopped wearing the suit and tie, I started being myself, wearing casual clothes. Then the podcasting industry kicked off, it boomed. It started back in 2018 is when it really began to take off, and at the podcasting stage, I was beginning to do the same thing: well-polished, all this stuff, and then I realized, no, not me. And the podcast over time has changed, it's evolved. You will see different perspectives of myself. There was one person asking me, "Do you think you should take down the episodes from the very beginning, because it's so not in alignment with what you're doing now?" And I said, "Absolutely not." I said, "This shows transparency, that I started with this idea, now we're moving on to these things, and it just shows the purpose, how it's constantly changing." And that's where we're at. But yeah, back to your question, I kind of went on a tangent there, but back to your question about whether you tell people or not: I think no. I think we do what comes natural, and yeah. In this day and time, everyone wants attention. I've noticed this on social media, I'm gonna have to say it, I'm gonna have to bring it up here, it's been on my mind a lot, everybody wants attention, everybody's doing podcasting right now. Lesley, you've been around for quite some time, you're a veteran in podcasting, but the people now... everybody, birds, cats, dogs, they all have podcasts now.Lesley Logan 23:26  I know everybody wants.Adrian Starks 23:27  To be on a podcast, and you know what? It's saturated the market. We're competing with people who don't really have a passion for what they do; they're just getting people on their show to talk to. I know some people will disagree with that, and that's okay, but this is my perspective because I've seen it. When we feel a certain way, like something doesn't resonate with us, it's okay to pull away. That shows we truly are in our essence. We're not doing this to impress, and we're not doing this hoping you stay with me and follow me. If you connect with me energetically and you really like what I do, then you'll go with the flow. I understand it's a business for us too, and we have to continue to do the things that bring business, but at the same time, it is what it is. You just have to know that if you're feeling a certain way, either do it or don't do it. I have this thing I do: if I'm not feeling an episode, I'm not going to get on a mic. I'm not going to talk if I'm having a shitty day, sorry for my language here, but if I'm having one of those days where I've encountered someone or done something in business and it's just not sitting right with me, then I'm not going to get on the mic. At that point, that energy is going to come across, my head will be somewhere else, and I'm not truly present. So, I think it's great for us to be able to take time off and just step away for a bit.Lesley Logan 24:49  I appreciate you saying that. There's this one podcast that Brad listened to, and the guy was like, "I'm taking off three months. Here's why I'm doing that, and here's what's going on." He was very honest. He said, "I'm having some burnout, I feel like I'm overworking, and I want to put some new systems in place." Then he said, "And here are the things I created for you." And I thought, Oh my god, why would you do that? You are tired. It was very thoughtful, but that was just extra work just to get to the finish line. And this other podcast I listened to, I realized, like, a couple, because he's a Friday podcast, it's True Crime of the Week, and so obviously it's very topical, it's very like time sensitive, and like after a couple weeks I was like, oh, that's interesting, I haven't heard from him in a bit, right, and then it kind of just went on, and the other day, two weeks ago, he came back, and I was like, oh, they're The True Crime of the Week, right, I was so excited to see it in my lineup, so I like hit it, and he goes, yeah, it was supposed to take a two week hiatus, and I took four months, and I apologize, it's been a while, but I really.. this is what I didn't know. There's a lot going on that just.. it felt like I didn't feel like I could talk about true crime with all the heaviness that's going on, and I didn't have the words to say what I was feeling, and so I just took time for myself, and I was like, you know what, I actually hold nothing against him, because I actually found that to be even more honest. It was like I needed time off, because I'm a big fan of, like, I'm not going to share anything with the world unless I fully processed it, because then, and I learned this from Tiffany Haddish, from her book, The Last Black Unicorn, she's like, if you have fully processed it, then no matter what people say, it's just going to bounce right off of you, right, but if you haven't fully processed it and you shared it, you're gonna take whatever they're saying personally, or you're gonna be offended by it, or you're gonna get frustrated, or you're gonna feel like you defend yourself again. And so I'm often late to some of the topics that are online, because it takes me a little bit to go, well, how do I feel? Does that bother me? Why does it bother me? What's going on? And then when I've processed it, then I'll, then I'll share it, and I find, like, I think it's better to be human, and social media is a problem. Podcasting, oh my god, there's so many. I'm proud to say this podcast in the top 1% of all podcasts in the world, even with all the crap that's out there. But, like, I find that sometimes I'm like, oh, I should have more followers or more likes on the posts that I have based on my career, but I won't do the click bait stuff. I refuse to do these three exercises, help you trim your waist. It's like, no, if you're perimenopausal, good fucking luck, and your hormones.. like, I'm sorry, there isn't, you know? My girlfriend was like, "Just say these three, and then, and then get them to click and go sorry, there is none. Go talk to your doctor." I'm like, that is just going to get people mad, like that would piss me off. I felt lied to, so it's not my style. So, I think, you have to stay true to yourself, and sometimes that means just honoring the pause. But also, Adrian, I feel like that requires self-reflection. So, what are you doing? Because it feels like you're quite knowledgeable about yourself. What do you do to make sure you're checking in with yourself? Do you journal? What do you do?Adrian Starks 27:41  So, I would say that the first thing I do is I ask myself questions. I know that a lot of people talk about journaling, and that's part of it, but in all honesty, I just ask myself, what's going on? You just gotta sit down somewhere and just say, okay, what's going on? What am I not happy about? What do I want? That's the big thing. What do I want? And then you start thinking in your head, and then thoughts start rolling. And as those thoughts start rolling, write some of them out or record them. Either way, document them somewhere. Then I ask myself, what do I want to do? Not like what do I want to do in five years, because that's just too much processing in a time where you're just likeLesley Logan 28:23  I agree. Just here to harm me, but I do know what I have told my team is I want to be retired in 10, but what I want to do in five is like a whole different story.Adrian Starks 28:34  It is, and we put time frames on ourselves, or we put this limit of like, I got to be here in five years, it's a good marker to get you going, but it's not necessarily something you need to be focused on, like that's what you, that's how it's going to end up, like it could be a number of things that happens between that point that brings that goal about, but like I said, there's, and I have to be careful the word goal, because the goal I feel is very saturated too, and I use it in a different term, I use goal as this, g o a l, get out and live, do something. Yeah, I use that as that's what I use for it. It just teaches me that when I said something, it forces me to get outside of my box and start living a little bit. Scare yourself a little bit. Say I'm gonna go over here, I'm gonna fly over here, I'm gonna spend time over here, or I'm gonna do this, do something that's just out of your comfort zone to get you out of that rut. And then that's what I do. So, once I'm out of the rut, then I'm like, okay, now let's sit down and let's look at creating a plan. But the first thing is, you got to get yourself out of the rut, you got to do something just to move, move your body, so to speak, right? You tell your clients this, move your body, you got to move, move, move your thoughts out of this head, and to put it somewhere else, but I do that, so I do a lot of self-reflection of asking myself, what do I want, what's going on, and then I also remind myself of what I've been doing. You've got to give yourself a pat on the back, because whatever you've been doing, it's been working.Lesley Logan 29:58  Yeah.Adrian Starks 29:59  And a lot of times we have high expectations for ourselves because we live in a world of comparisons, and it's very easy to do that now. Because when you go online, it's not just people who are very successful out there. You can see your friends, your family, and you're like, "Oh, hey, they flew over here and went to the Bahamas. I'm stuck here in this area over here, I can't even do this." And then you start down-talking yourself.Lesley Logan 30:25  Yeah.Adrian Starks 30:26  This happens with people in relationships and business and social environments, and so I think be careful with comparisons.Lesley Logan 30:32  Yeah.Adrian Starks 30:33  So I make sure I don't do that. That's why I get away from social media sometimes. I'll spend maybe a few days detoxing. I won't even look at social media, and then I'll just kind of sit in the dark a little bit, so to speak, away from technology, and just ask myself questions. I do reading a lot. Reading is a big part of my life. You mentioned a book before, and I love reading books. I don't necessarily read the whole book. I do what I call check-ins, so I will find something in the book that resonates with me, and then I will reflect on thatLesley Logan 31:07  Yeah.Adrian Starks 31:08  Along with my other things.Lesley Logan 31:09  Yeah, I like the talking to yourself, because journaling for me is really great, but it's really easy for it to become a to-do list. Like I could be, "Oh, don't forget that." But if I am out walking my dog, I mean, maybe it's because I have ADHD and I'm an Aquarius, so I live in my head, but I have these interesting thoughts pop in and I'm like, where's that coming from? Why am I thinking that? What have I been doing? And I love the pat yourself on the back with what you did do, because I do think most people, the reason they get into comparison is because they've forgotten what they did do. It's why this podcast has a Friday episode where people have to share their wins, because I really think people need to realize there's a lot of wins. And we had someone in one of our groups who was like, she had her best friend's mom die three months ago, and her best friend died two weeks ago, and she's like, "How do I still work on my goals during this time?" And I'm like, you don't. You're going through something. Loss is real, and we all grieve very differently. And maybe someone can work on their goals because they're not tackling the grief right now, it's not hitting them, and it hits them in five years. I don't know, there's different things, but I can't sit here with the life experience I've had and the business coaching I've done and go, "Yeah, just do one thing a day." No. Did you shower and sleep today? That's great. Did you actually eat some food? Are your kids still alive? You're nailing it, like you're going through something. I think people aren't realizing that the Bahamas trips are not the win. The win is, especially when you're in something, the win is that you got up and you tried again today, you know? And I think reflecting on that is really important. I do think asking yourself what I want, that is, because I often think people ask themselves that five years ago but forgot to ask themselves four and three and two and today. And so they forget why they're doing what they're doing, because that's not what they want anymore, but they never checked in.Adrian Starks 33:03  They never checked in. And here's the catch: the answer won't come to you right away, and it's not supposed to. You're asking something deeper inside yourself that hasn't been listened to with all the noise. So, once you put that there and you say, "What do I want?" then overnight, who knows? You may wake up in the morning and you've got an idea about something, so that's coming from that deep part of you. And there was a Howard Thurman, he was the mentor to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and he said that the greatest and the longest and hardest journey ever is a journey inward. And we avoid that journey because we don't think there's anything there. The answer is inside of us. We just don't take out time to really probe and ask ourselves that question. We're very good about asking other people questions, but we don't want to ask ourselves questions, and that's something that has evolved with me. It's like, okay, you're good at asking questions and interviewing, but what about you? What's behind that skin of yours? What's going on? What's going on, dude? What are we doing today? You want to start checking in and being like, okay, what's really the problem here? You got irritated with this person, they didn't do anything to you. Then you got to pull yourself aside and say, okay, what's happening?Lesley Logan 34:16  Yeah.Adrian Starks 34:17  Why am I upset? And that's that self-reflection of like, okay, you're upset because there's a number of things that you're ignoring that you're putting to the side, and you're feeling like people don't see you because you don't see yourself.Lesley Logan 34:30  Yeah.Adrian Starks 34:30  So therefore you're putting that on other people, and that's where we have to be very careful with ourselves and just be patient and be kind to ourselves more often, because that was a problem I had. I held myself to very high standards, that I had to do this, I had to be this way, I had to be well-polished. That's why now you hear some curse words coming off of me, because I'm just being natural.Lesley Logan 34:54  Yeah.Adrian Starks 34:54  I mean, I can go off and say all these astute, know all these great words, and make myself look very articulate, blah blah blah blah, but at the end of the day, it's like, how am I showing up right now? That's the truth, and that's what people need to hear. So, I would say, yeah, talk to yourself, ask yourself questions, and be careful with who you ask information from.Lesley Logan 35:20  Yes.Adrian Starks 35:21  Because that's what gets you in trouble. And a lot of times with people working in environments where they may not be around the people that they choose to be around, I want to get to these people too, because a lot of people out there, they're working in environments they don't really want to be in, but they have an objective to get the hell out of there. But in the meantime, you're with people, let's just say the work world, seven, eight hours a day, and then you're dealing with those people, and then you're trying to get out of that environment. Well, you have to be careful what you listen to, how you conversate with them, and for goodness' sake, don't ask them for advice if they're not doing what you're doing, or if they haven't dove into what you're learning. Do not ask them, please, no, don't confide in them. I don't care how nice they are. There's this thing too that came up about nice versus kind.Lesley Logan 36:09  Yeah.Adrian Starks 36:10  And people get in trouble with this. It's like, okay, they're a nice person, great, but do they have good intentions towards you? And most likely, it's probably not.Lesley Logan 36:18  Yeah.Adrian Starks 36:19  A kind person, they just want to do good, they don't need nothing from you, right? So, a lot of people get mixed up in that, so be careful. I would say to people, when you're in that moment where you're vulnerable, the vulnerable state, guard that.Lesley Logan 36:32  Yeah.Adrian Starks 36:32  Be careful, be careful, be careful. And one more thing about the grieving that you mentioned: I lost my father a few years ago, and I'm still grieving because he had such a powerful presence in my life. So, grieving is not something we get over. We're supposed to learn to live with it. And I've cried multiple times, and every now and then, sometimes I catch myself, I'll just tear up, but you know what? I let it flow, because that's how he impacted me.Lesley Logan 36:59  Yeah.Adrian Starks 37:00  And for the person that you just mentioned, I would advise for them not to ignore that. If you have a moment and you're with somebody, tell somebody, "Hey, you know what? I'm having a moment right now. I need to step away." It's okay to tell people that.Lesley Logan 37:15  It's actually kind. It's kind because you're being super... you're actually being real authentic. You're feeling your feel, and you're letting people in like, "Hold on, I know we're supposed to have coffee right now, I just need to have a moment." And you can however you want to have that moment, go into your car, take the extra time, whatever that is. But I do think people think that they have to get over a loss like that, and the grief coaches that I've interviewed on this podcast, what I have really understood is that you don't. That's why grief is so hard. Your brain has to learn new rhythms and new patterns because that person's not there, and that person was part of a blanket that you've woven of your life, and so you're expecting that person where they repeat, and they're not. So you have to weave a new pattern for your brain. It takes time.Adrian Starks 38:00  It so takes time, and that's all we've got. At the end of the day, we only have time. And time doesn't go backwards, it doesn't go forward, it's just right there. And when we're grieving something, or it could be not just someone in our family, could be anything, could be a loss of an opportunity, that's a grieving thing. It could be a loss of a business or something. I mean, it could be anything. We have to just be mindful that we're human, and don't blame ourselves and don't beat ourselves up internally about it. We have to just know that this is something that's happened. Now, what can I do that can move me forward? And sometimes it's just going to take time. Patience is what we have to have.Lesley Logan 38:43  Yeah, also people don't realize that you could be excited about the next step, and there's still grief for what you left behind, you know? Like, I was so excited to move to Las Vegas, I still grieve that I closed a studio to do it, and I was very proud of that work, and I wasn't really actually ready to close that studio, but this is really exciting. So, something can be exciting, and there's still a loss that's there that you have to go, "Oh, what about that am I bummed about? Where..." You have to let those feelings happen. And I think that the more people actually self-reflect, the more they're going to find purpose in their life, they're going to figure it out. I find like people are looking to others to figure out their purposes, and I want to go back to your advice thing, because I really think people have to hear this 17,000 times. And I love that you brought up like you can have that job that pays the bills, but don't ask those people for advice. That might even be family too. I love mine, they listen to this pod, and sometimes I'll tell you personally, I'm not asking them for advice. They're not entrepreneurs, their face is not the business. If they say the wrong thing, they don't have people who will be disappointed, like hundreds of people, you know. So, they're not the best people for advice. Could I tell them things? Of course, that's different, telling people something, sharing your life with them is very different than asking them what to do. And so you really might need to take some time to write down who would be the best people in my life to ask advice from. If you don't have those people, like when I was first starting out, I didn't have money or mentors, I had to go, okay, I've listened to podcasts starting like 2012, 2013, I'm like, "This person makes a lot of sense. This is the person I'm going to infer advice from," and I would search their pods to find the thing that I thought might be an answer to my question. Sometimes it's that. Sometimes you don't even know the person you're asking advice from, but be intentional about that. I agree.Adrian Starks 40:33  Yeah, being intentional and just knowing that you're going to vibe with people a certain way. There are some people out there in the industry when I first started that I liked, and some that I didn't really vibe with. Didn't mean that there was anything against them, it's just that everyone's different. So, advice I would also give is that don't look at someone for their popularity, look for how they make you feel.Lesley Logan 40:55  Beautiful.Adrian Starks 40:56  Don't look at someone and say, "Oh, they've got millions of comments, they've got millions of likes. Oh, they must know a lot. Let me listen to them." No, nope, nope, nope, nope. That's something that's going to get your attention; it's designed that way.Lesley Logan 41:09  Yeah.Adrian Starks 41:10  How do they make you feel?Lesley Logan 41:12  Yeah.Adrian Starks 41:13  No, how do they make you feel? How do they sound when you listen to them? Could you listen to them all day? Could you listen to them in your times of need? How do they make you feel? That's the important thing of connection that we're missing today. We're so quick to look at the external, like, what has this person accomplished? Cool, then they're credible. Awesome, I'll follow. Awesome, I'll subscribe. Awesome, I'll comment.Lesley Logan 41:35  Yeah.Adrian Starks 41:35  They have a person over here, they may have a lot less, but they got a lot more to offer, and you're passing that up because you're just looking at numbers here. It's like I would encourage people that now is the time for us to find guidance that aligns with our purpose of being. And everyone, there's over how many people are on the planet right now? Lesley Logan 41:57  It's like 8 billion.Adrian Starks 41:58  8 billion people on a planet. I heard this stat one time. Out of 8 billion people, no matter what you do in life, 5% of people are not going to like you, they're not going to vibe with you, you're not going to connect with them. 5%. So, my math may be really off, I'm not going to even say it, but it's in the millions.Lesley Logan 42:20  Yeah.Adrian Starks 42:20  That you're gonna have a disconnect with people, no matter what you do. You could be well-polished, have everything together, and someone's gonna come around and be like, "Ah, they're phony." They're gonna talk some shit about you, because they just don't connect with you. They have no idea.Lesley Logan 42:35  Yeah.Adrian Starks 42:36  About your background, your pedigree, what you've done. They just want to.Lesley Logan 42:40  We all do it. We all do it, like you see something on your Instagram out of social, and you're like, just the first second, don't like it. Moving on.Adrian Starks 42:51  You move on. You're like, "Hey, I'm not interested in it. What is this? This is silly."Lesley Logan 42:57  Yeah.Adrian Starks 42:57  And that's part of us. We just have a natural sense of either we connect or we don't connect with certain things, and I think that in this time we're living in now, people are very overstimulated.Lesley Logan 43:07  Yes.Adrian Starks 43:08  There's so much information, there's so many solutions, there's so many offers, and we don't know where to look. It reminds you of like when you're sitting down and you have that night where it's a movie night, right? And you're just like, "Let me watch a movie, let me watch a TV show." And all of a sudden you got all these options, applications, and you're going from this application to this application, this application. Before you know it, it's like 30, 40 minutes later, and then you just give up and say, "You know what, damn it, just pick something, pick anything," because you're tired of looking.Lesley Logan 43:41  Yeah.Adrian Starks 43:41  And that's what's happening with us. We're just picking anything now we think is going to entertain us or bring us some type of joy.Lesley Logan 43:48  Yeah, because we can't handle being bored. Adrian, I could talk to you literally for more hours, but we do have to wrap this up. So we're gonna take a brief break, and then we're gonna find where people can find you, follow you, listen to your voice for many, many hours, and your Be It Action Items. Lesley Logan 43:59  All right, Adrian, where do you hang out? Where can they listen to your podcast?Adrian Starks 44:06  Okay, so you can listen to my podcast anywhere, pretty much. It's called Your Purposeful Life with Adrian Starks. And go to my website, adrianstarks.com. You can listen to the podcast from there. You can go to my YouTube channel, which has the videos. You can also listen to some audio, I have affirmations that I've been doing lately as well.Lesley Logan 44:25  Oh my god, do you have, if you don't, you should have a Patreon for affirmations because if people are paying for you to be a narrator, can you imagine every day you read me an affirmation or a mantra? I love that.Adrian Starks 44:39  I can do that, Lesley. Yes. They could go to adrianstarks.com. I just want to keep it simple for people, go to adrianstarks.com, all my social media handles are there, and you can just go wherever you choose and just be inspired and listen. And if you can, yeah, definitely subscribe to the podcast, it always helps. Share it whenever you can, but more importantly, just know this: that your purpose in life is not something you find, it's something that you do, and that is going to change, is going to evolve with time, and that's okay. Having self-doubt is okay, not knowing everything is okay. And now we live in a time where you're never too old, don't put an age on anything to start something new, or to pick up where you left off with something.Lesley Logan 45:27  Oh my god, those are Be It Action Items if I ever heard any. Like, you just led right in, and I'm obsessed with all of them. Great. Adrian Starks, I'm so happy we did this. We'll have to do this again. You'll have to be a person who keeps going back on, because you just have so much great wisdom. You guys, share this with a friend who needs to hear it. Share with a friend who's stuck on like, "What's my purpose?" They need to hear this, because it's like that Dr. Seuss book, like, Are You My Mother? You know, it's like that's not how you find it. It's got to be some self-reflection. So, thank you. We'll do this again, and until next time, my loves, Be It Till You See It.Lesley Logan 46:03  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 46:45  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 46:50  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 46:55  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 47:02  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 47:05  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode of Christ the Center, Camden Bucey welcomes Randy Lee and Adam York from Hope Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Grayslake, Illinois, to discuss recent teaching trips connected with OPC foreign missions in Uganda and Ethiopia. Lee, a ruling elder, reflects on teaching personal finance at Knox School of Theology in Uganda, while York, pastor of Hope OPC, describes his work teaching and training pastors in Ethiopia. The conversation explores the global need for theological education, Reformed Academy's role in serving the church worldwide, and the biblical doctrine of stewardship. The discussion turns especially to Biblical principles of finance: why money must be brought under the lordship of Christ, how Scripture and the Reformed confessions shape our view of possessions, how prosperity theology distorts Christian hope, and why work, generosity, contentment, and vocation all belong to faithful stewardship before God. Watch on YouTube Chapters 0:00 Introduction from the Reformed Academy classroom 0:39 Global theological education, Uganda, and Ethiopia 1:21 Prayer for Peter Stafford and missionary medical work 3:21 Reformed Academy and the global need for theological education 5:09 Randy Lee's call to teach personal finance in Uganda 6:24 Adam York's trip to Ethiopia 7:28 OPC foreign missions and theological training 10:58 Preparing to teach faith-centered finance 13:25 Randy's business background 15:26 Biblical and practical resources for finance 18:21 Teaching finance and stewardship in the church 21:42 Stewardship beyond money 26:13 Reformed confessions and finance 29:11 Manifesting, prosperity theology, and biblical worldview 36:45 Five uses of money 40:14 Cultural differences and family obligations in Uganda 44:16 Need, want, generosity, and work 49:37 Lessons learned in Uganda 52:24 Opportunities to serve in foreign missions 53:47 Closing resources and Reformed Forum updates Resources mentioned Reformed Academy OPC Foreign Missions OPC Short-Term Missions Ron Blue Institute Participants: Adam York, Camden Bucey, Randy Lee

In this episode of Christ the Center, Camden Bucey welcomes Randy Lee and Adam York from Hope Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Grayslake, Illinois, to discuss recent teaching trips connected with OPC foreign missions in Uganda and Ethiopia. Lee, a ruling elder, reflects on teaching personal finance at Knox School of Theology in Uganda, while York, pastor of Hope OPC, describes his work teaching and training pastors in Ethiopia. The conversation explores the global need for theological education, Reformed Academy's role in serving the church worldwide, and the biblical doctrine of stewardship. The discussion turns especially to faith-centered finance: why money must be brought under the lordship of Christ, how Scripture and the Reformed confessions shape our view of possessions, how prosperity theology distorts Christian hope, and why work, generosity, contentment, and vocation all belong to faithful stewardship before God. Participants Camden BuceyRandy LeeAdam York Resources mentioned Reformed AcademyOPC Foreign MissionsOPC Short-Term MissionsRon Blue Institute

In this Fuck Yeah Friday episode, Lesley Logan pushes back on the assumption that looking busy means being unavailable, reframing healthy boundaries as a deliberate way to protect personal energy. She shares a proud team win from an intense season, celebrates listener milestones, and reminds new Pilates instructors that being a beginner is worth honoring, not hiding. The episode wraps with a grounding mantra to carry into the week ahead. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:Lesley unpacks her annoyance at being told she's so busy.The boundaries behind the busy: her time, on her schedule.A team win from one of their most chaotic seasons.Community wins, from CEO-time checklists to month-two milestones.The beginner-not-imposter reframe every new instructor needs to hear.Episode References/Links:@on_point_pilates_studio – https://www.instagram.com/on_point_pilates_studio@_mariedecurtis – https://www.instagram.com/_mariedecurtisSubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questions If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  It's Fuck Yeah Friday. Brad Crowell 0:01  Fuck yeah. Lesley Logan 0:02  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. Lesley Logan 0:48  Hello, Be It babe. How are you? Welcome to the Fuck Yeah Friday episode. These quick and dirty fun episodes, Brad said he's going to join me on them, and he will at some point. I think. They'll still be quick and dirty, but they're fun because we're just bringing a thing that we do from our communities into this, which is just that, instead of saying what inspired me from the internet this week, because the internet has been non-inspiring. Oh my god, I've made my algorithms just mostly beautiful nail designs, but somehow stupid shit keeps coming through. So we're keeping things light and fun, and if you're in our Agency community, which is where we business coach Pilates, instructors, or our eLevate community, which is where our internship program members are, then you will have this channel where you can complain about something that happened that day, and then you have to have a win immediately. So, since we already do wins here, just figured I'd also get to complain too, but I'll have a win afterwards. And you can send in your "I need a moment" and your win, but make sure you send in both, or just a win, because if you just send an "I need a moment," we will delete it. Okay. Lesley Logan 1:52  All right, so my moment is this, okay? I really don't like how people like to tell you how busy you are, because one, then I have to explain to them that I appear to be very busy, but I actually just have boundaries in place to protect my energy levels. And I love sharing that in a podcast format in a way that can help educate and give permission to people, but when it's a one-on-one situation, usually the people who are saying it are the ones who are kind of a little upset that they don't have you at their beck and call. And it's not that you don't have me, like you can't have me, you can absolutely have my attention and my time and my things, I just have boundaries for when that is due, when that can happen. And it's a little annoying because it makes when you say like, "Oh, you're so busy," it's like I'm in control of my day, my love. And so I guess my moment that I'm just, it's like I'm tired of people telling me how busy I am when I'm actually just organized and have boundaries in place, healthy ones. And sometimes I move them to do some things, and sometimes I can't move them to do some things, but I'm certainly not going to just move things around just so I'm available during the times that people want at their convenience, because it's not convenient for me. And guess what, you too are allowed to be busy, in air quotes, and have boundaries, and organized chaos, and then I have to fit myself into there, right? Like, we all get to do this, it's not just about me, we all can be like this. So that's what I'm a little irritated by this week, because I'm just tired of hearing it, and I'm tired of it being directed at like as if I don't want to spend time with someone, or I'm an asshole. No, no, I just know how much energy it takes to be me throughout the day, and I want to be me when you're with me. That's what I want. Lesley Logan 3:33  So, my win, you know, this win is going to be a bit of a team win, but I'm just really proud of our team. In the last couple of months, we've had a lot going on. We had a five-day website-not-working thing. We had one of our major team members end up needing to go into a hospital because of what's going on with their pregnancy. And then we had Brad and I gone for a month, and we had spring training, and we had the announcement of summer tour, and blah blah blah. And I will just say, like, while nothing went as planned, everything is going better, and I'm just really proud of the team and myself, like just really kind of sticking to the vision and the values, and sharing the wins with each other, and complimenting each other, and supporting each other, and stepping up for each other, and doing the best we can while we're down a person while they're on their amazing maternity leave. And I'm proud to say that, like, the wheels are still on the bus, the ship is still set to sail, and things are still going, and you really learn a lot about what is possible and what is going right, and what systems do you have in place. And instead of going, "Oh, what, we don't have a system for that?" it's like, "Oh wait, what happened?" Oh, just like just keeping their attitude and head on straight. And it's just, you know, so our win as a team is that, you know, six years of growing this team and putting systems in place have allowed us to be in a very intense season with a little bit more polite juggling than we want with one less person, but we're doing it and proud of us. And you know, this too shall pass, because that person's maternity leave won't be forever. Thank God. And I know we'll just celebrate when they come back, but I'm just really proud of what we've done. So that's my win. Lesley Logan 5:09  So now yours, you send them in to me. You can send them in to beitpod.com/questions. You can DM me on Instagram. Here we go. @on_point_pilates_studio has a couple, so personal practice has been strong, outside daily sunshine, and trained with my mentor on a one-to-one, and took a class, check, check. Admin wins: got a newsletter and a text blast out, submitted payroll to workers' comp, up to date. You know, it's nice when you get to do things for yourself, and you can check all the boxes of your CEO time. Way to go, Amanda. It was so fun to have you at the Pilates retreat as well, and I love that you are celebrating wins, both personal and professional. @_mariedecurtis: closed up my second month as a Pilates instructor. It still feels unreal, like a dream. Oh my god, I love that you're celebrating two months. I love it. I just had somebody Slack and say, "Well, I've only been teaching a little bit, so I feel like such an imposter," and it's like, yeah, because you're a beginner. You're not an imposter, you're just a beginner, and you should be a beginner, and a lot of us should be a beginner, and that will allow you to help your clients be beginners. And why is it bad to be a beginner? Not. So, congratulations, congratulations on your two months as a Pilates instructor. Thank you for letting us celebrate that with you. Lesley Logan 6:22  And now let's get a mantra for you to close out this week: I believe in myself fully. I believe in myself fully. I believe in myself fully. All right, loves, you know what to do until next time. Be it till you see it. Have a good day. Lesley Logan 6:40  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 7:23  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 7:28  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 7:32  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 7:39  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 7:42  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In part two of the Stuck Series, Lesley Logan unpacks why feeling stuck rarely has anything to do with a lack of motivation and what's really keeping you frozen. She breaks down how mismatched systems, unrealistic expectations, and unspoken fear quietly drain your energy, and offers a practical framework for moving forward. Find out how messy action, not motivation, is what finally gets you unstuck. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:The role outsourcing and systems play in getting unstuck.How motivation is fickle and why you can't rely on it.Why mismatched expectations vs. reality requires a rebuildNaming the fear underneath the freeze, plus building a backup plan.Tactile tools: two-minute rule, friction reducers, and messy action.Episode References/Links:The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin - https://a.co/d/0fgVJtiKTiny Habits by BJ Fogg - https://tinyhabits.comEp. 613 Habit Series 1 - https://beitpod.com/ep613Ep. 614 Habit Series 2 - https://beitpod.com/ep614Ep. 616 Habit Series 3 - https://beitpod.com/ep616Ep. 617 Habit Series 4 - https://beitpod.com/ep617Ep. 619 Habit Series 5 - https://beitpod.com/ep619Ep. 620 Habit Series 6 - https://beitpod.com/620Ep. 622 Habit Series 7 - https://beitpod.com/ep622Ep. 623 Habit Series 8 - https://beitpod.com/623Ep. 256 with Rory Vaden - https://beitpod.com/ep256Ep. 688 Outgrowing Series 1 - https://beitpod.com/ep688Ep. 689 Outgrowing Series 2 - https://beitpod.com/ep689Ep. 93 with Jillian Flodstrom - https://beitpod.com/ep93Ep. 589 with Brad Bizjack - https://beitpod.com/ep589Cambodia Retreat Waitlist - https://crowsnestretreats.comSubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questionsIf you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Lesley Logan 0:00  Taking the action, taking an action that helps get you unstuck, is the antidote to fear, and it brings clarity. Action brings clarity. That's the hardest thing about all of this, is we're all waiting for motivation, or for us to just like wake up one day unstuck, but truthfully, we have to take a step, take some messy action to actually get unstuck. Lesley Logan 0:21  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. Lesley Logan 1:04  Hi, Be It babe, welcome back. We're back on our stuck series, so we're getting unstuck today. So last episode we actually talked about what does feeling stuck actually feel like, and is it actually that we're stuck? And we kind of realized that we're not stuck, right? We might just be overwhelmed or lacking support or tools to get to where we want to go. We might have overwhelmed ourselves, or we might be putting pressure on ourselves, and that might be why we're feeling this way. It might be like being a perfectionist again. Sometimes it sneaks back up on us, right? So, the one thing that I hear people say that they need when they're feeling stuck is motivation, and we have to talk about motivation, because motivation is not the thing. Lesley Logan 1:37  I used to think that I'm just a super motivated person. When I was younger, I was like, "Oh my god, if I said I was gonna do something, I do it," right? And what you realize when you read The Four Tendencies book by Gretchen Rubin, you discover like, "Oh no, that's just a tendency I have." If I say I'm gonna do something, I do it, whereas other people need an accountability partner, or some people need to be able to make decisions. I'm gonna do what I said to do. So, as I got a little bit older and a bit in the stage of my life where I was running my businesses and there were things going on and I was struggling to do them, I thought, "Oh my god, I just need motivation to work on that." And because of the ADHD brain, I was probably just seeking dopamine hits, and that's how I was getting things done. As I worked on myself and got to know myself and stopped overwhelming and overloading myself with things to do, I actually just became a person who was, I don't know, whelmed. It wasn't motivation that I needed, but systems to help me continue to do the things that I said I wanted to do, and also with systems, making sure that I wasn't saying yes to things just because they were cool. Lesley Logan 2:41  So because I know me better, I have better boundaries, and because I understand how motivation works, I don't actually wait for the motivation to do the things. I understand how to set myself up so I can take one step at a time, celebrate what I did do, and then go again the next day. I'm no longer a person who's like, "I have to get my to-do list done every day," because that pressure actually slows me down, and it makes me not feel like I'm me doing the thing, right? I'm not a patient person. So, in case you're like, "Oh, I wish I was you," I'm not a patient person. So, if I can do it, if I can take action on the things that I want to do, if I can help myself move the needle one millimeter forward in a day, you can do it too, right?Lesley Logan 3:27  Because we don't need motivation. And if you didn't hear our episodes in December of 2025 about habits, where I talked about motivation as a very fickle girlfriend, and you can learn more about this in BJ Fogg's book, Tiny Habits, but essentially motivation is needed when something is very difficult to get started. Like when you turn on a car, you have a starter, right? I think that's what it is, and it helps get the car started. You also use more gas to get the car started, right? Planes are the same thing. And so you need motivation to get rolling, but then once you're rolling, you don't use as much gasoline, as much energy, or you don't need those things, right? So, motivation is best to be used when something is a bigger deal, or is going to require more of us than we are used to, but then once we have gotten started, ideally we're not waiting on motivation to just keep the ball rolling. That's where systems come into place, right? Lesley Logan 4:21  Motivation also is not something you can just go up, tap in, hit the motivation button, "I'm ready to go." Motivation is actually a fickle friend. It's kind of like my ADHD focus mode without Adderall. Yes, sometimes it hits, and I'm like, "Oh my god, I just got so much done," but mostly it doesn't ever hit at the time that I want it to hit. It's not going to hit because something's due tomorrow; it hits because of my ADHD, but it won't hit like, "I want to do it now and not under pressure." It doesn't hit then, right? So I can't wait for it. I talked about this in our habit series, motivation, you have to think of as like a really great friend that you go to parties with, but that you don't actually rely on to pick you up at an airport to take you to an important meeting. You would never do that. Lesley Logan 5:03  So, if the tasks that you are asking yourself to do don't match your energy, you are likely doing things that do not bring you joy, and if they did before, they don't now. Oftentimes we're doing things that we think we should be able to do, or we think we have to do, or we don't have the money to delegate it out, but just because you have done that before doesn't mean you have to keep doing it. What I will just say is part of getting out of a rut is looking at the responsibilities you feel you are supposed to be the person to take those on and actually ask yourself, "Is this something that I need to be doing? Does this have to be done right now? Does it have to be done today?" Because it may be time to outsource some of the things that you need to happen in your life, so that you can have the time and energy to do what you said you wanted to do. Lesley Logan 5:56  If you come on my retreats, oftentimes I'm like, "Hey, we can outsource. You can have groceries delivered. You can just save all your time driving to the grocery store, going up and down the aisles. You could just have them delivered. You can have a housekeeper clean your house, right, especially for the deep cleans." But honestly, we have that every week. Why? Because one, I like a clean house, because I want to work in that environment, but I don't like to clean the house. Because I don't like to clean the house, it makes me exhausted when I do it, and then it's done, I have this clean house now. Guess what? I don't want to work in it because I'm exhausted. So the tasks that you have on your plate don't match the energy, and then they're draining you, and that makes you feel stuck. So you can come on a retreat with me in Cambodia to learn how to figure out what you should get off of your list, but if you don't want to wait till that, I just want you to take a look.Lesley Logan 6:43  What are all the things that you think you should be doing? Are there tools now that would make those things easier? Pick the one that you least want to do, you avoid doing, and that lives rent-free in space in your head, right? How can we get rid of it, or get someone else to support us on that? Your systems that you're relying on often aren't matching the brain that you operate with. I have ADHD, and in order to get my work done, I have support from a psychiatrist. So, I do take an Adderall, and when I take it, I actually can focus, and then I can actually use the tools that I have put in place to help me get my work done. I definitely can tell days when I have it versus when I don't. I don't take it on my days off, but I can tell that trying to do the things that I need to get done on a workday without it, I end the workday more exhausted and wondering, "Why do I do what I do? Am I doing the right thing? Am I aligned? Do I even love this job anymore?" because it took so much out of me to get it done than when I have the support that my brain requires, right?Lesley Logan 7:46  But whether or not you have ADHD, the more you can understand how you think, how you operate, and have systems that match that, you know? If you are making to-do lists and never using them, then that's not helping you. You need to figure out a different tool. If you are making the projects that you have to do on your to-do list so big "build a website" of course, you're gonna feel stuck. That's a humongous task that will not get crossed off for four to six weeks at least. So we have to figure out, what are the ways that you operate? How do you meet expectations? I mentioned it before, but Gretchen Rubin's book, The Four Tendencies, is an excellent read. It helps you understand how do you meet the expectations you have, or that others have, and then when you know that, you can put systems in place. Lesley Logan 8:24  For example, Brad is a rebel, and Brad will say, "Oh, I'm going to get up early tomorrow and do yoga." Okay, but if I wake him up and go, "Hey, you wanted to get up early this morning and do yoga," he will say, "No, I don't want to do it," because he wants to have choice. He must have choice, right? Because he's a rebel, that's how you meet the expectations. So, if I say, "Hey, babe, yesterday you had mentioned that you wanted to get up and do some yoga, so did you still want to do that, or did you want to sleep for a little longer?" When I present it to him like that, he always is like, "Oh, no, I'm going to do the yoga," because he does want to do it, but he wants to have choice, right? If you're an obliger, you are someone who needs accountability to get things done, so you need to find ways in your systems to have accountability to get things done, so you get them done. I'm an upholder, so if I said it I'm going to do it, which is also why if I say no to you, it's not because I don't love you, it's because I know I won't be able to get it done. I will never backtrack on an agreement, right? So if your systems don't match how you operate, then you are going to get stuck and overwhelmed. Lesley Logan 8:25  Okay, another way to get out of the rut is matching your expectations with reality, so you're not unmotivated, you're mismatched. Like if you have an expectation like, "Okay, tomorrow I'm gonna get up early. I know I'm not a morning person, but I'm gonna get up early, and I'm gonna go run two miles." But one, you're not a morning person, and you haven't run in a year. You're not doing those things, and that's going to feel like, "Oh my god, I just wasn't motivated." No, you are not that person. You are not someone who wakes up early. You are not someone who runs.Lesley Logan 9:57  So we actually have to make sure that the expectations that we have placed on ourselves actually match the reality of what systems we have in place today, right? So, if you're like, "I want to make 10,000 a month with my business," but you're not even making 1,000 a month, those expectations don't match reality. You actually have to first make 1,100, and 1,200, 2,000, and then 5,000. You can have the goal that "I want to make 10,000 a month," but you can't do it next month if you have never done it before, right? They don't match reality, so you basically have put pressure on yourself and overwhelmed yourself, and put yourself in a stuck position. Versus if you took time to go, "Okay, what are some realistic expectations that I can place on myself that I can do this week, and then I could do tomorrow and I can do today?" working backwards, then you actually don't need motivation; you'll have broken things down in a way that allows you to get them done. Lesley Logan 10:51  So, I will say, like the ADHD, we talked about this a moment ago, but yes, it has that super focus mode, but like the motivation, we can't wait for it. So what I highly recommend to my ADHD people is you really can't lean on motivation. You can't wait for those focus modes. You have to learn your brain, and you have to learn the systems that help you. And there are some great experts out there. You know, Brad piles the mail all in this one place, so every day we pick up the mail, that's a win for an ADHD couple, and we put it in a pile. We don't put it anywhere, we put it in a pile, and then on Mondays he actually goes through it, right? That's the system that works. I mean, you'd be surprised, I know you think you don't operate well with systems, but when you get the systems that work for you, they work for you, and so it really helps you remain unstuck and not leaning on motivation or focus mode to help you like clean everything. Because what we know you're gonna do is organize a cupboard and then not have cleaned anything, and now we have a messier kitchen. I know. Hello, I know me. Lesley Logan 11:49  Fear is another real reason to feel stuck. So, if you're listening to this because the outgoing episode really got your attention, you've outgrown an old version of yourself, but you're feeling stuck right now because of fear, fear of loss, fear of responsibility, fear of failure. Right, that's real. It's real, and it's important that we don't diminish the fear that we have. If that is what the problem is, because anyone telling you there's nothing to be afraid of, it's not helpful, right? It's like someone telling me like, "Calm down." You're like, "Do you want to see me calm down?" So, what I know about fear in the studies that I've done on it, the really important things that you can do is, one, call it out. What are you afraid of? What are you afraid is going to happen? If you don't want to say it out loud, write it down. If you don't know what it is, but you know there's a fear there, then just keep writing until it comes out, right? What is this thing that I'm afraid is going to happen? "I'm afraid no one's, everyone's gonna... no one's gonna like me." No one is gonna like you. And then you're like, "Why am I afraid about that? Why do I think that's gonna happen?" right? Like, take some time to really understand why you have this fear, because if you can actually identify it, then we can create an exit strategy, right? A backup plan. Because the truth is that nothing ever is as bad as or as good as we want or fear. "Oh my god, if I do this thing, I'm gonna die." Well, that's not happening, because you just listened to this. "Oh my god, if this goes so well, I'm gonna have a million dollars." Well, maybe you do, but most of the time we land somewhere on a spectrum, and so take some time to like really truly go, "What am I actually afraid of?" Lesley Logan 13:22  So you can have a backup plan, so then you can move forward, right? Because these practical shifts, they actually help, because an all-or-nothing mindset is what's keeping you stuck, right? Like, this practical... like, "Okay, I'm afraid that if I do this thing, I'm gonna lose everything." You're gonna lose everything, okay? All of it. Like, if this thing goes wrong, you're not gonna have any of this to back up on? Then you start to realize, "Well, no, actually, I'll just lose $1,000. I'll lose $3,000." Okay, that's a legit fear. I don't want to lose $3,000 ever. I don't want to lose $3. So, what things can help me realize if I'm on the wrong path? What are some signs or KPIs that could help me before it goes the wrong way, so I could stop it and turn the ship around? Or if that does happen, then what will I do? Because when you have that, all of a sudden you have clarity. Because get this: action is the antidote to fear. Taking the action, taking an action that helps get you unstuck is the antidote to fear, and it brings clarity. Action brings clarity. That's the hardest thing about all of this: we're all waiting for motivation, or for us to just wake up one day unstuck, but truthfully, we have to take a step, take some messy action to actually get unstuck. Lesley Logan 14:35  So, I did want to give you guys a couple of tactile things, like some "be it" things. So, one is like a two-minute rule. Sometimes a two-minute rule can be, "I can feel this way for two minutes and I'm gonna get started," or "I can do this thing over here in two minutes at a time, or I'll get started." That's helpful. Also, you can break down all the tasks you want to do into two minutes. We had Jillian Flodstrom on as a guest, and I think she said it in the podcast, but she might have done it in a webinar for us. Anyway, you should listen to her episode. She said like, "I break all tasks into something I can do in two minutes, because that makes it really easy. I'm waiting two minutes, I can do one thing. Okay, I can do this next thing," right? Lesley Logan 15:08  Reducing friction, so this is going to be just like taking a moment to see how many things that you have going on that are actually causing friction in your life. Are you trying to get too much stuff done in a day, or in a morning? Are you trying to be a morning person? How can we reduce that friction, so that it's just a little easier to get things done, right? Maybe it's the deadlines that you placed on yourself. How can you do that? Or perhaps it's like, "Okay, I cook for everybody all week long, but I just can't." Okay, how do we ask for help? So, just reduce the friction. And this is crazy, I know some people at the Be It Till You See It podcast are gonna say this, yeah, lower your expectations. Lower expectations of yourself, especially because sometimes we set the bar at 150%. Honey, you can be at 100% and you're still gonna slay more than most people. Most people don't take action. Most people have the same thoughts every single day. So, if you could just actually operate on an actual scale of 100%, not 150%, you would be unstuck tomorrow, yesterday, right? Because you don't need to do the whole thing, you don't need to be able to do all the things that will help get you unstuck.Lesley Logan 16:19  You just need to begin to do one thing, take one step. And I said this already a couple of times, take this messy action, because if motivation isn't the thing that's going to get us moving, because it's not, I mean, it might get us started on something really difficult, but it's not going to be the day-to-day, then what we actually need is messy action. And you hear that in every intro of all of our podcasts: "take messy action." And the reason is because you get some good feedback. So we will have some messy action episodes coming up for you soon in a future series, but until then, I'd love for you to take a moment, maybe revisit the first episode, and really identify like, "Am I actually stuck or am I in overwhelm, or do I have outdated systems, or do I just need a little bit of clarity to get started on this next thing? Or am I afraid?" Once you have identified how you're stuck and what's going on, you can take the first next steps to anything, and that means being it until you see it. Lesley Logan 17:17  All right, my loves, send this to a friend who needs to hear it. Thank you so much for being you. Send in any questions or aha moments at beitpod.com/questions, and until next time, Be It Till You See It. Lesley Logan 17:27  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 18:10  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 18:14  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 18:19  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 18:26  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 18:29  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy