14 : Year End Reflection & Planning with Morgan Bricca

Morgan Bricca - 2020 Reflection

Adam: [00:00:00] Welcome to the mindful fire podcast, where we explore  living mindfully on the path to financial independence and beyond I'm your host, Adam quail. And I'm so glad you're here on today's episode. I have a bonus for you. I've invited back. My friend Morgan Bricca, who joined us on episode six and seven ofthe podcast.

And I've invited her back to share her approach to year-end reflection and planning. We approach this conversation in a way that allows you to follow along and I've compiled all of the learnings and tips into a short PDF guide that you can download at MindfulFIRE.org/2020. I learned so much from this conversation with Morgan and I really hope that you enjoyed as well.

Let's jump into today's episode.

 Welcome back to the podcast, Morgan. 

Morgan: [00:01:02] Thank you, Adam. It's really fun to be here. 

Thanks for asking me 

Adam: [00:01:05] excited to dive in with you today and understand a little bit more about how you think about reflecting on the year and planning as you head into the next year. 

Morgan: [00:01:14] Yeah. 

Adam: [00:01:15] And so to get started, I'd love to start a little bit more high level and really understand your thoughts about what is the importance of developing self-awareness.

Morgan: [00:01:24] For me, self-awareness saves me time and energy going in the wrong direction.  We have so many number of hours and days, and I want to spend it really as close to my life's purpose as possible. So identifying what lights me up and spending as much time doing that, it's like an efficient way to live.

You're not just casting about everywhere. Which I mean life is serendipitous and it does work with you, but  honing in on who you are and what you want makes you a clear bell for the universe to actually come help you and get you going in the right direction. 

Adam: [00:01:59] Makes a lot of sense. And you mentioned that coaching yourself is one of your favorite secret skills. Tell me about that and how that fits into this idea of self-awareness and knowing yourself better. 

Morgan: [00:02:13] I believe this is still a fire podcast , mindful fire. So maybe your listeners will relate to the fact that I really like to pay as little as I can for everything. So I've gotten coached from various different coaches over the years, and I really want to integrate and learn how to do that on my own. So I don't have to pay someone ongoing. So I'm a very avid student when somebody teaches me something because I want to learn it as fast as I can. So I don't have to keep paying them to teach me. Yeah. 

Adam: [00:02:44] I love that. If you're a cheapskate, I don't know where that puts me. That worries me. But in any event,  what is coaching yourself actually look like in practice? 

Morgan: [00:02:55] So it means. Reading things and actually spending the time investing and also being willing to move towards what is scary.

Like when you coach yourself, you have to be willing to go where the pinch points are. And you have to be so honest with yourself because I think a lot of us, we have competing interests. The ego kind of wants to hide and just stay safe and status quo. And that's not actually in our best interests.

A lot of the times. So self-coaching is also saying, wow, that's really uncomfortable, but I can see that is something for whatever reason I want to move past or I want to work through. So I've adopted and gotten a lot of benefit out of the Danielle LaPorte system of starting with figuring out your why and how you want to feel.

For example with financial independence, which I know is a big theme on the podcast. People want something. That's the way they chase the financial independence. For me, it was freedom. I felt like if I'm financially independent, I'm powerful. I can say yes and no to what I want. And I can go do brave things. I could go join the peace Corps. I could go. There's all these things that were on the other side of being financially independent. Actually, if you figure out why you want that, you can move right to square B and you can just start living from a place where you're integrating a lot more of those feelings that you want to bring into your life.

Right now there's no future. So it's bringing those two things together, but then actually, if you're coaching yourself, what I have found, and this is going to be. Scare a lot of people is I work at all the way down to a daily checklist and I'm super loving, but I'm super accurate. Did I do what I meant to do?

So for example, like special time with each of my kids has been on my weekly, like half a checkbox. Did I actually spend two hours of special time with my kids this week? Cause that fits in. So a lot of my goals on my check dogs are like, did you dance? You want it to dance? Remember you wanted to, yeah do these things. So I figured out how I want to feel the actions I need to take. And then it goes all the way down to a daily checklist and because of my age or because I'm visual. I really like to see things on paper. I really like to make a check in the box every day and I'm trying to not be on my phone all the time, especially right when I go to bed or whatever.

So I keep that stuff analog and I track it streaks. Ms. Checkboxes. See, you can see, I just brought my note from. It's this little thing and it's weekly. Yeah. Monthly. 

Adam: [00:05:26] Wow. Look at that. 

Morgan: [00:05:28] And I do that and they change because for example, book progress is on there. But I've done with my book, so that would drop off and there'd be a new sort of 30 day goal.

Adam: [00:05:36] Nice. Congratulations on the book last time we talked, it was no, last time we had you on the podcast, it was a complete manuscript, but it was not available in the world. And now it is. And so we'll link to that in the show notes. So people can go check that out. That's very exciting. Congrats 

Morgan: [00:05:54] feels good.

Adam: [00:05:55] Yeah, so that's very cool. Do you have any advice on sticking to that daily? Check-in because I've had something similar to that in the past I have all the intentions of wanting to reflect each day and check in, but for whatever reason, I fall off the wagon and then just don't get back on. 

Morgan: [00:06:16] Yeah. That's why the visual, like it's bright orange and it sits right on my nightstand and is the only thing I'm a nightstand.

And I actually have a one line a day journal that my daughter gave me. I was super skeptical, but now like you just, whatever your routine is, you always brush your teeth every night. It's just like that. And the other thing is to stick with it. I have found. But I think the reason it scares most people is because they're scared to get zeros.

They're scared if they don't get gold stars. And the truth is I look at it like, Oh, look at that every day, this week, you did not do that. And I would just get curious, there's no big deal. Is that really a priority? Maybe it's not a priority. It needs to be in a habit chain or it needs to be done at a certain time or I always forget to drink water.

Maybe I need a bright colored water bottle and it needs to sit right here. And I have a same time every day. Like you just get curious about how can I support myself better. To accomplish what I want or if I'm not, isn't really that important. So it's more like a curiosity thing instead of beating yourself up.

And this is the nitty gritty. I start with bigger reflections and then I create this list based on that. 

Adam: [00:07:20] Yeah. So let's talk about that. Something in my mind made me think that I got to talk to Morgan about. Her end of the year planning process and reflection process. Morgan, tell me a little bit about your process for reflecting on the year that just passed and planning as you move into the next year ahead.

Morgan: [00:07:39] Sure. So basically I keep my plans and goals in an actual binder. I even have the binder here and what I do is sometime between Christmas and new year's when I just, things start to really slow down. I set aside a few hours and I looked back through my binder and I look at what I wanted to accomplish last year.

I look through it regularly, but I look through it with fresh eyes which of these have I completed and I'm done with, and I also go through a brainstorming session where I think about. What I want to bring into my life that might not be there. And that is how I start to build a new set of feelings and goals for the coming year.

So it's a brainstorming session. Usually. It's good with coffee. It's good. When the kids, like my husband will take the kids to see the in-laws for four hours. And I like to use. Paper and pens. And I like to scratch things out from last year. It's very tactile. And the brainstorming process is just a lot of asking questions.

I very much believe that we have all the knowledge in us for what we want. We just have to trust it. And so it's really mining that gosh, I've been thinking about, I wish I could someday. I want to, and you just start to approximate and move closer to those things and integrate them. Then you narrow it down from there creating a bucket list for the year.

Adam: [00:09:03] Very cool. Very cool. And why do you think it's so important to take the time at the end of the year to do this exercise? 

Morgan: [00:09:12] I think what is vital to us is always changing what we want. We are so dynamic, what's working. What's not, it's always great to appreciate, wow. That worked really well.

That is working really well. That's vital also, but there's also something that we always try to grow into. And so again, it's like in an interest of not wasting any time, let's figure out what is most vital to me right now. What am I most excited about? You're going to show up with much more success if you're actually excited about what you're engaged in.

And that requires looking regularly. I like that. I don't like that. I like that. I don't like that. You're honing that all the time. Really have to just trust ourselves on that. I think like we know. We're the experts right here. That's why self coaching to me makes a lot of sense is because I know how to answer all the questions.

So just give me the right questions and let me work through them. So there's so many websites with great questions, like the Danielle LaPorte site, which maybe you want to link to in the show notes, it has a list of the core desired feelings questions you would ask yourself to mine, what it is that's vital to you, then that's going to change your every year. Like you, you did this job all year and now you feel differently you're ready for any challenge. 

Adam: [00:10:23] Yeah, absolutely. So it's important to take the time to check in and see, what do I really care about right now? Is it the same or similar to what I cared about last year?

Or is it different? Because if I don't check in, then I could just be continuing down a path that. Doesn't quite suit me as much as I thought it would. 

Morgan: [00:10:41] Exactly. Exactly. 

Adam: [00:10:43] Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. So it sounds like you have this binder and it's like your home base for what it is you want to do, how you want to feel, what are your goals, kind of everything that you were thinking about?

It was it last year around this time? Or do you adjust it as long? The way as well? 

Morgan: [00:11:00] I adjust it along the way. I have a year goals and sometimes every quarter I'll just check in and be like, look at that. I did that. I did that. I did that, and then I just up, I didn't do that or whatever.

So yeah, I check in, but I have also these are, this is every two weeks. So I'm in the weeds during the year, more like the 30 day challenges or whatever. Yeah, but you got to make sure that all your goal setting is actually the most important piece here. Is it all the goals that you set, all the actions you take are aligned with creating what you actually want.

And typically what you actually want is underpinned by a feeling this unique to you. Some imprint that's really important to you. It could be because. Of your astrological sign or your Enneagram or your childhood trauma, it doesn't matter, but just you get to want what you are wanting. And that's like a core of it.

I really want to feel free. I just really want to feel free. I don't know why. That's what I want, whatever that is. And I just made up free and search your own series of words. People have different ways that they're compelled to show up in this world. And we have to assume that those are our gifts. We have to trust them.

The things that you want are different than what I want. And we may have some overlaps because we have a lot in common, but other people you get to want what you want. That's like a core of it is letting yourself have, and not judging. That. And even though it doesn't quite make sense and figuring out how to integrate that in your life.

So once you know what you want, then you work downwards into specific actions. That's the core of how I coach myself 

Adam: [00:12:33] on it. Could you give an example? 

Morgan: [00:12:35] Sure. So on the cover of money magazine, a couple years ago, there was a headline set for life. I love looking at marketing and trying to figure out what kind of like core desire feeling there.

Pulling out and I thought set for life. Is that really a financial thing? Or why do I want to be set for life? Why do that? I was like, yes, set for life. How do I do that? Where do I sign up? And then, it's not really about the money. It's about the feeling behind that, which is safety. It's like a resilience behind that.

So what I realized of what I wanted to feel behind that. Yeah. It was like, when I thought deeply about what is set for life mean for some reason, the word that came to me is connected. It's connected to myself, connected to others. Connected to what I do that feels actually set for life, because that feels like safety.

Like when you are feeling valued and your place and, your contribution, there's a safety or a connection about that. So for me, that's where my brain went with it. So I'm looking at like my last. W years words, oftentimes connected comes in, supported abundant. Those are feelings, feeling abundant, feeling supported, sorry, not, I guess I could use like a specific, I'm looking at my words in 2019, those feelings, if you actually lived in a feeling of connection and support, you're closer to set for life than the dollar signs, because you can have a lot of dollar signs and actually not feel set for life or not feel safe.

Like all those feelings are actually not related to dollar signs. So that's just an important distinction. They could be somewhat. And you can still be practical on that end, but you can understand that you can get there a lot faster if you're addressing the feeling of being connected, abundant, safe, things like that.

Does that make sense? 

Adam: [00:14:25] Yeah, I think so. It sounds if you really dial in on what you want to feel, you can. Use that as your barometer, and also look for ways that you can create that feeling now. And it's something that you can control, right? It's not something outside of yourself that you need, right?

You don't need a billion dollars, to be set for life, right? If set for life for you means feeling connected and supported. You can look for ways to create that in your life so that you feel connected and supported, and then you've achieved that set for life, stated goal without having to rely on anything outside of yourself to actually move in that direction.

Morgan: [00:15:09] Exactly. You just said it way better than I did. Thank 

Adam: [00:15:12] you. I just was picking up on what you were saying, so cool. Yeah. That's definitely helpful. So let's jump into kind of the nitty-gritty of this and let's take it from the approach of how you'd advise somebody who would like to reflect on this past year, how they can go about it.

If they don't have their own binder and they haven't done it in the past, how can they go ahead and. Practically, take a look and reflect on this past year. 

Morgan: [00:15:42] Okay. So first I would say, you want to figure out like maybe three core feelings of how you want to feel in the coming year and you don't have to judge them like, Oh, I should want to be, or this one would help me.

I really have to be like, I want to feel this. So I'm just going to use this as an example. This was in 2019, this was like an overview. And for 2019, I made my word year word of the year, and this is on her list. So I got the idea queen. And the reason was because queen takes her time and I really wanted this sort of like time has always been an issue.

I'm always like hustling and moving too fast. I just wanted, a queen like rides high in her horse and she has authority and she has sovereignty and there's all of these qualities about that. So that's how I wanted to feel. I wanted my house to reflect calm. And beauty. And anyway, so those, that was like a core word.

Okay. And then I go through each of the aspects of my life, spiritual and personal health, family, business, finances, and relationship. And think about how is that feeling? How would that manifest? What would that look like in like health or spiritual or finances? I actually have three other words worthy, abundant, and supported under queen.

And I think about why I choose those words, what that means, how to put that into my life. So like from my business, taking my time with each project, And doing it right. That is like the core of how I want to feel. So rather than stretched thin rather than underpaid, overworked, all of this scrambling, I want the opposite of that.

I want abundance of time. I want abundance of support. And so anyway, so I start to think about how I use those qualities. In my business and then in my family, in my health and in my spiritual and personal, and then easier, I just review, I kind of work off the skeleton of last year's pick new words and see how those might come down to goals for each aspect of my life.

Adam: [00:17:43] Got it. So that sounds like looking forward. Is it just reviewing those and see if they still make sense or are you really taking a look at the last year and evaluating or analyzing how things went in those categories? Yeah. 

Morgan: [00:17:57] Yeah, I do. That's important. Yeah. You look over it and you say But you're doing that more ongoing during the year.

So there's no big surprises by the end of the year. You just every quarter, I'm looking through those, am I doing that? I'm not doing that. And sometimes you just yeah, I just, I never did that. I'm looking low sugar. I wanted to create a new story. Dessert doesn't make me feel good because it doesn't, but sometimes I forget dessert.  It doesn't make me feel good. So I'm trying to remember stop eating so much sugar. I didn't do that. I didn't do that in 2019 or next year, someday. It's nice to have a few things on the 

Adam: [00:18:32] ongoing projects 

Morgan: [00:18:33] ongoing, but so let's just say low sugar. Doesn't dessert. Doesn't make me feel good. So I'm trying to think of like a new mindset, how to incorporate that in my life.

That would be something that go on the daily list too. Did I eat sugar today or did I not? So I track that every day. So the things that are on my master list somehow will make it into my card. And why don't I want to eat sugar because I want to feel it doesn't help me feel the way I want to feel in my body 

Adam: [00:18:57] So you ladder it up to the feeling.

Got it. Okay. Makes sense. 

Morgan: [00:19:01] Yeah, it makes sense to me. I've never had to explain it to anybody. 

Adam: [00:19:05] Yeah. Sorry to make you have to explain it and ask you in a bunch of different ways, but yeah, I guess I'm, I want to dive a little bit more into the reflection. It seems to me like you really are checking in and seeing like, how do I want what's real for me right now.

How do I want to feel now? And moving forward and then building everything around that. Okay. Is, am I picking up on that or am I off? 

Morgan: [00:19:33] And the thing is I think most people will make a goal and then they forget about it. And three months later they're like, Oh yeah, we'll do some way yearly list.

And I don't remember. So the reason why I'm saying every year and it could be more often or less, but recalibrating on the big picture. But on the small stuff. I'm checking in every day with, did I do that? Did I follow that intention? Is that still important to me? So it's a lifestyle.

It just takes five minutes every night, but it's huh? I did that. That felt good. I'm looking at that a streak. I did it for two weeks and I didn't use to do that or I didn't do that. And I wish I did. So you actually have to do it every, it's like for me, It's because I have my own business and I've realized ne and I think most humans, we are slippery and it's hard for us to create new habits.

And so it requires attention, intelligence and kindness. I'm not going to comply if I hate checking my boxes, or if I hate looking at it and making myself feel bad, it has to be a positive, reinforcing experience. Oh, look, I did it. I didn't do it. That's interesting. 

Adam: [00:20:38] Yeah. Yeah. And what kind of things are on that checklist on a daily basis?

If you don't mind me asking. Sure. 

Morgan: [00:20:44] So right now I try to not eat for 14 hours every night. So that's the first thing. And then it says, this is old. This is 20 minute meditation. I'm doing longer right now, but did I meditate today? Did I do at least 30 minutes of exercise? Did I eat greens today? So if I salad your vegetables, I get a check 

Adam: [00:21:02] box.

Nice, nice. I like it. I like it 

Morgan: [00:21:06] because I want to add honestly, It's so silly, but what you pay attention to increases. So if you want to, do it I have a daily perk, so I try to have fun every day. Like I plan one little thing every day. My critical inch did I meet my critical inch five gratitudes?

Cause I think I've heard that's good to do in the evening. 

Adam: [00:21:25] What's the critical inch. 

Morgan: [00:21:27] Oh, every day, identify one thing that I'm going to do that day that would really move my life or business forward the most. So I try to just. Always keep it to one thing. Hopefully it's less than half hour, but it's usually something difficult, something I'm resisting.

Otherwise it would make the critical Lynch. And then I put on this. How do you feel like from a scale of one to 10? Cause I'm trying to track over time. How do I feel about my day and then for the weekly. Like taking an adventure, make something, simplify, something, be generous special time. And then every other week I try to take a hike, get a massage, fast, make a portrait because I fast two days a month.

So that's, my intention is to fast two days a month. So it goes, there I'm a checklist. And if I didn't, I know and I say, Oh, I didn't do that. Maybe I should do that tomorrow. 

Adam: [00:22:14] And so you have a card for every two weeks and then you save them and you review them 

Morgan: [00:22:19] at the end of the year. 

Adam: [00:22:20] You toss them. Okay. So you don't re you don't look at them at the end of the year.

Morgan: [00:22:24] I look at them at the end of it. I'm looking at it every night and I'm noticing, gosh, every night, this week, I didn't have any greens. I'm really not eating very well these days. So it's like a constant recalibration. 

Adam: [00:22:36] So it's on ongoing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's interesting. Cause I've done this over the last two years in a digital sense.

I made this like baby tracker. Which I'm put out on the website at some point, but basically I use the Google assistant and Google analytics to make this thing that allowed me to track. Like every time we change the baby's diaper or breastfeeding or whatever it was, so It started as that it also tracked, like I meditate, I eat this or I go for a walk or whatever things that I want to track, I can track them digitally.

And then at the end of the year, I can look back, how much should I meditate? Oh, I meditated, 200 times. And I meditated for, 300 hours this year. And I think that's useful, but I think also like the physical card that you're looking at is probably even more useful because it's very tactile.

It's very in your face, you have to do it. You have to see because I'm logging these things, but I'm not seeing the streak or the last 

Morgan: [00:23:38] yeah. You have to go open the app and you have to go bring up that button. And, for some, if you're really trying to not. I'm just trying to be really conscious about how much I'm on my phone and this just sits out on my nightstand.

So I just can't miss it. And a pen and paper is the easiest thing ever. I use insights, so it tells me, okay, this is your street. This is how many days. 

Adam: [00:24:00] Okay. Yeah, no, I really liked that. I think that's important. And it sounds like those are the habits that you want to keep up. So those are.

Tactical in the day type of things 

Morgan: [00:24:12] tracking to longer goals, like for example, book progress, that was a six month goal. And it was like, did you make progress on your book today? Just it's a yes or a no. So it's I'm, there's really not a lot of sense in keeping it month over month. It's you're, it's very much you're recalibrating every day, every week I missed that.

How can I do that tomorrow? Is that important to me and everything on here is tied to longer term goals, make a portrait it's because I really wanted to become a better portrait artist and I'm not going to do that unless I'm actually making a portrait a week or even a day, if I really want to become a better portrait artist.

And why do I want to become a better portrait artist? So getting to the why's and then this is like the final mile. Yep, but it is a habit. It's a daily habit. 

Adam: [00:25:00] So I guess, I don't know. I keep coming back to this question in my mind of like, how do you reflect on the year overall? You have that daily recalibration.

I think that's. Awesome. And I think that really having that ladder up to the longer-term goals thing makes it, how do you look back on this year? Like it's 20, 20, right? How do you think about reflecting on that? What would you recommend to somebody who maybe has none of these other systems in place they want to reflect on this year and see to prepare to do better next year?

Morgan: [00:25:33] Yeah, I know. It just feels like the year is such a large chunk. It's hard. Cause, you know how this week what's hurting and what didn't feel good. To me, I'm in conversation with myself a year ago through what I wrote out as intentions. So it feels like it's hard to, it's a good question. And I'm not sure.

 I'm always about What you want to bring forward and then tracking, I'm just a forward that's my specialty forward-thinking and actually being accurate. It feels like too much. And then gratitude, but too much Oh, that didn't work. That didn't work. Why? I don't know if that's so helpful. You just need the content of that.

Doesn't feel good. Okay. What am I going to do going forward? It's just like it's in this minute, deciding the plan and taking action on it. So that's, I'm just super forward thinking that there's just no use. Cataloging failures. I look over my list and I'm usually like, yay. I did that. Oh, that felt really good.

Usually I look over and I'm like, good for you. Good for you. That's how I feel when I look over the stuff, even the failures, like I see why you wanted to try that and that didn't work, but I don't know. I think I hold myself really a lot more gently than most people do. I think, as an artist, because I want to keep trying.

Adam: [00:26:48] Just take stock of the year. What happened in that month? Oh, I w I traveled here or I moved to New Jersey. It's more on the  gratitude appreciation for the progress made, not so much on , Oh, that didn't work out or,  feel like. Taking stock of like the lessons that I learned has been super helpful.

Morgan: [00:27:10] Can I show you something I'm really proud of, but you have to wait just a second. 

Adam: [00:27:13] Take your time. 

Morgan: [00:27:14] Okay. This is super dorky, but I'm going to share with you each month. I just make a list of all the highlights that happened in that month. Like little successes. I call a heart. March and April highlights. So as I'm going through the year and I make love notes to myself, if I read a book, this is a book report and I highlight like the key iceberg, the 

Adam: [00:27:33] icebergs.

Tell me about that. What does that mean? 

Morgan: [00:27:37] Like the key points. And you can't remember what you really took away from it. So after I read a book, I try to make the main point. So this is like a book of the main things I learned in the air, the highlights okay. Did you ever see that movie memento? 

Adam: [00:27:51] Yes, I think so.

Morgan: [00:27:52] It's an amazing movie. Yes. To right tattoos. On himself. So he doesn't forget. He doesn't remember the next day. So it's a murder mystery, but he actually has to tattoo. Don't talk to Joan and then the next day John's there and she's Hey, how are you doing? And he's   reading his tattoo and it says, don't talk to Joanie.

He doesn't know why. Okay. So I feel like this book is like the tattoos from my year. 

Adam: [00:28:15] Okay. Got it. So you're doing that as you go, 

Morgan: [00:28:18] as we go. And it's almost every year and I have eight of these, I've done one a year and this was like my little love letter from myself from that year. And often I can flip through and see what I learn.

Like I forget stuff like, this is a list of all the takeaways. I've done nine breathwork sessions and they're really powerful, but I forget, Oh, what did I learn in that one? What was my insight? And I can read, and then I know what my insight was. But that's also how I catalog, the month by month, every month I have a page of this was cool and this was cool.

And I did this and this, the second mini brag list, 

Adam: [00:28:52] what I'm talking about. That's what I was getting. Yeah. So I figured there was something because that's what I have done in the past is just go kind of month by month. It wouldn't be much more effective if I had it already written down and I could just read through it, but yeah.

A lot of times. I have my journal and I can read through that. It's been super helpful. I like to keep that so I can look back on it and say, Oh, what was my thinking there? It's so funny how often these things are so similar. It's just the same thing coming up again and again. 

Morgan: [00:29:21] Yeah. And so like journals.

I do journal, but it's so much content. So what I do is I try to just skim them and the things that I keep repeating I'll create a sheet, like a summary sheet. How many times I mentioned this topic and this topic, like data, mining, my own journal. And then I distill it because we have to distill things down to be able to take action.

Adam: [00:29:43] Yeah, absolutely. . I think that makes a lot of sense. That's a really good takeaway, I think is just. Really take stock of the things that you're learning. You read a book I don't know, I'll speak for myself. I read a book and then I'm like, man, this is great. And then a day goes by. I'm like, I don't know what book, I don't even know what book that you're talking about because there's just, there's so much coming at us.

It's easy. You just move on and then forget about it. Yeah, if you just take down a little book report what did I learn in here? What was interesting to me? And then you have that you can look back on and Oh, might be 10 years before you look at it again, but then it comes back to you when you read it.

Morgan: [00:30:17] For example, in my binder that I use, so on the front, I have my daily schedule that I try to stick to and it's right there so I can always see it. And then I've got a tab for what have I call it? Reboot? When you just like. Meltdown and something's going wrong and everything is going against you and you just fry.

But then I have a reboot checklist and it's all the learnings, we go to wisdom and we learn things how to respond to hard feelings. It's Oh yeah, tapping is a good resource. Oh yeah. Self-compassion and specifically, what are the steps like that? Kristin Neff walked you through for self-compassion.

Specific thing. So like I digested, 10, 20 years of learnings into like my top 10 bullet point. I was like, don't forget, this is one you can do. This is when you can do that. Don't resist to the feeling. So , I really do try to distill information so that I can take action on it. But for me, if it's.

Print it out and there I'm taking care of myself, like my future self in a really tangible way. Cause when I'm impressed, I'm just going to run and do the same pattern that I always do, which is forget to walk, forget to breathe, forget to it's going to pass, I get wrapped up in it. 

Adam: [00:31:22] Yeah, absolutely.

You can't see it clearly once you're in it. But if you've taken the time to outline the things that are supportive to you in difficult times, then you can just go to that section in your binder and see, Oh yeah. Things work. Oh, that's right. I could try that. 

Morgan: [00:31:40] See how I treat myself like a toddler. Like it really is like great.

Adam: [00:31:44] Absolutely. No I'm a huge fan of that. I think that makes so much sense. Just if I put my wallet in the same place, My life is just easier. If I put my keys in the same place, my glasses in the same place, like I have these air pods, like I can't seem to ever find these things. If they're both in the case, that's a win, even if I don't know where the case is. But it's essentially doing that. It's just setting up systems in your life to make things a little bit easier. So you don't have to recreate the wheel think through everything. Yeah, 

Morgan: [00:32:13] Exactly. And because we're all. Going through. It's like, all our processes are identical, so all these books are good, but you need them in the moment you need them.

So you have the information 

Adam: [00:32:25] just coming back to the idea of like financial independence, right? Like the best thing, people always ask me like I don't know if people ask me or I just tell them, but I tell them that I tell them that the biggest and most important thing that I ever did. Was just set up automatic investments,  into a total us stock market fund seven, eight years ago, something like that.

I realized I need to do something with this money I'm making right. I'm making money. I don't know what I'm doing with it. So let me just set this up to automatically invest. And that's been huge because it just happens automatically. I don't need to think about it. And what you're talking about is like creating that sort of system for learning, for reflecting, for thinking, for recalibrating, with the little card with the habits.

Yeah. I really liked that. 

Morgan: [00:33:11] Yeah. 

And it's actually also humility, to know, Oh, I'm a squirrely one, 

Adam: [00:33:15] so it sounds like this little love letter book for yourself is something that somebody could go through say they don't have this. They could go through each month, look at their calendar.

What did I do that month? What things do I remember? Maybe? How was I feeling that month? Yeah. Maybe talk a little bit about that. Maybe how someone could create this if they're doing this, like between Christmas and new year's this year. 

Morgan: [00:33:40] Yes. So I really I got this as a little cheaper version, North books on Amazon that I used to use the mole skins, but I really like unlined and there was a video I watched.

Like 10 years ago about, you just make a straight line nine around and how much fun journaling is. And it's like, when you really get your own truth bomb, this is something I know I want like a bucket list. I really want to write a bucket list and I want to remember it because I don't want to write it and forget where it's going to be.

So I might outline it, draw a picture, make a note for myself. So this kind of book, I would say, you just asked, what can they do in that one month? I think this is really good ongoing this book, because it's you're always having insights and you don't know where to put them in one place. And again, I like the tactile, cause I can flip through it when I get off track or I feel like, what did I do this year?

So this is something again. It's like I have daily, monthly, and then my year, I'm not that strong on the year thing. Cause I just write out general. Compass directions, how I want to feel the three top things in each category. And then I start to, make work down. How do I do that in the next 30 days?

So again, it's a daily habit, it's a monthly habit. Start it now while you have the time, go get a journal, spend a few hours thinking about how you want to feel, what changes in your life you might want to make, or what you want your next year to look like. But then in order for it to look like that, You have to move your body in different ways and your mind has to move in different ways to get a different future than you had in the past.

And so to really, it's not going to be easy because it at least changes easy and it wasn't what you were doing. So it was really about the patterning of day to day saying, this is how I'm going to show up in order to, make this result happen. 

Adam: [00:35:22] Yeah. So speaking of, shifting gears into.

Creating the future that we want. It sounds like it starts with deciding how you want to feel. And then from there, how does that turn into goals and daily actions? Yeah. Talk a little bit about that. 

Morgan: [00:35:39] Yeah. So can you, for example, is there anything that comes to you that you wish you could feel?

Sometimes it comes through lack, but with you. How is something that you want to feel in your life? 

Adam: [00:35:50] Something that I've been thinking about, and this is one of those things that keeps coming up, but it's crystallizing through some of the work I'm doing in the inner MBA really about like I'm a commitment to creating opportunity through connection.

So in terms of feelings I want to feel like I'm creating opportunity for people. I want to feel connected. I want to feel like I'm. Bringing people together in ways , that create opportunity for them. For example, you and I, connecting with you and creating opportunity with, for you, by looking at your analytics, connecting the skills that I have with potential opportunity that for your business, 

Morgan: [00:36:28] for example, right?

Adam: [00:36:29] That is the thing that lights me up. Is helping people in that way. Another example recently, the lawyer that helped us buy this house, a hilarious guy, he's going to be on the podcast at some point, but I wanted to ask him to be on the podcast and I needed some paperwork or whatever regarding the house.

So I called him, I left a message and he called me back and one thing led to another. We finally connected and I invited him to the podcast and he's Hey, you should come on this men's group call that I have.  we're going to be talking about masculinity and the guy who started the organization wrote a book, but this other guy, I went to the call, which was that night and listen to this conversation.

 Then I was like, ,  I can help these people. I have these connections. I could host them at Google for a talk. I could have them on the podcast to talk about masculinity. I could connect them with Ashanti branch from that you may have seen at a wisdom is a good friend of mine because I met him at wisdom.

And so I made the offer. They're going to be on the podcast. I connected them with Ashanti. We're going to do a talk at Google, right? So just in that one opportunity, I was able to see all of these ways that I, it can connect and create opportunity. And so that's really what brings me alive and what I want to cultivate more of in this next year. The launch 

Morgan: [00:37:47] is so beautiful. I know there's so many great things in that, and it's hard to just tie down one word, but some of the things I heard was that, it has to be, it has to do with being of service really gives you meaning and purpose. It seems very like healing and positive that you're a connector.

You really want to be useful to this world. Like you want to use your platform and your abilities. And so another word that comes up is also impact. Like you're able to make a difference. So this is all good. These are all giving words. And what do you get from that? What's the feeling you get 

Adam: [00:38:21] energy?

I feel energized a 

Morgan: [00:38:24] liveliness 

Adam: [00:38:26] excitement. 

Morgan: [00:38:27] It feels good. It feels good 

Adam: [00:38:29] for 

Morgan: [00:38:29] sure. It feels good. Yeah. Yeah. So it seems like, what lights you up and you're doing it in a lot of ways. So it's more okay, I know it lights me up and I'm doing it and I want to keep doing it. It sounds like it's also working.

Like you are doing this, you are making these connections. You are helping people feel seen and heard you help them get out information. To me, you're being very successful actually in this range. And that's core for you. Just picking the words that light you up that really Oh, I want to feel that alive.

By doing this work makes me really alive. I feel my true self. So maybe alive ness is maybe one of your core desired feelings. And you know that you get that feeling when you do these things. So let's just break down to a category health. Okay. So you want to be there. What makes you feel alive is being able to do this for other people.

So you have to take care of your health. So working backwards in alignment with feeling alive. How does that look for your health and how can I help QI support your purpose? So then you'd create some goals around that. I've just been really tired. I think coffee's not good for me anymore. And that's really means I, havent been able to show up for this because of some reason.

So like right backwards with that, 

Adam: [00:39:37] the idea of, feeling alive, right. Feeling sluggish and tired all the time. And , finding myself chasing opening hits of like social media or eating, not so healthy food because it feels good in the moment. Maybe going on the health front, Feeling more alive through eating more healthy or just exercising.

I think earlier this year, looking back, I realized like there was a period of time shortly after moving here in New Jersey that I was going on the, what I called the Peloton, the fake Peloton most days. And even if I like woke up with a headache or whatever, or just in a bad mood, I'd get on it.

And I. I'd feel better at the end of it. And so I fallen off of that, but just looking to feel alive through taking care of my body, by moving my body and exercise really helps me feel alive, which then frees me up to do more of this work that I want to be doing. 

Morgan: [00:40:30] Exactly. 

Adam: [00:40:31] So it connects to that alive.

Yeah. 

Morgan: [00:40:33] Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And for me I have to be fit to do my job. It's very physical. So that's always underpinned. If I want to make this difference with murals, I have to be in the gym six days a week. So that's like always made, like a really discipline around fitness.  , and it depends what you want to deliver and vibrancy for your health goals would be different.

I actually need upper body strength. 

Adam: [00:40:54] That's 

Morgan: [00:40:54] just  that's what has to be Oh yeah. For you, vibrancy a liveliness. Could be a different sort of rainbow collection of health stuff. And  , again, you'd go through each one what does vibrancy look like in your work life or the alive Venus?

It would actually look like, I want to make sure I'm really being of service. I'm not just, it's not going to work for me to just show up. I have to make sure that my, my work is adding this value in this really human impact way. When you know that, and you would actually shift even how, what kind of work.

You're doing for Google even. 

Adam: [00:41:29] Yeah, no, that's definitely something that comes up in my mind again and again. My job is great. Is it? My life's work? Probably not . But there's a lot of opportunity. I work with really great people. I have a really great manager. The subject matter is pretty interesting to me and I recognize that there's more opportunity.

I can be creating more connection. I can be making. More of myself, my mindfulness learning, et cetera. I can be bringing to the job. 

Morgan: [00:41:59] But 

Adam: [00:42:00] with all the busy-ness and the constant emails and constant client things that I deal with, there's only so much I can do. And I just let those other more aspirational aspects of things fall by the wayside.

Morgan: [00:42:13] Unfortunately. 

Adam: [00:42:14] But I know that there is more that can be done there and I'd like to be doing more of that. And so I'm looking at, what, how can I do that? 

Morgan: [00:42:22] Yeah, 10, 20%. You know your life's purpose. I, you just told me it. I know that this is it right here. Yeah. 

Adam: [00:42:30] Yeah. 

Morgan: [00:42:32] Making an impact. And there are ways that you can do that in your current job.

And so your goal should be around. Nudging the needle a little bit, 

Adam: [00:42:39] It doesn't have to be every time. All the time. Yeah. Yeah. That's my all or nothing thinking. 

Morgan: [00:42:45] Yeah. Buddies around my job make me feel alive. So I'm going to spend more time and I'm going to create one or two boundaries on this thing.

Like the email. Threads like, Hey guys, take me off this one. Hey, take me off this one. I don't know what it led into what it looks like in practice, cause you're going to know now. It's so cool that you just articulated what lights you up. Yeah. Everything is going to now. Filter out the details from that.

Adam: [00:43:11] Yeah. And remind me again, what are all the categories that I should be thinking about this through health work? 

Morgan: [00:43:17] Yeah. Finances have relationship family. And then I have a spiritual slash personal, like a few years ago. It was like to be able to sit for 20 minutes in stillness, like to be able to do that.

So that was when I started. And I usually use smart goals on my list so that it's like I'm doing this daily or there's a time associated. But I felt like this year, actually, some of them were not as smart because, 

and when you say smart, just for people who aren't familiar. Yeah. What does that mean?

I even know what it stands for, but I know that it's quantified specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and 

Adam: [00:43:54] time-based. 

Morgan: [00:43:55] Yeah.  So what you're doing is you're taking this feeling of a liveliness that you want to bring into your life more and you know exactly what brings you that and how to do it.

And then you're going to create smart goals in each category that  will lead you to more opportunity to be feeling like that on a daily basis 

in each of those categories 

and each of those categories. And the idea is that when you are fulfilling that you are both more. Closely aligned to your purpose and you're also making the right impact.

Like you're super good at other things, but if they're not also feeding this impact service healing stuff, then it's not going to pull you in the same way. 

Adam: [00:44:38] Okay. So that makes sense. 

Morgan: [00:44:40] Yeah. And actually, so with your finances, How do you get that feeling of alive in us? You could start to do a percentage of donation and actually see how that feels, do something that scares you short term six months, one year.

Just try it. 

Adam: [00:44:55] Something that scares me financially. Yeah. 

Morgan: [00:44:57] Yeah. Financially , it's just for six months or it's just for three months. See how you feel. Try it like an experiment. Because it's good to do things that scare you and the short term you could say that wasn't for me.

Adam: [00:45:08] Yeah. No, I think that makes sense. One thing we talked about last time on the podcast was this idea of  percentages and setting aside a certain percentage of money for just fun and like for you to spend and you have to spend it. I got to say, loved the idea. Have not done it yet. Love the theory.

Love the theory 

Morgan: [00:45:31] on your smart goal. It should say spend $400 a month on myself on play. Play, play has to be spent. Or if I don't spend that money, I'm going to donate it to charity. 

Adam: [00:45:42] And what's the it's a percentage of income or a percentage of what 

Morgan: [00:45:47] again, it's your own. You decide what 

Adam: [00:45:51] percentage of the budget perhaps?

Yes. Percentage of the budget. 

Morgan: [00:45:55] I think it's good to do net income after tax income. 

Yeah, because the first thing you can always do is cut out. You said you had an automatic deposit, so it's like richest man in Babylon, you're going to decide first, some percentage 20, 25% is going to go to your, whatever you decide.

Yep. But your donation should still be from that percent. Even if it's 2% or 5%, just so you know, Oh, these are where my priorities are. You're owning that you are making that investment in your future, and that aligns with priorities and your aliveness because that's your freedom. And that's when you would be able to really call your own shots.

And that's okay. You're okay with that. But being really honest with yourself about. Those are my priorities. And if you want to change the dials, knowing that aliveliness is going to be your key word or whatever, you said, 

Adam: [00:46:43] Just as an example. Yeah. Okay. I think that makes sense.

Yeah. And so you say you set a goal in each of these categories 

Morgan: [00:46:52] Because we can't keep track of so many. That's the main thing is like you have to be gentle on yourself for it to be attainable. If you had a dozen, it would just be too much to track. 

Adam: [00:47:02] And so you're setting three goals for the next year that if achieved will help you feel the way that you want to feel.

Morgan: [00:47:09] Yes. Got it. 

Adam: [00:47:11] Okay. That makes sense. And then how do you translate those goals into the daily habits? Tell me about that. 

Morgan: [00:47:19] Yeah. So for example, let's say finances. For you, you want to feel aliveness and that, that just spending, having some play money would do that. So what you're going to do is set up an automatic withdrawal and move it into an account.

And each week you're going to make a date for yourself. It's the Adam date. And you get to invite who you want to invite. You get to spend it on what you want to spend it on, that thing. And it's written in there. And then it goes in the week thing. Date with myself, Adam's play date. Did I do my play date?

And because you're pushing yourself where you're not comfortable and that's great because it's going to bring you towards aliveliness. He's going to bring you like, I'm worth it right now, or whatever the feeling is. So that would go into your finances and it would be like a weekly thing either.

Set the automatic transfer decide I'm going to do, and you can start at 1%. If it scares you start at 2% 

Adam: [00:48:11] to spend the money on myself on your podcast count. Can I spend the money on the podcast? 

Morgan: [00:48:19] It can't be productive. It has to be like play it's a hobby, but okay. It's like getting that massage and getting the full 90 minutes instead of just 60 minutes.

Like it's just something like that. You're like, Oh gosh, I don't, that's not really me. Just because it's good because it's stretching you. You can always decide overtime actually that didn't make me feel better and that doesn't align with my priorities. It's just also when you're self-coaching you have to be willing to look at your word and look through each category and play with like, how would that feel like aliveness?

And for me I know being of service is really important to you. So I would include that in your finances. How has that a liveliness that healing? How is your money going to be healing? Because that makes you feel alive. How is your relationship or your family gonna support that the way you want to be?

What makes you alive? And is it doing that yet? Is it already, how can it grow? And you'd make it specific and actionable and measurable even that. So like for me, special time with my daughter, that's a weekly checkbox has, I want to make sure that that's that came on my list and that's what I want.

That was a priority. 

Adam: [00:49:31] Got it. Yeah. That makes sense. What else? Would anything else that I should be thinking about or people that should be thinking about as they plan their next year around this word of how they want to feel? 

Morgan: [00:49:41] Yeah. Or words, it could be a conversation. 

Adam: [00:49:44] Yeah. You had a few, right. You had three.

Morgan: [00:49:46] And sometimes it takes a couple of days, like a Plinko ball to really hone in on it and you can change it in a week or a month. Now. I thought it was a liveliness and it turns out it's connected. This, and then you'd switch. So I would say to not think that you're going to get it in one sitting. And like I said, is this something I do like regularly checking in?

Every Sunday I have a mastermind Sunday list. Here's my mastermind. Sunday. Hold on. This is fun. 

Adam: [00:50:14] And is that with other people? 

Morgan: [00:50:15] No, I just do it every Sunday. I check in for the week, cause I have quarterly intentions and then  monthly. So every week and one of my questions is imagine your future self 10 years from now be with her.

What does she want you to do this week? So it's like also taking a longer-term picture. So  some of these questions would be great for a year-end. You can always bigger stock. It's look at yourself. What do people say about you at your funeral? What are the best things that you brought into this world?

What are the next 10 years? What are the next five years? Those are just mental games. Really? We only have the next day. We know we only have right now, so I don't put huge stock in them, but they give me information about what I'm imagining right now. So like I have, how do you want to feel this week is on my.

Mastermind Sunday. So each week it might be different. Gosh, I've been feeling really, I want to fun. I want to feel fun this week. Fun, fun sentence. So then I really try to think about that. And then I plan my week out. What's your focus for work? What's your focus for personal or creative? I have a little thing, visualize success in each area.

What is that look like? What are you doing? How are you feeling? And then when I wake up each day, I'm rolling out on that plan. That's aligned with my future self, how I want to feel and what I'm trying to accomplish. I'm getting better at

this is funny. I was on a call yesterday with a woman who was doing my Google AdWords . Like review and it's actually taken a nosedive and she had all these reasons that were not the right reasons. And I knew that she was just trying to upsell me on the next thing. 

And we were going in circles and I was like She wasn't providing the right information. And I found myself getting really frustrated and going in circles and I was able to catch myself and be like, this. Isn't how I want to spend my time or how she wants to spend her time, like how to move to productive.

Cause this doesn't feel good.  it's not useful anyway. So figuring out how you want to feel moment to moment and noticing like this isn't good for either of us. Let's figure out how to be productive right now and what the next step is.  We don't want to spend our time in negative emotional States. So I think I'm going to better cutting that out too, based on okay, these are my goals. This is how I want to feel. This is what I want to do. 

Adam: [00:52:21] Yeah. It sounds like there's a whole lot of checking in saying I'm trying to go over here and making sure that I'm still going that way.

And if you need to adjust each week, you make a little bit of adjustment and then you're setting your sails for the week. And because you've thought about in an intentional way, you're more likely to do that than if you had just started the week and hope for the best and let things come at you.

Morgan: [00:52:48] And the truth is we're so malleable in terms of our human brains, we are so intelligent. So you can do anything like, we both can work so much potential. We have certain patterns of how we think, how we solve problems, how we show up that's. It's like our established pattern.

So we really are, have a desire to make the most impact with our passion. There's going to be places where we have to get uncomfortable and grow. And that's why the self-coaching and the tracking. It seems like a lot of work. And I could, I try to not make it, like I said, drudgery, but just encouragement and curiosity.

Cause I really care about making the impact that I want to make. And so I'm willing to go to the gym or check the boxes every day so that I know I've done my best. 

Adam: [00:53:32] Yeah. I really liked that. You know what you want and why you want it. And these are the steps that you're taking to ensure that you're moving in that direction little by little day by day.

And you're holding it lightly, but you're putting in the work because it serves that purpose that you want in that, why you want. 

Morgan: [00:53:51] Yes, 

Adam: [00:53:52] that makes a lot of sense. That reframing is really helpful. And I think something that you mentioned in your email is that you're not doing it out of a sense of should or obligation or supposed to, but rather you're doing it because you're.

Being pulled in that direction. And maybe talk a little bit about that. Cause I think that I've operated from a, I should be doing this. I'm supposed to be for a very long time and that doesn't feel very good. And it certainly, I am not the type of person that is motivated by that. 

Morgan: [00:54:21] No. That's all the information you need right there.

You just said it. If it doesn't feel good, you're not going continue in that vein. And it's never going to bring you the joy and delight of actually like honoring what you want. Truly. So it's just a lot of time spent in fear honestly, or worry. 

Adam: [00:54:41] Yeah, absolutely. And so shifting gears a little bit, once you get clear on this vision that you want to create, how does it fit into your life?

Why are you laughing ? 

Morgan: [00:54:50] Because it's funny. I think I actually sometimes plan to avoid doing work. So if you actually enjoy planning, it can also be a work avoidance, which is an interesting, because most people avoid planning and just stay in the trenches. Everyone has different habits. 

Adam: [00:55:08] I do a lot of planning and then not doing those plans.

Morgan: [00:55:13] Yeah. Again, it's a great question. And to me, it comes back to having a literal piece of paper and I put in the time, like on Sunday, so yeah. For example, I don't work on Sundays. I have a real taboo around that and I try to hike and, but one thing I do on Sundays spend an hour usually thinking about my life.

And that includes maybe I need to print out more of these. Maybe I look at last week, maybe I look at what I'm trying to do in four weeks. So I do that planning sometimes on Sunday. Now, maybe that's work, but I'm not doing anything else on Sunday. So I have a lot of time. And it's  my life, so it feels aligned.

It sounds like going to church, I feel like I'm connecting and aligning, so it feels. I'm not cheating too much. So I'm free on Sunday. So I have time on Sunday. That's when I do it. And then, doing, I just check the boxes. It takes 30 seconds before I go to bed and have my paper.

Adam: [00:56:06] Yup. And then some of those Sundays are at the end of the month. So you take some time and jot your learnings down in your year book and 

Morgan: [00:56:15] things like that. Most of this happens. 

Adam: [00:56:18] It doesn't have to be that complicated. I'm making it more complicated than it needs to be. 

Morgan: [00:56:21] Sometimes because I've been doing this so long, I don't realize I have a system, but you're exactly right.

It happens on Sundays.  The time that I spend reviewing my month, it's often on , a Sunday, sometime because the kids go do things or it seems like the house was quieter, I'm not working. 

Adam: [00:56:37] Yeah. Okay, that makes sense. So I'd love to ask you, what is your thinking on approaching next year?

If you'd like to share how you'd like to feel next year and what you're setting as your goals. Cause this year you wrote a book and all that. 

Morgan: [00:56:54] Yeah. Yeah. So for some reason what's coming to me, I've never had this word before. I've always been going towards Ease and joy and all these soft things like feeling good and supportive.

And this year, what I want to feel is brave and it feels like really good to do something brave and. So maybe it's a feeling after, but that just makes me feel really like alive and like I'm moving towards things that scare me. I like that. I want to feel brave. So this morning I tried it out. I was passing some gardeners and I've been noticing, they always use a gas leaf blower and I stop and I would say, Oh don't say anything to them.

That's annoying. Don't be like that. And I was like, wait, my new word is brave. So I walked up and I said, so nicely, I'm fluent in Spanish. Did you know that gas leaf blowers are that you have to use electric when you're in the town and there they were so nice. Oh yeah. We know. Oh yes. Just this month of the year, when it leaves, we had a nice conversation, but it's now my word is brave.

And I'm going to think about speaking up or speaking out or doing the things that are a little hard and I'll do them my way and as nicely as possible. But I really enjoyed that I said something because that's not usually what I want to do. It goes against my people pleasing stuff. And maybe that is a step towards unwinding.

The people pleasing. 

Adam: [00:58:15] Got it. So you saw the opportunity to be brave and because you had that in your mind as your word for the year, you just took the action where you might not have done it otherwise. 

Morgan: [00:58:25] Yeah. And it doesn't even matter about outcome. It was like, I spoke up and that's not like me. I'm usually head down. And so anyway, yeah, I want to feel, and also the other thing is more supported, been a lone Wolf in my work for all these years, and now I want to bring together a team and that's fun and that supportive together. So it's really a, I see what I'm wanting is growth and putting myself out there more.

And I'm super excited about, it's Oh really? That's what I want, but I, okay. So all of my things are going to reflect that . One of my business goals is to charge more for every project charge enough that it scares you a little bit. Like I've all at chronically undercharged, historically undercharged.

It's like one of my weak links. So by being brave, how do I be brave around my finances? That's a way to be brave because when I charge a little bit more than I think I should, I'm going to have a heart attack or a panic attack, and so I need to push that boundary for myself. 

Adam: [00:59:17] Yeah. That makes sense.

Morgan: [00:59:19] Yeah. And also bringing other people into my business, scarcity me it's unknown. I don't like it. 

Adam: [00:59:25] Yeah. 

Morgan: [00:59:26] What I want is on the other side of all that. So I've had to go through that. 

Adam: [00:59:30] Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. Very cool. Anything else you want to share that we didn't talk about?

Morgan: [00:59:37] I just want to honor you, Adam. I'm just really impressed at your like, reaching out your growth mindset, your curiosity, and your wanting to like. Learn and get your own path I think it's really beautiful. I just really want to learn about you. Yeah. And you're super brave. It doesn't need to be on your list because you're already that you're already that.

Adam: [01:00:00] Yeah. Maybe I don't know. In some respects, in some respects, some could call it reckless. 

Morgan: [01:00:06] No, it's how you move forward. Yeah. Just really appreciate you. 

Adam: [01:00:11] Thank you. I appreciate you as well. 

Morgan: [01:00:13] Yeah.

Adam: [01:00:14] Thank you so much for sharing your process and how you reflect and plan the next year. I think there's a lot of wisdom in that and there's certainly a lot of things that I'm going to take away.

Morgan: [01:00:25] Yeah. I hope it was useful. This is something I just been doing on my own, so I haven't had to articulate it and I feel like you actually really helped me articulate it better. Like your recording is better because you digest it and then you say it back in a more clear way. So that was really well done.

All right. Enjoy your rest of your holiday.

Adam: [01:00:44] Yeah. Yeah. Likewise. I hope you have a wonderful holiday and new year's .

 Thanks so much for joining me today on the mindful fire podcast. As a reminder, I've compiled all of the learnings and tips from Morgan's year-end reflection and planning process.

And you can get those in a PDF download at mindfulfire.org/2020. And if you got value from today's episode, please hit subscribe. This just lets the platforms know you're getting value from the episodes. And you'd like to be here when we produce additional content. And I'd also just like to say, thank you so much for joining me for the podcast throughout this last year.

It's been such a privilege to be able to explore these concepts and to have an audience that is engaged and excited to hear about these topics.  So thank you so much for being a part of this community. And with that, I'll catch you next time on the mindful fire podcast.