Intro: This is The Write Connection. This podcast is designed to help you choose the right words and stories in your business content to create authentic connections with prospects, clients, partners and colleagues. Now the host of The Write Connection, Katherine Burrows.
Katherine Burrows: Thanks Carl, hello, dear listener I just thought I'd jump on here and record an extra episode. So this Saturday on April 9th is my birthday and my birthday is a time that I like to think about me as in contrast to my business. So the things that I'm grateful for that have happened over the past year and the plans for the coming year that are a bit more personal in nature, more about me than just my business. So this year I am definitely grateful for the time and space that I've been able to spend working more on my authentic self, being able to improve my health, taking some courses and workshops and working with some amazing coaches to learn more, get educated, up-level my skills. Really increase my understanding of who I am, what I want from my business and how to get there. And I look at that in the sense of me as the business owner versus the separate entity that is the business.
I'm also really grateful for all of the relationships that I've had time to work on with my existing connections, as well as some amazing new relationships that have began over the past year. And I'm also really grateful for the time and the space to really read and be inspired as a writer. I also love to read and so I just wanted to quickly share with you five books that have really inspired me over the last year and a bit of what I've taken away from each book. So the first one is essentialism the disciplined pursuit of less by Greg McEwen. Don't worry about writing all these down, I'll plop them in the show notes and you can get them there I'll put the links right directly to each author's website. So he talks about, as it says in the description, making the wisest possible investment of your time and energy in order to operate at our highest point of contribution by doing only what is essential.
So he really talks about living intentionally and not just kind of letting things happen, but really thinking very carefully about what it is we want, what is really important or essential to us in all the different areas of life and work and leisure, pursuits, hobbies all that kind of stuff. And then really putting those on the calendar first and making time for them. And then if anything else comes along, you ask yourself, if you say yes to that new opportunity, what do you have to say no to from your current list? And I also like to look at it that if I say no to that opportunity, what am I saying yes to? And it might be yes to more time with a relationship that I already have. It might be yes to meeting someone new, a new client, a new friend. It might be yes to a quiet afternoon spent reading a book instead of attending a workshop that maybe isn't quite the right fit for what I need to learn in my business.
So it just really has affected me in that I take the time to be much more purposeful about my decisions. And I try really hard not to answer somebody yes or no. When they ask me right away. I like to say, let me check on my calendar and I'll get back to you, sometimes I kind of cheat and say, let me check with my husband and I'll get back to you then sometimes I can blame it on him instead and say, oh, he's already planned something I'm not available. And really it's not telling an untruth to say that you are busy or that you've already got something booked that day. Even if what's booked is sitting down on the floor and colouring with your kids, going for a walk with your spouse, taking a long hot bath to relax. Those things are all important and worth being on our calendar.
Another book that's been really influential in my life this year and I'm sure will continue to be. So is Mind Management Not Time Management by David Kadavy and David talks about how to truly be productive in a constantly changing world. He talks about how to quit your daily routine and actually skyrocket your productivity. He talks about how to let your passive genius do the thinking and how to find your next big idea. So one of the things that I really took away from this book was to stop feeling guilty or feeling obligated, to be tied to my desk in a nine to five Monday to Friday pattern, which is something that I did need to do in my previous job. But now that I am an entrepreneur and even though it's been several years now that I have been, my brain is still shifting to accept that belief that I really don't need to do things exactly the way they've always been done, just because that's the way they've always been done.
I can feel free to schedule time. Actually last night I woke up around 2:00 AM and I felt really energetic and inspired so I got up and did some work and I had three really productive hours. So instead of beating myself up for not being able to sleep, I just got up and said hey, my inspiration is here. The universe is telling me it's time to work, let's go do this and so then that means that maybe I'll work a little bit less during that regular time period. I do still have meetings and other events that are typically scheduled in the eight to four, nine to five kind of time block. But it's still about being flexible and working with your rhythms, your daily rhythms, your weekly rhythms what time of day do you work best? Are you a morning person, a night person, maybe you're a night person and you often work with clients on the other side of the world in a completely opposite time zone.
That's okay if that works for you, go for it. So just really stripping away all those assumptions and traditional methods and looking at them and making sure they still work. If not, thank you very much, have a nice life. And if they do, great how does this fit into my new reality? Another book that I really love is Big Magic, Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert, very famous for the book eat, pray and love. This is another one of her wonderful books that shares her wisdom and it talks about inspiration for creativity and how creativity is always trying to find us even when we're not looking. So that's another reason or validation, I guess for being able to have a more flexible schedule, being open to write as inspiration strikes. Although we obviously don't wanna wait until inspiration strikes because sometimes we do have to sit down and write or create in whatever way it is that you create without waiting for that inspiration.
But there's times when everything clicks, it comes so easily and we just feel that beautiful moment of inspiration and just to embrace those whenever they happen, whatever time of day, like whatever else is going on in your life to not waste those. And to realize that, that's really a huge part of my calling and about being my authentic self is being open to those moments of inspiration and making full use of them. And then speaking of moments, my next favourite from these are not in any order by the way book. The next favourite is the Power Of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath who are two brothers and from their website, it says this book delves into some fascinating mysteries of experience, why we tend to remember the best or worst moments of experiences as well as the last moment and forget the rest and why we feel most comfortable when things are certain, but we feel most alive when they're not.
So this is a really amazing book and it can apply to moments in every area of our lives. So moments with our kids, moments with our spouses, moments with other family members and friends, moments in business with clients, moments in our network where we're reaching out and getting to know people better and hoping they might refer us moments where we're speaking at an event or presenting a workshop or even recording an online course. So if we think of our lives in these moments, this series of moments, we wanna look at the things that can stand out in these moments, what will be the most positive thing that someone remembers about that experience and how to really engineer those moments to be positive experiences. So we don't have to script every moment of our lives, but if we just curate it a little bit, we can have some much better experiences that encouraged me to think about my moments and particularly in relationships, my time spent with other people and how I can really do something with minimal effort that really improves those experiences and makes them so much more memorable in a good way.
And the other one of course is The Secret To Love, Health and Money, a master class by Rhonda burn. Another rendition of the secret, talking about the law of attraction in those three areas, love, health and money. So it's really talking about the power of positive thinking and how we can use the creative process of creating those positive thoughts to really attract and maintain exactly what we want in all of those areas of relationships and health and money. So this really influenced me to think about what and who I'm surrounding myself with and to be really aware of my internal dialogue and what I'm telling myself in my head. And one of the things she talks about is using I am statements. So I am having a productive day at work, I am really happy in my relationship, I am feeling healthy and whole and alive and energetic today.
And it's so amazing when you repeat those things to yourself over and over again, the changes that happen over the days and the weeks. So as I am celebrating, I will be also wishing you health, wealth and happiness as you explore experience and create your best year yet. I would love to hear how you celebrate, reflect and plan on your special day. So I'll drop my calendar link in the show notes and you can book a coffee chat with me. Thanks for listening today I hope this special birthday episode inspired you to think about your next year more creatively, please join me next time for more about how words and stories from our authentic selves, create The Write Connection.
Outro: Thanks for listening to The Write Connection. What did you think of the show today? Give us a rating and leave us a comment if you have a question for Katherine, reach out to her by sending her an email, The Write Connection@KatherineBurrowscreative.com or visit her website, Katherineburrowscreative.com. And don't forget to follow Katherine on social media thanks again for listening to The Write Connection.
