Episode 121: Start Here

Episode Summary

A lot of us have dreams for our lives—and as humans we each have unlimited, god-given capacity to make those things happen. There is no limit to what we can create or to what we can achieve or become. But to get any of that, we have to start.

In many ways, starting is the hardest part. Starting means doing things differently, changing from one state to another, taking risks, and spending energy, and our brain never wants to start doing any of that.

In today’s episode, I’m sharing three things to help you get started so that you can create all the experiences you want to have while you are here on earth.

Whatever it is you want in your life, start here.

Episode Transcript

Welcome to the 100% Awesome Podcast with April Price. You might not know it, but every result in your life is 100% because of the thought you think. And that, my friends, is 100% awesome!

Hello, podcast universe! Welcome to Episode 121 of the 100% awesome podcast. I'm April Price, and that's a lot of 100's in one sentence, right? I didn't really think that through. I didn't really think about getting to the hundred mark in the episodes when I created the name of my podcast, but there you go, episode 121. Welcome to the podcast, I'm excited to be here today. I'm actually, really excited about this subject, and what I want to talk to you about today. So, I'm glad that you are here. And just to give you a little update on my life, for those of you that are following along at home, we are still right now, as I record this podcast out of our house. We're still in the rental house waiting for renovations to complete on our house, but hopefully that's going to be wrapped up this week, and we I will finally be back at my regular podcast studio. You probably don't know this, but at this rental house, there isn't like a place to record my podcast, and so I kind of set up this like tent with a quill over my head, between my bed, and the nightstand, and kind of make this little tent in there. So, I just sit that's cool and record this podcast.

So, I am excited to be back in my daughter's closet, which doesn't sound like much, but is definitely an upgrade from where I am right now. So, anyway, hopefully next week I will be back in my regular podcast studio. But before I get started today, I just wanted to mention a thought that I had today when when we were doing some coaching. And one of my groups today, one of my clients asked, like, why does our brain do what it does? Like life is hard, she said, right? And if life is hard, why does our brain make it harder? And I think it's like such an important question for all of us to think about and understand, right? Like, why would God design it this way? Why would he put us in bodies where we have this brain that is sort of like sabotaging us, and sort of helping like giving us the things we don't want in our lives, right? Like why isn't it easier? And I think it's such an important thing to think about.

And this is how I think about it so, I think about that so in fact, my brain is the mechanism by which the contrast of Earth-life is provided in front of me, right? Like my brain is designed to see the negative around me, and without my brain, without my brains showing me the things that have gone wrong, the things that are negative, like there wouldn't be a choice to make. And so, our brains are perfectly designed to enjoy every moment, and every day, every hour, every minute of every day to provide a choice for us, right? To see it the way that our brain sees it, to interpret things, the way our brain sees it, with fear, with anger, with envy, with jealousy, like, with all the emotions, and like protective mechanisms that our brain has that is presented to us every single moment. And on the other side of that is the ideal that God is asking us to choose, right? He's asking us to choose love, despite what our brain says. He's asking us to choose joy despite like the anguish that our brain wants to point out.

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And so, the very fact that we have a brain that provides that contrast is, in fact, the reason that we came to Earth, to learn to choose in every moment what we want to think, and how we want to react. Despite what, like the story or the interpretation that our brain is giving us, okay? And this is actually the growth that we came to do. If we didn't have a brain here in which to make that decision, there would be no growth happening. Our growth comes when our brain offers this one thing, and we choose what we want instead. And that is the growth that each of us came to do. And we came to get so good at choosing that we choose what we want to think no matter what our brain says, right? And we have a whole lifetime in which to practice this skill. This skill of choosing, okay? Sometimes I am good at it and sometimes I am not. But the whole reason I am here is to continue to practice making that choice, okay? So, as you think about your brain and the way that it's designed, I really want you to think about that. It is the perfect mechanism by which you learn to choose, which is the whole reason that you came to Earth. It's pretty amazing, actually, when you think about it.

So, speaking of growing, and becoming at the time that I'm recording this, we just finished watching the Olympics. Now, I know you're not going to get this for a couple of weeks. So, the Olympics are like way far in your rearview mirror, maybe. And admittedly, I have already talked a lot about the Olympics on this podcast. And so, you might be kind of sick of it, but I just want to talk about it one more time here before the next Winter Olympics, okay? And admittedly, I have talked a lot about the Olympics on this podcast. You probably like, yeah, I'm done hearing about this April. But I wanted to point out a few things before we leave here. And I want to inspire you with some of the, like, ideals of the Olympics.

So, for example, I was talking about the Olympics on my Instagram feed one day. Yeah, obviously, right? And somebody commented like, oh, my gosh, it's so inspiring, right? It like makes me want to achieve more in my own life, and like and that's how I feel, right? Like when I watch what is possible for human beings, like when they're willing to believe, and when they're willing to work, it's very inspiring to me in my own life. And there was this line, there's a gold medalist in wrestling women's wrestling, her name is Timyra Menza Stock. And she gave this like super exuberant interview when she won the gold medal to NBC. And she like had this beautiful line that I want to read to you, okay? She says "It's by the grace of God that I am able to even move my feet." She said, "I just leave it in his hands. And I pray that all the practice my coaches put me through pays off, and every single time it does, I get better and better. And it's so weird that there's no cap to the limit that I can do. I'm excited to see what I have next. And that, for me, just sums it all up."

And I just want you to think about it for a minute. She said, it's so weird that there is no cap to the limit that I can do. And that is not just true for her, it is not just true for Olympic athletes. It's not just true for people who have perfect genetics, and the right education, and the right connections. It is true for every single one of us. It is so weird, I love that phrase. It is so weird that there is no cap to the limit for each of us, for each and every one of us. And so, I wanted to take a moment on the podcast, this episode, to encourage you to start whatever it is that you want. There is no cap. There is no limit. And any limits that you think are there are just that they are thoughts. They are imposed by your own brain. And anything you want is available to you if you start.

So, that is what I want to talk about on this episode. Start here. Start right now. Wherever you are. Start here, and don't stop. Whatever it is you want to create in your life, this is the moment where you can start. So, there are three things that I want you to think about to help you start, right? The things that I think sort of get in the way of us starting. So, there are three things that you need to know in order to begin and create anything you want in your life. And the first one is that your brain is going to protest along the way and it is supposed to, okay? So, your brain is programmed to not want to do anything new or anything scary, anything outside its comfort zone. Anything that requires energy or that might involve failure or humiliation, that might like provide less pleasure in our lives. And your brain is automatically programmed to like avoid those things.

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And the way that it like gets us to avoid those things is by producing a bunch of negative emotion. That's what I call the brain protesting. Like the brain doesn't want to do this thing, and so, it kicks up all of this negative emotion. It kicks up fear, it kicks up exhaustion, it kicks up discouragement, it kicks up inadequacy. And it like gives us all of these negative emotions, right? To stop us from doing these things in our lives, and we sort of think that this is a unique experience, that there's something wrong with our brain or there's something wrong with us. That that we have all of this feeling that is keeping us from the things we want, and that somehow people like Timyra don't have this negative emotion, right? But it's not true. Anybody that has created what they want in their lives, they have just learn to accept that their brain is going to protest and is not a problem. Your brain is actually supposed to do that. It is doing its job. If it didn't do that, like we would do all kinds of things, right?

Like if our brain didn't give us fear when we were going to do new things, like we need those mechanisms in place, right? Those are the same mechanisms that keep us from running, you know, across four lanes of traffic or or jumping off buildings like they are protective mechanisms. It's just that when it comes to the things and the goals that we want to do in our lives, those protective mechanisms are misplaced, like our brain thinks we are in danger when we actually aren't. And that is why it is creating the negative emotion for us. So, I want to offer you that all of the protests, and all of the negative emotion that your brain creates. We sort of think of that as a bummer, like, wouldn't it be nice if my brain didn't do this? Like it would be amazing, right? To see what I could accomplish if my brain didn't do this thing.

But what I want to offer you is that what if it is not a bummer? What if it is not like a negative thing that our brain does it? What if, in fact, it is a feature of our brain? This kind of goes back to what I started with that like actually the fact that it is difficult and that we have to choose it is a feature because we get growth when we choose it, right? It's actually better for us that it doesn't just come easily, and that we don't just have like all this positive emotion when we go to do these things in our lives, like because then there would be no growth involved, and we came for growth. Like, I want you to get all the things that you want in your life, but I also want you to have the growth along the way, because that's what really matters in the end. That growth along the way is what you get to take with you, okay? So, I think of it as much as possible.

Now, of course, I'm human and I have my moments where I'm like, why does this have to be so hard and painful, right? But I try as often as possible to think about it as a feature, as a benefit to me, okay? And at least to think about like nothing has gone wrong, my brain is doing exactly what it's supposed to do. And it's it's not a problem, okay? So, I listen to this amazing interview, Rich Roll interviewed Courtney Dauwalter on his podcast. It was like freaking amazing. She is like such a like mind ninja. She has just so mastered, like the pain response in her own mind, and being able to, like, accomplish amazing things. She's an ultra marathon runner, and she runs incredibly long races like 200 miles. Two-hundred eighty-four miles, like really mind boggling distances. And she completes them like way ahead on time with everyone else. And these ultramarathons, they require so much physically, because not only do you have to run the miles, but you have to manage your sleep, and your nutrition, and like your food intake all the way along, right? And then injuries and things like that is such a mental game, right?

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Anyway, speaking about like that, the pain, and the negative emotion involved is a feature because that's where our growth is. I just wanted to like quote her, and how she thinks about the pain as she's going after her goals. She said, "You have to want to get to the painful place." She talks about the place she goes in her mind, she calls it the pain cave, right? And she says that like a lot of times, what we're trying to do in our lives is we're trying to not go to the pain cave like we're trying to avoid pain in our lives, right? And we're trying. And she says, like for a lot of years, she tried to put off getting to that painful place in the race as long as possible, right? Like she saw that as the goal. Like, let's stay out of that pain cave for as long as possible, and make it be as far away from us as we can get it, right? And then if we get there, and we have to be in there, then we'll just sit in it, and we'll try and survive it. She said, but everything changed for her a couple of years ago, and she said that she decided to change the story about the pain in the race, okay?

And she said the past couple of years I changed it into this place where I want to get to changing it to a place where I get to celebrate that I made it there, and then that is where the work actually becomes. She talked about instead of trying to avoid that place, it's her goal to get there because that is where her growth happens. And she said, our minds are so powerful that even changing the story about like the discomfort that our brain produces as an attribute, as a thing that we want to get to, as a thing that we want to like strive for, because that's where our growth is, can change the whole experience for us. And so, she always says, like, when I get there, she's she says, I think in my mind, like, this is perfect. This is exactly what I wanted. This is where I want to be. This is where my work is. And I really want to offer you that that thought is available to you as well.

Now, I think I'm not suggesting that we just like are seeking a life of like pain, and anguish, right? But so many of our goals are on the other side of discomfort. They do require us to confront our fears, and our doubts, and our insecurities, and all of that discomfort. Like, we need to like get to that place where we are uncomfortable because that's where our growth is. And our goals are always on the other side of it. And if you can see it as a place that you're trying to get to, then when you get there, you're not like, I got to change this. I got to stop. I got to back up. I got to like flee this place. In fact, you're like, no, this is where I want to be. This is my as my coach says, this is your growth edge. She's always encouraging me to find my growth edge. And I'm like, I don't want to find the growth edge, I'm fine over here. You're right, and so, like, that's another thing that I want to like tell you. That, of course, this is easier said than done. And this is like why a coach can be so helpful to you, because they can encourage you and assure you that like nothing has gone wrong. In fact, you do want the growth edge, right? That's how we kind of push ourselves past these moments of pain.

To have like my coach helping me do that is so helpful, okay? She reminds me, in fact, that it is all in my head, right? And she helps me adjust my expectations about how I should feel, and the story that I want to tell about my experience, about like the goals that I am after, okay? So, I just want to offer you that like, in order to start whatever it is you want to start, maybe this is not the way to sell it, but in order to start, you just have to understand that your brain is going to protest. It is supposed to. And that's okay. You can do what you want anyway, and in fact, you will become the person that you want to be, that you want to grow into as you experience your brain's particular protest.

The second thing that I want you to think about as you think about starting here, right? I want you to remember that there is no such thing as small progress. And I think like the idea of progress, and like needing to like like show a lot of progress for our effort can really trip us up, okay? Because our progress is incremental, it happens a decision at a time. It happens in our at a time, it happens a day at a time, and it all counts. But our brain wants to minimize it, it wants to diminish what we are doing, right? So, I had a friend who texted me she had accomplished something. She's just starting her life coaching business, and she, you know, had done this accomplishment. And I was like really congratulating about her in this text, and she texted back, and she's like baby steps. And I was like, no. Like immediately. No, like there are no baby steps. They're all huge steps. Our brain was to say like, well, you're not as far as you should be and you're not as far along as they are. And it wants to, like always tell us that we aren't getting where we want to go. And we have to be the counter to that. We have to recognize that there is no such thing as small progress. And every effort I make to overcome my brain and work towards my goals is worthy and valuable and amazing.

Everybody has a first day, and we're so like embarrassed and scared to start, right? Because we're comparing the finish line to where we are now, and we're saying like, this is so nothing. This is so small and it's just nonsense. Brendan Bouchard has this amazing quote where he said, you are not scared to start your dream, you are embarrassed to be seen starting small. And I think this is so true of all of us, right? We are so scared, and embarrassed to be seen starting small when we first start to eat differently, when we first start to exercise, when we first start working on our debt, when we first start building our business, when we first start trying to be patient, and kind and, you know, a soft place to land. We're so embarrassed by our efforts. And our brain tells us like this is so little, and so meager, and so far from what you want to be, it's laughable. But it is not, okay?

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Like starting is all that matters, and again, the whole point of changing your life and starting to go after your dreams, the whole point of that is the decision, and the choice you are learning to make every day, and every hour when your brain says, no, let's not do this thing, right? That choice that you are confronted with every single day as you choose what you want over what your brain wants, that decision is what matters. And so, if we are getting stronger at that skill, even if physically we don't have like measurable progress, that we can notice just the progress we are making to overcome our brain, and do what we want, despite what it says, is the most important progress we can make.

So, to just like give you a little help with this, I want to go back to Courtney Dauwalter's interview. I'm telling you guys, it was amazing. But she talks about how like in these huge long races, if you start to project, and you start to think like, how long am I going to be running? Am I going to be running all all the way till sunrise? And when you start like projecting out like how many miles, or how many days that is going to be, it can get really overwhelming, and really discouraging, right? And she says, like, you have to stay where your feet are, okay? You have to stay where your feet are. And it's a discipline. So, what can happen as we're starting, right? Like we start to see like maybe either we're comparing ourselves to other people, or we're comparing ourselves to where we want to be as we start to see just how much work it's going to take, or how much discomfort it's going to involve. We start to get overwhelmed, right? We start to think like, well, like I don't know if I can do this day after day after day. I don't know if I can do it that far ahead, right? And I don't know if I can keep doing it.

And what you have to do is like, I just have to make the decision today, right now where my feet are. How do I choose what I want, over what my brain wants right here? Right here in this moment, I will worry about tomorrow then, right? But right now, I am I am just going to state where my feet are. I'm going to stay right here, okay? So, Courtney said that like as she's running, and her brain wants to do that, she just like disciplines her mind. And she's just always like, stay right here, stay right here, this is fine. And I really want you to think about that. Stay right here, this is fine. Where you are is perfect. You shouldn't be anywhere other than where you are. Just stay right here. Stay in this moment, in this decision. What am I going to do today to create what I want? Now, your brain will say it doesn't matter, but it does. Every day matters, it adds up. You won't even see it, but it matters.

So, when I first started my business, I remember the day that I went to set it up, right? I remember, this is why I love that quote by Brian Bouchard about like, embarrassed to be seen and starting small. I remember going, and setting that up, and with my accountant, and explaining what I wanted to do, explaining what I wanted to create, and being really embarrassed, like I didn't have a client yet. I didn't have one client, let alone a full roster of clients. And here I was saying like, I want to be a businesswoman. I just felt like, oh, my gosh, this is so embarrassing because I have this little dream and I'm starting so small, right? And I'm not like the people with the real coaching businesses, right? And there my brain is like saying where I am isn't okay and I should be where they are. But of course, I shouldn't. I should be right here, right? But of course, I shouldn't. I shouldn't ever be anywhere than where I am.

Now, I want you to go back with me to that day when I was so embarrassed, kind of like, like I mean, it was kind of fun, it was kind of exciting. But also I was just like, oh, it's so sort of like scary, and embarrassing to say like, I'm going to create a real business here, right? Anyway, I remember on that day my account said, now, like, if you ever make more than 50K, you should come back, and will reorganize your business. When he said it, like he said it like kind of a little bit like, you know, I probably won't ever happen, but if it does, you let me know, right? And probably if you'd asked me at the time, I was like, yeah, that might never happen to me either. I like I probably had this little belief, as he did at the time, right? But just a couple of weeks ago, I went back, and we reorganized the business because I had made like so much more than that, right? And he was literally shocked at what I had created in two years. And I am sitting in my own brain, right? And my brain's all always like, well, you haven't made that much progress. Well, it's not that much.

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And as I was sitting there, I noticed how like amazed he was. And it gave me this moment where I was like, oh, I'm supposed to be amazed by this. I'm supposed to be amazed at what I have created. But there my brain was again saying how small it was, how it wasn't really that much progress, how it still wasn't where I wanted to be. And all that happened was my brain just moved the finish line, right? I accomplish these amazing things that I couldn't even imagine two years ago, and yet my brain was like, I don't know, not so great, right? Like, if your brain is just going to move the finish line, I promise you that you are making way more progress than your brain is giving you credit for. And for me, I just had this little window like, oh, my goodness, we can't even see the progress we're making because our brain is like diminishing it. So, I just want you to know that there is no such thing as small progress, that you just get to make one decision after another. Stay where you are. This is fine. Where you are is fine. And actually, you are going to be amazed. You're going to look back, you're going to have a moment like I did, and you will be amazed at how much you have accomplished.

The third thing that I want to talk to you about that I think will help you start here is the idea that knowing comes by doing. So, many times when we go to start to do something in our life, one of the biggest thoughts that that gets in our way is like, I don't know how. I don't know how to do that, or I don't know how to do it right or I don't know how to do it like without making mistakes, right? And I just want you to know that you know enough, okay? You know enough right now to start, and you will learn as you go. You will learn exactly what you need when you need to know it, okay? We sometimes put off starting because we're trying to learn how first. We're trying to learn how so that we can do it right, and get it right, and not make any mistakes while we're doing it, and not waste our time, right? Not be embarrassed. Not be humiliated. But we never start, right? Because we never really get enough knowledge to make ourselves feel secure.

And so, we just have to start. I promise you everything you need to know, you will learn along the way. I want you to think about how much you put off in your life, because you want to do it right. Right? Because you want to like not have to start over, not look dumb, or not like make mistakes, or a big one, right? Like waste money. Waste time. This is what my brain is always saying. Oh, we need to do it right, or otherwise we're going to waste time, waste money. You know what happens? We don't start, and all we do is like let that time go by, right?

So, when I first started lifting weights, I remember like, again, my brain not seeing progress, right? And like watching other people, and thinking like, how are they doing that? Like, how are they making so much progress? How do they look like that? How do they make their muscles do that, right? And I remember like watching people on Instagram, watching people in the gym, and thinking like, I have got to be doing something wrong. And I remember talking to my husband, I remember leaving the gym one day and just being like, I just want to know, like, what I'm doing wrong so I can stop wasting my time. I'm willing to do, I just want to know what it is. But the thing is that I learned along the way by doing it wrong, and like by experience is that I couldn't even know what I needed to know, until I knew some more things, okay?

So, I know that sounds complicated, but like there's certain things that I can only learn by doing. Like I have to have some amount of experience, and understanding before I can know more. And that is true for anything you want to do in your life. Your brain wants to think like I don't know how is a really huge problem. And I want you to know that is the least important problem facing you. Like that will figure itself out. That is a problem that will solve itself. You know, enough, and everything you don't know, you will learn along the way. There is no such thing as wasting time, I promise you. There's no such thing as wasting money either, for that matter. Like we're using all of it, we are using our time to learn, and grow. We are using our money to learn, and grow. And none of it can be wasted, we're using all of it. And if you are using that time to learn, and get experience, it is all well spent. You don't have to know more than you know now. You know the perfect amount, and you just get to start, everything else will solve itself along the way. You will learn as you go. Your life is a gift. You could do anything you want with it. You just have to start.

When David and I were first married, I really, really, really wanted to get a sewing machine. And the sewing machine that I wanted was three-hundred dollars. I remember like, holy cow. Like three hundred dollars was the whole world to us at that point, right? And so, I just I saved, and saved, and saved for this sewing machine. And while I was saving for this sewing machine, and literally the sewing machine, like it can go forward, and it could go backwards, and that's like it, right? Like it had no special stitches, it had no computer in it, like it was just a basic sewing machine. They go forward, and back. And at the time, I worked for a doctor, we lived in Minnesota. And one night he invited us over for dinner. He and his wife, and some of my coworkers, and so we were there, and talking whatever. And I was talking to them about this sewing machine, how I was like saving up for this sewing machine. And the doctor that I work for, his wife, went over to the hall closet, and opened it up. And there was this sewing machine, like sitting at the bottom of the closet, was still in the box, had like dust over the top of it. And she's like, Ed gave me this sewing machine a few years ago. She's like, I have no idea what to do with it. It's just been in that box ever since, right?

And I looked at this machine like it had like a computer chip, like had it like practically a whole computer inside of it, right? It could do a million stitches, it could do embroidery, it could do quilting, you could like do all the things, right? Like probably like manufacture real people out of cloth. Like it was like the top of the line sewing machine. And I was just like drooling looking at it, right? And I remember like driving away from that, thinking like, holy cow, she doesn't even know what she has in there, right? Like she doesn't even know that there's like, what she has is just in the box, right?
And I think about this so much, for so much of my life, I lived my life like that, right? Where like I just kept it in the box, I didn't know what to do with it, I didn't know how to start, it felt like overwhelming to me. And it just sat in the box in the closet, right? And I just didn't use it to create the life I wanted. Like our lives have so much capacity, you can create anything you want with yours, but maybe it's in a box right now, right? Because of the protests of our brain, right? Maybe it's in a box right now because we're scared to start. We're scared to look small. We're scared that like progress is slow, right? Or maybe it's in a box because we're saying like, I don't know how. I don't know enough. I might look silly, or stupid, or dumb along the way if I do it wrong. But I want you to know, you can pull it out of the box. It is your life. Yeah, your brain is going to protest, that is not a problem, that protest is there for your growth. And, yeah, your brain is going to minimize your progress, but it doesn't matter, it all adds up. Every decision counts, and you get to start right now. It all adds up. You are going to learn so much along the way.

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So, I just want to tell you, open the box. Start here, wherever you are, it is the right place to start. Start here and don't stop. It is so weird. It is so freaking weird that there is no cap to the limit that you can do. It is so weird, and so amazing, and we are so lucky to have the chance to do it. And that, my friends, is 100% awesome. I love you for listening, and I'll see you next week!

Thanks so much for joining me on the podcast today. If you want to take the things I've talked about and apply them in your life so that you can love your Earth-life experience. Sign up for a free coaching session at aprilpricecoaching.com. This is where the real magic happens and your life starts to change forever. As your coach, I'll show you that believing your life is 100% awesome is totally available to every one of us. The way things are is not the way things have to stay. And that, my friends is 100% awesome!