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Failure to Launch

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I planned to launch my 23rd podcast episode this morning. I didn’t. It was 7:30am already and I still had much editing to do. I needed to give up my laptop for my daughter to use for her online classes. We have another small laptop that she could use but today was the special crazy hair day and I wanted her to enjoy her time seeing friends on the bigger screen. I also needed to get ready for my actual job and did not want to take a leave to finish the episode. I did not feel great because I promised the day before it would be out in this morning and because my preparation process failed.

Although I woke up very early as always when I have an episode to launch, the recording part took way too long because I should have prepared differently. My handwritten notes were not helpful as I expected. My previous process of typing my notes and reading them off my laptop screen worked better.

That was my hard lesson for today and I will try again this evening. Or better yet, tomorrow morning.

Failure to Launch

One Year Podcast Anniversary

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Today is a big deal in my world. It marks the occasion of the first anniversary of my podcast with 22 episodes to date and +13K downloads.

Launching مشروع برديس podcast by the end of Q1 2020 was already planned before we even heard of COVID-19; The 2020 lockdown just sped up the production where I produced 5 episodes in 7 weeks. That is why I will always cherish those days that got my creative juices going like no other times I lived before.

After the lockdown was over, and I got back to work, my podcast rhythm slowed down, until I decided I was capable of producing 1 episode a month only.

However, growing my podcast’s impact is one of my goals for 2021, therefore, I have been working on launching more episodes, and succeeded in releasing 9 episodes in 13 weeks since the beginning of the year. This was possible due to a friend’s suggestion to create a short-form episodes where I share a quick update or one idea in addition to my usual longish in-depth discussions about a certain topic. I have other ideas in mind to grow my podcast.

Podcast Growth Plan for next year:

  • I will maintain a weekly frequency of launching episodes (maybe one month off in summer).
  • I will mix between in-depth topics like atomic habits books discussion that I am currently doing (20 minutes average) and the short-form episodes (5 minutes).
  • I will add interviews as a more regular part of the podcast, I find editing them way easier than host-on-mic which has been my format for the past year (except for 1 episode when I hosted my dear accountability partner)
  • I will try batching where I record more than one episode at a time, have focused editing sessions and schedule release in advance. Still behind in this aspect.
  • I might upgrade my equipment and recording setup to further improve audio quality.

If you are a listener of my podcast, thank you so much for the love and the time you choose to spend with me! I do not take it for granted.

One Year Podcast Anniversary

About to Quit?

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Remember why you started.

Why was it so important to you when you embarked on this journey?

What is in it for you on the long term?

What would you lose if you quit?

Write all your reasons down for another want-to-quit day.

About to Quit?

Is Waking Up Early for You?

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I’ve been waking up early since late 2016 and I am teaching others how to do it too through my podcast, Instagram videos and directly with the group of early risers I have been managing for 6 months now.

One of the first things I ask anyone who wants to join the group is why they want to wake up early. They need define what would they win if they start this habit and what is at stake if they don’t.

I believe in waking up early to take care of yourself before taking care of the people in your life and your responsibilities.  I believe when it becomes a habit in your life, it would be the time you work on your personal projects or make progress in current important ones. Take me for example, I record and edit my podcast in the mornings when my house is asleep because I have a 9-5 job and 2 kids to care of. My mornings were only about self-care at first, later on when waking up became a natural routine, I started trying to work on other important stuff. I encourage you to do the same. Define your why, make it a habit, then optimize it later.

Is Waking Up Early for You?

Road Mindfulness

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My car kept bumping into this mid-street shallow hole on the way to work, making a loud startling noise while driving. Actually, my car wasn’t. I was. I was bumping into this hole which informed me I was too mindless to notice the street environment. It was a good “Get Present” reminder.

Now I feel like a mindfulness superhero whenever I dodge that hole.

Road Mindfulness

It Takes A Village

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In her book, Girl Stop Apologizing, Rachel Hollis shares the details of the help she gets to be able run her successful business, such as her nanny, personal trainer, parents and so on. She encourages women to share those details too to motivate others to pursue their own goals. Because, if we pretend we’re doing it all alone then we’re not sharing the whole story. Especially women, yes we can raise a family, have a 9-5 job and achieve our personal ambitions, but with help. Anything else is a recipe for burnout.

I want to acknowledge that I get a lot of help, my parents’ helper comes and cleans my house every week, my amazing in-laws take care of my kids and their online schooling and meals while I’m at work, my parents watch my kids while I run errands, my husband takes the kids out so I can record my podcast and puts them to bed while I’m shooting videos among many other forms of support. I’m blessed to have them by my side. This is only my immediate family and I still have a long list to thank, like friends who provide huge emotional support to me in my ups and downs. You get the idea. It takes a village and I don’t take it for granted.

What about you? Who is helping you now? Who could be helping you to have more time and space? Could you and a friend do that for each other? Figuring this out is so important and the sooner you do the better.

It Takes A Village

Help and Ask for Help

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Some of us took this year harder than others and some lost so much. Let’s see them and let them know they don’t have to be alone. Let’s notice those people. Let’s offer whatever help we can.

If you are one of those people, you are not alone.

Please do ask for help. Don’t pretend to be fine when you are not. Asking for help is not weakness. It’s the responsible thing to do for you and for the sake of everyone who cares about you.

Let’s help and ask for help.

Help and Ask for Help

Toxic Positivity Defined

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In this 2-part podcast interview of the super smart both Ph.D. authors Susan David and Brené Brown, I learned exactly how toxic positivity manifests in our lives when Dr. Susan did this exercise with her host Dr. Brené (excerpted from the transcript):

SD: If I invite you to think about the last couple of months, and I invite you on a blank piece of paper to write an emotion you’ve experienced or that’s been tough on you, what would you put?
BB: Okay. Overwhelmed, scared, fearful, weary, confused.
SD: So, if you write these emotions on a piece of paper in a world that tells you to just be positive, they would say, “Turn the piece of paper over now and write why you’re grateful. Okay, write why you’re happy. Write why you’ve got so much more than other people.” And what that is doing is false forced positivity, and it undermines your resilience, and it undermines your emotional agility.

Mind. Blown.

I encourage you to listen to both parts of the episode and enjoy this wonderful emotional intelligence course like I did. We need to hear all of this now more than ever for our mental health and wellbeing and to help those around us.

As for me, I will go read Susan’s book “Emotional Agility” one more time. Highly recommended.

Toxic Positivity Defined

Homework Success

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During this online learning era, I find that homework sessions with my 7 and 5 year old kids fail if I do the following:

  • Look up homework as they are by me waiting to start because I already called them
  • Have high expectations
  • Dive directly into homework without checking the concept s well understood
  • Feel Sleepy or hungry, any of us.

The success of homework sessions depends on me being very well-prepared beforehand, teaching/reviewing concepts, then going through homework. Many concepts are not captured well enough via screens. That cost me the first semester. This time I know better

Homework Success

A Decluttering Technique That Works

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I’ve made so much progress in my relationship to things in the 7-week lockdown in 2020. I totally fell in love again with my house after spending so much time making room for air and light to enter and throwing things I have not touched for years. I learned it’s a process and not a one-time project from the book Decluttering At The Speed of Life which I highly recommend to anyone who wants to improve their relationship to possessions. I’m so proud that my dresser is still organized the same way I did it one year ago. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about my clothes and kids’ bedrooms, though. We as family still need to make decluttering a continuous habit because we really felt the positive impact of finding our belongings easily and enjoying what we own.

Last week, I was asked to clear out my office desk (apart from my desktop, mouse, keyboard, phone set and desk plant) as it needed to be sterilized by a special team while we worked from home for a few days because sadly COVID-19 is at its peak in my country Jordan these days. I obliged and took what I wanted back home while keeping most of my desk usable/decorative items in the office’s closet.

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A Decluttering Technique That Works