The Productivity Mindset With Carlene Marie

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We often think about productivity in terms of tools, systems, and time management techniques.
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But what if I told you that the most powerful productivity tool you have is actually your mind?
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The way we think, focus, and direct our mental energy has a profound impact on what we can accomplish.
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Yet most of us have never been taught how to harness the power of our minds for peak performance or productivity.
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We're running on mental autopilot and when we could be operating at a much higher level.
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Today I have the pleasure of speaking with Carlene Marie, who is a leader in mindset and performance coaching.
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She's a former editor in Boston and New York City publishing houses and is now a certified master mind power coach, columnist, and keynote speaker.
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She's the founder of Mindset Slingshot, which offers virtual courses and leadership workshops.
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We're going to explore how to unlock your mind's potential and use mental strategies to dramatically improve your productivity and performance.
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Welcome, Carlene.
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Thank you so much, Jennifer.
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It's such an honor to be here with you.
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So I so appreciate it.
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What a great introduction about the power of our minds, right?
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I love that.
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So thank you.
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It's an amazing topic because it's not something I'm sure that most people have thought of.
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It's not something we just sit around going, hmm, I wonder.
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But it's so powerful.
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So I want to start out with the foundation, okay?
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So that we we have somewhere to go from.
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But what do you mean by mind power?
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Sure.
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So in the world of mind power coaching, we define mindpower as the convergence of mental toughness and emotional resilience.
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So what does that mean?
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It means that no matter any obstacle that you encounter in your life, that you have the power, the mental toughness, the emotional resilience to navigate it and to navigate it successfully.
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And so, without, like you had already alluded at the very beginning of the intro, that often our minds run on autopilot.
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I love the famous quote by Carl Jung, and he said this until we make the unconscious conscious, it will direct our lives and we will call it fate.
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So that's so incredibly powerful because most of us, until we learn to harness the power of our own minds, are running on that unconscious autopilot until we learn to identify some of the faulty patterns that we developed, either going all the way back to childhood or even to last week, where we define and we determine these limiting beliefs.
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And oftentimes those are unconscious patterns that are just running behind the scenes.
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And so awareness is the key, and being bold and willing to go there so that we can begin to retrain the brain, mind the mind is what I call it, and do it every single day.
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That is where we become the empowered director of our thoughts, which influence our emotions, which then influence our behaviors, our very choices and our very results in our lives, whether it's financial or our health or relationships, the power of our thoughts determine our reality.
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So when we learn to master the power of our thoughts, we literally can master our own lives.
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I I love that definition.
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Uh, going back to the Carl Jung quote.
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We do call it fate.
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Right.
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That is what we call it.
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Right.
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We're just kind of swimming along with the tide and not realizing that we can become the empowered director of our lives.
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Tony Robbins, the great Tony Robbins, says, where our focus goes, our energy flows.
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So when we are focused on what we don't want, or we're defaulting to old patterns of fear or anxiety or negative emotions of anger, hurt, fear, sadness, guilt, you name it, when those patterns are running behind the scenes, because often they do.
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They served a purpose for us at some point in our lives.
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We call those in the mindpower world, these are our running parachutes.
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These are simply the placeholders of the lessons and the learnings we didn't get at the time that these faulty beliefs were implanted in us.
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And oftentimes that happens in childhood, and they were a mechanism to keep us safe, to keep our brain protected.
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We didn't have maybe language to understand what was happening to us at the time.
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And so that's where these neural pathways begin to get ingrained.
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And we don't even realize that we're running these same pathways and wondering why, despite our best effort, despite our motivation, despite even some discipline, we can't seem to get from where we are to where we want to be.
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And so when we learn where those patterns have formed, and we begin with awareness and identification, and then the discipline to begin to repattern.
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I make it very simple, like we're there's no blame or shame.
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We're all biological beings, right?
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We were doing the best we could with what we had at the time.
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But the awareness and the identification, we say in mind power is the first step in transformation.
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So when we're able to go back and see the pattern, and I always say, look, what was once patterned can simply be repatterned.
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That's actually neuroplasticity.
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So it used to be the old saying, you can't teach an old dog new trips.
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Yeah.
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I want to go back to neuropathways because some of our listeners may not know what that is.
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Um neuroplasticity.
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I mean, I've heard these concepts, I understand them, but some people may be like, what are you talking about?
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What are neuropathways?
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So neuropathways are the kind of well-worn trails that our thoughts and behaviors and kind of impressions of certain events kind of formed for us.
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And then they become kind of the default road.
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You start paving the road, then you start traveling the road, and you take that road and you think it's the quickest way to go from A to B.
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Oftentimes they can be very, are very reactive, can be very like instead of responding, we can just default to that rather quickly.
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So that's kind of a neural pathway, just kind of like our default path where we think or we rely on to get us from one thought to another, or a thought or an impression and a response to it.
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So that's kind of just a very simplified way of saying what those neural pathways are.
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I love it that you said the you know, the pathways, the worn roads, essentially.
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It's kind of like uh we've done it this way.
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This is always how we've done it, we're just going to keep doing it this way.
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Or you have your same pew at church every Sunday, and then you know, all of a sudden someone sits in it and you're like, my world has ended.
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That's so true.
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It's so it's so true.
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Like you think about when you get up in the morning, right?
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We all have like our morning routine and we don't even realize that, you know, we get up, we're gonna do the same routine, we're gonna hit the rest bathroom and you know, pick up our toothbrush with our right hand or whatever.
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And we go through and we have that same kind of routine uh that's very fundamental.
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But when we talk about our responses to certain things that may even activate us, charge us, some people like the word trigger, we can succumb to the faulty patterns that we learned in the past, whether that was in childhood or through a relationship or through traumatic events, or even from a limiting belief or a story that we picked up from somebody even last week, right?
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So we can fall back on those patterns.
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And most of the time without training the brain, they tend not to serve us well, right?
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They did at one point, but we discovered that they don't.
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Let me make this really like relatable.
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Say you're in a conversation with somebody that you love and they say something that all of a sudden, I don't know, doesn't feel good.
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Maybe you just in your mind felt like it was dismissal, or you felt like it was a criticism, or it was something that just in your body just kind of hit you in the moment.
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So most people will just without even realizing it, like Carl Jung says, will go into this unconscious response, whatever that is.
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For some, it might be a healthy response.
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They get curious, they become empowered.
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Hey, wait a second, tell me more about that.
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What do you mean?
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Right.
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But for a lot of people, without realizing it, they'll automatically succumb to a well-worn neural pathway of possibly defensiveness or anger or some withdrawal or sadness without even realizing it.
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So maybe that makes it a little bit more relatable in how our day-to-day how it shows up in our day-to-day relationships.
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So what was it?
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I'm curious, what made you realize that the power of mind was kind of the missing piece?
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Well, I think originally that for me was planted throughout my life.
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It started, I think, at age 17.
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My 45-year-old father was suddenly immobilized with a rare illness.
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And I still, it's part of my story.
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I say this, I still can't tell you to this day how this book landed on his nightstand.
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But this larger-than-life, gregarious man suddenly lay immobilized in the middle of our family room.
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And I was just about to head off to college, and this book landed right next to him.
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I don't know who brought it to him, and I picked it up, and it was entitled Love, Medicine, and Miracles.
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And it was written by Dr.
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Bernie Siegel, who was a doctor out of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, where I'm from.
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And he was a doctor, a scientist, but it was his patients' true accounts of the power of their minds, visualizing their healing, what their self-talk, what they were saying to themselves, professing their healing in all of the ways that they embodied their healing through all the five senses.
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And I would dare to say the sixth sense is our self-talk, what we say in our own mind, and how they healed themselves.
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And so at age 17, I believed it.
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I soaked it up, I read it aloud to my dad.
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I believed it.
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And for whatever reason, I I believed it, but it didn't work.
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And my father passed away very suddenly.
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So the seed was planted done.
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And then throughout my life, when I discovered later in my life at age 34 that I had a rare cancer, I fell on the same power of the minds and was able to tap into that, visualizing my healing, what I was saying to myself before, during, and after a surgery, where I came out of multiple surgeries without any pain meds, with feeling so incredibly healthy and being able to tap into that.
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But I think for me, the crux of it really came at the moment after I launched my young adults into the world and my nest was empty.
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And I was at this biggest crossroads of my life where my 25-year marriage had come to an end.
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And I was at the moment of what now and what next.
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And some old kind of thoughts were reoccurring about some fear, some self-doubt, and can I really do this?
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And I believe it, I mean, this is what became the genesis of me becoming a coach, sought the um the help and support of my own life coach.
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And so through that support and being able to rewire some of those negative, limiting beliefs that, you know, it kind of I thought were going to encumber me to move my life forward.
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But very, very quickly by retraining my mind, become the empowered director, I started creating clarity, started creating momentum, and that begets confidence.
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And so I began very quickly to inch by inch by inch move my life forward, where I completely reinvented my life, moved, moved to a brand new state here.
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You and I share now, and launched a bought a new home, launched a new career.
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And and that's really what also wanted me to level up, becoming my own life coach, and then also gaining multiple certifications as a mind power coach and then a master mind power coach.
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So I I live in this alignment today.
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I'm actually so fulfilled is what I was called to do because I went through it personally, and I get a front receipt every single day with the clients that I coach to be able to watch them transform their lives by transforming their thoughts.
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And that's a pretty special place to be in for sure.
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Do you would is it safe to say, or or I guess it seems as though the biggest mental barrier is our negative self-talk?
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Is that safe to say or is it?
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That's so so so accurate.
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It is.
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It's that like mind chatter, the monkey mind, right?
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It's the negative talk.
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And oftentimes that runs behind the scenes and we're not even conscious of it, right?
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So now in terms of productivity, what is that?
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What is is that part just part of the biggest mental block that we have with regard to productivity is our mind saying, oh, you can't do that, and you're you you're not good enough to do that, or you're not trained.
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And is is that it, or are there other components to that uh aspect?
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I think that's a great question.
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I think it's so multifaceted, right?
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So there's the negative self-talk, but there's also the belief that we need to just power through, right?
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Like we, if you're talking about productivity, most will just want to work to the point of exhaustion, right?
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Because if you're grinding and you want to get ahead, then you're just gonna you're gonna go through a season of sacrifice, right?
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But that actually is counterproductive to the way the brain can work for us.
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So we're actually sabotaging ourselves when we don't realize how the brain is optimized and how we can do that.
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So, okay, there's the self-talk, right?
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That we need to learn to retrain the brain.
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And that comes with awareness, identification.
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Okay, there it is.
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All right, where's this coming from, right?
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If this limiting belief, imposter syndrome, or I'm not good enough, oftentimes that is the number one limiting belief that I encounter in all my fellow mindpower coaches encounter.
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Despite high executives, amazing entrepreneurs, there's something running behind the scenes.
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Like, am I worthy of success?
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Am I good enough?
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Right, a lot of self-doubt.
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So there's there's one part of that, which is retraining the mind.
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And it's a very simple tool in mind power that we call um the mental toughness challenge.
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And it basically is this there's the negative thought, so it's awareness.
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And I know you speak about that a lot.
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Awareness is the key.
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So you identify it, you become aware, then you identify it, and you're like, okay, no sh no blame or shame.
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I'm a biological being, I'm just threat assessing, right?
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Our ancestors were threat assessing.
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So there it is.
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But now I'm gonna pay attention to that for 1% of the time because it can tell me a story, it can help me identify where a limiting belief originated or where it's hindering me.
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But there it is.
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But then I'm gonna ask myself a very simple question, and it's this what do I want instead?
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And it's so simple and yet it's so profound.
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It allows us to take the negative and staying stuck in that spiral and being able to automatically switch the brain to possibility.
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What do I want instead?
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I want confidence, I want abundance, I want clarity, right?
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I want success.
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And that actually physiologically starts to change the body, right?
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So when we are stuck in a negative thought, it tends to increase our cortisol, our stress hormone, it tends to create fogginess, it hijacks our prefrontal cortex, which is where our logical, clear thinking is.
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And when we're stuck in that negative loop, it has a very physiological effect.
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So by simply transferring and saying, okay, what do I want instead and focusing on the positive?
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Well, then that has a physiological effect, can create great momentum, can be very energizing.
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If you feel all of the adrenaline, the dopamine, the serotonin, and you can begin to create momentum.
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So I feel like that's a very fundamental tool when you find yourself stuck, ruminating, overthinking, or just stuck in what we call, you know, the itty bitty shitty committee.
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It's running behind those scenes, right?
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So that's one of the things when we talk about productivity, right?
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Harnessing the power of your minds.
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But I want to share too, I think this is really, really powerful, is where a lot of us don't realize how the brain optimally works and we're working against it.
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So most of us are familiar with the circadian rhythms of night and day, right?
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12 hour cycles, sun up to sundown.
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And so our bodies, they react to that rhythm, right?
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Where the sun's going down and then it increases melatonin.
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And then our brains like learn to or respond to that, and we sleep, we become tired.
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Little side note here is the invention of television, blue light.
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Now our phones and the light, that's totally working against our rest.
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Blue light, light glasses, right?
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Yeah, right.
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All of it.
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So that's working against our brain, the production of serotonin.
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I'm sorry, melatonin, and our ability to rest.
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Okay, so that's the the 24-hour cycle.
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But within the wake cycle, there are also the same rhythms peak state, flow state, peak coming down, and those are the ultra DN rhythms of the day.
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And those flow in 90-minute cycles.
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So an old study was saying this, it was called the Pomodoro Fat, that you work in sprints, right?
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30-minute sprints.
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Well, the new research is totally counter to that.
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It's basically saying, yeah, it's telling us now that it takes 30 minutes for us to really get into peak flow state.
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And that after 90 to 120 minutes, the brain needs to idle to be able to reset, to absorb everything that it did, and then come back for another 90 minute cycle.
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So in Mind Power, we teach a mind power planning system that operates, we call these jam sessions.
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It up it optimizes the way your brain works to make your productivity work for you.
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So it's working in a 90-minute session, allowing yourself to get into flow.
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You might want to press it and go to 120, 120 minutes, but then this is key.
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Even if you feel like you can press through, even if you feel like you want to keep going, it's the discipline to say, no, I know what my brain needs.
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And so now for about 15 to 30 minutes, I'm gonna step away and I'm not gonna go and turn my attention to email.
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I'm not gonna look at any technology.
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I'm gonna go outside for a walk.
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I'm going to go have lunch.
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I'm just gonna kind of sit and breathe and allow the brain to archive and allow the brain to idle so that when I come back for my next 90-minute jam session, I'm ready to go.
00:20:34.470 --> 00:20:53.990
And so what we have found with this planning system is that even our highest achievers, um, high executives, entrepreneurs that used to want to push through, when they would do that by 5 p.m., they would go home and give their families really where there was nothing left.
00:20:53.990 --> 00:20:54.630
Right?
00:20:54.630 --> 00:21:14.470
So they're not loved ones, their children, their partners at the end of the day with their tank fully just empty, because most of the time by 2 p.m., based on the cycle, if you do not give yourself the time to idle and rest, you're pretty much done with a lot of your clarity, focus, and your creativity.
00:21:14.470 --> 00:21:21.110
So by allowing yourself to work through that, most of our clients show up and they say, Wow, 7 p.m.
00:21:21.110 --> 00:21:33.509
I'm still feeling alive and energized because they've learned how to optimize their time to enhance their productivity and their performance based on how the brain works for them and not against them.
00:21:33.829 --> 00:21:39.990
So the the break time isn't an equal 90 minutes, it's 90 minutes of work and then maybe a half hour.
00:21:40.630 --> 00:21:41.190
Correct.
00:21:41.190 --> 00:21:50.230
And it and it's also, I really want to say this too it's a half hour of movement, eyes in the sky, conversation.
00:21:50.230 --> 00:21:53.029
It's not getting in front of now email, right?
00:21:53.029 --> 00:21:57.029
It's not getting back in front of using your cognitive load.
00:21:57.029 --> 00:22:02.230
You're actually allowing the brain to idle, to archive, to rest.
00:22:02.230 --> 00:22:13.589
And by doing that, you'll then come back if you're on computer work or writing or doing creativity with so much more focus and endurance to be able to optimize your work.
00:22:13.910 --> 00:22:16.950
So implementing this, I mean, it sounds so great.
00:22:16.950 --> 00:22:18.630
Do you set a timer?
00:22:18.630 --> 00:22:21.350
Do you what do you how can you actually implement this?
00:22:21.350 --> 00:22:25.990
Because this is a crucial part of that whole how you stay productive.
00:22:26.309 --> 00:22:27.269
It's so true.
00:22:27.269 --> 00:22:29.029
I I and I'm here, I get it.
00:22:29.029 --> 00:22:36.150
Like I think for somebody that is a to do list queen, which I used to be, um, the to do list is like a never, never ending.
00:22:36.150 --> 00:22:37.350
Thing.
00:22:37.350 --> 00:22:43.990
And what we say is like I say, small hinges can swing really big doors.
00:22:43.990 --> 00:22:48.630
And so it can be very overwhelming to start structuring your day like this.
00:22:48.630 --> 00:22:51.190
It's the only way I structure my day now.
00:22:51.190 --> 00:22:53.350
But I didn't start where I am now.
00:22:53.350 --> 00:23:04.309
So to start is very simply kind of thinking about what are my top three things that I need to do today that will make the greatest impact.
00:23:04.309 --> 00:23:04.870
Right.
00:23:04.870 --> 00:23:07.509
So those are pick your three biggest.
00:23:07.509 --> 00:23:18.069
And then if you can create three 90-minute jam sessions around those, then you're already outperforming your colleagues by staying that laser focused.
00:23:18.069 --> 00:23:25.029
So it's a matter of like, okay, planning your day, looking at your calendar, where can I plug in a 90-minute jam session?
00:23:25.029 --> 00:23:31.910
And then what one task can I really effort at that and dial in the focus?
00:23:31.910 --> 00:23:34.630
And it's also about retraining our environment.
00:23:34.630 --> 00:23:38.390
So it's retraining ourselves, but it's retraining our environment.
00:23:38.390 --> 00:23:41.829
It's not, it's shutting the phone on, do not disturb, right?
00:23:41.829 --> 00:23:45.589
It's not allowing people to walk in your office, right?
00:23:45.589 --> 00:23:48.630
It's your 90 minutes of laser focus.
00:23:48.630 --> 00:23:54.069
And then when you take the break, go have that conversation, go have that movement, go have that lunch.
00:23:54.069 --> 00:23:56.230
But it really is a discipline.
00:23:56.230 --> 00:24:07.670
And it can you could start with just one 90-minute session a day, and then making sure that you have your 30-minute break, 15 to 30 minutes to let the brain idle and archive and then come back again.
00:24:07.670 --> 00:24:20.549
So a lot of times when I'm coaching my clients, the system, we start small and say, look, maybe where can you identify your top three things that you need to do today that will make the most impact?
00:24:20.549 --> 00:24:24.630
And identify those and then plug them into your 90-minute jam sessions.
00:24:24.630 --> 00:24:37.350
Maybe it's one starting once a day, then maybe it's up to two, then maybe three, and then you start creating your calendar Monday through Friday, creating this system where you're really identifying what will have the most impact.
00:24:37.670 --> 00:24:44.710
So that was my my next question is so you start this and you start small, maybe like you said, with one 90-minute session.
00:24:44.710 --> 00:24:52.630
You know, is an accountability partner or is it just scheduling and how do you keep this sustainable for the long run?
00:24:52.630 --> 00:25:03.589
Because yes, I can see I'm gonna try this because I do the 30-minute, like, okay, I'm gonna sit down, or I might even do an hour where I sit down and I focus on one thing.
00:25:03.589 --> 00:25:08.630
And I mean, but focusing for 90 minutes helps you do that deep dive.
00:25:08.630 --> 00:25:14.950
It helps you really get into what you're doing, or is it half hour doesn't really allow that?
00:25:14.950 --> 00:25:17.430
But how do you make that sustainable?
00:25:17.990 --> 00:25:19.350
I think that's a great question.
00:25:19.350 --> 00:25:42.789
And I think that's where I think I'll say it again: the results and seeing the results, confidence begets confidence when you start seeing the results of your laser focus and you start seeing the way your performance and your productivity is increased, and you're not pushing yourself to the state of burnout, but you're actually conserving your energy, conserving your very mind power.
00:25:42.789 --> 00:25:45.589
And you are starting to see the fruits of that.
00:25:45.589 --> 00:25:47.509
I think it's it's it's exciting.
00:25:47.509 --> 00:25:50.230
I think you start to see how it starts to work for you.
00:25:50.230 --> 00:25:53.509
So I would say that start small.
00:25:53.509 --> 00:26:04.549
And then as you start to see the results of that, the fruits of that, I think it's very it creates momentum and I think it starts to create that excitement that wow, I can really make this work for me.
00:26:04.549 --> 00:26:20.789
When we when we coach the mindpower um planning system, it's it can be like for somebody that loves a to-do list, it can be very, very overwhelming because we really help our clients break down what are your top three things that you need to do either today or this week.
00:26:20.789 --> 00:26:26.230
And then those are what gets plugged in first to your 90-minute jam sessions.
00:26:26.230 --> 00:26:34.470
And so by the end of the week, you're like, wow, now I can turn my my focus to the things that are were like number they didn't categorize as the top.
00:26:34.470 --> 00:26:41.430
Maybe they weren't the things that I really wanted to get to, but those are typically the things way down on somebody's to-do list that never move.
00:26:41.430 --> 00:26:49.589
And so this system is is really helpful to just help with the focus, and then it really can change that that productivity.
00:26:49.589 --> 00:26:54.950
Having a having a support of a coach, of course, is great, or just even accountability buddy, right?
00:26:54.950 --> 00:27:08.470
And so the other thing too is we always in mind power, we always do this planning on Friday, on Friday afternoon, because you're still in your state, whether you check out at noon or four, you still are planning.
00:27:08.470 --> 00:27:13.750
Okay, what are the top three things that I need to accomplish that will have the greatest impact next week?
00:27:13.750 --> 00:27:17.350
And so we start creating and plugging into the calendar those.
00:27:17.350 --> 00:27:26.950
And then you hit the ground running on Monday, which is gonna put you light years ahead of your contemporaries, because most people get to their desk and then they start planning.
00:27:26.950 --> 00:30:00.380
They look at their email and they're like looking, they're checking voicemail, they're like checking the news, they're drinking their coffee, and hey, that's great.
00:30:00.380 --> 00:30:07.660
Like if you want to create your first 90 minutes as your admin and you want to do that, all the power to you.
00:30:07.660 --> 00:30:14.140
But we do tend to like group like-minded things into 90-minute jam sessions.
00:30:14.140 --> 00:30:16.220
So really, really key.
00:30:16.540 --> 00:30:17.260
Exactly.
00:30:17.260 --> 00:30:23.820
So, what you know, as with anything, there's always going to be people who are out there out there who are skeptics.
00:30:23.820 --> 00:30:27.100
They're always like, what do you say?
00:30:27.100 --> 00:30:29.180
What do you say to the skeptics?
00:30:30.140 --> 00:30:35.820
Well, I think what I would say is a lot of this is scientifically proven.
00:30:35.820 --> 00:30:38.220
If you don't believe me, go check out Dr.
00:30:38.220 --> 00:30:42.140
Bruce Rip Lipton, the author of Biology of Belief, Dr.
00:30:42.140 --> 00:30:44.780
Theo Compernell, who wrote Brain Chains.
00:30:44.780 --> 00:30:51.580
I mean, all of these things that I'm sharing with you are proven by science, proven studies, neuroscience, right?
00:30:51.580 --> 00:30:52.700
So, okay.
00:30:52.700 --> 00:30:55.180
But old habits die hard.
00:30:55.180 --> 00:30:55.900
I get it.
00:30:55.900 --> 00:31:02.220
And oftentimes a lot of people, like I said earlier, don't think they, you know, you can't teach an old dog new tricks.
00:31:02.220 --> 00:31:04.380
Neuroplasticity is real.
00:31:04.380 --> 00:31:10.300
We can learn to not only retrain our brains, but retrain our own environments.
00:31:10.300 --> 00:31:13.820
And and small hinges, as I said, swing really big doors.
00:31:13.820 --> 00:31:21.340
So oftentimes in transformative coaching, we don't want to start changing everything at once at the very, very beginning.
00:31:21.340 --> 00:31:31.500
We want to just celebrate micro wins and just being able to see the need for this and say, okay, I really want to work with my brain and not against it.
00:31:31.500 --> 00:31:33.420
I think who would who wouldn't want to do that?
00:31:33.420 --> 00:31:34.060
I don't know.
00:31:34.060 --> 00:31:38.460
But I want to work with my brain and how it optimally works for me.
00:31:38.460 --> 00:31:52.140
And I'll tell you what, beyond just productivity, beyond performance, I think it's key that the things that I'm sharing with you prevent burnout, reduce stress, create confidence and clarity and focus.
00:31:52.140 --> 00:32:02.380
So all of this to say, when we bridge, I call it the psychokinetic bridge, it's the brain, which is psycho, kinetic, which is body.
00:32:02.380 --> 00:32:09.980
When we take a moment, even throughout the day, and we realize that we had a win, an accomplishment.
00:32:09.980 --> 00:32:12.700
So many of my high performers, they don't do that.
00:32:12.700 --> 00:32:14.700
They just keep going one thing to the next.
00:32:14.700 --> 00:32:16.060
They're just moving and plowing.
00:32:16.060 --> 00:32:22.620
And what happens is at some point, the unconscious mind will say, What's in it for me?
00:32:22.620 --> 00:32:25.020
And it hasn't had anything that's in it for it.
00:32:25.020 --> 00:32:32.860
And it will have tremendous effects on our bodies because every thought we think and every word we speak, the body listens.
00:32:32.860 --> 00:32:40.540
And so without having little micro acknowledgements, little micro wins, we can burn out, we can just really become so stressed.
00:32:40.540 --> 00:32:46.780
But when we go throughout our day and we take even a micro moment to be like, wow, I just accomplished this.
00:32:46.780 --> 00:32:49.100
Wow, that feels really good.
00:32:49.100 --> 00:32:50.780
Just to even take a moment.
00:32:50.780 --> 00:32:57.420
So if the whole planning system sounds like a lot, and I get it, we all come at this from different angles.
00:32:57.420 --> 00:33:07.020
Maybe it's just starting with creating the micro wins and just being able to slow down, even if it's for 10 seconds, and give ourselves a pat on the back.
00:33:07.020 --> 00:33:11.660
Give the unconscious mind that acknowledgement that this feels good.
00:33:11.660 --> 00:33:15.100
I'm in a state of appreciation, I'm in a state of gratitude.
00:33:15.100 --> 00:33:20.700
You've heard me say before, the brain can't hold a negative thought at the same time, it's in a state of gratitude.
00:33:20.700 --> 00:33:33.420
So even just stopping what you're doing and realizing a grateful moment of all that we are and all that we're efforting at and all that we're producing takes a huge amount onto the mind and onto the brain.
00:33:33.420 --> 00:33:36.780
And it really helps us on our long-term goals.
00:33:37.100 --> 00:33:37.340
Right.
00:33:37.340 --> 00:33:38.460
Oh, I love this.
00:33:38.460 --> 00:33:40.380
This is such great information.
00:33:40.380 --> 00:33:46.460
Um where would you tell someone to start as we as we as we finish out?
00:33:46.460 --> 00:33:49.740
Where would you tell someone to start on this journey?
00:33:50.380 --> 00:33:53.580
I there's so many, I mean, there's amazing things out there.
00:33:53.580 --> 00:33:55.900
You could work with a coach, of course.
00:33:55.900 --> 00:34:02.380
Um, but I think also just to start on the journey of being able to think about what are my goals, right?
00:34:02.380 --> 00:34:03.980
What am I focusing on?
00:34:03.980 --> 00:34:05.900
What do I want to achieve?
00:34:05.900 --> 00:34:15.579
And then just kind of really distilling that down to your top three and getting really crystal clear and realizing everything on our to-do list doesn't have the same weight.
00:34:15.579 --> 00:34:17.820
What would have the greatest impact?
00:34:17.820 --> 00:34:20.380
So I think just a matter of pause, right?
00:34:20.380 --> 00:34:36.619
Without letting the calendar run you, you become the empowered director of your day, of your calendar and ultimately your results and your success by just pausing and being able to just go within and start there and say, what are the things that I need to focus on that are going to move the needle for me?
00:34:36.619 --> 00:34:44.460
And then really thinking about what are your top three things that will make the greatest impact today, this week, this month.
00:34:44.460 --> 00:34:54.139
And then that just by identifying that, then you can kind of put those times in your jam session, like apply each one to a 90-minute jam session.
00:34:54.139 --> 00:34:55.179
Maybe it's just once.
00:34:55.179 --> 00:34:56.539
Try it once a week.
00:34:56.539 --> 00:35:04.219
Then maybe try two, and then start honing your calendar where you really start to begin to see how it can really work for you.
00:35:04.219 --> 00:35:12.699
More than anything, more than the productivity, more than increased performance, just how you're going to respond with greater clarity, greater confidence.
00:35:12.699 --> 00:35:14.059
You're going to be more calm.
00:35:14.059 --> 00:35:15.500
You're going to be in control.
00:35:15.500 --> 00:35:19.739
And your day's not going to run you and your day, you know, you're going to be able to run your day.
00:35:19.739 --> 00:35:27.900
I do want to say, I have a client that she calls it like she actually creates a 90-minute uh jam session.
00:35:27.900 --> 00:35:36.460
She calls it triage time because often a lot of us have calls coming at us, especially if you're in sales, you have a lot of things coming at you at once.
00:35:36.460 --> 00:35:46.300
So you're welcome to make a 90-minute jam session where you are responding to all of the things that were going to be interrupting you during your focus time.
00:35:46.300 --> 00:35:50.699
And so that takes a lot of the pressure off because a lot of people are like, where do I put that?
00:35:50.699 --> 00:35:51.260
Right?
00:35:51.260 --> 00:35:52.619
Where do I put that time?
00:35:52.619 --> 00:35:54.139
Just create a jam session.
00:35:54.139 --> 00:35:55.820
So now it's your response time.
00:35:55.820 --> 00:36:01.579
It's phone calls, you're replying to emails, it's all like-minded because now you're in response mode.
00:36:01.579 --> 00:36:05.820
You're in problem-solving mode, you're returning phone calls, you're interacting.
00:36:05.820 --> 00:36:11.420
And a lot of people find that when they're in that 90-minute time, they are just on fire.
00:36:11.420 --> 00:36:23.739
They're flowing, they're brain to their mouth, like they are just in flow state because they are replying and responding and having conversations, not little bits throughout the day, but they're doing it all in one 90-minute session.
00:36:23.739 --> 00:36:31.260
And they're just working with the way the brain is optimally working for them to articulate their thoughts and to be crystal clear and have clarity.
00:36:31.260 --> 00:36:33.739
And they're in they're in problem solving mode.
00:36:33.739 --> 00:36:36.379
And um it's it's incredible to see that.
00:36:36.379 --> 00:36:41.979
So small, small wins, micro wins, starting there and just taking it one step at a time.
00:36:42.299 --> 00:36:43.739
That is great advice.
00:36:43.739 --> 00:36:45.019
That is wonderful.
00:36:45.019 --> 00:36:48.379
I can't wait to put this put this to work for myself.
00:36:48.379 --> 00:36:51.739
Now we're we're into the final form.
00:36:51.739 --> 00:36:54.619
The final form is where I ask four questions.
00:36:54.619 --> 00:36:57.419
I do this for every guest that's on my show.
00:36:57.419 --> 00:36:59.419
So are you ready?
00:36:59.819 --> 00:37:00.219
Yes.
00:37:00.219 --> 00:37:01.019
Okay.
00:37:01.419 --> 00:37:05.499
What's your favorite book and what made it stick with you?
00:37:07.099 --> 00:37:08.379
So that's a tough one.
00:37:08.379 --> 00:37:10.219
I'm an English major and I'm a little more.
00:37:10.219 --> 00:37:20.459
But I will say in the work that I do, I think in the work that I do, that is so incredibly purposeful and meaningful, it is truly my calling.
00:37:20.459 --> 00:37:25.099
The book that really resonates with me most is written by Victor Frankel.
00:37:25.099 --> 00:37:28.059
It's titled Man's Search for Meaning.
00:37:28.059 --> 00:37:37.899
And the premise of this book is where did life happen, not to you, but where did life happen for you?
00:37:37.899 --> 00:37:45.899
And I think all of us have things in our lives that we've experienced where we can think life really happened to us.
00:37:45.899 --> 00:37:48.699
I know I've certainly had events like that in my life.
00:37:48.699 --> 00:37:49.419
Dr.
00:37:49.419 --> 00:37:55.099
Victor Frankel was a Holocaust survivor in Auschwitz and saw atrocities.
00:37:55.099 --> 00:38:01.579
He was able to see where life happened for him, where he could find the silver lining.
00:38:01.579 --> 00:38:03.339
What did that do for me?
00:38:03.339 --> 00:38:05.259
What did that create within me?
00:38:05.259 --> 00:38:13.659
And so that's been really a profound book for me personally, and also a book that I rely on in my coaching as well.
00:38:14.059 --> 00:38:15.339
Wow, I'm gonna have to read that.
00:38:15.339 --> 00:38:16.779
I have not read that yet.
00:38:16.779 --> 00:38:22.779
Do you have a favorite quote or piece of advice that you find yourself coming back to time and time again?
00:38:24.459 --> 00:38:35.819
I love Carl Jung, and I know I'm repeating it again, but it is, I really think, the crux of my own life because I did at one point was not living in the consciousness that I thought I was.
00:38:35.819 --> 00:38:43.659
And he said, until we make the unconscious conscious, it will direct our lives and we will call it fate.
00:38:43.659 --> 00:39:02.939
And having a deep faith, um, and also believing that, of course, in a higher power of my own life, to be able to realize that there are unconscious beliefs that we all carry, and they don't always serve us well in our lives and our relationships and all of our endeavors.
00:39:02.939 --> 00:39:12.619
But when we can really bring those to our awareness and make them conscious, then we can become the empowered director of our choices, our behaviors, and our lives.
00:39:12.619 --> 00:39:15.099
And so for me, that's been that's been pivotal.
00:39:15.099 --> 00:39:23.259
I'm I'm sitting here with you today because of that very quote, and and not just thinking about it, but actually actualizing it, like doing the thing, right?
00:39:23.419 --> 00:39:26.459
So it's a great quote.
00:39:26.459 --> 00:39:30.699
What's one habit or practice that's changed your life?
00:39:32.059 --> 00:40:00.859
Gratitude, just soaking in gratitude, even throughout the day, just those micro moments of where I was once uh type A, more overachiever, pleaser, pushing ahead for the achievement and the accomplishments, and never giving myself a pat on the back and just finding myself exhausted, depleted, not being able to pour out to others, being able to give my moments and take a moment and soak in that moment of gratitude.
00:40:00.859 --> 00:40:06.779
Um, not just for myself, but to my God and all the things that are blessings in my life.
00:40:06.779 --> 00:40:16.219
It changes our physiology, it changes our mindset, um, and it really can be a catalyst to um to great change.
00:40:16.219 --> 00:40:22.539
So, gratitude, a practice of gratitude, starting the day that way, and then the little micro moments of gratitude throughout the day as well.
00:40:22.539 --> 00:40:25.659
It's simple, but yeah, I think it's really a profound practice.
00:40:26.299 --> 00:40:27.419
It is a great practice.
00:40:27.419 --> 00:40:31.259
And finally, if you could have dinner with anyone, who would it be and why?
00:40:31.259 --> 00:40:32.539
I love that.
00:40:32.779 --> 00:40:34.299
I'd have dinner with my dad.
00:40:34.299 --> 00:40:44.539
My dad passed, like I shared when uh when I was 18 and was such a mentor to me, and really was the very kind of first person that challenged me.
00:40:44.539 --> 00:40:47.419
And um really Wizard was a deep thinker.
00:40:47.419 --> 00:40:51.499
And so I I am who I am today, even though I had only 18 years with him.
00:40:51.499 --> 00:40:55.419
And boy, I'd want to, I believe he's crossed over and has great wisdom.
00:40:55.419 --> 00:41:02.779
And I want to have dinner with him today and say, hey, what do you think that all these things in my life have led me to this calling and this purpose?
00:41:02.779 --> 00:41:04.219
Uh, what do you think, Dad?
00:41:04.219 --> 00:41:05.499
You know, what can I be doing better?
00:41:05.499 --> 00:41:06.219
What do you see?
00:41:06.219 --> 00:41:10.379
You know, and just kind of, you know, just just be able to soak in that presence.
00:41:10.379 --> 00:41:11.259
I would love that.
00:41:11.499 --> 00:41:12.139
I'd love that.
00:41:12.139 --> 00:41:15.099
And and um, I'm sure he's very proud of you.
00:41:15.099 --> 00:41:16.139
Thank you.
00:41:16.139 --> 00:41:17.419
I so appreciate that.
00:41:17.419 --> 00:41:17.899
Thank you.
00:41:17.899 --> 00:41:20.779
Carleen, this has been a wonderful conversation with you.
00:41:20.779 --> 00:41:23.979
If our listeners want to get in touch with you, how can they do so?
00:41:24.219 --> 00:41:25.339
Oh, thank you so much.
00:41:25.339 --> 00:41:33.579
They can visit my website, which is Carlene Marie, C-A-R-L-E-N-E, M-A-R-I-E.com.
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That is my website for my coaching.
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And then also I am the co-founder of Mindset Slingshot.
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And together with Master Mind Power Coach, my partner, where we team up together, we do online virtual courses and keynotes together.
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We do a lot of corporate executive coaching events, and that is mindsetslingshot.com.
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So those are two different ways that we could work together.
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And um, I I love and I love every aspect and every person that crosses my path, I believe, comes to me for a reason and a season.
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And it's my honor to help them become the empowered director of their thoughts and their lives.
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Awesome.
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Thank you so much, Carlene.
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Thank you.
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This is wonderful.
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I appreciate you too.
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Have an awesome day.
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Thank you to all of my guests.