Episode 116: Two Years of Laughing & Learning on this Podcast! 24 Life & Leadership Lessons I've Learned in 24 Months!
Two years of laughter, learning and podcasting. In twenty-four months, we’ve covered so many topics and spoken to so many outstanding guests. We’ve talked to entrepreneurs, to TikTok Stars, to corporate leaders, and to quite a few comediennes. As you can imagine, we’ve learned quite a few things in the process.
Today’s episode includes a long list (ok, 24 things to be exact) of insightful tidbits, memorable quotes and mantras to motivate you to become your best self – both personally and professionally. It’s your own motivational speech set to pump you up, and fill you up with wisdom from some of the smartest (and coolest!) people we know.
Want to know something else that’s cool?
We just found out that the improve it! podcast is in the Top 1.5% of Global Podcasts. Pretty sweet, right?!
Press play on this episode, and see for yourself why laughter is one of the best teaching tools in the world!
Show Links:
· Episode 85: Rajkumari Neogy
· Episode 94: Claudia Martinez
· Episode 111: Shereen Daniels
· Want to get your team Hybrid Hyped? Check out this free download
· Send us a voice message here!
· Did today’s episode resonate with you? Please leave us a review!
Connect with Erin Diehl:
Erin Diehl is the founder and Chief “Yes, And” officer of improve it! and host of the improve it! Podcast. She’s a performer, facilitator and professional risk-taker who lives by the mantra, “get comfortable with the uncomfortable.” Through a series of unrelated dares, Erin has created improve it!, a unique professional development company that pushes others to laugh, learn and grow. Her work with clients such as United Airlines, PepsiCo, Groupon, Deloitte, Motorola, Walgreens, and The Obama Foundation earned her the 2014 Chicago RedEye Big Idea Award and has nominated her for the 2015-2019 Chicago Innovations Award.
This graduate from Clemson University is a former experiential marketing and recruiting professional as well as a veteran improviser from the top improvisational training programs in Chicago, including The Second City, i.O. Theater, and The Annoyance Theatre.
When she is not playing pretend or facilitating, she enjoys running and beach dates with her husband and son, and their eight-pound toy poodle, BIGG Diehl.
You can follow the failed it! podcast on Instagram @learntoimproveit and facebook, and you can follow Erin personally on Instagram @keepinitrealdiehl here. You can also check out improve it! and how we can help your organization at www.learntoimproveit.com. We can’t wait to connect with you online!
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If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing this podcast! This helps Erin support more people – just like you – move toward the leader you want to be. Click here, click listen on Apple Podcasts, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with 5 stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let Erin know what you loved most about the episode! Also, if you haven’t done so already, subscribe to the podcast. That way you won’t miss any juicy episodes! Thanks in advance, improve it! Peeps :)
Episode 116 Transcription
Erin (00:00):
Are you a leader or change maker inside of your business organization or corporation? Are you looking for new, innovative ways to drive morale through the roof? Are you looking for fun and exciting icebreakers, team building exercises and activities that will foster team growth, friendships, loyalty, and completely transform your organization from the inside out? Have you been searching for a fun and unique way to create change instead of the same old, dry, boring leadership books and ice breakers that aren't actually working? Hi, I'm Erin Diehl, business improv edutainer, failfluencer, and professional zoombie who is ready to help you improve it. My mission in life is to help you develop teams and leaders through play improv and experiential learning. In this podcast, we will deep dive into professional development, team building, effective communication, networking, presentation skills, leadership training, how to think more quickly on your feet and everything in between. We have helped everyone from fortune 500 companies to small mom and pop shops transform their business, their leadership, and their people through play. So grab your chicken hat. We are about to have some fun, welcome to improve it! The podcast!
Erin (01:35):
Oh, you won't break. And I'm telling everybody, this is not Beyonce. It's Erin. Welcome to this episode where we are celebrating two years of laughing and learning on this podcast. And I'm gonna give you 24 life and leadership lessons I've learned in 24 months, given you all the things I'm not gonna quit my day job. I'm gonna keep it very clearly. My singing voice is not on par with Beyonce, but I'm so happy. She has a new album. What, and also that song is the anthem for the great resignation. So all leaders listening today, listen to Beyonce and then also stay tuned because I've got some life lessons and leadership lessons that I have found from some fantastic human beings that I've given to you. But I wanted to recap them here today. So happy birthday to us, to you improve it! Peeps. I'll spare you this Stevie wonder birthday song.
Erin (02:47):
All right. So all, let me just do it. Happy birthday. Yeah. Happy birthday. Okay. Listen, nobody give me a singing contract. I really like what I do. But if you wanted me to record maybe just like one song and you know, somebody I'm very there for that. So anyway, improve it! Peeps. We are 24 months old. Wow. It feels like a long time, but at the same time, it doesn't. So we went from failing it here on this show to improving it. We have interviewed comedians. We have interviewed TikTok stars. We've interviewed famous speakers, entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, authors leaders in DEI, and more. We've laughed with people like Josh Johnson and members of this improve it! Family who are some of the most hilarious human beings on the planet, people from our team who are facilitators, we've cried with heavy hitting topics from bias and racism with Jason Greer to other topics like mental health suicide.
Erin (04:02):
And we've also talked about valuing ourselves with people like the awesome Chris Do. We've even had my own infertility doctor on this show to talk about infertility. So we've really covered a wide range of topics with a through line of, we want to help you become your best self professionally. So we together collectively have learned so much. I have learned so much from giving you this content for the past two years. So I wanna just say thank you so much to you, our improve it! Peeps for two years, for 24 months and a lifetime to go of bringing laughter, levity and positivity to you through play, improv and experiential learning. So without further ado, let me get into today's topic. I thought it was a really great idea to give you 24 life and leadership lessons learned from you and from our guests in the past 24 months.
Erin (05:08):
Now, when I sat down to really think about this, I realized I actually have more way more than 24 life lessons because every guest comes with such an exciting and different story and message to share. So it was actually harder than I thought to narrow it down to 24. But I put together for you the 24 top life lessons that we have gained from wisdom from guests on this show, from hearing from you or improve it peeps. So without further ado, let's start with number one. And I'm gonna go through these. We've got 24. So I'm gonna give you a high level overview, but no, this is just from the past two years. So I can't wait when we're you know, at three years to give you 30. Yeah. Math 36 lessons I'll have more at that time. They'll probably be different, but let's start with number one.
Erin (06:06):
Number one, progress. Not per perfection. See, I didn't even say the word right. Progress, not perfection. So we started this show as the failed it podcast foreshadowing at best. Okay. So we did about 50 some episodes as failed it. And let me tell you, they were impactful. We had some amazing guests come on to talk about the failures that they've had and how those were actually gifts in their life, right? Which is one of the major rules of improv. No mistakes, only gifts. Well about 50 episodes in we decided, well, we've really, we've really touched on this topic. It's really honed in, but we're so much more than that, which is why we changed it to the name of our company improve it. And really through that through line, I really had to realize it is about the progress. There were so many lessons learned because a podcast, if you're listening here today is not easy.
Erin (07:06):
I mean, it is a lot of work to find guests, to book guests, to record with them, to get it edited, to get the assets and all the things you see to market the show together. So we really had to recognize that it's not gonna be perfect. We just need to see the progress. And we definitely did 116 episodes in, by the way, today I'm recording with my dog Big Diehl. He's an eight pound toy poodle, if you don't know on my lap and he's snoring. So if you hear a snore in the background, he's just having a really cool dream right now. So that's that's number one, number two, fail fast and fail forward. So 50 episodes about failure. Oh my gosh. Taught me so much about just why it's so important. Why if we're not failing, we're remaining stagnant and our competition will just surpass us.
Erin (08:02):
Why celebrating fails, having fail parties saying the words fail. Yeah. Are actually so empowering. I have this sign in my little podcast closet here right next to me that says fail yeah. And it just reminds me that failure is a part of the journey truth be told. I started recording this episode and realized my mic wasn't working about two minutes in. So I've already failed two minutes ago here today, fail fast and fail forward because when you are failing, you are trying and that's what matters. So number three, that was number two, number three, unlearn to relearn. So let me just kind of rewind a little bit. We started this show in 2020 launched in April of 2020, April 22nd, to be exact, I know a girl who was born on that day, it's me, but we had a bunch of episodes already recorded that we were going to launch with.
Erin (09:10):
And we had to can them because they were not relevant to what was going on in the world at the time. So that was the very start of the pandemic. And then May started the black lives matter movement with the murder of George Floyd and so many critical conversations around race. I really had to unlearn a lot as a white woman in America and really relearn and empathize with what so many people I love and care about have had to deal with forever. I have a quote from actually episode 11 from Jai brown. So we'll link to these in the show notes. These episodes that I'm referencing, but episode 11 with Jai brown is such an impactful, amazing episode. And she said, we've had to be comfortable being uncomfortable our entire lives. The only difference is you get to learn it while we get to live it.
Erin (10:12):
So this episode aired right, probably a few weeks after the death of George Floyd. And it talked about racism and business and I'll just say, Jai is one of my dear friends. She is a client at improve it. I've known her for so many years and she really trusted me. And I asked her to come on the show to have a very impactful conversation about race in the workplace. And it's one of the most highly downloaded episodes that we have. She is a phenomenal human being and that episode and many conversations had about diversity equity and inclusion on this show have really allowed me to unlearn and relearn a lot of things. So that is a huge lesson for me. Number three, unlearn and relearn number four, stop allowing fear to make decisions for you. So episode 18 is with a dear friend of mine, Judy Holler.
Erin (11:12):
She is a speaker. She also uses improv in her work and she talks a lot about fear and how we should be close to fear and how if we stop allowing fear to make the decisions for us, we can do so many more things. She's so inspirational. So motivational, but really fear is false evidence up appearing real, right? So Judy has done extensive research and fear and talks about it on that show and really emphasizes that if we allow fear to run our lives, we're gonna be running from it. Right? So if we can be the driver in the driver's seat and have fear sitting next to us as a companion, we can go a lot longer on the road of life. Look at that metaphors coming full circle. So that was number four. Check out episode 18 with Judi holler. Again, we'll put all these in the show notes for you.
Erin (12:06):
Number five, this is just a quote that I love and something. And when I was thinking about the extensive work that we have to put in to make this show work, I, I just kind of stick to and it's it doesn't get easier. You get better. It doesn't get easier. You get better. Let me say this. When I first started this show, I had zero clue what I was doing. If I'm being completely honest, there's a real lesson in improv right there. Right? Just get on stage. Do your thing, fail, learn and try again. Oh man. If I go back to some of the beginning episodes, I, I can't do it. Actually. If I'm being honest, probably episodes one through 20, I was learning how to interview. I was learning how to talk on this microphone. I had a different microphone. I was sitting in between closets.
Erin (13:06):
I would go in my parents' closet cause I was living in my parents' house. At the time I would set up in my closet in my apartment in Chicago. Then I would set up in a small closet in a tiny hotel in Charleston. As we were waiting to move into our new house, every opportunity for me to interview somebody gave me an opportunity to get better and it never gets easier because every time I get to talk to a guest, it's a brand new topic, a brand new thing. I need to research, but I get better because I've done the reps I've gotten in 113 of these episodes plus the mini. So, so who knows where we're at really? It does not get easier. You get better. I want you to think about how you can apply that to your life when things seem hard.
Erin (13:53):
It's okay. If it's not easier, but do it again and do it again and do it again because you will get better. Number six. So this is another quote from not from a show, but it just references a show and it is yes. And your imperfections. Yes. And your imperfections. And if you're new to the show, yes. And is a tenant of improv. It is all about postponing judgment, allowing all voices in the room to be heard, adding to somebody's ideas versus negating. So that's what that means. Do all of those things with your imperfections. We had a guest on this show on episode 45 miles Barrio. And he actually lives here in South Carolina where I live, but he lives in Greenville and he was hit by a drunk driver, which left him in a wheelchair. And he was par. I believe he's paralyzed from the waist down.
Erin (14:57):
And he had to completely revamp the way he looks at life. You can follow him on Instagram. He is such an inspiration. He has two small children. He runs a very successful real estate company. And he could have let this accident ruin him and his spirit. He is such, such a joyful spirit instead he chose to yes. And what happened to him and use it as fuel to fuel the lives of others. And he is just, again, I'm so lucky array of sunshine that we got to talk to on this show. So yes. And your imperfections is a lesson that came through loud and clear for me. So I thought about these past two years, number seven, stop playing small lean into the there's a saying we have in our workshops, which at the very beginning, anytime anybody hears we're gonna do improv in their corporate setting.
Erin (15:53):
They're like, oh my God improv. And they get sweaty and their armpits perspire. And they're like, oh my gosh, I feel so gross and icky in my own skin right now. Ooh. And then they get an accent like this, like a Southern person, right? No, this is such a wonderful way to look at life. If you play small, you're gonna stay small. If you play big. Oh, and you get some sweaty pits, the world is going to open up for you. Stop playing small. And I'm gonna tell you, I had thought about doing this show on a personal note for probably three years before we actually launched it. And I couldn't decide what we were gonna talk about, who we were gonna talk to. I had all these limiting beliefs. Why is anybody gonna wanna listen to me? Thank you for listening. Why, you know, why would I sit on a microphone and talk to myself in a closet?
Erin (16:49):
And then one day I said, Nope, this is happening. And let me just tell you, I've met some fantastic people and created so many fantastic relationships, just through podcasting colleagues, friends, I've received so many opportunities from doing this show. We've created new clients and wonderful teams that we get to serve from this show. So stop playing small, whatever that thing is for you, that you wanna go out there and do lean in to the, send me an email and your address. I'm gonna send you some deodorant. Okay? I use degree. Maybe you aren't like one of those people who maybe you use the oh, what is it? The Aren, you know the ones that don't have the chemicals. I can't think of the name right now. Tell me your preference. I'll send you some deodorant, whatever it is you want, all right, I'm a shower.
Erin (17:41):
Clean degree person been that way for forever. But you tell me what you're gonna do, how you're gonna stop playing small. I, you to lean into that ick, get the sweaty armpits. I'll give you the deodorant to go with it. Number eight, fail fluency is a verb. So I'm really trying to talk to Webster and get this word an the dictionary. Because like I said, failure has been a big part of this journey. What is a fail? Let me just share with you. The definition of fail is an F bomb drop rock, fail, mess, express who fails forward to their success. In other words, you are failing frequently and that equals the fundamentals of your success. Got a keynote on it. Wrote the keynote, gots, merch, all the things. It is a verb. And let me just tell you, it is so freeing. If you can just say I am a fail flu, oh my God.
Erin (18:48):
Things just don't seem as bad teams can thrive with a failure mindset. They have permission to fail. They don't have to be perfect. Those teams can lead to greater productivity within your organizations, which everyone at that point, thrives. I wanna share with you. I thought about this as I was putting together, this show a really <laugh> important lesson I learned failure is going to happen. Just know what's going to be a part of it. Marie Forlio says everything is figureoutable and it is such a such a awesome quote to say in the midst of chaos. So we had, and you might remember this on the show, a mastermind program that we were putting together for leaders and did a couple episodes about it, promoted the heck out of it, marketed it everywhere. Literally put together probably the best marketing campaign I've ever done for any type of, of new service.
Erin (19:53):
And zero people signed up. Zero people signed up because we were a B2B business. It was essentially a B2 C business opportunity service offering that we were offering. It wasn't us working with a team. It was us working with an individual and lemme tell you how much sleep I lost over that zero, zero sleep. I lost zero sleep because I have a coach and she asked me, do you really wanna do this? How, how important is this to you compared to every other awesome thing you have going on? And I said, no, it's really important. I would really love to have this mastermind, but it just doesn't feel like the right timing. And she goes, stop the marketing, keep it up on the website. See if anyone signs up and then talk to that person individually. But you just se you just signed a contract with the universe, with what you just said out loud.
Erin (20:54):
And that's been what you've been feeling all along. So I didn't look at that as a failure. I looked at that as an opportunity to say, okay, well, we created all these amazing things. We had this awesome email campaign. We've got all these great graphics. Wow. Our marketing manager crushed the design of the sales page. There was so much that went into the learning curve of that, that I was like, this is a win. We learned how to do this. And when the timing is right, we'll do it again. Old Erin would've salt. She would've said, oh, nobody likes us. Nobody wants to spend time with us outside of their jobs. But knew Erin looked at it as an opportunity to say, we'll do this again. When the timing is right for everyone and for us. So fail influencing is a verb. That was number eight, number nine, you are enough.
Erin (21:49):
You matter again, this idea of playing small of these limiting beliefs. Tell yourself you are enough. That mantra has gotten me through so many difficult conversations. So many moments where I'm talking to somebody who has a Ted talk, a book hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of followers. And they're talking to me and I'm like, what? How did, what, how did this? And I just tell myself in those moments, you are enough. You matter. So, whatever it is that you're thinking about that you can't do, or that you may be nervous about, you are enough. You matter and use that same mantra on the people that you lead because wow, the effect it will have will just magnetize the culture that you wanna create. Number 10 comparison is the thief of joy. Oh my God. Learn this the hard way. And the beginning. So hard to compare myself to other podcast, hosts, to colleagues who are crushing it in the podcast space to people. I don't even know, but I follow their work. And again, they've been doing this for far longer than I have. And they're day one or my day one is their day 500 or day 10,000.
Erin (23:26):
So I want you to think about how comparison robs you of your joy and when this is what I've learned. When I have those comparisonitis thoughts, I do the activity that we've taught you in many episodes of this show, new choice. I replace that negative thought, a more kind and loving thought to myself, the words we say to ourselves matter. So what's the story that you're telling yourself. It's okay to have the negative thought, forgive yourself, cuz we're all gonna have it. We're human beings. Just replace it with a more positive thought instead. All right, number 11. I'm gonna get through these number 11. Remember you once streamed of being where you are now, let that sink in. Remember that you once streamed of being where you are now, that for me is really like I have a tier in the retina. There's so many times that I wanna push forward.
Erin (24:34):
I see the next project, the next goal. I'm an Enneagram three type a as they come achiever. And I do not take in what has been created. So take a moment today and pause and look at what you've created. Whether it's a human being, whether it's a successful project, whether it's a new job opportunity or a promotion and let yourself celebrate the you that you've become so important. All right, number 12, self-care, isn't selfish. This, I learned the hard way. Erin coop on episode 73 of this show talks all about mental health and why self care is so important to us as leaders. You've heard me say this 800 million times on this show. And if you haven't listened to a lot of these episodes know this is something I'm super strong on. We cannot fill others cups without filling our tea. Kettle first, you can't pour from an empty tea kettle.
Erin (25:51):
So filling that kettle with positive energy, with exercise, with mindfulness, with reading, with people and things and places that bring you joy is going to allow you to pour so many cups of tea. So many like all the Earl grace, some green tea, whatever it is. So remember that selfcare is not selfish clearing my throat. Cause I've got more to say. Number 13, listen with the intent to understand, not to respond. Now this quote is from episode 80, with the amazing author of radical candor. Kim Scott, let me tell you a limiting belief right there. I was like, Kim, Scott is coming on this show. I see her book in every airport. And now I can call Kim a colleague and a friend. But this quote, listen to understand not to respond is something we talk about in our effective communication workshop. It's something that comes up a lot because one of the biggest fundamentals of improv is listening and reacting in the moment.
Erin (27:04):
And if you are preplanning, what you're about to say, or you're thinking ahead to the next thing you were not present to what the person in front of you is saying, which makes them feel unimportant. So I've learned this lesson time and time again, not only from the improv stage, but from interviewing so many fantastic guests, you can have a, an entire two page word document filled with questions, but the conversation might go in a completely different direction. Might be more interesting. It might be something that you know, that you wanna talk about and your audience needs to hear, listen with the intent to understand not to respond. So instead of pre-planning what I'm going to say next or thinking about what's my next question. I'm listening to understand where they are coming from. So I want you to think about this with your family, with your teams.
Erin (28:00):
Every person in your life can benefit, including you. If we follow this mindset, number 14, create the things you wish existed. Is there a system in your organization that needs to be processed out? Is there some type of creative place within your, your company's office that you want to build? Is there a team structure to your meetings that you wanna put in place, create them, create them. And I've learned that from time and time again, coming up with content for these shows, I think about you. What are you thinking about? What are your problems? What are your challenges? What am I hearing you say? And then I create content around them and that content I know I wish existed because I searched for it. And I know you wish existed because I hear you asking for it. So that's number 14. Number 15, leading with love is leading with yes.
Erin (29:04):
And now this is from episode 94 from one of our amazing facilitators. Claudia Martinez. Claudia is truly one of the funniest people I know. So funny, she's currently on stage at second city in Chicago and the, the ATC theater there. And she, and I just share this special spiritual connection. This episode is so important. If you want to lead with empathy, if you want to show up differently and use this concept of yes. And which is all about postponing judgment hearing, what the other person has to say, building off of those ideas. Yes. And is leading with love. So that has come through time and time again, for me in this show, number 16, this episode blew my mind, but here's, here's something, a big lesson learned social exclusion registers as physical injury in the brain. Let me say that again. Social exclusion registers as physical injury in the brain.
Erin (30:12):
This is from an episode it's episode 85 with Raj Kumari Nige. It is, she talks about epigenetics at work. That to me was one of the biggest takeaways that I've had on two years of this show, when we make people feel excluded, they feel like a physical injury is in their brain. So when we can create this culture of belonging, what an impact we are having on their physical and mental health, take that in. Listen to that episode, if you want more. It's so good. I was fascinated by that conversation. So that's number 16. Number 17 comes from another amazing guest. It's a very, very well known entrepreneur. Kara golden. Kara is the founder and creator of hint, which is now my favorite water. Kara. It is a fruit infused water with no added sweeteners. And it is so good. And I liked, I now like water because of he, but this quote is complacency will kill you.
Erin (31:28):
Complacency will kill you. And Kara's story is so fantastic. She actually has a book called Ted, which is all about creating a life that you love by being fearless, not caring, doing the things that we've talked about earlier in this show. And so her book itself, I read it. It was, I did it on audible. It was like talking to Kara for eight hours. And so when she said, the words, complacency will kill you. Her story is so crazy how hint water started? She has four children. She started at the center in her garage, was a very high level position at AOL and time Warner. And then created this idea literally with her husband in her four kids in her garage. And it is now multimillion. Like I don't, I don't remember the exact revenue, but it is a very successful business. And that quote complacency will kill you.
Erin (32:21):
Stuck out to me. You can listen to her episode 99 with Kara golden and it's called how to shake self doubt and the self doubt of others. So remember that guy, all right, number 18 equality is the destination. Equity is how we get there. This was a recent episode, magical number one, one, one hundred and eleven with shrine Daniels. And it's all about anti-racism and business. It was so interesting to hear all about equality is equity versus equality. And Sheen's views on this. I, first of all, I could talk to her for forever. Again, another person I have this sort of spiritual connection with, but this really resonated with me. This idea that equity is how we get to the destination, which is equality. So if you want more on anti-racism and your business and how you can mitigate that, check out episode 1, 1, 1 episode, 111 with Seren Daniels. Number 19 time is money and energy.
Erin (33:36):
This is actually an acronym for the word time. T I M E time is money and energy and the, and is silent. So anyway, I gave you five time management hacks on episode 113. This could not ring truer for me, especially in 2022 time and energy, they are not free. There's a price for them. Think about that. I'm not giving it out for free anymore, and I don't think you should either. So if you wanna manage your time and you wanna manage your energy, I want you to think of this mantra. Time is money and energy episode one 13. If you want more on that now to number 20, this is not from this show, but this is from a quote. I actually heard this morning during my Peloton workout with Peloton instructor, Robin Zo. And I was like, my drop, literally almost dropped. I almost said the shake weight almost dropped the dumbbell on my foot.
Erin (34:38):
And I was like, yes. So Robin is a dream guest. So we need reviews to get more people to leave a review so we can get Robin on the show. But she said the crown is heavy. Good thing. The queen is strong. <Laugh> the crown is heavy. Good thing. The queen is strong and I was like, I'm, I will quote you. But that I, I don't know if she said it, who said it, but that's where I heard it. And I just loved every second of that. Always where your invisible crown always always know that you are strong, that you are capable of so many things and that you have people surrounding you who when your crown gets knocked off, can pick it up and put it back on for you. And if you don't have people in your life that will pick up your crown move to a new place, no, I'm just kidding.
Erin (35:37):
Find those people and surround yourself with them. That's who you want in your life. Who's gonna pick up your crown when it falls down, because when you're wearing it, you are strong as can be, but who's gonna pick it up for you and know that when your crown is fallen, you got it. This blew my mind. This blew my mind today. So that's number 20. Number 21. The energy you put in equals the energy that you are going to give out. The energy you give out is going to magnetize a culture where all feel seen, heard, and valued might be working on a keynote about this one. Okay? Let me know if you want a keynote about that. Cuz I'm creating it. <Laugh> literally energy time, their currencies and the energy you put into yourself will really be what you give to the world. It's a direct correlation.
Erin (36:43):
And when you can give that great positive energy to the world, oh my gosh, what you'll attract will blow your mind. So I want you to remember that. Stay tuned for more on that. There's a lot coming your way there. And if you want more, let me know and I can kind of tell you what we're up to. Very exciting keynote that we're putting together. So number 23, it's the journey you want. The destination will never satisfy. You heard this quote recently and it really stuck to me because I'm always, like I said, chasing that next project to be done, to cross off my list. I love lists, love lists, but guess what? There's gonna be another list. And if there's not another list, you need to create another list because that's where the magic happens. So enjoy the journey. There will always be another destination.
Erin (37:38):
There will always be another goal. Enjoy it, enjoy it. Find ways to bring laughter levity and positivity to your life. Which brings me to number 23. If you feel laughter levity and positivity, it is selfish not to share. Let me say that again. If you feel laughter levity and positivity, it is selfish not to share. We say this at the end of every laugh break that we do every virtual workshop. And we say this with a lot of love to our participants. If you feel laughter levity and positivity right now, if we created that spark of joy inside of you, pass it to somebody else today, tomorrow this week, cuz the world needs more of it. They, we really do so many things have happened in this world and it feels like every day there's a new hard thing to hear, to feel compassion for.
Erin (38:39):
So if you are filled with energy and you are filled with laughter and you have that joy in, you give it to somebody else. I used to say, when I was younger, before I figured out what I wanted to do with my life, I wanted to be a a florist. I wanted to own a flower shop. And number one, I kill like every plant that I've ever had. I had a plant named Zoe day plant. I was like, if she lives, I'll get a dog. It was questionable. But then at the same time, the reason I wanted to be a florist was because any person who gets flowers feels automatically happier. They feel loved for the person who sent them. They look at the beautiful flowers that are colorful and smell good and they feel joy. And so I found a way to become a florist by giving out laughter and levity and positivity instead.
Erin (39:30):
And this is my life's calling. So whatever joy you have in your heart today, whether it's even sharing this podcast with a friend, because it brings you joy, do it. Whether it's making your child smile or sending a funny gift or meme on slack to your team member, share it. We need you. We need the light workers in this world. Here is final number 24. It only took me like 40 minutes to give you all 24. But I want you to measure the amount of success that you have in your life on the amount of fun you're having. So measure the amount of success in your life, by how much fun you are having. Give it a scale every day, one to 10, ask your family. How was your day? One to 10 scale, one being low, 10 being high and tons of fun. We wanna get anywhere from an eight to a 10 every single day.
Erin (40:37):
We don't know how much time we have left here. I know that sounds very morbid, but if you can measure the success in your life, by how much fun you are having, what a way to live. So I just wanna say first and foremost, I'm so honored to have the gift of bringing fun to you. We are going to put all the links in the show notes that I mentioned with every episode reference with these quotes and mantras. So you can check those out if you haven't yet. And if today brought you laughter levity and positivity, like I said, please take a picture, share it to your Instagram stories, share the link to the podcast with a friend, share it on LinkedIn, or share it with a coworker or family member who really needs to hear it. And then if you wanted to really celebrate and give us a present here at the improve it! Podcast, how we measure success is not only big of the amount of fun, but how we get people to get on this show is by looking at the number of reviews we have.
Erin (41:50):
So if you want more amazing guests, like the ones I mentioned today, please, I sound like a broken record, but truly every time we get one, it makes me so, so happy leave a review. I read every single one and it truly brings so much joy to our team to know that we're bringing joy to you. So thank you again for trusting me, giving me the gift of your time. And I want you to be proud of you and the person that you are. The person you are becoming, you are doing great work. Keep failing, keep improving because the world needs that very special. It that only you can bring. Thank you so much for two wonderful years. I cannot wait to see where we go from here until next time. Prove it pees. Okay. Hey friends, thanks for tuning in to improve it. I am so happy you were along for the ride.
Erin (42:53):
If you enjoyed this show, head on over to iTunes to leave us a five star review and subscribe to this show. So you never miss an episode. New episodes drop every Wednesday. Now, if you're really feeling today's show and you've improved it even just a little bit, please take a screenshot and tag me at keeping it real deal on Instagram and share it in your stories. I'll see you next week, but I wanna leave you with this thought, what did you improve today and how will that help your future successful self? Think about it. I am rooting for you and the world needs that special. It that only you can bring see you next time.