Hey, business owners welcome back to another episode of bold with Brooke podcast in place to be for female business owners who want to learn the marketing and business skills you need to get more clients. So you can reach your biggest dreams, design your life, and we say your business should fit into your life not the other way around am I right?

Today we are going to talk about tiny habits and graduation. What are you graduating from right now? Spoiler alert. I'm graduating from extreme perfectionism pretty fucking happy about that. So welcome to another episode. I can't wait to chat with you today. Yeah, let's dive right in.

Hello, they're gorgeous business owners. Welcome to bold with Brooke, the podcast for creative business owners to learn the marketing and business skills they need to get more clients and design their lives on their terms. So we can actually make a living doing what we love, am I right? I am your host Brooke summer, and I'm an entrepreneur, educator and champion of women reminding them to embrace and step into their power. I'm bringing almost 20 years of business and marketing experience straight to you to help you get more clients and run a sustainable and successful business without burnout or overwhelmed. Let's jump into today's topic.

Hello, amazing business owners Welcome back to bold with broke the podcast and place to be to learn the business and marketing skills that you need to get the clients that you need in your business so you can design your life. I want to help you with that. And I'm so happy to have you with me today. Before we dive in, I wanted to let you know that we started a book club in 2017. I should say I started a book club in 2017. It started out locally. It is called boss book club. And we're back. We've taken a few months off. Unfortunately, I get really overwhelmed and choosing a book. And so I just freeze and I don't do anything. And I'm trying to work past that. Which is also why I'm recording somewhere that you're not used to seeing me because Done is better than perfect. And I'm working on that so hard right now.

So boss book club is back for June 2023. This month meetup there's going to be two of them. One is virtual, and one is in person. So if you're not in Colorado, please please, please still grab the book. Meet us virtually. We're going to talk over zoom and just go over the book and everything that we learned and everything that we liked, didn't like because we've had some really really amazing books but it's not so amazing ones too, because they can't all be winners, right? So this month's book is professional troublemaker by Luvvie. Ajayi Jones. And I really, really, really love this book. This is one that I put on like in the background, so my daughter might hear it in the car. Because I love the way that it's written. I love the advice that she has and what she's been through. And I especially love her grandmother, I feel like that's like poles for me. But if you want to get all of the details, for the meetups, both virtual and in person, as well as the book, you're gonna want to go over to the community and bold with brooke.com/community. That's where you'll get all of the details. And that's hard on Facebook. That's where we hang out. That's where we say hi. It's not crazy active, but I do have I see notifications while they're working properly for any questions you may have. Because chances are if you have a question, someone else has a question too. Right? So that is coming. And I'm super excited.

And next up, Summer, I'm looking outside, I'm at my co working space right now and actually see green and like trees with leaves. And it's glorious. And I'm so excited graduations and pull time and beach time and travel. Are you crazy excited for the weather to I know I try not to talk about the weather too much, because what will happen is I'll record something and I'll talk about the weather. And then I don't publish it for a while and then it seems really out of date. So I try not to talk about the weather too much. But it is what I wanted to talk about today because we have just finished graduation season. And it coincides with beautiful weather. I love summer I plan things well in advance like festivals and concerts and bowl days and beach days. Because I hate getting to the end of the summer being like, Oh, we forgot to do that. So I plan way in advance to make sure I get tickets to everything I want tickets to and get everything planned.

It seems like all the kids are graduating now does anyone else feel that way? We have graduations for everything. Kids are graduating kindergarten and fifth grade and eighth grade and 12th grade and college and now we're even seeing graduations and other grades too and personally I don't really get it like it seems kind of odd to call moving from second grade to third grade a graduation but I'm all for For a reason to party and celebrate, so if you're celebrating a second grade graduation, by all means you do you.

When we're adults, it feels like so many of these milestones don't really happen anymore, right? Unless we go back to school, or get a masters, we don't really graduate as adults, at least not in the same way. And I've always found it kind of odd that only certain things are celebrated as adults, with large gatherings of friends and family, like weddings and baby showers and funerals. Again, seems really odd to me. And I like don't see my family for literally years, until someone dies. Why is that? Why can't we just get together? Because it's a beautiful Friday night and have a party for that and make a cake for that? Why not? I think we should.

I know that I'm not in the normal crowd when it comes to that. And I'm okay with that. But I wanted to do a little episode to nudge you to think about what you might be graduating from in this season. Right now. 2023. As we move into summer. Your little one, whether it's a son, a daughter, a niece, or even just a neighbor that has these massive signs in the front yard, you know, Colton is graduating third grade, they might be graduating. But what kind of growth and accomplishments are you celebrating right now. And I want to throw this little side note in there to say that it doesn't have to be something huge, it doesn't have to be something big at all, you don't have to have gotten a promotion at work are recorded a huge milestone in your business, or you don't have to have purchased a new house. And while all of these things are definitely cause for celebration, and they're amazing achievements, we need to celebrate the growth that is often unseen and unrecognized, but is absolutely essential when it comes to being better business owners and overall better humans in general.

Personally, I'm going to share some of mine, I am really proud of the growth that I've worked really, really, really hard on when it comes to being seen, and not letting my perfectionism control me to the extent that it has in the past. Now I'm not 100% past it, it's still there, it still rears its ugly head, but I'm working on it. And I've improved so much. I'm also really proud of improving my patience with my kids, especially my daughter, and to be on top of her school stuff as much as they can, instead of waiting until the very last than it for things like I used to do. And I'm also going to yoga again, and I'm playing racquetball, which I'm really excited about. And as much as I would love to say that I go three times a week, I don't, I really don't I go out twice a month. I'm not as consistent as I would like to be, but I'm going. And that's better than not going. And I'm also really proud of the fact that I'm getting better at giving myself grace. Letting that perfectionism go just because I didn't do something perfect doesn't mean that it doesn't count. And really honoring myself and saying, You know what, it's okay, we're just going to do better moving forward, and really doing my best every day to do the things that I know I want to do, and also honoring my own brain. And the fact that ADHD messes me up sometimes. And sometimes my arthritis in my joints really hurts and I won't get as much done that day, and giving myself grace for those things and not beating myself up.

I'm really, really proud that I've grown in that I am, you could say graduating from extreme perfectionism, and the weight of other people's expectations and rules. And even though it's not a high school graduation, it's not a third grade graduation. So the fifth grade graduation or kindergarten, all the things, it's pretty freakin cool. And I'm going to celebrate that. And just like School, graduating doesn't mean that you're done learning, right? And I'm definitely not done. I tell my kids all the time, if you're not growing, you're dead. I'm still learning and moving forward. And that perfectionism part of me still creeps in. I'm so proud of the growth that I've done. And I'm proud of the fact that I'm willing to move forward, instead of just assuming that things are what they are and proud that I have a mindset of growth. And to just keep going that resilience. I think that that's something I've worked really hard on. And so I'm proud of that as well. And now I want to ask you, where are you graduating from?

I want you to sit down with a journal, or just a piece of paper and a pretty pen, or some kickass music in your earbuds after this episode, of course, because we're going to talk a little bit more, but I want you to think about what has happened for you in this past year. In this school year, quote unquote even though you may I may not actually be in school, I want you to start to think of what has changed for you.

Have you started to step out of your comfort zone and say yes to things that you would normally say no to? Have you joined a networking group to start making new business connections? Have you made steps to not let the Mean Girls scare you, and let go of other people's opinions on your business and your life? That is huge and absolutely cause for celebration? Have you really worked on being a more patient parent, maybe you're with me want more patience when it comes to your kids, so that you can break some generational patterns? Have you volunteered for an event or a cause that means a lot to you. Even though it meant asking for help from people around you to handle some things around the house that you don't normally ask for help in? Have you started a new hobby that you love. Something that is just for you. And isn't taking care of everyone around you have you started showering more often, maybe it's super basic. And that's beautiful to have you started taking care of your body, drinking more water, maybe you started taking vitamins, all of these little tiny things that are so small, but so important. And we often overlook them.

Atomic habits is one of my favorite books that we've done in boss book club. And he talks about the habits that often add up to huge changes in your life. And these habits are usually ignored when it comes to celebrating things in our lives. And graduating in ways that will move us forward towards the lives that we want to live in. He uses the analogy of giant rocks, like think of slabs of marble, or granite, or all of these big quartz rocks. They can't just go in with dynamite all the time, right? And sometimes they do. But they usually have to chip them off carefully, and work on these tiny parts to get this giant piece of rock off. And sometimes we think that these little things don't matter. And they so matter, they can move you forward exponentially. Because if you have a year of your life, and you want it to get from zero to 100 in one year, that's 365 days, most of us will want to go all in gung ho, I know I do. Day one, I'd be like, Oh, we're going to a 101st day, if not 100 is gonna be 95 The first day when the reality is that life doesn't really work like that. What if you just did one the first day? What if you did two the second day? And what if you did one the next day, and then the next day, you couldn't do anything? Because something was happening in your life. Or you had an autoimmune thing flare up, or your brain was just like, nope, not today. But you got back up the next day and did it instead of giving up because it's not an all or nothing, but it's a little incremental growth that we can make every single day.

Our culture loves to celebrate women giving up our lives for other people around us. And while there are definitely sacrifices to make when it comes to partnering, and parenting, and being a mom, sister wife, all the things, we also need to remember to take care of ourselves, and to honor our own wants and needs and taking steps to do so is true self care, beyond Bubble Bath, and Beyond face masks, and all of these things that our culture likes to flap on as a BandAid on a head wound when it comes to women taking care of themselves. I want you to consider what you are graduating from what you are celebrating in this season, write it down. Really think about it. Give yourself a frickin high five, tell someone around you that will high five, you go in front of the mirror, high five yourself. I really really love that tick tock sound because that you doing a good job doing a good and every time I hear it, I'm like I'm dancing a hair to my brain. Because we need to remind ourselves that we are doing a good job, we are moving forward, we are taking these little steps to be a better person today than we were yesterday.

Be proud that you have moved forward and grown in your life and in your business. Because that growth is not always easy. And a lot of people don't talk about that. Yes, we should grow. We should learn new things we should always be reaching and achieving and accomplishing. And people don't talk about the fact that that's not always easy. Sometimes those little steps are all we can do. But guess what those little steps can make a big difference. So I want you to think about this.

What are you graduating from in the season? I am graduating from extreme perfectionism and even just saying that in my brain kind of give me a like a little guilty feeling of oh, okay, we're not gonna do that anymore. I'm just saying it out loud. I'm doing that anymore. We're not doing the crazy perfectionist if I can't have it just right I'm not doing anything, we're not doing that anymore. No more, probably hear the traffic outside. I apologize. Maybe this room was not the best option, but we're going for it. I want you to think about what you're graduating from, then come into the community and tell me what you're graduating from, you can reach the community and build with boldwithbrooke.com/community. That will take you directly to the Facebook group, where you can just duck in and say, Hi, again, we're not huge. We're not one of these Facebook groups with like, 20,000 people who will attack you if you ask a question. I don't allow that. That's not how I roll.

So come on into the Facebook group I want to know so that I can I find you and congratulate you. I also want to know what you're doing to celebrate even if it's something small, are you going to go out and get yourself a special iced tea that you love? Are you going to go sit by the lake by your house that you love to do but sometimes you just don't have time to what are you going to do to celebrate these tiny, tiny, amazing accomplishments, celebrating your wins can be huge when it comes to our growth in our businesses and our lives. And we need to do so much more.

Thank you so much for spending time with me in your earbuds and car, wherever you're at. It's always an honor to show up. And if you love this episode, I would so appreciate it. If you would head over to iTunes and leave a review. You can get there from bold was book.com/itunes. It'll take you directly there. And I so appreciate that. And if you didn't like the episode, it's cool. You don't have to leave a review. Totally fine. I can't wait to watch your business soar. I am here cheering you on and ready to help you move forward. I want to know what your graduation is celebrating this year. Whether you're reaching out to other people are making tiny little steps to be amazing. I want to know what you're celebrating what you're graduating from. Please reach out let me know how I can help you have an amazing rest of your day.

Thank you so much for joining me today and listening in. You can find all of the show notes for this and every episode over at bold with brooke.com/podcast where you can also find all of the links or resources mentioned. I can't wait to work with you have an amazing rest of your day.